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 Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:16 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:17 pm
Moofuls He was growing tired of waiting. It had been months since their escape, years perhaps, for what little he knew of time. And what did he have to show for it? Only another form of imprisonment. Their initial flight had been a great success. The moment that fool of an Olplyn had opened the Doors, the shadows had flooded out; hundreds of shadows of varying shapes and sizes, rushing like a wave through the floors of the House before spilling out and into the forest. As quickly as the stampede had developed, it had passed, for, despite the Olplyn boy's efforts, the House had its own defenses. The Doors had been forced closed only moments after opening. But the opportunity had been enough, and many of the shadows had escaped; enough to keep the Wilds busy for several weeks tracking them down, and enough that the more intelligent could hide in relative ease while the lesser shadows were slaughtered and banished once more to their prison. He felt no great sadness for their loss. Emotions were a foreign concept to the shadows. They knew hunger; gnawing, clutching hunger, and very little else. Each shadow that was banished behind the door meant an extra meal for those who remained. Despite this hunger, hunting in packs was most efficient, and it was in a pack that he had remained for the better part of the first several months. They scavenged by night; by day they melted into the leaves, hiding away from the patrols that combed the forest by earth and air for their little group and others like it. The pack was beneficial to him beyond the hunt as well. During periods of rest, they spoke quietly in their harsh tongue, telling stories, legends, discussing their plans for how to spend their newfound freedom. It was during one of these conversations that he heard rumors of a book, a book that, according to these rumors, held secrets to the magics of the Daewls and their doors, and their wards upon the House. With this book and its secrets in hand, the defenses were essentially useless, and the fifth floor doors would become nothing more than slabs of wood to the shadows lurking within. It was an enticing dream, this book, but generally considered just that—a dream. The idea of seeking it out, especially for a being of their breed, was sheer madness. For the book was rumored to dwell in the library of the House which they had been so desperate to leave. To return again, with the ancient building inhabited and frequented by those damnable (if delectable) Jivvins was sheer madness. But the rewards that would come from such an attempt! Why, if they were to find the book, the reign of the Jivvins would fall with the opening of the doors. His entreties fell upon deaf ears. And so he consoled himself with his life of stealth and hunger, and cared not when, one after another, his pack was picked away. Their numbers reduced, they parted ways, many to delve deeper into the trees. He would not risk it, no—for they all knew the white one still watched these woods, as unaging as they themselves were. To travel too close to her home, knowingly or otherwise, would certainly have him found out. His skulking turned instead to the outskirts, where he lived for a time on hares, squirrels, and other small game. But they did not satisfy. His thoughts inevitably returned to the House and the promise within and, with fierce hunger driving his thoughts and no one to convince him of otherwise, he risked the trip. He made it inside, with effort. The House was warded against his kind, both from within and without. No door would open for him, nor window, nor could he hope to climb the walls as many smaller shadows were so capable. His solution, when he came to it, was undertaken reluctantly; he weakened himself, relaxing his grip on reality and fading near to nothing. He was a shade, a ghost, an echo of his former self, but they House did not recognize such a thing as a threat, and he was able to slip effortlessly through a wall and proceed up to the library. Here, however, the tables turned. He reached the room and, yes, after weeks of searching, even found the precious book. But the time inside the dreaded building had only sapped him even further. He could no more lift the book from its shelf to read than he could slip back through the walls and leave the miserable place. The House had recognized him after such a span of time, and, in its inability to speak to its other inhabitants, had settled for holding him in the library. His initial panic passed quickly, however. No one knew he was here. No one knew the book was, either. He was safe, if weak. He would watch, he would listen. Eventually, he would regain his strength. He could wait. And he had, and still was, silently haunting the library while he waited for an opportunity to put his plan into motion. 
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:21 pm
(( Harley and Amahli :: Meta :: Feb 10 2009 ))
Ahmali trodded in a small circle in the living room and then hopped up on the couch. She flicked her little tail in irritation and glared at Harley. "And you know what?" The little giraffe spotted Jivvin narrowed her eyes even further as she leaned in, almost touching noses with her colourful friend. "There's two of them. Alex and Eelayif. Rana says they're like us only bigger, and that they're my bruthers." She sniffed. "But you know what else? The big one is mean. He stared at me like this." She went back into the narrowed eyes. "And he said all kinds of mean things, I just can't remember. And the other one, Eelayif, he didn't say nuffin. Just stood there like this." She tried to imitate the stale and unbending stance that Elayeth always used as Ranald's house, but she wasn't all that steady on her feet yet, and toppled backwards off the edge of the sofa again.
"Kind of like that." Came the muffled reply from the floor.
Harley listened dutifully to her friend's unfortunate tale, fighting very hard to keep a straight face for the little Vhaid's benefit. She could not restrain a giggle, however, when Amahli toppled off of the couch. Climbing to her feet, she streeeeetched out, tail standing straight on end, then hopped up onto the arm of the soda to peer down at the other girl.
"Molly, Molly, Molly," she chirped knowingly, shaking her head. "When they stare at you, you just haveta bite 'em on the nose. That's what I did to Rhenus, and now he leaves me alone." She did not bother to acknowledge that Rhenus wasn't at all a bully and hadn't been glaring angrily at her. He was still rather terrifying, looming over her like that when she'd only just hatched. The nerve!
"Or tie their tails in a know while they're sleepin'. That'd show 'em!"
Molly pictured the tails of Alexander and Elayeth, two full grown male jivvins, and then tried to imagine tying them into one knot. "I think that would be a very big knot." She nodded her head knowingly before continuing the thought. "And I think they'd kill each other and Rana would be mad... probably at me."
Most of what she'd experienced from Ranald over the last day or so was pure love and excitement in her direction and pure irritation and anger at the other two jivvins in the house. "That might not be so bad though, if Alex wasn't there, then he couldn't be mean right?" that made sense to her. She'd never seen Rhenus, so with her limited experience she imagined him to be big and mean like Alex.
"But know you what else even more?" She hopped up again, grinning up at Harley. "Rana says that tonight she's gonna read me a story before bedtime. I can't wait, cause the other Rana says that's the best part of the day, storytime."
"If they killed each other, they couldn't make angry faces at ya anymore," she helpfully pointed out. The definition of 'killed' still eluded Harley for the most part, but she imagined it would be messy, and probably quite amusing if the tails were tied together in the attempt. "I don't think he'd be mean after he was killed. It might be a good idea." She would have to discuss the idea with Rhenus and Coen. Or tie some tails together herself and see what happened. That was enticing...
She turned on the chair arm to follow Amahli, but scoffed at the very idea of a story. "A story! Coen doesn't tell stories. He says it's better to do them. We go on grand adventures," she countered smugly, coining a phrase common to both Coen and his other bonded.
Molly picked herself out from under a cushion and hopped up onto the sofa, gazing up at her friend on the arm of the chair. "Like how? Like... leave the room and go adventuring.... " She didn't quite understand what adventuring was, but if it excited Harley so then it must be good... and she could use some good.
"Where do you go when you adventure?" She hopped off the sofa and headed over to the doorway, peering out into the hallway cautiously as if there were something waiting there, just to get her... probably Alex, her brain supplied the image of the larger jivvin... but he wasn't in the hall.
"We go all over!" she crowed, emphasizing the awesome-ness of her statement by hopping up onto the sofa back. My, that was high up. Harley grinned down at her friend, hunching in a crouch and stalking along the back of the couch. "This is a big, big house, with lots of rooms, and I still haven't been in all of them! So we go adventuring in those, and find treasure and chase monsters and it is so COOL!"
Hopping down to the couch seat, she sobered somewhat. "I really want to go explore the trees outside, but Coen says that Moo says that that's not allowed. Coen's kind of a weenie. But inside is fun too."
"Wee Nee" she spoke the word absently wondering what it was as she followed Harley with her eyes as the other jivvin tromped all over the sofa. Other rooms. Treasure. Treasure was apparently a good thing, by the look on Harley's face, and chasing monsters was easy enough to figure out...
"I'd like to chase monsters. Do you think any are out there?" Molly didn't wait for her friend to come to her side, but just wandered out into the hall and started looking for an interesting monster, or two. "I'm not seeing anything," she called back.
"There're lots of monsters here," she called back confidently, hopping a bit on the sofa seat. It wasn't as good as the bed, but it wasn't bad either. She bounced a few more times, then bounced on off and trotted after her friend. Boldly stepping past Amahli, she led the way down the hallway, towards the ballroom and the great double-staircase within it. "Most of them live upstairs."
Truth be told, there weren't many 'monsters' left in Moo's home. But there had been at one time, and many of their belongings were still here. Those would make excellent treasures for the little adventurers.
Ahmali didn't even bat an eye as Harley came trotting past her, and took up the second position behind her friend without even a second thought. This house was certainly big, so far she'd seen more rooms and stuff than anything at Rana's house. Rana's house was one big room with a LOT of beds in the ceiling and walls and floor, and one little room that Molly didn't know the purpose of and didn't really care to. As they reached the double staircase, her mouth dropped open in wonder. "That's amazing... Are we going up there?"
"'Course we are." Ever the brave adventurer, Harley led the way straight to the foot of the stairwell. It was truly a magnificent structure; this room was one of the few sections that remained of the original castle. The ceiling, an additional floor higher than the rest of the level, gave the illusion of being of glass construction--which, in fact, it wasn't, instead playing host to the floor of the library. The back wall, however, was constructed of towering glass windows, and it was up these that the wide staircase led, splitting off about halfway up to wind in mirrored paths along the rounded wall. The staircase reached a landing on the balcony of the second floor, but both sets continued upward even further, nearly completing a full circle about the room as they reached the third floor's landing.
After pausing for effect at the foot of the stairs, Harley hopped onto the first step, turning to grin down at Molly. "We're mountain climbers, see, and we have t'get to the hidden cave at the top of the tallest mountain in the world! That's where the treasure'll be. Monsters love hidden caves." She was a certified expert in treasure-guarding-monsters, Harley was.
"Right" Molly agreed, once again without question. She tenatively placed one paw on the first step and stood there for a moment, waiting for something to happen.
Nothing did.
When nothing happened, Molly placed her other foot on the stair and repeated the procedure. Once she had two feet on the bottom stair and could see Harley making her own way up with no hinderances (other than the fact that they were both little jivvins with little legs and awkward balance) Molly was confident enough to start her own climb. One stair after another, she began to get the feeling that she might never reach the top, but that didn't stop her. In fact she didn't even get tired really, though she did start to become slightly out of breath.
Molly was at that stage in life where she didn't know she was tired until it was too llate and she was falling asleep standing up. That had happened once this morning, but she felt she was alright this very moment. "I know what a cave is, I saw one on the way here in the car, it was a hole... in a wall." That was a good description. "A hole in a wall. And that's where the treasure is?" Molly stretched out as the two of them reached the top of the stairs, and she looked around, again with wide eyes.
Stairs were an adventure in and of themselves. By the time they reached the second floor landing, Harley was making a great show of her brave struggle to reach the top of the mountain. She all but lay on the steps, dragging herself upwards one dramatic paw-hold at a time to finally collapse, out of breath, at the top of the first flight of stairs.
However, a beat later, she broke character and hopped to her feet, coiling her tail about herself and nodding smugly at the little Vhaid, not at all tired for the short trip up the stairs. "'Course. S'a pretty good place to hide something, after all, caves. Most people are scared of caves." Nevermind that she had yet to see a real cave. Coen painted a pretty enough picture, and, with the lack of activity on the higher floors of the building, it was easy enough to pretend they were dank and uninhabited. They certainly provided the creepy feeling by themselves.
Stepping over to the next flight, she sprawled out on the landing beneath the first step, propping a foot up on it in preparation of resuming her dramatic climb. "Ready for the really dangerous part?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:22 pm
(( Harley and Amahli :: Continued ))
She pursed her little lips and stared up the second flight, then turned and surveyed the flight that they'd just climbed. She decided that she wasn't bothered by yet another set, and nodded her head in agreement. "Ready." SHe walked up the stairs beside her friend, not bothering with all the dramatics, taking a few steps and then waiting calmly for Harley to catch up ... not more than a few stairs later she turned and sat down regarding her friend with an expression somthing akin to confusion. "why is this the dangerous part exactly?"
Not at all discouraged by Molly's failure to participate in her little game, Harley continued her arduous climb up the steps. The Vhaid's question, however, caught her off guard, and she abruptly broke off the dramatics, sitting upright and peering back at her friend with no little confusion herself. "Cause....we're almost to the top. S'harder to climb. And the monster's up there," she reminded Molly, as if she hadn't just explained as much thirty seconds earlier.
"ah, yes." Once again she turned her attention back to the top of the stair case and watched Harley's behaviour out of the corner of her vision. "Harder, BECAUSE it's the top. Got it." She leaned over putting her nose on the steps and slapped one paw up onto the step above her nose, then she used all her little strength to pull her face up to that paw, and then repearted the gesture once again with her other front paw. She noted to herself that this was a time consuming way to climb a flight of stairs, but that if this was what was dictated by the cirumstances, then this is how she would climb them. One paw slap at a time, the two of them eventually reached the top of the stairs.
Molly's face had a grin on it, as she shook herself to get rid of the dust she'd picked up. "That was fun. I think I like the dangerous part the best."
Harley nodded sharply in approval as Amahli took up the 'agonizing climb' pose, and very shortly resumed her own, struggling up the mountain alongside her friend. Upon reaching the top, she once more made a great show of collapsing to the ground, rolling onto her side with her legs splayed every which a way.
But! She shouldn't show weakness, as expedition leader--a self appointed title, but she didn't think Molly would mind. Hopping to her feet and abandoning signs of weakness, she nodded her agreement, peering around the dimly lit landing. People rarely bothered with the third floor now that Jack and Isto were out of the house--not that Harley was at all familiar with either of them. "That's why adventures are exciting. But they're only exciting if you remember that they're exciting," she admitted knowingly.
"I thiiiiiink...we should go that way!" She pointed straight ahead with her nose, down an even more dimply lit hallway. The landing, at least, gained light from the glass windows. The hallways had no such luck.
Ahmali nodded again, drinking in every word. "Remember that adventures are exciting, the dangerous parts are the most fun, caves are where the treasure is, and the hardest part is always right at the end." She turned to look down the hall, dark as it was, and thoguht through all the things she'd learned today. "Is this a cave then?" She took a few steps down the hall, before it occured to her that there might be a special way of walking here too, so she turned to watch what Harley did first.
"Of course it is!" If Harley hadn't been having so much fun leading the expedition, she might have begun to think that Molly was a weenie too. Poor little soul, so inexperienced in the ways of grand adventures. It was really quite tragic. But Harley had the pleasure of teaching her all about treasure seeking and monster hunting, and, with such an eager pupil, it was hard to be upset by Molly's lack of understanding.
If there was a special way to cave-walking, Harley wasn't familiar with it, Her steps were bouncy as she started down the hall, but faltered a bit as the light grew faint, until eventually her walk was more of a slink as she crept along through the darkness. "Creepy, huh? Hear any monsters?"
Molly joined in the bounding, transitioned seamlessly into a falterly step and needed no bidding to start slinking... the situation dictated it. She listened in the silence, but the darkness seemed to have a silence to it that was louder than anything she could hear... IN fact, all she could hear clearly was nothing.
And the pounding of her little heart in her ears... She wasn't normally skittish or a 'wee nee' but there was something creepy about the dark in a normal house, and she'd already established for herself that this was not a normal house.
Catching her little claw on the corner of a floor runner, she startled and cowered from whatever it was that had 'grabbed her foot'... "Maybe... Maybe we should look for another cave... one with windows." She turned to look at Harley and could only just barely make out the moving outlines of her friend.
"I don't know where there're caves with windows, except back down the mountain..." And, as eerie as the darkness was, she was reluctant to abandon the hunt so quickly. They had reached the top of the mountain! Now they had to find a treasure and a monster, so she could tell Coen and Rhenus all about it later, and they could be really jealous. She kept moving down the hallway, sticking close to Molly, but holding her slight lead. Moving was better than sitting. When you sat in the dark, shadows started moving, and you couldn't really fight those monsters. But when you moved, the shadows moved anyway. Those weren't monsters, they were just shadows.
The hallway reached a turn, and Harley frowned up at the wall that had materialized before them. After a beat, however, she glanced sideways and realized the hall was actually lighting that way. Far down towards the end, light was pouring out through an open doorway. She grinned triumphantly and, picking up the pace, trotted down towards the door. "That's where the treasure'll be!"
Nevermind that it wasn't dark and gloomy. Harley was done with dark and gloomy.
Molly took a beat to realize that there was a wall, and a few more beats to register that Harley was leading them in a slightly new direction. She followed without pause, eager to be out of the dark, with the promise of a lit room at the end of the new direction. She didn't even care that there was now more darkness behind them than in front of them, which if she'd thought about it really would have bothered her.
"I hope we find lots of good treasure, I really do!" She lost a little bit of her slink as she thought of all the things that could be classified as 'treasure'... the possibilities were endless! "What is that place in front of us, Harley? Is it another cave? Or..." She suddenly realized that she was at a loss for proper adventuring terms ... "Or something not a cave?"
"It's a treasure room," she explained patiently as she hurried towards the light. "They're at the end of caves, but they're usually prettier than the rest of the cave. Because they're not dark and have cool stuff in them. But sometimes monsters and dragons." Feet away from the room, she paused, coming to a sudden realization. Hunching down, she whispered towards Molly. "If it's a dragon....that light might be fire! We have to be really sneaky quiet so it doesn't eat us up!"
Molly nodded once again and hunkered down next to Harley. She tried to be as quiet as possible, but the sheer act of trying meant that she was going to thud every other step and creak every other floorboard. And since she was all hunkered down close to the floor, her claws scraped at the floor as each time she picked up a paw and clicked each time she placed one back on the floor. It made her grimmace with each movement all the way up to the door.
"you first.. you know more about dragons... " She didn't rellish the thought of coming face to face with a giant fire breathing creature, should that be the case of this particular door. She didn't really want Harley to get fired on either, but she also gave the other jivivn more credit when it came to amounts of collected adventurer knowledge.
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:24 pm
(( Harley and Amahli :: Continued ))
She paused once more just outside of the pool of light streaming from the open doorway. Harley settled her feet beneath her, just on the edge of the light, the slowly leaned forward, craning her neck to peek into the doorway. It...really was a treasure room! The room was well-lit and welcoming, with rows and rows of colorful books and other artifacts, interspersed with big, thick armchairs for whoever happened upon it. There wasn't a dragon in sight.
Grinning fit to burst, Harley hopped to her feet and boldly strolled through the doorway, tail held high in the air for the pride of successfully conquering the mountain. "C'mon, Molly, there's no dragon! We did it!"
Molly jumped to her feet and bounded in one tail chasing circle in the hallway, then tore into the room with a wild streak aptly apropriate to adventurers who've just found thier treasure. She skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, bending up a corner of the rug in her haste to stop. Her jaw dropped open as she took in the proper sights around her... "It really is a treasure room..." Two steps forward took her right next to Harley and she turned to her friend with a great big ear to ear grin. "We're rich!" Then she took off at top speed into a full out circle of the floor of the room, and then she tore up into a chair and leapt off the arm onto another chair. She began a chant, "We're rich! We're rich! Harley and I are rich!" Continuing to race around the room at top speed.
Perhaps it was the needed release of all the adrenaline she'd built up on the adventure over here. It was so hard to stay still for so long after all.
Laughing, she bounded after Molly, but quickly diverted to leap up onto one of the big cushy armchairs. From there she hopped to the arm, then to the back, standing proudly atop the chair to survey the 'treasure room'. "I claim this treasure in the name of....us!"
"Now, now," came a quiet voice, which startled Harley so much that she plopped forward onto the chair seat. A quick glance around identified the speaker: a pale bluish Jivvin, she thought. That couldn't be bad. Rhenus had told her there were lots of Jivvins around the House. At her startled expression, the stranger chuckled, stepping forward with a motion that was more a glide than a pace. "I do believe this...treasure was mine first."
Molly's circular romp came to an end as she lost control of a leap, and landed in the same chair as Harley, possibly knocking the other jivvin to the side, she couldn't be sure. She was more focused on the voice addressing them both. Once she saw where it was coming from part of her relaxed. It was just another Alexander and Eelayif... but part of her also wanted to leave, and leave now, because this one looked different somehow. She turned to Harley and whispered... "It's a dragon jivvin... look at it's hair... and it's tail... And it wants the treasure..." She glanced around the room and tried to see if there were any other dragon jivvins in here, but she couldn't see any. "It's already got the treasure...." She leaned closer to the rainbow jivvin. "Ask him if he breathes fire."
Harley was absolutely struck dumb by the knowledge that Molly was....absolutely right. It was a dragon Jivvin! A real dragon! She could hardly wait to tell Coen and Rhenus about her brave adventure! Already she was picturing herself triumphantly defeating the dragon Jivvin and running away with his treasures, though, she wasn't entirely sure where she would put all of them. She puzzled over this for a moment before Molly's whisper caught her attention, then nodded slightly and puffed herself up, frowning over at the dragon Jivvin. "We found it fair and square! ....Doyoubreathfire?"
Utterly unconcerned by the little pair, the 'dragon Jivvin' sank down on his haunches several feet away, curling his scythe-like tail about to tap the blade against the claws of a back paw. It made no sound. Indeed, it was quite transparent, and the faint claws clearly visible behind it and, beneath them, the untouched floor. Everything about this creature seemed half there--including his voice, breathy and quiet, but with a still-audible, thick accent. "I have not in a very, very long time. I am a good-tempered dragon. I would even be willing to gift you with a piece of treasure, if you would agree to leave me the rest of my possessions....and would perhaps do a favor for me?"
Molly watched the Dragon's tail, since the movement seemed to catch her eye, and she didn't cower when she discovered that she could see through his tail... sort of. She watched in silence as the blade tapped the floor but made no sound, and counted his claws through the blade. Looking down at her own little feet she counted her front claws and found them to be the same number, and somehow this made her feel a little braver all the same...
She also had a ball of bravery next to her in the chair, and that helped more than anything else. As she watched him, he stated that he didn't breathe fire anymore, but that only meant that he did breathe fire at one time and probably could again... he said he was nice... that was something Alex hadn't aluded to, but Alex was no dragon... He said he needed a favour...
And suddenly Amahli's curiousity won over her fear and the little giraffe jivvin found her voice. "What favour?" she asked, cocking her head to one side in confusion.
"I am very old," the dragon explained in his strange, whispery voice, and stood to approach the two once more. "And not so strong as I once was. Nor, I admit, so solid." Pausing before the chair, he whipped down the scythed tail towards the little pair. It passed through them without so much as a breeze, though not without sending even brave Harley cowering into the cushions. He smiled, waiting for the two to recover, and she, realizing she was alive, sheepishly smiled back. Stupid dragon. ...It was a pretty cool trick, though.
"When I was still strong, I placed my prized treasure high on a shelf, to protect it from little thieves. Now, I can no longer bring it down. My favorite story, and I can never read it again... Unless you will help me to get it down?"
As the tail had come crashing down, Amahli had cowered as far back into the cushions as Harley had, and it took her a little longer to regain her composure after the 'attack'... but reagin her composure she did, and her voice and anger rang out with it as she yelled at the dragon.
"THAT was NOT FUNNY!" He had no right to do that, and that proved that he was just as mean as Alex was. Now she was mad. "You scared us! And you did it on PURPOSE!" She turned around and looked Harley over up and down to make sure that her friend was in one whole peice too... and the other jivvin was smiling.
Molly frowned at Harley and gave her best 'dissaproving' look before she turned it on the dragon. "You're mean, and if you wanted your book when you were old and mean then you shouldn't have put it up so high."
The dragon seemed disappointed by Molly's outburst, even offended. But before he could reply, Harley did in his stead, whirling the other Jivvin with an almost feverish excitement. "What?! No way! That was sosososo cool, Molly! He's a dragon, Molly, he's supposed to be mean and scary. And anyway, it was just a joke. I wish I could do that," she praised, turning with wide-eyed back to the dragon.
The scythed-Jivvin smiled pleasantly in thanks to Harley for the kind words, then offered a more apologetic look to Molly. "Perhaps you are right. How can I apologize... Molly, is it?"
As she listened to her friend next to her, she realized that she was in this for the long run, because she wouldn't leave Harley here no matter what. Her face displayed her best frown and her mood sunk to something almost dire.
As the dragon spoke her name, she folded her ears back against her head uneasily and glanced at Harley before answering. "Just don't do its again, it might be a cool trick, but it's not nice to scare me." She turned to Harley. "Are we gonna get his book?"
"Never again," he promised solemnly, bowing his head in a slow nod.
Harley made a big show of considering Molly's question, more as a means of apologizing to her friend than anything. She knew Molly had felt scared. So had she! But that was what was so cool about it! The dragon wasn't actually going to hurt them. He couldn't even touch them. He couldn't even touch his favorite book! That was really sad. "We'll help him after we pick our treasures," she decided, glancing to the dragon as if daring him to disagree.
He merely nodded once more and stepped aside to let them pass. "Whatever you wish, but it will not be yours until I have my book."
Molly hopped out of the chair, not wanting to be left behind, and circled the room close to Harley. She could hardly bring herself to take her eyes off the dragon... sure he made it look like he couldn't touch things, but what if that were all part of a trick to get them close enough so he could eat them... or flame them up or something. She sighed, and walked past him in Harley's wake.
She tried to think of what there was here to claim... mostly books. But books were good... hadn't that other Rana said that reading stories was one of the best things ever? "I think we should claim the best book in here." she whispered to Harley, almost conspiratorily.
Harley positively pranced out of the chair, brightly circling the large room in search of some exquisite piece of treasure. At Molly's suggestion, she wrinkled her nose, frowning sideways at her friend. "His book? I don't think that's really fair.... I think I want that chair that I claimed first. We could make him carry it." Books didn't really appeal to Harley. She couldn't read, not a bit. She would probably end up picking some boring stuffy book and wouldn't know until she gave it to Coen, who would laugh at her.
She looked back over her shoulder at the chair. It did look like a good chair. "How's he gonna carry a chair if he can't even carry a book?" Truth be told, Molly didn't know what to pick, there were so many things here in the room as a whole, and she didn't know the proper usage of half of it all.
"lets get it, get the chair and leave."
"We'll come back for the chair," she decided with a nod. "With Rhenus and Coen. They can carry it." Satisfied with her decision, she led the way back to the dragon, calmly making her demands and smiling smugly at Molly when the dragon agreed without complaint.
The demands settled, the dragon led them about the library, towards a tall shelf near the far wall. Tall windows were spaced between the shelves here, and, in the light streaming from them, the dragon seemed even less physical, casting no shadow. The dust motes floating through him showed more presence. Pausing before a shelf, he pointed up with the scythe-tail to a thick, leather-bound yellow volume, old and worn from the centuries. "That one."
Molly stared up into the shelf, blinking at the light streaming down through the window as she did. It was so high up there, and she and Harley were both so short...
She glanced around for a ladder and didn't see one... and the windowsil was too short anway. She glanced at Harley and wondered if the other jivvin was thinking the same thing she was... then she turned and tenatively placed one foot on top of a book in the shelf and stood on her back legs. Wedging her other front foot in on top of a higher book, she managed to pullherself up a little, scarring the bindings of the books on the bottom shelf as she raked her claws against them for better purchase. Using this tecnique, Molly made it up two and a half shelves before a book came loose in her paws and sent her tumbling backwards to the floor. She grunted once as her back came in contact with something, and then groaned as the book landed on top of her. "Harley... we're short."
Harley had come to much the same conclusion after one fruitless attempt to climb. She hadn't even made it as high as Molly before falling. Jivvins weren't made for climbing, especially for climbing book shelves. While Molly continued her climbing attempts, Harley ran off for the nearest chair, trying--and failing--to push it across the floor to the shelf. At the sound of her friend's fall, she quickly returned to her side, frowning in agreement. "...We are short."
It was quickly concluded that such youngsters would be utterly useless in retrieving the book from the shelf. The dragon, masking disappointment, politely suggested that they find someone taller to help--if they wanted their chair, of course.
"We won't let you down!" The little Uuthli wasn't about to wait around, and quickly hurried from the room, calling for Molly to keep up. They would find someone taller, even if it meant sharing the chair. "It's just another adventure!"
The little ones gone, the shade stared mournfully up at his book. Several long minutes later, his lips parted in a toothy smile and, still grinning, he faded from sight in the light and dust motes.
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:56 pm
(( Amahli, Lusivan, and Shenta :: Feb 24 2009 ))
"Lusi!!! Wait up!" Shenta couldn't move as fast as her 'brother', but she certainly was trying.
"Stop calling me that!" Lusivan growled back, then muttered an afterword to himself..."Makes it sound like I'm a girl..."
The two were in the woods near the Center. Lusivan had wanted to get away from Elminith for a bit, so he'd snuck out and headed for the Center to spend some time alone - only to find halfway there that Shenta had followed him. And he couldn't just leave her there, she was still a baby, she could get hurt! So he decided to take her to the Center, leave her with someone there, and make his escape...maybe he could find Dici somewhere....
Shenta tripped again and got a noseful of leaves and dirt. Snorting and shaking her head, she looked up to find that Lusi had gotten a ways ahead again. "Lusi, I said to wait! I can't move as fast as you!"
Why didn't he ever want to play with her? She knew he knew how to have fun, she saw him adventuring with Dici all the time, so why wouldn't he let her come? It just wasn't fair!
Molly was on the front porch of the building, balancing on the railing as she looked over the yard. She knew that Elayeth was in the house behind her probably sitting on a sofa somewhere, or watching telivision... She sighed. "Lazy lazy lazy." Of her two brothers, she knew which one was more lazy but that was only becuase she saw them both all the time... it was a close match.
Walking the railing, she took several steps to her right and looked out onto the driveway. Nothing. Taking a few steps to her left, still walking the rail, she looked out into the woods and the walking path... there were two jivvins coming up. They looked small... like her kind of. She was only a baby after all, and so far she'd seen and met mostly adult jivvins. This could be fun.
Lusivan whirled around to face his sister. "If you can't keep up, why'd you follow me in the first place?! Min would welcome your company, you should have stayed with her! Why can't you -" Lusivan stopped in surprise. Shenta was crying. "Why are you..."
"I...I just..." The young afya scrubbed at her nose and eyes with one paw and glared back at her brother. "You never let me come with you! You have all these great adventures and never let me join in and you're so brave and strong and won't let me learn to be like you because I'm slower but that's just because I'm a kid and I'll get better I'll get faster and one day I'll catch up and be partners with you and Dici in these adventures if only you'd let me and and....Whyyyyy?!" The last came out in a wail as Shenta ran out of steam and collapsed in a heap of misery.
"I...I..." Lusivan was dumbfounded. It really had never occurred to him that she wanted to do anything other than irritate him and cause him trouble. "I'm sorry, Shenta, I didn't realize..."
Molly hopped down off the porch railling rahter ungracefully and walked up to the pair. "Why did you make her cry?" She stepped forward to the littler of the two and peered at the poor girl, not really offering physical condolences, but she got close enough to talk without hollering. "It's ok. I'll play with you, if you don't want to play with him."
Lusivan looked from his sister to the new jivvin in bewilderment. "I didn't mean to. Honest I didn't. She just follows me everywhere and I thought....I'm sorry Shenta. I'll try to include you next time, 'kay? Uh..." The jivvin felt like he was shoulder-deep in muck and sinking quickly. He had experience with facing two angry females before. It could get really nasty really quickly. Especially since he really was in the wrong this time. "I'm sorry?"
Shenta, like most little kids, changed moods quickly. Lusi had promised to play with her! This was the height of ... of....of things going right. "It's ok, Lusi! You didn't know, right? And now you'll play with me!"
She turned to the new arrival. "It's ok, it really is. He's just my brother!" The little afya grinned.
This left the Uuthli a little disgruntled. 'Just' her brother? After all that?
Amahli just pursed her little lips at the statement. He was her brother? That explained a lot. "I have two bigger brothers. They're both mean too." She wasn't really mad... in fact she wasn't really anything. She had good evidence that older brothers were mean and there wasn't anything that could be done about it... so why get mad over it.
" You going to the center? Over that way?" She nodded her head towards the building, not knowing where else they could be headed to, but also not wanting to be in the wrong by assuming. "Actually one of my brothers is in there."
"I...I'm not mean...I don't think I am...umm..." Lusivan backed up a couple steps, feeling trapped and a little panicked. Girls didn't make sense. Neither did little kids. And he seemed to keep messing up, somehow...He wished Dici were here!
Shenta giggled and tackled her brother clumsily. She would never have succeeded if he weren't so confused. "Lusi's not mean, he's just clueless! I'm not sure where we were going. Your brothers are there? Do you live there? What's your name?"
"I'm Molly." She turned to walk towards the center. "I don't live there... that's where the jivvins hang out when they're bored." nod nod. "That's where I see my friends most, and it's where Layif see his friends so he agreed to bring me here, and it's only him. Alexander won't take me anywhere, cause he's mean and he doesn't like me." She paused and turned back to the them, speaking matter-of-factly. "I don't think he likes anyone."
Shenta cocked her head to one side. "How can anyone like no-one? There's always someone. Maybe he just hasn't met the right person yet?"
Lusivan badly wanted to back away and fade into the background, but he couldn't really with Shenta on top of him. So he settled for setting his head on the ground and covering his eyes with one paw.
Interesting question. "I dunno". Molly turned and sat herself down in front of them both. "I haven't seen him be nice to anyone yet, and that's even Ranran and Layif... and they've been his mom and brother since he was little." She nodded. Facts were very important to Molly, and those were facts. Another fact she had learned the hard way was that it became difficult to breathe the longer someone stood on you.
She glanced at Lusivan and cocked her head to one side. "Can he still breathe?" With his paw slung over his face like that, she wasn't sure if he was even still awake.
"Oh don't worry, Lusi's strong!" Shenta said, bouncing up and down on her brother to prove it. "So what are you doing? Anything fun?"
Lusivan winced as his sister bounced on him, but kept his mouth shut. He had the feeling that if he said anything, this Molly would take it as 'mean'. Better to just stay quiet. And Shenta was having so much fun, after all....
Molly shook her head at the other jivvins. "He doesn't look like he's happy." In all honesty she didn't know that she really cared about him as an individual, but it seemed that on the whole, people should not have to put up with being jumped on. And then the other Ust's question arrived in her mind and she answered it. "I wasn't doing anything at all. Only standing on the porch.... " She neglected to mention that the reason she was standing on the porch is because Elayeth had told her not to leave the house... and she had figured that the porch was the easiest way to push the rules without actually breaking them... and with that thought came the realization that she was now breaking the rules. She'd leapt from the porch and run over here without even remembering that she wasn't supposed to leave the house.
Her eyes went wide and she turned, walking back towards the house. "I just remmebered that I'm not supposed to leave the porch area... "
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:08 am
(( page spam.... I'm just posting little passages for my own benefit, these are all out of wack, timewise, and NOT available for Rp because they're all past tense wink ))
Ranald's eyes flew open suddenly and she let out a grunt as something flopped down into her lap, waking her up. It took her a second to realize that it was an egg... a jivvin egg. Looking up, she frowned at Keppit standing in front of her, and shifted the egg into a less painful position. "You really think you need another jivvin?" as she frowned at the floor as she glanced over the large egg, and realized that it was a good looking one. Sort of african, like a giraffe or something, and it actually had a nice feel to it. "Satou and Gus are both missing, or dead or something, and mine are..." She paused, letting the sentance fade away. Alexander and Elayeth were ruined as far as normal went. She sighed, and lifted the egg into the air to hand it back to Keppit. "Good luck."
But Keppit didn't take the egg. Instead she just shook her head with a smile on her dark lips, causing Ranald to frown in return. "It's not for me." Keppit chimed, turning to walk away. "It's for you, and it's a female and a vhaid. I though you could use someone new to take care of."
"You mean a second chance to raise a kid who's not a complete a**." Ranald sighed again and regarded the egg with a new wearyness.
"No." Keppit shook her head and walked back towards her sister. "Besides, we haven't had all that much bad luck with children." She looked around as if she were making sure that no one was listening and then continued in a lower tone. "Alex may be an a**, and Elayeth might be an a** kisser... Satou might be dead, and yes, Gus is missing." She paused and sighed, mentally regaining composure yet again, and continued. "That doesn't mean that any of that was your fault or my fault, that's just the way it is. Take the egg, love it, enjoy it, feed it, and let it grow up. That's all you really need." She turned away from Ran at that point and headed for the refrigerator.
Ranald didn't have a response for that, so she just shifted the egg to it's own spot on the sofa and turned on the telivision.
~~~~~~
Alexander opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings in a ridiculously bad mood. Who the hell did she think she was? Letting a little false vhaid into the house? How was he supposed to gain respect if he allowed trash in his own house? And after the arguement he'd had with his 'mother', the fact that there was a false vhaid egg in his house wasn't going to change until there was a false Vhaid Ust in his house instead. This was going to be a bad day... maybe even a bad week.
~~~~~~
Bayloh'ved crept across the path leading to Keppit's house, nose to the earth as he tracked who had come and gone over the last two days. He did smell jivvins, but not the blue one that he was looking for... the one that had escaped him.
Still in Llar form he slunk into the yard and looked around. In the corner by the cabin was a large purple and green jivvin, also a Llar. Bay chose to remain in his current form and strode up to the other. "I'm looking for the Gus Jivvin." what he didn't say was that he'd kill this other jivvin should he show that he knew too much.
Alexander just sighed and glared at this white and gold intruder. He didn't even bother to get up or really react to the other, "He's not here. He's gone missing, and good riddance. There's too many damn jivvins in this house..." He huffed his annoyance and plopped his head down onto his front legs, effectively ignoring the white and gold jivvin until a thought occured to him. "Though I guess you don't really think that way, being a villager and all. Do you refer to all jivvins with the species as a last name in the village? Pretty dumb if you do."
Bay would have growled at Alex, and maybe even grabbed him, if he'd been anything other than an Afya Demon. The Afya in him didn't really want to start anything new, and the demon in him hated the village for centuries of reasons. "I do. Others do not."
"Well, like I said, it's stupid." He plopped his head down again . "But that's not a new thing for the village. Doing everything a tyrant says, always cow-towing to a false vhaid, you guys have no spines... and your leader sucks."
"Does he?" Bay started to search his own jivvins memories for examples that might support Alex's opinion, but he was interupted again.
"Yeah. My cousins both went to the village and neither one came back. I've heard stories about how they rip the wings from Uuthlis and don't let anyone in who isn't worthy of jivvin life." Of course, Alex was misguided and partially wrong, but that had never stopped him from being unhelpful before. "If I were the village Vhaid, I'd make a lot of changes."
"But there's already a Vhaid, and I don't think he's ready to give up the job." Bay was more curious now than anything else. Here was a jivvin that apparently had nothing to do with the village, and he had thoughts of malice towards someone he'd never even known. .... .... Bay liked him.
Alex just stood up and started to walk away. This other jivvin bored him, and in his current mood Jivvins just made him madder. "There are ways to get rid of bad rulers." He scoffed, and then he was gone around the backside of the cabin.
Bay just stood there, still in Llar form. Now there was something that forced his poisoned brain into motion. If that Gus jivvin had already made it to the village then there was a chance that the villagers were already out looking for him. And even though there was really nothing they could do to him (so he thought), he'd rather actually be doing something worth getting attacked for. He couldn't be the Vhaid himself, he was Afya.... or some strange hybrid currently. But that didn't mean that he couldn't have some fun and stir up some trouble at the same time.... he might even make the villlage fall into turmoil, and that might mean more jivvins out in the woodlands... and that meant more food for him....
His mouth was already watering as he turned from Keppit's cabin and Alex, and walked back through the woodlands.
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:07 pm
(( 2009 Meta :: Molly, Calvin, Harley, Rhenus, Canaan, Shenta, Lusivan, Dici, the 'Ghost/Dragon' ))
They had searched high and low after leaving the library, little Harley and Molly, and found the biggest, strongest people they could who would actually believe a word they were saying. Rhenus and Calvin, whose imaginations were several times more ridiculous even than the Usts', had agreed readily enough to the daunting task of rescuing books for a dragon, and followed enthusiastically up the mountainside that was the grand stairway, in search of the dragon's lair.
The library was quite as they had left it when Harley boldly led the way inside, tail held high as she proudly displayed the find for their new companions. "See? Treasures galore, jus' like we told ya! But don't run off with anything yet, we get our pick once we get the book down for the dragon. Right, dragon?" she chirped, fully expecting the appearance of the astonishing figure to startled her friends.
A long moment went by with no affirmation, but, not to be put out, Harley simply continued into the library. "He's probably waiting by the book."
Molly was treading in little worried circles around the room trying to stay by a larger jivivn at all times. At the moment she was standing almost underneath Rhenus, but only because Calvin was too excitable and Molly'd already been stepped on twice. "Harley... where is he?" When the dragon didn't appear out of the air like he had before, the little giraffe spotted jivvin began to worry even more. The only thing more scary than a dragon, was an invisible dragon.
Calvin, on the other hand, was ready and rearing for a fight. She didn't doubt in the least that there was a dragon up here... after all, it was a castle *or it used to be she thought* and that's where dragons went when they wanted trouble... oh and trouble was fun. Calvin grinned over at Rhenus. "I don't see a dragon, but that doesn't mean that it isn't invisible..."
"That's what I was thinking..." Came a sad mutter from Molly.
Lusivan, followed by Shenta, was exploring the House. He'd heard from another jivvin at the Center about it, and wanted to explore. Moreover, he'd told Dici about it, and was hoping to meet up with her there.
So far, the 'adventure' had been relatively uneventful.Shenta was being rather noisier than he'd expected, and Lusivan was regretting his promise to play with her, especially since he hadn't seen anyone or anything particularly interesting yet. But that door ahead looked interesting...the light was on, at least...
"What's that up ahead, Lusi? Why's the light on?" Shenta couldn't stop bouncing. She was finally getting to play with her brother! Admittedly nothing interesting had happened yet, but the day was far from over!
"Shhh! Do you hear that?" Lusivan gently squashed his sister with one paw as he heard voices up ahead, in that room. He didn't hear much, but there was something about...Treasure? He released his sister and crept closer, hoping to peer through the crack where the door was ajar.
"Lusi! Don't do that!"
"Shhh!"
"Don't worry, Molly, Calvin slays dragons all the time." Rhenus offered the younger Jivvin a bright smile. He was cool and collected, and completely unaffected by the situation. Having spent a great deal of time with both Coen and Calvin, he knew how easily dragons could pop out of nowhere, especially those of the invisible variety. This was just another game.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Harley ordered impatiently, darting behind a row of shelves and back out again to be sure her group was following. "The sooner we get the book down, the sooner I get my chair." After waiting impatiently for Calvin to reach the aisle, she led the way to the center and pointed high on the shelf to the yellowing book just visible from the floor. "That's the one. Any ideas on how to get it?"
Molly allowed Rhenus to walk again, by not hovering so close. Instead she chose to walk calmly in between the two drada with a personal reserve about her. So far no dragon, so far so good. As they left the large area by the door she could have sworn that she heard whispering... and she wondered if it was her brain playing tricks on her or not.
Calvin looked up at the book and then glanced back at Rhenus, and then back to the book. "Why that one?" It was high enough up that she wasn't going to be able to reach it, and either would Rhenus. "Well... we could stand on each other... or we could go and push a chair over here... or a table." She glanced at Rhenus, knowing that he'd want to play the game Harley's way, because Harley was not only cute, but also good at playing. "What do you think, Aztec king?"
Molly allowed Rhenus to walk again, by not hovering so close. Instead she chose to walk calmly in between the two drada with a personal reserve about her. So far no dragon, so far so good. As they left the large area by the door she could have sworn that she heard whispering... and she wondered if it was her brain playing tricks on her or not.
Calvin looked up at the book and then glanced back at Rhenus, and then back to the book. "Why that one?" It was high enough up that she wasn't going to be able to reach it, and either would Rhenus. "Well... we could stand on each other... or we could go and push a chair over here... or a table." She glanced at Rhenus, knowing that he'd want to play the game Harley's way, because Harley was not only cute, but also good at playing. "What do you think, Aztec king?"
"Because that's the one the dragon wanted," the little Uuthli drawled, rolling her eyes. She had been through the tale several times with them both on the way up the mountain. They must be old and senile and unable to remember anything more than ten minutes at a time. At Calvin's question, she glanced impatiently towards Rhenus, who shrugged and took his time about approaching the bookcase. He was an Aztec King, after all. He rushed for no one.
"If that's the one the dragon wants, then that's the one we'll have to get. D'you think a chair would be tall enough, Calvin?" The thumps back from the doorway attracted his attention, but as he started back towards them, Harley called him back. "The dragon couldn't make thumps. Who's making noise, Molly?"
Molly had been hanging back and had a much better view of the duo that had crashed into the room... When they'd crashed into the room she'd about wet herself, but it was just two other jivvins... two jivvins she'd met the other day, in fact. She didn't take her eyes off either of them but called to Harley. "It's just Lusivan and Shenta, I met them outside the other day." With a nod of her head she addressed the entrants. "If you're coming in, then do it, but be quiet... we don't want to wake up the dragon..." Then she turned the corner to where the older jivvins were surveying the books.
Calvin shrugged and glanced at the nearest chair. "I dunno... Probably not. Deffinitely not. But it's a start... and then we could get the marx sisters here to do a balancing act for us... you know..." she grinned. "Like a living jivvin pyramid?"
Shenta leapt off Lusivan and into the room. "Dragon? What dragon, where?" Mercifully she was much quieter now, but she was obviously excited. FINALLY something interesting was happening!
Lusivan grunted as Shenta pushed him down in her leap, then stood and walked into the room after her, looking all around for this 'dragon'. He doubted it really was one, but if these other jivvins were taking it seriously, then it would probably be something dangerous, and it was his duty as the older brother to protect his sister. Something they said, though, made him curious on another matter..."Marx sisters?"
"Jivvin pyramid," Rhenus agreed with a nod, and started for the chair. "Yanno, we Aztecs," the king educated, "We built all sorts of pyramid-like things. Temples." He nodded sagely to Molly as he passed her, then took a stance behind the large armchair, giving it a shove with his shoulder. It moved....fractionally. "Come give me a hand with this, Calvin, so we can build more temples later."
Harley, always helpful, hurried after Rhenus and, upon realizing she would just be in the way for attempts to move the chair, hopped up onto it instead and scrambled up the chairback to stand proudly atop it. "I'll direct you! Readyyyy, that way!" And point.
Diciembre slipped in through the cracked door and jumped along secretly. Crawling and ears stuck too her head as she heard voices. Many were here.. all she wanted to do was read another book! Damn.. she thought.. she didn't here or notice Lus.. more that she curled around to the door and looked about. Still trying to be secretive. "Dragon?" She cuued right after the Lus did. "A... king? Pyramids?" She came out in to the room.. Blinking and wagging her tail- seeing a jivvin with a chair and backed away. "I dont like this idea.."
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:13 pm
(( 2009 Meta Continued :: Molly, Calvin, Harley, Rhenus, Canaan, Shenta, Lusivan, Dici, the 'Ghost/Dragon' ))
Molly noticed the entrance of yet another jivvin, but it didn't bother her... the more jivvins there were, the less chance she'd be the one to be eaten. She follwed along behind Rhenus, nodding as he talked about Aztecs. When he and Calvin set their heads to the back of the chair, and Harley leapt into it, Molly decided to help in the pushing and placed herself in between the two older jivvins.
Calvin just laughed before setting her meager muscles to the chair pushing efforts. "Then when they're all done building their temples and pyramids and stuffing them with good things, we pirates swoop in with a 'howdy do' for the dead and make off with all the good stuff."
Molly just nodded at that too.
"Heave! Ho! Heave!" From her perch atop the chair, Harley chanted encouragement down to her friends who, with a bit of effort, were able to push the large chair up to the bookcase. Upon reaching it, Harley hopped to her back feet, front paws stretched and grasping for the book, which was still far out of reach. "Someone come up and help me reach! Let me stand on you, Molly."
Lusivan caught sight of Dici from his peripheral vision, and walked over.
"Dici, glad to see you! Could you watch Shenta for a minute while I help with that chair? They look like they could use some help...And if there is something as dangerous as it sounds around, I'd prefer if the two of you were safely out of the way..." The Uuthli was as usual being over-protective, and as usual was completely clueless of the fact.
Meanwhile, Shenta was bouncing, whispering 'Dragon dragon dragon' over and over under her breath. She'd never been more excited in her life.
Molly hadn't helped much at moving the chair because three Drada was more than enough power. At Harley's request for a footstool, Molly lept up into the chair without question.
Calvin rolled her eyes, and grabbed Molly's tail in her teeth. Pulling the little giraffe Ust backwards, Calvin butted her head under the kid and Molly landed on her back... Then Calvin glanced up at Harley. "Get up on the arm." And she hopped up into the chair without waiting to see if Harley obeyed...
Molly clung to Calvin's ears with her teeth, causing the older jivvin to wince as she continued her bossing. "Now climb up onto her and see if you can reach."
Harley hardly batted and eye at Calvin's bossing--she still got to be the top of the pyramid, so she couldn't have cared less. Once Calvin granted the all-clear, Harley scrambled onto her back, and from there onto Molly's back, with much stepping on of ears and pulling of fur. After a shaky balancing act, she carefully walked her forepaws up the bookcase, straining to reach the old, yellowed volume. "Al...most...." She hopped up, hooking the volume with a claw, and both toppled backwards onto the little pyramid below. "Don't let it rip!" she shouted as she fell, in unison with a separate, very different voice.
The look in the dragon's eyes was one of hunger--and mild concern-- as he approached the group through the opposite bookcase. Both eyes were fixated on the old volume which, despite its fall and haphazard landing atop the Jivvin pile, seemed none the worse for wear. "An excellent job, girls," he praised quietly, eyes never leaving the yellowed book. "Give me the book, and the chair is yours."
Lusivan could see why they called this creature a 'dragon'. It had a feel of ancient evil, of danger. Without waiting for Dici's response to his earlier question, he interposed himself between them and the creature, a low growl coming from his throat as he glared at it.
Shenta, who had scampered over to greet Dici as well stared first at her brother, then at the dragon. Why was Lusi so mad?
Dici huffed. "Why do I always have to be on the safe side.." She said softly and curled her tail around the small female's frame. A light huff again before bringing her sorta out of this 'danger' he said. "You go Lus~" She chirped with a bright smile- total change of emotions. Tucking in her small wings.
"So, they weren't making it up." Canaan's voice shot through the room as he entered, glancing about. He wasn't much of a hard worker, really, more of a musician, and he also didn't have a habit of playing pretend--unless he got something out of it. This was definitely something. Head tilting to one side, he slipped closer, shrewd eyes looking up and down the 'dragon'. He looked like a Jivvin, to Canaan.
"Waaaaaaaiiiit a minute!" He did a quick head count. "We", yes he inserted himself "Do all this work and just get a chair? That's good enough for one or two of us, but there's a lot of us here. I say you have to give us something extra, if you really want that book."
A hop and skip and he was definitely in the middle of things. "And stop growling," He muttered at the only other male. "You're hurtin' my negotiation." Glancing to the side, he winked at one of the girls. "Hey, Calvin." She was a cutie.
"Holey Crap!" Was Calvin's first response as the three of them fell into a pile topped with book... but the exclamaiton was lost among the cries of others, and Calvin was given a moment to reclaim her senses. With wide eyes, she stepped over to Rhenus. "King..." She whispered, uncowering and unafraid. "King, I need you to tell me, if there's a dragon in the room... cause I think I hit my head with a book or a chair or an Ust elbow." She didn't take her eyes off the dragon until Canaan started hitting on her... then the only thing she did with her eyes was roll them with a smile before returning them to the ghost in front of her.
Molly wasn't as scared as she expected to be, really... after all she'd seen the dragon before. Finding herself propped up on top of the book, she simply had a seat.
"I'm....I'm pretty sure that is a dragon," Rhenus admitted, a distinct waver to his voice. It was definitely not a Jivvin, though it was distinctly Jivvin-ish... But dragons that he'd heard of were scaly. Of course, he hadn't seen a scaly dragon, so the odds were just as good that this was one...
The so-called dragon was utterly uninterested in the group of astonished and terrified youngsters. His eyes left the book only when Canaan's demanding voice reached him, but he seemed unconcerned. "That was my bargain with Harley and Molly." His voice was quiet, but rough, overridden with a thick, unrecognizable accent. "Surely you would not go back on your word?" His question now was for Harley, who considered him thoughtfully from her perch on the chair.
It was not a long deliberation. This noisy newcomer hadn't even helped to move the chair! Why should he get anything? "Dragon's right, s'only fair." Carefully taking the volume in her teeth, she hopped from the chair and continued to speak around it--though, whatever she said was utterly incomprehensible. Smugly, she placed the old volume before the dragon, giving him a cheerful nod to seal the deal before prancing back to examine her chair.
Lusivan completely ignored the noisy, demanding jivvin. This thing was dangerous, and it needed to know that it couldn't hurt his sister or friend without a fight. He didn't know why it wanted this book, but he got the distinct impression that it meant no good.
But why didn't anyone else notice?
Shenta went unresisting with Dici when the familiar blue-black tail swept her close, in fact snuggling closer. Lusi looked almost scared, and that was enough to terrify her. Her brother wasn't afraid of anything.
Dici lightly growled.. under her breath at the demands.. No one should be demanding anything~ but a deal was a deal. She cleared her throat. "Why exactly.. do you want that book mr dragon~" She said softly... Her jade eyes almost closed. Slitted..
"Is it a good book?" She wanted to know something.. she jumped in to something ~ that she didn't know whether she was prepared to comfort.. but what about if he just wanted to see a book? Dangerous was hitting her face from her best friend. Why was he angry? She questioned.. maybe he was like her. Just wanted to read that book~ that you ache to read.
pawing a paw over lus's sister and letting her tuck in to the fur upon her stomach. Comfort.
Canaan shot a look at Lusivan as the other male simply ignored him, instead continuing to growl. "What a prat..." He muttered, before nudging Lusivan with his shoulder, voice low. "Are you vapid? That dragon could squash you before you got a whimper out. Maybe you should shut up before you offend him."
A toothy yawn, and Cane sighed as Harley decided to keep her word, giving him the book. Oh, well. It had been worth a shot. "Anything else you need, dragon?" It was an idle question, as he figured the creature had got what it wanted.
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:15 pm
(( 2009 Meta Continued :: Molly, Calvin, Harley, Rhenus, Canaan, Shenta, Lusivan, Dici, the 'Ghost/Dragon' ))
The dragon did not move or speak, but the book's cover twitched once, twice, and slowly, achingly slowly, rose to a perpendicular and fell open. Pages followed more quickly, turning rapidly as if blown by a gust of wind. However, with each passing page, the dragon's expression shifted from the earlier excited hunger to confusion, and on into anger. Pages spun and his expression darkened, until one gust sent a flyaway page spinning up into the air. He caught a corned deftly with a claw and slammed it back to the now-still book. The book's pages, every one of its pages, were blank. This scrap was not.
His eyes perused the parchment, intangible claws curling and uncurling through the floorboards. And quite suddenly he seemed to calm, indeed, even sadden, shoulders wilting as the fury left his body. This...this had to be some sort of mistake. This was a map. The map was large, folded several times, and old, very old--older still than the book that had hidden it. But it's path was clearly marked, and at the end...
With Canaan's question, the dragon slowly looked back up, considering the Drada for a long moment before speaking in his strange voice. "You spoke before of wanting a prize... I will give you the opportunity to earn it. All of you," he offered graciously, raising his voice to address the entire group. "This....this is not my book, Harley. It seems someone has taken it from me, and left this in its place." He seemed genuinely distraught, as if the loss of this book to such trickery was truly heartfelt.
"If you would find it for me, there are valuable treasures indeed that I would have for you. More rare and exotic than anything you see here in this room."
"Wait" Calvin suddenly found her voice, and walked over to the where the book lay on the floor. She had a question for this dragon. "You're see through... what are you gonna do with an old book? ... And anyway, who are you that you own the library chairs, and what's so important about the book?" Okay, so she had a few questions. She resisted the urge to lay a paw on the book in front of her, guessing that the dragon couldn't pick it up anyway.
Molly just shook her head at the older female. "she's gonna get eatted."
Lusivan lowered his growl, not due to the other jivvin's comments - anyone worried about insulting the creature wouldn't have demanded a bigger reward - but because he was confused. He was sure the creature was evil. It certainly put out that feeling. But...it wasn't acting evil. And despite himself, he was intrigued. Still keeping himself between his sister and friend, and the 'dragon', he glanced back at Dici.
"What do you think? Should we pursue this, or just walk away?" He didn't want to leave all these obviously clueless Ust unprotected, but if Dici wanted to get away, that was his primary concern.
Shenta was busy trying to decide whether to run and join the others - this thing certainly didn't seem mean - or stay here with Dici and Lusi. When she heard her brother, though, she knew the decision was about to be made for her - she wasn't about to stay if they left!
"Why not.. its an adventure Lus.." She unwinded her tail and gave his tail a jerk when she caught the end of it with her maw. "Its only looking for a book. Maybe he likes reading. Ever think of that- never judge a book~ by its cover." She looked to the dragon.. then at Molly and Calvin. Why was everyone seeming to be scared of it. She lived by that rule. Never judge- so she didn't fear it.. She lived in the mansion with her owner. What else would make he believe different.
"So.. You want us.. To find this book~ What does it look like. The same as that one?" Her voice was soft and a kindness to her that didn't amount to gullible but didn't amount to sophisticated neither. Normal.. Thats what she was. Looking to Lus's sister. "Looks like your making your decision as well.. I don't wanna walk away if we can help it." Her heart's will very strong.. but she wouldn't be taken down as easily as everyone thought neither.
If the dragon was surprised that Calvin would speak against him, he hid it well, and replied as calmly as ever. "Why, read it," he offered with a tone that suggested there was no other possible thing one might do with a book....which, really, wasn't too far off. "This library is mine because I was here first, and I want that book because it was taken from me." Surely those answers would be enough for children. He didn't have to, and wasn't about to, explain himself. He could tempt someone without it.
"The venture would be worth your while," he pressed once more, sweeping the scythe tail around before himself to hover over the book. It was transparent, yes, but the scythe more than dissuaded the possibility of anyone snatching the book and running. However, that was not his entire purpose; at the tip of the scythe, a low glow formed, condensing and solidifying into a glittering gemstone, which hovered in the air on the tailtip even as the light diminished. "One such gem....for each of you who goes in search. After you bring me the book."
Shenta bounced. "THat's shiny! I want one! Let's go!" Moreover, it was an adventure with Dici and her brother!
"How it looks isn't what worries me..." Lusivan mumbled, then added louder, "It looks like we're going in search as well, then." He wasn't about to leave those he cared about unprotected, after all. He smiled back at Dici, trying to be reassuring - whether for her or himself, though, he wasn't sure.
"If you're chicken, get outta here, we don't need you... but I'm staying." A nod toward Calvin's group. "And I bet they are, too, at least to keep tabs on this guy." He didn't seem too intimidated by the dragon-jivvin. After all, he didn't seem to be able to touch anything... Yet.
Canaan took it upon himself to pick up the map, considering it his own, now, and gave the dragon a long look. "This a spell book, or something? To get your powers back? I bet it's frustrating not being able to touch things." A quick grin. If it was for something like that, Canaan expected some awesome prizes. One gem? Hah. He glanced across the book to Calvin. She didn't seem the scared type. Although, it was smart to be a little cautious.
"How about we discuss payment when we see what you're getting." A slight frown. After all, they'd kind of gotten buggered over on the chair...
Calvin was chewing on her lip as she considered the deal. This was a REAL DRAGON! With some kind of magic that created crystals... She glanced at Canaan as he pciked up the map and watched him try and strike a bargain, then she turned to Rhenus and tried to guess what he was thinking... it was the age old question, when adventure comes knocking, do you answer the door?
Molly wasn't scared anymore. She was in the back of the room, and there were plenty of other jivvins in front of her, and most of them were currently between her and the Dragon. She found herself admiring Calvin and Canaan's seeming fearlessness, and was glad that she was in the back. It was easier to see what was going on from this vantage point.
The dragon chose to ignore Canaan's remarks concerning the book; he would offer no validation of them nor dismissal. Let them think what they would. "Bring me the book, and you shall have a reward fit for kings." He left it at that, and quite suddenly he was gone; creating the crystal had tapped him, now he would rest and await their return. Someone was bound to take up his challenge, foolish whelps.
With the dragon's departure, Rhenus seemed to regain some of his senses, and let his gaze wander from the enthusiastic Canaan, to Calvin, to Lusivan and his group. Harley, completely unfazed by the strange transparent dragon, struck a noble pose from her perch upon her chair--her chair--and brightly called over to Canaan. "We're in! When do we leave, are where are we going?"
"I assume the map will tell us. What doe sit show?" Lusivan walked over to take a look, his sister Shenta racing past, very eager to begin this adventure now that the decision was made and the danger apparently gone.
Canaan folded the map up neatly, shooting a glare at Lusivan, and spoke to him, briefly, before picking it up in his teeth and carefully carrying it over to where Harley sat. "I'll let you know if we need someone to do some growling. This concerns real adventurers." He didn't care if the Uuthili tagged along, but Canaan didn't like being ignored, especially by someone his own age. Let that teach him!
Harley seemed cool, though, just like Calvin. That green jivvin didn't seem bad, either. He nodded to the others, and grinned, toothily, letting the map drop onto the floor and placing a careful paw on it. "I think we should get some food to bring with us, then we can begin our treasure hunt!"
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:15 am
(( 2009 Meta Part II :: Molly, Calvin, Harley, Rhenus, and MANY others. ))
With the majority of the group up for the challenge and the small regard for planning and preparing that came with a young age, the group of youngsters quickly came to a decision: They would leave today, now, and be back even before their bondeds thought them missing. The old tattered map was unfolded and spread across the library floor so all could have a clear view. The area it encompassed was massive, overreaching even the forests surrounding the House and stretching far to the north. But even so various locations of significance were clearly marked, and scribbled notations from the map's previous owner offered helpful advice towards overcoming certain obstacles, such as where to find food, or where there may be Ssan. Of course, the map was centuries old; with the way the forest changed, who knew how much was relevant.
With luck, the major locations would have stayed the same. The House and it's pond were clearly marked in their clearing, so large to the little Jivvins who might have wandered it, but almost insignificant on the map. To the north stretched a large lake and, west of that, something noted only as 'The Village'. Their direction, however, was suggested by a fine scrawl of silvery-blue writing that appeared over the paper even as the watched. A single word, Book, over a location mid-forest that, other than the large red X that had existed there previously, seemed rather less than exceptional. There were other signs to mark their path, scribbled notes on peculiar trees or berry patches, or this stream or that boulder. But there was no explanation of what awaited at the end, just as there was no verifiable knowledge of whether any of the signs would still be there to guide them.
After a long, thorough look that meant very little to the small Uuthli, Harley nodded brightly and struck off for the door. "Well, let's go then!"
This was a lot different than the last adventure she'd been on. The last one had involved breaking rules and finding cookies and this? Well, this one didn't have an Ani lurking around the corner to help if she needed it... There were more of them this time though; more than just she and Calvin... So maybe that would help the odds out a bit.
"Are you sure we should be going out into the forest? Are you sure it's safe?"
Molly just lifted her head proudly and stalked off after Harley. She had taken in the map and actually could remember quite a bit of the pictures, though the words were more scribbly nonsense to the giraffe jivvin's small brain. Anyway, Harley was in charge here, so that's who she followed.
Calvin found herself getting more and more into this whole adventure. She had spent most of her youth jumping off high places hollering statments suitable for pirates and adventurers, but even she had to admit that everything that had happened to her was only a figment of her (rather large) imagination. THIS was real. She'd had a good long look at the map, and had left the actual carrying of said article to Canaan, or whoever so picked it up. That kind of thing was better suited to lesser pirate ranks... she was a captain after all.
With a grin for Rhenus and Harmony, and a smile for the purpose of little Harley, she set her feet to following.
Rhenus did not entirely share Calvin's views on carrying the map, and so he elected to roll it up and carry it himself. He was probably one of the few who could actually read the writing, anyway. "Ith'll bef finb," he assured Harmony around the map carefully held in his teeth. "Juth treeth."
Harley proud led her little group out of the library and down the "mountainside", down three flights of stairs and on out of the front door. However, on the front porch she paused, glancing uncertainly around the clearing. "So...which way's up?"
At Calvin's grin and Rhenus's reassurance she found a bit of her own courage, chest puffing up and tiny wings fluttering as she took off after the group, certainly not wanting to be left behind. She knew though that the forest was more than just trees. Her elder sisters, Ani aside, wouldn't have chastised her so much about it if that was all it really was... Would they?
"Maps don't go by 'up'. They go by directions like... North and East and Southwest and stuff."
Calvin grinned and glanced at the roof of the building looking for a weather vane or something, but she found the building itself to be kind of indistinct. Shrugging she glanced at the sun and made a guess, and then started off up a path...
"Up is North". She wasn't sure she was walking in the right direction, but adventurers who trusted their gut instincts were way cooler than the ones that had compasses anyway. She made a mental note to herself, that if she ever turned humanjivvin she'd keep a compass in her pocket. "Did it say on the map that we were going up?"
Molly, walking calmly behind Calvin and beside Harley, chimed in "Up and to the side a little."
"Up and to the side a little," Harley agreed cheerfully, not at all abashed at having Calvin take her lead. However, she was with up there with the older Olplyn once she decided upon a direction, strutting along at her side and making a bee-line for the forest. She knew that's where they were going, at least. "Watch out for scribbley lines and big red X's."
Her brow furrowed slightly as she listened to the smaller Jivviness following alongside Calvin. She wasn't completely sure how maps worked but she doubted there would be any sort of lines or x's for them to run into. Instead of running to catch up she lingered back with Rhenus. While Calvin and Harley were the ringleaders of their little band, Rhenus had the map... And if they got lost at all he might have a better chance of knowing where they were going.
What was this?! There was no one to be seen in the Center! Not even so much as a dust bunny! Princeton sat sulking on the porch, his ears back and a feeling of dejection washing over him. He was all alone, and since his bonded had dropped him off on the way to school, he was going to have to be for a while. Sighing softly to himself, the Afya looked up the nearby. Hey! He could go exploring!
About halfway toward the house, he saw the group heading into the forest. Welling up with excitement, the Afya charged toward them, unwilling to be shooed. "Guys! Wait up!" Fitting into the group assumptuously, he asked anyone who would answer him. "Whats going on?"
It was Calvin who answered the incomming Drada. She recognized him right away as being one of the Usts she'd met when she herself was small. "Heya Princeton! We're off on an adventure to find a book for the Dragon that lives in the library." and then without even a pause in her step she grinned at Harley beside her. She had imense respect for the sheer pluck of the smaller jivvin.
Molly, on he other hand, had fallen behind slightly, letting Calvin and Harley take the lead. She glanced at Rhenus and frowned at the map in his teeth. "I don't see any lines on the ground." It wasn't that she doubted her companions, because she couldn't offer any other suggestions for the trip, but she had decided that she did want to be well informed.
"Dere ahn't realleh linds," Rhenus explained patiently around the map. Perhaps carrying it himself wasn't the best idea. He passed it off to Canaan while he explained--the Olplyn had mentioned wanting to carry it in the first place anyway. "The map mentions scenery that'll show us where to go, and where we are. Trees and rocks and stuff. No red lines. Harley's just a goof."
Harley either hadn't heard him or didn't care, for she was still prancing along at Calvin's side. The arrival of the new Afya distracted her briefly, but she greeted him with a wave of her tail before trotting on forward and in past the tree line. Into the forest! This would be quite the adventure indeed! "Bet we'll see all sorts of things, huh Calvin? Monsters and pirates and...birds! And maybe another dragon!"
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:20 am
(( 2009 Meta Part II Continued :: Molly, Calvin, Harley, Rhenus, and MANY others. ))
Living in a house filled with dragons (one and her twins counted as close enough to 'filled with' in her book) she wasn't as worried about finding dragons in the woods as she was finding whatever it was that spooked Maeve; the Jivvin she thought knew no fear. She kept her eyes out either way, glancing around as she listened in on the various conversations, eventually keeping her wings folded closer to her body so as to not let the tiny appendages snag on anything.
"Calvin! Wait, dragons? I thought you were into pirates?" A dragon... Ok! He didn't know much, but he didn't want to be a bother either with questioning. He turned slightly to the rest of the group as he trotted along. "I'm Princeton! Really, I'm delighted to see you about. I was beginning to think I was on my lonesome. I get to help, right?"
Calvin rolled her eyes and shot a sly smile at Princeton, then she winked down at Harley. "I'm not into pirates... I AM a pirate. And sure there will be birds and monsters... I hear that there's giant snakes out here that can eat you whole." She nodded at that. Her Ssan information had come directly from her older brothers... so of course it wasn't great. "And you know, as fond as I am of dragons... one a day is my fill, really."
As usually, Molly listened intently and watched the others as they talked and bonded. It was educational to say the least. And as Rhenus explained about the 'lines' and that there would be things along the way that they saw which would tell them that they were going the right direction, she pictured the map in her mind. She remembered the lines and pictures printed on the surface and recalled that the first funny picture on the map looked like a rock with a bunch of squiggles all around it. She was about to say somthing about a squiggly rock, but it suddenly occured to her that the squiggles could be writing... and she couldn't read yet.
"So we're looking for a squiggly rock or a funny tree or something?" She had a feeling that if she knew exactly what they looking for, then it would be easier to find. .... that was Molly logic.
"Giant snakes?" Harley's eyes went wide, not with fear, but excitement. Pirates and birds were well enough, but giant snakes? Easily the coolest thing ever. She would have to make a point of looking for them. "Giants snakes would be even better than dragons. I wonder where they live."
"Squiggley rock sounds about right," Rhenus admitted, thinking about to the map and the first landmark. "But I don't think it's actually squiggled, I think it's carved, if I remember right. Carvings of those snakes that Harley and Calvin are talking about," he added, nodding up towards the pair. "And it'll be really big. Don't worry, though." The Afya smiled. "I bet those're the only snakes we'll actually see."
"Oh. Good choice- no whales here to swallow you up." Princeton noted in return, grinning a little. At the talk of snakes, however, he frowned a bit.
"Well I hope we don't come upon any. Because if they don't eat them, the poison might!" He didn't think overgrown garter snakes was a possibility. A carved stone... The male began to sweep his head side to side as if panning a radar. His tail twitched, curled in a loop, unwound again. Eager. Even if it didn't sound like the most 'wholesome' activity, it was better than being by himself. And he'd never met a dragon before.
"At least we're all together... If anything happens." She nodded slowly as she glanced up at Rhenus, offering a smile at both he and Molly. Traveling in groups was a good thing... That had to be why she'd always been told not to wander off by herself. At least she was with friends this time. "What are we supposed to do once we find the squiggly rocks?"
Canaan had been able to read the map quite easily, but he also read a lot, and was older than most of the group. Now though, he was content to hold the map, lost in his own thoughts. There were a lot of Jivvins in the group now... One had to wonder if the dragon really had gems for them all. In fact, one had to wonder if the dragon was really going to pay them at all.
If Canaan was him, he wouldn't pay the hoard of baby jivvins. A slight frown around the map and he rolled his shoulders, hurrying up a bit to trot along at Calvin's side. Well, it'd be an adventure nonetheless.
Calvin smiled at Canaan as he caught up to the front of the troupe. He had the map, and that was fine by her. "Snakes are..." She thought for a second. "Snakes are dangerous if you don't know what you're doing." Of course, at this point, she neglected to mention that she was one of those jivvins that had no clue what she was doing when it came to snakes. "We just need to avoid them. There's no way they can get all of us at once, but we should try and not sacrifice one to save the whole." Nod.
Molly frowned. So it was a squiggly rock they were looking for, and it was big... apparently. She began to train her eyes on the surroundings, keeping an eye out for any big squiggly rocks. The question of what they would do when the saw the rock was a good one, but she was a little creeped out by the snakes being mentioned at the front of the troupe and was trying to keep close to Rhenus without getting stepped on.
"I know exactly what I'm doing around snakes," Harley lied brightly, picking up her pace to trot before her friends, and spinning around to walk backwards so she could address the older Drada while doing so. Nevermind that she ran into one branch and tripped over another; she could see everyone better this way. "I'll protect you. I can fight 'em all!"
Rhenus might have been tall, and confident, and perhaps a little brave--but he was also an Afya, and most of that confidence depended on his knowledge that this was actually a safe situation. Despite seeing the dragon, he was fairly sure there was no threat to this adventure. He had been in the forest between the House and the Center tons of times with Coen. Surely this area wouldn't be so different. "We'll be fine," he assured Harmony once more, nodding. "Back before dinner time, I bet. It can't be too, too far."
"I know a lot about dragons... But not much about snakes other than the dragon I live with doesn't like them much. They like to live in her garden though..." She murmured, glancing down for a moment before letting her gaze drift ahead of her. She then looked back at Rhenus. "One of my sisters said that the forest is always changing... Have you heard anything about that before? It might effect our travel time a little bit."
Princeton had to smile at Harley's valiant show, in the way that he found it quite endearing of her. While he himself could not say he was exactly scared of snakes, having not seen any outside of the television, he was still wary of the idea. But everyone else seemed so confident, and it rubbed off. Even now he was beginning to feel bigger. "Okay, you're the number one snake slayer if we see any!"
Of course, he wouldn't really let an Ust try such a feat. But this was a time for big talk, and Princeton was the type to play along. He perked an ear toward Rhenus, and sidled closer to his fellow Afya almost shyly. "Is there really a dragon?" He asked as an aside to the other male, as if he thought he'd get a more straight answer that way. "I thought dragons were bad? Are we doing something bad..?" He hushed in leu of the female's question, feeling quite out of the loop for not knowing all of these things.
"You live with a dragon?" Rhenus seemed impressed, and perhaps slightly reassured. If Harmony could be so calm in the face of dragons, they surely had nothing to worry about from this one. "We're not doing anything bad," he assured Princeton with a little laugh. "We're just book hunting. And...I don't know, Harmony. Moo's mentioned something about that before, but she didn't really explain herself... She usually doesn't." He laughed. "I doubt we'll have any trouble finding it."
In point of fact, Rhenus was quite wrong. It was several hours of tramping through the trees, with the sun moving steadily across the sky to glare down at them between the branches, before there was any hint of rocks to the ground, and a good twenty minutes more across rocky, crumbling terrain before there was any sight of a large structure. Even then, then rock more found them, appearing suddenly ahead as the rounded a grove of trees in the form of a massive, open-mouthed Ssan. The single Ssan was surrounded by several others, the mass twined and bristling and carved of sheer, smooth stone, weather worn from the centuries it had stood among the trees.
Harley nearly walked down the stone Ssan's throat before she noticed it; her cheer was more of a strangled shriek, and she promptly darted back behind Calvin to hide.
Calvin stopped short and stared at the rock in front of them with her mouth hanging open a little. The rock in front of them was shaped like a giant Ssan... and it was awesome. She twirled her tail protectively over Harley more for Harley's comfort than to actually protect the Ust and turned to Canaan. "That is awesome." Then she looked back at Rhenus and Princeton with a grin. "I wish I had a camera... I'd take pictures of me laying in it's mouth looking like I was getting eaten." the thought obviously appealed to her.
Molly stepped out from between Princeton and Rhenus and approached the rock cautiously. "That does not look like a squiggly rock, that looks like a snake rock." Which come to think of it was a little squiggly. She took a few tenative steps forward and peered into the 'mouth' of the rock, imagining what it would be like to look down the gullet of such a creature. "Are they really this big?"
"Three of them." She nodded slowly. "A big, momma dragon and her two little ones... And a fairy-lady and their kids and three other Jivvin... And the Jivvin who doesn't live with us anymore but visits sometime." She could probably go on about her family for a while and perhaps she did for a while... Up until she was startled by the shriek, stumbling back herself. "Is... Is that... The rock?" She hoped so; hoped that it wasn't alive, or wouldn't come to life, backing up slowly.
"This has to be the rock," Rhenus answered quietly. He had hung back for most of the walk, guarding from behind as it were, but now edged forward to get a good look at the massive sculpture. After a long moment he again nodded, and without taking his eyes from the stone gestured for Canaan to hand over the map. "So, we've found the first landmark... We'll have to see what's next."
While Rhenus perused the map, Harley made up for her earlier fear, scooting forward and running a circle around the large stone. "This is the snakes? They're not so bad. I can handle big rocks."
"Don't go too far," Rhenus shouted after her without looking up. "So, the next thing we want to find is this stream, see." With a claw he pointed out the little trail of blue on the map, crossing the path between them and the big red X. "That'll tell us that we're getting closer."
Canaan briefly dropped the map, his jaw falling open as he stared up at the maw of the stone beast. "Woooaaaah." A bold grin was shot to Calvin, and he nodded eagerly. "Wicked awesome." Spreading the map open to get another good look, his voice was more cheerful than his thoughts had been an hour ago.
It was, after all, getting quite late. "Well, at least now we don't have so much more to go. I bet that the rest of the journey'll go a lot faster, now!"
"I wonder..." She paused for a moment before straightening herself out, standing as tall as she could. "... I wonder if the stream is large enough that you can hear it... Or if you can smell it." She knew the pond out behind her house had a distinct clear smell about it... And the stream feeding it smelled fresh, like springtime. "What direction is it in, Rhenus?"
"Woah." Was all Princeton could really say after the hours of dundering around the woods. He didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned for brave little Harley, but he did frown a little at Calvin, shaking his head while he fought a smile. "You're crazy, Calvin." He murmured, stepping closer.
"What does the map say now?" He wondered. "Do we have to go in... there?" He felt a little weird already walking into a snake's gullet, rock or no.
"That's a good idea, Harmony," Rhenus agreed, nodding enthusiastically as he rolled up the map once more. "We'll probably hear the stream before we see it. Canaan's right, though, it should be easier to find than this rock was. Bigger." Rhenus was a very matter-of-fact sort. Take one step at a time, and do it right. "Let's get going, we don't want to get stuck out here overnight."
She shook her head quickly in agreement. Although she wasn't all that sure that the forest was as scary as she'd been told, she didn't think she wanted to chance it by being stuck out here overnight, even with others. "Let's get going... The sooner we find the stream and that silly book the sooner we can get back to the center."
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Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:35 am
(( 2009 Meta, Drada and Ust Scenes Continued :: ))
A stream would be easy to find, Rhenus had said. Follow your nose, or follow your ears, said Harmony. But neither remark had offered much help just yet; the stone statue was several hours behind them by this point, and the sun was sinking low in the sky. Most of the party was growing restless, or worried, or sick of the whole attempt. But what more could they do? The Center was at least a half day's walk behind them. The couldn't make that before the sun went down.
"It's gonna get dark soon," Harley pointed out for perhaps the umpteenth time from where she trotted along as the head of the group. "Are we gonna have to sleep out here?"
Lusivan and Shenta were worried about the time as well. Elminith was going to be furious when they got back. But at this point, there was nothing to do but to go onwards.
Lusivan glanced back at his sister. She was obviously tiring quickly - not surprising, given how young she was. "Hey, get up on my back. I can carry you for a bit."
Shenta blinked up at her big brother, then threw herself over his ribs. THey'd done this before - not often, they got in trouble for it, jivvin backs weren't made like horse's after all - and they both knew Lusivan's limits. He couldn't carry her for long, but it'd be long enough to give her little legs and feet some rest.
"No way I'm sleeping out here." She shook her head. "At least... Not unless someone's going to take turn watching for stuff. That's what adventurers do, you know. They take turns watching while the other one sleeps so nothing sneaks up on them while they're all sleeping. That'd be bad, y'know."
Molly wasn't worried about anyone looking for her... she doubted that they'd even notice that she was gone really (and in truth she was right), but she didn't really want to spend the night out in the woods with a bunch of jivvin children that she'd just met. She wanted her bed with all it's little blankets and pillows. With a sigh she padded along beside Rhenus. "Do you think the grown ups will come looking for us at all?" She asked the question to the group rather than anyone in particular.
Calvin was still in good spirits and had a measurable energy about her. This whole real life advertureing was just as good as the imaginary kind. She'd never have been able to think up a rock like that one they'd seen just a little while ago... and now they were looking for a stream... at least everyone else was... Calvin wasn't looking for anything. She was adventuring, and had better things to do than actually keep an eye out. "My brothers will come looking for me if I don't come home soon... so that'll be at least two grownups out here looking." She nodded her head proudly.
Canaan wasn't doing too badly, actually. Sure, he was rather lazy, as his rank was wont to be, however, living with Jan had made him used to physical activity. On his back was the knapsack the blonde had given him, one he was able to reach into with his mouth to pull things out, and after an hour of carrying the stupid map in his teeth, he'd give up and shoved it inside. Now, though, he stopped walking, to sit, frowning.
"Let's think. We won't make it back." At least he'd brought some food. "We should stop walking when it gets dark, cuz we won't find anythin' that way. So, let's all stop talking, and listen for water as we walk, and when the sun sets, find a place to sleep."
He'd gone camping before. This was different, but at least there were a lot of them.
"The grown-ups'll come looking," Rhenus assured Molly brightly, even after Calvin admitted as much. He was sure Moo would send a few people after them once Coen announced he was missing. He wasn't entirely sure if he liked the idea of people coming after them. Yes, they were out late, but nothing bad had happened! "But if the grown-ups find us first, they might make us go back without the book."
"Canaan's got the right idea of it, though," he decided aloud, nodding. "Harmony too. We'll walk until the sun goes down and, if we don't find the stream by then, we'll take turns sleeping and watching so that nothing sneaks up one us."
"We should make sure that we hide real good when we stop then; so the grown ups don't find us... And so no bad guys find us either." Her nose wrinkled as she upped her step, somehow finding a new burst of energy. "I can take one of the first watches! I'm not tired yet."
Calvin snorted her disgust at the idea of her taking a watch, and Molly found herself inclined to agree. Though the little Ust was starting to relish the idea of settling down as her paws were covered in dirt and mud of varying colours. As she wondered when they were going to hear this stream, she realized she wasn't entirely sure what a stream would sound like... "Does a stream sound like a lake?" She wondered out loud before remembering that Canaan had told them all to stop talking.
Calvin either didn't remember that they weren't supposed to be talking, or she didn't care. "Don't be stupid, water doesn't all sound the same." Padding to the front of the group, she made a show of looking around her for whatever, but once again didn't really look around at all. "Streams sound like a water faucet that's been left on a little." She glanced back at the other Drada "Right?"
Rhenus shrugged. "I think so?" He was familiar only with lakes and ponds as well. But he, unlike Calvin apparently, was inclined to believe that water sounded like water. So that was what he was listening for.
Even with their (relative) silence, the sun was just visible through the trees when the sounds of moving water finally reached them. From there, however, it was only a short walk until the stream made its appearance--though stream it certainly was not. In the years since the map had been written, the winding stream had swelled into a hearty, swift-moving river several meters across. The banks were densely covered in thick reeds, but beyond that the water itself was crystal clear, made dark and glittering by the setting sun.
Rhenus, pausing before the reeds, frowned. "...We can't cross that in the dark."
"Then we should make camp here... Since we've got water all we'd need would be food, right? Or a bridge." A bridge, in this instance, would be ideal... Or larger wings, her mind added as an afterthought, prompting her to turn and glare at her two tiny appendages. "Why can't you be useful?" She muttered to herself.
Shenta now fast asleep, once again on his aching back, Lusivan found himself wishing for human hands. That would make crafting a bridge or raft much easier.
"Maybe we should wait for morning then? I'm sure we can find somewhere to hide on this side of the river."
Princeton couldn't frown any deeper. What about his bonded? He'd be worried! By now it was certain that the boy would have come by to pick him up and found that his Jivvin was nowhere to be found. What if Harvard thought he'd run away? Worse- what if he replaced him? The Afya issued a soft whimper as he stared out across the body of water, tail whipping around to better muffle himself. No matter what, though, he couldn't leave. They had gone for hours, and his sense of direction was horrible! He'd never make it back home. It was all or nothing.
"There's gotta be some way," He insisted softly, "Maybe there's already a place to cross?" But his paws were aching. Maybe they should stay...
Calvin scoffed at the group. "You're all a bunch of ninnies. It's not dark yet, it's just mostly dark." She glanced up at the sky and saw that she quickly being proven wrong... it would only be a matter of minutes before they could really say it was night. Striding over to the river she looked out across it and squinted at the opposite bank. It wasn't all that far away it seemed, and so Calvin took two steps into the shallow part of the river....
it was cold.
Really really cold, and Calvin had to fight the sudden impulse to leap out of the water shouting about how cold it really is. Instead she turned to the group and saw the looks on the faces of her friends... "We can stay here though. It probably is better than getting wet in the middle of the night."
Molly just nodded and glanced out over the river... it sounded like a messier lake to her, and she made a mental note not to take everything Calvin said as truth. "Do we want to stay here? Or find a better place to camp?" She asked it of Calvin.
Calvin grinned over at Harmony, and the othe dradas. "What do you guys think? You want to camp here at the water's edge or move back into the woods a little bit?"
"I think we should stay here. If we go into the woods the bad guys could surround us completely. If we stay here then we've got at least one uncrossable boundary." She nodded, smiling brightly. Someone had been watching more television since her first encounter with Calvin; and listening to more far-out stories told by the dragon's elder children. "Who wants to take first watch with me?"
"I will. I'm used to being up late." Lusivan stepped forward, sister still on his back, asleep. He doubted he'd be able to sleep anyway, he'd be wanting to keep an eye on her.
Canaan had taken his own advice, falling silent and listening, and in fact, it didn't take them long to find the river, after that, he'd moved a bit away from the group, investigating the water himself. He was definitely not attempting to cross that in semi-darkness. "We need to wait. We don't know how dark it is... And there may be a place to cross." A sigh and he considered the group. He was, quite probably, unless they'd hidden it well, the only one with food, and he wasn't exactly the most generous jivvin.
"I vote to stay on the riverbank. At least then we can see what's coming." He would do a watch, too, if only because he didn't trust Lusivan to protect them as they slept. "I'll take the second watch." He pause and he glanced back out at the warer. "None of the babies should take one, so." That was his opinion, anyway.
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Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:39 am
(( 2009 Meta, Drada and Ust Scenes Continued :: ))
Calvin glanced at Rhenus for dissagreement quickly and when she found none, she turned back to the others with a grin. "That settles it then, we'll camp here where it's safer, and Harmony and Luisivan can take first shift." She nodded for Molly and Harley to settle down closer to the water. "I don't think that Usts should take shifts at all, they're a little too young really... and as for that Lusivan, why don't you leave your sister here with the others? She looks like she's mostly asleep anyway." Cally turned and looked over her remaining troups.
"Um... We'll decide here at camp who should get next shift on watch... We've got enough Drada to make a couple rounds before we'll be repeating anyone." Glancing at Harmony she spared her 'sister' a grin. "You gonna be okay out there?"
"Of course I'll be okay." She grinned, wings twittering. "I mean... I get to stay up late and watch for bad guys and..." Okay, so there was something that should be potentially frightening about the entire situation and maybe she'd realize that the moment something decided to go 'bump' in the night but, for the moment, she'd be fine. "So Lusivan and I will go first... And when we get tired we'll come back and wake whoever's going next up. That's how watches go, I think."
Lusivan nodded and gently set his sister down among the other Usts. She mumbled and almost-but not quite-turned over, but that was all. He then walked over to join Harmony. Interesting that the first watch consisted of Uuthli - maybe they should watch from trees, since they wouldn't be bothered by heights the way some others might.
"Harmony, right? What do you say we take our posts in the trees? Better view, from there."
Canaan resisted the urge to make a face, instead shifting around for a bit toward the edges of the group, taking a seat as he stared at the water. Watch from the trees? It was hard to climb trees, in his opinion. "If you do see something, won't it be a bit hard to run back and wake us all if you're in the trees?"
The sun was definitely down now, and he was more than a little displeased about being stuck out here. Sure, when he went camping with Jan she didn't bring a tent or anything, but at least she usually had a fire and music. Cane loved music. Now he was stuck with Jivvins he didn't even know [other than Calvin, and she busy being buddies with that Rhenus, who didn't seem so bad, but still], and NOW they were pairing up to do watch?
No one was gonna volunteer to pair with him, after all, they didn't have enough even numbers to go around. A sigh and he shrugged off his pack, resting his jaw on it. "We're gonna run out of watchers real fast if we go in pairs." A pause. "Though, it might be safer to go in pairs, and they can keep each other awake." He wasn't one to deny the pros of a situation, even if they irked him.
The Afya sighed and resigned to his fate. Harvard was just going to have to deal with a night without him, though he certainly hadn't planned it this way. There were mentions of watches going on, and Princeton didn't have the faintest idea of why it was called for. Then again, he had been raised in captivity, spoiled, protected. What could be so evil that it would harm a bunch of rag-tag children?
He quirked his ears at the babble, but was a little beyond it all. But he had to agree- if they could afford it, the smaller Jivvins shouldn't be expected to stay up. And he was older.
"I'll watch with you?" He offered Canaan, quirking a hopeful smile at the other. This Jivvin seemed to be knowing what he was doing. "As far as I understand, we only have to watch the night."
The Afya sighed and resigned to his fate. Harvard was just going to have to deal with a night without him, though he certainly hadn't planned it this way. There were mentions of watches going on, and Princeton didn't have the faintest idea of why it was called for. Then again, he had been raised in captivity, spoiled, protected. What could be so evil that it would harm a bunch of rag-tag children?
He quirked his ears at the babble, but was a little beyond it all. But he had to agree- if they could afford it, the smaller Jivvins shouldn't be expected to stay up. And he was older.
"I'll watch with you?" He offered Canaan, quirking a hopeful smile at the other. This Jivvin seemed to be knowing what he was doing. "As far as I understand, we only have to watch the night."
Lusivan barely resisted glaring at Canaan. "We're Uuthli. I don't know about Harmony, but even though my wings aren't fully grown in yet, I haven't had a problem jumping off of anything under twenty feet since I reached Drada. Fifteen or so feet up would be plenty to get a good view of the camp and surrounding area."
"I've gotten better at climbing trees..." She nodded slowly after a moment, pausing to glance at the trees in their general area. It'd be easier if they could find one with branches to grab onto low enough that it'd make for an easier climb. "Alright. Everyone who's not watching first should get some rest so we can start out again as soon as there's first light!"
Canaan smirked, sitting up, and flashed his teeth at Lusivan in what could've been a grin, or a barring of teeth. "I'm well aware of your rank. Stop wasting my time and go play guard, wingboy. I'm tired of you."
The Olplyn, having dismissed the Uuthli in his mind and physically as well, picked up his pack in his teeth, shifting past the other Drada to sit near Princeton. He would be with Calvin? That was alright. A grin. "Princeton, right? I'm Canaan." Might as well attempt to be sociable.
He was a little confused as Calvin made another suggestion for a partner to him. Looking a little sheepish, he hoped for something to happen that would make the choice for him. The Olplyn seemed to have accepted his offer, and the Afya visibly perked as the other came to join him. He kept his opinion to himself over the brief trade between the Uuthli and his new watch partner, although he was a little uneasy toward the vibe of ill feelings.
"Yes, that's right," He confirmed, brightening a little more. "Nice to meet you, Canaan." Then, glancing around the group, he leaned his head slightly closer to the Olplyn, his voice fading to a humble whisper. "I've never held watch before, I hope you don't mind...?"
She managed to find a tree with branches low enough that she could pull herself up, making it no higher than maybe ten feet before stopping, resisting the urge to cling to the branch she was balanced on. Taking a deep breath she glanced down. Alright, so maybe this wasn't all that bad... "So... You let me know if you see anything, alright, Lusivan? And I'll let you know too... And when we get too tired we'll go back and wake u whoever's next."
"That works. Let me know when you get tired." Lusivan trotted over to a tree at the opposite side of the camp, and quickly climbed to a branch about fourteen feet from the ground. He had climbed trees a lot, even as an Ust. They made good hiding places. Humans rarely thought to look up.
Calvin shook quickly to try and get the last of the cold water out of her leg fur and then she settled down close to the nearly sleeping Usts. This was good, and she didn't care who went next on watch, because they should have a good deal of time before the Uuthlis got done with their shift. She watched Canaan and Princeton getting to know each other, and smiled at Rhenus once before staring out over the river. Somewhere on the other side of that river was a book. A book that had something really really useful in it, maybe a map to treasure, or the formula for everlasting life... or something. She was so glad she was on this adventure and she'd take whatever punishment Lily gave her when she got back.
Molly let her head droop onto the dirt in front of her... apparently she had been more tired than she'd realized, and it had really set in once she'd stopped moving.
Canaan's grin was actually reassuring, and he nodded at Princeton. "Eh, don't worry about it, it's mainly just paying attention." Glancing around he saw that the babies had all pretty much fallen asleep, that was good. "Hey, Calvin?" A smile that was a mix of resignation and helpfullness. "If anyone's hungry, I've a good amount of food. I figure we'll feed the babies as they wake up, at this point."
She didn't know whether or not she should be expecting something exciting to happen or not, certain that her mind was better at making things up instead. Every now and then she'd swear that she saw something moving only to find out that it was nothing more than the breeze... Or her tail ticking a bit too close to one of her legs.
Eventually, what had to be a fewl hours later, she felt her eyes starting to droop, her body threatening to slide off of her branch. "Lusivan? Lusi?" Her voice was a hushed whisper as she spoke out in the darkness, not wanting to wake anyone up or alert anything that might be lurking to her presence. "Hey... Are you sleepy?"
Lusivan decided that standing watch suited him. Part of him had always felt like a warrior or a guard, and this fit perfectly. He barely noticed the time passing as he kept alert, watching over the other jivvins and listening for anything out of the ordinary, until he heard Harmony.
"Not really, but if you are we can wake the next watch. I get the feeling that I won't feel tired until I stop."
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