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 Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:41 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (1: Arrival) ::Luthe let out a long frustrated sigh. It was rare for the shop to stay in one place for such a long time. And of all the possible places it had to be Marrakech, in the middle of the summer. The days being way too long, way too hot and way too bright - and the nights being way too short. Even the Sprockets seemed to be affected by the heat, last time he had seen them they had managed to make their way into the fridge somehow. Unicorn-Girly just slept through the days on Ais' bed, and Aislin herself went on one shopping spree after another, leaving it to Luthenep to watch over the shop.
Bored he picked up one of the numerous coins Aislin had collected over the time in a little bowl behind the counter and absently let it roll over the knuckles of his right hand, pondering what to do. His last visit at Moorgahaine's had been... interesting, but he hadn't been able to find the shop again in this town. Unlike Aislin he knew no one here, so he was bored to death by now. On top of that, hunger had started gnawing on him - he'd have to hunt. Soon.
Which reminded him of- "Oops," he said out loud. He had given Laure the Shadow Logkey without thinking twice about it - and completely forgotten to warn her of what expected her should she summon him.
"Well, that settles it," he murmured to himself and slid down from the chair. To hell with watching the shop...
"Dita?" he called out for the Unicorn Girl, not really caring if she heard him or not. "Could you watch over the shop now? I'll be gone for a while!"
A sleepy "Hrmph..." was the only reply. He decided to take it as a "yes". Quickly he picked up some things to take with him: The map which Aislin had tried to decipher, some summoning scrolls because you could never be careful enough, and the most recent journal Ais kept on their treasure hunts.
Well then... He took of the necklace with the little Moon Key Laure had given him. Hopefully Laure's and Jerava's place was a lot darker and cooler.
Imagining an invisible keyhole in the air in front of him he put the moon key into it and turned it around...
"Unknown visitor in outer door," chirped Jer's computer system. "New arrival via keyed door. Allow in?"
"Mmph," Jer murmured sleepily. "Laure's watching the doors today." The computer sighed internally and repeated the message to the Fandangle.
"Do you have a picture?" asked Laure, gems blinking curiously. Since Jer had created the keys, no one had tried to use them. Well, since only a few people had one so far, perhaps that wasn't all that unusual. The computer beeped an affirmitive and flashed a picture of Luthe up on the wall. Laure's gems flashed to a darker blue momentarily. "Tell Anli I'm going to the door, I don't know when I'll be back," she instructed the computer, then flying off towards the correct door, wondering what Luthe was doing here. Upon arriving, she opened the door with her private key, a combination of Mind and Lunar magic, to reveal a fairly plain room. It was all white, with white furniture. Laure sighed and changed the color to her favorite, dark blue. Much better. Opening the other door in the room, she waited in the middle for Luthe to come in.
Impressive... He'd seen his share of dimensional passageways, but watching a door opening basically in the middle of nothing was... interesting, to say the least. He put the necklace with the Moon Key back on, shouldered the bag he had stuffed the scrolls map into, and stepped inside.
Well, it was certainly cooler in that room. Darker too. Two improvements of his current situation already.
He gave Laure a shy smile. "Hello," he greeted her. "I hope I'm not bothering you, but I seriously needed to get out of there for a bit." He pointed with his thumb back over his shoulder.
Another mental flick, and the doors closed. Laure's gems flashed in greeting. "Hallo," she said brightly. "No, no bother. Jerava's not really doing much at the moment, and this is a perfect way to escape Elena." Laure shuddered slightly. The Tall Tale child was always trying to play with Laure, as if the Fandangle was some sort of toy. "What's wrong with back there?" she asked, spinning a gem curiously.
"Our shop shifts to other places every now and then, and right now it ended up somewhere too hot, too bright and too boring," Luthe explained sulkily. "For the last few days I had nothing to do but to watch over our shop while Ais went on one shopping spree after another." He paused for a moment and scratched the back of his head.
"So I thought, before I accidently scare the s**t out of you when you try to use the logkey, I'd better show up first. And who's that Elena person?"
"That's not very fair," Laure replied. "Good thing you have somewhere else tog!" she chirped happily. Then her gems flashed in confusion. "Scare me? How so?" Her gems darkened sullenly at the mention of Elena.
"She's a baby that Jerava got from a book and won't stop trying to play with my gems. I am not a toy," Laure said indignantly. "She seems awfully spoiled. I wonder what happened to her before she came to us?" Another flash of the gems. "Well, not all that much, really." Curious glance at Luthe. "So was there anything you wanted to do? I could show you around the House, if you want. I think Lena's napping. Or sulking."
"A baby... from a book." He had to think about that for a while. "Oh well, I've come across cursed books which actually tried to bite me, so I guess books creating babies are a possibility too. I just hope Aislin will never get her hands on a book like that. She'd go nuts." He chuckled.
"Speaking of Aislin - I brought the map she mentioned to Miss Jerava with me so that she can have a look at it. And I'd love to see your house, sounds like an interesting place." Well, everything seemed interesting after the past days of pure boredom...
"And about accidently scaring you..." He hesitated, wondering where and how to start. "Well, you probably guessed that I'm not a human... Do you happen to know anything about demons?" There, it was out now. Sort of at least.
"I don't even pretend to understand how it works," Laure said with a sigh. "She came with a little journal too, with her name in it an everything." Laure chuckled too. "I think Jerava would like to look at the book a little more, but she hasn't been back to the store where it was." She flickered a gem happily at that, though; wasn't like she wanted more Elena's running around.
"Well, we can go see if she's interested," Laure said dryly, knowing very well that the elf would drop almost anything to look at the map. "We can end the tour in her lab." She started to open the inner door, but stopped when Luthe spoke again.
"Demons? Umm. Not very much, it's not a subject I've started to study yet." She looked at Luthe curiously. "Why? Are you a demon?"
"Well, uhm... yes. A demon of the shadows. I thought you should know." He looked down at the floor, unsure about how to continue. But if he really wanted to be friends with Laure, he shouldn't hide from her what he was.
He looked up at Laure solemnly and took a deep breath before he continued to speak. "Most people who come to know what I am, fear me for it. And I can be quite terrifying when I revert to my true form to travel the shadows... To fight... Or to hunt for souls. Technically you could say I'm evil, so, uhm, if you want to throw me out right back there," he pointed at the door behind him, "I'll understand."
His eyes widened with surprise when he realized that his hand was actually shaking.
Laure's gems flickered as she considered what Luthe had said. If she'd been able to, she would have been rocking back on her heels. No legs kinda ruined that, though. "I don't see why that should matter," she said finally. "Technically, yes you're evil. But evil's not nearly as black and white as all that," she continued. Someone's been reading Jer's fantasy section again. o.< "And besides. Evil is a convenient label for things people don't understand." Laure's gems flashed brighter in a smile. "I'm sure when you hunt souls, it's not just some random person, who hasn't done anything to you or society." Very obviously been reading too much. She chuckled. "I know for a fact that some of Jerava's friends from her old home were demons, so she wouldn't have a problem with it either." The inner door opened. "C'mon, the tour awaits!" she said, gesturing towards the door with a silvery tine.
Luthe let out a sigh of relief, surprised how tense he had been.
"I guess you're right," he said, smiling. "I just wish more people would see it that way." Amazingly enough she'd even been right about his soul hunting habits, though the reason actually wasn't his conscience, but a promise he made to Aislin a long time ago. But there was no need to mention that little tidbit...
He gave Laure a quick awkward hug (which was a bit difficult with that shape of hers o_O) and then passed through the door, wondering what kind of place Laure and Jerava might live in.
"Vampires aren't evil either," Laure said somewhat cryptically. "Even though they need blood from people and stuff." The Fandangle's gems flashed a very bright blue in sheer happiness as he hugged her. Metallic 'arms' returned the hug, then floated back to their proper place. "Well, I don't think we really need to go see the bedrooms and such," Laure said with a slight giggle as she entered the foyer of the house.
The room had a very high, domed ceiling, and was paneled in a dark wood. The floor was carpeted with a rich, plush dark blue, which wasn't something Laure would appreciate. Furniture of the same wood as the walls was arranaged around the room, cushioned in the same dark blue as the floor. Three tall doors immediately drew the eyes, as they were intricately carved and highlighted with a silvery wood to offset the black wood the door was made out of. The carvings were vaguely Celtic in design, all intricate knotwork and curves. One door was open; the one the pair was coming through. The other two were closed.
"We can't go through that one," Laure said, gesturing at the 'front' door. "That just leads to Nimaina's house." The other door opened at a mental command from Laure. "We'll start with the library," she said, going through the other door and to the left. "It's just at the end of the hallway." Another mental command shut the 'airlock' door behind Luthe.
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja
NOTE: I decided that Madita/Unicorn Girly went 'poof' in the rewrite of the Multiverse, see MEF for more info on this. Maddy still exists, but she's never been at Ais' place.... ))
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:09 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (2: Tour - The Library) ::"Wow, it sure is roomy here." Luthe craned his neck to get to see all of the room. "Our shop and the apartment in the back are really tiny. And cluttered with all the stuff Ais collected over the time."
The moment Laure mentioned the word 'library', he was all ears. "You got a real library in here?" he asked curiously as he followed Laure. "You know, most people I know have two or three bookshelves and call that a library. I call it a joke," he exclaimed and stuck out his tongue. "Say, does it have books about magic?"
"That's Anli's fault, really," Laure said, continuing down the hallway. "She designed the house, and did it on a very large scale." The Fandangle paused. "Which is odd, since she's so much shorter than most people."
Laure chuckled and opened the door at the end of the hallway, which was the same as the ones that had been in the foyer. "I haven't actually seen the back wall of this library," Laure said quietly. "There are books about, well, everything." The door opened, revealing a seemingly endless display of ceiling high bookcases, going off into all directions. Except up and down. o.O The ceilings were as high as they had been in the foyer, though, which put the tops of the bookcases rather far up. "Did you want to look at any of them?"
For a moment, Luthe was speechless. "Now, that's what I call a library..." He finally said. "I have to show this place to Aislin some day - she'd be in love." The way he caressed the books' spines with his fingers suggested that he was pretty much in love as well.
"Damn, I could spend weeks- no, months in here! Years possibly! Could I see some books about magic, pretty please? And do you think I could borrow some books?"
Laure's gems flushed dark blue. "Jerava designed this room. She's, ah, a rather avid book collector. And she's been collecting them for a very long time." The Fandangle chuckled. "There are times when it's pretty hard to drag Jerava out of here. Or Dyran." Laure concentrated briefly and the room shifted around them. "We're in the magic section now. Any particular type you'd like to look at? And I don't see a problem with borrowing a few, I know you'll return them...Eventually," Laure finished with a bright flash of her gems.
"Makes me wonder how old Miss Jerava actually is... Older than me or Aislin I'd guess. This is actually the biggest library I've seen so far." He smiled to himself. At least on Earth it was something very rare to encounter other immortals.
"How big is your household actually? You mentioned that short Anli person - though she can't be possibly shorter that me, and now Dyran... And with a house this big I imagine there are more?"
He was surprised as the room shifted around them. It felt very much like when Aislin's shop shifted to another place... He definitely had to remember to ask who set up this library.
Magic section... He scanned the nearest shelf for book titles and already found at least a dozen which already very promising to him.
"Anything about ways to store magic would interest me. Summon spells, magical artifacts, scroll making..." He looked at Laure with a wry smile. "See, I'm not very powerful, so I'm trying to find ways to compensate that. To be able to protect Aislin. Humans are so terribly fragile."
"She says she's forgotten how old she is," Laure said, spinning a gem idly. "Although once she said that there wasn't a big enough number for her age." The Fandangle managed a shrug. "As far as I can tell, she's not from Earth. Or, well, the Earth that most Gaians know about. Dimensional travel is so tricky sometimes," she continued seriously.
"Umm. Well, there's me, Jerava, Elena, Anli, Dyran, Malira, Tesirei, Sahain, Cerina, Aurion, Laira, Lucian, Paril, Vinari, Martynn, and all the sprockets. There are over 200 of those," Laure replied matter of factly. "Plus all the dragons and other 'pets'." Her gems flashed brightly in amusement. "Good thing the house gets bigger when we need it to."
"Sure thing!" Laure chirped happily, concentrating to make the room move about them once more. "This should be the right section," she said, looking around. "I hardly ever come back here, since I can't actually read a physical book very well." She sighed unhappily at that.
"Well, this section should help with that," she continued. "If you look real hard, you might find some of the books Jerava wrote. She can't use magic very well, but she's really good at getting devices that either work like magic, or can store magic for her to use."
"Well, she's most certainly older than me then," Luthe mumbled, more to himself than to Laure. "Maybe even as old as Grandpa Seso..."
But then his jaw dropped when Laure counted down the members of Jerava's household, especially at the mention of the 200 Sprockets.
"My, that is a big household. It's a miracle things don't constantly go 'crash-bum-bang' here with this many Sprockets. With us it's just me, Aislin, the Unicorn Girly and seven Sprockets. And it's already getting crowded - the apartment behind our shop is tiny. Maybe I should ask Daryl to make some more room..."
His voice trailed off as he started scanning the book titles for something that might be interesting for him. Quite an impressive assortment of languages here...
He pointed up to a tome which was just out of his reach, no matter how far he stretched his hand up. "Up there, that one sounds interesting. I'm not fluent in that language, but the title says something about enchanting gems. Damn, I really hate being so short!"
"It's why we had to move," Laure said, ignoring the mention of Jerava's relative age. "That happened before I came, though," the Fandangle continued. "All the Sprockets are bonded to their respective 'owner' by now, so they're fairly well-trained," she said with another flash of the gems. "Plus, they're all a little scared of what will happen if they do make things blow up. Jerava's a little scary when she gets mad."
The book Luthe has indicated obligingly flaoted off the shelf. "I can grab one of the ladders, if you want to browse up higher," Laure offered. "Anli and Malira have to use them when they come in here."
"Yeah, you mentioned, Anli's a shorty too," Luthe said, grinning.
"But a ladder wont be neccessary now - next time maybe, when I visit just for the library. Do you see a book that might be interesting? Something related to Shadow Magic possibly?"
"That's in a different section," Laure said, quickly shifting the room once more. "This is where the Shadow Magic books are," she said, looking around. "I never realized just how big this place is." Her gems flashed a dark blue. "I hardly ever come in here," she mumbled.
"Aw, but you should. Books are such a fun thing, you can learn so much from them... Your problem is that you can't turn the pages, right? How about I visit you more often and we study together then?" He smiled at Laure and then randomly picked one of the books from the shelves and flipped through the pages.
"Whoa, this is fairly advanced stuff... I should be able to pull it off though - if I should ever get more powerful." He sighed and put the book back onto it's place.
"I guess I'll stick with that other book for now, I can read only one at a time anyway. But so many books about Shadow Magic - that's amazing..."
"Really? That'd be wonderful!" Laure exclaimed happily. "And a lot of fun." Laure's gems were bright blue at the moment, she was so happy. No one had ever wanted to sit and read with her, except Jerava, and that was only sometimes.
"Well, we'll have to keep that one in mind then," Laure said firmly, knowing that one day Luthe would be able to use the stuff in the book.
"Well, then we can continue the tour," Laure said, shifting the room back to the entrance. "Jerava says that the library's magic collections are the results of a misspent youth." Laure tilted a few gems around. "I don't know if she's serious though." The Fandangle floated through the open door, and was immediately swarmed by sprockets. "Oh dear. They found out there was a visitor," she said with a sigh.
"Can't keep it a secret in this house," piped in one of the Shadow sprockets. "We didn't even have to ask the computer where you were."
"Well, I've got more than enough time for reading," said Luthe and winked. "I don't sleep, so I've got a lot more time to do stuff than most people."
He picked up the book about Enchanting Gems (or maybe Enchanted Gems, he wasn't so sure about that). Hopefully it would contain some info about how to store magic into gems and crystals - he had been searching for something like that quite a long time now.
"We can take a look at this one together after finishing the tour, if you want," he said, holding up the book.
He had to giggle when he saw Laure getting swarmed by all those Sprockets. He got his own only a few weeks now, but he had learned one thing about them very quickly - their curiosity topped even that of cats.
"Hey there~!" He waved at them happily.
"I don't sleep either," Laure commented absently. "I just...kind of stay quiet when everyone else is." Nudging a few of the Sprockets out of the way, Laure began drifting down the hallway.
"That'd be fun," she said in reply, glancing back. "Where to next? The kitchen? The sprocket's lab? Or maybe outside? There's a really nice garden and greenhouse, and a forest."
"Hello!" chirped a Shadow sprocket in an Arabic accent. "Are you here to stay?" Saye asked, looking at him curiously.
"Lab sounds interesting. How about Lab first, then kitchen to grab something to eat, and then go outside?"
He was a bit surprised about the Sprocket's Arabic accent. But then again, since the Sprockets all started out with Binary and the other languages they learned kinda depended on their bond it probably wasn't so unusual.
"No, I'm only here for a visit," he replied in Darija, the Arabic dialect used in Morroco. He had been able to polish up his knowledge of the language a lot during the last few days... "But I'll probably be here more often from now on. Next time I'll bring my Sprockets with me, I have a Shadow Sprocket as well." He smiled.
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:22 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (3: Tour - The Sprocket Lab o_O) ::"That sounds good," Laure replied, heading down the hallway and to the left. "This isn't the actual lab, it's just the one Jerava had made so the Chemical, Bioengineer, and Forge sprockets have somewhere to play. Er, without bothering Jerava, that is."
Laure peered at Saye curiosuly. "I don't think she speaks Arabic. I named all of my sprockets in Farsi, since that's one of the languages I know. She may have picked up the accent from that." Gems rolled in a mimic of an eyeroll. "Aurion's sprockets certainly have a thick Gaelic accent from his naming them in that language."
"I understood him anyway," Saye replied urbanely to her bond. "The sense of the words, at any rate." She looked back at Luthe. "It's certainly nice to have someone around who is attuned to Shadows. The only company I have in that regard are the other Shadow sprockets."
"Woops, my mistake then. With that accent I was sure she'd be rather fluent in Arabic," Luthe said with a blush. "Good thing Aislin doesn't like Sprockets, she'd give all of them some tongue twisting Hindi names." He rolled his eyes.
Well, on second thought, this actually might be an idea to get her into Sprockets, hm...
"Nice to meet you then," he replied to Saye. "It's rare for me as well to encounter someone of the Shadow Element. Usually it's someone of my family and that's something I try to avoid..." His gaze returned to Laure.
"Say, is that lab actually safe? I can't help it, the mention of a place for Chemical Sprockets to 'play' sounds rather... alarming."
"That's fine," Saye replied graciously. "It is, after all, a reasonable assumption." The sprocket bobbed at Luthe. "You said you had a Shadow Sprocket as well? Has it, perchance, bonded to you?"
"In other words, she wants to know if it can hold an intelligent conversation," said a dry voice tinged with that same Arabic accent. "Which, I admit, is a really good question." The sprocket qho had been speaking, flaoted towards Luthe. "My name is Asmani," the Celestial sprocket said.
"As for the lab," Laure replied, trying hard not to roll her gems again, "It's perfectly safe. If it wasn't, Jerava would just make the room go away." She continued down the hallway, trailing sprockets. "It's just down here..."
BOOOM!
"Right then, I do recall saying not to put that much in!" yelled a voice in a British accent. (Which probably made it one of Jer's, since no one was quite sure what an Elven accent sounded like.)
"Oh dear," Laure said, peeking into the lab. "Well, nothing's too damaged. Come on!"
"It has," Luthe said in reply to Saye's question. "Though, I'm not sure about the 'intelligent conversation' part right - since we watched a few horror movies last week, Angus keeps speaking with a horrible pseudo-russian accent and calls me 'Masterrrr' - and he's trying to recruit minions for me." He rolled his eyes. At least Angus had given up on the idea to build a homunculus by now...
BOOOM!
"I don't know..." the boy muttered doubtfully. "'Perfectly safe' was exactly what Ais said about our last quest, and it got us both almost killed."
"And we didn't even get the treasure from that place," he added sulkily.
After a short moment of hesitation he entered the lab, but not without keeping a deflection spell ready in the back of his mind.
Saye's core flickered. "Oh dear. Hopefully Angus, er, grows out of this," the sprocket said after a moment. "That certainly doesn't sound like intelligent conversation."
"Well, it's not perfectly safe, but it is full of wards and other things to keep the experiments isolated," Laure said, flicking a glance back at Luthe. Indeed, the explosion had been neatly contained and the scroch marks looked rather odd, stopping abruptly a few feet from the door. "Um. We can just look around, and not really go too far into," the Fandangle said nervously, eyeing the scorch marks and the busily chattering Chemical sprockets warily.
Lu snickered. "Now it's suddenly not so safe anymore, eh? Don't worry about me, we demons are robust. And I heard Fandangles and Sprockets are almost indestructible." He winked at Laure. "Besides, I know a lot of defensive spells, so we should be alright. I think."
He did place his bag and the book on the floor of the hallway though, a good distance away from the lab door. No need to expose other people's property to possible danger. "Well, ready when you are. I'm actually really curious to see what Sprockets do when they get a lab of their own..."
"Well, they aren't supposed to be doing explosive experiments that close to the door," Laure said with a glare at the sprockets.
"Sorry," muttered one of them. "It was the only free lab space though." Laure rolled her gems.
"Well, let's look around," she said, actually going into the room. All the equipment was smaller than what would be seen in a normal lab, sinec everything was sprocket sized. And it all looked different, since it had to be easy for the sprockets to move the objects around. "What were you trying to do, anyway?" she asked.
"I'm not sure what that was all about. I'm working on an new cleaner for Mistress," the sprocket replied.
"Oh. Well, I'm sure Anli will appreciate that. As long as it doesn't burn through the countertops again."
"Well, that's going to be one hell of a cleaner," Luthe remarked. "I think I'll have to request some of it whenever Ais and I need to blow some stuff up again. Or just disintegrate it. Would make for easy cleaning too, disintegrate everything and then just vacuum." He grinned. "Just kidding of course. Though I'd sure like to do that with all the stuff in our shop sometimes - demons are not meant to wipe dust..." he added with a sour face.
He bowed down to get a closer look at one of those strangely shaped test tubes. "That's an interesting color," he noticed curiously. "Even glows a bit. What is that?"
"I think they're trying to dilute the cleaner," Laure said. "They thought it was fine last time, but it ended up bruning through the counter, the floor, and into the ground before Jerava managed to stop it." The Chemical sprocket sniffed in indiganation.
"Hardly our fault," it said. "And that's the cleaner we're working on," it said to Luthe proudly. "We're not sure why it's glowing." Laure shuddered.
"Get a cleaning sprocket," she whispered to Luthe. "Much easier."
"Whoa, more of a chemical weapon then, than a cleaner," Luthe said respectfully. "But getting a cleaning sprocket really is a good idea - should have thought of that myself. Have to add it to my list as soon as I'm back home. Do you think one will be enough? And, erh, are there supposed to be bubbles popping up in that... cleaner?" Carefully he moved a step backwards.
"Which is why we're diluting it," grumbled the Chemical sprocket. "Those Cleaning sprockets are a pain."
"They are a bit obsessive compulsive," Laure conceded. "But if you just get one, it should stay busy enough." Laure glanced at the concoction. "Uh-oh," she said, drifting backwards towards the next set of wards. "I'd step back further," Laure suggested to Luthe, watching as the other chemical sprockets fled.
"I take it the bubbles are not supposed to be there..." Luthe noticed and hurried to follow Laure. Seeing the sprockets flee was warning enough to him.
"No, they're not. They're the result of an unstable chemical reaction," said Kemikaru, the sprocket who had been talking to them most of the time. "Hmm. It only does this once it starts glowing. Maybe we should figure out what makes it gl--" Whatever else the sprocket was going to say was cut off by the ear shattering explosion that went off. The fire stopped just short of where Laure and Luthe were standing.
"I, uh, think that's enough of the lab," Laure said, darting a look at Luthe. "Or did you want to stick around some more?"
"Rather not... We should retreat before this explosion kicks off some sort of chain reaction," Luthe agreed with a grimace. His ears were ringing from the explosion, not a pleasant feeling at all.
"To the kitchen then, yes? Should be harmless, compared to the lab... I've encountered one kitchen though that's just as much of a danger zone."
He quickly retreated into the hallway and picked up his bag and the book. Good thing he left them outside...
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:30 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (4: Tour - The Kitchen) ::"Bye!" Kemi called after them as Laure beat a retreat down the hallway. "Come visit anytime!" Laure shuddered again.
"Uh, yeah," she called back in reply. "Well, it's only really bad if Anli's not there and the Sprockets are trying to cook," Laure said seriously as they neared the kitchen. "It might be empty this time of day." She cautiosuly opened the door. No explosions. Good sign!
Luthe tried to recall if there were any cooking sprockets but he couldn't remember anything.
"Please, don't tell me it's the chemical sprockets that try the cooking..." Suddenly the fact that his own sprockets were constantly hanging out in the kitchen started to worry him.
He followed Laure and tried to peer into the kitchen from behind here. No sprockets to be seen so far...
"Oh no," Laure said cheerfully. "It's the Fire and Water sprockets that tend to do most of the cooking. I think they're all gone for the moment." She looked at Luthe curiously. "Did you want anything while we're in here?" The door opened fully, revealing a kitchen that most chefs could only dream about. From most people's perspective, however, it was off. After all, it had been designed by and for a Tahnee who was only a little over three feet tall.
Luthe looked around in surprise. "That Anli person must be a real shorty," he commented after a while, obviously impressed. "Even shorter than me. Everything's so small!"
He was rather glad that there currently weren't any sprockets around - the lab had been enough 'sprockety doom' for today.
"Well... I don't really eat human food," he said in response to Laure's question, "but I do like sweet stuff. So if you've got some chocolate or something around...?"
"Yeah, Malira and Li are really short," Laure said, ignoring the fact that if she had to stand on the ground, she'd only be a foot or so tall. After all, she could float. "She's the one who designed the kitchen."
"Chocolate's in the fridge, next to the eggs," chirped a voice from the pantry. "Who're you?" it continued. The speaker came out into the main part of the kitchen, dusting her hands on her blue jeans. "I'm Anli."
"Hello, I'm Luthenep," said Luthe and reached out his right hand, trying not to stare too obviously. Anli wasn't really short but rather tiny. And she had mouse ears. "Just call me Luthe. I'm here to visit Laure and to bring some stuff to Miss Jerava; and Laure is giving me a tour through the house right now."
"It's nice to meet you," Anli said warmly, shaking Luthe's hand. "Now, you said something about wanting some chocolate?" she continued briskly, walking over to the fridge. "Any particular kind?" Li asked, sticking her head out to peer at Luthe curiously. Her tail was unobtrusively tucked into a back pocket of her jeans, and was trying to refrain from twitching.
Laure contented herself with floating above both Luthe and Anli.
"Nah, any kind is fine, as long as it's milk chocolate. I don't like the dark kinds - too bitter." He thought for a moment.
"It doesn't even have to be chocolate, it was just the first that came to my mind when Laure asked me. If you've got something you think is really good - I always like to try out something new. As long as it doesn't have bitter parts in it that is." He tried to peer into the fridge.
Anli swatted at Luthe gently. "I can always cook you something," she offered. "If you don't mind waiting a bit." The mouse began pulling ingredients out of the fridge and setting them on the counter. "Besides, it's about time for me to start cooking lunch."
Laure chuckled. "We'd better get out of here if she's going to start cooking. You can grab some of the chocolate and then we can go outside," the Fandangle said, flickering her gems in amusement.
"Oh, okay then." Luthe wasn't too keen having to help out or something like that...
"I may not join lunch though - most times I don't like human food, unless it's sweet. My sense of taste is a bit... off." He waited until Anli seemed to be finished with the fridge and then quickly snagged two bars of milk chocolate.
"Lead the way, oh Shiny One," he grinned at Laure and winked.
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:50 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (5: Tour - The Greenhouse) ::"That's fine," Anli said absently. "I'll make sure to have something for you, though," she continued, flashing a smile at Luthe.
"Right this way," Laure said with a flourish. "We'll go visit the garden, the greenhouse, and the forest. That should take up until lunch is ready." The Fandangle floated past Anli, and through the back door of the kitchen, right into a herb garden. "This is Anli's garden," Laure said, somewhat unneccsarily. "Malira's is over there, next to the greenhouse." Indeed, the aforementioned structure was quite readily visible, being rather immense. And shiny, from the light...emanating from it?
"Well, thanks," Luthe said to Anli with a shy smile. Maybe he could borrow her out for a while? Aislin rarely cooked, and if she did it was never something he liked...
He followed Laure outside, only half listening to what she said because he was still wondering what Anli might cook up for him. But when his gaze fell upon the greenhouse, he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Laure, what is that light?" He swallowed, a bit nervous. "You know, I don't really like bright places, maybe we could skip the greenhouse...?"
Laure flicked a glance over at the greenhouse. "Oh, that's just Lira's Solar sprocket. Some of the plants in the greenhouse need more light than others." As she spoke, the light dimmed and faded away. "I guess it's rounds are done for now," she said, amused. "It should be safe."
"Oh, then it's okay... I guess." Luthe visibly relaxed, now that the light had faded away. "I was thinking of getting a Solar or Light sprocket, but I didn't know they could get this bright - so it may not be a good idea after all."
He tried to remember where he lost his thread of thought when the sight of the greenhouse had distracted him. Ah. "Say, do you actually eat?" he asked curiously.
"They can also absorb light," Laure pointed out. "And that was probably Lira's Solar and Light sprockets. They like to do that," she said, her gems flushing dark blue.
"Ah, not really," Laure replied. "I absorb energies attuned to my elements; the Lunar is easy, there are a bunch of Lunar sprockets around, and there is a moon here sometimes. The Mind is harder." She paused, trying to explain it. "Basically, for Mind, I just watch Jerava with those senses. Kinda hard to explain," she finished apologetically.
Luthe giggled a bit at Laure's explanation. "Somehow that makes it sound like Jerava is the cleverest person ever. Though, with that library of hers I'd believe it without a doubt." He held the book he borrowed from said library tighter, itching to finally his nose into it.
"Well, lets see the greenhouse then, I've never seen such a big one. But those Light sprockets better stay away..."
"Well, to gain the Mind element, I immersed myself completely in her mind," Laure said seriously, and a bit uncomfortably. This wasn't something she'd ever told anyone. Jerava knew, of course, but no one else. "It gave us both a splitting headache," she continued lightly. The greenhouse door opened before them, revealing a rather dark interior.
"Must be night time. I don't think they'd mind a little moonlight," Laure said mischeviously, creating a softly glowing ball to see by. "These are mostly the hot-house plants that woudln't do well outside, even considering how climate controlled it is." A giggle at that. Climate controlled was putting it rather mildly. "Is there anything you'd like to see? I don't know much about this, really, since plants are not my specialty."
Luthe frowned a bit, not sure he had understood right. "So, mind wasn't your element from the start, but you added it by yourself? That's something very impressive...
Was there a reason for it? I mean, it doesn't exactly sound like something you'd do without a significant reason."
He followed Laure into the greenhouse, thankful for the relative darkness inside. It would be good to get out of the daylight for a while. He hesitated for a moment and then released a part of the seals which helped him keep up his human form.
"Don't be startled when some of the shadows start moving on their own - I'm letting go a bit," he murmured. "It's sort of like stretching to relax tense muscles for me. And after a full week on the hottest and brightest continent on Ais' world I really need to do this for a bit." The shadows around him grew darker as he connected with them, and he used them to explore the surounding area a bit. "Very short nights too," he added.
"Do you have any favorite plants here? Maybe I know them and can tell you a bit about them. If not... Do you have any carnivorous plants in here?"
"My base element is Lunar," Laure said, flashing the ball a bit before dissapating it. She could see perfectly fine, and so could Luthe. "I don't know how much you've heard about the Forge, but I'll assume it's not much. Makes for a better story," Laure said with a somewhat strained laugh. This was not a fun topic of conversation, but Luthe had asked, and besides, it was probably something that needed to be told anyway.
"So, there's this guy named Morningstar who wants, or wanted, to destroy the multiverse." With that, Laure launched into what she knew of the events that had occured to those bound to the Forge in one way or another.
After a bit---
"So then they needed volunteers to help defeat Morningstar," Laure said. "They needed Reality, Power, Mind, Time, Space, Soul, and Protection, Focus, and Organization. Shalatame got picked for Reality, Aana got picked for Power, I got picked for Mind, Shangri for Time, Esca for Space, and Soi and Aio for the last. But since I wasn't a Mind element, I needed some way to make that mine. So I just, um, stopped listening to anything but Jerava's mind. I think. It's really hard to explain," she said again. "That took about a day to fully work. After a while, we were all summoned to the Forge and our Bonds had to leave us behind. Then something happened and I don't remember what." Laure's gems flushed. "I'm still not quite sure about what happened, but apparently, the Moorgahaine that came back was actually Morningstar and we had been forged into a sword that the reall Moorgahaine used to slice the imposter in half." Laure drooped. "But Aio and Soi died." Her gems flashed again. "And then I got this weird message about a Burden from something called the Multiverse Machine." She looked at Luthe seriously. "I accepted the Burden. But nothing's come of that so far," Laure said, continuing on. "So then I went to the Forge, and saw two cogs who looked a lot like Aio and Soi, except they didn't remember anything." She paused. "That's really all I know. I haven't been back to the Forge in a while." Another pause, as if for breath, and she went on.
"You'll like the lab then," she said, having listened to his explanation for why the shadows were moving around her. "It's darker then this. At least parts of it are," she added as an afterthought.
"I don't really have a favorite plant, but the carnivorous ones are this way," Laure replied, darting off towards the back.
Quietly Luthe listened to Laure's story. And when she darted off to the carnivorous plants he followed slowly, deep in thought."You know, it's strange..." he said once he had caught up with her. "I have been to a lot of places, on many different worlds - and almost every world had a legend about the Morning Star. Some referred to him as a fallen angel, some as a deity, a demon or a djin. But in all legends he's opposing divine order, and usually there's a bit of truth to legends like that." He paused for a moment, deep in thought. "The possibility that the person you mentioned might be the 'true' Morning Star, gives me the chills."
He looked up to Laure, gently touching one of her gems. "What you did, was very brave. I doubt I could have done something like that." There was respect resounding in his voice, and admiration.
"But..." He flicked his fingers against the very same gem and when he spoke again, his voice was sharp, and upset. "But I cannot believe how naive and gullible you are! To accept a burden from some random Multiversal Machine, not knowing what this is about, is downright stupid!"
He thought for a moment and somewhat calmer continued: "Well, trusting a demon is just as stupid, but I'm really happy you do that, so I'm not really in the position to complain. But you really shouldn't accept something like that without knowing what you're getting yourself into. Some burdens may prove to be just too heavy, and something that you might regret for the rest of your life." Luthenep sighed, a weary and bitter expression on his face. "My apologies for the lecture. I just wish... you'd be a bit more careful."
"It's a farily common legend," Laure commented quietly. "I checked in the databases. Perhaps there really is a sort of collective mind for humanity," she continued, her voice soft. "How else would these disparate and often wildly dissasociated groups come up with the same basic legends?" Laure eyed Luthe curiously. "It's certainly something to ponder," she said lightly. "Either that or this Morningstar really gets around."
Laure's gems rang slightly as he touched them. "Courage is doing what you have to do even when you're afraid," Laure said. "And I was afraid." The gems rang louder when flicked.
"I spent hours thinking about it," Laure said, as queitly as before. "Jerava and I talked about it, but she said it was my decision. She recommended not accepting it." Laure looked at Luthe, her gems dark and sad. "I can't explain it, but it somehow felt right that I did accept it. It felt almost as if I'd have been letting someone down if I'd refused."
"'Always trust your instincts', that's what Seso used to tell me. Worked out most times for me, and I sincerely hope it'll work out for you. If not..." Luthe curled the fingers of his right hand so that his claws became very, very visible, "If not, I shall find that Multiversal Machine and shred it to pieces. Or rather, I shall find it, and Aislin shall do the shredding. She's much better at it than I am." There was quite a bit of frustration in his voice.
"Anyhow, Aio and Soi were Ravija's, right?" he continued with a lighter tone, the weary expression vanishing from his face within an instant. "I think I've met them the last time I was in the forge, they are named Alden and Samira now. The whole place changed, the carpet's gone (very dissapointed look here n_n) and all of it rather looks like... some sort of oversized computer now.
There was a guy who died - I didn't quite catch his name - but there was a small angel with him; and Ravija brought him back to life, but with another soul. Though it looked identical to the soul that was in the body before. It was really amazing though... She'd go from child to grown up within minutes and everything went up in flames, the sprinklers went on, Ravija was a child again, the power went out, time reverted and the rest is kinda fuzzy. I ended up in place I haven't been for a very long time and had to use up a lot of my strength to get back to Ais.
"He took in a deep breath. "I really wonder what made the place change so much though - at first I thought I ended up somewhere completely different."
Laure's gems flashed to a brighter blue, then faded back to normal. "I'm sure Jerava would be willing to help you," Laure said seriously. "She could certainly help you find something to help with the shredding."
Laure's gems flickered as Luthe told her what had happened with the Forge. "I should probably go back there, soon," she said at the end. "I hope everything's okay."
Shaking herself, she indicated the plants. "Well, here are the plants," Laure said, trying to change the subject.
"I too hope everything's okay there - I've been searching during the last few days, but the entrance to the Forge hasn't shown up for me again. Made me spend way too much time out in broad daylight..." He shivered.
Well, sooner or later he'd find it again, because sooner or later Daryl was bound to show up.
He turned his attention to the plants, and whistled. "Wow, that's quite a selection you have here... I know that one, that's a Venus Flytrap. Aislin is hoping to find one that's big enough to catch Sprockets. Personally, I'd feel sorry for the plant if it would ever catch one." He poked it softly and was dissapointed when the leaves didn't snap closed.
"There's a door to the Forge here," Laure said absently. "As well as to a few other places around Gaia."
Laure giggled. "Especially if it caught a Fire Sprocket," she said mock-seriously. "But I don't know if they get big enough to catch sprockets. I'm sure Malira will find out." The cog spun her gems idly. "We can go look at the forest now, if you like. It's rather dark, so the fact that it's around noon won't be too much trouble."
"Oh dear, a fire sprocket?" Luthe joined the giggle. "Imagine: It snaps, catches sprocket, hiccups and spits fire! But you are right, venus flytraps don't grow large enough for sprockets. But..." He thought for a while. There had been something...
"There was this pyramid some years ago. Ancient tomb of ancient king. We didn't find any treasure there, but lots of traps. Most of them having to do with dangerous plants, or animals. And if I remember right, there was something that looked like a big brother of little venus flytrap here. We didn't trigger it because it looked really dangerous, but maaaaybe I should go back there and try get a seedling..." His golden eyes glinted with mischief.
"Onto the forest then. Lead the way, oh Shiny One!"
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:05 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (6: Tour - The Forest [sort of...]) ::Laure giggled again. "Get two," she said, her gems sparkling mischeviously. "I bet Malira would love to have a giant Venus flytrap."
Laure darted back through the greenhouse, and headed off behind it. The forest was quite visible in the distance; large, looming trees were always easy to see. As they neared the edge, a worn path could be seen. "That's the only path through the forest from here. It goes to Aurion's house," she explained. "There are other paths, but they all start at Aurion's."
"I'll do that," Luthe replied with a grin. "I'll just have to go through Aislin's journals to figure out where exactly that tomb was."
While he followed Laure, he was already planning that little expedition in the back of his mind, wondering if he actually left a logkey at that place. He'd definitely have to feed before he went off to there, and possibly take some of the fire scrolls with him...
He forced his thoughts back into here and now, when Laure stopped. "Who's Aurion?" he asked curiously, once Laure had finished her explanation. There must be a reason that person was living out here in the forest instead of the house.
"Aurion's another one of the Tahnee. He's a fox, instead of a mouse like Anli or Malira, so he's taller than they are." Laure giggled. "Most people are taller than they are, though, so that's not really a good indicator. He should either be home, or somewhere along the path, since it's so close to lunchtime," Laure said, darting along.
"So I take it all Tahnees are kinda small and part animal?" Luthe asked somewhat confused.
"Um," Laure said as she thought. "Well, Dyran, Tesirei, Vinari, Martynn, Lucian, and Cerina are Tahnee, and they look mostly human. Dyran's a vampire, Rei's a witch, and the other four are Cupids. Everyone except Lira and Li are more along the lines of what everyone else considers normal height." Laure continued down the path. "Aurion's really nice though. He doesn't mind teaching me things, and he said that if I get arms and legs, he'll teach me how to track in the woods and stuff," Laure said with a happy chime from her gems.
"Ah," Luthe said, not really understanding anything about those Tahnee. Maybe he should do some research on his own later on? That S-Tone he got had some interesting stuff in it's databases... Then something that Laure said caught his attention.
"What do you mean, 'if you get arms and legs'?"
Laure stopped again. "When I grow next. I didn't always look like this, and I won't always, either," she said, looking at Luthe curiously. "Didn't you know I grew and changed?" Her gems flickered. "I'm in no hurry to grow up, though," Laure continued lightly. "Although I must admit I would enjoy having arms."
Luthe blinked. "No, didn't know that. I should have guessed though, since you felt so alive when I first touched you." He felt kinda stupid, now that he thought about it.
"But not having arms sucks, especially if you like books. I really hope you'll be able to get some." He smiled at Laure. "Then I wont have to do all the work when we read together."
"It's okay," Laure said brightly, trying to make him feel better. "It was moderately surprising for me when Jerava told me about evolutions and all that."
Laure's gems flickered again in an approximation of a smile. "I'd like that. Hopefully I don't get too big, though. I kinda like being this size."
Luthe nodded in agreement. "I think that size is about right. Where you smaller before?"
"About this size," Laure said with a laugh. "I wasn't nearly so...disconnected," she continued, eyeing Luthe speculatively. "Would you like to see? I can't switch back, but I can project the image," she said hastily.
"Tiiiiiny," Luthe commented with a grin. "But sure, I'd love to see it."
Laure chuckled. "Well, maybe I'll get bigger," she said, her gems flickering as the Fandangle concentrated. Suddenly, a ghostly image appeared in front of Laure. It was a silvery cog wheel, with a bright blue gem in the middle, and matching gems on the tips of the spokes. "Hmm," Laure said, studying the image. "I really changed."
Luthe nodded. "That's quite a drastic change... Heh, you kinda looked like an oversized sprocket. I like your current form better, it's really pretty."
"Thanks," Laure said, her gems flickering dark blue once more. The image echoed that flicker before disappearing.
"Laure?" a voice called out. "What are you doing back here?"
"Oh! Hi Aurion!" Laure called back. "I was just giving a tour," she continued.
"Well, it's time for lunch, so you'll have to do it later," the fox Tahnee said, seemingly materializing out of the shadows to their left. "Hello," he said to Luthe.
"Hi," Luthe greeted back, a bit startled. He hadn't merged with the shadows again yet, and had been so absorbed in the conversation with Laure that the presence of Aurion actually escaped him. "I'm Luthenep. I'm visiting Laure for the first time today, so she shows me around a bit."
He glanced to Laure. "Shall we go back for lunch then? If Anli really made something extra for me, I guess she'll be mad if I don't show up."
"If you hadn't guessed, I'm Aurion," the Tahnee replied with a wry smile. "Nice to meet you," he continued with a nod. "C'mon Laure, even though you don't need to eat, Anli'll be expecting you."
"A good idea," Laure replied to both. "Guess we'll have to continue the tour after lunch," she said, turning herself around so they could go back to the greenhouse. Aurion shook his head and started down the path.
"Well, I've got plenty of time. Aislin wont be back for a while - she's off on another of her shopping sprees at the bazaars - I pity the poor souls who'll have to haggle with her..." Luthe said, following after Laure and Aurion.
"So... I guess I'll get to know the rest of the family now, eh?"
Aurion nodded. "Such as it is," he said wryly. "It can get a little wild around meal-times, especially if Rei and Lira have been fighting." Laure shuddered in memory.
"I think it's been fairly quiet today," Laure said hopefully.
Luthe giggled. "Well, it will be something different for me, that's for sure. I rarely attend any of the meals but breakfast, and it's usually only me and Aislin. Daryl comes over sometimes, but he and Ais are both not morning persons so..." He shrugged and poked Laure from behind.
"How about it - do you want to visit me the next time? We could sneak up into the attic, where Ais keeps all her treasure hunting stuff."
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:14 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (7: Lunch & a Mysterious Book) ::Laure
Luthe
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:15 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (8: ...) ::Laure
Luthe
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:16 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (9: ...) ::Laure
Luthe
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:17 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (10: ...) ::Laure
Luthe
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:19 am
:: VISITING A FRIEND (11: The Doll House Treasure) ::Laure
Luthe
(( Compiled from my RP with Ithiltari in her guild. ninja ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:23 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:48 pm
Athan walked briskly along the sidewalk, one hand clutching at the green pendant that hung around his neck. It glowed faintly in a way that mirrored his bright eyes. He'd been in the middle of studying a rather archaic spell when he'd felt a twinge of something that was all too familiar. It gnawed away at the back of his mind until he realized exactly what that 'something' was.
Having a stone awaken without his being present to help things along had only happened a brief handful of times. Either way, it left him feeling rather antsy, not to mention irritable. Damn wisps were terribly difficult to keep a hold of at times! It didn't help that over half of the stones were still scattered across various realms and dimensions.
He huffed and smoothed one hand down his dark robes as he stalked along towards where he felt the small creature to be. It was one of the rare occasions he was rather thankful that he was bonded to all the Fiends. It made them at least a little easier to track. Most of the time.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:06 am
For the umptieth Luthe turned his head to look back over his shoulder. Ever since he had left the shop he had that tingling sense that someone - or rather something - was following him around. And whatever it was, it was able to hide itself amazingly well considering Luthe's... nature.
With growing annoyance the young demon scanned the surrounding area, slowly walking backwards. Nothing.
With a frustrated growl he whirled around to his initial direction, not really paying attention to what was in front of him, and promptly bumped into a person who just turned the corner. He looked up, somewhat baffled, golden eyes meeting bright green ones. That glow... 'Not human,' was the first thought that shot through his mind.
"My apologies," he murmured embarassed, "I was a bit absent-minded and didn't pay attention." He looked back once again. Something just had moved there, he was sure of it. He just couldn't pick up what it was and that was more than irritating.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 4:56 pm
Bright eyes widened slightly as he abruptly came to a halt when someone bumped into his chest. He glanced down at the boy before him. Definately a demon. He got the same vibe from him as he did when he was around Reyna and Wren. He remained silent for a moment as the boy gazed up at him. The wisp was close, and he realized with a sudden clarity who exactly it was following.
He smiled slowly in an eerie sort of way as he shifted slightly to peer around the demon. "You wouldn't per chance know what it is that's following you.. would you?" he asked cautiously as he folded his arms across his chest.
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