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 Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:53 pm
She really should not have delayed going home for this simple reason, but Elizabeth simply had to know what was in her backyard. After all, it wasn't every day that a silvery being fell onto a rock in your yard and spoke in a lilting Irish accent.
Hurrying up the steps to the main library building of the town, Elizabeth brushed away her own hair in frustration. Heralds... there had to something more than that. They were just a myth, a legend, and one that she couldn't agree with. Faeries seemed downright normal compared to these Heralds. What little she did know... she had to know more, had to know if that creature was indeed what her suspicions said.
Elizabeth knew the library like the back of her own hand, and soon found the shadowy little corner that seemed to cover the more metaphysical subjects- faeries, angels, pagan religions. Most of the books there were filled with all sorts of lies and grand statements that made no sense, but there were a few books that had genuine use. These she took to a table, as many as she could carry, as large as they were.
Immersing herself in her books for what seemed like hours, but was in reality only a half of one, Elizabeth slammed shut one of her last books. Nothing was there that was of any help- no books mentioned silvery beings that came from nowhere, weakened in state. There were strong silvery beings, but never any as weak as her creature. Perhaps he was merely ill?
Going up to the front desk, Elizabeth attempted to look as casual as possible. Speaking politely to the librarian in even tones, she asked, "Excuse me... do you have any books about Heralds?" The librarian, a slightly deaf woman of middle to late years, cocked her head.
"Try the Medieval History section." Ah well. The woman meant well.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:14 pm
Owle got some really odd looks when she wandered into the library. Mostly cause, this was one of those places in Gaia where people expected you to be human. Bright blue hair made you stand out, and then people started noticing the odder things.
"Nice shoulder pads," a young man commented to her as she went by, referring to the layers of armored scales that covered her shoulders, and her feet. "And clawed boots to match! Awesome! How did you make them?"
A glance down at the book in his hand said much about him; he was holding The Cosplayer's Encyclopedia.
"Very carefully," Owle responded, rather than explain that they were natural, and she couldn't take them off cause they were part of her. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."
"Oh, come on, at least tell me who you are! Is there a con nearby you're dressed up for?" the guy persisted.
Owle just kept on walking, pretending deafness. Gods, she just hoped he didn't notice her wings...
Fortunately, he didn't follow her.
The odd woman approached the front desk, smiling at Elizabeth as she did so. "Excuse me..." she asked the librarian. "Do you know where I could find Hocus Pocus, by Kurt Vonnegut?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:24 pm
((>_<" damn! I'm sorry, it took me forever to find this place in the guild. >_>" *kicks comp* It's too damn slow! ^^; and I'm doing homework and reading Chobits.
*goes to read posts*))
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:44 pm
Sore, bloodshot eyes tore themselves away from the ever irritating luminescance of a monitor's screen for a short reprieve- five hours typing out a final paper for the last class of a very long season. With a sigh, she took a moment to let her eyes rest, leaning back in the chair a tad and setting a forearm over her eyes. Of all the things she could have bothered doing, she didn't enjoy the class in the least.
Jade, a thirty year old woman who had struck out in the novelist field, and had begun a few college courses in hopes of getting some form of degree in journalism. Perhaps working on a newspaper would be easier to deal with than pondering over the least cliched method of action for the hero to rescue his damsel in distress. With another sigh she finished the last paragraph and printed out her final thesis, relieved it was over and done with.
However, when she heard a newcomer to the library enter- having just come back down from la-la land- Jade listened to the inquiry made. Heralds? Standing, she went towards the printer beside the Librarian's desk; nearly bumping into the blue-haired young woman in the process. "O-oh! Excuse me...." She murmured in such a downtrodden voice one would hardly have noticed her at all. "Pardon me... Did you mean the angel Heralds?" She questioned when reaching Elizabeth.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:49 pm
"Oh, sorry," Owle said immediately, moving out of the woman's way. And she would have paid her no further mind, if she hadn't overheard the words that came out of her mouth.
"...angel Heralds?" Owle echoed, turning to face the two human women fully.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:55 pm
Elizabeth returned a smile to the odd looking woman, but could hardly comment herself. Everyone was different, and those of other races admittedly fascinated her. Part dragon? A seperate species? It would be rude to ask, of course.
Jumping as another woman talked, Elizabeth nodded quickly. "Yes, some do call them angelic beings. Not to my fancy." The teenager wrinkled her nose rather comically, watching as the dragon woman suddenly gained interest in the conversation.
"Yes... I want to know a bit more about them. There was something strange in my backyard... something that can hardly be natural. I think it may be one of the Heralds... but I'm not sure."
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:01 pm
Part spiny anteater, part shapeshifter, plus a bunch of human thrown in for fun. Not that anyone would know that...
Strange things always interested Owle, and she couldn't help but get herself involved. She barely even heard the librarian telling her where the book was located.
"...what was it? I mean, of course you don't know what it was, but what did it look like?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:02 pm
"They're just myths... There's really no such thing." Jade said calmly, being rational about the whole thing. "Someone was probably playing a prank on you." Though she hated to admit it, Jade had heard the ledgend a long time ago, and had wrote a book- though it'd never been published- about a Herald's adventure when she was a few years younger.
Then again, it was the lack of publication and notoriety that made her quit her dream job for something more practical. "I'm sure there's a mythology section, if you want to look up more on folklore."
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:09 pm
Elizabeth chewed on the corner of her lip, frowning slightly as she did so. "It seemed to emit a silver light, and it was entirely genderless. Everything about the creature was silver, but it had no clothing. It looked to be very weak. The voice had a slight Irish accent tinged to it, but not enough of one to make me recognize what the creature could be. I thought maybe one of the sidhe, but they're never weak."
Continuing to think back on the creature, Elizabeth found nothing else to contribute. "When I touched it, its body seemed slightly cooler than a human. That's all I really know- I had to go off to school, but I didn't think the creature would leave. It seemed weak and ill."
Facing the other woman, Jade, Elizabeth frowned again. "I did check the myth section, but sometimes what we think of as myths are reality, and reality can be myths." Properly enigmatic, she thought.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:14 pm
Owle's wings twitched. "Yeah..." she said to Jade, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "...just like shapeshifters."
Owle looked back to Elizabeth now, focused on her tale. It sounded remarkably like...but it couldn't be...but it sounded so much like...
"...what color were its eyes?" she asked suddenly. "And did it...seem like it wanted something?"
((The answer Owle's looking for is "blue", but that may or may not be the case.))
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:18 pm
"Hmm..." To be honest, Elizabeth had not paid that much attention to the creature's eyes- the mist and fog had made it difficult to make out such small details.
"They were sort of silvery blue, I think. Leaning more towards silver, but there was a hint of blue green within them." That was what she could remember- the creature had been overwhelming silver, but had a bit of pigmentation within its eyes, a deep spark that seemed to burn with life its body did not project.
"It wanted to be up on the rock very badly. It was reaching for a decoration I have on my meditation slab, as I call it, so I helped it onto the rock as best I could. It seemed happy after that." There had been the smallest of smiles across the creature's face when his slender fingers grasped the antler.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:19 pm
"You're a bit too young..." Jade murmured, looking Elizabeth in the eyes. "To make such comments. Someone played a prank on you, that's all there is to it." Shaking her head, she turned to collect her paper from the printer while adjusting her glasses. What did the girl know of reality being myth anyway?
Elizabeth's words had struck a nerve, though it was unintentional, and Jade seemed happier not bothering the matter further.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:24 pm
It was only for half a second, and Owle couldn't resist.
The moment Jade's back was turned, Owle disappeared, a smallish black cat standing in her place. She mewed, just once, to get Jade's attention...then quickly turned back again.
Of course, the librarian noticed.
"Excuse me..." And she leaned forward at Owle, pushing up her glasses to show she meaned business. "Do you have an animal in here? We have very strict rules - no pets are allowed in the library."
Owle shook her head, and held out her arms as if to say Search me. "No, ma'am..." she replied. "That was me meowing."
It was the truth, anyway.
And then she heard the rest of Elizabeth's story. "That..."
The words caught in her throat. "It sounds like...the one I found...just outside of Barton Forest..."
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:45 pm
Elizabeth glared at Jade's back. Why did adults have to assume that because they had an age advantage over herself, they automatically had the right to dictate what she could and could not say? And it was no prank- she knew that with a deep conviction. No one could make that moment she had in her own little forest a prank.
She almost missed Owle turning into a cat, but caught it at the last instant. Blinking slowly once, she stared at the cat as it turned back into a woman again. Well... that was strange. Her mind was properly shocked into an easy acceptance of what it couldn't quite contemplate.
About to ask Owle if she could turn into anything, Elizabeth was put off balance by her next statement. "You... you found one? Do you know what they are? Should I have left it alone for the day? Will it have left, leaving me a pile of faery gold?" Everyone knew that faery gold turned into leaves in the night. Maybe this was a prank of sorts, though not one caused by mortal hands.
This was intriguing.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 6:53 pm
With a shout, the papers cascaded onto the floor as the woman held onto the printer for balence. Glasses askew, Jade stared at the young woman who'd just been a cat. "Wha-what.... what just happened?" She questioned, having never seen anything so out of the ordinary before.
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