Well now, wasn’t this a droll day? Aphrodite found herself bored, wandering the streets of King's City. Everyone out seemed to be children or their mothers. Hardly anyone was even looking at her! Aphrodite was really close to pouting as she entered a more residential area. Oh, what was this now? A tall delicious redhead walking... oh, with a little kid. That was a little disappointing, but could still be fun. The redhead seemed to be about the right age. Yes, he should provide some entertainment.

Ciaran had been working on homework, even though it was Saturday. His brother, Finn, was getting underfoot as Mrs. Archer was trying to arrange the livingroom to where she was satisfied. But with a seven year old hanging off of every piece of furniture she was trying to move, it was becoming impossible. Finally, Mrs. Archer gave up and called up the stairs.

"Ciaran, cm'ere please." His mother's voice reached him in his room. She sounded annoyed, so Ciaran quickly finished what he was working on and closed up his books to see what was the matter. He took the stairs two at a time until he was face to face with his mother. "Ciaran, be a love 'n take Finn out will ya?" The look his mom cast to Finn almost made Ciaran chuckle. He knew that glance oh too well. Finn was being a pest, and she was at her limit.

"Sure ma." Ciaran nodded. "Aye, Finn, wanna go t' th'park?" The dark haired boy popped up into view, peeking over the stairs.

"Ya mean it?" He asked slightly skeptically.

"Of course. When 'av I ere lied to ya?"

That seemed to placate the boy as he threw his hands up with a 'yay!' before grabbing Ciaran's hand and trying to tug him to the door. "Ya both be careful." Their mother said as the boys headed to the door. It was echoed by both replying "We will." As if it was a programmed response.

Walking together, Ciaran and Finn really didn't look much like brothers. Ciaran had their father's brown eyes and iron straight hair, though it was red like his mother's. Finn had black hair like their father, but it was a mass of wild curls like their mother, and his eyes were bright green to match hers.

It was nice that they lived so close to the park. Ciaran had no problems walking with his brother so he could play, and on days like this, not irritate their mother. There were usually a few kids at the park, no matter when they came by. But today, it seemed they had the park to themselves. Finn took off instantly for the swings, shouting that he could swing higher than Ciaran could. Ciaran jogged after his brother so they could have a swing race.

Aphrodite watched as the boy of interest played with that pesky little kid for a while. But not soon enough, the little rugrat was done with the swings and was off on the chimp bars... or whatever it was. She didn't care, and approached the redhead. She sat on the swing beside him, settling herself in the most elegant and sexy way she could, and waited for the boy to address her.

She hadn't counted on being ignored. How irritating! Aphrodite started pouting, staring at the boy who was so focused on watching that child instead of her. How dare he! She cleared her throat and thrust her chest out a little, trying to entice him. Finally, the red heads eyes glanced her way. "Can I help you?" There, now he at least paid attention to her.

"I have a proposition for y-"

"Finn, don't fall off of there." Ciaran interrupted her to shout to his brother. Finn looked over and waved, signaling he’d heard and would pretend to do as asked. "Sorry, you were saying?" Again, a sleeting glance to the woman before watching his brother again.

Well, if he was going to be so rude maybe she shouldn't help him out. After all, what was so special about a rude, tall, piece of eye candy? She was much better off... Oh whatever. Aphrodite figured that she was already here, and he'd listen to her soon enough. "I was just going to offer you something amazing."

"Not interested." Came the soft, but firm reply. What was this boy thinking? People should jump for the chance at something amazingly fantastic from her. She huffed at him and folded her arms.

"I don’t believe that for an instant." She replied. "But if you want to play hard to get fine. Not like I have anything to loose." Folding her arms, she waited. Any moment now...

"Ciaran!" The tall boy was on his feet instantly at his brother's call. "Tere's ah dog comin." Finn stood up on the top of the bars and was looking at a pink fluff approaching.

"Donna touch it." Ciaran warned, spotting the fluff as well. It didn't look right, not like a dog at all. For one it was pink. And it didn't seem to have 4 legs. He honestly couldn't see legs at all. There was no way that was a dog. He took a half step before the woman beside him grabbed his arm.

"I wouldn't do that." She advised. "At least not without this." She held her palm out to him. In her hand was a green stone. Ciaran eyed it then his attention snapped back to Finn when he screamed.

"Ciaran! 'ELP!" Finn shrieked as the pink thing was standing under him, jumping and snapping at him, though it had no hope of reaching the boy as long as he stayed on the bars. Ciaran's mind blanked out for a moment before his gaze snapped to the green stone the woman was offering. He grabbed it quickly and turned to throw it.

"HEY! Don’t do that!" Aphrodite stomped her foot and grabbed the too tall boy's arm to keep him from throwing that. Honestly! Beacons were so hard to give up, really. Ok not really, but if he threw it she wouldn't get her entertainment. "If you throw it the little brat's probably going to get eaten, and then you're next on the menu. But that will help you save him."

"'Ow?" Ciaran demanded, feeling helpless for a moment. Of course, Aphrodite took a step away and smiled impishly. Oh, he was curious, and he wanted to know more. Well, she wasn't about to tell him! Specially not after he so blatantly ignored her earlier. She could play that game too. Aphrodite sat back down on the swing.

"You should figure it out and go help the little guy. Looks like the 'dog' is starting to climb the bars." She was right. Using teeth and feet, the chompa had seemed to figure out how to start climbing up the monkey bars. Finn saw it too and shrieked, trying to get to the other side of the bars.

"FINN!" Ciaran shouted as his brother slipped between two of the bars and landed on the ground. To hell with what this woman was saying, he had to go save his brother! Ciaran didn’t know what came over him and dashed forward. Something seemed wrong, different. He felt absolutely strange as he reached the monkey bars and grabbed the pink thing...

...And promptly dropped it. That wasn't his arm! It was all hard looking, and his fingers were like claws. What was this? What was going on? Ciaran tried looking down at himself. His knees bent the wrong way, and he had clawed toes... and a loin cloth? WHAT?! But his confusion was shoved to the back of his mind when the pink thing lunged at him. Ciaran turned, swinging with his tail and smacking the fluffy thing down.

Tail. Could this get any more strange? He had a tail for Christ's sake! Aphrodite was nearly falling off the swing in her giggles at how silly the boy looked. He had transformed rather quickly. It must have been because he really wanted to save that little brat. But his reaction to seeing that... rather 'unique' form was priceless. Oh how she did love the big reveal. When the monstrous boy hit the pink thing. Aphrodite flinched slightly. That sounded like it hurt. She wasn't sure who it would have hurt though. The chompa was on it's little feet again instantly, and the beast Ciaran had become was still poised, snarling at the chompa. She wondered what he’d do when he discovered those wings on his back. He was flexing them like he knew they were there, but he was otherwise oblivious to them.

The chompa regained itself, and was very irritated with Ciaran at this point, lunging at him, only to get a facefull of claws slamming it to the ground. He really didn't want to fight or hurt this thing, but it attacked his brother, and now was trying to eat him. Releasing the pink fluff, it lunged for him again, latching onto his tail and trying to chomp down, only to find the appendage was made of stone, and several of it's teeth broke with the force of the bite. This was getting old now, and Ciaran slammed his tail into the metal of the monkey bars, crushing the chompa between the metal and his tail, and crumpling the metal supports on one side.

The pink thing stopped moving, and seemed like it was starting to vanish. That was... a good thing, right? Ciaran didn’t know, and he really wasn't sure. "Finn...!" his eyes widened and he moved over to where his brother was still laying. He was unconscious. "Finn! Finn wake up!" He didn't even care that he was still a monster. He was only focused on his brother.

The fight could have been more amusing, but it wasn't too bad. Aphrodite dusted herself off, and slowly sauntered over, leaning close and showing off her goodies to the beastly boy now. "See? I told you it would help you save him."

"'E's unconscious!" Came a snarled reply. Aphrodite pouted and turned her nose up at him.

"Fine. I see how it is. I give you the power to save him and you're going to be rude. Maybe it's better that he is unconscious so he can't hear you and how ungrateful you are." That got Ciaran's attention, and he lowered his eyes to his brother again. "There. Now you're listening. Oh let's see... Oh yeah! You have this neat power now. That rock I gave you is special, keep it with you, mkay? Great power, great responsibility and all that junk. Any questions? No? Ok goo-"

"Wait." Ciaran stopped her from leaving. "... Thank ya fer 'elping me save m'brother. ... but... 'ow do I change back? I dinna want ta be a monster for'ere. N I needta get m'brother 'elp." He was really feeling lost, and just... needed an answer.

Ciaran's heart sank. This was some sort of magic, wasn't it? Had he just taken an offer from the devil? Maybe this form was his punishment. He had taken the devils stone and now he was paying for it. "You can dismiss the transformation any time you want. But be sure you want to. Those things seem to pop up at random, so you'll probably need to change into this form again. Right wrongs, save innocent people or something. You know the deal, right?"

"No. I don't want this kinda pow'r. I don't know th'deal, 'n I don't wanna. I jes wanna get my brother t'safety, get 'im 'elp." Aphrodite huffed. This boy had a one track mind, did'’t he? And it had nothing to do with her, or this wonderfully, magically, deliciously awesome power she was giving him. He was actually becoming a bit of a headache.

"Well, just dismiss the transformation, and keep that stone with you at all times just in case, alright? That whole have it and not need it junk or whatever it is you say." Now this was just a waste of time. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Bye bye now~" And with that, Aphrodite danced off to find the next source of entertainment.

Ciaran's head snapped up when she bid him farewell, and watched her leave. She hadn't been much help at all. He didn't even know how he ended up in this state, let alone how to dismiss it. He knelt down beside Finn, trying to think of how to dismiss the transformation, or whatever this is. "Oh Finn, c'mon..." He reached out to stroke his brother's hair before realizing his hand was his own again. But he barely had time to think about it as Finn started to cry a little, waking up.

"M... Mommeeeeee~!" He started to whimper.

"Oh Finn. Shh, shh. Yer alright." He tried to sooth his brother's whimpering. "Th'dog's gone, it won't try ta 'urt ya anymore. Are ya 'urt anywhere? Ya took a nasty tumble." He started fussing over Finn until his hands were brushed away. Ciaran was just so worked up over the thought that his brother had been hurt, not to mention the strange lady and the rock. Had he really been turned into a beast like that? Or was it... just in his head? Had he imagined the way he looked. But now that he knew Finn wasn't dead, and the boy was trying to move on his own, Ciaran felt ok to heft his brother onto his back. They needed to get home. Mom was going to yell something fierce though, but as long as Finn got home, got the help he needed, that's all that mattered.