Welcome to Gaia! ::

Smokey was quite nervous when she approached “the shop” in the dim twilight that followed just after sunset, her fingers tugging at the transparent fabric of the sleeves of her kurta, unaccustomed to the sensation on her skin as she rarely ever wore anything. Truth be told, it wasn’t even her kurta. She’d made Tiger look up the whereabouts of that “Twilight Designs” shop Dio had talked about, and then Mya had insisted rather sternly she couldn’t be running about naked in that part of the town. But, she only owned that one tunic, and it wasn’t exactly much of an outfit … Eventually, Anjalee had come to her rescue, intrigued to hear Smokey might have “siblings” of sorts and wanted to find out more about them. Of course she’d want to help, and so she’d lent one of her old outfits to the fiendish girl, one she’d already grown out of but her sisters were still too small yet to wear. A churidhar kurta ensemble in teal, ruby red, gold and dark brown, quite nicely accenting the color of Smokey’s eyes, skin and markings, with a matching shawl to go with it. Anjalee had combed her hair as well, but Smokey had fled before her friend had a chance to adorn her forehead with tikka jewelry. That … would just have been a bit “too much” for her personal taste.

‘Do you think I’ll be alright?’ she asked, addressing the Very Large tabby tomcat accompanying her and rubbing against her ankles as she peered up at the seemingly moonlit shop sign.

Tiger merely stared at her. She wasn’t really expecting an answer from him in this form, was she now? And he was most definitely not going to shift for her to give her one. Not unless she specifically asked for it, that was. Rather keen on avoiding for this to happen, he gave of what he considered to be a reassuring purr. You can do it, he pushed his thoughts towards her. It seemed the fiendish girl caught at least the encouragement behind them, as she turned and crouched down to fondly rub his neck. Oh, how he loved that! His animal instincts getting the better of him, he rubbed his forehead against the palm of her head, his purring growing significantly in volume.

‘Thank you,’ Smokey murmured, stroking Tiger’s soft fur once more before she rose to her full height, tossing one end of the shawl over her shoulder and hesitating for only but a moment before she pushed open the door.

It was a jewelry store, that much had been obvious from its display windows already, but it was unlike any she’d ever encountered on the bazaar. For once, most of the bazaar shops focused on warm colors, selling jewelry made of gold, copper and bronze. This shop here seemed to sell mostly silver, with the exception of a small display of what appeared to be antiqued brass. Even the exterior had seemed cold what with the modern design and the frosted glass of the door. What more, everything was encased in boxes of glass. That was so unusual! On the bazaar, everything was there to be picked up, turned over, examined from all sides and tried on – under the watchful eyes of the store owner, of course.

Tentatively, Smokey gave one of the glass panes a poke and then – her expression shifting to one of genuine surprise – she tried again. The result remained the same. Her fingers wouldn’t pass through, but were instead stopped by the glossy surface. Why, that had never happened to her before! Intrigued now (and quite oblivious to the fact anyone else might be present in the shop), she kept poking the display. Weirrrrd …

A dark presence phased into view behind the desk that had seemingly been empty. His mismatched eyes were half lidded with an obvious lethargy that held an eternal amount of smug bemusement. Reyna was in the back room rummaging through her personal cache of gems and beads for a design which had left him to watch the storefront. It was a slow day, and neither had expected company, let alone her company.

'And so the little wayward one has finally returned,' her murmured in a low, groggy voice. His gaze flicked down towards the overly large cat which had followed her inside. 'And with a new found changeling friend. How precious,' he went on as he rested his chin in the palm of one tattooed hand.

The young shadow blinked with surprise, and then Smokey turned, eyeing the elder fiend with open curiosity. He was clearly one of her own kind, there was no mistaking it, but he was big! So far she'd only encountered the tiny wisps, and Dio, who seemed to be older than her, but wasn't much taller.

'Hi,' she said eventually. 'I'm Smokey. That is Mr. Tiger,' she added, pointing at her feline companion. Interesting the other could tell her cat was a changeling, she wondered how he did that. She certainly hadn't known when she'd first met Tiger! 'Howwwww can you tell what he is?' She promptly inquired. 'And who are you? And is Dio here? He promised he'd bring some comics for me, and told me to come here.' And just like Dio, it seemed, she was full of questions. Like: 'And what do you mean, 'returned'? I don't think-' She frowned, tugging at a braided strand of her hair. 'I don't remember having been here? Like, ever?'

'I am Mystic. I am the eldest Shadow. I have always been older than you,' he replied as he stared over at the girl levelly, 'Always. Past. Present.... possibly future.' Some internal raging presence inside him was screaming. It wanted free, and it wanted to squash the adorable little girl before him like some sort of insignificant bug. His violet eyes fluttered close for a moment as he quelled that strange but familiar feeling before once more meeting her curious gaze.

'You talk and ask questions the way Dio does, but no,' he answered slowly, 'He is not here now. It's just me and my guardian.' His attention shifted briefly to the seemingly innocuous cat that accompanied her. 'I've met other changelings before. That particular race has a very distinct aura. That's how I know.'

He fell silent and his head tilted to the side in a curious manner as he regarded the child before him. If he could have given her a manic grin, he would have, but the expression was lost on his blank slate of a face. 'You've been here before. You were young. It's been...' he trailed off, suddenly looking quite lost, before continuing in a more hushed, almost wistful tone, 'Such a very long time.'

So even the big one- Mystic? had a guardian. How very disappointing. 'I think I'm the only one who doesn't have a guardian,' she complained. Well, it was an assumption made based upon the very few wisps and fiends she had met. But, everyone had acted so very surprised if not downright shocked upon finding she didn't have a soul-bond, it really gave her the feeling it was something highly unusual.

She clasped her hands at her back, rocking back on her heels and then forth on her toes, all the while she kept peering at Mystic curiously. 'Is that why I don't grow?' She had been a kid since ... well, for pretty much as long as she could remember. Ever since her time with Mythos. Her friends at the bazaar were all growing taller, while she simply seemed ... stuck.

Tiger's ears flicked forward in a very cat-like manner, his own curiosity quite definitely perked. His race had been scattered to the four winds, as they made such fabulous slaves, so to be instantly recognized for what he was, was ... interesting, to say the least.

'Do you know when Dio will be here?' Smokey added. She'd really been looking forward to those comics.

The elder Fiend didn't bat an eye at her declaration that she had no guardian, nor was he surprised. 'You're kind of,' he began slowly, methodically as if he had to carefully choose each word, '....special.'

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned casually back in the chair. Idly he spun around in it a couple of times slowly while staring up at the ceiling aimlessly. 'I don't know why you don't grow. That's a question better suited for Athan. Not me,' he replied after a few moments of awkward silence, 'He's the one who brought us back, after all.'

And he's the fool that didn't finish you off in the first place, a more sinister voice inside his head murmured from somewhere in the inky darkness within him.

He felt bothered by this seemingly innocent child. Her very presence, when faced with the knowledge of whom she truly was (Is? No. Was. But...), made his skin crawl. Then there was that voice inside his head. It was the voice that had always lingered. He thought he had vanquished it before when he had become an adult. He still felt guilt for causing his guardian to be locked in the elfin looking demi-form she was in now.

But he felt no guilt for Smokey. Mostly he felt a slow, steady, twisted, strange kind of anger. He tried to ignore it, but he could feel it slowly bubbling to the surface.

Reyna stopped what she was doing and headed towards the front room. Mystic was being weird. Or at least weirder than usual. "Hey," she called as she stepped through before pausing mid-step as she stared at the familiar looking little girl. Her aura was different, but there was no mistaking that stone. She moved slowly towards her shadow and stopped the spinning of the desk chair by placing one hand upon Mystic's shoulder. "Found yourself a friend, hm?" she said quietly with a sidelong glance towards Smokey.

Her gaze flicked briefly towards the cat. "Aw hell," she said, "Guess Izzy will be making her rounds soon."

'Special, huh?' Smokey's red eyes lit up with mirth. She was enough of a child to feel a whole lot better about her being all alone without a guardian if it meant being 'special'. Though, of course it would have been better if she'd never been forced to leave 'Thos in the first place.

'Can I meet Athan?' she shot her next question immediately. She unclasped her hands and playfully tiptoed closer to the counter where Mystic sat spinning in his chair, her arms spread out as if she were balancing on an invisible tight rope. 'What do you mean, 'he brought us back'? Dio said I should talk to him too.' Something along that line, at least. Maybe this Athan person would know why these nightmares kept bothering her. It would be so nice if he could maybe fix it and she could return to Mythos.

'Hey~!' the fiendish girl replied cheerfully upon Reyna's greeting, not bothered at all by being stared at. People kept doing that, and she was used to it by now. In fact she kept staring demoness quite a bit herself. Most of the bazaar's denizens were dark skinned with inky black hair, so Reyna's pale skin and silver mane were a highly unusual sight. 'Ohhhh,' Smokey said, bouncing a little with excitement. 'You have red eyes like me!'

Tiger too kept staring intently at the silver haired woman, more than a little wary of her presence. She wasn't human, he knew that instantly. Her scent gave her away for what she was. Still, his curiosity got the better of him. Just who was 'Izzy'? His eyes narrowed, and he gave a meow in her general direction to grudgingly acknowledge her presence. Then he followed after Smokey, butting his head against the young shadow's legs with just the barest hint of a purr.

'Athan will be just thrilled to meet with you I'm sure,' Mystic said with a small chuckle that had just a twinge of hysterics to its edge. And then more calmly he went on, 'What do you mean 'brought us back' she says. Do you know what the stone in your chest is, child?'

Reyna pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt the onset of a tension headache. She sighed before turning her gaze back upon Mystic. "Could you behave and play nice? Your weirdness is weirding me out," she told him with a light hearted thwap to the back of his head.

The elder shadow made what sounded suspiciously like a small, snarling sort of noise, but it was hardly threatening. He sounded more like a puppy that had just been admonished. He wrapped his arms around her in response and leaned his face against her torso like a small child seeking comfort.

Reyna shook her head and rolled her eyes. She petted lightly at his hair before turning her attention back to Smokey. "You'll have to excuse him," she said matter of factly, "He's crazy."

Though it was surreal that Smokey was standing there before them both, Reyna didn't feel nearly as bothered by her presence as Mystic clearly was. She seemed completely guileless in a way only a small child could be. "And yes, my eyes are red. Or at least they're supposed to be," the demoness replied as one of her free hands came up to touch upon the eye patch that covered her left eye, "Athan should be back soon. He's picking up a supply order for me."

'No ... ?' Smokey replied reluctantly, her brows creasing into a frown. 'Not really,' she added. She had seen the wisps of course, so she had somewhat of a vague idea at least. She touched lightly upon the stone set in her own chest, then craned her neck to see if she could spy Mystic's. 'We come from the stones?' she hazarded a guess. 'Like from eggs? Yours is very pretty, by the way.' She usually wasn't into sparkly things at all, but Mystic's stone was exceptionally beautiful.

'Is it alright if I wait here?' she said, watching with a twinge of sadness as Mystic snuggled up to his guardian. She missed Mythos, terribly so. She had her friends, and Myah, and Tiger, and she positively adored all of them - but it was not the same as the intimate closeness shared with your soul-bond. She bent down to pet Tiger's soft fur, the large cat's purr significantly growing in volume.

'Our souls were trapped within the stones. Our current existence is Athan's attempt at setting us free from our bindings,' Mystic replied as he withdrew himself from Reyna before she got irritated with him. She was not exactly a cuddly creature. 'Mhm... probably not like eggs,' he spoke up again with a puzzled look upon his face, 'That would require hatching and fracturing of the stone.' His eyes went wide and he idly reached to place his hand over his own stone. 'That just sounds painful.'

"It's fine if you wait here," Reyna spoke up, "He shouldn't be much longer. Shadows are always welcome in the shop." She pulled away from Mystic and wandered back into the backroom to continue her work, satisfied that there was no real threat. Mystic was just being... Mystic.

The elder fiend resumed his staring over at the child as he propped both elbows up on the desk and rested his chin in both hands. 'I need a nap,' he declared absentmindedly, 'Your cat is quite large.'

The bell to the front door chimed, and in walked a familiar dark, robed figure. Athan made an exasperated noise as he sat down a large, very heavy box on the ground. He was also quite soaked. The plane which he had just visited was in the middle of its rainy season; something he had ever so conveniently forgot.

He paused to rest and catch his breath before he froze and stared over at Smokey with a startled sort of look. At first he was afraid to move or breath or really do much of anything out of fear of scaring her away. He sighed and reached for the door and hauled it open with a slight curtsied gesture.

"If you're going to run before I might speak to you..... again," he announced with a look of consternation, "Here's the door. I lack patience for chasing you around today."

Reyna came back to the front room to check to see who had just entered. "Hey, Athan," she said as she gazed intently on the overly large box that was still sitting at his feet. She leaned down to pick up the box with ease as though it weighed nothing. "You look like crap," she told him before walking off with her new box of treasures.

"Your keen observations never cease to amaze," Athan spat as he allowed the door to shut so he could remove the outer layer of his robes. He hung them up to dry, thankful at least his slacks and dress shirt weren't nearly as uncomfortably wet.

'My cat can be even larger,' Smokey smugly told the elder fiend. 'And it can be a person too.' She paused. 'Trapped? But ho-'

She never finished her question, distracted by the chime of the doorbell. At the sight of just who had entered she froze, eyes wide with shock, like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights. Then, accompanied by a telepathic 'Eep!' of sorts, she gave up on her physical appearance and melded with the shadows, hiding. She wanted to run from that person, very, very much so, just like she always had when she'd spied him from afar. But! That had to be a trap that he was holding the door for her, definitely!

Instead she skittered along the corners of the room to hide behind Mystic, never letting her sight off the green eyed mage. The elder fiend would protect her from him, right? Right?

'He's scary!' She whispered hastily, her lean little body trembling like aspen leaf. 'That man, he's from my nightmares, and he keep stalking me! Don't let him get me, please?' Only he looked less like a nightmare thing, and more like a real person what with the soaked clothes and all. And no one else seemed to be afraid of him. But still!

Smokey promptly zipped back into hiding before he could set his strange, green-glowing eyes on her again.

'Yes, well,' Mystic replied slowly, 'Changelings do things like that'

Athan rolled his eyes at the child's dramatic flailing about. Even if he couldn't see her, he knew precisely where she was. The presence of a Fiend was unmistakable to him.

Mystic on the other hand laughed. He laughed to the point that his sides ached. 'Are you serious?' he asked in a wheezing voice still full of mirth, 'I mean, really, Smokey. That ever so scary man is Athan. He made us.' He leaned back in the chair until he was again staring up at the ceiling, arms holding onto his side as he quaked with his fit of laughter.

"I am so thrilled you find amusement in this," Athan muttered before pointing accusingly at the elder Fiend, "And you should not tease her so. There was a time where you feared me as well."

'That was different. You were actually pretty mean,' Mystic argued.

"Hardly," Athan declared, "You were unstable, and were otherwise attempting to use magic which could, and need I remind you did, backfire horribly. Your unstable mental state doesn't exactly appear to be something that is improving, either."

Mystic paused as he thought that over. He turned to peer at Smokey over his shoulder. 'That's true,' he told her simply.

Athan sighed in exasperation. "I need a cup of tea."

'That is Athan?' Smokey's voice was filled with disbelief, and she stubbornly remained hidden except for the occasional glint of ruby red if one knew where to look. 'He was stalking me! He tried to catch me!'

The older fiend was obviously not taking her very seriously, and that enraged her to no end. This was a matter of life or death! Or something like that, at least. Only, the scary man made no attempts to catch her, nor did he seem particularly scary upon second glance. Especially now that he'd doffed his soaked robe. And he was demanding a cup of tea.

Which was precisely what Myah liked to do, after particularly long and tiring tasks of weaving magicks and soothsaying.

Tiger, in the meanwhile, decided to take matters in his own paws, so to speak. His instincts were usually reliable, and he sensed no danger about the man his little mistress seemed to fear so much. His scent was most curious though, of all sorts of places, and rain, and old- no, ancient. Tail raised high, he marched up to the man, butting his head against his leg, and then glanced back in Smokey's general direction. See? Harmless.

'You're not from my nightmares ...?' Smokey still didn't sound particularly trusting.

"On the contrary," Athan said dryly, "I was trying to contact you so that we might speak. You, young miss, kept running away. I honestly have no desire to 'catch' a Fiend of any sort. I have enough following me around. If I really wanted to catch you, I'd have found a way to do so by now."

Athan arched a brow as the cat bumped up against his leg. He reached down to pet the creature atop its head idly, before drawing away to head towards the backroom. He needed a hot cup of tea. Or maybe coffee. Probably tea.

Mystic's eyes still danced with a glint of amusement. 'He is no nightmare creature, girl,' he said with a knowing air, 'I would know. I'm a dreamwalker, after all.'

'Then!' Smokey flailed about indignantly, apparently no longer trying to hide - or at least not doing a very good job at it. 'Then don't sneak up on me all scary-like!'

She huffed, arms akimbo. 'No one catches me,' she added cockily, quite sure of herself and up to the challenge. Some things, it appeared, never changed.

The possible game of tag, however, was promptly forgotten about at Mystic's words. Smokey's eyes widened, not with fear this time, but surprise, and hope. Within a split second she was upon the counter top, her face only a hand's width from the other fiend's, staring at him intently. 'My nightmares,' she said almost breathlessly, her tone urgent. 'Can you make my nightmares go away?!'

Athan gave the girl a rather indignant look. "I wasn't sneaking up on you all," he said with a look of distaste, "...scary-like." He strode past her and into the backroom with a huff to fetch himself a cup of tea. "Not my fault you're skittish," he called over his shoulder as he disappeared into the next room.

The elder Shadow watched the small child boss up Athan with amusement clearly written across his sleep-deprived face. His eyes widened in turn with a look of surprise that was then mixed with fear as Smokey invaded his personal space.

He remained silent and still, afraid to move. 'No,' he said slowly and as calmly as he could despite the panic that thrilled through him, 'I don't think I can do that.'

'I'm not skittish!' Smokey retorted promptly. 'You're scary! It's that robe! And those green-glowy eyes!'

Her gaze never left Mystic's face, until the meaning of his words sunk in. 'No,' he'd said. Her shoulders sagged, and for a time it seemed as if all life had been drawn from the spunky little fiend, her eyes which had been brilliantly agleam with hope now dying embers. No. These nightmares would just go on and on and on ...

She blinked, then blinked again, quickly turning away her face. Ohhhh no. No no no no, she was not going to cry now. It had been silly of her to get her hopes up like that. It was just ... when she'd heard the term 'dreamwalker' she'd been hoping ...

'Too bad. But that's okay,' she said reluctantly, 'if you can't do that. Myah has tried, and she is a really great witch, and she couldn't make them go away either.' She shrugged, as if it was nothing, but it was evident her nightmares were troubling her a great deal.

'Can he make them go away?' she asked eventually, pointing to where Athan had vanished into the back room. 'I mean, if he's the one who made us ...?'

'I don't know,' Mystic blurted out, eyes still wide and full of panic at her proximity. Unbidden, images flooded his mind.

A young man with hair that was prematurely turning gray. Bright eyes that were slowly turning blood red, tainted by foreign magic. Darkness. All engulfing, all consuming, endless darkness. Suffocating. A traitorous villain. A student who had slain his very own mentor. Two souls being rendered asunder, both banished to gloom and darkness, but one trapped eternally in a prison only dreams could reach. Pain. Suffering. Loathing.

Mystic visibly quaked as he stared over at the child, eyes haunted by nightmares of his own.

Athan strode back into the room with a frown upon his face. Something strange was going on. He meant to address the elder Shadow, but stopped short. Something was definitely wrong with him. The black markings on his face seemed to slowly move of their own accord as though he were being slowly infected by some sort of strange darkness just beneath his skin.

Without thinking, Athan reached to drag Smokey into his arms and out of harms way. "Away from him, quickly!" he said as he took several steps backwards.

Reyna appeared not but a moment later. Mystic was seriously ******** with her head today, and whatever he was doing now was making her feel sick in a way she couldn't explain. She reached to place a hand on his shoulder despite Athan's audible protest.

"Snap out of it," she hissed, shaking him slightly.

Mystic shook his head, and his eyes focused upon his guardian. The strange, creeping darkness along his skin stopped. 'I need a nap,' he declared quietly

Smokey heaved a heavy sigh - at least her body moved accordingly even though was not able to perform the actual deed due to her lack of breathing - and she was just about to turn and have her legs dangle from the counter top and declare Just How Very Miserable she was when she was scooped up and away by Athan.

Wha- wha- wha-?!

'I didn't do anything!' Smokey protested right away, out of reflex. What with her being able to move through solid objects and hiding in the shadows she got blamed for a lot of stuff. Some times it was her fault, some times it wasn't. This time, however, she was quite certain she hadn't done anything. Clinging to Athan's arm, she staaaaaaaaared at Mystic. Whatever was happening to his face was pretty damn awesome and fascinating. The term 'scary' didn't quite cross her thoughts, until she realized just who had picked her up. Immediately she started squirming about. 'Lemme go, I did do nothing, it's not my fault, not this time!'

Athan fled with Smokey wriggling in his arms into the backroom. Mystic was better off being left in his guardian's care. He begrudgingly had to admit that she was best suited for handling his strange behavior.

He released the squirming child with a quiet chuckle. "I am well aware that you did not do anything wrong in this instance," he told her. He inhaled deeply to try and steady his nerves and moved to finally make himself a cup of tea. It had already been quite the day.

"Mystic appears to be going through some sort of change or growth. Whichever it is, I'm not entirely sure. He is the eldest of your brethren, after all," he said as he reached to fetch his favorite tea cup and the flowering tea pot which matched it. "Regardless," he went on, "This was not your doing. He's been on the verge of... whatever it is that is happening to him ... for months now. Long before your arrival here at the shop today."

More than glad to be released, Smokey zoomed off immediately, but did not go too far. She merely skirted the nearby couch to hide behind it, and soon enough her red eyes were visible just above the rim of the backrest, blinking and peering at Athan with open curiosity.

'Will I grow big like him too?' She eventually demanded to know. Apart from her nightmares this was definitely the thing that bothered her second-most about her existence. 'My friends all grow bigger, but I always stay the same. And, can you make my nightmares go away?' she immediately moved on to the thing that bothered her more than anything else. She was still keeping her distance from Athan, but at least she wasn't running from him this time.

'And what's with Mystic? He was behaving real strange. Like he was afraid of me.' Humans being afraid of her, she was somewhat used to. There'd been countless times she'd been referred to as a ghost, a demon, a spirit or whatever. But she didn't quite see why her own kind should be afraid of her. The wisps, it seemed, had all liked her. But ... She frowned, remembering all too well Dio's initial hostility towards her. 'Dio was acting strange too when I met him ...'

She settled down a little. This couch was really soft, softer than anything in Mya's place. Maybe ... She bounced a little. Beamed. Bounced again. This was a really bouncy couch! How awesome.

Tiger watched her through half-lidded eyes, feeling somewhat sorry for that Athan person. Knowing his little mistress she'd turn the couch into a makeshift trampoline in no time. The changeling had just barely managed to slip into the back room with the pair, making it just before the door closed. Thankfully they actually had used it, that was the one really annoying thing about Smokey Quartz. Unlike her, he could not move through solid walls and doors. He settled down nearby and yawned heartily, needle-sharp teeth showing. He really hoped Smokey would find answers to her questions, she was too sweet a child to wake up screaming every other night.

He really hoped everything was going to be alright on the other side of the door as well - something was very not right with that Mystic guy, and if Athan hadn't moved first to remove his little mistress from his presence ... The fur on his tail hadn't quite settled down from their bristle-brush state yet.

"You should grow like him, yes," Athan answered, back still turned as he filled the electric kettle with water and set it to boil. He turned and leaned against the counter as he regarded the small child that was peering over at him from behind the couch cushions. The sight made him smile a bit. She was adorable, and absolutely nothing like him. Her presence didn't even feel like his. She appeared very much to be an entirely new soul. How that was possible, he wasn't certain, but soul magic was always a little strange and often bore even stranger results.

He paused, head tilting to the side slightly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Nightmares? Hm. I'm not certain, but I could certainly try." He frowned, and for a moment he was fearful. Over the years he had been dealing with the Shadows he had brought forth, one thing he had noticed was that their nightmares were rarely regular dreams. They were usually memories trying to resurface.

"And as for what's with Mystic," he chuckled as he watched her bounce upon the couch, "That boy has always been a bit off kilter. As for what was bothering Dio, I couldn't possibly say."

'Yay~!' Smokey expressed her joy with a jump. 'I was really worried I would always stay small like this. Because I don't have a guardian anymore.'

Bounce.

'He's okay,' Smokey added quickly, realizing how she'd made it sound as if something had happened to Mythos.

Bounce. Bounce.

'I had to leave him. Because of the nightmares. Mythos saw them too, and I couldn't couldn't make it stop in any other way, so ...' Smokey's bouncing stopped, and her expression grew haunted, the brilliant red of her eyes dulling. There was no doubt those nightmares scared her beyond reason. 'So I had to go away,' she said, seeming quite heartbroken. 'He's probably better now, without me. I hope he is. I don't know. Because, if I go back, our connection might come back? And it was so hard to leave him.'

She eyed Athan. 'I really thought you were from my nightmares. But, you looked a lot scarier in the alleys, with those robes and all those shadows. You don't look as scary now?' She still seemed skeptical. 'Nightmares are scary,' she added, nervously running her fingers through her messy hair, momentarily tearing at the braids and little ornaments that adorned it without ever realizing. 'People I don't know. Places I've never been to. And bad ...' She shuddered. 'Really bad things happening. Makes no sense.' Her eyes were wide. 'If you can, make them stop, please,' she whispered.

Tiger mewed, and hopped onto the couch to join his distressed mistress. She could be a pain in the a** and one HELL of a brat, and it was still embarrassing to no end he'd let himself be collared by that child. But whenever it came to her nightmares, he felt naught but pity with her. No child should have to suffer like that, waking up screaming every other night.

Athan offered the girl a small, reassuring smile that was tinged with sadness. He felt immense pity for her. If she truly was a new soul as he suspected, and not the remnants of the entity Doran had become, it was hardly fair for her to be plagued by such terrible dreams and memories.

"I will do my best to find a solution to your problem," he promised. He turned his back to pour hot water into the tea pot and over the flowering tea ball in the center of the pot. "But in return I have to ask a small favor," he went on as he placed both his cup, a spare cup, and the tea pot on a tray to carry over towards the coffee table.

He set the tray down and sat upon the couch opposite of Smokey to watch the flower unfurl within the pot. "You mustn't run from me again. I realize I may have scared you, but please believe me that wasn't my intention. I was simply concerned and checking in on you," Athan told her, "I have a certain amount of responsibility for you and your brethren alike, you know."

'Thank you,' Smokey said enthusiastically, letting herself drop onto the couch with her legs crossed. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you. I promise I wont run from you anymore.' She beamed at Athan, hoping it would distract from the fact she had her fingers crossed behind her back.

She leaned forward to ogle the tea ball unfold, staring at it in awe. She'd never ever seen anything this pretty and beautiful and fascinating! 'You made us, I know,' she said, on the matter of being responsible for her. For them. For all of them. She wondered how many there were - she'd met not even a handful, but she got the impression there were a lot, lot more of her kind out and about.

'Who is the second cup for?' She inquired curiously.

"You are most welcome, child. I will always do my best to help should you need assistance," Athan told her. He didn't answer her question about the spare tea cup and instead reached to pour the tea. Carefully, he filled both cups before picking one up and handing it to Smokey.

"I dare say we've both had a stressful day," he spoke up again, "While you might not be able to drink it, a warm cup of tea held is just as comforting."

He sighed as he retrieved his own cup and leaned back against the couch cushions. There was most certainly something off with Mystic. He wasn't certain what, and that scared him. He had pestered Hawk on more than one occasion about the Dreamwalker, but he could not see anything about him that was helpful in any way.

His concern was that perhaps it was something that all of the Shadows would endure once they matured. Would they all end up crazy? Or was Mystic the exception? Those questions were nearly impossible to answer.

With a look of surprise to her eyes Smokey accepted the cup. Since she didn't know what else to do with it, she simply kept holding onto it with both hands, watching the steam as it gently wafted above the hot surface. '... thank you?' she said reluctantly.

It was obvious the little fiend wasn't able to sit still for long, soon enough shifting about and craning her neck to curiously take in her surroundings. It was one of those rare occasions she didn't know what to do with herself, and that made her feel uncomfortable. Dio wasn't here, the only other fiend she'd met was acting weird, and the man who'd supposedly 'made' her and the others turned out to be the scary person who'd kept chasing her about ever since-

Her eyes widened. 'Do you know how Mythos is doing?' She asked eagerly. 'Is he fine now?' It had been bothering her, ever since. Breaking the connection between herself and her guardian had been hard enough on her, and that she had no idea what it might have done to the little boy kept gnawing at her. Yet she had never dared to go back and check on him because she feared their soul-bond might snap right back into place.