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Prissy fingered one of the shinies. They weren't waht she'd have called a shiny, but then these were children, after all. She turned to regard the bright faces and wide eyes. Something sparked inside her, completely dormant before. Something... something about them touched her. She looked long and intently at the rows of happy faces. No, it wasn't exactly like this... very different. But there was something there. A memory? Perhaps it was.

She never could seem to remember what her life had been like. It simply was a blank to her. She knew there was a life to remember, but she simply could recall nothing of it. Something about the children triggered a feeling, but it wasn't one she'd have expected. Despite the merry smiles of the little ones, the feeling that rose was sadness. Disturbed by this unsettling sensation, she quickly began to unload the box onto the table, a faint frown creasing her pretty face.


Unexpectedly, the man the pouch apparently belonged to was an excellent runner! No matter the twists and turns Percy was taking, the human was always hot on his heels. He was growing frantic as he galloped past a ghostling that seemed to be poking around in the trash, peering at bottles. It gave him a wild idea, and he forcefully threw himself into the next trash can. The pouch by now was empty of its contents, so it was easy to stuff to one side out of sight of the man who suspiciously slowed and peered around the alley. If he had needed oxygen, Percy would have held his breath. The man even peeked into his very trash can! But seeing nothing he recognized as his own, the man moved on, growling angrily to himself.

With a relieved burst of exuberance, the little blue yokai gave a whoop and clambered out of his stinky hiding place. Having been a street waif in life, he didn't mind at all. What would he care now if it had been normal life then? He shook one boot, dislodging a banana peel from the toe, then leaned back in to grab the pouch that was now his. The belt seemed to be in good working order, so he wasn't entirely sure how the man had lost it. Regardless, it was his now, to keep his shiny in. Triumphantly he wrapped the belt around his waist, then tucked his ticking treasure into it. Now, who knew why, but once he had had something in his possession for a time, it stopped being visible to the living, became a part of him. Soon enough that was likely to happen with the pouch, though for the time being, it must have made an odd sight to see a belted pouch with slightly greasy spots go swaggering down the alley on its own. Feeling proud of himself, he headed back the way he'd come.

Touma glanced over at Priscilla when he returned with another box. "Are you alright?" he asked watching her closely. She was frowning and it was not something he would have expected. "Is something wrong?" The charm dragon just did not look like she was having any fun. For some reason it concerned him as to why she was not.


The memory hit him hard as it popped into his view. For an instant he almost faded to nothing, nearly dropping the watch he held in his hand. Shock. Hurt. Neither were the least of what he was feeling in that moment. Valkon's eyes were suddenly furious and he snarled out knowing that the creature would hear him. A string of curses flew forth all aimed at Watcher.

His tails lashed back and forth in the fury he felt. Gripping the watch and note tightly, he stared at the clocktower a moment. Would this even work? His thoughts were moving rapidly trying to figure out who this fellow truly was and why he was interferring so much. Maybe another had the answer, but he'd have to find a way to get a message there since the previous had been one way only.

He needed them. Maybe there was a chance.

Dropping down without caring if humans or others saw him, Valkon glared around him. Shoving the memory he kept seeing to the side forcefully, he moved through the area. His tails lashed out as he went through the festival, shoving a few humans aside as well as shoving boxes and other things out of his way. Several shinies scattered across the ground as Valkon stalked by them.

Some stared. Others scattered. One man commented softly, "Well, I guess all the spirits are not happy ones."

As if to impact that point, Valkon tossed another box from his path. The balls that were inside scattered, rolling across the way and into various corners. Several children grabbed for them giggling as they did so.

Stopping at the edge of the park, the yokai looked around him for a moment. He'd never been so angry in his life at anyone. Creepy humorless mechanical creature that it was and it deserved his ire for what it had showed him. A part of him ached at seeing his father like that. So much hurt and pain in them both, but all this did was make him see his father's side of his death. And Tai's.

He didn't blame his father so much as blame Kita and these goddesses. Where were they when things like that happened? So they come down once a year and throw a party for everyone whether living or dead. Whooop teee do... But should they be praised for it? Fawned over? Hell no. They had done nothing except show up and mess things up more.

Shifting to crow form, Valkon flew upwards a moment. Moving towards some birds in the distance, he sqawked out his anger as he joined their circle flying high overhead. None of these were his yet accepted him, but as the cooler air seemed to soothe him a little, Valkon dropped back down. He needed to check on Hawke and Tai. Two birds followed him. One rather small but the other was larger and followed as if there was something there for him. After noticing them, he landed, talking to them in crow language. The larger one took off, heading towards the cemetery. The smaller crow glanced at him quizzically as Valkon shifted to himself and moved towards his son.

"Hawke." Valkon replied, stopping to stare at the ghostlings with him. "Who are these?" He remembered both had been in the square and he folded his arms as his son got to his feet. They were unexpected, but so long as there was no trouble from them, they could remain.


"Dad, that is Alnara and Chief. Lestat was here. He said if you needed him to let him know. He said he'd help. By the way what is a vampire? And did you get Uncle Chronos yet?" the younger ghostling asked as he hugged his father for a moment. Then he noted the crow on the ground near his father. He coaxed it onto his hand. Strange how animals sometimes did more than humans could. "New bird? And did you find anyone else?"


"Not my bird. Vampire? Oh yeah.. Lestat used to be one. It's an undead who uses fangs to drink blood from humans and other things, Hawke." Valkon replied. "Maybe he's yours." The yokai smiled faintly. The first time he had really felt like doing such. "His name is Corviy he says."


Kael had watched in surprise as the ghostling ran past him chased by a human. The human had left disgusted which made his lips twitch upwards. He raised an eyebrow as the ghostling took a dive into a garbage can to hide. No accounting for taste, but he supposed it made a decent hiding spot.

Turning back to his bottles, he was studying another one he decided he wanted when he noted the ghostling returning his way. He seemed a strange little fellow with the clunky oversized boots and all. But he seemed capable of coping with it.

Lestat scoffed at the little succubus's attempt to trump him with a feeble threat. As if she could ever hope to challenge the power he'd died with......not that he had full control of all his powers again yet, but he was getting there. Nothing else to do but practice your mental abilities when you're alone in a ballroom trying to avoid the master of it like a whipped dog. He growled softly at that thought and to his chagrin, the little group migrated towards Valkon before he could get his own quip in. He smiled a little as Hawke asked what a vampire was. Well, he supposed the child WAS born in this spirit world and couldn't have any knowledge of what life was like before.

Bounding over to Valkon himself, he smiled at the youkai whom had already ascended to the Entity form he'd grown accustomed to seeing haunt the halls in stolen glances. He wondered if he'd get more control over his old powers if he ascended like that, but that was a question that was to be left for a later time. He'd experiment eventually, but right now, he was more interested in what Valkon had to say.

"Valkon.....it's true then? Azmodeus is locked in that other world? And what of that meddling witch Kita? Hopefully locked up as well, animals, the both of them........Is there no way to contact Chronos though?" he asked, starting out satisfied with Azmodeus and Kita's positions currently, but a bit remorseful about Chronos. The youkai had never shown Lestat any malice, and by all means seemed like a good fellow, and wickedly useful with his machines and watches. A good man to have around in a time like this.

Turning to Alnara, his tails lashed as he decided to take up on the verbal joust she'd started by insinuating he'd been rude to Hawke. Why would he be rude to a child of all things when he was looking for his own? Even though technically Claudia wasn't a child.....hmmm.....it was food for thought if she'd grown into a woman in the passing from the living world to the dead. But he was getting off track again. Letting his eyes glow a little more brilliantly than usual to give them that iridescent feel, he stalked over to her and growled softly in the back of his throat, poking her roughly.

"YOU, madmoiselle......should mind your manners to your betters. I was one of the damned long before you were even an afterthought on the face of humanity and all creatures that go with it in this world. You're very much like my daughter Claudia.......and you should feel very lucky I don't snap your neck where you stand because of that fact," he hissed, tails lashing as he casually turned back to Hawke and Valkon, totally ignoring the succubus and putting her on his list of minor annoyances. Looking at the little crow he frownd slightly.

He missed Mojo.

Davenya busied herself setting up the toys and shinies. She paid not much mind to the fancy looking Charm dragon. Davenya was too distracted by the shinies to really care truthfully. She hadn't realized the upset face that the girl had. Then again she tended to have a short attention span so unless she was interested greatly in whom she was talking to she tended to wander it thought. So far she could count two people that she seemed to be able to focus on. Joachim and Marcus but they were no where to be seen so far not that she really cared. Her little relationship with Joachim was odd. She at times admired him but most recently she had felt nothing more then a partial disgust for him though as time was passing her feelings and dislike were following as well. Then there was Marcus. He was interesting and most certainly attractive to Davenya but he seemed to disappear after she first met him so while for awhile she was longing to see him once more she had grow out of him and veered more toward an interest in her oversoul friend Jason. However that was because they lived together and he seemed so much calmer when he spoke to her via mind like. It always creeped her out how he could reach into her mind.

However through her own little musings she continued to set out the prizes. It wasn't till a box was pushed into her that her mind silenced itself. Davenya's head jerked about as she watched what looked like a grown version of Valkon stalk past clearly furious. Then as she thought about it more she realized that it was indeed he. The entity was once the ghostling she knew as Valkon. She sighed shaking her head before she heard the female Charm dragons fuss. She hadn't caught on to the name it sounded like some one stuck up just by the sound of the name. Davenya never liked those kind of names and had a terrible time remembering them. She looked at her and watched as she grumpily shoved her hat one after extracting herself from the box the first time and nearly giggling as she did it a second time. However the sight of the mangled and broken shinies distracted Davenya immensely. "Oh dear the poor toys are in shambles of all sorts."

((OOC.. wow... I had started out just putting in Valkon's but lol I had to reply to so many people for each one of mine that it just got longer and longer. Enjoy! ))

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Valkon stared at the grouping a moment, then watched the skies briefly after nodding to Chief and the pink one. He wondered where his crows were. And his rats. Maybe he'd not need them as much though except to spy upon someone. Like Watcher maybe. Let him watch. If it were a normal bird, then what could he say other than that the avian had an unnatural fascination with him. Let him be the one being watched for a change. Then he saw Lestat and his attitude changed entirely. Finally someone familiar.

"Lestat. It's good to see you again." Valkon grinned widely, turning to the other yokai. This one would definitely be of use and liked Az about as much as he did. Though both had to take the marking to survive. And he was still sorely tempted to have his son marked in such a way also especially if he could break them free later. "Yes, both are still locked up there. Unfortunately Chronos is as well. I would prefer to leave Az and Kita there also, but not Chronos. He's a friend and I owe him loyalty for such. And I've gotten two messages from Chronos. At least I'm hoping the second is from him. I've not looked at it yet. And there is someone that worries me. He calls himself The Watcher. I'm not entirely sure but he claims to be a construct of fate, but with these two supposed goddesses this festival is for, I would imagine it's more like he is a construct of theirs. Seems almost mechanical." His tone changed to slightly disgusted with the idea. "Seems to be able to hit you with memories too, Lestat. Not just your own either." He pulled him to the side away from the others a bit more.

"Something I never said to anyone but I overhead a conversation between Kita and Az a long time ago. If he comes back, he will destroy it all. Not just the humans, but also the animals. Everything. He told her as much after they were ripping into each other. But she is as much at fault as he is in this. Many of those she kicked out had never really done anything more than a few pranks. I think she's probably as psycho as Loa. It could be something he did, but more than likely she allowed it to happen too. But I don't think this can be all one way either. If he comes back, she must. There just has to be a way to fix this mess they created."

"This Watcher claimed that the goddesses had righted everything from the mess Kita and Az made. Of course we knew it was their mess. Nothing new there. However this Juska and Seska I've not heard of before and nothing's right with Chronos still there. And I'm wondering why Chronos was locked out but I don't think things are as they need to be with him there. I think there's a way to bring Chronos through, but I'm sure it will bring Az also. I can't leave Chronos there to Az. I will not and I've already started, hoping that something will give me a clue on what to do. I need my crows. I could find out what is going on with Chronos then. Maybe he would even know who this Watcher and these goddesses are."

His tails twitched again, angrily as he thought of the last thing the creature had done. Now more than ever he wanted to know who this Watcher was. But he also needed some paper and something to write with. The town square would have such. Turning to his son, he said, "Hawke, I have a job for you. I need something to write on- paper and a pen to write with while Lestat and I talk. Those things should be in the square. I might need to write more than once. Take Tai with you and your friends. Just don't dawdle around too long." He glanced over at Lestat with a grin.

Hawke had watched his dad in surprise. He'd gone for things before but always inside the castle. Glancing around at the others, he said, "Well, I guess I have something needs done. Come on, let's go. Tai." He petted Corviy as he moved towards the direction he knew the festival was in.


The lore had gotten to his feet, his tails twitching slightly. "Of course I will, Hawke. Your dad said I was to stay with you. I'm not sure what those things are but I'll help look if you tell me what you are looking for." He glanced back at Valkon and Lestat before hurrying to catch up to the ghostling.


Touma blinked in surprise as Valkon stormed through again. Shaking his head, he moved towards Priscilla. "Are you alright? That yokai has been angry since he got here. I think there's something going on between he and this Watcher fellow. And the rest of us are caught in the middle. He seemed angry about Kita and Az both and these new goddesses also. I'm just not sure what is going on."

"Just toss the broken ones to the side and I'll get another box for you. And we'll see if we can find a needle and some thread to fix your clothing later. I'll help you look." Touma stated as if he would not take no for an answer. Before Priscilla could say anything else, he moved towards the boxes bringing her over another one.

The old woman sighed when she saw the broken toys. "I guess that spirit is a rather angry one," she said to the children. "Sometimes things happen and they are like that for awhile. But then other times they settle down and are nice as plum jam. It is exciting though, isn't it?" How she loved this festival and the spirits being around to help and to play with everyone. She was definitely glad they had returned.


Kael knew he was being watched and slowly turned to stare at her. A succubus? He glanced around for a warlock, but saw none with her. Perhaps in this unlife that they had, she belonged to noone. Finally he turned back to what he was doing. Staring at the pile of bottles he had selected, the mage thought about how to get them to his tower.

Moving towards a nearby booth, he picked up a bag. Focusing he traced some runes onto the surface of the pouch. When the magic disappeared, he smiled slightly. At least that still worked. Even in death he still was a mage. His power was low but with time he suspected it would get stronger with each use.

Picking up the bottles he wanted, the blood elf prince carefully placed each one inside for safe keeping. Every bottle disappeared into the bag, though one looking at the size of it, would never think that so much would fit. It was barely large enough for the largest bottle, but yet it held all he had needed. It would be handy for whatever he was doing and not just carrying bottles. Slipping the strap over his shoulder, he moved to where other bottles were. Soon he would go looking for things to make his potions from.

It was then he noticed the teapot. He stared for a long time at it. The colors were his colors. Red and yellowish gold. The marking... It was his symbol. His gaze was intense as he took it into his hands, his finger tracing the design. It was perfect and he slipped it into his bag quickly though it barely fit through the opening. It was worth all the things he already had inside and he smiled as he moved about looking for other things.

(Why is Alnara always referred to as the pink one? DX ) Alnara gasped at Lestat's attempt to intimidate her,"Why I never..." Alnara hmphed. She hated that Lestat guy already. He had absolutely no manners,even threatening to break her neck. "What kind of gentlemen are you? How dare you threaten to break a woman's neck. Some kind of nobleman you are..." she interjected the last part sarcastically. Alnara was simply appalled and offended by him. She had never in her life met such a rude man. Alnara was now dead,but she still somehow had the mindset of being royalty,although now she was simply just a lowly vagabond. She still held onto her traditional values though,and somewhere in her mind,she knew she was still a princess in a way. Alnara turned to Valkon,"It's a pleasure to meet you sir. I have seen you before." Alnara curtsied to him. Alnara just watched as Valkon talked to the rude man and then told Hawke to go get something,Alnara followed Hawke and gestured for Chief to come along,"Wait for us Hawke!" Alnara called out to him as she took Chief's hand instinctively and dragged him along behind her to catch up with Hawke.

((OOC LOL she's the pink one because that's what I think of when I think of her. It helps me distinguish her from the others. At least I remember her and her name. Some I have to back up and check again. Don't be surprised if Hawke calls her the spoiled one later. ))


The mage watched her for a moment. "I'm a mage. It's part of who I am to magick things. I spelled this bag so that it holds anything I want it to hold no matter the weight or size other than fitting inside it. It's what mages do. Didn't your warlock teach you anything?" He asked in slight surprise. "I would have thought they would know."

He smiled at her. "It would get far too heavy to carry all these bottles back to my tower. At least it will be mine as soon as I'm done here. I don't know what all this nonsense is about but I'm glad for the bottles." Then he frowned slightly. "Forgive me. My name is Kael'thas." He bowed to Venus then turned back to study the next bottle. It was chipped so he simply dropped it to the ground. The fact it shattered and caused someone nearby to jump did not affect him in the least.

Then he turned back to her. "Have you seen Jaina? I thought I might find her here also. She's very pretty with blonde hair. If you do happen to, please let me know. The tower is..." he turned slightly. "East of here I think. Sitting on a hill." Moving on he caught sight of a smaller bottle. That one could be used to carry something for his own protection. An antidote or some such. If he could find the ingredients for such. It quickly was placed into his bag with all the others.


Hawke kept walking even passing the ghostling standing watching his dad. He looked familiar but he wasn't sure. If it was someone from the castle, he'd go talk to his dad. One thing he knew was not to dawdle around when his father wanted something. And they had both gotten particular about getting their work done and then having fun afterwards. Although there were times that they would simply stop and play too.

"Hurry. I'm not waiting. When dad wants something, he wants it." Hawke replied as he and Tai continued moving along. He was not moving that fast.

As he slipped into the crowded square, he began looking around. Moving towards one tent he saw several papers and picked one up. Written on both sides. He couldn't use that.

"This is paper, Tai. I need some without these squiggles on it." he explained. Then he noticed the pen half hidden underneath several sheets of the flyer he had picked up. Reaching out with a smile, he said, "But I found a pen. So we just need paper. Scatter everyone and see what we can find."


Tai continued moving beside Hawke until the ghostling explained what he wanted. The lore looked it over and then nodded. "I understand. I'll see what I can find."

His tails twitching, he moved away from Hawke to look into several tents. The third time he found two pieces that had minor squibbles on them. Picking them both up in his teeth, he moved back towards Hawke. These should work. He hoped.