Welcome to Gaia! ::

At night, strange things were said to surface in the docks and warfs of the city, almost human creatures whose minds were more alien than any creature roaming Gaia. Drunken sailors told tales of how they climbed out of the water to seek fresh meat in the form of humans out alone. They hungered for the flesh of man, but none had ever been said to leave the docks or stray far from the water. But it's hard to see a creature so black they may as well be a section of the midnight sky cut out in the dark. Moonlight seemed to bleed into the humanoid form when it touched and illuminated the wet footprints left behind on the dry, sandy streets.

It stalked up the back roads and alleyways deeper into the city, avoiding the few people who would be found wandering the city at this time of night. Harsh rasping of stone on stone issued whenever one black hand touched a wall or the ground in its nocturnal ramble into the academic portion of the city. Occasionally it paused to vomit forth a mixture of pure water and raw, undigested meat onto the street or whatever seemed handy at the time and curse hoarsely into the night.

It's aim was simple and without doubt, the great library being the giant building that rose up infront of it. Great open windows revealed nothing within as no occupants roamed the shelves and classrooms within. It was well after visiting hours after all.

How the creature, in its humanoid form, intended to enter the building was a mystery until with a tortured groaning and cracking sound a small portal was made through the stone structure, a hole that entered into the building proper. Down it scurried, arms first and then the rest of it disappearing more completely into the building. It needed no light to see by, but from instinct set about finding the method of turning lights on, hands roaming the wall for a light switch or torch sconce.

As of yet, besides the cursing, it had not spoken, and the only sounds came from its stone encased fingers, thick claws scraping fresh gouges in the hard rock of the walls. Soft carpets lined the spaces that the great shelves did not, muffling footsteps effectively until at long last secrecy was no longer maintained by the flicking on of lights. Torches burst into life throughout the hallway, not precisely the way Damion had expected them to really.

Because it was Damion who stood there, his body black as the midnight sky down even to his eyes and teeth. And there was something subtly wrong with that body as it began to move deeper into the books. No muscles tensed or twitched, the limbs simply flowing to where they needed to be. It was somewhat disturbing to watch in its inhuman design while wearing the guise of a human body.

It stalked the bookshelves quietly, pausing only occasionally to mutter to itself and inspect the bookline it had paused at. Each time it found nothing to its liking and moved on to the next shelves to either stop and inspect or keep moving. It did not search long at all, stopping on its 5th or 6th shelf with a satisfied noise like the blowing of wind through an open window.

A large symbol, like that found on some medical companies of 2 snakes twining around a winged staff, floated gently above these twin rows of shelving, born aloft on the winds of magic. Damion himself spared it no second glances and instead busied himself with ranging up and down the rows of books with one black finger extended to run up and down the leather spines of the medical books. There was no name in particular he was looking for, just one that seemed to jump out of him and announce 'hey! I can tell you what you want to know!' Perhaps something along the lines of Lists of Organs necessary for life?

Nothing of that sort seemed forthcoming, and Damion felt that tired anger filling him again and swiftly sought to shut it down. It would only get worse if he let it run rampant and free in his nonexistant heart, instead moving with a greater sense of urgency amongst the books. Now both hands entered the mix to search the book he needed, tapping at the golden or red words pressed into the dark leather.

" Here!"

His search had been an easy one after all and extremely short lived, success found in the form of an overly large tome of soft buckskin obviously done up for gentle use. He ran his hands over it, trying hard not to let the lack of feeling depress him too much. He could only feel the pressure of the tome in his hand, not the softness of the leather or the crisp edges of paper held between. Damion longed for the feelings of flesh again, but this book would bring him one step closer. It flipped open with a twitch of his black hand, revealing words in the common language of Gaia and pictures to match like any decent medical book should. Little black lines and numbers matched up to little black words and the exact same numbers to indicate organs and muscles and blood vessels and other such things that made life possible in a 'human' body.

His black eyes flickered hungrily over the words like a typewriters scroll, so clear that even without iris's it was a noticable thing. Damion shut it with a snap that echoed through the room and stood in one swift motion that did not match with the way a human body should move. Now he needed to find a more comprehensive book, something he wasn't even really sure existed. Back out into the central line did he go with book in hand and eyes to the ceiling searching out the little floating signs that belied the nature of the books below.

It took abit of walking and afew more muffled curses before the symbol he was looking for came up, an oddly mixed print of clawed paw, humanoid hand, and something not altogether unlike a tentacle. A bestiary section if there ever was one and the final place for Damion's search in this location. He padded swiftly across the carpeted floor deep into the bookshelves and their musty smell of still air. This far back in the library, the flow of air was much restrained and one could almost make out the different scents of leather. Not that he could, his sense of smell dulled somewhat by the saltwater still clinging, but the smells were still there.

Damion found it a much easier course to find the second book of his search, locating it by sight almost immediately. Altogether a much larger and thicker book it was bound up in some dark, unwholesome looking leather with gold script pressed firmly into the cover and spine. He didn't bother flipping this one open to confirm its validity and instead tucked it neatly next to the first under his left arm, holding both in a way very similar to a student on their way to class.

The opening of one of the many doors sent the dark humanoid ducking below the line of shelves, stuck in a three point position on the ground with his head jerking back and fourth from the front of the aisle to the back, listening cautiously for the sound of footsteps. Some night attendant no doubt, coming in to seek the source of the light. Damion's assumption likely proved correct as with a click the lights went out and one shadow was plunged into many producing an uncomfortable tingling along the form of his body. The shadows longed to return to where they had come, only his skull keeping the feeling from being full body.

Slowly he rose, walking slowly and cautiously down the line of books with one hand out to keep from running into things.

The beast's stalker hid silently behind bookshelves as it perused the pages of infinite knowledge within the library. He still wasn't sure what was going on, and that was a disquieting feeling. It wasn't every day a dark creature enters the town unannounced and attempts to dig through the local library under cover of darkness - you really couldn't blame the man for being suspicious.

He leaned around the corner on and off trying to spy on the creature as best he could. It was hard to tell what the book was in the dark, but he could tell that the beast wasn't looking for some light reading and wanting to shirk on the library fees - nope, this had much more... je ne sais quoi.

And that voice... the beast kept cursing every so often, and while it sounded off... it also sounded very familiar. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like having suspicions of your mother being an ax murderer - it's not something you really wanna think about, but at the same time that familiarity could be the one thing keeping you alive if it's not all shattered in one fleeting moment of revelation.

And so he waited. The silence was deafening, but he had to remain stealthy. No sense causing a ruckus here if it could be helped; this was a place of knowledge, not combat.

The streets were silent. The dark beast was addressing it's watcher, awaiting some kind of response from the doorway. The two story building would loom in front of him in academic splendor, at least as a building in a desert city could be. Sun bleached and wind worn, the library was a testament to the years of knowledge located inside.

The doorway remained empty of life as the beast awaited his follower to show himself. A moment of quiet tension existed, with nary a breath to be heard. Was the man hoping to remain hidden? Or was he plotting his next move?

Suddenly there was a slight flapping of cloth from above the beasts head, and if it looked up he would see that a hard right boot belonging to a dusty-jacketed blond was falling straight towards his head and upper torso. The long hair had two scimitars drawn and was clearly attempting to get the drop on his opponent.

If he landed the blow successfully, he would attempt to pin his opponent to the ground with the left blade at what was presumably the neck area of the beast and the other raised and ready for action. Failing that (say due to the target evading the drop) he'd land and tuck into a roll to break the two story fall from the roof before entering a combat stance.

In either event, he would punctuate his maneuver with a single sentence:

"Actually, they don't pay me anything."

"I'll pass, thanks."

The blond dropped his guard and sheathed his weapons. There was no need for conflict with an old friend.

"So... the hell happened to you?"

It was a direct question, not intended offensively though it would be well within Damion's right to be offended. However, Stephen couldn't help being so abrupt, what with an old friend standing in front of him looking like... well, there was a reason he had tailed him across town after crawling out of the water like the creature from the black lagoon.

"I can see why the cover of darkness suits you better... I don't think the people around here would care much for your appearance in broad daylight..."

He pulled up a seat on a stone block nearby and looked over his friend. Whatever had happened had unfortunately not been kind to him.

((lol, calm down Rae-Rae, I appreciate the effort atleast :3, also, I'll be gone for about a week))

Damion shoved himself up into a standing position, pondering silently over Stephens question. How best to answer something like that? Better to be honest, he supposed, dark mouth opening to answer,

" I made a mistake."

He paused, that wasn't quite right.

" And I was lied to."

There, that was better, and more towards the truth. Had he the ability he may have sighed and interjected a sadder tone to his voice, but as it was, he could only manage a noise not unlike air escaping a crypt and a emotionless tone. It rang hollow in the air and Damion instantly regretted it. Not that he could forget what he was, but it didn't help to be reminded at all.

He flipped his right hand in a dismissive manner, shrugging in an attempt to hide how much it honestly bothered him. In all truth it was the only sign his body gave, otherwise being as stiff and unmoving as a statue.

" And I'm not so sure I'd survive in the bright light."