Lady Stray's Portal...

[Lady Stray]

~Inhabitants~

Name: Amelie “Stray” Boggam
Race: Succubus/Fairy
Age: Unknown (at this time)
Sex: Female
Hair: Fiery red, worn to the center of her back in numerous different styles, her choice is usually myriad of sleek braids.
Eyes: Burgundy
Weight: 149
Height: 5’7
Complexion: Pale peachy-gold
Distinguishing features: Pointed ears, pierced 7 times. Nose also pierced. Has a Chakra Caduceus tattoo on her back that extends from the back of her neck to just above her rear.
Orientation: Straight
Lover/Mate: Skyler Case
Parents: Anilla & Phileas Boggam
Sibling(s): N/A
Alignment: Neutral Good
Weapon(s): Disrupters
Voice: Alison Mosshart
Color: Dark red
Weapon: Mystic Portal Wrench

Form: In humanoid form Stray has an appearance that is at once delicately appealing and dominatingly strong. With a lean, muscle build of a Valkyrie, she's curvy in all the right places, blessed with long legs and an ample chest. Her features are sweet and delicately formed, her burgundy colored eyes glow with a dark inner light, fascinating, but also a little strange and frightening. Her lips are pouty and full, her skin tone is a lovely soft and peachy-gold with natural shimmer that is completely supernatural. Her other forms has yet to be seen….

Personality: Stray is friendly and open minded, and usually pretty easy to get along with. She can be, by turns, taciturn, talkative, curious, seductive and passionate. Being half succubus, she unconsciously seeks out the sexual energy of men (she lives on their psychic emanations as a vampires lives of off blood) and processes an innate ability for flirtation and seduction. She tries hard to reign in that part of herself, always conscious of the damage that part of her nature can do. She would also like to believe she has some morals in that area. She is strong willed, very true to her beliefs and when she has a goal in mind, she will push herself to do whatever she has to to face it. That makes her very brave and very loyal, even when the task frightens her, for those she cares about, will go to the end of the earth. She has a strong desire help people out, take stands for those weaker and whom are unable to defend themselves. She's good with machines, creating and making things. She likes to be useful and proactive. A part of her feels somewhat like an underdog though, who often comes into situations when least expected to. Those times her attention is distracted, focused on her own thing be it her young Wista wards, her lover Skyler, or even just tinkering. She has a fear that people tend to think she’s just hanging around for eye candy.


History: Not much to say about Stray’s history. She seldom talks about her past. At present, no one knows where she came from. She has admitted that her mother was a succubus, but has not said much about her father except that he was a dreamer and tinker. Up until recently, she seldom stayed in one place for very long because of the lure of distant lands and exotic cultures. She always found ways to support herself while traveling as she pleased, being a skilled craftsperson and able to fix and build most mechanical machinery (a gift bestowed upon her by her father she once said). Following her mother's death, grief making her irrational and careless, she ended up catching the eye of one of the most feared Punishers of the Underworlds. And giving in to the seductive debauchery that was offered to her, she ended up in Hell for nearly half of millennium. Before coming to her senses and escaping, she was lover to three Hell Lords and was one of the highest ranking Punishers of the Underworld. She also picked up a pesky hellspawn parasite named Lillith that she could not remove and is forced to shelter within herself. She now resides in Celeste, where she has opened a ticker shop she calls her “Hanger“. Since settling there she has become the guardian of three Wistas: Cornelius, Gourd and Cocoa and has become mated to Skyler Miles Case, a member of Angel’s Durant’s clan.  

[Lady Stray]

First Wista Stray found....

Personality: Cornelius likes learning things. Driven by his curiosity and restless mind, he wants to learn everything about the world around him. His personality in social situations varies greatly, depending upon the time which he is spoken to. When he has encountered success (or at least a lack of disturbances) in his studies, he can be polite and amiable enough. However, in times of interruption or failure, he will take on a surly and sarcastic attitude.



Second Wistra Stray found....

Personality: Gourd: Loud, brash, and temperamental. He's a lot of different things, all depending on his mood. He can bright, upbeat and cheerful, happy, easy going, ready to try anything. On the other hand, he can be crude and inappropriate, or go sullen, moody, and generally be a pain in the a**.



Third Wista Stray found....

Personality: Her personality is young, eccentric without being crazed. She has a good heart. Playful, endlessly curious and tends to ask a lot of questions. She loves nature and being outdoors. Because she's not quite an adult, she hasn't completely figured out who she is yet. She is cute and lively, and likes to meet new people and see new things.  

[Lady Stray]

Other Wista Pets; NRPCs at this time. Profiles to come.







 

[Lady Stray]

Amelie "Stray" Boggam sighed as she sat at the work table, the magnifying glasses perched precariously on her nose as she carefully assembled the innards of some contraption she'd been working on and off on for days. Tinkering was one of the things she did best. Before she hit puberty, it was the only thing she did.

There was a time when she was preferred machines over people, creating useful things rather than seeking the company of other living beings. Her mother had seriously worried about her in those early, awkward years. Her passionate pursuit of creation had almost bordered on obsession, often making her forget to eat or sleep back then. It would have been dangerous if she had continued this behavior once the first Hunger hit, but she had been more practical and responsible than her mother had given her credit for. From the time she could comprehend what she was, she had studied everything she could about the Succubi- from anatomy to cultural anthropology. And she had been well prepared to deal with that side of her nature, even before the first real pangs of Hunger hit.

Early on she found that it was quit easy to assuage the Hunger without having to seriously relate to other beings much at all. Without much effort, really. Especially, she remembered with an ironic twist of her full lips, when puberty practically blossomed her overnight. Nature had been kind to her in that regard. And males, no matter what species, were universally all the same when it came to sex. A simple mental suggestion of something hot and sensual was usually enough to feed off from without having to actually bed them. It wasn't until she was far older that she had found out the extra benefits that came with that particular act. And the trouble is could bring as well.

"You have no idea what you're working on, do you?"

Stray looked over in the direction the voice came from. Cornelius, her oldest Sanya ward, sat across the worktable from her curiously watching as she worked. He was the only one of her family that had shown any interest in what she did for a living. He loved learning and tinkering. He even slept in the workshop, rather than in the bunker below it with everyone else.

"What makes you think that?" Stray asked, arching a eyebrow at him.

"Because of your face," Cornelius replied, his yellow and orange head tilting to the side as it drifted closer to the object she was working on. "Your eyes go all dark like red cuprite stones and you get those little lines on your forehead and between your eyebrows when you're not sure what something is. You have a remarkably expressive face."

Stray grimaced at his tone. Cornelius had a way of making anything, even nice things, sound bad. She went back to sifting through parts and making connections. The line between her eyebrows deepened.

"As I've stated more than once, I don't need to know what something is to put it back together and make it work."

"Yes, yes. It's like a sixth sense. If it's fixable, you can fix it. But it would help to know what it was though. Just so that you know if you should fix it. You, yourself, have said that Lord Puddles isn't an individual that should be trusted completely. And isn't this one of his "lost artifacts" of the ancients?"

Stray's lips tightened slightly. This had been an argument/discussion that she had had numerous times over the past months within herself as well as Cornelius. She wanted to believe that this 6th sense she had for building and repairing things would also let her know if what she was doing was dangerous. So far, she hadn't picked up anything negative about the artifacts that Lord Puddles, her benefactor and landlord, had brought to her in the hopes of getting them to work again in this world. A lot she recognized even, from her youth when humans were the dominate lifeform of this world. Everything from televisions to medical equipment. But there were some, such as the object she was working on now, that she had no idea what it was or what it did. She only knew that it was repairable and she could do it. And it was these mysterious things that Cornelius questioned. It was like haveing a second conscience constantly questioning her judgment. It got quite maddening at times.

As for Lord Puddles, she had known that he was possibly unstable and secretive just from the conversations she had had with the neighboring inhabitants. What she had not been prepared for was how unsound he actually was. Spiritually, that it. His chakras, the areas that maintained the body's natural balance and flow of life energy, where so polluted that being in the same room with him had nearly drove her to the edge of sanity. While his lifeforce was abundant, downright tasty to that dark part of herself she kept tightly sealed away deep inside in her own psyche, it was unbalanced and so unhealthy that it made his aura look like a sick, dark kaleidoscope. It took a lot of will power (and chakra clearing, balancing sessions afterwards) to be able to be in close proximity to him. Now, as long as she didn't actually touch his bare skin, she was alright. More or less.

Even though over time she had developed an odd, cautious affection for him, Stray suffered no illusions about Lord Puddles. He was ruled by rage, despair and bitterness. He was someone that one would have to tread lightly around. He did harbor a secret agenda. He was ruthless in his pursuits and had almost no qualms about taking anyone that stood in his way down. She wasn't certain what his ultimate plan was, but was fairly certain it would involve the destruction of someone's world. And she was hoping vehemently that it wasn't this one. She liked this world. She was working hard to become a part of it.

Feeling the weight of Cornelius stare she sighed wearily, taking the magnifying glass off and tossing them on the table. Lifting an hand to rub the ridge between her eyebrows, she tried to ease the ache that was starting there. "In case you haven't noticed, Cornelius, we're not exactly racking in the money here. Most of the inhabitants don't have a whole lot of things that need fixing. Magic, not technology, runs this world. What I do has little purpose to the mainstream. Very few appreciate the significance of restoring the past, to preserving our history. I'm the obsolete one here..." Stray reached out and gently caressed Cornelius' furry cheek, her eyes fading to a soft marlot as she gazed at him apologetically. "I understand your qualms about what I'm doing. You need to understand that Lord Puddles is our benefactor. It's because of him that we were able to build this workshop and our bunker. If it wasn't for his generosity, we'd be still sitting on this plateau staring into the valley and dreaming grand things. He's actually asked for very little in return. If getting some old antiques working again is what it takes to keep the roof over our heads and food on the table then that's what I'll do. That's what we'll do. I would never, ever, knowingly jeopardize my family or this world. I trust my instincts. If I honestly felt that if the things Lord Puddles brings to us were dangerous, I wouldn't fix them. I would find another way to pay him back."

Cornelius looked as if he were going to argue, as that was his nature to question things, but decided to concede to his Lady. For now he would let go of his old argument, for it was obviously going to go nowhere at this time. Instead, he would watch and listen and wait for the answers to his questions to come. And he would watch his Lady's back and try to save her from herself should that time come.

"Forgive me, Lady," he said, in his usual solemn expression. "I know it seems that I'm being an ungrateful nag, but I'm just concerned. Lord Puddles-"

It was then a deep voice drifted across the work space, making both Stray and Cornelius jump at it's unexpected intrusion.  

[Lady Stray]

Cocoa had never been so scared in her life. Her Lady had always said not to wonder far from home. Never go anywhere without her brothers or Ichisumi or Lady. Always ask permission before going outside to play. If someone or something goes after her call for help and run away to someplace safe. She had always followed the rules. Always. She was a good sanya. So she didn’t know how exactly she ended up in this unfamiliar place, being chased by someone that she couldn’t see. She had no memory of how she even came to be in this situation. She had long since stopped caring. All she wanted to do was to go home. Home was where her Lady, Cornelius, Gourd and everyone else were. Home was safe.

She ran through the dimly lit empty streets. Her little legs burned with exertion and from the many times she had tripped and fell unto the dark pavement as she fled. Her lungs felt raw and her voice unable to make it out of her heaving chest. All the while she could hear the footsteps of her pursuer reverberating in the still night air. Louder and louder they became. She even thought she could hear breathing, harsh and rasping. This sent another wave of dread through her.

Cocoa flew half blind from the tears building in her eyes down an alley way. She almost immediately realized this was a big mistake. Nononono, she thought frantically as she saw menacing shaped shadows rising up, swallowing her escape root. She turned to run the other way, but saw that it was no good. At the opening of the alley she could see the black hooded robed figure step into view, the light of a street lamp reflected briefly of the huge scythe he carried. His cloak billowed around him as fog started to roll in around him and crawled eerily into the alley at Cocoa. She stood frozen as she stared into figure’s cowl seeing glowing red eyes. Eyes that burned like hot coals as they watched her from the darkness.

For her, it was like facing Death himself; to the shadowy robed it almost seemed like some sort of game. Cocoa knew that he could have caught her long before this if he had wanted to. He had been toying with her all along, and yet, she had hoped there was still some way of escaping him.

“Please don‘t hurt me,” Cocoa cried, her breath coming from her mouth in white vapor. It was then she realized just who cold it had gotten as well. It wasn’t a normal cold either. It was so cold that the tears running from her eyes began to freeze. She was chilled to her very bones, unable to move without hurting. To even shiver brought on sharp needles of pain. Everything from the tips of her ears to the tip of her tail screamed agonizingly. “Who are you? Why are you doing this? What do you want?”

The Grim Reaper remained silent, drifting closer. Cocoa cowered away as far as she could, her eyes going even wider with terror. She could smell decay coming from his robes. His breathing rattled harshly in his chest, reminding her of another tall, dark villain that had once scared her. This time she didn’t have her Lady hugging her reassuringly and saying Darth Vader wasn’t real and couldn’t harm her since he only lived in the movie they were watching. There was no Gourd laughing at her for being scared of Star Wars or Cornelius shushing them all impatiently so he could hear the film. She was all alone here in this dark, cold world with Death himself. And she had no way out.

“Call to her,” came his rasping voice finally, and another wave of rotting stench filled the air.

“Call? Call to who?” Cocoa whimpered, confusion as well as fear filling her head at the sound of his voice.

“She who is your guardian,” the Reaper snapped coarsely. “Call her to you. Now.”

Cocoa continued to stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights. He wanted her Lady? He had chased her down, trapped her in the fog ridden, freezing scary place just to get to her Lady? Why did he want her Lady? The Reaper, apparently impatient with her silence, drifted even closer and slashed his scythe though the air towards her. This snapped her out of her immobility, making her cower against the chilly, damp pavement and scream, “LADY! I NEED YOU! PLEASE! LADY!”

***

Stray’s burgundy eyes flew open, disoriented. A moment before she had been pretty sure that she had been in the Dreamscape, asleep. But when she had heard Cocoa, one of her young wards, call out to her panicked terror instinct immediately brought her consciousness not to the Conscious State or even another Dreamscape, but to the Astral World. This confused Stray, since only dead, comatose, trained psychic or energy beings could travel to this realm. Cocoa was none of these things, so why was her psyche here?

Uneasiness quickly began to overcome bewilderment as the possibilities of how this could happen began to filter though Stray’s head. Cocoa couldn't have accidentally stumbled into the Astral World own her own, which meant someone must of brought her here. And the likely reason, Stray deduced, was to call her out here. Whoever it was didn't have the strength to summon her own their own, so they used Cocoa as bait. And having no reason to be concerned in the past, she had come immediately, without so much as a thought, unmindful of where she was heading. Careless and reckless, she chided herself. She had let herself grow too complacent and soft. She couldn't afford that now.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to relax and begin to inspect her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was the fog and lack of light. Abandoned buildings and streets stretched all around, creating a dark, freezing maze. It reminded her of a place she had once been and hoped she would never end up again. Her eyes narrowed, her mouth thinned into a hard line. Someone had been doing their homework, finding her weaknesses and ways to exploit them. This was not an easy task, so whoever had arrange this little trap was not to be taken lightly.

Cautiously, she tested her connection to her body and was relieved to find the she could still distantly sense it, safe and sound where it lay in bed next to her lover, Skyler. Another worry entered her as she also felt Skyler's unconscious restless unease in response to her current state, connected as they were by Maithuna, her peoples mating ritual. She knew if he gained enough coherent thought that he would become totally aware of what was going on and would try to come after her. She couldn't have that. He wasn't mentally trained to come here and could be seriously harmed if he tried entering this Plain. Two, she needed him on the outside as her anchor in case something did happen and she needed to be forcefully pulled back into her body. She couldn't sever their connection, but she could dim it enough as to not disturb him.

Mentally, she reached out and gave him a gentle nudge deeper into the Dreamscape, sending a command that there was nothing to worry about and he should stay asleep. She grimaced as she thought of how pissed he would be when he discovered what she'd done, but she'd live with the consequences if it kept them all safe.

Once again Cocoa called out, snapping her into action. Her young ward's cry echoed throughout the deserted streets, making it hard to get a location from that alone. Opening up her other senses, she nearly recoiled from the desperate madness that vibrated throughout the town.

Someone certainly had gone through a lot of trouble gathering details, getting the town and it's atmosphere exactly as she remembered it from that long ago excursion into the worst nightmare realm she had ever traveled. Filtering out the stench of decay and despair, Stray was finally able to pick up traces of Cocoa's essence.

Cocoa wasn't far. Stray squinted through the drifting fog silently cursing the her eyesight. It was developed well enough, but was not particularly effective in low light conditions. Her lips twisted humorlessly at the fact, as usual finding it ironic that a being such as herself had trouble seeing in the dark. She often relied more on her other senses, such as hearing, smell and psychic when it came to navigating darkness. There was just enough illumination from the street lamps to see where exactly she was.

She was standing near an intersection, the closest streets being Katz and Neely. She cautiously moved forward, a cold sweat breaking out along her spine in remembrance as she noted the buildings she past. Blue Creek Apartments, Lucky Jade Restaurant, Grand Market...very few people today knew about Silent Hill or this alternate version of the town. The town itself had been a very popular vacation spot back when she had been a young adult, and that was a very long time ago.

Whether it was to go to it's large amusement park, to spend time on it's beautiful lake or just to explore the town's "dark and mysterious" history, it had attracted visitors from all over the world. Unfortunately, Silent Hill had attracted her. And It had noticed her as well. And once It got a taste of her and what she was, It became rather serious about not letting her leave. Usually, what Silent Hill wanted, Silent Hill got. She nearly hadn't made it out and it had taken a long time for her to recover.

Cleaning her mind of those thoughts, she concentrated harder of Cocoa's trail.  

[Lady Stray]

Contest entry. Finished. Not continuing.

" ...And they never saw it coming, indeed they didn't. Nor would they have seen it if they could see four feet in front of them! "

The day had taken an almost surreal feel to it from the moment the fog had rolled in. It had been clear as a bell when it had first started. Not a cloud in the sky. The day had been so nice that Stray had sent all her young wards out, including Cornelius (who probably would never leave The Hanger is she didn't make him), to go down into the valley and enjoy the day.

What was even stranger was how the fog suddenly spilled into the down over the mountains almost like a waterfall. It pooled almost like a great lake down below the cliff where The Hanger laid.

Stray stood upon the airship dock that hung outside one of the garage doors leading into her workshop and stared at it as it drifted higher. While she thought the swirling mist was rather lovely, almost like a sea, there was still anomalous feel to it...almost as if it was an illusion. Though she didn't particularly sense anything ominous with it's sudden appearance, it was still troubling.

She started, however, when another great wave of clouds swooshed over the mountaintops quickly tumbling over the existing sea of clouds and hitting her cliff and whirling upwards to completely surround The Hanger. Now that is not normal, she thought in astonished dismay. She had seen many unusual things during her travels, but had never witnessed fog roll in like this. Not under natural means anyway.

Stray was about to grab the communicator off her belt to contact Ichisumi, her sanya friend that doubled as her housekeeper and nanny, and find out where the family was when she saw a dark shadow drifting in the distance, just barely visible though the cloud cover. She squinted at the object as she cautiously began stepping back from the platform toward the open bay doors. The longer she stared at it, the more she realized that by it's shape and the low humming noise it made what she was seeing had to be an airship. She blinked, further taken aback. In the year she had settled here, she had not seen a single airship enter this area.

It had somewhat disappointed her, since she had deliberately built The Hanger on it's cliff side perch so that she could have the airship dock and bay in the hopes of attracting the air voyagers in for service and repairs. The only thing it had ever been used for was sit on and watch the sun rise and set or the occasional outdoor tryst between Skyler and herself. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed that the airship's course was taking directly towards her location.

Small, semi-rigid airship. Zeppelin NT class. Good, solid little ship. Unlike it's predecessors the quickly fell out of favor when the Wars first broke out. Stray found herself mentally going over it's specs as she watched it draw closer. She also saw that the hull and it gondola where painted up much like a circus tent. Red, dark gold, blue, black and white. Tiny lights flashed here and there along the gondola. The sight was quite bizarre, making her curiosity peak more than her apprehension.

As it circled to dock she could see that there was something written on it's hull. She was trying to make it out when her communicator crackled to life. It made her jump at its suddenness.

"Hanger, this is Stronghold. Come in. Over." The voice on the other end was Riku's.

Pressing the communicator microphone button, Stray replied, "Stronghold, Hanger. Over."

"Hanger, please be advised the we have your crew here with us. They were caught in the fog and managed to find their way here. We have almost zero visibility. How's yours? Over.*

Stray felt a serge of relief at the news that her family was in a safe location and lost in the fog. One less thing to worry about. Now to tend to the matter at hand.

"Stronghold, please keep my crew on premises until pickup can be arranged. Also, my visibility is not much better and something else besides the fog rolled in up here. And it's currently undergoing docking procedures."

"Hanger, please repeat. Did you say something came in with the fog?"

"Affirmative, Stronghold. I have an unidentified airship, running silent, just off my docking platform and it looks like She's going to deploy anchors."

With that said, Stray saw the anchors shoot out from the airship's gondola and clamp onto the platform. It slowly started to reel itself in, and as it drew closer she could finally see what was written along it's hull in bold carnival type text.

Riku opened his microphone again. Stray grimaced slightly as she heard Fenrir and Skyler having a very intense discussion in the background. Apparently Fenrir was stopping Skyler from jumping the gun before they knew what was going on. Skyler wasn't taking the advise too civilly. She thought she heard him shouting something to the effect, "b*****d! You wouldn't be saying that if it was your woman out there alone." And Fenrir's reply, "Your woman is a succubus and can eat most things for breakfast, you idiot."

Riku's voice rose above the angry growling going on, "Hanger, we see nothing on surveillance indicating that anything other than a weather anomaly entering the area. Are you positive what you see is a ship?"

Stray's brow furrowed, irritated by the question. "Affirmative, Stronghold. I can visually confirm that it's a ship. I can even tell you what She's called. Der Phantasm."

Her brows shot up at the name. The Phantasm? A fitting name, she thought suddenly uneasy again, since according to Riku nothing was supposed to be there. Spooky. Very spooky.

Her radio suddenly went crazy. It admitted a strange crackling whine. The sound caused goosebumps to spring up and down Stray's body. Couple that with all the goddamn fog, and it brought back one of her worst nightmares. Man, she really disliked the fog right now. This whole situation was really starting to give her a bad case of the heebie jeebies.

Her brows shot up when the next radio transmission came in. In was so broken up she couldn't make out most of what was said, but she was pretty sure that it wasn't Riku, Fenrir or Skyler's voice. It sounded like Lord Puddles. She hadn't known he was even back in the area. "Hang-...Listen...Repeat...Do not...trust...Tell that son of..." The message was completely lost to static then.

Stray frowned as she unhooked the communicator from her belt and looked at it. The power indicator was fluttering, as if it was loosing juice. What the hell was going on? She made sure all her equipment was charged and working properly before taking them out into the field. She could sense nothing wrong with it. So why was it malfunctioning?

She gaze shot back to the airship as she heard the anchor lines suddenly stop, having completed docking procedures. The ship's gondola was firmly against the debarkation platform. She could see movement going on inside the tinted windows and frowned. Whatever or whoever was inside didn't not appear to be very big. What was even stranger, she could sense very little lifeforce coming from the ship. It was almost as if it was indeed a ghost ship.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She had seen and experienced many paranormal things, but never found any proof for the existence of ghost ships. Pushing that thought aside, she pondered what technology the thing had. Some kind of cloaking device, for sure. She had never came across one that could mask the life inside whatever it was hiding so well, though.

The door slid open. Stray held her breath, eyes glued to it. What came out was not at all what she had expected. In fact, it had her wondering what the hell Puddles had been up to during his sojourn.

The faey that hopped out of the carriage was a rather dapper looking fellow. She found herself almost grinning at his appearance, for he did remind her of a circus ringmaster. He wore a top hat that sat jauntily over one of his lavender horns. The hair on his chest waved like an elegant reddish neck ruffle. His was body was primarily white. His paws were light blue, as were the swirling markings on his face and arms. The hair on his head was red. His wings reminded her of twilight, blues and purples and sparkled here and there. His horns as well as the ends of his flourishing tail were pink, red and lavender.

He looked about, his large gold eyes full of curiosity as he studied the surrounds before zeroing on Stray where she stood staring. He grinned merrily and swept toward her like one of those old fashioned stage performers. It reminded her of how Liberachi, the wonderfully outrageous American entertainer for long ago, used to take the stage, with flair and showmanship.

"Greetings, my Fair Lady," he said as her approached her. "Sorry for the intrusion, but my navigation equipment seems to be malfunctioning and I'm rather lost. This is the Hanger, correct? Lord Puddles told me that there was a fixer in his area. Your are the lady, Stray, yes?"

Stray nodded, not knowing what to make of this little creature or the situation.

"Excellent! Most excellent! My name is Wladziu Valentino Liberace." The faey took off his hat and gave her a regal bow. "You can't imagine how very pleased I am to make your acquaintance."

Stray's mouth dropped at his introduction. Wladziu Valentino Liberace was Liberachi's real name. Puddles had a lot of explaining to do now.  

[Lady Stray]

Amelie “Stray” Boggam dismounted her hovercycle and stood on a cliff overlooking the quiet valley that lay below her. Taking off her helmet, she shook out the fiery braids of her hair and stretched her long, sinew body, working out the kinks brought on by the long ride. It had been worth it, though. The view was glorious.

Sitting the helmet on her cycle, she walked closer to the cliff’s edge. After riding through the chill of the autumn air, the warmth of the afternoon sun shining overhead felt very good against Stray’s pale, peachy gold skin. She relaxed and let the warmth seep into her bones—the warmth of the sun and the warmth of her thoughts. For the first time in a very long time she felt as if she had come home.

Stray looked around, her burgundy eyes studying the landscape. The valley was carpeted with autumn brilliance. The trees in the forest below were ablaze in the season’s colors, the bright reds and deep gold fading into the purple of the neighboring mountain peaks. The ice-white cumulus nimbus clouds gathered in immense shapes in the otherwise flawless blue sky and where reflected in the glistening river that flicked in and out of the forest and grassland on the floor of the valley. Thin columns of smoke curled along the treetops, the only sign of the presence of forest folk. A soft, spreading haze blanketed the vale with the smoky, sweet scent of home fires burning.

The area in which Stray now stood spanned about nine acres of land high on a rocky plateau that overlooked the Shantar Forest and the Blalath River. There were two ways to access it. The pass she had taken, up though the Nias Mountains from the valley below, was easily traveled. She assumed it was the main road used to travel from the Asea Valley to Shilmista and the Kemen Sea. The other way would be the foot path that wound its way precariously up from the foot of the craggy mesa to the top not far from where she stood now.

She reached into her ever present utility belt and pulled out her geological scanner. She knelt and pressed it into the ground, testing the rock formation under her. Most of it came back as basalt, good solid volcanic rock. She supposed, if she built her workshop here, that with a bit a clever engineering, she could make the second path more easily navigated so that the forest and farmer folk had a more direct path to her shop. And with the wide cliff, she could also have a docking platform and garage for the airships that might come through this area. A wistful smile curled her full lips as she thought of the possibilities this place had. It was perfect, just what she wanted. The feeling that this is where she needed to be grew even more as she stood and once more grazed out at her surroundings.

“Hehe! You like it. I can tell,” a little voice half sang as its owner came whizzing into view. The small, glowing orb bobbed up and down excitedly not far from Stray’s face, sending puffs of glittery dust into her eyes and nose. This caused her to tear up and sneeze with enough force to send the orb sailing back a few feet, to her great relief.

“The Bug”, as Stray had come to think of her, was actually a rainbow fairy named Keldry. Stray had always thought fairies in general were annoying little creatures, but this particular one was even more so than was standard. She had ‘rescued’ the fairy from her two small wista wards, Cornelius and Gourd, who had decided to make Keldry a play toy when the fairy had ventured curiously into their camp one night. An act that Stray was starting to regret because the fairy had pretty much been following her ever since. In ‘gratitude’ for saving her life, Keldry had taken it upon herself to act as their ‘official’ tour guide. Stray was new to this realm. According to the fairy, anyone unfamiliar with this land and peoples should not travel through it without a knowledgeable escort. And Keldry was very qualified because she knew everything about the land and knew everyone in it. This always had Stray mentally rolling her eyes, since she had been traveling unescorted through many unknown portals-or barriers as they were referred to here-to unknown lands for probably far longer than the fairy had been alive.

Pulling out a handkerchief, Stray dabbed at her eyes and wiped her nose free of the fairy dust. In the past week she discovered that she had an allergy to fairy dust, something she had not been aware of before the irritating little critter started hanging around. Clearing her throat she replied, “Yes, I do. You were right. This place is what I’ve been looking for.”

“Hehe! Told you I would find you a place. I always know what’s wanted. Even when others don’t know what they want.”

“Yes. Well, the question is now if it’s available?” Stray said, looking off to the south at the rest of the mountain range. “Since you ‘know all’, Keldry, mind telling me who owns this parcel of land?”

The little rainbow orb drifted in the direction Stray’s eyes had gone. “Ahhhhh. Over yonder there is The Labyrinth. Every place, on top and under, from here to far over there, belongs to Puddles, Lord of the Underground.”

Stray’s eyebrows rose, her lips quirking in amusement. Puddles, Lord of the Underground? The inhabitance of the realm sure liked their titles. And this one was particularly unique. Puddles? Lord of the Underground? And people thought her choice of handles was a strange one. Wonder why he called himself Puddles? If it was his real name, his parents must have hated him.

“So, do you think this Lord Puddles will be willing to sell or lease me this land?” Stray said to the rainbow fairy.

“Depends on his mood. Lord Puddles is insane you know. So there’s no telling what he’ll do on any given day.”

“Swell,” Stray muttered. The fairy calling the lord insane was rather like the pot calling the kettle black in her book. “Just what I wanted to hear. I always enjoy dealing with mad people.”

“Then should have no problem with Lord Puddles,” Keldry practically sang.

Stray rolled her eyes as she took off her backpack. It was starting to squirm and sniffle, a sign that Cornelius and Gourd were waking up and would want out before long. She was lucky her two young charges were still small enough to travel in her pack when she rode her hovercycle. Soon they’d be too big for it, and she’d have to find another way for them to travel with her. Especially if she didn’t find a place to set up shop soon. Sighing, she sat cross legged on nearby rock and opened the bag. Cornelius’ yellow and orange head was the first to pop out, groggy eyed and yawning. Gourd’s brown and black head rose and fell backwards. One of his paws stretched upward and he tried to stretch.

As always, Stray’s heart melted as she watched the two slowly waking up. She had been so uneasy when she had first found them. Or rather, they had found her. She still didn’t completely understand how the bonds of wista and scelto worked, but from what she had been told, they choose her to be their guardian. She hadn’t been particularly comfortable being responsible for anyone but herself before they came into her life, but she was learning. It was actually nice to have company after being on her own for so long.

Stray grinned when she noticed that Keldry had floated several feet away from where she sat. Her bouncing looked more nervous than happy now. The rainbow fairy had not liked being a play toy, and thought it had been very rude to be considered as such. Stray still chuckled over the thought of her two young charges fighting over the ‘noisy glowy ball’.

“Well, we could always go back to the other side of the valley,” the fairy said, less enthusiastic than before, “if you feel too uncomfortable with Lord Puddles. I’m sure if you talked with Lady Angela, Sage of Wind, you could get that other spot I showed you....”

Stray grimaced, shaking her head. She had come to trust her gut instincts when it came to dealing with people. Those instincts had gotten her out of many sticky situations and kept her safe and alive. She had been introduced to the ‘Sage of the Wind’ shortly after entering the valley. Stray sensed the meeting hadn’t gone so well. She felt the sage hadn’t been particularly happy that she had not received the reaction she had come to expect from both natives and outsiders when she ‘graced’ them with her presence. Stray also knew that the sage had been extremely vexed that she had been more ‘amused’ than ‘awed’ when the sage showed her ‘true form’. She mentally rolled her eyes at that memory. Stray wasn’t intimidated by such displays. What she had hiding beneath her own skin was more frightening and dangerous than the sage on any given day.

Sighing, Stray once more studied her surrounding. Her eyes lingering over the nearby mountain peaks and the area Keldry had called the Labyrinth. The feeling of this was where she needed to be returning even stronger than before. Fate was always odd when it came to her, but she seldom questioned it. She would go seek out this Lord Puddles and convince him to let her stay here. One way or another, she could be mighty persuasive when the time called for it.

Cornelius and Gourd where fully awake now. They sat with their paws over the side of the backpack and studied the area with avid curiosity. Smiling, she reached down and stroked each of their heads affectionately. Gourd, being the more excitable of the two, swiftly turned and rested his paws on Stray’s chest as he licked her chin.

“What’s this place?” he asked in a squeaky animated voice, his big gold eyes wildly excited.

“With luck, our future home,” Stray replied, picking up the wiggling wista and cradling him up against her chest. He quieted down momentarily, but she knew that he’d be demanding to be put down so that he could ‘explore’ soon.

“You’re awfully quiet, Cornelius. What do you think? Do you like it?” Stray asked her other little charge.

Cornelius looked up at her, his huge orange eyes glinting merrily in the sun. He smiled sweetly and nodded. “A good place. We stay.”

“Then it’s settled. We stay.” Stray said, leaned over and placed a kiss on top of Cornelius’ head before looking back at Keldry. “How do we find and make contact with Lord Puddles?”

“You don’t have to worry about finding Lord Puddles, Lady,” Keldry sang quietly. “He’ll find you.”

With that, the rainbow fairy blinked a few times and zoomed away. Stray was left, sitting on the sunlit cliff with her two your charges, wondering what to do next.

“There’s no such things as fairies,” she muttered to herself, imaging that by saying the old quote from Peter Pan that Keldry would be squished by a magic flyswatter wherever she had buzzed off to.