Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lumina:
"Err...it varies," Jasmine replies. "Some complain that it was painful and violent...others feel nothing and say it was peaceful. Follow me."
She leads you into the palace. In the waiting room, she presents your contract to the girl behind the desk. She looks it over for a moment before nodding.
"Please select a room," the girl says, gesturing to her right.
There are several rooms down the hall. Jasmine nudges you in that direction.

Misaki:
"Only a month or so," she replies. "I came here after my tribe tried to sacrifice me..."

Chi:
When you arrive, you find that Jasmine is not here yet, but you find a table that's empty. The maids are running to and fro to serve everyone.

I leap up to my feet and over to Ayumu. "You SURE you want my help getting it off?" I ask in a very mischievious voice.

"Awwwww! That's now fun!" I say in a playful voice. "Fine then, I'll just have to be regular helpful instead of awesomely helpful!" I help Ayumu try to get the shirt over her wings so she shower. "How'd you get it on in the first place?"

Once Nekora gets off me, I get back on my feet. "Well, don't feel obligated to scratch me in the future... even though I do kinda like it..." I say to Nekora once I compose myself, sounding quite embarrassed when I admit to my odd fetish. "um... anyway... need any more help with that?"

I look back at Nekora, my eyes wide open, half from fright, half from expectation. "W-well... sounds like fun... I'll try to put up a good fight." I say back in surprise.

"Are you sure I can't just tear the shirt off?" I ask playfully while trying to maneuver the wings through the holes. "Yeah, my horns make it hard to ge shirt on sometimes, so usually the top gets ripped and I just have exposed shoulders like some punk rock girl."

Chi:
You see him sitting alone in a corner booth, picking at some eggs and toast. His orange juice has hardly been touched, unless it was just refilled. His eyes are closed, so he might be trying to sense things around him.

Lumina:
The people are all dressed in such beautiful dresses here! The room that you enter is blank with no windows. As soon as you're inside, the door closes. Once the door closes, all is silent for a moment. The next thing you know, you are pulled to the floor by "arms" coming out of the floor, gripping your arms and legs. Your arms held perpendicular to your torso, and your legs are spread-eagle. The ceiling forms a familiar shape, albeit many times larger than what you're used to: a steak knife, like the one your father used to point at you when he was angry. It comes down, held by a similar "arm" from the ceiling. The tip presses against your collarbone and remains there for a moment. It then begins to cut down, opening your shirt and cutting right between your nipples, perfectly placed to get an exact center. Whoever is controlling this clearly has an amazing amount of medical knowledge. The knife is pulled back when it reaches your abdomen, and turns, making four cuts in order to pull the skin back in two flaps. As much as this SHOULD hurt, you don't feel a thing. Once it makes its cuts, the scalpel vanishes as the "arm" pulls back the flaps of skin. If you look at your body, you can see into it: the muscle, the blood vessels, the bones...The knife returns and begins cutting into the muscle above your heart, revealing it. Once your heart is revealed, the knife is replaced by a strange device. This device fires once, like a gun. Your body jerks. The next thing you know, you are above your body, smaller than you should be. You are within some kind of gem, looking out at your body below you...The ceiling's "arm" gently grabs your gem and puts it into the dial of a safe like the one your father kept his most valuable items in, that comes out of the floor. This safe's dial has something in it that looks strangely like the setting for a diamond ring. The gem is pushed into the setting, locking into place as the item you grab to turn the dial. After a moment, you begin to feel tingly and funny all over. You start seeing streaks of light go around the gem. Soon, more streaks appear, moving faster and faster. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light engulfs the gem, blinding you. When you can see again, you're normal size once more, but your old body is gone! There is a mirror nearby. Looking in it, you will see your new body! Also, your gem is sitting in its setting in the safe's dial still. Not only has your body changed, but your clothes have too! You are now wearing a green, ankle-length dress with a white apron over it. The door remains closed. You assume that you'll be able to leave soon, but maybe it is wise to try opening the door, or calling out for someone to let them know that you're done transforming. You don't hurt, and there is no sign of your cut-up body, suggesting that it was removed while you were in the gem, or was absorbed into you somehow.

Nekora & Ayumu:
It doesn't take much to get Ayumu's shirt off, though it may be wise to ask for custom shirts with a low back from now on to accommodate her wings.

Misaki:
"It wasn't tradition," she says sadly. "It was a requirement to save us from the darkness...but the Order fought it back while I was whisked away to the Sanctuary to become a member of the Order. I haven't heard how the battle went, but I'm afraid to ask..."
She turns off the shower and shakes herself a little, trying to get the excess water off her scales before using a towel.
"They recently took me off my team, too," she mumbles. "Didn't say why..."

Almost as soon as the door closes, wonder and admiration of this place turns to fear, a screaming, unending fear blossoming in an instant as the hands erupt from the ground under her, dragging to the ground, and blooming into full brilliance as the knife appears, a scream wrenched from her throat as it cuts into her, the pain gone, but the expectation of pain almost as strong. It doesn't hurt, but the fear was more than enough to keep her adreniline surging, voices, so many voices screaming in fear in her mind, overwhelming her... and then it's over. she's free, floating above herself. am I dead? she thinks to herself, unsure even now,realizing that she was in a gem of some sort... so strange... but not bad, it seems... almost peaceful, despite how small she'd become. Soon enough, though, she was back out in the world, looking down at herself... a new body, new clothes... different, but somehow... fitting. She smiles, patting herself down a bit. "Wow... pretty..." She'd admire her form for a time before making for the door, slowly turning the handle and attempting to open it quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone, just in case something... odd was going to happen.