Mystic Topaz | Reyna

[Reyna Crelos]

// Third Degree Burns & Angry Demons //
...the aftermath of Sam's miniquest.

Deep below ground, in a Library whose stale air is warmed by its self-sustaining candles, stranded guardians wait, torn from their Forgotten by cruel fate. How long they had been here in prolonged agony, one cannot tell, for the day's light does not reach down here.

Pippin has his head resting in his folded arms, and he snores softly. A sudden noise jerks him upright, and gains the attention of everyone else simultaneously, though the sound is a different pitch for everyone in their own right.

Samara tugs the pant leg of the woman she suspects to be her mother- the REAL Reyna. She quivers a little as the woman turns, and her eyes are forced shut, for as the woman moves, the overhead light is revealed directly down on the baby Forgotten. She feels Fragments close by her ankles, but just as she raises her hand to block the light from her face..

The atmosphere changes. No longer is there a sweltering heat; it's a comforting heat, less violent as the one she was experiencing previously. She opens her eyes, finally, letting the cooler air kiss her face..

Another tug on her pant leg made Reyna's eyelids flutter slightly. She'd been unconscious for quite some time. Ever since Wren hit her with the vase and then that spell. That little b*****d! She was so going to get him back...! She growled faintly under her breath as she battled against a wave of dizziness and the darkness that seemed to have clouded her mind and forced her unconscious.

Her visible eye creaked open as her hands scrabbled across the floor to try and get some bearing so she might lift herself up. She froze and took in a startled breath as she peered over at her supposedly lost child.

"S-sam?" her voice croaked, whether from emotion or strain it was rather unclear.

With a surge of renewed energy she bolted up off the floor and snatched up the little girl into her arms who buried her face against her mother's neck with a faint sniffle. She was safe in her mother's arms.

Reyna took off running, bolting through the library and the house like an animal that had just been loosed from its cage. Instinct and sheer panic took control of her, guiding her through the house and finally through the doors which had led her into the hell hole in the first place. She burst free of the house, running down the steps tow and three at a time and down the cracked concrete with Sam still in her arms.

She didn't stop or dare look back behind her until she came to the bus stop that would take them to Durem. She fidgeted nervously and couldn't stay still long enough to sit down and catch her breath. She had her baby. She had Sam and she was going to take her home where it was safe. That's what they needed. They needed to be somewhere safe.

She jumped onto the bus with a sort of reckless abandon when it pulled to a stop, pushing her way past a few other passengers before all but diving into one the seats to huddle there with her child in her arms. She hugged the babe close and with one shaking hand reached to pet at her hair to soothe the both of them.

Samara peered up at her mother with her large green eyes, tears brimming the edges. She babbled something softly and held up her arm where the woman out of the painting had grabbed her. Her panda suit was slightly charred around the edges and panic seized in Reyna's chest when she noticed it.

She choked back a fierce sounding sort of growl as she inspected the damage done with trembling hands. A sort of blind rage spread through her dizzyingly before she forced herself to breathe slowly and evenly. She couldn't save her if she completely lost whatever shreds of control she had left. She'd be useless to her daughter if she did that.

Swallowing thickly she gingerly peeled back the sleeve of the costume. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. There was no wound. Just an odd shaped scar that was shiny and new, as though it had just recently healed. Her brow furrowed in worried lines as she cupped Sam's face in her hands.

“What happened to you, little one?” she managed with a slight rasp.

Sam gurgled her response and reached to place one little hand against her mother's face, mirroring her actions, as she told Reyna in her own little way just what had happened.

The demon made a sort of choked noise and cradled Sam close. Motherhood was definitely a challenge, that much she had swiftly come to realize, but suddenly being bereft of her child was not something she had anticipated. Despite her best efforts a few stray tears trickled down her face, streaking what was left of her make-up from her costume. She never thought she could handle having a child, but now she knew she definitely couldn't handle being without her Sam.

She calmed slowly, far enough away from the Library to feel mildly at ease. The child in her arms nestled close and slowly drifted off to sleep, though she squirmed restlessly. Fragments seemed fidgety as well, but he finally managed to settle himself near Reyna's side on the seat. She didn't dare move or disturb them until the bus finally reached their stop.

Sam whined in protest when she was woken from her brief nap as her mother carried her off the bus. Waiting for her there were both Athan and Mystic. The shadow looked more than a little ruffled and he was glaring over at the other man stonily.

'I told you she'd be here.'

“And I told you she wasn't dead.”

Reyna scowled. She had a headache from hell. She didn't need the two of them making it worse. “And I'm telling you both. I want to go home. NOW.”

Sam squirmed in her mother's arms and whined faintly before scrubbing at her face with tiny fists. She waved one hand at Mystic and her uncle. Stupid boys! Couldn't they see they needed to take them both home? She was tired, cranky, and didn't feel well. All she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and sleep where she knew she was safe.

Mystic stepped forward as though to try and take the girl into his own arms, but Reyna growled and took a step back to keep him away. She was not letting go of her child. Not until they were home.

“Come along,” Athan murmured quietly, a concerned look on his face, “Let's get you all home, hm?” He reached out with one hand to open a portal before motioning the group to head on through. He trailed after them so that he might close it when they reached the other side.

Wordlessly Reyna drifted into the house after Mystic unlocked it and padded directly towards her room to collapse into bed with one arm curled protectively about both child and daemon.

Mystic stood in the door way before all but jumping when Athan laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Let them rest. They obviously need it.”

He nodded but said nothing as Athan walked away. He simply stayed there to watch over them as they slept.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Smokey Reappears //
... and is apparently bonded to a child.

Sam wailed loudly as Reyna bustled into the shop. She'd hoped that she would've calmed some over lunch, but if anything she was crying even more loudly. She swayed side to side as she held the babe, hoping to soothe her some but nothing seemed to be working. Her fever had broken, but she was still terribly cranky and the burn on her arm was still a bit sore. All in all, it left for one cranky baby, but Reyna wasn't about to leave her at home. Even Fragments was acting rather pathetic perched on her should and moping! She simply hoped that Athan decided to stay at home. He'd no doubt complain and she didn't really want to dea--

"What is going on here?" asked the very man she didn't want to see from the door way of the back room.

"Well I couldn't leave her at home," Reyna snapped as she cradled Sam closer despite her feeble protests. Mystic appeared near her side as though to defend her from the other should he choose to complain about the child's cries disrupting the shop.

"Well obviously," Athan snapped right back before he reached to pluck the child from her mother's arms without even asking. "What's wrong with her?"

Reyna gaped over at the man mouth open in a look of faint surprise before it quickly washed away. She hadn't seen much of Athan lately. It was easy to forget that he had a soft spot for Sam.

'Or really capable of feeling anything at all,' Mystic grumbled in a faint shared whisper against his guardian's mind.

She shot him a look to keep him from stirring up trouble before turning her attention back to Athan who'd almost miraculously managed to stop Sam's tears for the time being. Fragments even hopped from her shoulder to his to snuggle up against his neck.

"I.. I.. I actually.. I don't know," she admitted with a bit of trouble before pressing a hand to her face. "It's complicated. She's got a fever, though that keeps spiking. Just today it's gone down and there's a burn on her wrist."

Athan blinked down at Sam who merely stared back up at him with huge, watery green eyes. She gurgled something nonsensical that sounded as though she were chiming in with her mother to tell him just how awful everything was. He smiled gently and stroked the child's soft hair before he placed one hand against her back and murmured something soft into her ear. She smiled sweetly and seemed to visibly relax with a faint mumbled noise.

"... b*****d. How do you always make s**t like that look so damn easy?" Reyna asked a bit hotly. Really. He always managed to show up at her most inconvenient moment and fix things with a snap of his fingers as though it were nothing at all. At least he was helpful.

'Helpful in a way that makes me want to kick his face in,' Mystic chimed up.

"Shhh!" Reyna hissed.

Athan merely smirked as he continued to cradle Sam in his arms.

Mordecai waltzed into Athan's shop, licking the last bits of a pastry off his fingers. "Hmmm... I think this is where Die said they had smashing jewelry." Mor let his eyes wander, which naturally fell on about every behind of everyone in the store. "Hmmmm.... nice."

"Oh Smexy Die!!!" the man in the tophat swung the snake around in his arms, "Don't you just look smashing today! How have you been?" Mor obviously didn't care for what kind of scene he was making, and was thoughly enjoying himself.

"You flatter me so!" Die grinned with a coy sort of look as he looped an arm around Mor's shoulders comfortable. "I have been well, but I'm infinitely better now that I'm in your company," he told him with a smirk as he idly toyed with a lock of the other's hair. Truly, he was just as outrageous as his friend. It was a wonder he managed to survive under the same roof as Reyna.

"Oooh!" He pulled away from Mor to slither over towards one of the glass cases. "Seems Athan got a new shipment of things in!"

"Just yesterday," Reyna spoke up from where she'd settled herself at her desk. She watched the both of them ublinkingly like a hawk ready to swoop down upon them if they made the slightest ill move. "Let me know if you want to take a closer look at any of it."

"You make it hard to not flatter you, my dear," Mor smirked his wicked smile. "Oh, now those are quite exsquisite!" He pressed his face to the glass like a kid in a candy store, "ooOOOooh! look at that one Die! You should try it on!" He pointed to a very large brooch with many stones in it.

"Ma'am! we would like to look at all of these!" Mor motioned to the case. "You know you want to try them on Die-love," he smirked.

Mor turned to the new customers and waived hello before turning his attentions back to the snakeman.

"It is lovely," the medusa replied with a small smile quirking at his painted red lips, "And it is my favorite color!" Red, of course.

Reyna silently made her way over towards the two with a sidelong glance towards Mystic who simply nodded and disappeared from view to check on Sam for her. The glass faded away when she touched it with her palm flat against the surface and she retrieved the brooch from where it lay in it's velvety display. A small smile tugged at her mouth as she pinned the jewelry to his jacket despite her best efforts. Okay. She really did find Charles, or Die as he preferred to be called, a bit entertaining even if she did think him to be rather ridiculous.

"EEE! I love it," he squealed. It was almost dangerously close to being gaudy, but somehow the snake managed to pull it off. Then again, his typical attire was rather over the top anyway so it blended right in.

"It's an variety of red garnets, I believe," she stated matter-of-factly before her gaze traveled slowly away from the medusa and his.. interesting friend. Mystic was plotting something. She kept getting random waves of giddy amusement, and it most definately was not her own.

She strayed from thoughts of trying to figure out what sort of mischief her Shadow was up to when she heard the door jingle and someone say hello. Her visible eye narrowed in a tick of what very well could have been irritation. What did he want? Did he really have to come to this particular shop? She huffed a bit as she realized that those sorts of thoughts would simply get her worked up and that, in the long run, would be a very, very bad thing. A repeat of what happened when she was trapped in the Library wouldn't be good. Particularly since Wren wasn't there to stop her.

Then again. That was an entertaining thought. She moved to say hello, but stopped short. Athan beat her to the other man. Well that was disappointing, particularly as she realized if worse did come to worse, Athan could stop her, too. Damn.

Mor stood there and looked over the snake, he looked very stunning, as always. "That fits you very nicely, my dear. What do you think?" he winked, "It does match your lipstick rather well I might add."

Mor resisted giving Die's bottom a pat for now and turned his attention to Reyna. "Ma'am...," he leaned on the counter, "This piece doesn't have any like.. ghosties and stuff in it does it?"

Pippin grins first at Athan, then converging with Reyna, despite all warning signs to steer clear the woman. They hadn't exactly had the best of times down in that library.. But things of logic like this don't necessarily strike the poor, thick headed man, and he clearly flaunts this.

"Aha, such a day in Gaia as this~" he giggles softly, shuffling aside when Mythos taps on his calf. The Adu shyly slips inside and finds some vacant space where he can have his back against a wall. Not far after, hacking and hissing loudly, his Adu twin scrambles inside. He flashes a row of sharp teeth at everyone, his scrawny tail cracking the air behind him.

Mor scooted a bit closer to Die, one to get a little bit out of harms way of whatever had just come in, and two, as more of an excuse to get closer to his friend.

Die squealed with a start, as he glanced up and saw Mystic fading into view. It scared him every time he did that!

'No. It doesn't,' the Shadow replied with a rather wicked look on his face as he drifted through the wall and the counter Mor was leaning on so that he was very nearly face to face with the man. 'But that one,' he pointed towards Mythos and the rather large gem he held close to him concealed in cloth, 'Most certainly does.'

Reyna's visible eye widened and she paled slightly as she closed the case with a snap of her fingers and padded towards Pippin with quick strides. She glanced from the lime-haired man to Athan who had fallen silent after Mystic spoke up. "Oh no you didn't."

Whether she was accusing Pip or Athan wasn't very clear, but the low growl in her voice sounded threatening one way or another.

Mythos visibly shrinks at the tone of Reyna's voice, cuddling the concealed stone close to his chest. It had been the one true possession that his twin had never successfully been able to claim or destroy, much to Crow's disappointment.

Pippin cocks his head to the side, looking rather silly - so, nothing out of the ordinary. "Say what now?" he says, beaming needlessly.

Mor hugged his squealy partner. "Would you be interested in a walk, sweetness?", he slipped him a kiss on the cheek and slid his credit card behind Die's back to Reyna. "It is such a nice warm night."

Mystic floated over towards the child with a softer, more kind look on his face. He bent down onto his knees so he was eye-level with him. 'And I wonder,' he stated in a calm, quiet voice, 'How this little one managed to get a hold of Smokey.'

"What I want to know is why THIS man," Reyna pointed at Pippin accusingly, "Has a Fie--.. SMOKEY?!" She fell silent and reeled back a step or two before her gaze settled heavily upon Athan who simply looked pale and more than a little confused. She jerked visibly when a plaintive cry rose within the shop. Torn, she paused for only a moment before leaving in an angry flurry to tend to her daughter after gruffly handing Mor's credit card to Athan.

'It's not the man's,' Mystic spoke up, causing Reyna to pause near the doorway, 'She belongs to the child.'

Athan sighed heavily, shook his head, and headed towards the register to ring up Die and Mor's purchase before all but shooing them out the door to lock it behind them. They were going to have some explaining to do, as it was more than a little obvious Pippin hadn't the faintest clue as to what was really going on.

Pippin blinks, giving a blank stare all around. "A FiSmokey?" he laughs uneasily, rubbing the back of his neck. "I.. really don't know what you're talking about, but I can see that you're not in the greatest of moods. I'll drop by for a visit.. some .. other time!"

Crow emits a throaty growl and clumsily tosses himself in front of his brother. Although Mystic poses no threat, the corruption Adu wants nothing more than to stick his nose into his brother's business. He shoots a glare over his shoulder at his brother, who cowers even lower than before, his wings drooping from their momentary pride.

And all the while the precious stone is clutched against his quickly beating heart..

Athan urged Reyna into the back room with a few quiet words as Sam's cries grew louder and Fragments began pawing at the door almost frantically in order to bring someone's attention to his girl. He offered the lime haired man a small smile.

"No need to rush off. And no.. it's uh.. not a FiSmokey.. it's a Fiend," he spoke up. He gestured towards the two Adu. "The smokey quartz stone one of your children has contains .. a soul. It is a Shadow Fiend."

'Like me.' Mystic didn't turn his gaze away from Mythos. Instead, he crept forward despite Crow's presence and merely floated right over him in a ghostly sort of manner. 'No one can take her from you,' he assured in a quiet whisper against the child's mind so only he could hear, 'She'll likely never leave you, either. She wouldn't want to.'

He wasn't completely certain about what he said simply because he knew the soul that was contained within the stone, but he knew without a doubt it would definately be difficult for her to do so. Fiends did quite literally shadow every step their guardian's took and being away from them for any length of time was never easy.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Metaplot: Somebody's Eden - Part I //
Within the shadows...

It was early enough in the morning that it was still dark. The sun had just barely begun to rise, leaving the sky a bruised, wine color admist pitch black. It was how a typical day for Athan usually began. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary until he arrived at the shop.

He stopped before the ornate door and frowned.

"What is it?" piped up a small voice from inside the folds of the hood of his robes. Lorelei squirmed her way out and moved to stand on his shoulder to take a better look.

Bright green eyes squinted irritably at the note posted against the door. It was pinned there with a small, ornate dagger. It reminded him faintly of one he had once owned -- one he had believed he had lost a very long time ago. He glanced from the note towards the glass windows.

For the briefest of moment it looked as though something were moving inside of the shop.

"Well?" Lorelei questioned.

"It's a note."

"Good job, Captain Obvious."

Athan rolled his eyes, but otherwise said nothing until Lorelei took to the air and made as though to land on the hilt of the dagger.

"No! Don't touch it. Don't touch anything. It could very easily be spelled!" he warned, startling the poor fairy which sent her careening back towards him to nearly crash against his shoulder. He caught her gently with one hand to keep her from falling, before he turned his attention back to the note to focus on the writing.

"What's the hold up?" came Reyna's disgruntled voice a few yards away. "Don't tell me. We're having a picnic on the sidewa -- what the ********?" she paused next to Athan before leaning in close to read the note. Drawing away, she glanced over at Athan with a faint smirk twitching at her lips.

"You've got fanmail."

Athan pinned her with a look that clearly stated that he was not amused. The fairy huddled on his shoulder giggled aloud at the remark, but otherwise the group of them fell silent save for Sam who was wriggling impatiently in her mother's arms. Fragments, too, seemed impatient and disliked hovering there staring at the door. Strangely, despite his seemingly quiet nature, it was Mystic who spoke up as he phased into view just behind his guardian.

'It sounds like a threat.'

"Indeed," Athan murmured, "But the question is, from who?" The one person that he knew for certain would go to such lengths to antagonize him was most certainly no longer around -- at least mostly. Last he had seen Smokey, afterall, was in the hands of a small child. A wisp was hardly a threat to him.

"Dunno. But I'd say whoever it is you've certainly stepped on their toes," Reyna chimed in before glancing towards Athan slowly. ".... are we gonna stand out here all day?"

He shook his head no, the frown on his face deepening into a dark scowl. "Give me a moment," he replied as he stood back away from the door and drew a circle within the air with one hand. The lines he made there seemed to crack and fizzle in the air before shining a bright green sort of like a sparkler that had just been lit.

Sam squealed and failed out towards Athan with one hand. Reyna smiled despite herself as she held the babe's hands back. It was ironic, that the first sign of happiness the child had shown since the little 'incident' that had befallen upon her was during a rather grave moment. Life was simply strange that way.

The same circular design appeared on the palm of Athan's outstretched hand. The ideal way to break whatever curse had been placed upon the shop itself would be to touch it, but he wasn't nearly so stupid. From what he could now see through the circle he had cast midair, it was a very sloppily made spell as well. It was almost as though they wanted him to see through it and break it.

He drew in a deep breath and muttered a few low phrases under his breath in an odd, lyrical language. It sent the circle that was hovering midair flying towards the door. It crackled even more and burnt into the wood, something that made Athan frown even more. He was going to have to replace the damn door.

The spell disapated with a faint, shimmering vapor. It made the paint on the door curl and peel back, and he knew for almost certain that the wood would be rotten. Better the door than one of them or one of their customers. Leprosy was not so fun, or so he would assume.

Reyna moved forward to stand next to Athan. "The note wasn't damaged. Nor the dagger."

"They knew what they were doing."

Mystic moved towards the windows and pressed both palms flat across the glass as he peered inside. His bright violet eyes widened slightly in a look of surprise. 'Something.. is in there.'

Athan grumbled and pressed a hand to his face. "I thought so."

Without any sort of warning, Mystic allowed himself to phase through the glass, but kept his transparent form just in case. Almost as soon as he entered into the shop he came right back out in a backwards stumble. At the very same moment a hideous, black, scale covered beast crashed against the glass, causing it to crack.

'It isn't a very pleasant something!'

The beast snarled and snapped its massive jaws against the glass before retreating back into the shop interior. It wasn't the sort of creature known to exist within the realm of Gaia, that much Athan was certain of. It was a rather ferocious animal thought to be extinct -- a creature from the world he was originally from. All living things there, or at least things that once lived there, were believed to no longer exist. Last that he had seen, everything had been destroyed. He had not returned since.

Reyna looked rather shocked, but it quickly dissovled when the thing began to howl and claw its way through the door. She handed Sam off to Mystic to get her out of harm's way. Not a moment later the beast had managed to break its muzzle though the hole it had created at the bottom of the door. The demon dashed forward quickly to snatch the dagger out of the door despite how Mystic yelled at her not to. Fear ran through her but she was quite certain it wasn't her own. She blocked him out entirely with an apologetic murmur. She'd be damned if she was going to face the thing unarmed.

"I wouldn't advice attacking it directly unless it attacks you first," Athan warned, "The only place you'd be able to pierce its flesh is its underbelly. Its scales are as tough as metal."

Another chilling howl rose into the air and echoed in the empty streets. They would have to kill the creature. Letting it run free through Durem wouldn't be so wise an idea. The risk of someone being attacked was far too great.

Reyna glanced from the door briefly to eye Athan as he cast a small spell to open a portal. He withdrew a long, fierce looking sword. For a moment it appeared tarnished and rusted over, but once fully grasped in the man's hand it gleamed a bright silver as though having just been polished.

"What?" she teased, "Not going to blast it away with spells?"

"It's immune to that sort of thing. It feeds upon magic."

The demon's visible eye widened in surprise. Someone had some explaining to do. He seemed to know quite a bit about the monster they were up against. Either way, she didn't have much time to ponder that thought. The creature was nearly through the door, and it did not sound very happy.

It broke free and skidded to a halt before the two of them to growl low under its breath. It barked in warning and its fangs dripped with salivia that sizzled when it hit the pavement. It circled in slowly, and Athan couldn't help but remember the last time he'd encountered such a creature. That had been a very, very long time ago. He'd only been a teenager.

Its attention seemed to be primarily focused on Athan as it hardly even glanced towards Reyna. Considering it was the sort of creature to eat faeries and sorts of small magical creatures, it wasn't surprising as it would be attracted to the scent of magic. That thought made Athan pale slightly, but Lorelei wasn't on his shoulder. He simply hoped where ever she had flown to, it was somewhere safe and out of reach.

A low growl was all the warning Athan had before it attacked. It snarled and lashed a long, whip-like tail through the air and managed to grab the man by the ankle. He'd been far too focused on trying to keep the beast from biting him to pay attention to its tail. He cursed as it dragged him down to the ground, but as he fell he did manage to wound part of it's gruesome face causing it to recoil slightly.

"Athan!" Reyna yelled, "Don't move!"

An incredulous look passed over his face as he abandoned his sword and decided simply trying to keep it from eating him was probably a good idea as he had teeth snapping only a few inches from his face.

"EASY for YOU to SAY!" Really, was she out of her mind?! A faint whisk of air passed right over his face before the dagger the woman had snatched landed with a 'thunk' in the side of the beast's neck. Maybe she wasn't so crazy. He grabbed the knife before the creature retreated and plunged it under its chin. It swayed slightly as it's dark blood poured down onto Athan's chest before collapsing.

"Getitoffofmenow!" Athan hissed as he shoved at the corpse.

"Don't tell me you're squeamish," Reyna teased as she moved to help him up and pushed the beast aside with one boot-clad foot.

"Nonono! The blood is poisonous!" Athan explained in a rush of syllables as he tried to squirm out of his robes.

"Stop moving!" Reyna ordered as she pulled a small pocket knife out of her bag and cut the robes off of him entirely to leave him standing there with nothing more than his trousers and dress shoes. "There! ... woah," she declared before pausing. There were burns along his arms and on his chest from where the blood had seeped through.

Athan stumbled slightly as he walked. He had thought he'd felt sick before, now it was infinitely worse with the poison in his system. Reyna caught him by the arm and hauled him towards the back room after making sure there was nothing waiting there to attack them as well. The fact that the man didn't so much as protest was sign enough that he was unwell. What's more, it unnerved her how the strange looking burns on his chest and hands seemed to be ever so slowly increasing in severity.

"I'll be fine," he grumbled after he sat down on the couch, one hand clutching at his pendant. "I'll go home and find the spell that's the antidote later."

"Fine my a**. And you better," Reyna hissed as she pointed at him accusingly. "If you die and leave me with this mess..!" she warned as she waved both hands around dramatically to indicate both the shop and the Shadows in general.

"Spare me," Athan retorted with a faint glimmer of a smile as his eyelids sifted half closed, "I'm not that cruel or so fortunate."

Reyna paced restlessly until Mystic arrived carrying Sam in his arms. She took the child from the Shadow and cradled her close to pacify herself somewhat. "What was that thing anyway?"

"It's.. a beast from the world I'm from, actually. It preys on small magical creatures, and usually avoids contact with any sort of being bigger than itself. Thought to be nonexistant now, but somehow.. someone found one," he explained with a dizzied wave of one hand. "Though I can't recall the name of it."

'Mirtoche. Also known as the faerie eater. Or at least one of them.'

Athan glanced up with a sort of awed expression as he peered over at the Shadow.

"And how the hell do you know that?" Reyna asked with a sort of bewildered look on her face.

"I'd like to know the same," Athan added.

Mystic simply shrugged. 'I don't know.'

'No really,' Reyna insisted, hands on her hips with a demanding look on her face.

'I. Don't. Know.'

The woman continued to interrogate him reguardless, and neither really seemed to notice the dark shadow that slipped inside the front end of the shop to neatly tuck the note from before under a paperweight on Reyna's desk after signing the bottom. It disappeared discreetly, entirely unnoticed, and took the corpse of the beast along with it.

"There is a chance he came across the name within a spell book when he studied as my student for a time," Athan spoke up as he noted that Reyna was simply becoming more and more irrate. He knew that was never a good thing where she was concerned.

"Fine. I'll buy that for now," she growled out as she glanced towards Mystic suspiciously.

He simply glared right back. He was just as stubborn as she was. Sure, he hated Athan, but he wasn't dumb enough to endanger all of them at once just to get rid of him. Nevermind the death of Athan could very well mean the death of himself. He wasn't about to risk that.

'Really, Reyna. Why would I do such a thing?' he asked in a venomous voice as he shifted forward and invaded her personal space, 'Do I look that stupid?'

"I've no idea. But you have information you shouldn't have and you've been terribly quiet here lately. Last time that happened.. well.. let's not revisit that time, shall we?" she smiled with sharp, fanged teeth.

Mystic fisted his hands at his sides out of frustration. He was more than a little offended. What made it sting worse was that he realized her reasoning wasn't entirely unjustified. Didn't she know how sorry he was for everything that had happened? Apparently not, and that hurt in a way he couldn't really describe. It was a new sort of pain he didn't like.

He looked very much like he wanted to say something else but by chance he glanced away from Reyna towards Athan. His eyes had slipped closed and he looked dangerously pale. The poison was spreading and there were patches of discoloration around the burns themselves to prove it. He gasped at the sight of him looking so sickly and pale which drew Reyna's attention to him as well.

"Oh <********> no," she nearly yelled as she bent down and shook the man by his shoulders, "Wake up!"

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Metaplot: Greeting the Guardians //
Collecting ingredients for the spell...

Elysia stepped around shards of broken glass and splintered wood from the door, examining the shop. The jewelry cases remained intact, but everything else seemed to be in shambles. Whatever had done this was very powerful, she knew. Labbie seemed to be stalking the shop, wondering what had happened. She bobbled back and forth, looking really uncomfortable. Something was bothering her, Elysia could tell.

Walking to the back of the shop, she saw Mystic, who looked rather stoic...That wasn't too unusual of course, but there was a sharp feeling of anxiety in the air. "Mystic...I got Renya's note," she said breathlessly. She had been rushing around as quickly as possible for the past few hours, and she was tired. Hopefully everyone else had gathered the rest of the ingredients already, or maybe they were all coming.

"Here's my ingredient, Cradolith. It was a bit...challenging to find. I hope it helps," she said, her voice strained. "Keep me updated on how he's doing, okay?" she added, sounding worried. She pulled the box out of her pocket, and opened it for him, revealing the vial inside.

Labbie hovered around the box, looking as if she were willing Mystic to take it from Elysia. Once the transaction was complete, Labbie gave off a feeling of relief...as if something pressing were now over. And Elysia supposed that it was.

"We really have to get home," she said, looking out the window into the night. It had gotten very dark outside, and it was almost ominous. "It's been a long day. Let me know how things go," she added, stepping back through to the front of the shop. "Thanks Mystic. Good luck. Wish Athan a get well soon for both Labbie and I."

With that, she turned and walked back out through the broken door, into the night.

And then she realized.

s**t.

It was too late to call another cab...She's have to hoof it home.

Labbie couldn't care one way or another. She settled into the underside of Elysia's hair, just along for the ride.

Mystic accepted the box with a gracious nod. 'Thank you. We'll keep you informed.' He looked somewhat relieved. Elysia's appearence meant the notes had arrived as planned, and they now had one less thing to worry about.

Neko eyed the doorframe a little bit from outside, peering at the broken glass resting on the floor. There had been a fight... The stench of darkness had been left in the room, most unable to smell such a thing; having lived in the shadows for so long, however, she knew when they were out and about. Her gold eyes lifted to take in the damage of the room, a bit curious as to what had actually happened. Things didn't just destory most of a building for no reason.

"Hello?" she called out, her shoes shuffling around the glass as she stepped inside.

"You didn't have to come with me," Demare grumbled, cautiously making his way in after his guardian. Chrys was in his hand, a feeling of uneasiness washing over the child's body. In his free hand was a plastic sack, appearing to be full of something.

The strong scent of flowers wafted about, Neko having insisted he be practically drenched in a perfume in an attempt to get rid of the smell from the swamp.

"Since when did I ever have to listen to you?" she retorted, rolling her eyes a little bit. "I'm the adult here, remember? Besides... I have to find out something."

The sounds of footsteps and movement in the front end of the shop alerted Reyna immediately, though she simply froze where she stood hovering near Athan and listened silently. If it were a threat, she would want to have enough time to get Athan out of the way before a fight broke out.

'I shall go and check again. It had only been Elysia before,' Mystic murmured softly against her mind and attempted to soothe her somewhat. Reguardless of how irritated he was with her over her previous accusations, she was still his guardian.

He drifted away from her side and phased through the wall into the front shop, remaining for the time being entirely invisible as he blended in with the darkness of the shop.

"Chrys.." Athan managed between labored breaths as he attempted to explain the presence in the front of the shop.

Neko held her hand out for Demare to stop, her ears perking up as she seemed to listen for something. ...Someone had entered the room. She could feel it, though... it felt very faint.

"Show yourself," she demanded, her tail bristling slightly as she grew on edge.

Chrys, feeling Mystic enter the room, zoomed right out of the child's hand and smacked right into the back wall. Dread overcame Demare's body, but at the same time a sense of curiosity. It was near! Something like itself was so near, and it was dying to see what it was! And... Athan? Was Athan here too?

"I think... I think its something like Chrys," Demare said quietly, trying to make sense of the feelings. "He's never seen anyone like himself before, but I remember Hawk giving off similar signatures to this presense."

Mystic stifled a quiet chuckle as he made himself visible so that the people that accompanied Chrys might see him as well. He phased the rest of the way through the wall, cloak billowing about him as he did so which lent him an eerie, ghost-like appearence.

'I would assume you recieved the message.'

...That thing was supposed to be like Chrys? That little stone was going to turn into THAT? Inwardly, she hoped not. One more resident in the house was not what Domonic needed. Her thoughts turned to the unpolished crystal in her pocket, wondering if it would end up going through the same sort of ordeal.

"Yes," she answered for Demare, cautiously taking a step forward. "He got what was requested. However, before we give it to you, I would like to speak with Reyna."

Chrys was now very excited, happy to finally be able to see another fiend. Had he any hands, he would have been waving them about wildly, the little green stone floating close and tapping against Mystic's stone a little bit. It was so hard to contain the joy!

However, at the same time, he was still feeling very worried. He tried to project that worry toward the other fiend, wondering if it would understand.

He simply nodded quietly and reached to cup the little wisp in one hand. Feeling its joy was a bit of relief over the emotions that had washed over him since arriving at the shop early that morning. Some of them were his, but then there were those of his guardian and Athan's which were somewhat difficult to block out when they were strong emotions.

'Athan will be well. Reyna would not let him die so easily.' After all, he was both Wren and her's favorite person to torture. So entertaining an individual would be hard to replace!

The door to the back room creaked open tentatively and Reyna stepped through before quickly shutting it behind her. "Yes?" she muttered, voice somewhat strained with fatigue and barely checked anger, though little of it was directed towards the visitors within the shop..

Chrys was relieved at hearing this, hovering comfortably over Mystic's palm as he stayed by the fiend. He wasn't used to being seen by anyone other than Demare (and Neko, from time to time), the little wisps surrounding the stone growing and dancing more than usual.

Neko's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing the woman. Of course... Who else would be fit enough to run a shop like this?

"I should have expected this," she said quietly, placing her arm down her her side as she relaxed a little bit. "Who other than a demon would be able to run a place like this?"

"Can we just get this over with?" Demare grumbled, the bag starting to feel a little heavy in his hands. "I don't like the feeling of this."

Her tail flicked a little bit as she glanced over her shoulder at the boy, a bit curious about the fact that he was growing uneasy. Maybe it was just Chrys' feelings bothering him.

"That... figure," she started to say, turning her eyes to watch Mystic for a moment. "Is Chrys going to become something like that in the future? Where did they come from?"

No... these weren't the questions she wanted to ask. She wanted to ask something else. She wanted to make sure these things had nothing to do with him.

"Just my luck. Another kittykitty to harrass me," Reyna snapped right back. Really, she had terrible luck with cats, particularly those in human form, "And for the record, I just work here. Thanks. Athan owns the place, and currently? I'm kinda trying to keep him alive." She folded her arms over her chest crossly and glowered over at Neko stonily.

'He is a Shadow as I am,' Mystic answered for his guardian since it was plainly obvious she wasn't about to provide them with any sort of information, 'In time he will grow. As for where we came from.. we came from many places. As I understand it, the stones which contain our souls were scattered across many different worlds.'

Oh, she was NOT giving her lip.

"Now, look here..." she started, but was interrupted as Demare tugged on her sleeve. Neko sighed, knowing that getting angry wasn't going to solve anything, much less give her the answers she wanted. "Listen. You help me, and I'll help you."

Taking the bag from Demare, she held it up, a tight fist around the top. It was so hard to control her temper when it came to the demon lord. That... b*****d.

"I'll give this to you, but only if you swear to the Gods that these THINGS have nothing to do with Shadow!"

It wasn't that she hated them. In fact, she found Chrys to be quite amusing, and was partially thankful to the fiend for helping soothe Demian's tortured soul. The words had just come out, however, even she not liking how it sounded.

Hearing Mystic's words, the halfling grew more interested in him than the current situation. Cautiously, he made his way over, his bi-colored eyes fixated on Chrys as curiosity washed over him.

"You're a shadow, too?" he asked, his wings fidgetting a little bit. "And... Chrys is supposed to be like you. Who's Athan? The letter sounded like I'm supposed to know him."

Reyna resisted the urge to laugh. Now she wanted to strike up a deal? And with someone she knew to be a demon, no less. She had guts. She'd give the woman that much. "Considering I've no bloody idea who anyone by the name of Shadow is, I can easily confirm that. Particularly since the man responsible for their existence is a human who doesn't really seem all that fond of demons despite the fact that he occassionally will admit to associating himself with me as a business partner."

She fell quiet and stared at the woman pointedly. There. She got her info. It was her turn, now.

'I am,' was Mystic's quiet reply as his violet eyes danced with mirth, 'And Chrys is exactly like me. Athan is.. Athan is the one who has released our souls from within the confines of our stones.'

There was a sense of relief that washed over the hanyou as she heard the words, happy to hear that none of this was some ruse Shadow was doing to try and catch her. He must have found the stone by mistake... The ghost in the corner DID say the stones were from different worlds.

"Good," she simply stated, her ears swivveling a little bit as she tossed the bag to the other woman. It wasn't a hard throw, but it was enough to get it across the room. "There... the Red Death. He managed to cut off half a vine, since he didn't know how much you needed."

Chrys was a soul? Trapped in that little stone...

"Can I meet him?" he asked. Demare knew the man wasn't well, but he wanted to put a face to the name. He was interested in knowing more about Chrys, after all, despite how annoying the wisp could be.

Mystic glanced from his guardian to Demare a bit uncertainly. Reyna didn't look too thrilled over the idea, but she was appeased for the time being since she had one more of the ingredients.

"For a moment," she spoke up, "But be careful not to touch him or anything around him. The poison doesn't bother me at all, but.. there's no guarantee that everyone else on Gaia is immune, and I sure as hell am not going to attempt to cast this spell more than once."

She huffed a bit irritably and eyed Neko for a moment before opening the door and stepping inside, fully expecting them to follow of their own accord.

Mystic simply shot Demare a bemused look and gently nudged Chrys back towards him before sifting back through the wall into the back room.

Demare raised a brow at the mention of the poison, and how the woman was supposed immune to it. Was that simply a demon thing, or just her?

I'd probably be immune to it to, if I were still alive, he thought to himself. My own blood was poison, after all.

I'm impressed, Demian, Clare piped up. You haven't blown up at anyone yet.

Don't push your luck.

The child followed after Reyna after Chrys was back in his hand, his wings drawing close to his back as his eyes peered about the room. There was a sense of wonder washing over him, accompanied again by the feeling of dread.

"Chrys seems... scared about something," he finally commented. "Does he know Athan, too? He starts feeling funny whenever he's mentioned."

"He ought to," Reyna spoke up as she idly glanced towards the child and eyed the wisp that was hovering near him, "Athan is his maker, after all. The fear could come from the impending doom that would be his death if Athan dies."

"I..." Athan managed weakly as he coughed to one side with a muttered curse at his own weakness, ".. am not.. going to die."

"Yeah?" Reyna taunted as she moved to help him sit up from where he lay, "You look a bit closer to death with each passing moment. I'm not so convinced."

"Shut.. up," he grumbled as his bright green eyes creaked open faintly to take in his visitors. Another child with a wisp? Interesting. A pity he hadn't the energy to question him about how he came about it. He was far paler than usual. So much so that his skin held a translucent quality to it so that the blue of his veins was visible around his temples and down his arms. He was hardly the looming figure of darkness he typically attempted to present himself as.

Demare couldn't help the words that came out of his mouth.

"Well... you look like s**t."

Immediately, he threw his hand over his mouth to prevent anything else to be said, as he knew he could go on. However, Demian knew better than the insult stronger beings, remembering what happened when he got smartmouthed in the past. Neko was an exception; he knew she wouldn't kill him. These people, however, didn't need a valid reason to hurt him.

Chrys, upon seeing Athan, quickly floated toward the man, circling around his head several times before stopping in front of him, giving off that feeling of joy again. It was as if he couldn't make up his mind to be afraid or to be happy; he hadn't seen anyone in so long, maybe that was messing with his emotions. Or, perhaps he was merely glad that the other wasn't dead.

Despite his efforts to stifle his laughter due to the pain it would bring, Athan failed miserably. Another coughing fit ensued, but a weak smile graced his features reguardless. At least the kid was honest. He sighed faintly and his eyes slid closed. Chrys' joy was comforting as was the amusement he derived from his guardian's brutal honesty.

He... laughed? Maybe this guy wouldn't be so bad after all. Dropping his hand back to his side, he contemplated asking more questions, but was unsure of bothering Athan too much today. He was weak, and should have been resting, but it appeared to him that he was stubborn.

"You created them, right?" Demare asked, twitching as Chrys' emotions flew off the charts, causing him more annoyance. "Will they always be trapped? Or can they be freed somehow?"

He didn't like the idea of souls being imprisoned. After all, he had been sealed in the back of the body's mind until he managed to break free.

Athan nodded weakly, small smile still twitching at his lips. "They.. are free.. as a Fiend.." he managed. He wanted desperately to elaborate but mustering the energy to speak was slowly taking its toll.

"If you come back when he's well, he'll be able to explain the situation a bit more clearly," Reyna interjected as she reached to gently touch Athan's shoulder to cast a small healing spell. It would do very little, but it did seem to ease his pain somewhat.

Athan nodded weakly, small smile still twitching at his lips. "They.. are free.. as a Fiend.." he managed. He wanted desperately to elaborate but mustering the energy to speak was slowly taking its toll.

"If you come back when he's well, he'll be able to explain the situation a bit more clearly," Reyna interjected as she reached to gently touch Athan's shoulder to cast a small healing spell. It would do very little, but it did seem to ease his pain somewhat.

It was a very sticky pair that next graced the door of Twilight Designs. Rather than go home and risk Athan taking a turn for the worse, Ying had insisted they come directly to the shop with all the Lilicai fruit they had managed to salvage. The shop was not nearly as cheerful as it had been on Halloween however, making the Jumi a bit nervous as she knocked at the door.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Yeine inquired. "It looks closed."

"Yeah, I'm sure. This is it."

To everyone's surprise, Tsavorite popped out of her hiding place, but did not try to interfere. Instead she bobbed up and down slowly, in agreement.

The door wobbled a bit when she knocked. Mystic phased half through the door to see who it was before sifting back through to actually pick up the door and set it aside so that the two girls might enter.

'Sorry,' he stated matter of factly in a very calm manner, 'It's broken.'

"We're sorry for disturbing it then," Yeine replied politely. Or as politely as she could, considering she was face to face with something that just floated THROUGH a door. Before she had thought that Tsavorite would turn out something like Ying. Now, it was clear that she was mistaken.

More shy around the older Fiend than she was with Tsavorite, it took Ying several seconds to pipe up. When she did, her voice was high and she spoke quickly, as if talking faster would help everything. "I got the message, and we tried to find the fruit stuff. I'm sorry it's so late, we had a little trouble. Not that it was troublesome or anything, just that we had to try a couple things. And we were lucky the man at the market was nice."

Taking a deep breath, Ying held out a small parcel of fruit, wrapped in a torn piece of her skirt lining. Another deep breath later, she finally asked the question that had been on her mind. "Is Mister Athan okay?"

'It is by no fault of yours that it is broken,' he murmured, a smile hinting at the tone of his voice.

Mystic's violet eyes softened as he peered down at the two girls and gently took the parcel of berries from Ying. 'He will be well again,' he spoke quietly, 'My bond has already begun preparing the spell. You are right on time.'

They weren't late then. It was such a relief that Ying visibly relaxed, letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. If anything had happened that her being there more timely could have prevented, she wasn't sure she'd be able to live with herself.

Tsavorite bobbed near Ying's shoulder, studying the fully-grown fiend in front of them. He was a bit intimidating to the wisp, but also a promising example of what she might become. Of course, she would be better. He didn't look so tough.

Still, she kept unusually close to her bond, hovering under the shadows cast by the mane of purple hair.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Yeine asked, stepping forward so she was directly next to Ying. She hesitated for a moment, then took her friend's hand and squeezed it lightly.

Ying smiled gratefully, though her gaze was still on Mystic, her eyes echoing Yeine's question.

Idly his gaze travelled from the two girls to the wisp that was hovering in Ying's shadow. He arched a brow but said nothing before turning his attention to Yeine when she spoke up.

'Nothing at this time, but thank you very much for bringing the ingrediant. I know my guardian will be equally thankful.'

And if that was it, there was no reason for them to stay, and a bunch of sticky, gooey reasons for them to go home and wash. Still, Ying was hesitant. "Please give him our best then," she finally said, turning to go.

Not at all pleased with the reaction she got, Tsavorite stayed for a moment, completely exposed. It was only for a few seconds however. A streetlamp nearby flickered to life, causing the wisp to seek comforting darkness in her bond's sticky pockets.

Mystic nodded, eyes dancing with a bit of mischief as he eyed Tsavorite. 'Indeed I shall. Take care, both of you.'

There was a crunching noise as Allon worked to moved the broken door with one arm, the other holdign the pile of odditys Citrine had picked up. Citrine tugged on her bonded to go faster, but it wasn't liek he could phase through walls.

Citrine barrled into Mystic and held out the scales, she didn't know if it was too late. Allon caught up with her and dumpped the armful of 'gifts' onto Mystic as well, and quickly captured his little girl into his arms. he wouldn't let her go... and she could feel his heart beating strangly faster.

Mystic's bright eyes smiled upon Citrine as the things she collected were dumped into his arms. 'Thank you,' he replied softly as he reached out gingerly with one hand to pet her hair. She fairly radiated worry and upset.

'Do not fret over him too much, hm? Reyna would not willingly let him die. He will be well. Thank you again for you troubles,' he went on as he nodded both to Allon and the little Shadow that was curled in his arms.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Metaplot: Better Than Nothing //
Of spell-casting and strange voices.

He watched in silence as Reyna completed the last of the spell. It was almost hypnotic watching her work. The fluid movement of her hands marking and creating shining runes left him entranced. It almost seemed familiar to him – like a dance he had once performed long ago. He couldn't quite explain away the feeling and it served to frustrate him even more than he already was. The situation at hand was a tense one that wracked his already strained nerves. It wasn't just Athan's life on the line. His and that of his guardian were also at stake. His more so, but the thought of her somehow coming to harm did not sit well with him in the very least.

'But wouldn't it serve her right...'

Violet eyes narrowed in a tic of irritation. Who the hell..? He glanced cautiously around him. No shadows other than him were present. He'd have felt their presence clearly even if he couldn't see them. That certainly hadn't been Athan's voice. He hardly even looked well enough to speak up so clearly.

Reyna glanced towards him curiously. He was acting stranger than usual. "I've met my spell-casting quota for the day, buddy. No getting sick on me."

'I'm.. not sick.'

She arched a brow and stood with her hands on her hips. "Alright. So what's got you looking so ill?"

'Thought I heard something.'

"Like what?" She hadn't heard anything suspicious, but her attention had been focused entirely upon the spell. There was a chance that a small noise could have slipped past her senses.

'A voice.'

Her brow furrowed in worried lines. "That's strange. I think I would have noticed something like that."

Mystic nodded in response. 'I guess.. I guess it's just nerves. Anxiety.'

His bond offered him a smile before reaching to lay a comforting hand upon his shoulder. "Relax. I think he's going to be okay, you know?" she replied before shifting to stand near his side, gaze fixated upon Athan's prone form. He was already beginning to breathe easier and his heart rate was steady. All in all it was a good sign.

That, unfortunately, wasn't quite what had Mystic out of sorts. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he simply couldn't put words to it. The feelings he felt reminded him of another time not too long ago. He didn't want to go back to feeling like that; to feeling like he had no control whatsoever.

"Hey," Reyna spoke up as she turned to face him, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I don't think you did it. Besides, I'd have known pretty quick if you had."

A look of surprise filtered across Mystic's face. An apology. From Reyna. That was an unexpected, but rare gift. The tension he felt seemed to slip away and he relaxed somewhat. 'Thank you.'

She smiled again before turning her attention away from her shadow to Athan whom seemed to have regained consciousness. "How ya feeling?" she prompted as she pressed one hand against his forehead to check his temperature. It was a little closer to normal.

"L-like.. death warmed.. over," he croaked out, voice still strained and slightly hoarse. He sounded almost as though he had a cold.

"Better than nothing at all. It means you're alive."

Better than nothing. Mystic's eyes widened slightly. Better than feeling nothing.

It meant they were alive.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// A Masquerade //
Halloween mischief and mayhem.

The Masquerade Ballroom

It’s arched ceiling reaches so high that it falls into shadow, defying one to understand how so grand a room could fit within the four walls of this house. The floor, a handsome pattern of lacquered wood cut to the gloss pattern of a delicate cobweb leave one to wonder if the dancers were spiders, or flies in this case. Delicate silver threads dangle from a chandelier leaving silver sparkles in the hair and on the clothing of those who whirl beneath in the costumes and masks.

A stage set to a wild and yet gothic theme features tall stained glass windows of some Lovecraftian nightmare figure looming behind the wild haired singer and his band. Its electric sounds reach out like eerie fingers to stroke the imagination of those gathered within. Waiters and Ladies do a dance with silver trays with fluted glasses and small treats among the bustle and the press. Their faces hidden behind black lace masks trimmed in silver or gold. Others in masks of painted porcelain whisk away coats and shawls to some hidden shadowed corner where they will not be found till their owner goes wanting for it.

Long tables draped in black and royal silk line the walls with entrée’s and great crystal bowls of punch stained a deeper red to resemble an elegant bowl of gore. Novelty cups of bone china leer with skeleton faces at those who sip out of their hollow heads while they bite daintily at the vast array of foods laid out before them like the final feast.

The masquerade was crowded with both familiar and new faces. It was far larger and grander than any event Athan had hosted before. This was partly due to advertising, word of mouth, and of course the "regulars" whom had brought guests with them (or simply their Shadows, whatever the case may have been).

Mystic, while unable to gain the attention of his own bond, made company with Tsavorite -- not to mention a bit of mischief while they were at it. The party ran quite smoothly until the two Shadows decided to have a little fun. Unfortunately for those in attendence, their idea of fun ended up bringing the party to a rather eventful, dramatic, and yet somehow fitting end.

They shut off the lights, switched around the breaker box circuits, and then terrorized the guests within the main ballroom. While their goal was to frighten and terrorize, which they achieved, it being Halloween made the events seem almost commonplace. If anything, those still milling about thought the theatrics that Athan had “arranged” ended the party quite nicely.

Athan fumed, as per usual, furious with the both of them, but what was he truly to do? It was Halloween, afterall.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Metaplot: Nightmare Before Christmas //
The waking world that-was, and the dream realm that could-be..

"Man, I hate peak season. I'll be damn glad when the madness ends," Reyna muttered with a grumble after the last customer of the day shuffled out the door. She smirked as she locked the door firmly. No more last-minute-shopping-idiots for her! The demon turned to heads towards her desk to start cleaning up before she was interrupted by a soft cry.

"Aww... Sam sweetheart, did you wake from your nap?" she murmured sweetly as the source of the sniffling came toddling in through the door with one tiny hand clutched in Mystic's cloak.

'She had a bad dream.'

Reyna frowned at that as she scooped the little girl up into her arms to cradle her closely. "Poor baby-love. It's okay, sweetness. Bad dreams can't hurt you."

Kova looked up from where she was applying Windex to glass and smiled at the little girl in her boss' arms. Without a second thought, she abandoned her task to skip over to the little family group. "Bad dreams are afraid of the light," she offered cheerfully as she fished in the extra-deep pockets of her gaudy, blue jacket. "They're also afraid of silly faces and..." Her angular face lit with an even brighter smile as her hand closed on something and she drew out a small ragdoll to hand over to Samara. "And dolls that are as brave as the little girls who own 'em."

Sam ceased in her sniffling for a moment as Kova handed over the ragdoll. Normally she carried around her panda plush with her, but this would do nicely. She took it quietly and snuggled up against it while clinging to her mother.

"Now, now... what do you say?" Reyna murmured with a small smile that spoke of pride.

"S'anks."

Reyna all but beamed before trailing off with the babe in her arms and a certain daemon perched on her should to the backroom to get her settled so that they might finish closing up shop. It was late, and Christmas Eve to boot. She didn't celebrate the holiday, but she was all for an excuse to not have to come into work the next day.

"Mystic, could you help Kova finish cleaning up?" she asked over her shoulder in passing as she retreated into the next room.

'Sure. Why not,' he replied in his typical, quiet manner.

At his agreement, Kova shared her smile with Mystic. "Thanks," she said before returning to her Windex and glass. "There's not much to do really, though. It's always the fingerprints, see?" An almost-elegant gesture of one long-fingered hand took in all of the glass cases. She laughed softly and bent back over the case she had been working on. Being as tall as she was, it was always bending but she didn't mind. Twilight Dreams was very nearly heaven to her mind. She absently scrubbed at a print. "Everyone wants to touch everything and that just marks up the cases. Oh, and sometimes we get nose prints but those are just the little kids and..."

Kova suddenly paused, staring at her vague reflection in the glass. Then she giggled. "Sorry. I'm probably boring you. I just don't like quiet if I'm not alone," she explained sheepishly.

'Doesn't bother me,' Mystic replied, a vauge look of amusement written across his features, 'Just don't be too upset with me if I'm not as chatty.' He moved to help clean the cases on the other side of the room before pausing when the lights flickered in a rapid-fire succession before going out.

Everything was still. Quiet. The darkness almost suffocating even to a creature made of darkness.

Kova's voice suddenly chirped up just above his head, almost startling him. "Well... That's not supposed to happen, right? I mean, Mr. Athan pays his electric bills. I can't imagine him not. He's -him- and..." She trailed off as the darkness began to feel heavy even to her amazingly sunshiney nature. If she could have, she would have reached for Mystic's hand and squeezed. As it was, she dropped her voice and seemed to lean down closer to him. "Mystic? It's not the power company, is it?"

At Kova's last comment, Mystic went rigidly tense. 'No. It's... not the power company,' he answered as he tried to stave off a wave of fierce panic. Reyna. He needed to get to her and make sure she and Sam were okay.

Just as he moved to flee towards the back room to check on them the lights flickered back on with a strange sizzle and pop, like a fuse had just blown. He stopped near Reyna's desk, eyes narrowed and focused upon a familiar looking note that was laying there innocently as though it had been there all evening. It looked almost exactly the same as the one that had been pinned to the door before.

Faintly, he could hear Sam sniffling in the backroom and Reyna murmuring softly to comfort her, but he couldn't seem to drag his attention away.

Even as he hesitated, Kova came up behind him. She cast a brief glance down at the note, puzzled but uninterested, and then fixed her dark eyes on Mystic again. Without a mouth to turn up or down, it was sometimes hard to read the shadow's expression but there was little doubt at the moment; something had him spooked. Instinctively, she went to touch his shoulder but drew back just in time. "Mystic?" she whispered, subdued. "What's up?"

He didn't turn or move when Kova spoke to him. He stood transfixed, even as Reyna re-entered the room with a moody Samara in her arms.

"Did the lights go out in here, too? Totally freaked out Sam," Reyna grumbled, "And just as I had gotten her to relax.." She trailed off as her head tilted to the side as she peered over at Mystic. She could feel the tension that was practically bleeding off of his form. She dragged her gaze away from him and then followed the shadow's line of sight.

She drew in a startled breath at the sight of the note. Oh no.

Before she could say much of anything in protest or really even react, Mystic reached out and picked up the note. His form seemed to shake and contort slightly, wisps of black rose off of his skin as though the dark swirl of markings on his skin had taken on a life of its own and were seperating from the rest of him.

Kova squeaked and took a step away from Mystic, hands coming up of their own volition as if to keep him back. She blinked and took another step backwards, pulling level with Reyna and Sam. Feeling her elbow bump the other woman, she turned and held out her hands. "I can hold Sam," she offered in a whispery rush. "Check... I mean, I don't know. What's wrong with Mystic?"

Reyna all but shoved Sam over to Kova mechanically before darting over to Mystic. She couldn't feel his presence, and it was freaking her out. Normally, she could literally feel that he was there no matter where he was. Their soul-bond was always incredibly strong and open, and now it was as though there was nothing there at all.

"Mystic," she hissed as she grabbed him by his shoulders, "Mystic. LOOK at me." She gasped sharply when he looked up. His eyes were a solid, jet black instead of their normal bright violet.

He reeled back, and phased through Reyna's hands as he tumbled backwards and fell to the floor. The note in his hands fluttered innocently to the floor like any sort of loose piece of paper as his grip on it slackened.

Reyna kneeled by his side and reached to touch his cheek. She didn't know what to do. Shadows didn't get sick. This didn't look like something she could fix, and the strange looking, inky darkness was still bleeding off of him.

Dark eyes huge in her pointed face, Kova quickly took a few more steps back and cuddled Sam closer in her arms. "Sssh, sssh," she murmured. "It'll be okay, sweetcheeks. Mommy's just gonna make sure Mystic's okay, okay?" Even Kova couldn't quite mask the worry in her voice, though, and Sam fussed in response, trying to see the fallen fiend. "Sssh, Sam. We have to stand here so your mommy can work. She'll make it better."

Mystic convulsed slightly as his form went from solid to ghost-like transparency back to being solid before he went rigidly still. He stared blankly up at the ceiling, eyes still an inky black. His conscious self was no longer aware of his actual, physical body. He was somewhere else entirely, and he was surrounded by the same darkness that had weighed so heavily on him and Kova moments before.

A figure appeared before him, but he couldn't quite distinguish the person's face. "Who are you?" he asked before his eyes widened in shock. Was that his voice? He didn't sound... quite like himself.

"Let's just say I'm an old comrade in arms who is doing you a favor," the person replied, voice low and quiet, full of secrets. "This is your realm. You ought to have control of it. I'll give it to you as... a gift."

"A .. gift?" he murmured before he seemed to sink into the darkness that surrounded him like quicksand. He wanted to scream in protest and fight, but he couldn't move and he no longer had a voice, not even a telepathic one.

His physical body seized once more before he sat up right with what have been a sharp intake of air, had he lungs and the need to breathe. 'R-reyna?'

The demon in question very nearly tackled him to the floor as she dragged him into her arms as though he were as little as Sam instead of a grown man that towered over her.

"Oh, wow." Kova quickly half-turned away from the disturbing scene, trying to shield Sam from it. "So what do you think, pipsqueak?" she asked the little girl, trying for cheerful and merely coming out slightly manic. Carefully, she pitched her voice loud enough to cover any noises that Mystic or Reyna might make. She walked Sam over to one of the glass cabinets. "Which is your favorite in there, huh? Do you like purple or pink or, ooo, look at the pretty green stone! What do you say? Green? I like green. It's a happy color. It, um, well, it's the color of my hair, isn't it?"

She did her best not to look over her shoulder to check on Reyna and Mystic.

Sam sniffed faintly as she rubbed her eyes with one small fist. "Gween!" she declared sweetly as she gazed up at Kova with her big, bright eyes. Fragments danced around atop the case as though he were trying to sniff out his favorite stone.

'What.. happened?' Mystic muttered grouchily as he gazed towards the note that lay abandoned on the floor.

"I don't know," Reyna grumbled as she reluctantly loosened her grip on the shadow. She was quite finished with traumatic events that involved her loved ones. Seriously.

"Mum!" Sam whined from a few feet away as she squirmed in Kova's arms before she went still and wide-eyed. Fragments zipped around the lavender woman and hunkered down as though to defend the both of them.

Directly across the room sliding down the wall was a strange, blackened creature.

Kova's head immediately swung in that direction and wide eyes went impossibly wider. Her grip on Sam tightened and she took a step back as the blackness grew and expanded slowly. It had an unsettling look of solidity to it and the movements were smooth and oily. Kova swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and never took her eyes from the shape.

Torturously languid, the darkness separated into a semblance of limbs - eight limbs to be precise. A head of sorts formed and it peeled itself away from the wall. Kova took another step backwards. Multiple eyes opened, glowing redly, and something rather like a mouth parted to show too-sharp fangs.

Freeing one of her arms from the protective hold she had on the girl in her arms, Kova began frantically digging in her pocket. As she realized that, like a good girl, she had left all weapons at home, she felt herself go a paler shade of lavendar. She took another step back towards Reyna and Mystic. She had Sam to protect!

Reyna glanced up with a look of pure irritation. "You seriously have to ******** be kidding me," she growled as she jumped to her feet and dragged Mystic with her despite how he protested as the movement made his head spin.

"And me without any fun toys," the demon grumbled as she prowled towards the creature, movements tense as she glanced backwards briefly towards her daughter that was sniffling faintly and hiding against Kova's chest.

"I don't have anything either," Kova whispered. She tilted her head to press her cheek against the top of Sam's head, reassured somehow by the softness of the child's hair. "It's... It's -huge-." She fisted her free hand and, somehow, that made things feel a little better.

The creature made a god awful screeching noise as it crawled off the wall and lowered itself with gangly, long legs to the floor. Standing up on all its legs it was only a few inches shorter than Reyna. Thick saliva dripped from its two protruding fangs.

A multitude of red eyes blinked over at her and focused intently on the silver haired woman as it charged forward towards the demon. Unfortunately, Reyna moved a little two quickly for it to catch her and she sank one clawed hand into its side.

It screeched again in protest and Sam wailed outright in protest of the awful noise and the terrifying nature of the beast that was now grappling with her mother. Tears streamed down her face and she pressed her hands to her ears with a scream of her own.

Fragments floated towards the creature and zipped through its legs to distract it. He was going to help too! He had a duty to protect his girl.

Adjusting her hold on Sam, Kova brought her tighter to her slim shoulder and quickly retreated behind one of the glass cases. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay," she whispered to the child, over and over as if that would make everything true. Seeing the bottle of Windex out the corner of her eye, Kova snatched it up and adjusted her hand on the trigger.

Well, it was better than nothing. All she had to do was keep Sam safe, she knew. Reyna would have to handle the creature. Just in case, though... Squinting a bit in concentration, Kova brought the spray bottle up and began tracking the red eyes with the nozzle, ready to fire and even more ready to pray that Windex in the eyes of a beastie hurt it as much as it hurt a real person.

The jewelry inside the cases began to rattle and shake as Sam's upset grew with each passing moment. She glanced towards her mother and cried out for her, but the demon was obviously quite distracted by the giant nightmare of a spider that she was wrestling with.

Mystic, on the other hand, seemed to be the only calm person in the room. In fact, he was almost placidly calm. His eyes, which were once more their normal color, were focused intently on the beast. He moved mechanically, as if something or someone else was guiding him, as he took a step towards where Reyna rumbling with the beast which was now leaking a strange, black, ink-like ooze from its wounds.

The shadow held out one dark hand towards the beast, and like before, the dark markings on his hand seemed to move and take on a life of their own, but this time they stayed on his skin and formed different runes and patterns against his palm. He didn't know how or why he was doing what he was doing, just that he needed to do it.

"Hey, hey." Kova jiggled Sam a bit against her shoulder, bouncing her in her arm. "Sam, snuggles, if that's you doing the jewelry shaking... Um, stop?" She glanced at the cases worriedly for an instant and took a few precautionary steps back away from the nearest one. "See? Mystic is helping Mommy. All good. Please make the shinies stop bouncing." Even as she talked rapid-fire to the child and moved, Kova kept her spray bottle at the ready, tracking.

Sam hiccuped and squealed as she shook her head and kicked her feet in an all out hissy fit, which of course, made the rattling and shaking much worse. Her cries lessened in intensity a tiny bit when she noticed that the beast was no longer making noise.

In fact, it had stopped moving and seemed almost entranced by the glowing marks that shined through the darkness of Mystic's outstretched hand. Reyna took a step back from the beast and watched with a confused expression as the creature seemed to slowly shrink as though it were melting. It kept getting smaller until it was about the size of an actual spider.

If it weren't for the fact that the small creature seemed to melt entirely before turning into a strange looking coin, she'd have stepped on the damn thing. She was definitely going to have an issue with spiders from here on out. Especially since she was covered in ooze.

"Well. That was fun."

Reyna jumped with a startled jerk when someone knocked on the door. She scowled and moved to unlock the door to let in Athan.

"You're late."

"You, uh, missed all the fun, Mr. Athan," Kova laughed. She still seemed a slightly paler shade of purple but her sunshine smile was already returning and she came forward with Sam. Absently, she pressed a kiss against the little girl's temple. "See, ticklebug?" she whispered. "I told you it would be okay." Passing a glass case that was still blessedly intact, she set down the bottle of Windex and shifted Sam to that arm. She glanced at Reyna. "Though I'd really like to know what that was. It just poofed and was there and it was real but it didn't feel quite real and... Y'know."

"I didn't miss it entirely," he replied smoothly as he glanced towards Mystic. He had felt plenty of chaos disturbing his evening of peace and quiet from a certain shadow. "And I would like to know what happened as well." His gaze never left the shadow.

Mystic idly met his gaze but just shook his head. 'I'm tired,' was all he said.

Athan took a look around before noticing the abandoned note. He moved towards it, but didn't touch it. Instead, he bent down to inspect it. There seemed to be no writing upon its surface, but instead an assortment of strange looking runes he didn't quite recognize.

The longer he stared at it, and the longer he was within the room, the more distinct the faint smell of magic was -- particularly from the note and Reyna.

"It's..." he started, eyes squinting quizzically at the note as he picked it up, "... dream magic?"

'But it wasn't a dream.'

"No s**t," Reyna chimed in.

"More like a nightmare if you ask me," Kova remarked vaguely as she carried Sam over to the wall from which the creature had emerged. "Except it looked like it was gonna do a lot more than say 'boo' and leave you naked on Main Street. Not that that's so bad but spiders... Ick. Too many legs." Leaning closer to the wall, she wrinkled her nose at it. "Not even a mark," she added thoughtfully. "You see anything, Sammers?"

"Nooo," she murmured as she sniffed faintly and gazed over at Athan before calling out for him, "Atun! Spidy byebye." She pointed over at her big brother. "Misty made it go."

Athan chuckled quietly as he stood and moved to snatch up the little girl. "You weren't hurt or anything, were you?" he asked both Sam and Kova.

Sam shook her head no, and Fragments perched upon Athan's shoulder, his entire form wiggling and squirming as though he were telling his own story of how the events had unfolded.

"From the looks of things," Athan went on, "That is what that was. A nightmare. But the question remains, who opened a portal to the dream realm?" He actually didn't think it was truly possible, but it was the only explanation. That, and it felt like someone had opened a portal.

Her armful gone, Kova held up both of her hands, palms outwards in a clear "not me" gesture. "Don't look here," she shook her head. "I can't do anything like that. Well, not that I know of but I think I would know if I could do something like that so no. I was just cleaning up and Mystic was helping while Reyna took Sam and Fragments to the back room. Then the lights went out and the darkness got kinda heavy and it smelled funny."

"Interesting," Athan mused, "I definitely don't believe it was you." He turned towards Mystic and both the shadow and his bond gave him a rather defensive look.

"It's because of that!" Reyna pointed at the note accusingly, "Mystic touched it and it... did something to him. He was.. I don't know. Unconscious."

'...then I suppose. I was sucked into the dream realm.'

"That what it was? 'Cause you totally looked catatonic, Mystic, hon." Kova grinned at him. Then she walked over to the still-smoldering coin and crouched down to squint at it. She sniffed again and made a face. "Smells like... Burnt toast. Really, really burnt toast," she commented. Elbows on her splayed knees, she tilted her head up to look at her bosses expectantly.

Athan sat Sam down on the floor as he moved to inspect the blackened coin. It reminded him faintly of the elemental coin that he'd given to Mystic to practice spell-casting with, but this was different. It contained the beast.

He reached out to let one hand hover over the coin, eyes closed. Sam leaned against his side and watched intently. "Mhm. Dream magic, and with your signature on it. You locked it away?" he addressed the shadow that stood tiredly before him looking quite drained.

'Yes... and.. I don't know how.'

"Well. We'll have to figure that out, won't we?" he murmured as he stood and pulled Sam back into his arms, "But not tonight. It's late, and it's a holiday tomorrow, and a certain little lady ought to get herself some sleep so she can open presents in the morning, hm?"

Sam smiled brightly for the first time that evening.

Her mother, on the other hand, looked less than pleased, and suddenly horrified. Presents? She was supposed to particpate in that sort of madness? CRAP.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// The Days That Follow //
Figuring things out -- Mystic's a dreamwalker.

How and why nightmare beasts from the dream realm managed to escape into reality was beyond Mystic. Much to Athan's dismay, it was also beyond him as well. His only speculation that made any sort of logical sense was that they had sensed the awakening of the Shadow's unusual abilities -- Mystic was what Athan called a 'dreamwalker.'

This newly discovered fact meant absolutely jack s**t to Mystic. And not because it was his maker who had labeled him with the term.

He honestly did not know what the hell it meant and it left him quite... irritable. He had somehow managed to lock a massive, looming beast into a small coin by what seemed to be force of will. But then there was nothing. He felt no different than usual. His casting of basic spells had not improved. In fact, he thought his abilities had diminished to a degree from lack of use.

Oh. And what else had Athan said? Oh yes. That dreamwalking and magicks related to dreams as a whole were one of the more obscure in the universe. Faaa~aantastic. How in hell was he supposed to learn how to ... do whatever it was he was apparently gifted to be able to do?

Athan had at least taken one of the coins (he had ended up trapping an assortment of lesser beasts skittering about outside the shop later on) to examine it fully. He had also promised to bring him whatever books he had within his library in order to help.

Personally, Mystic wanted to bash his head into the nearest hard surface out of sheer frustration.

'Now, now, sweetness. That wouldn't be pleasant for either of us, now would it?' Reyna teased.

Mystic's mood lightened a bit and he phased through several of the walls until he had reached her room. She was curled up in bed with Sam snugged up next to her with her newest, and thus most favorite, plush toy with the sweetest, drowsiest look upon her face. It was nap time. Once she spotted her big brother she made grabby hands at him and he happily complied with her unspoken request.

He floated over towards her and curled down onto the bed next to her to pet at her hair and cuddle her close, allowing Reyna the freedom to get up and move if she pleased. She lingered there for a few moments before getting up to stretch.

"This whole dreamwalker-business got'cha all worked up, hm?"

He nodded absently as he rested his cheek atop Sam's little head as she curled ever closer to him to half hide beneath the edge of his ever-present cloak. 'Mhm. A bit.'

Reyna shot him a look. Bullshit. She'd have voiced that thought aloud, but there were certain words in her vocabulary she preferred her daughter not repeat at so early an age. She moved to sit on the edge of the bed, lost in thought. She wasn't sure of what sort of help she could offer him. She rested her chin in her hand and glanced over towards the Shadow.

"Want me to pester Athan 'till he coughs up better information?"

Mystic chuckled quietly at the mental image that brought up. He'd seen her do it, and on more than one occasion with varying levels of success. 'No,' he said with a sigh, 'I think I can manage well enough without him. He has about as much a clue as I do.'

"True, enough," she murmured before giving him a brash, fanged grin, "You know it'd be funny, though."

'That it would,' he readily agreed.

"Well," she said before falling silent for a moment, "I'll see what I can dig up. I have some connections." Really she wished Wren were around. She hadn't seen him since the incident at the House. He was the social-networking connection-building mogul, not her. She was the I-will-eat-your-soul-if-you-don't-leave recluse of an artist.

'You don't have to.'

Reyna smirked. "I know that." She didn't do much of anything unless she wanted to. That was for certain.

'Just... don't do something that will get you into trouble.'

The demon grinned. Mystic was not reassured. She rolled her eyes and let herself fall back onto the bed. "Oh come oooo~ooon. You're no fun. Stick in the mud. Where's your sense of adventure?" she teased.

'It died,' he said dryly, 'When I had to lock away ten to twenty some odd creatures into coins.'

Reyna snickered quietly but didn't press the subject. She'd find a way to help him. He might not like her meddling, and Athan would really not like it, but if it wasn't a challenge then it wouldn't be any fun.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// A Single Red Rose //
Mystic contemplates his feelings on Valentine's Day.

It wasn't often that Mystic truly wished he were something other than a Shadow. He often pondered what he was, how, and why, but wish to be something else? Not typically. He took delight in startling people most days, and on others it was annoying as hell.

Today was something of a mystery. He wanted to blame the overly commercialized holiday that had sprung upon Gaia quite suddenly. Valentine's Day. Really. Who thought that up? Twilight Designs was ridiculously busy with lovebirds trying to pick out rings and would-be lovers trying to pick out the perfect shiny-something to win over their perfect someone.

He quickly decided to avoid the shop entirely, even if watching Reyna handle the lot of them was quite entertaining. Especially when they decided to get snippy with her. What about arguing with a cantankerous demon seemed like a good idea? He snickered at that thought as he glided down the street, perfectly content to disturb any passerbys that managed to notice his presence.

The streets seemed to be lined with more vendors than usual. It was also an annoying thing about holidays he disliked, but some of them sold interesting things he had not seen before and thus was inclined to stop occasionally. It just so happened that one of the flower vendors caught his eye. He had seen plenty of flowers before. They were no mystery to him, but the quantity and quality of the roses before him he found to be quite... impressive.

Without giving it much thought he bought one. He fiddled with it contentedly as he continued his trek towards home, mindful of its thorns. It was blood red and utterly flawless. It remind him of Reyna and her eyes (or at least the one that was visible). It was also the same color she painted her lips and nails. It was beautiful just like... her.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Awakening of the Stargazer //
Mystic and Citrine meet Black Star Diopside a little more formally.

Merci pushed through the front doors to the store and looked about warily. She hadn't been back here since that night a couple months ago, when the ring had been practically dropped in her lap. She didn't go all the way in, just peeking her head and shoulders in at first.

She felt like she was casing the joint, and in all honesty she hadn't done something like that in years.

All was quiet and calm. The red head didn't see the demon, the crazy dirty bloody man, or Athan. Having deduced that she was safe, Merci slipped in through the doors, her hands curled around something rather protectively as she did so. Maybe she could leave them a note?

Citrine's ears gave a twitch. She was sleeping on her bonded's chest as she always did. He was asleep in the breakroom. He didn't move. She could have sworn she heard something. .... But maybe it was just the wind. Or a mouse.

The little shaddow wormed her way to the door, Allon was still asleep. Oh what fun she would have, catching a mouse to suprise him with! She floated, her eyes searching for a target. If she could have made a sound, she would have squeeked when she saw Merci instead of a mouse.

While the shop appeared to be empty, almost abandoned with no one to watch the front end, it was in fact currently occupied by none other than Mystic Topaz. Out of courtesy to his bond, he had agreed to watch the shop while she ran an errand -- something about arguing with a shipping company and customs within another dimension.

Either way, he was temporarily hindered with being responsible for the shop as a whole. Part of him imagined how fun it would be to simply wreck the place entirely, but while it might tickle him that Athan would be furious, it would not be nearly so fun to see his bond angry.

With that he brushed his mischievous thoughts aside for the time being and phased into view just behind Reyna's desk. His shoulders heaved in a sort of heavy sigh. He really wasn't a people person.

'.. hello,' he greeted Merci with a sort of half-hearted enthusiasm. His bright eyes narrowed faintly as he gazed over at the woman. How interesting. Another lost soul was joining their ranks.

Merci had been making her way over to the counter, hoping to find something to write on to leave a note for Athan. She honestly just wanted them to know that the soul seemed to be getting stronger. She hadn't expected something to appear out of nowhere. She was so startled her hands opened, and the little wisp floated on it's own. "F..." She stopped herself and cleared her throat, "You scared me." The woman reached up and put a hand on her chest, breathing slowly.

The wisp hovered where it was for a moment, as if unsure what to do now. The multicolored shadows swirled around it slowly. Merci's eyes moved toward it and then back to Mystic, "I was just going to leave Athan a note, umm.. the little thing seems to be getting better." She finished rather lamely.

Citrine hid in the shadows. Thestone that floated from Merci... she knew that one. Quickly she scurried behind Mystic and hid behind his cape to get a better look. She did hope her Allon was asleep still.

Mystic paused momentarily in replying as he slowly shot a backward glance towards Citrine. If he could have smiled for her, he probably would have. Such a curious little kitten!

'It's not a thing,' he corrected her, 'It's a shadow. In wisp form.'

Merci nodded slowly, "Ah, I see. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with him now. I mean he's definately alot better then when I got him. Am, well am I supposed to return him?" From her pocket she produced the ring that he was set into until recently. "I brought the ring just in case."

The little wisp moved closer to Merci and the colors shifted a little more quickly. It didn't hide behind her, and something about how it hovered a little in front of her made the woman think that perhaps it was curious about Mystic and Citrine.

Citrine floated up to Mystic's shoulders and wrapped herself around him like a scarf. "She... wants to return him?" the shadow blinked, "My Allon would never return me... " Her nose turned up, but her eyes kept watching the floating stone. Her hands kneeded Mystic's shoulder.

Mystic chuckled quietly at Citrine's remarks. He reached up to gently pat one of her little hands as he once more turned his attention upon Merci and her newly awakened wisp.

'I suppose Athan didn't fully explain the situation you've found yourself within,' he replied smoothly, 'Figures, really. But for the record, no, you are not supposed to return him. He is.. well.. bonded to you. To break that bond would mean the death of him and well.. you probably wouldn't die, but I doubt it would be a pleasurable experience for either of you.'

Merci sucked her lower lip into her mouth for a moment, worrying at it with her teeth. Maybe they had been wrong. Vance and Seraph have told her that perhaps Athan hadn't meant for her to keep the little stone. After all she hadn't paid for him, so that meant he had to be a loaner.

The logic had made sense at the time, but as Mystic explained things she nodded slowly. "I see, I knew that he was weak and needed help. I suppose I didn't really sick around long enough for him to really get to explain things to me fully. I was a little out of it at the moment."

The wisp moved a little closer to the counter.. dipping down a little lower as if trying to sneak up on the other two shadows. The shadows around it swirled slowly, curling around him in two trails.

"If you want to die... my Allon can kill you both." The little shadow smiled like she somehow thought that was good.

She caught her bonded's sillouette from the corner of her eye and skittered over to him. Allon gave her a pet, then looked at Mystic and Merci'. He turned to leave. "We... will be back later." With that he left.

Mystic did his very best to maintain his composure and keep a straight face as the duo left. The scary part was, he knew she was being perfectly sincere and generous in the offer.

'Understandable,' he went on as he idly watched the little wisp dart about, 'Essentially, you are to this wisp as to what Reyna is to me and what Allon is to Citrine. They are our guardians.' He paused in his explanation with a small frown creasing his brow. That was the easiest way he knew of to enlightened her as to what was really going on.

Merci looked down at the wisp as it pressed itself close to the counter, and floated up until the shadows curled up over the top. They carressed the surface, and slowly the top of the gem peeked over. He was obviously trying to be covert about checking out Mystic.

Merci arched her brows, dragging her gaze up to the Shadow behind the counter. "So, one day it'll, I mean he'll... get bigger?" she spaced her hands out to about the size of Citrine. "I'm sorry, I'm not normally this stupid. I'm just having a little trouble wrapping my head around all of this."

Mystic's expression seemed to melt into a smirk as he watched the little wisp. 'Basically. He'll be like Citrine, myself, and all the other shadows that have been awakened.'

His bright eyes softened somewhat as he reached out to lightly touch one of Merci's hands. 'All he needs from you is your company. And, well, a little energy but once he is older you do more sharing than stealing, rest assured.'

Merci couldn't help it, she smiled at Mystic and nodded slowly. "I have a couple of, well, friends that live with me. They aren't exactly excited about him staying with us. I think I let them freak me out a little bit. Is there anything special I should do to help him?" If he'd been a regular baby she wouldn't have a problem. Those you change, feed and shove in a crib. Something told her that she was going to have do something to help him get stronger.

The wisp floated a little higher, inching across the counter to get a better look at Mystic. He was just so curious as to how he got so big. The shadows swirled around him, moving in front of him like feelers.

The older shadow tentatively reached out with one hand to brush his fingers through the fine, misty darkness that surrounded the little stone. 'No. That's it. We are.. hm.. strangely self-reliant, yet entirely dependant on our guardians to lend us strength. If that makes any sense at all,' he murmured softly.

She opened her mouth to say something and paused, watching the two of them interact. The woman's brows furrowed, but she seemed fairly sure that the older shadow wouldn't hurt her little boy. It took Merci a moment to realize that she had tensed up, but she couldn't help it. After all he was her charge and Diopside was dependant on her for protection at least right?

The wisp paused in it's movements and the shadows moved to curl around the finger. The colors shifted a little more quickly as the stone seemed to be tentatively feeling Mystic. Like the antenna of a bug or the whiskers of a cat, he was investigating the older creature.

"Is he bothering you?" Merci said quietly, ready to reach out and pull the little one back. She wasn't sure what sorts of things would hurt him yet, and she felt awfully overprotective.

'No,' Mystic answered honestly with a faint, bemused look on his face. He could very nearly feel the tension bleeding off of Merci and he wasn't even bonded to her.

The shadows curled up from around the gem and wrapped themselves completely around the tip of Mystic's finger. The moved gently, little tendrils of it reached up further, as is testing the waters. The encompassed the senior shadow, and the muted colors swirled gently. The Diopside hovered just over the surface of the counter, not moving much at all, as all of his attention seemed to be on his exploration.

Merci couldn't help feeling a little protective, but some of the tension left her body when she realized that Mystic wasn't making any sort of offensive move. The mother bear syndrome was something that she knew was not likely to leave any time soon, considering her housemates. Vance and Seraph were going to make this a living hell, and while she knew they were doing it out of a misguided attempt to protect her, she still wished they would just leave well enough alone. The woman sucked her lip into her mouth for just a moment before she released it and spoke quietly, "Will he be able to protect himself? I mean will he have any way to defend himself if something were to happen to him while I was distracted for instance?"

This was something that was sort of important for her to know.

'Hm,' Mystic pondered, soft telepathic voice barely audible, 'Being able to hide within darkness, unseen does have its perks. I'm not so certain what harm a wisp could befall lest the stone itself was damaged.'

He withdrew his hand and rest his chin in one hand as he peered over at Merci curiously. 'I wouldn't worry too much at this point in time. Be more concerned when he's a child.' The expression that fluttered across his face spoke of mischief. Children in general were a handful. As an older brother he could easily attest to that when he was charged with watching after Sam.

Children of the Fiend variety were at a whole different level of chaos. There was no way to restrain them unless they ran out of energy -- and then it was only a matter of time before they were at it again.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Children in Trees //
Mystic entertains Sam and her friends...

Leon Aristipossos did not ask for directions. Not even if his destination was, ... in the middle of a swamp; he just firmly took glances at the map of Lake Bass'ken that Cressida placidly spread out on her lap and ignored the light gurgles and gentle banging sounds coming from the back seat. The two children were being incredibly well-behaved, considering. The note scribbled from Reyna with directions on it was also sitting on the dashboard; and as Leon drove steadily towards the impenetrable swamp, he didn't divert from his course.

"Huh," he muttered. "Wouldn't say she got a good price on real estate."

Cressida merely laughed and shook her head with a smile. "I think it's sort of picturesque... Or are you having flashbacks to how you found our little Naiad?"

"We won't go there," said Leon. (Little Naiad gurgled again in the back seat, as if she were angelic.) "I don't want to go there again."

Just as it seemed that they were going to have to stop the car in front of impenetrable thicket, the road sort of, ... cleared; Leon kept his gaze steadily on the pathway as he cautiously drove through, dark eyes narrowing. Obviously, what with the living in the swamp and the Impenetrable Thicket Of Doom, Reyna's house wasn't exactly normal. Well, nobody's was; their bathroom door stuck.

"Huh," was all he said, as the house came into view. And: "Heh."

"Sam!" squealed Annie from the back seat, who knew what side her bread was buttered. (And it was buttered on Samara's side!)

Twisting in her seat, Cressida neatly snatched and returned the teething ring dropped by the squealing little girl. "Sam, indeed," she mimicked with a goofy, cross-eyed look at Annie. Annie squealed again with giggles and Xana, in his neighboring carseat, sighed heavily. Cressida twisted back around and pointed. "You can pull in there, beloved," she advised.

Within minutes, they were parked and Cressida had all but leapt from the car and begun the sometimes difficult task of wrestling two toddlers, two daemons, and various necessaries from the back seat. "I think," she panted after finally lifting an increasingly-large Courage out, "we will have to get a new car. This is getting a bit silly."

Quixana stood politely off to the side, watching. As soon as Courage had touched down, though, he motioned her towards him and padded over to peer up at the house set amongst the swamp. "Neat," he proclaimed. "Meme's Sam lives here?"

Sam was sitting as patiently as she could in a chair in the living room. The curtains, which were typically pulled tightly shut, were drawn open so that she might watch in anticipation as her friend arrived. That very moment was marked by a loud squeal that ended in an excited jumble of, "MUM! ANMEME!"

"Oh good. They didn't get eaten," Reyna said with a chuckle under her breath (more so at her daughter's antics than the being eaten bit -- that would've been unfortunate). They had made it to the house. The only trick now was to keep them from running away screaming so that her daughter could keep her friends.

She mentally went through a checklist of things that she had properly hidden and certain individuals she'd spoken to about behaving. Those individuals consisted mostly of Mystic, who still took a certain delight in causing mischief, and a certain overbearing medusa she knew would probably cuddle right up to the group in a most literal sense.

She felt like she was forgetting something, but she knew whatever it was would make itself known at the most inconvenient moment possible. Oh well. She scooped Sam up into her arms and opened the door with a small, yet charming, smile.

"Glad you could make it."

"Reyna." Ever not-exactly-the-huggy-type, Leon reached out to shake the other woman's hand firmly; Anemone was clutched under his arm and squealing like a banshee in excitement. Terror was somewhere in Leon's front pocket, wriggling with all the commotion. "Thank you for inviting us."

"SAM!" squealed Annie. "SAMSAM!"

"Nice house," Leon added, showing exquisite manners by saying nothing about the swamp. (Actually, he probably did think it nice. Leon was the type to appreciate out-of-the-way houses in the middle of very defensible swamps.)

The petite brunette just behind him rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose; the face clearly was directed at her partner's manners rather than any untruths about the house. Nudging Leon aside with a hip, Cressida somehow managed to deliver a lightning-fast one-armed hug to Reyna. The pressure was momentary, gone in a flash as if not sure the other woman would welcome the familiarity but obviously a greeting so ingrained that she couldn't dismiss it completely. "And I'm Cressida." She jiggled the toddler at her hip and he smiled sweetly, sticking out his hand in perfect mimicry of his father. "And this is Quixana and his little Courage. Anemone's mother and brother, as it were."

"Pleasure to meet you both," Reyna replied smoothly with a quiet smile as she politely shook Xana's hand and nodded towards Cressida before stepping away to allow them inside.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable. I'll make us a pot of tea," she went on as she allowed her now wriggling, overly-excited daughter to the floor as Fragments did a little jig mid-air that clearly mirrored Sam's own excitement.

It was time to PLAY!

"Anmeme!!" the little girl shouted happily as she toddled forward, arms extended towards the other child in an expectant manner. Friends were for hugging! She knew that much to be true.

"Thank you," said Leontas, picking up a bag he'd set down on the step. "It was... quite a drive." (At least he seemed to be calming down over the murderous geography and the injuries done to his roadmap.)

Annie's excitement, on the other hand, was only building. She wrapped her arms around Samara and shrilled like a fire-engine: in a fit of joy, she wriggled out of her little Care Bears t-shirt, and hugged Sam again. "SAMSA," she shrilled. Then: "Is friend!". And: "Clothes yucky disgustable."

Possibly this could be translated as: Samara, my friend! Let us remove these hateful mortal coverings and dance in the honour of the Devil Swamp!. Or it could have just been: clothes yucky disgustable!.


Sighing a bit, Cressida lowered her burden to the ground and then kept right on crouching until she could snatch up the abandoned t-shirt. "Tea would be lovely, thanks," she answered Reyna with a faint, rueful smile. "With these two, you have to live off caffeine or you can't keep up." She glanced at her daughter and then shook her head and stood, folding the t-shirt absently. Clearly, she had already decided that the shirt battle was not one to be fought at the moment.

Quixana, on the other hand, seemed deeply grieved at his sister's lack of clothing. He heaved a deep sigh and then, standing behind her, gave Anemone a big bear hug. He regarded Sam over his sister's shoulder and then smiled. "Meme," he pointed out politely, "Sam's dressed pretty."

"I can't agree with you more on that point," Reyna said in response as she shot Cressida a fanged grin, "I thought she was a handful as a just a babe, now that she's up and about.. well, I'm sure you can relate."

She disappeared into the kitchen briefly as she put on a pot of tea and then returned to usher her guests into the rather large, expansive living room area. It was immaculately kept and had a rather modern, artistic flare to it with smooth lines, and bold colors. A few toys littered the rug in the middle of the floor, as well as a few atop the round, glass coffee table, otherwise the room was spotless.

Sam toddled after her mum and waved for Anemone and company to follow. "Come play!" she beamed merrily as she made her way into the living room with Fragments darting through and around her legs.

Anemone clambered after as Leon and Cressida settled themselves down in the livingroom; Leon took a moment to admire the decor and not admire how his daughter was giving wicked chuckles, obviously absolutely delighted to see "Samsa."

"Samsa lives in trees," she pointed out to the entire gathering, possibly referencing the swamp. Then she did a wobbly somersault, which was her latest trick, and held out one chubby hand to grasp Samara's.

'I like the dichotomy," said Leon. "This place in the middle of a swamp."

"Isn't his grasp of the obvious endearing?" If the words had come out of anyone else's mouth, there would have been sarcasm in spades. This, however, was Cressida talking about her beloved Leon and the expression on her heart-shaped little face was pure adoration. She turned the smile on the children as they toddled to the play area. "And he's right. Your house is lovely. Is it hard keeping Samara in the yard with all of this around?"

Quixana calmly applied both hands to his sister's back and rolled her further away from the glass table after her somersault. "Meme, is that a kitty?" He pointed at a stuffed animal a foot away. Then he smiled at Samara and nodded at her daemon. "Neat," he pronounced.

"Surprisingly, no," Reyna replied in a quiet, mellow tone as she seated herself within an armchair that faced the couch, "She usually has someone outside with her." That someone was also either a medusa or a snake, but she wasn't about to elaborate on that minor detail. So she had monsters living in her basement! So long as no one inquired about what she kept in her closets, all was well.

Sam was utterly thrilled with her company. Not only did she have Annie to play with but also someone new! Her very form seemed to radiate excitement. She plopped down onto the soft rug and reached for the plush kitty and handed it to the other girl.

"Misty gave kitty!" she declared. She beamed brightly at that fact. Perhaps he would come and play too. Wouldn't that be fun!

"Kitty," Anemone agreed, clutching it close to her chest; she examined it very seriously, perhaps over-seriously for a toddler, as Terror clambered over her neck and twisted himself in her hair. "Xana gotta kitty," she added, in reference to Courage. Then, bored with her own truisms: "We's play game now!"

"I envy their self-possession," Leon said to Reyna. "If I was faced with babysitting either of mine among a swamp, I'd have a nervous breakdown... we can barely handle a flat. Especially with the daemon."


"Don't let him fool you." Cressida smiled confidently at Reyna and threw in a conspiratorial wink. "Leon does just fine with the children. Especially now that Xana wants to help all the time. He's daddy's little helper."

Quixana, blissfully unaware of the discussion suddenly revolving around him, squatted down between the two girls while Courage settled herself in a lazy flop behind him. "Whatcha wanna play?" he asked. "Peek-a-boo? Clap your hands?"

Sam's bright green eyes lit up as all the ideas for playing swirled through her mind a mile a minute. There was so much to do! So much to see! "Let's play with Misty!" she declared with a cheerful smile as she clambered her way to her feet to go and fetch her big brother.

Had her mother been more attentive to what her daughter was babbling ever so cheerfully, she might have suggested they play another game. It seemed her wayward shadow had been rather irritable as of late -- never with Sam of course, but he didn't take well to strangers all that often.

"I've seen him manage little Anemone quite well," Reyna spoke up in agreement with Cressida, she paused as she noticed Sam walking off, "Honey, where are you heading off to?"

"Gonna get some toys!" she declared with a wave of her hand over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hallway with Fragments skipping along behind her. It was no lie, she gathered an assortment of toys up into her arms, as much as she could carry, before pausing at her elder brother's room.

"Misty! Come play!" she demanded ever so sweetly as she peeked in his room.

'In a moment...' was his soft reply, though he did not readily appear within the darkness of his room. Regardless, Sam knew he was there.

Satisfied with his answer, she returned to her friends that were waiting for her.

"Who Misty?" her smaller first friend demanded, though her tongue twisted it into something like mithy. Annie had thrown a look of scorn at her brother as if to imply that peek-a-boo was a terrible idea for a game out of the safe confines of the livingroom back home. She was appeased by Samara's impressive range of toys: she set down the kitty to pick up another soft toy, examining it carefully. "Gonna play."

"Too active," Leon murmured a little tragically as he watched the children clamber around. "I'm too old for this kind of thing."

"You're ridiculous," Cressida informed him, reaching out to take his hand in hers.

Quixana returned Annie's look with impressive equanimity; he clearly was not going to be shamed by his little sister. Anyway, peek-a-boo was perfectly acceptable for babies and Annie and Samara were definitely babies yet. He stood again and surveyed the range of toys. Selecting a teddy bear, he peered into its button eyes. Then he looked up and smiled at Samara. "Does the teddy have a name?" he asked.

"Mister Brown!" she declared with a grin, "My uncle Athun gave him to me!" She beamed brightly at that. He always gave her such lovely gifts and surprises. Her attention turned away from her friends for a brief moment as she noticed a familiar face appearing within the red painted wall just behind where Cressida and Leon were sitting.

She clapped her hands and squealed with merriment as she shadow drifted through the wall, a bemused look written across his face as he drifted down towards the floor to settle near the children, unmindful of the adults around them. He simply turned his back and focused his attention upon Sam as he pulled her into his lap despite her giggling protests.

'Introduce me to your friends...?'

Reyna paled a bit. He couldn't have used a door or the hallway? Really?? She huffed a bit before offering her guests a smile. She opened her mouth to speak but clamped it shut when the tea pot began to whistle loudly from the kitchen, "Tea is ready!"

Anemone was immediately filled with terrible jealousy that Samara got such a cool friend, and yearned immediately for an "Uncle Athun" to deliver unto her something equally cool if not moreso. Her expression to Quixana read clearly, WE don't get cool things like this at HOME, and she gaped for a few moments in awe. Then she gripped the soft toy to her arms again, while Terror crept down from her neck to get a better look at the newcomer.

"Excellent," Leon said to Reyna. This was after only a pause at taking in Mystic. He seemed to have taken it fairly well, all things concerned. "Milk, no sugar. ...can I or Cressida help?"

Cressida said nothing, merely staring in bemused contemplation at the shadowy creature now on the floor with the children. Courage, on the other hand, rolled quickly to her feet and promptly began sniffing Mystic, circling him with wary attention. Laughing, Quixana waved his hands. "Courage, no," he said. "Don't be nosey. He's Sam's friend." Then he held out his hand. "I'm Quixana."

"Oh no, I've got it!" Reyna called from the kitchen. Truly, she was just mildly worried that Charles would appear. Mystic was one thing, the overly friendly, undeniably flamboyant medusa was a whole 'nother ballgame all together. She sighed at that thought and arranged three cups of tea along with the teapot itself neatly on a tray to bring into the living room.

Mystic, though lacking a mouth, seemed to smile warmly over at Quixana. He accepted his hand gently with one dark hand. 'A pleasure to meet you, Quixana. I am Mystic, Sam's brother.' The amusement in his eyes sparkled somewhat, particularly at the child's protective daemon. He supposed it was simply their nature. Fragments was the same way.

The daemon in question perched atop the shadow's head and peered down at him with wide silver eyes.

"No Frags! No bother'in Misty!" Sam declared as she shooed him away before settling herself down contentedly at Annie's side. "Misty! Let's play a game!"

"Game!" Annie demanded too, not quite sure about being brave as her brother and introducing herself just like that. She narrowed her red eyes in suspicion at Mystic, waiting patiently to see whether or not his game choice would hold up to her rigid standards. Terror was licking his tongue out in vain, trying to taste Mystic with it.

Quixana linked his hands behind his back and grinned up at the alleged brother. "Nothing that Meme can fit in her mouth," he suggested. He paused to consider that and quickly added, "Or that Terror can fit in his mouth. They ate Mommy's lipstick once."

Giggling at the way her son solemnly retold the story, Cressida finally twisted on the couch to call back to Reyna, "I'll have two sugars and milk, please."

Reyna returned and gingerly set the tray upon the coffee table. She offered them each their cup of tea with a polite smile. "So uh," she began in an earnest attempt at making a bit of small talk, "What do you both do for a living?" In all honesty, she wasn't quite so well-versed at the art of conversation, but as their host she felt the need to at least try.

Mystic on the other hand, squirmed faintly where he sat. Somewhat uneasy at how he suddenly had the attention of all three children and their respective daemons settled upon him. He had to come up with the game? Lovely.

'Hm.. shall we play hide and seek?' he suggested before Reyna shot him a look that very clearly said NO. 'Or perhaps we should explore the inner garden?' he went on in hopes to appease both the children and his own guardian.

Sam cheered and hopped to her feet. "Garden!" It meant tree climbing, and playing with pixies and maybe, maybe, if she was extra good and perfectly sweet Mystic would fly them up towards the top of the oak tree!

The garden sounded appealing; Anemone carefully tottered up to her feet, Terror in tow, as they all prepared for an adventure! Everyone loved exploring! Perhaps they would find a mystery. "US GO," she said importantly.

Distracted by his childrens' antics, for a moment Leon didn't respond; then he inclined his golden head at Reyna and sipped at his teacup to clear his throat. "I'm a jewelry artist," he said. "Cressida is in the fashion industry. We're on a sabbatical at the moment."

"Like maternity leave," his fiance put in cheerfully. She sent a quick glance towards her children and smiled. Quixana caught the look and saluted; he knew his duty to watch out for little girls. Then she turned back to Reyna. "Though I still dabble when they go down for naps. I can't keep fully out of design or my hands will grow rusty."

Motioning for Courage to follow, Quixana moved to help steady Anemone. "Yes, please," he said to Mystic. "Gardens are neat."

Reyna smiled over at the children and nodded towards Leon and Cressida in understanding. Her visible red eye widened slightly at Leon's admission.
"Really? I work within a jewelry store. Perhaps we should collaborate on a project some time. My employer often contracts other artists to set stones and the like for him."

Mystic's eyes shone with a sweet warmth as he stood upon his human feet and gingerly ushered the children down the hall. To the right of them was a glass door which lead to the garden. There was also a separate door from the garden itself that led into the kitchen. The garden itself was the very heart of the entire house.

It thrived with greenery, herbs, and flowers of all sorts and in the center of it all was a gnarled, twisted oak tree that somehow still found room to grow. It was Sam's favorite!

The little girl dashed forward with a bubbly laugh as she reached to climb upon the branches. She liked to see how far she could go, though she never managed to make it very far without Mystic's help.

The shadow in question looked very transparent in the midday sun. His dark cloak served to shield him from the brunt of the sunlight, but he still clung to the darkness when he could.

"Come on guys!" Sam chirped, "Let's es'plore!"

Anemone, whose garden at home consisted of her mother's pot plants, was immediately and totally awed at the lush jungle of Sam's backyard; she toddled as fast as her little thin legs could carry her to the oak tree, pressing the palms of her hands to the bark as Terror flicked out a long tongue to taste it. "Wow," she said, genuinely impressed for one of the first times in her life. "Is forest." Then, with a siren-like voice (as in the ambulance kind, not as in the beautiful creature kind) she hollered -

"XANA, IS A FOREST!!!"

Leon, on the other hand, had looked at Reyna with interest. "Hm," he said, which was his 'thinking sound'. "I work out as contract - I'll leave my card. I also collaborate on design or do the design work at home - I won't talk shop, though, or Cressida will poke at my leg under the table where she thinks you can't see."

"Why would I bother?" Cressida answered sweetly. She winked at Reyna. "I don't think the thought of me watching your social interactions would terrify Reyna too much. Would it?"

Quixana was tempted to explain to his sister that one tree did not a forest make but he was too busy being properly impressed with the huge oak to try. Trotting up, he patted the trunk with both hands and then walked around it consideringly. "It's a good tree," he announced. "It likes it here. 'S why it's so big." He spotted a low hanging branch and motioned the girls over. "Want up?" he offered.

"Hardly," Reyna replied with a small smirk as she sipped at her tea rather daintily before setting it down upon its small saucer on the coffee table to cool a bit. "Though I will insist upon your leaving your card at the very least. Local talent is always something Athan prefers to invest in."

Samara beamed brightly, eyes shining bright with pride and a joyful mirth that she and her daemon both could barely contain. "Yes! UP!" she declared with a laugh before making grabby hands at Mystic rather than climbing up the roots herself.

The shadow chuckled quietly as he slowly and gingerly picked his way towards the group of children, looking quite mysterious with the hood of his cloak up to avoid the sunlight. 'Up it is, my little love,' he replied softly before reaching to pick her up with dark, star-studded hands. He settled her on one hip before holding one hand out towards Anemone. 'And you too..?'

"Up!" Anemone said shrilly, holding her arms out to the shadow: two bright spots of pink had appeared in her usually ice-pale cheeks, testament to how deeply excited she was. She appeared to not worry at all about Mystic's appearance: Terror had clambered up to the top of her head and was sitting patiently in her hair, looking like a ridiculous hat.

Leon sipped at his tea, hands a little too big for the dainty cup: he rolled his eyes at both Reyna and his partner, but it lacked spite. "If I constitute 'local talent', so be it," he said. "Actually, Cressida and I were looking at a couple suburbs about half an hour from here."

"What with having two children and two animals..." Cressida smiled fondly at the thought and fiddled with the handle on her teacup. "One of which is probably going to get very, very big," she added, "we're thinking that our apartment is much too small. After all, very few little girls want to share a bedroom with her brother forever." At that, she shot a sideways glance at Leon; it made precious little sense to the other woman but seemed to speak of mischief and old jokes.

Quixana watched as both little girls flocked immediately towards Mystic and quickly looked down at his hands to hide his frown. He had offered first, hadn't he? Maybe it was because he wasn't bit enough. It wasn't polite to get angry over that sort of thing. Forcing a bright smile back to his face, he lifted his head and once more patted the majestic tree. "It'll be an adventure," he announced.

Concerned, Courage nudged her head under her Forgotten's free arm and nuzzled into his side comfortingly.

"That I can understand," Reyna replied, "Thankfully I already had moved into this house when Sam came along, so to speak. Fragments does not seem to take up much space, though."

The ghost-dog in question was wriggling in quiet excitement as he peeked his head out from behind the branches of the trees at the children and their newfound shadow-friend. Slow! Time to play! Hurry! Fun-time now, yes??

Sam squealed in agreement and squirmed in Mystic's arms as the shadow reached to also pluck Annie up off the ground. He tucked them both carefully into a small play area that had been created up in the tree especially for little Sam by her beloved Uncle before extending one dark hand towards Xana.

'I believe I'll be needing your help in watching them,' he replied smoothly.

Annie squealed again at being up so high: she held Terror very closely in her arms, who didn't seem to mind the toddler suffocation as he was clutched close to her, and beamed with all the teeth in her mouth at Samara at the fun of it. "Inna air!" she said, not quite getting the main point that they were in a tree.

"I envy you there," said Leon morosely. "I don't know what's going to get bigger, Terror or Courage. And we need a damn aquarium for Terror. We were thinking about getting a swimming pool - Annie sleeps in a water tub right now, though God only knows how we'll keep her in freshwater."

"With luck and hard work. Nothing's too much for our babies." Somehow Cressida managed to make the cliche sound 100% sincere as she reached over to lace her fingers through Leon's.

Quixana looked at Courage and she nodded. Then he stepped forward and held out a hand to Mystic in acceptance. "Yes, please," he answered. Then, lowering his voice, he added, "I need to keep an eye on Meme. Can't let her get hurt, see?"

'That,' Mystic answered quietly with a bemused look as he lifted Xana up into the tree with the girls before following suit, 'Is what elder brothers are for.' He settled himself in front of the 'doorway' of sorts, as it was the only means of escaping the intertwined branches that formed the little hideaway.

Sam squirmed on top of a moss-colored pillow and went wide-eyed and still. She jumped slightly as she reached to sling an arm around Anemone. "Shhhhh," she said, "Pixies."

Reyna's brow furrowed for a moment as she contemplated having a child that preferred to sleep in water. "And here I thought getting Sam to sleep in her crib was a challenge," she replied in a sincere manner.

Pixies! Were they really going to see pixies? Anemone's eyes were huge and round and she looked nearly sick with excitement. Maybe they could catch one! Quixana could catch one for her! She was about to demand this but remembered Sam's pleas to be silent: maybe they were hunters now.

"'Challenge,'" Leon said dryly. "'Challenge.' Yeah. Annie's a challenge."

"Annie is a regular little Briar Rose of a challenge," Cressida agreed with an equal amount of cheer to her partner's blandness. "You have to change her water regularly."

Quixana craned his neck, looking around for the supposed pixies. He wrapped the fingers of one hand around a nearby slim branch. Tilting slightly, he leaned out further. "I don't see 'em," he whispered. "Are they colors?"

Sam sat is still as she possibly could. Event Fragments hardly moved and the wispy white smoke that continuously shifted all about his small form seemed to have slowed slightly though his very being ached to jump up and dance around out of sheer excitement of the moment.

Despite her best efforts, she squealed and clapped her hands to her mouth as she squirmed where she sat at the very first glimmer of light from a dark corner of the entwined branches. Sam's pixies were a little more like bugs -- lightening bugs to be exact, though they were far from ordinary bugs in that they changed color as they flittered about.

"PIXIES!"

Reyna smiled as she nodded towards Leon in understanding. She hadn't quite had issues with Sam save for the occasional tantrum that literally made things rattle and shake, but she could relate. She had suffered through Mystic's childhood after all, and there was hardly anything less of a 'challenge' than raising a shadow-child.

She opened her mouth as though to say something but clamped it shut as she caught the faint sound of her daughter squealing. She was either upset or having the time of her young life. She was personally hoping for the latter.

TBC!

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Trouble at Twilight Designs //
Savvy stirs up some trouble, and a couple of wisps awaken!

Kova leaned her head against her upraised hand and sighed, dark eyes staring ahead at some unfocused middle distance. Softly, totally unaware that she was doing it, she hummed to herself and somehow the notes rolled easily up and down the scale. Sometimes they even appeared to overlap. Delilah looked up at her mother from the little desk Athan had set up for her behind the main counter so she could do her homework on the days she came to the shop after school. "Mama?" she asked. "What's that?"

"Hm?" Kova started, blinking. "Oh. It was a tune I heard on TV. It was this movie 'bout a skeleton king and Halloween and Christmas."

"Oh." Delilah considered her mother's words and then turned back to her open book. "Halloween is this Wednesday, isn't it? I think we're having a party at school."

"You are, Delly." Kova laughed and pushed herself upright so she could stretch out. "I'm playin' fortune-teller for you cabbage-heads."

Suddenly, she froze in position and a huge, white grin spread over her lavender face. "Hey. Hey, that's an idea." She laughed. "We've got ghosties of a sort here. We should have a party or something. I could bake cookies and cupcakes and..."

Delilah looked up again and shook her head faintly as her mother snatched up a piece of paper to start making a list. She had a feeling that Mr. Athan would not like the sort of party her mother would host. She really wished a customer would come in to distract her mother. Like, right now.

Ying was actually skipping, the first time she'd done so in months. For a while she'd been quite depressed, but things were slowly getting better. She was having less nightmares, and the ones that she did have were about more normal things. Life was full of distractions that her mind welcomed. And it was Halloween, which had to be her favorite holiday, since it meant she got to dress up and gorge on candy.

It also meant she had to find a costume in time for the party. That Twilight Designs was having a party she took for granted- they'd had them for two years running. It was at one such party that she ended up with Tsavorite, something she didn't exactly like to recall, but even the Fiend wouldn't ruin her day.

Savvy seemed to know this, as she lurked unseen in the shadows, somewhat sulky. Not that it had been all fun while Ying had been upset. Initially it was nice, but when she found that none of her usual tricks got a reaction, it became quite boring. And when she wasn't depressed, she was mindlessly cheery!

Instead of focusing on Ying, Tsavorite turned her attention to the girl traveling with her. Not that she was usually very interesting, but maybe that day would be different.

They were almost there, Rinsei knew that much. She'd been to the shop with Ying once or twice before, hoping it might cheer her friend up. This time it seemed to have worked, though it was Ying herself who had insisted on the visit. Not that Rinsei minded, she just kept up her pace, waiting just behind as Ying opened the door.

Kova looked up from her scribbles at the sound of the bell and immediately abandoned her work. She grinned widely and waved to the girls entering the shop. "Hello! Happy early Halloween!" Walking around the counter, she laced her fingers behind her back and rocked slightly on the balls of her feet as she studied the new arrivals. "How can I help you?"

"Oh!" This was... unexpected. Ying had been to the shop a few times, but had never seen anyone other than Reyna or Athan there. Obviously this person worked there as well, but since she was unfamiliar, the Jumi was caught off guard.

Still, Ying was hardly shy, and quickly recovered. "Happy early Halloween! Are you new?" Or did she just not come often enough, or on the right days? "I've never met you before!"

Savvy would have snorted if it were anatomically possible. Instead she kept to the shadows, keeping her eyes on the weird purple woman. At least it wasn't Athan, and that meant, at least theoretically, that she wouldn't have to deal with Ying acting even more sickening than usual. Reyna was neither here nor there, but though Savvy would never admit, she was also a bit put out by the lack of familiar faces.

Then again, that mean new ones to play her tricks on, and she would never say no to that.

Leaving the talking to Ying, who was better at that stuff anyway, Rinsei looked at the nearest case, admiring some of the jewelry. A lot of it was much too fancy for her, but there were a couple of simple pieces that she might wear if she wanted to dress up. Still, jewelry, like conversation, was much more Ying's thing than hers.

"Not new but you must visit the days I'm off." Kova untangled her hands and held one out to Ying, bending slightly to adjust her over-tall height for the young girl. "I'm Kova and..." She looked over her shoulder at the counter she had abandoned. "Delly? Stand up, leafypuss, and say hi, please."

A small heart-shaped face topped with a mop of turquoise hair and featuring wide aqua eyes appeared over the top of the counter. Then a little hand appeared and waved. Before a response could be given, the girl disappeared again back to her desk.

Kova laughed. "That's my daughter. Delilah. She's shy."

That made sense, and Ying nodded thoughtfully. Then, grinning widely, she offered her hand. "I'm Ying! And this is Rinsei. We come here sometimes- well, Rin-chan doesn't always come, but I like to stop by and look at things. And buy, if I've been saving."

A chatterbox as always, Savvy thought. And it didn't escape her attention that she hadn't been included in her bond's round of introductions. No matter, it would only make things easier for her in the long run. If she had a mouth she would have been grinning too, but instead her eyes narrowed slightly, and she sank under the display cases, wondering how well they happened to be protected.

Rinsei waved politely as the saleswoman introduced herself, but was far more interested in the daughter that poked her head up. Was she wearing a flower? An avid gardener, she was curious about its nature, and leaned over the counter just a bit. She didn't want to appear nosy, but she did hope to get a better look.

As the one girl peered around the counter, Delilah looked up and met her gaze mildly. A math book was open on the desk in front of her and a piece of paper lay off to one side, covered in doodles and numbers. "May I help you?" she asked quietly.

Meanwhile, Kova was nodding approvingly. "That's good," she agreed. "It's hard to save but it means you can get prettier things when you do." She had obviously learned that Gaia did not approve of her former way of obtaining her own pretty items; Kova had learned to delete the thievery of her recent past in polite conversation. "What were you thinkin' of today? A necklace? Earrings?"

The contents of the book were only barely visible to Rinsei, but the Jumi wasn't especially interested in them to begin with. Instead she nodded, and pointed to the flower. "It's very pretty," she said with equal softness. "Did you choose it?"

Ying nodded again, already liking this woman. She was easy to talk to, for one. "I'm not sure yet," she admitted. "I sort of wanted to get something to go with my Halloween costume, except I'm not sure what I want to be this year. And I have to choose today, or else the stores are going to be all sold out." Not that she'd ever experienced that, but she trusted DS well enough. "I've already been a princess, so I can't really do that again, but I want a pretty costume."

Kova thought about the problem for a moment. Then she smiled gently. "Delly's gonna be a bellydancer," she offered, "and I'm gonna be a gypsy fortune-teller. Do you wanna be scary or pretty for Halloween?"

Blinking at the other girl, Delilah stared back with a look of confusion on her face. "No," she finally answered. "It's mine. I came with it." She paused, weighed her words and then reached up to touch the flower. "It's me."

"Oh, definitely a pretty one." Not that there was a problem with scary ones, but they were better left to the likes of Tsavorite. Ying liked to be pretty, and Halloween was one of the best excuses to go all out. "A fortune-teller sounds like it'll be fun. Can you really tell fortunes, Kova-san?"

Rinsei blinked, not entirely sure how to take that. The only person she knew who was related to flowers was Linnea, and she only had that on hearsay. And she'd definitely never seen anyone with a flower as part of her before. But then, she had a rock in her chest, so who was she to judge.

"Is it a special kind of flower?" she asked, still curious. If it was a flower that was unique to the person who was part of it, so to speak, that was interesting too. But she was still curious as to whether it was the sort of the flower she might find at a greenhouse.


"Mama says it's a hibiscus." Delilah tilted her head to one side, not quite sure what to make of this attention. No one had seemed so fascinated by her flower before. While she wasn't objecting to the praise, it still struck her as strange. Suddenly, she reached up and delicately removed the flower from her hair. "Here. You may have it if you like it so much," she offered.

"Not really," Kova replied cheerfully and without an ounce of remorse, "but it'll be fun trying, won't it? I might even pretend to be a gypsy queen while I'm at it. I love all the shinies I can wear if I do that." She studied Ying, thoughtfully. "Y'know, sweetie, I just had an idea. Ever want to be a pirate queen?"

Hibiscus were tropical, Rinsei vaguely remembered. It definitely wasn't a plant that would grow in the garden. She sighed, but nodded her understanding. The information was helpful, even if it wasn't what she had hoped for. She opened her mouth to thank the girl- and was stunned as she was presented with the bloom.

There were several questions that tumbled through Rinsei's mind, but the first and most urgent was the only one to be spoken aloud. "It... doesn't hurt you?" She thought that removing a part of one's body would have to be painful. If someone removed her core, she would die!

So she was just pretending. But that wasn't a bad thing; Halloween was all about pretending to be someone you weren't. "I'm sure you'll get real good at it by the time Halloween's over," she said earnestly. "And it must have lots of pretty gold jewelry, right?" Gold wasn't Ying's favorite- gems were much better- but it was still pretty.

At the idea, Ying lit up, but was quickly confused. "A pirate?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "Aren't pirates dirty and mean and missing legs and eyes and stuff?"

Kova looked suitably horrified and shook her head fiercely. "Oh, you don't want to be one of those pirates." She leaned closer, a move that required quite a lot of bending on Kova's part, and whispered dramatically, "I'm a pirate, actually. I'm just on vacation here 'cause my cap'n thinks everyone needs a vacation sometimes. I'm the cook, see, and it's hard work." The simple honesty in her face spoke only of truth on the woman's part. She was not lying or delusional.

Wordless, Delilah pointed back to her hair at the other girl's concern. A new blossom had already appeared, fresh and vibrant. Then she smiled. "Not a bit."

Kova-san was a pirate? But she was pretty! And purple, which was one of Ying's favorite colors. "Really? You don't look like a pirate." Of course, the only pirates Ying had seen were in movies. They had looked pretty real... but she didn't see a reason for the woman to lie, especially when she'd told the truth about fortune-telling.

She nodded dimly through the vacation part, brightening a bit when she mentioned her specific job. "Oh, you cook! DS-okaasan cooks too. Mostly for us, but sometimes other people ask her to cook for parties and things. So you cook- cooked- for the people on the pirate ship?"

At first there were no words that could express Rinsei's astonishment. She simply stared, eyes wide, at the newly bloomed flower. Then she smiled, and with warmth in her voice, said simply "That's amazing!"

Delilah flushed a bit and ducked her head shyly. "Thank you. It just happens. I have flowers all the time."

Giggling at the girl's reaction, Kova straightened and nodded. Her hands came up to rest on her hips and she stood proudly. "Cap'n Chota said I was the best cook ever and she didn't want me to go on a vacation but... Well, I gotta sometimes." She suddenly laughed and shook her head a bit. "'Cept the Cap'n's without her gunner now, too. He's visiting me."

"That's great," Rinsei gushed, not without a tinge of jealousy. She looked down at the counter, suddenly shy, but went on anyway. "I have a garden- everybody's garden, but I work in it. It's hard to get things to grow sometimes." And the more beautiful and delicate the plant, the more care it needed, and the better the chance was that it would wither even with her best efforts. It was rather discouraging.

A real pirate! Some of the people at home would probably think that was cool too. "I'm sure you're food tastes really yummy," Ying said earnestly. "Do you have lots of pirate friends? Maybe you could have a party sometime!"

Somewhere under the counters, a faint clicking noise started up, as if someone was repeatedly pushing the top of a retractable pen

"Maybe!" Kova tilted her head, tail swishing a bit. "Y'know, I was just thinking about parties, too. You must be psychic. I think we should have a party here, don't you? I want to ask Mr. Athan about it."

Delilah considered this information with a slight frown. "Everything grows for me," she offered. "Do you talk to the flowers?"

Ying opened her mouth to agree- and shut it quickly. What? "Was there not going to be a party this year, Kova-san?" However the first one had ended up, Ying rather liked the Twilight Designs parties. They gave her something other than just trick-or-treating to do. Besides, who else in her house could say they'd been invited to a snazzy party?

Talk? Rinsei shook her head. She barely talked to people, much less flowers. "I hum sometimes," she offered. It wasn't like she didn't spend time with her plants, just that some were stubborn. Or she was doing something else wrong...

Delilah nodded. "Talking is important. Singing is good, too. Mama sang to me when I was little." She paused, eyes solemn. "Plants are important."

"I don't know, lil bug." Kova shook her head and made a vague gesture with her hands. "I don't think they've got anything planned. I wanted to ask, though, 'cause it didn't seem right to not have a party. Y'know? I'll do all the plannin'. I don't mind."

The door chimed with a familiar little jingle as a cloaked figure stepped through. Despite initial appearances, it was not Athan swathed in dark robes, it was merely Mystic with his cloak wrapped tightly about his form that seemed to blend in with the dark clothing he was currently wearing.

Typically, he did not especially like wearing clothing, but in this instance, it had been necessary. His guardian had asked if he could pick up a package in her stead, and who was he to deny his Reyna?

Kova looked up at the new arrival and another huge smile lit her face. "Mystic!" she called as she straightened and waved. "It's good to see you. Did things go alright? Can I get you anything?"

Again Delilah stood briefly to peer over the top of the cabinet. Seeing Mystic, she waved briefly and offered her own tiny smile before again withdrawing. She glanced expectantly at her own conversation partner as if waiting for more plant questions.

'As well as could be expected,' Mystic replied with a bit of dry humor. He had given the delivery company a bit of a start with his soft telepathic speech and ghost-like appearance. He found it hard to believe, given the realm he had visited, that strange creatures picking up deliveries was all that uncommon, but it was more of how he simply appeared and the Halloween season.

He seemed to merely drift forward despite the fact that he was also wearing shoes, an entirely uncommon sight, as he moved towards the desk and left the small parcel upon its surface.

'Hello,' he went on as though he recalled a certain thing called 'manners' rather abruptly. And rather quietly in a form of speech no one else would've been able to decipher: 'And what sort of mischief are we up to, dear Savvy?'

Talking was important sometimes, maybe. There were certain things that could only be conveyed through talking, and it was the method most people employed to get their point across. Despite that, Rinsei didn't LIKE talking, and even when she felt she had to, she kept her sentences short. Words just got in the way.

Despite her feelings on that matter, she nodded emphatically, smiling. Plants were definitely important! And they didn't try to make messes of things by talking either.

"That would be interesting," Ying ventured, unsure. So far Reyna or Athan seemed to do the planning. And the parties were fun! But maybe, if someone else had done the planning, she wouldn't have gotten stuck with-

The chime of the door opening made Ying lose her train of thought, and she whirled around. At first it looked like a person, but then she saw it was... Mystic, that was his name. "Hello!" she chirped, waving cheerily. "Nice to see you, Mister Mystic!"

There was another light clatter from underneath the counters, a bit louder than the first one, but still hard to hear over the conversation.

'... nothing.'

"We were just talking 'bout parties," Kova added. Then she seemed to notice that Mystic was now ignoring them for something else and shrugged. There was a momentary frown but she recovered and gave Ying another bright smile. "So should we see what kind of shinies a pirate queen would need?"

Delilah stared at Mystic for long moments. Finally, she followed his line of vision and abruptly got on her knees to peer beneath the cabinet. Seeing the mischievous fiend there, she blinked. Yet she said nothing.

'We are due for the annual Halloween party,' Mystic chimed up idly as he looked up briefly to meet Kova's gaze. He was listening, distracted and far more interested in whatever trouble Savvy was up to, but he was listening nonetheless.

'Well that's certainly no fun,' he replied smoothly to Tsavorite in that quiet voice meant only for her.

"Sure!" Ying replied enthusiastically, already daydreaming about all the fun stuff a pirate queen would get to wear. Queens by themselves were nice, if a bit stuffy. Pirate queens, as long as they really weren't dirty, would probably be way cooler.

Tilting her head, Rinsei tried to peer over the cabinet without being rude. It was difficult, and in the end she couldn't see anything of interest. "What are you looking at?" she asked softly, hoping it wasn't an inappropriate question.

Tsavorite hadn't thought anyone would actually LOOK at her. When the flower child spotted her, she froze, then hissed mentally. Still, the girl wasn't snitching on her... maybe she wouldn't ruin things.

'Distract them for another minute and you'll see,' she replied equally quietly. Ignoring her observer, she tinkered with something under the cabinet. Hopefully another minute would be all she'd need. If her bond had been more attentive and less easily distracted, the whole thing would have been hopeless to begin with.

"There is a small ghost thing under the cabinet," Delilah answered Rinsei formally. She was clearly just stating facts; whatever Savvy was doing made no difference at all to her as she continued to watch the Fiend work with vague interest.

'Ghost thing?' Mystic chuckled, a low, yet warm sound that was somewhat unexpected coming from him, 'Dear one, she is a shadow, like myself.' He seemed to smirk faintly as he phased right through the desk, clothes and all, as he reached to ruffle Delilah's hair affectionately the way he would have his own little sister. 'Hasn't your delightful mother told you about us? Really Athan should have at least mentioned it...'

Delilah blinked up at Mystic, obligingly allowing him to muss her hair. The moment he took his hand away, however, she straightened it and checked that her flower was still there. Kova laughed. "I did tell her," she insisted, "but Delly might not have been listenin'. Definitely possible."

The little girl shrugged a bit. "My shadow doesn't do what you do," she pointed out. "I suppose you and the little girl down under there are special Shadows."

'Oh, but it could,' he stated, eyes sparkling with mischief as he reached out with one hand and with a little concentration and thought, caused the child's shadow to dance up from the floor to skitter across the wall and then back again in a Peter Pan-esque fashion. 'But yes, to clarify,' he went on, 'We are a special kind of Shadow.'

A ghost? Savvy scoffed; she obviously was something else. After all, what sort of self respecting ghost would be stuck somewhere like this? And with someone like her bond, no less. Still, she was almost done, and there was no time to worry about an uneducated girl.

Familiar with Tsavorite and the kinds of things she liked to do, Rinsei just nodded. So she was up to trouble again. It might have been more upsetting if it wasn't so completely expected. Besides, there wasn't much she could do anyway.

"Little- SAVVY!" Ying shrieked, not taking it nearly as well. What if Tsavorite did something bad, and got them all kicked out of the shop? Bouncing nervously on the balls of her feet, she leaned over the counter. "Get out of there RIGHT NOW!"

It was too late. With one defiant gesture Savvy thrust her hand through the bottom of one of the cabinets, trying to reach into a case where some of the more expensive looking items were kept. If there was an alarm, she couldn't find one, so maybe the people were silly and didn't safeguard their things. Their loss!

Of course, she hadn't been looking for other methods of deterring thieves...

Athan was not one to resort to the use of technology when a good old-fashioned spell could easily be used instead. Not but a few split seconds after Tsavorite had snatched up a shiny trinket, her moment of triumph was ruined when dark vine-like tendrils seemed to latch onto her hand and slowly climbed up her arm as it removed the item that was still held tightly within her grip.

Mystic's eyes widened almost comically so. He had forgotten about that. With a worried look upon his face he strode calmly over towards the case and placed his palms flat upon the surface of the glass to see if he could stop the spell.

He did not often frequent this part of town, but if he recalled correctly, the rather quaint jewelry shop he had visited once before was near by. He certainly hoped it had not closed, as he was hoping to obtain another trinket of some sort for a lovely lady he had his eye on currently.

Furthermore, he had not ever managed to get a hold of Miss Crelos previously about some potential design work he had in mind. He had several designs he had sketched out himself that he would like to see come to fruitation, but last he had visited she had not been available.

This time he hoped his luck was better, but upon stepping into the familiar shop, he was faced with a group of very unfamiliar faces that seemed to be in a rather precarious situation.

He paused for a moment as he peered over the rims of his glasses towards the smaller lime colored Shadow and a much larger purple one. "... I don't suppose I came a bad time, did I?"

Kova glanced up at the new arrival and offered an instinctive smile. "Oh, no. We're just, um..." She laughed even as she quickly edged behind the counter to push her daughter further from the scene of craziness. "If you'll just kinda stay over there for a bit... Ezra, right?" Not waiting for an answer, she crouched down and tried to unlock the back of the cabinet quickly.

Ezra went from gawking as he stood awkwardly at the very front of the shop closest to the door to smiling brightly. His entire posture seemed to shift and he fairly oozed charm. He always loved it when a woman remembered his name, even if they were merely acquaintances.

"Why yes," he replied in a smooth, warm tone, "And you... you're Kova, correct?" So perhaps there was a familiar face within the crowd.

Kova's head popped up over the counter at his words and she nodded. "Uh huh!" Then she dropped down again as she got the lock undone and slid the back open. "Okay, hon," she murmured. "Hang in there. We'll get you out."

Mystic's brow furrowed in concentration as he focused all of his attention upon the case before him. His eyes drifted half closed and what could be seen of them seemed to take on an eerie glow. Another darkness seemed to emanate from his very being, but was focused more on his hands itself. It was as though the dark black swirls upon his hands were drifting off of him to battle with the dark vine-like tendrils that had bound Savvy.

Kova's one hand seemed to rest on Savvy's shoulder while the other busied itself in the case, pushing away stones and bits of jewelry to better clear the spot. Her long fingers touched a milk-white bit of pretty carving and then delicately shoved aside a lump of glowing violet. "Hush, sweetie. Almost there. Mystic'll work it out."

And work things out, Mystic did. His dark hands gripped onto the black vines and with a little bit of focus, they dissipated, withering away like a plant that had been exposed too long to the sun. Nothing was damaged, and everything in the case remained largely untouched save for what Kova herself had moved out of the way.

'I'm sorry, Savvy,' the elder shadow replied with a small frown wrinkling his brow, 'I did not think about the spells Athan had cast.'

Once free, the little shadow skittered back to her bond sulkily to be dragged away by both her bond and Rinsei. The entire group of girls looked quite put out, but Mystic knew it would be Savvy that would remain most irritated. He would have to find a way to make it up to her.

Delilah stood on tiptoe to wave to the departing girls and then, tilting her head, she slipped back around the display case to stand closer to Mystic. Her bright eyes studied him curiously even as she neatly laced her fingers together to keep from reaching out to touch him. She had learned on her own that touching was impolite sometimes; it was certainly something that her tactile mother never would have thought to teach.

In the meantime, Kova sighed heavily and shook her head. "Oh, that was... Well, I guess Mr. Athan is really, really protective of these pretties." She smiled at Ezra as she reached back into the case to withdraw a few items and inspect them for damage. The stones caught the light and flickered in her hands.

The redheaded man who had been watching tucked his folder under one arm and clapped a few times. His posture before had been pulled back, watching everything that was going on with a slightly uncertain expression on his face, that disappeared nearly immediately as he smiled his bright and charming smile at Kova and one briefly for her daughter.

"I can understand his feelings," he said. "Possessing something so truly lovely!"

His attention no longer focused upon Tsavorite, Mystic allowed his gaze to settle upon the small child near his side. He offered her a brief look that very well could have been a smile. The expression seemed to sour somewhat when he glanced away from the child and eyed Ezra warily. He wanted to say he had met him before, though he could not quite remember when or where. If they had met, it had been quite some time ago, and the man obviously had not made enough an impression for him to truly recall him specifically.

He did not have long to dwell on it, however, as he found himself once more drawn towards the case. His bright eyes widened in a look of surprise as a sudden surge of feeling swept over him. It was always like that when a stone awakened. It was a brief struggle, a breath of fresh air, and then freedom.

His gaze darted towards Delilah whom was still standing ever so close to him. Oh no. That would not do. A child should not have to cope with the whims of a shadow.

'Kova,' as he motioned for her over his shoulder, '.. it seems there is a gift here for you.'

"Hmm?" Blinking, Kova gently lowered the jewels in her hands to nestle in a length of black velvet. She looked over her shoulder to try and fathom Mystic's words. His face was unreadable, though, and so she merely followed his line of vision to peer back into the case. "What's for me?" she asked.

Delilah pointed. "Mommy, those look funny. I think Mystic means those." She glanced out the corner of her eyes at the Shadow as if looking for approval of her cleverness.

Unable to quite help himself, Ezra leant forward as well, looking towards what Delilah and Mystic both were gesturing to. His eyes widened behind his glasses, apparently genuinely shocked - this wasn't something you saw every day - before his expression changed back into surprised good humour. "My word! Are they meant to be doing that?"

Mystic showed no visible interest in acknowledging the other man's presence or even bothering to answer his questions. He was more concerned with getting the stone to Kova and quickly! He would not want to be held responsible by Athan if the stone attempted to bond to Delilah, and he did nothing to prevent that.

He reached into the case and retrieved the intricately carved White Opal that was skittering and twirling about. He cupped it in his hands carefully and resisted the urge to clamp his hands down around it when he felt another jolt of something.

It wasn't entirely uncommon for a single awakening to work like a domino effect, but typically Athan was around to handle the situation. It was in the case on the opposite side of the room from where they stood. He could feel the darkness surge and surround it before the stone itself clinked daintily against the glass in an attempt to be free of its pristine cage.

'Take this,' he murmured distantly as he all but shoved the stone towards Kova before he floated over towards the other case in a diving motion. 'Do not touch that stone, Miss Delilah. It would be best,' he warned.

Kova gasped at the rough gesture and her long-fingered hands instinctively closed tight around the opal. Something seemed to surge through her palms in a sudden, pushing pulse and her dark eyes went huge as she tried to hold tighter. "Delly, do what Mystic says," she whispered.

"But... It's a pretty..." Delilah trailed off as she watched her mother's skin go a paler shade of purple and bit her lip before nodding. "Yes, Mommy. 'Cause it's Mystic and he knows things," she agreed. Once more knotting her hands in front of her, she turned her gaze towards the Fiend. Watching the way her mother had begun to tremble a bit worried her but she trusted Mystic. She supposed she did, at least. "Be careful, Mr. Ezra," she suggested

How cute it was of the little girl to worry about him! Usually it would have been fodder for a wiseass comment, but Delilah was fairly sweet, and so she was given one of Ezra's extra-charming smiles before he was distracted again with watching the stone intently. The room didn't reek of magic so much as it stank of it now, dizzyingly so. "I think I'll be quite all right," he said. "Don't worry your pretty little head."

Mystic felt sick to his stomach. He wasn't entirely certain why, as awakenings had never made him feel ill before. He was simply thankful he did not truly have a stomach. There would be no vomiting involved, only the repulsive feeling of unending nausea. Somehow that was better, though he wasn't entirely certain how.

His hands, usually so deft and swift, were slightly clumsy as he fumbled with the case before freeing the amethyst stone that was click-clinking against the glass, determined to be freed it seemed even if it meant potentially harming itself in the process.

That was when he felt it. It was unmistakable.

The purple stone and that of White Opal seemed to be vying for attention, competing. It was like being hit by wave after wave of jealousy. It was no wonder why both Kova and Mystic looked a shade paler than usual.

He gripped the stone with both hands regardless before turning his eyes upon Ezra. He did not want to give the stone to him, but there was no other option. He certainly could not put that sort of strain on his bond with Reyna and Delilah was a child. He had no other options.

'... and a gift for you, it seems.'

Even as Delilah pouted that she had not been chosen to receive the stone, Kova exhaled in relief. She had no idea why she would feel a sudden loosening but the thought of the amethyst, beautiful as it was, being anywhere near her made her want to scream and break things.

It scared her a bit; she never broke things. Well, not on purpose.

The stone in her hands seemed to throb, though, and she brought it automatically to her chest to hold it to her sternum. She watched Ezra with wide eyes to see if he would accept the stone.

For a moment Ezra was still; and then he smiled, nearly beatifically so, as he reached out and took the stone. For him, taking the stone was apparently as instinctive as it had been for Kova, fingers wrapping around it tightly and shutting its glow out from everyone else. He cupped it in his palms and looked at it, over and over again.

"If this is a gift, who do I thank?" he said flippantly. "'Never 'twere true beauty till this night,' I think. All of my compliments to the artist."

Mystic look tired, yet utterly relieved when the stone was no longer in his hands. It bonded itself quickly to Ezra without even a moment of hesitation. White Opal, it seemed, followed suit and completed the half formed bond to Kova as though it had finally resigned itself to its fate.

'Your compliments should be reserved for Athan,' Mystic managed. His eyes looked darker than usually and he pointedly stared down Ezra, but he did not have the energy to muster any further remarks. The ones running rampantly through his mind were not so nice.

"Athan," Kova whispered. The opal in her hands had finally stopped vibrating but the tall woman looked even more upset suddenly. "Oh, stars an' black holes an'..." She caught herself before she could fully complete the curse, aware of her daughter's sudden intent focus upon her. She attempted a lopsided smile. "Mystic, hon, is Athan gonna kill me for this one?"

"As I said, all compliments to the artist," Ezra said easily, still clutching the stone. A few strands of red had fallen down around his face as he examined his new prize. "So the missing and indomitable Athan. -- Why, Kova, who could ever be angry at you? It wasn't as though anything that happened here was your fault! Am I correct?"

Begrudgingly Mystic acknowledged Ezra's statement in an effort to console Kova. 'That is true. Athan would not be angry with you by any means,' he offered as he relaxed enough to stand upon his human feet and casually leaned back against the jewelry case, 'If anything, he ought to thank you for... your assistance.'

"I'm still going to apologize." She brought her hands down and opened them to peer more closely down at the stone. A slow, sweet smile appeared on her face, though, as the reassurance sunk in and she relaxed. "It's gorgeous," she murmured. "All swirls an' flowers." Lowering her hands further, she allowed Delilah to peek. "See, Delly? It's a flower like you."

Delilah considered this for a moment. "Except I'm a prettier color," she offered mildly.

This made Ezra laugh out loud; he had pulled his hankerchief out of his pocket and was wrapping up the stone before tucking it safely away somewhere else on his person. "You're going to have quite a time when that little mite grows up," he said cheerfully. "She knows exactly what she's worth!"

Mystic slowly floated over towards Delilah to settle at her side. 'You are lovely,' he agreed and gently petted at her hair. He did not say anything further though he did turn towards Ezra, once more making an allowance to acknowledge his presence.

'... I believe you were here to see my guardian, Reyna. She is not available. I think it would be best if you returned at a later date,' he replied, Yes, that's where he had seen or heard of him before. He was an artist as well. His gaze shifted towards Kova. 'I think... Athan would not protest to closing shop a little early. Given the circumstances.'

He personally needed to rest. As did Kova.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// Little Star //
Mystic encounters Black Star Diopside as a child!

Mystic flinched as he stepped outside of the store he had just been in. Fluorescent lighting, while irritating, was nothing in comparison to true daylight. It figured that on the rare occasion he felt the need to leave the house, never mind his room, that there wasn't a single cloud in the sky to allow him a little refuge from the bold, bright light of the sun. Of course he preferred to be more active at night, but how was he supposed to run errands at midnight when most decent stores worth visiting were closed by dusk?

It most certainly was not convenient by any means, but with his age, not only could he leave his guardian on his own, but he had grown some tolerance to the light. Even still, he kept the hood of his cloak firmly over his head and stuck to what few patchy spots of shadow he could to avoid the midday sun.

He sighed in relief when he reached his next destination -- a bookstore. He was not one to truly appreciate material items, but books, beloved books! His room was very quickly turning into a library in itself. There was nothing better than escaping into a good story or reading interesting articles. The topic hardly mattered to him. He was more than content to learn and read about anything and everything he could get his hands on.

That, and reading was a fairly quiet past time, and bookstores, libraries, and other such places had the tendency to be not only quiet, but dimly let to lend to the mood.

It was perfect!

Merci sauntered down the sidewalk, one arm laden with about four over-sized shopping bags hooked over it. The woman was struggling to keep up with her ward, Dio, who was darting quickly from shadow to shadow. He would occasionally disappear into a building and then whisk back out on his search for a comfortable way to travel down the well lit street. Keeping an eye on him and juggle three different shopping lists was becoming tedious and the redhead was fairly sure she couldn't keep it up much longer.

Seraph, Vance and Maili hardly ever made it out of the house, and it was always up to her to be sure they were restocked on the things that kept the household running. Beer, nuts and pretzels mostly for Vance, Seraph's shopping lists were always huge, and listed all the health food he insisted the rest of them eat. Maili was a surprise because she only really asked for a short list of the newest romance novels. Merci wished people didn't tend to stare when they overgrown monsters went out on the street, because it would make her life so much easier to deal with.

She rounded a corner and stopped dead at the empty street. Dio had ducked into another building, but she had expected him to pop right back out as he had been all day. Seconds ticked by and Merci got a little more frantic, it was like trying to follow a less messy version of Slimer! Merci backed up and she looked back on the street they had just left and caught the barest glimpse of Dio's colorful tail disappearing around the side of a building.

The woman wheeled around and just about dropped the bags in her haste to catch up with her little boy. He had been so good all day, true he scared the pants off one of the women in the frozen foods section of the grocery store but beyond that he hadn't left her side. Merci sprinted after her ward.

Dio could feel something, he knew it had to be around her somewhere. He'd been so bored. It was fun getting out of the house for awhile and seeing new things, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as this was going to be. The little shadow thought he could remember the feeling a little bit, he'd felt it sometimes when he hadn't been quite so strong!

He gravitated toward it, darting in and out of the shadows. Merci would catch up with him, and she was the last thing on Dio's mind as he finally saw what he had been looking for. He was bigger, and was hiding under a piece of cloth, but it was definitely what he had been feeling before.

Dio flew down the street, literally, along the walls so he wouldn't have to have the glare of the sun on him. His uncovered hand reached out and tugged the hood back on Mystic, curious to see who it was that he had managed to track down to make his day more interesting.

Had he not been thoroughly engrossed in the rather worn looking second-hand paper back novel he was reading, Mystic likely would have spied the other shadow first. He did not jump, nor was he shocked when he felt little hands tug back the hood to his cloak. He slowly glanced away from his book and then turned to peer intently over at Dio.

'Surely you are not here without your bond, little one.'

Dio's unhidden eye was full of curiosity as his head shook 'No she is coming, she's fast.' The last was said on what almost sounded like a giggle as his eye turned to look behind Mystic. 'Are you out without yours?'

Merci slowed down when she saw Dio harassing Mystic, her panic slowly subsiding. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to scream at Dio or just be relieved she'd actually managed to catch up with him. The woman adjusted the bag on her arm and approached both of them cautiously. "I'm sorry about him. I have no idea what got into his head."

Dio ducked behind Mystic and peeked around him at Merci, his glee obvious that he had manged to rattle his bonded.

'I am,' Mystic replied in a smooth, calm tone of voice, 'But I am of an age where being close to my guardian at all times is not a necessity in order for me to continue on in existence.' His bright violet eyes glittered with an amused light at the little shadow's antics. It reminded him of Citrine, and with that thought a sort of contented look washed across his face.

He stood from where he had been lounging and turned towards Merci when he was addressed. 'It is simply the nature of children,' he answered as he floated forward before settling upon the ground with human-feet. Especially children of his species. They were all but notorious for their mischievous behavior, though he did not seem intent on readily offering up that bit of information for the rather frustrated guardian that stood before him.

'That appears rather heavy, do you require help?' he asked. He did not wait for a reply. Instead, he hefted a few of the bags the woman was precariously balancing in her arms with little to no effort whatsoever. Being bonded to a demon had its perks.

Mystic's eyes narrowed in a tic of irritation, but it was neither directed at Merci or the shadow-child that was merrily exploring his cloak. 'Believe me when I say I understand. I too am forced to endure the whims of a Medusa.' It was no secret that he and the resident Medusa of his household had the tendency to clash. Really, it was he that did the clashing most times as Charles was all but oblivious to, well ... everything.

His expression softened to a look of amusement as Dio continued to prowl about beneath his cloak before peeking out. 'I also am not so fond of the sun. It is in our very nature, little one.'

Dio curled a corner of the cloak around himself and hid under the cloth, giving Mystic a look that quite literally translated into 'I'm happy under here and only a bomb will get me out.'

Merci tilted her head at Dio and she offered Mystic a small smile, "Well some of them aren't so bad. I have three to deal with, only one of them is really insufferable." She rolled her eyes toward the storefronts nearby and her face lit up. "I should duck in here and grab Maili her books, Do you think you could keep an eye on Dio for a moment?" She grimaced and looked down at the little shadow, "He just seems to happy under your cloak."

Dio nodded quickly and huddled a little closer into Mystic's side, as if putting his two cents in on the matter.

Mystic seemed to smirk faintly at the child that was hiding in amongst the flowing darkness that was his cloak. 'I can watch him for you, though we will keep near. It would be best,' he insisted in his soft, telepathic speech. He reached idly to ruffle Dio's hair fondly before quietly trailing after Merci.

'Eh... what's got you all... warm and fuzzy? I'd appreciate if ya didn't share. You're makin' me ill.'

The elder shadow chuckled quietly to himself, a noise that was quite inaudible to his two companions as his guardian's annoyance filtered through their bond. Only Reyna. 'I have run into a fellow Shadow and his guardian. He reminds me of Sam.'

He got the distinct impression of a mental 'hmph' at his reply and that served only to amuse him more. His moment of pleasure was ruined, however, when once more he encountered the light of day. It made his eyes sting and his entire form ache. Perhaps he had been away from Reyna too long. Being out and about in broad daylight for so long had drained him to a degree.

He shuffled the bags in his arms gingerly before glancing towards Merci. 'I don't suppose you might be able to pause in your errands after fetching this book. I am in dire need of rest. Preferably in darkness,' he spoke up as he reached gingerly to lift the hood of his cloak over his head, 'Perhaps you both might accompany me to my home. It would not take but an instant to get there.'

Merci picked up a book from the shelf and sneered at the cover, It had a picture of an over muscled man with windblown hair holding a petite scantily clad blond in what looked like a passionate embrace. She would never understand peoples fascination with these types of books. She picked up about four more, checking their names against her list before she glanced up at Mystic. "That would be just fine actually, I'll call Seraph to come by and help me get the bags home. After chasing Dio I don't think I can lug all this by myself." She felt a little self conscious walking up to the cashier to pay for the items. Merci had never been one of those girly girls that read these types of things, gun magazines and automotive manuals had been her nighttime reading.

Dio happily snuggled under the cloak floating around behind Mystic. His burgundy eye locked on the older shadow, studying him carefully. He mimicked some of his movements before his attention was pulled away by the colorful covers of the hardbound books they were passing. 'We're going to your home?' The little shadow's mind voice was quite, almost a whisper as he voiced the question.

Merci took the new bag and hooked it over the same arm that carried the others. The older woman turned to look at Mystic and her tail swang happily behind her, "Alright, I'm done shopping. I'll call Seraph while we walk. If you would be so kind as to lead the way?" To be honest she was thrilled that she would be getting to be social outside of the house for any length of time.

'Yes,' Mystic answered simply to Dio's quiet queries. He did not elaborate on his answer any further than that. He was not one to volunteer information unless it was merited or asked for directly.

He nodded in response to Merci as they headed out of the store entirely and onto the street. Mystic walked a little ways towards the end of the block where there were not as many people. It would be best if no one got in their way. He would prefer that uninvited guests remained just that -- uninvited.

He reached out with one hand and called for a bright, shining rune. It spun in a circle that widened quickly enough to allow the three of them to step through. He seemed to smirk faintly as he reached towards Merci with one hand and to Dio with the other.

'Shall we?'

Dio happily wrapped both of his arms around Mystic's forearm, the long sleeve on his left arm pulling up just enough to see fingers, but nothing more. His burgundy eye widened, he wasn't afraid, more that he was insanely curious. What was that thing? What did it do? How could it just appear like that? Could he do something like that someday?

Merci reached out and gingerly look Mystic's hand, not entirely sure about this mode of transportation. Mostly because she wasn't sure how to tell Seraph where to go. Course all the odd Medusa would need is an address, he could find anything from there. The fox woman's tail bristled slightly, betraying the look of confidence that formed her features.

Dio summed it all up in two words, 'That's neat'

One step through and the portal winked out of existence. There was the briefest moment that felt like a gust of wind, a rush of feeling, and then they were there before a house in amidst what appeared to be a boggy forest of sorts.

Mystic appeared rather pleased with himself and glanced towards his two companions. 'We are here.'

Merci felt a little queasy at the sudden rush of feeling, and she realized she had no idea where they were. She glanced over at Dio as he peeked out around Mystic at the house. The redhead pulled her tail around and smoothed out the fur, trying to make it unbristle at her unease. "Where exactly is here?"

All Dio knew, was that was insanely awesome. He practically vibrated with his excitement at being able to experience something so different. His head swiveled around trying to take everything in at one. As he looked around his excitement ebbed, and he found himself practically molded to Mystic's side. Something about this place made him very unhappy and he curled the cloak around himself completely.

Merci frowned when she saw Dio's reaction and she hesitated toward them. "Dio?" Her voice was colored with her concern.

"You're just outside of Bass'ken Lake," came a gruff reply. Reyna stood a few feet away as she unlocked the gates that led up to her home to allow her guests to pass through. Due to the wards and spells placed upon her home to keep it safely tucked away within the swamp, it was not possible for Mystic to transport them directly onto the property itself using any sort of spell.

The demon offered Merci a faint smirk before her gaze settled upon the little shadow that was hiding in amongst Mystic's cloak. "My, my," she all but purred, "Look who's out and about nowadays. I'd say you've certainly taken good care of him."

She turned on her heel and headed back up the path towards the house and idly waved a hand over her shoulder, indicating that they ought to follow.

Mystic beamed quietly. He adored Reyna. 'Shall we?' he replied in a polite tone of voice as he moved to usher Merci and Dio inside.

Merci pulled out a cell phone and dialed a phone number, all the while watching the cloak that Dio had curled himself up in. The conversation with Seraph was short, she told him where they were and that he would need to come pick them up. Luckily she hadn't gotten Vance on the phone, that was an argument she didn't want to have right now. She picked her way over the ground and walked toward the house after the demon woman. "Thank you. I can't tell you it's been easy. He seems to have held up rather well though."

Dio was making very quiet unhappy sounds. He didn't like this feeling, at all. He wanted it to go away, it made him afraid and he wasn't sure why. He burrowed his face into Mystic, trusting the older shadow to protect him from whatever it was out there that was making him so nervous.

The little shadow couldn't figure out why they were all so calm? No one else seemed to have the same feeling he was, and he found it very very confusing.

Merci looked up at the house and the property, "You have a very nice home." She meant it. The Fox woman actually wished she were a little more out of the way.

Mystic's brow furrowed in a deep set frown. Unease and distress seemed to radiate off of Dio. He reached for him as he would Sam or any other child and pulled him up into his arms and petted his hair gently. 'This is a safe place, little one.'

He trailed after his guardian and held the door open for Merci in a gentlemanly manner before releasing his hold on Dio. He was about to say something further in order to comfort him but was caught short when he suddenly found himself being held in someone's arms.

"Mystiiiiii~iiiiic! You brought COMPANY! You are such a dear. I do so love company. Let me go and make us all some tea, and isn't he just the cutest thing I have ever laid my eyes on!" Charles, or Die as he preferred to be called, rambled as he pinched Mystic's cheeks and ruffled his hair. "Do introduce me to your friends! I didn't know you really had any! They're both so cute!"

Mystic in turn scowled darkly as he squirmed out of the overly friendly medusa's grip by going entirely transparent. '.... this is Ch-.... Die,' he stated dryly, looking rather put out.

Merci slipped through the entrance to the home and she glanced around when she heard the voice practically squealing Mystic's name. Her ear cocked backward at the sound before she turned her head to eyeball the, for lack of a better word, very metrosexual medusa squeezing the older shadow. A smile cracked across her face and she hand to raise a hand to cover her mouth so she didn't laugh out loud at the obvious irritation rolling off Mystic.

She often felt exactly the same way with Vance.

Dio felt better when he was curled into Mystic's arms, and slowly he started to relax. His eye rolled up and he looked at Die with obvious curiousity. He liked snake people, after all he lived with three of them. He seperated himself from the older shadow and he moved over to start inspecting Die. The feeling of unease was starting to ebb now that he was seperated from the dreary landscape the swamp provided, and in the nature of a child it was quickly forgotten.

"Die, sweetness," Reyna spoke up from where she was casually leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, "Why don't you help make some tea for our guests?"

"Ohh! Absolutely! It would be my pleasure!" the medusa spoke up excitedly as he clasped his hands together with a rather pleased look upon his face. He fairly writhed with excitement as he slithered his way into the kitchen and past Reyna who resisted the urge to grin outright at his antics.

"You'll have to excuse him," she spoke up, "He's easily excited." She pushed herself off of the wall that she was leaning upon and moved to sit on the couch. Mystic followed after her and reached to drag Dio along by one hand.

"So," Reyna began again, "He hasn't given you too much trouble so far, has he?" She offered both Merci and her ward a fanged grin, "He's turned out awfully cute, regardless."

Dio was going to trail after Die so he could get a closer look when he was tugged away. His head turned toward Reyna and he immediately changed targets. She was neat looking too, and she had those hoops on her ears just like he did. He floated closer to her and started examining her, without touching her.

Merci couldn't help a small sigh as she moved over and took a seat, "Actually he's not been half the trouble that my other house guests have been. Between the three of them they make little Dio here look like a veritable angel." She could still remember the headaches and body aches she had gone through without Dio around. He'd recovered well once they had been reunited, but she would never fully forgive Seraph for taking him away in the first place.

"I hope you don't mind I called them to come pick me up. And knowing them, they won't be long. I'm not that far away from here actually and Vance drives like he should be in some sort of speed derby."

Merci's eyes moved to Dio as he lifted his sleeved arm to reach out and touch one of Reyna's ears. She cleared her throat, "Dio, that is probably not a very good idea."

The little boy pulled his hand back quickly and he turned to look at Merci, 'But she has the metal in her ears too, I just wanna look.'

Reyna chuckled quietly under breath. If that had been Mystic as a child he would have flat out yanked on her ears. In fact, she was shocked he hadn't attempted. She merely continued to grin when her own shadow sent her a rather perturbed look.

'I wasn't that bad,' he huffed defensively.

'Sugar, you were an adorable, purple train wreck.'

"I don't mind the extra company," she replied. Normally she wasn't too fond of people, but she was inclined to indulge her guest. She was a fellow guardian, after all.

"Oh goodness! Did I hear that more people are coming?" Die shouted from the kitchen as the sounds of banging pots and pans sounded and the distinctive clink of china. "I better make some more tea then or there won't be enough and that would be absolutely dreadful! Not enough for all our guests, that would just be rude and inconsiderate and that we simply cannot allow ourselves to be, oh no!"

Mystic huffed quietly. They were his guests. His guests!

Merci glanced away from Dio, and glanced toward the kitchen. It sounded like he was doing a little more then making tea to her, but she assumed that they knew what they were doing.

Dio watched Merci turn away and he quickly reached out with his uncovered hand and he stroked the topside of Reyna's ear. His eye squinted slightly as he tried to feel with his fingers how many holes she had. It was a lot, more then he had.

Merci looked back toward Reyna and she opened to her mouth to scold Dio, when the door was pushed open and Vance slithered in. It had only been a few minutes since she called, and Merci hoped that they had already been in the car. Otherwise Vance would have made record time, and probably ruffled a few feathers in the local law enforcement.

The three medusa's piled through the door, Maili shoving Vance out of the way as she passed by him. "Make room you overgrown Python." she practically hissed.

Seraph's face was serene as he made his way past the other two to come to rest near the woman that cared for them. "Don't worry, we were already in the car. I had thought you might need someone to come pick you up in town."

Merci let out a huge sigh of relief before she glared at the three of them. "First of all your guests and you should have knocked before you came in. Secondly, I can tell Vance drove by that silly look on his face and I told you." Her finger leveled at the top hat wearing snake man, "That you were not allowed to drive my cars anymore."

Vance snorted a bit and he waved a hand at her, "Don't worry about it, it's not smoking much."

Die bustled out of the kitchen just in time to see the three other medusa slither in the door. He held a rather elegant silver tray in his hands that had a small pile of bite-sized cookies on a plate along with a dainty tea set. For the very first time since their first house guests had arrived, he was entirely silent. He had not ever encountered another of his kind in his rather young life.

Mystic actually managed to look a bit concerned for a moment. Charles. Quiet. Really? He stood from where he was lounging next to Reyna and phased directly through one of the walls to help the medusa bring out the rest of the sweets and tea cups for tea he had readied.

Die slithered daintily over towards Merci and Reyna and sat the tray upon the coffee table before shooting the silver haired demon a worried look. He sniffed a bit dramatically and twisted his hands nervously in front of him. "Y-you're not... r-replacing me are y-you?" he squeaked.

Quiet, eerie laughter seemed to emanate from somewhere within the kitchen which made Die hiss in displeasure.

"No dear," Reyna snickered, "You are not being replaced. They are guests as much as ... Merci.. wasn't it?"

'And Black Star Diopside,' Mystic chimed as he re-entered the room and set the additional tray upon the coffee table, 'Dio for short.'

Vance opened his mouth to say something and Maili gave him a shot in the ribs. "Can it."

His head turned toward the green skinned woman and he hissed at her. "I swear one day I am going to get over not hitting a lady. Then your really gonna get it."

The look on Maili's face when she turned toward him was somewhere between taunting and amused. She looked like she was going to say something but Dio happily swung himself away from Reyna's ear and plowed himself into the medusa's arms. She looked a bit startled before she cradled him against her chest.

Seraph cleared his throat first and he offered Die a look, "Please excuse them, they seem to have no manners. My name is Seraph, The one with the top hat is Vance, and the lady is Maili. I am sure you have met Dio and Merci." He gestured from the little shadow who seemed pleased as punch to have Maili to sit on, and the kitsune already seated. Through the entire exchange Seraph's face never once showed any emotion at all.

Merci heaved a sigh, "I really didn't think all three of them would come, honestly. I was rather hoping at least Vance would stay home."

Vance let out a small sniff and he ignored Merci, instead giving his attention to Die. "Whats your name?" His voice was gruff but he was at least attempting to be nice to this obviously skittish creature.

Charles cleared his throat and adjusted his hat as he offered Vance a charming smile. "My name is Charles, but I typically go by Die," he replied smoothly as the worry on his face and the tension in his shoulders seemed to bleed away, "Pleasure to meet you, sweetness."

Introductions aside, he seemed rather content to resume his role as a host. "Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable. Perhaps have some tea?" He fairly beamed with pride. He did a great deal of cooking when Mystic allowed him into the kitchen. He did so enjoy baking!

He coiled himself down upon the couch next to Mystic who simply glared balefully at the other man. He. Did. Not. Want. To. Cuddle. Alas, Charles was entirely oblivious to the general dislike and malice that the shadow radiated.

Reyna was simply amused by the turn of events. It was not often she had guests that were quite so... interesting. That, and Dio was undeniably adorable. It also seemed that the fact that she believed him to be so cute seemed to make Mystic mildly jealous. Not enough to lash out at the child, but just enough to make him shoot her irritated looks.

Dio glanced up at Maili who moved over to the couch and settled next to Merci on it, her body curled up so only the tip of her tail twitched against the floor. He was quickly loosing his focus on her since she wasn't giving him her full attention. His eyes shifted back over to Mystic and he floated away from Maili and back over to the older shadow to play with his hair.

Merci couldn't keep the smile off her face as Vance skirted the couch and kept it between him and Die. Something about Die just screamed that he would snuggle if he got within arms distance. Vance was as fond of snuggles as the next guy, but something else about Die said that molestation might not be out of the question either.

Seraph settled down and leaned his body against the back of the couch, next to Vance. "Thank you for taking care of Merci and Dio. I am not sure she has acclimated to taking care of him yet."

Merci made a face and opened her mouth but Vance interrupted her. "He won't hold still long enough for you to get a clear look at him. I still say she should have left him in that bloody store."

Maili shot an evil look at Vance and hissed threateningly, "Shut it Vance."

Reyna chuckled quietly under her breath at the antics from the medusa that had now infiltrated her living room. It was good to know that Charles wasn't the only one that was, well, flamboyant and rather over-the-top. In fact, knowing that his kind seemed to be... that way all the time made a little more sense.

Mystic, however, looked rather displeased at being surrounded by snakes (however charming they may be!), especially since Die was curled up against his side. His expression softened however when Dio managed to squirm in between them and began to play with his hair.

There was no way to deny that the little Shadow was nothing but adorable.

He glanced over at Vance with a rather smug look. 'The only problem with that would be that once awakened, remaining within one's stone is not an option. If it were, I doubt I would be here today.'

"Ain't that the damned truth," Reyna remarked with a fanged grin. She had wanted to maul him on more than one occasion when he had been a child. And then a few times after when he was older, but that was another story entirely.

Merci glanced at Reyna and leaned forward, she clasped her hands in her lap as she watched the other woman. "I think Vance's main concern is me and my health. They believe that Dio is going to suck my soul from my body and leave me nothing but an..." she paused and glanced back over her shoulder at Seraph, before she turned back to the other woman, "emotionless husk."

Vance bristled at Merci's rather blatantly pointed remark about Seraph, "He isn't emotionless, mess with his stainless steel and you'll see."

Seraph's monotone voice cut through the chatter, "I am not insulted Vance, I don't need your protection." The other man shut up and folded his arms, looking pissy.

Maili couldn't help a smirk as she watched Dio, he was trying to braid Mystic's hair by looking over at Maili. She kept her hair braided up on top of her head sometimes. Dio pulled one pile of hair over the other, twisting it more then braiding it together. His burgundy eyes were fixed on what he was doing, the entire outside world was nothing but white noise to him. He didn't even know they were talking about him.

Mystic idly glanced back at Dio with a sort of long-suffering look. He typically did not do much with his hair. Rarely did he even need to brush it as for whatever reason, being what he was, it did not change much nor tangle in a way the average human's would. He was fully prepared now that his his hair was likely going to be gnarled and difficult to unbraid for, well, however long it took him to undo whatever it was Dio decided to do. Sure, he could attempt to stop him, but the little child was radiating a sort of content, and that was something he did not feel inclined to ruin.

Reyna simply grinned before she turned her attention back to Merci. Her brow furrowed for a moment as she contemplated her words. "Mmm... that's not likely. While as a wisp and his current form now as a child he may use some of your own energy, there's no way for him to steal your soul," she replied smoothly. No, no, that was where her expertise as a demon lay. Not that she had a mind to do so. It would hardly be polite!

That thought made her smirk.

"In fact," she went on in explanation, "He'll begin sharing his own energy with you once he's a little older."

'A shadow's form has no means to contain it, so it is shared,' Mystic added.

Merci turned a triumphant look on Vance, who had the grace to look even more grumpy then he did before. His voice was smooth when he retorted, "Lovely, so we're stuck with the little energy sucker forever."

Maili casually reached back pinched Vance on the arm, making him jump and say things that Dio should probably not hear. Luckily the little shadow was totally engrossed in his hair creation. He floated up and tugged Mystic's hair over so he could try and put Die's bangs into his masterpiece. The braid was gnarly, with short pieces sticking out here and there where he dropped pieces of it and didn't notice. He turned his burgundy eyes from head to head trying to figure out his little self made dilemma.

Merci shook her head, "It's nice to just know he will grow stronger, He's always been a little fragile. Poor thing has had to many brushes with death for my taste. I just hope he won't be so dependent on others soon, so if something happens to him he won't fade away."

The older Shadow groaned inwardly. This was not going to end well. Die was beginning to squirm and hiss in protest and batted at the child's hands in response to having his impeccably styled hair toyed with.

"Ahem... little .. Dio, was it? Yes! Sweetness, do try to .. well.. not mess with my hair. You've really no idea how long this takes me in the morning. Looking this good, while it does come by me naturally, is no easy feat!" the medusa explained with a bit of a huff before he wriggled up off the couch and away to fetch more snacks from the kitchen.

Mystic was left to fend with Dio on his own and he offered the child a wry look. 'Don't mind him. He's rather prissy.'

Dio cocked his head at Mystic before he started tying a knot in the end of his hair to keep it held fast. 'Prissy? Like Vance?' He sounded honestly curious as he asked the older shadow. 'He doesn't like anything of his touched.' For the first time, a note of something other then blissful ignorance colored the child's tone. It was obvious that the male medusa bothered him almost as much as he bothered them.

Merci frowned and turned to look at them, towering over the couch. Both of them looming like they were trying to stare down something horrible and dangerous usually pissed off the fox lady, but today she was to tired to yell at them. Maili wasn't though.

"I am always so surprised that you two are scared of such a tiny little thing." Her voice was like silk, it slid across your skin and left goosebumps in it's wake. Her blindfolded face turned back to Reyna. "You have been such a gracious hostess, Die as well has been a blessing. I would like to voice our appreciation. Dio doesn't get to spend alot of time with his own kind." Her face tilted over to Mystic, watching him carefully in his treatment of Dio.

Merci gave Reyna a lost look, obviously she was not as in control of her circumstances as she wished she were.

'Mmm... more like he is entirely focused on his appearance,' Mystic replied smoothly before idly glancing towards Maili. Now if only Die was as charming as she was, perhaps he'd find the snake's presence far more tolerable.

Reyna said nothing in response but simply smiled and nodded towards Maili. She glanced towards Merci and offered her a smile as well. In situations such as this, there often wasn't a way to take control of the situation. It was best to go with the flow -- easier said than done, of course.

"I have more cookies!" Die chimed as he slithered back into the room and brushed past the other two male medusa that were looming ominously before the couch. He seemed to take no mind whatsoever to the obvious tension that had filled the room. He was far too pleased at the fact that they had house guests and that he had tea and snacks to share!

Dio dropped Mystic's knotted hair and moved over to Die. He curled himself over the medusa's shoulders to get a good look at the plate he was carrying. He didn't know what some of the dishes were, and of course he wanted to touch them. The little shadow's arms reached toward the teapot to pick it up and obviously inspect the item.

Merci glanced over at the movement of her ward and her breath caught in her throat before she could yell at him. This was going to end badly, her body straightened up off the couch out of reflex but she wouldn't be able to stop the little troublemaker before it was to late.

Vance and Seraph both just watched quietly, though the glee on Vance's face couldn't be hidden as he watched.

It was like watching what was sure to be a train wreak.

though Maili didn't lose her composure, or her ability to chastise the small shadow. "Dio..."

He heard her, he just didn't wanna listen. So he didn't.

Reyna said nothing to stop Dio but Mystic did do something about it. He loomed over the smaller shadow and reached with both hands to clasp a firm hold to the teapot. In a voice only audible to Dio, he said, 'While I generally approve of mischief-making, breaking a teapot belonging to my Reyna would not bode well, little one.'

He smirked faintly and sat it back down onto the table without any further fuss, though he couldn't help at chuckle at the feeling of disappointment that emanated from the other shadow. It was also mixed with an unending sort of curiosity. It made him seem so... innocent.

He... took it away!

Dio gave Mystic a very wide eyed look of horror as his toy was taken away from him. He watched as it went down on the table and he heaved a sort of sigh as he realized that his explorations would probably be stopped again if he should try. So instead he swiped Die's hat right off his head and quickly zoomed over behind Reyna to check it out instead.

Merci covered her eyes and dropped back to sag on the couch. "I should probably get him home. Dio hasn't been like this in awhile."

Maili couldn't help the chuckle as Dio put the hat on and tried to imitate Die. "He got it out of his system pretty quickly at home, it's just a new environment."

Vance couldn't help a snort, "See, the little b*****d is hell on wheels. Merci you should leave him here. He obviously likes them and would be more at home."

Merci shot a look back up at Vance, not even saying anything to him in response to that ridiculous idea.

"Oh dear me I think there are enough ghosts in the house," Die hissed as he folded his arms over his chest and then pouted over at Mystic. "You're a ghost-thing! Get my hat back for meee? Pleeeaase?" he all but whined as he moved to coil himself about Mystic's form.

The elder shadow rolled his eyes and chose to ignore Die even though he was all but curled into his arms. 'If you believe he is trouble now, I dare you to attempt to separate him from his guardian,' Mystic answered with a smirk to his tone of voice that belied the calm, neutral expression on his face.

Reyna giggled. "That's nothing short of the truth."

Dio held the hat on his head and moved closer to the group. He folded his arms and moved to curl around Maili, in something that could be called an imitation of Die. There was something akin to a smile on his face, his eyes and face scrunched up happily.

Maili tsked and pulled the hat off Dio's sparkling head and gave him a soft bop on his noggin. "That isn't very nice, if you can't be nice we are going to have to leave you at home." Her voice was reasonable, even though the threat in her voice was obvious. The green hand moved and tossed the hat carefully toward Die. "He wasn't trying to be mean."

Merci moved to perch on the edge of the couch, and she looked between Mystic and Reyna. "It gets better right?" She didn't want to say much more then that in front of Dio. She did love him very much, but she would have been a lot more comfortable taking him places if she didn't have to scold him every few minutes.

Vance grumbled quietly, "Should have left the stone buried when you had the chance." His blindfolded face turned toward Seraph, who didn't respond at all.

"Infinitely so," Reyna replied before flexing both of her hands out before her in a stretch that showed off rather lengthy nails, "I can't say there'd be much left of Mystic to speak of if he hadn't shaped up." She meant it teasingly, which was apparent in her voice, but they had had their moments. He was, after all, currently responsible for the form she was stuck in currently; halfway between her true form and her human guise.

Die sniffed faintly as he caught at his hat and placed it daintily back upon his head. "Oh! I'm certain he meant no real harm," he replied as he seemed to fidget and squirm before pouting when Mystic phased through his arms and moved to sit back down upon the couch next to his bond. "No harm done! And.. I do have other hats. Many more in fact. A whole wardrobe! My mum sends me gifts and clothes from all over the place, " he rambled on with a happy sigh.

Merci's breath sighed out and she smiled, "That is such a relief. I worry about him, he's constantly meddling with things that don't belong to him. I'm just worried he is going to touch the wrong thing one day and regret it."

Vance coughed and muttered, "Like your one to talk, if you hadn't gone grabbing that rock we wouldn't be in this mess in the firstplace."

The women it seemed were in full silent treatment mode as neither one reacted to Vance, but Dio's eyes moved up to him and then back. It was obvious to anyone paying attention that he wasn't entirely innocent of what Vance was saying about him. Suddenly the little creature phased through the couch and grabbed a hold of the long tendril of hair that was usually wrapped around Vance's body. That one piece of hair was just about longer then the medusa's entire form, and Dio cruised around him.

That piece of hair wrapped tighter and tighter, and before Vance could do much he was trapped within his own long strands. Dio stuffed the end of the hair into Vance's mouth and scooped the top hat off his head.

The little shadow looked entirely to pleased with himself when Vance started making indignant and angry noises. Dio hovered over and planted himself safely into Mystic's arms, putting the top hat in Die's lap. 'You can have that one too. Since you like hats.'

Merci, Maili and Seraph were all staring at Vance. Maili started laughing loudly, before Merci and Seraph turned to look at Dio. The fox woman was horrified, but couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Die looked somewhat horrified as though having Vance's hat made him some sort of accomplice to the little Fiend's scheming plot. "Ohhh dear," he stated, wide-eyed behind the blindfold he wore.

Reyna merely smirked and tried her best to stifle her laughter behind one hand as she eyed Vance. If the loud-mouthed medusa wasn't careful, he would likely find himself in far worse conditions. Dio, while he did come across as far more sweet and innocent than the average Shadow, was still a Shadow and therefore prone to mischief and trickery as all his other brethren were.

Die cleared his throat and daintily slithered over towards Vance to help untangle his long hair. He flushed slightly and then placed the hat back on Vance's head before offering him a small smile.

"It wouldn't look good on me anyway. I don't think I've an outfit to match!"

Mystic merely watched the scene play out before him and held onto the squirming, giddy child in his arms. He was neither worried nor concerned.

Vance was near homicidal as he glared daggers at the little fiend, who was happily snuggled into Mystic's arms and fiddled with one of his hands. Merci gave Maili a look, and the green skinned woman rose from her seat. "Come on Vance, you and I are going to go out to the car now."

His head turned toward her, and surprisingly before he could say anything nasty, Seraph hooked an arm through his. "It is best to do as the lady says." The odd asian medusa led the unsuspecting Vance toward the front door.

"Thank you for your hospitality. I am sorry that we couldn't have tea with you." Maili's head inclined toward Die, "You have been a most gracious host under some very trying circumstances. Maybe the next time we meet it will be less stressful and we can actually have some of the food you have prepared. It really does smell delicious." She seemed calm and collected and nodded to Mystic and Reyna in turn before she slithered over to help Seraph get Vance out of the front door.

Merci seemed to sag into her couch, and her eyes moved over to Reyna. "I don't suppose I can hide out in your basement or attic. Those three are going to make me go gray before my time." Her tone was light, but it wasn't entirely clear if she was joking or not.

Reyna chuckled quietly as she stood and helped Merci to her feet. "The basement is Die's domain and the attic is off limits," she said in a serious tone before adding in a sweeter voice, "I do have a guest room however should you need to escape."

Die flushed and clasped his hands in front of him at Maili's compliments. He did so love guests! "Perhaps all of you will have to come visit again!" he smiled as he slithered after the trio of medusa and waved from the front door. "Sorry your little ghost friend tried to tie you up with your pretty hair, Vance!"

Mystic rolled his eyes at Die. Sure, he could explain that they were not ghosts, but it was a conversation they had had previously. On more than one occasion, at that. It never seemed to sink in.

Merci broke out into a huge grin and accepted the help. "Thanks, don't be surprised if one day I show up in my bunny slippers and PJ's looking half crazy alright?" Her green eyes moved to Dio, who was still happily examining the star like patterns on Mystic's hands. He had a squinty look on his face that Merci was starting to learn actually meant he wasn't letting something go anytime soon.

"Dio my love, come along. It's time we went home."

The little creature didn't even look up, 'I'm not done looking.'

Merci paced over and shifted bend down, balancing on the balls of her feet. "Dio, Mystic will not disappear tomorrow. I am sure you will see him again. And when you do you can ask him if you can look at his hands then alright?"

The shadow looked up at his friend and he gave him wide eyes, 'Would you let me look next time?' The woman glanced at Mystic, and she hoped he said yes. She was pretty sure that if an affirmative wasn't given, she would never get Dio into the car.

Mystic's eyes seemed to shine with amusement as he reached to clasp his hand over the child's. 'I am not inclined to say no. You're more than welcome to come and visit, little Star,' he answered in a warm, brotherly sort of tone before idly petting the child atop his head.

Dio kept looking at him for a moment before he loosed his hands from around Mystic's, 'Okay, I believe you if you say so.' He moved and gave the older shadow a quick hug, wrapping his arms around his neck and squeezing lightly. The little creature then surrendered himself to Merci, who stood up and ushered him toward the door.

"Honestly thank you both for allowing us to stay with you for a short time. It was a pleasure." and the honesty of her statement could be heard in her voice. "I don't get out much, and I really hope you don't mind if we do this again sometime without the pink haired nightmare."

Before Dio let himself get pulled out of the house he swooped over and gave Reyna a quick hug too. Obviously her appearance didn't bother the little shadow one single bit, he lived with snake people after all. He let her go and didn't hug Die, instead he lightly touched the back of his hand as he swept through the open doorway.

Merci followed the little shadow out to the car and glanced back at the house. They had a nice family, she was slightly jealous. Even though they seemed to have their little differences, somehow they seemed to be able to handle the issues in a more refined manner.

Vance had been tossed into the far back of the rather spacious SUV, and Maili and Seraph were both already in their places. Dio phased through the windshield and curled up in Maili's arms, content to let his beautiful burgundy eyes close in contentment.

All in all, Merci thought as she climbed into the drivers seat, It hadn't been a bad day at all. Quietly she resolved to get out more often.

The car started and backed out the way it had come in, carrying its small piece of chaos away with it.

 

[Reyna Crelos]

// A Certain Restlessness //
Mystic mopes and wants to escape...

He had felt this way before. It was maddening, but at least this time it was not as bad as it had been prior. He was simply restless. It was like he just wanted to claw his way out of his own skin. Was that even physically possible? If he could, then what? He sighed and drifted aimlessly through his home. He thought about leaving and going elsewhere, but he did not feel it would change or otherwise improve his mood by any means.

So he stayed, and he wandered about various rooms, lost in his own thoughts. He felt trapped. He wanted to escape, but to where? He didn't know where to go, or even what to say about how he felt. It was something that he couldn't put into words, which of course only frustrated him more.

He just ... wanted. He was filled with this unexplainable longing for something more. A purpose. SOMETHING.

He finally settled back into his room and laid in bed, staring up at his painted ceiling. Perhaps he should consider traveling. The thought of doing so was a pleasant one, but the pitfall in that particular idea was his bond to his Reyna. How far could he go without her and not cause them both to suffer?

In truth, he had no idea. Athan probably didn't know either, at least not more than an approximate guess. Reyna certainly couldn't just pack up her things and traverse the universe with him because he wanted to. She had responsibilities. She had a life.

Maybe that's what he wanted.