Labradorite | Sizzla

[Sizzla]

a chance meeting.

Breaking away from the relaxing beach front property that housed the Furies labs and headquarters, Elysia (whose nickname in college became Sizzla after quite a series of "interesting" deviations) trekked into Durem, looking for something special. She had decided to walk, and realized after a good hour, her silver hair shimmering with perspiration, that it probably wasn't the best idea ever. It was going to be quite a walk. She had at least another hour to go, but she figured it would give her plenty of time to think.

You see, things hadn't been so well for Elysia, who had been working the same dead-end job for almost a year. She had been pretty worked up over things at the workplace, and one day, finally decided it was no longer worth it. She needed a change. A transformation. So slowly, she began to make small changes in her life. She was trying to smile more, to brush things off when they bothered her, and to make the effort to look for something new to do. But she decided there was one thing she could use to push her along even more.

Elysia had always been interested in holistic and natural healing, and some aspects of witchcraft. She had always been especially enamored by stones and gems, and their ability to help a person with many different problems and hurdles. She needed something to help her transform, and she thought she'd be able to find a good jewelry shop in Durem that could help her with this. She had a few favorite stones, and thought that surely, some store somewhere could have a perfect piece for her.

After another hour, she arrived in Durem, a little red in the cheeks, her hair finally pulled into a ponytail. Walking down the city streets, she came upon a shop that seemed almost familiar to her. She was certain she'd never been there, but wondered why it called to her like it did. The sign on the front said "Twilight Designs" and Elysia could see display cases with jewlery through the large glass windows. This was it, she thought to herself. She knew she'd find it.

Walking up the front walkway to the door of the shop, Elysia pushed it open, her eyes taking in the dim interior of the store. It was her favorite color, a deep purple, and she felt welcomed almost immediately.

Reyna sat behind the desk that served as a checkout counter as well whenever they had customers. She was currently hunched over her sketchbook, scribbling away at some sort of intricate design for a fancy piece of jewelry a customer had commissioned. She'd informed Athan that if she were required to watch over the shop they might as well actually sell things -- and she damn well better get some of the profits for her efforts.

She glanced up from her drawing when the bell chimed at the front door, announcing someone's presence. She frowned quietly to herself before reluctantly closing her sketchbook shut. It was always terribly difficult to stop in the middle of one of her projects. She shuffled the things around on the desk a bit to make them appear a bit neater before offering a small smile towards the customer.

"Welcome to Twilight Designs," she murmured as she stood, hovering there behind her desk, "Let me know if you need any help with anything or want to take a closer look at anything in the cases."

Looking around the store, curious as to the treasures within the pristine glass cases, Elysia looked up to see a young woman scribbling away at the front counter. Elysia gave the woman a slight wave and smile. "Sure, thanks. I'll let you know. I kinda want to take a quick glance at everything first."

She began on the left, examining the jewelry within the cases. She recognized many of the semi-precious stones and gems, but none of them looked like what she needed. She did take particular notice of the fine craftsmanship of the jewelry, and couldn't help but comment on the work that was being done. "Wow, who makes the jewlery here? Your settings are gorgeous...And your gems are high quality. I can't believe I've never been here before. How long have you been here?"

She moved toward the back counter where the woman was sitting, about to make her round of the cases on the right side of the store.

"I design and make some of it," Reyna replied as she watched the woman browse through the jewelry that was displayed, "A lot of it is imported, and some of it is part of the private collection of the shop owner's." She paused briefly as she shifted to rest her chin in one hand as she leaned her elbow against the top of the desk. "We opened some time back in December, I do believe.."

That was when the shop had officially opened, though it's existance had been in the works several months prior to that. When had she gotten Mystic? It was hard to believe that he'd been bonded to her for so long. She remember thinking that she'd never get used to his constant hovering. She idly glanced towards one of the darker corners of the room where she felt him lurking about, no doubt curious about who their customer was.

It wasn't often that they really did have customers, though that never really bothered her. Less people snooping about the shop asking questions was generally a good thing. Particularly if restless Fiends were lurking about. She glanced up from her desk once more at the sound of a bell chiming. Another custo-- oh.

"Good evening, Reyna," Athan replied smoothly as he strode into the shop. He looked fairly normal for once which made her suspicious. He was dressed all in black with his dark dreaded hair tied back. He looked more like a fine, elegant sort of gentleman than, for lack of a better term, a creepy sorcerer. His eyes still glowed an eerie green despite the change of wardrobe.

"What's the occassion?" she teased, smirking faintly as she looked the man up and down to get her point across. She resisted the urge to snicker when Athan scowled over at her before dropping a black, velvety sort of bag on her desk unceremoniously.

"New.. stones," he replied simply at which point Reyna snatched the bag up and retreated towards the back rooms to lock them away in their special "safe."

"Well, someone has excellent taste in jewelry. I'm quite impressed with the craftsmanship. Have you been designing jewelry long?" She had always been interested in jewelrymaking herself, but had never been taught how to do it. It seemed so complex to her, and she admired those who could created such wonderful pieces.

"December eh? I guess that was about the time I moved out of Durem and headed to Gambino. It's nice to be back occasionally...It's quite a walk from home though." She flipped her ponytail behind her shoulder, and pulled as strand of silvery hair behind her ear.

Suddenly, she heard the bell on the door ring behind her, and she turned to see the most eerie, yet beautiful eyes she'd ever seen. The man in the doorway was tall, with black dreadlocks that reminded her of her own hair just months ago. She touched her locks self-consciously, unable to keep her eyes off the man. She tried not to stare, but it was difficult not too. Her face flushed just a bit, a bit embarassed with her rudeness. He was handsome, but had a strange aura about him.

Watching him drop the velvet bag on her desk, she turned away quickly and headed back to the jewelry cases, scanning them quickly, trying not to look too nosy. Who was this guy, she thought to herself.

She noticed that the woman who had been sitting at the desk grabbed the black bag quickly and strode toward one of the back rooms. Strange...She seemed to be in quite a hurry.  

[Sizzla]

a chance meeting. part 2.

Athan watched Reyna's retreating form disappear through the door of the back room along with Mystic who appeared quite suddenly at her side, no doubt curious as to what was in the bag. He smirked faintly at that before turning his gaze towards the customer that was still hovering about the jewelry cases.

He peeked briefly over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. "Labradorite," he murmured quietly as he tapped the glass case that she was looking at, "It's a very beautiful stone. Possibly even one of my favorites simply because of the various colors it comes it." He fell silent after that and squinted at the case as though searching for one stone in particular -- no, that wouldn't be out in the store front. To store a gem like that in a simple glass case would be dangerous...

Feeling someone looking over her shoulder, Elysia turned to meet the strange man's glowing green eyes. She was almost transfixed with them, and she looked away quickly to avoid blushing. "Yes, it is beautiful..." she said in almost a whisper.

It must be a coincidence. Elysia loved labradorite. It had been a stone she was very close to. She had a labradorite pendant of her own that she wore occasionally, but was quite taken with moonstone as well. Moonstone held the power of the moon and psychic ability, and Elysia liked to use it to amplify her telepathy and ESP. But labradorite...it was the perfect stone. It was a stone of transformation, and change. It would be the best thing for her, she thought as she watched the man tap the glass case. Each of the pieces in the case were beautiful, but they weren't quite what Elysia was looking for. She wanted a large piece, and preferrably, a stone without a setting.

"Yes, it's the perfect thing. I've been looking for a transformative stone...I need a little something for encouragement." She smiled at the man, and took a closer look at him. He certainly was handsome, even though a bit strange. "Would you happen to have some loose stones around? I was kind of looking for something I could carry around in my pocket."

"Loose stones?" he chuckled quietly, a low soft noise under his breath. He tapped his fingers against his chin. "I just might," he replied slowly as he took a step back, "Let me go and.. check." He turned on his heel and headed towards the door to retreat back into the back room.

Reyna was lounging on the couch reading a book while Mystic floated about trying to read it too despite how his Guardian teasingly kept the book carefully out of his direct view so he could only glimpse snatches of words. She met Athan's gaze briefly when the man stood hovering there at the edge of the couch with a sort of irritated look on his face.

"Aren't you supposed to be tending the store?" he asked.

"Eh.. you were doing a pretty good job from what Mystic could see," she smirked broadly, something that made the man roll his eyes and mutter under his breath about moody women and tempermental demons.

He strolled away from her and headed towards the back of the room to open a small portal that could only be accessed from inside that room. It was small and opened up to only about a foot wide but inside were various glittering gems of different shapes and sizes.

"You gonna give that girl out there a Fiend?" she asked curiously as she put her book down and gazed intently over at Athan.

"Sort of. It will become a wisp if it decides that it approves of its Guardian," he replied as he picked up a rather large piece of Labradorite and closed the portal behind him and left Reyna to her book and Mystic to his snooping as he headed back into the front of the shop.

Elysia watched the man as he thought about the inventory in the store. Surely they had some loose stones in the back. They had to make their jewelry out of something, right? She watched as the man went back to the back room, hoping that he had just what she wanted. She had a good feeling about this store, and had high hopes for the perfect stone.

Labradorite was good to help people with transformations. With the changes she was trying to make in her life, she figured that if she rubbed the stone hard enough, it's powers would somehow rub off on her. Tracing a finger along the stainless steel borders holding up the glass, she tried not to get her fingerprints all over the pristine surface. This place was immaculate, and she could appreciate that.

A few minutes later, the man came back through the door, something in his hand.

"Did you find something?" she asked curiously, wondering what stone he could possibly be holding.

"I think I managed to find what you're looking for," Athan replied in his ever calm, cool voice. He held the stone out for her to view as it glittered in the dim lighting. He handed it to her and smirked faintly as she looked it over. "If you're looking for change, I think it's just what you need," he stated softly.

He squinted at the stone for a moment before turning away with a few quiet words to rummage through the desk for the files that Reyna kept. "Don't worry about paying for it. Take it as a gift," he murmured as he found the file he was looking for, "A stone as large as that isn't good for making jewelry out of, but I think you'll make good use of it."

Elysia's jaw almost dropped to the floor when the man's palm opened to reveal a shining blue stone with veins of black running through it. As he moved his hand, flashes of other colors could be seen, and the reds, purples and golds in the stone were easy to see. Elysia knew that she'd never seen a stone so beautiful in her life. It was difficult to find such a dark blue labradorite, and quite rare. She sucked in a breath of air, "It's the most beautiful piece of labradorite I've ever seen. Where did it come from? Do you know of it's background at all?"

She picked it up out of his palm, and examined it again, holding it up to the light to examine it's translucency. She could see the light through the other side, and smiled at her new find. "Well, that's quite nice of you. I'd be happy to give you something for it...Looks like it's quite a rare stone." Without thinking, she slipped the stone into her pocket, feeling the smooth surface of the dewdrop-shaped stone. She could feel a strange energy from it, and knew that it was perfect. If she could already feel it's energy, it must be powerful.

"Thank you so much. I suppose I'll accept your gift. It's perfect. Exactly what I was looking for." She extended a hand to him, wanting to shake the nice man's hand. "I appreciate all of your help. I'm Elysia."

"I'm sure I've got info on the stone somewhere. Stop by the shop again some time and I'll see what I can dig up for you," he replied simply. "I'm afraid I don't recall exactly where I found that particular stone. I do a lot of hunting and collecting to find such gems," he told her. It wasn't a complete lie. He did collect a lot of stones, but their whereabouts were generally scattered across different demensions.

"There's no need to give me anything in exchange for the stone. Just take good care of it," he told her before smiling faintly as his eyes glittered with vauge amusement. "My name is Athan. The girl you met earlier is Reyna, by the way. She runs the shop in my stead.."

"I'll definitely come by again, you have some beautiful jewelry here. I may have to save up some and come back for something amazing...Looks like you've got the best things out of sight." She gave him a slight wink and a grin, pointing to the door to the back room.

"A gem hunter eh? I used to know some people who went mining for gems. I always wanted to go, but never got the opportunity. Sounds like fun." She was absolutely clueless it seemed, babbling on in the man's presence like this. "I appreciate your kindness. Thank you so much. I already feel good things from this stone. I'll be sure to take excellent care of it."

She nodded as she rubbed the stone in her pocket once again. "Well, it's been lovely to meet you Athan. I'm assuming you're the owner of the shop, right?" She paused, trying to burn their names into her memory. "Reyna...like 'queen' in Spanish. That should be easy enough to remember." She turned toward the door, taking in the room once again. She would be back. This place seemed calming to her; she liked it.

Turning back to Athan once again, Elysia smiled at him. "Thanks again. I'll be back soon. I do want more information about this stone...See you soon." Walking toward the door, she mumbled, talking just loud enough for him to hear..."And you have some awesome eyes..." Smirking to herself, she pushed the door open, the bell on it tinkling softly in the evening air, and walked out into the streets of Durem.

Reyna snuck up behind Athan who was busily writing at the desk with a sort of pleased look on his face. "Awesome eyes," she laughed as she elbowed him playfully just to irritate him, "You're cruel, you know that? You sent a Fiend home with another unsuspecting victim. And she was even nice to you."

"She seemed as good a candidate as any for a Fiend," Athan replied with a sort of haughty air that made the silver haired woman roll her eyes in response. "And if my suspicions are right, she'll return no doubt to wonder about the wisp." He grumbled under his breath when Reyna continued to tease him about his good looks and how Elysia had thought his green eyes were pretty.

'So there's going to be another wisp? Just how many stones are there?' Mystic asked after appearing next to his Guardian's side.

"I don't.. have an exact number. I have in my possession about.. half of the stones. I think. The rest are scattered between different realms and dementions," he answered before moving to stand. "I've got to be going. I've got research to do."

"Riiight. Research," Reyna smirked as she crossed her arms and watched him disappear from view. "Creepy b*****d.."  

[Sizzla]

night of enlightenment

The long walk home was pleasant enough, the stars twinkling on a backdrop of indigo-velvet darkness. Even at night, Gaia seemed calm and tranquil, though Elysia knew very well that there were evil things lurking in the darkness. She had seen them with her own eyes, it was true. But she wasn't afraid for once.

She felt a little stronger, revived even, after her visit to the strange jewelry shop. She hadn't removed her hand from her pocket since she left the store, her fingers rubbing the labradorite gem with all she had. She had given up on everything else, and had put her faith in the traits of the stone. She had convinced herself that it would show her the way. It would be the path to a new life, or so she thought.

Elysia's past had been a mix of all kinds of achievements and misfortunes. She had grown up in a family that loved her, but felt as if she was missing something. Her childhood had been filled with homework, swim teams, taekwondo, the school newspaper and yearbook. She barely had time to breathe, let alone do anything that resembled a fun activity. But once she became a senior in high school, she gave up practically everything so that she could lead the teenage life she always wanted. She wanted to go to parties, and try the things that she'd only heard about from her peers. She made new friends, and began to look at her surroundings in a different way altogether.

Her new friends weren't exactly deviants. They got good grades, participated in school activities and were talented and intelligent in many aspects. But they were different from Elysia's old friends. They were more than happy to experiment with all kinds of illegal substances, and though Elysia had been opposed to these drugs throughout most of her life, (due to circumstances we shall not mention here) she began to experiment as well, curious as to the things her friends were learning all around her.

It all began with marijuana, and moved on from there...LSD, Ecstacy, Saliva, DXM, mushrooms...These things became not only recreation, but an experiment on the psyche. The first time Elysia tried LSD, she took it with two of her best friends, who were there to trip with her, and support her if she needed it. Fearing the worst after hearing what the DARE officers in elementary school told her, she was expecting to freak out, and to have flashbacks for the rest of her life.

This was the farthest thing from her mind the minute she started examining the nature around her. She was outside in a treehouse with her friends at the time, and suddenly, things became quiet all around her. Her thoughts became clear, her mind no longer jumbled by her daily life. It was easy to forget. It must not have been very important, because all the things that Elysia had worried about and fawned over became unnecessary. She had revelation after revelation that night, writing down her thoughts, deciding that her purpose on Gaia was to work to make those around her comfortable and happy. And with that revelation, Elysia began to work toward that goal, hoping that she could fulfill her destiny.

The next four years of college were good for Elysia. She had never had such a good time in her life. She made up for all those years she worked so hard in high school, partying all night long, and making friends with as many people as possible. She had no idea she could be so social, as she was generally a quiet girl. But she soon realized that anything was possible once she put her mind to it. Not only did she have a great social life, she was doing well in school, working toward two degrees, one in Psychology and one in Journalism.

It was after graduation that things became difficult for Elysia. The real world wasn't quite what she expected. In fact, it was a lot worse than she expected. When she'd work out one problem, there would be another staring her in the face. She got a job at a publishing company, but it wasn't doing anything she particularly wanted to do. Life was monotonous, and she began to think in her old ways again. She became pessimistic and sad, and had a tendency to dwell on things. Life moved by Elysia at lightning speed; she barely noticed the days ticking by.

And then, she met two girls, who became close friends. The three girls were connnected by a very close bond, one that could never be broken. They had been on vacation together, when they discovered three strange stones buried in the sand on the beach in Gambino. The girls took the shining stones home, and just days later, they broke open into strange creatures that they named the Furies. Thus began Elysia's new life in Gaia. Pouring all her energy into work, Elysia found contentment in the hum of her lab. There she made the Furies stronger, and discovered more of them. She spent her time working with DNA, and searching for proper guardians for these creatures.

Though life had become quite a bit more interesting, there were still parts of Elysia that felt unfulfilled. She wasn't quite sure what kind of changes and transformations she wanted, but she knew something positive was certainly in store for her.

And this is where Elysia's past ends for now...

Rubbing the stone in her pocket once again, a strange feeling came over her. Though relaxing, it was an odd sensation, causing her hair to stand on end. If she would have looked at the stone in her pocket, she would have seen the shadowy wisps coming from the turquoise gem. The shadows wrapped around her fingers, almost entwining them as they buffed the stone to a lustre. They were bonding with her, learning her scent and touch.

Finally stumbling through the door and into her dark beachhouse, Elysia crept up to her room, pulling off her clothes and dropping them on the floor next to her bed. Crawling into the downy comfort, her eyes closed slowly as she drifted into dreams.

As she began to breathe more heavily, the labradorite stone floated slowly out of her pocket, and hovered over to Elysia, who was by then sleeping soundly. The stone hovered over her head, and finally 'landed' in the center of her forehead, the shadowy wisps covering her face. She didn't seem to notice the stone, or the wisps of shadow, and kept sleeping, her dreams becoming strange and twisted.

She would soon find out the cause of the dreams, when the dawn broke over the horizon...  

[Sizzla]

my new friend the wisp?

Elysia hadn't been so upset in quite a long while. That morning, she had woken up to find the gem that she had gotten not long before, practically glued to her forehead. The night before, her dreams had been filled with oddities, and things she'd never even imagine. Usually, her dreams had people she knew, and familiar situations, but not this time. When she woke up, she hadn't noticed the strange thing on her forehead, but going into the bathroom to wash her face, she looked up into the mirror and practically screamed bloody murder.

The gem had wrapped it's shadowy wisps around her forehead and hair, seemingly gluing itself to the center of her forehead, where a third eye would have appeared. She tried tugging at it, trying to get it off, but the gem seemed to have a strong hold on her. Instead of fighting it, she decided it'd be better to go complain. It was time to go back to the shop from which it came. Maybe they'd know what to do.

Stomping up the walkway to the shop, she threw the door open, arms crossed over her chest protectively. Even though the shop was empty up front, she was sure someone was there. "What," she shouted, so she could be heard all around the shop. "Is this?!" Foot tapping against the ground, it wasn't often that Elysia acted like this. But seriously, what was going on with this gem?

Athan glanced up from the pile of papers he had splayed across the desk. Green eyes narrowed a fraction and he successfully resisted the urge to snicker under his breath. He calmly stood, robes swirling about his feet as he moved towards the girl and reached for the gem. "That, my dear," he replied in a low, quiet voice, "Is a wisp."

Despite how he managed to keep his composure he couldn't help the small, bemused smile that twitched at his lips. "Stay still," he cautioned, lips twitching slightly as his eyes sifted half closed and he reached out towards the stone through the bond he shared with it. The shadows around it that had tangled in the girl's hair trembled faintly before it slowly pried itself free to spin a bit dizzily midair.

She heard the familiar voice speak, and looked over to see that it was the strange man with the dreaded hair that she had met the last time she was in the shop. As he walked toward her, she could feel a strange energy come off of him. She was still enraptured by his glowing green eyes, but this time, she was bit more concerned about the thing that was attached to her head.

"A wisp? What the hell is that? I thought I had a nice pretty piece of Labradorite here. I was going to make a necklace out of it, but noooooooooo..." She spat the last sentence out a bit dramatically, hinting at sarcasm.

As Athan reached for the gem, she watched as his eyes closed slightly, still glowing. Her head felt instantly better as the gem's wisps released her, leaving her hair a mess. The gem hovered lazily over her shoulder after getting it's bearings once again, wisps darting out in all direction, curling around each other.

"What exactly is this thing??" she asked Athan, wide-eyed. "And why did it decide to make a nest of my forehead?"

"It's a Fiend," he answered simply as he moved back towards the desk to neatly put away the paperwork he'd been shuffling through. "Come have a seat here in the backroom and I'll explain in a bit more detail," he went on as he headed towards the door against the back wall and went inside without waiting for the girl. He fully expected her to follow.

He moved to sit on the couch before glancing up when he heard a commotion from the room they had just left. Reyna's voice broke through the air, complaining about the weight of whatever it was she was carrying. A moment later, Mystic drifted into the room with his adopted baby sister wriggling in his arms.

Athan smirked faintly as the older Shadow paused there in the doorway, clearly caught off guard by the fact that someone else other than him was there so early in the morning. He visibly relaxed when he caught sight of Labradorite hovering about Elysia's shoulder before moving to place his little sister in her baby pen, the only thing in the room that was brightly colored. That easily explained the other person's presence.

"Next time YOU get to go get the --," Reyna yelled as she stepped through the door before falling quiet as well. "Aha.. I knew it. You're so evil, Athan," she grinned as she peered over at the frazzled looking girl.

Still a bit peeved about the entire situation, including the long walk from Gambino that she hadn't had in mind that early in the morning, Elysia followed Athan hesitantly to the back room of the store. She was amazed to find that it was bedecked in her favorite color: royal purple. "Well, isn't this inviting," she commented as she took a seat next him on the couch, the gem still hovering over her right shoulder.

"A Fiend eh? Well, that's ever so helpful. I think you're going to have to--" But her voice was cut off before she could finish her sentence as she saw a strange looking creature float into the room with a baby girl in its arms. Eyes widening at the sight, she nudged Athan in the side with her elbow, and in a hushed voice, whispered to him. "What...is that?"

Seeing the young woman she had met on her last visit to the shop, she relaxed visibly. Finally, a face she knew...well, sort of. All this was just a bit much for Elysia, who hadn't really met, or experienced anyone, or anything quite like this.

Evil? Was he evil, she thought to herself. Surely not. But one couldn't be too carefuly. She scooted over on the couch just a bit, edging away from the cloaked man. Resting an arm on the couch's armrest, she sighed. "What is going on here? This place is crazy!"

"That would be Mystic Topaz," Athan replied smoothly, "He is Reyna's Fiend. He's nearly fully grown." The Shadow glanced up, jewel tinted eyes glittering in the dim lighting at his name being mentioned. It was a little weird to hear the 'topaz' part tacked onto the end. He thought 'Mystic' suited him just fine. Plus, it sounded more like a name than a gemstone.

He fidgeted quietly as the girl eyed him warily as one dark hand shot up to the stone that floated within his chest. He glanced towards Reyna before fading from view to reappear at her side, hovering nervously in her shadow as he was wont to do when he was nervous. Really, he was simply quite shy.

"Crazy is a good word for it," Reyna spoke up, breaking the lull of silence in the room before chuckling quietly under her breath as Sam squealed loudly as though to add in her two cents.

Athan merely shook his head and idly smoothed out the creases in his cloak. "Fiends start out as wisps, which is exactly what that thing hovering about your shoulder is. Forgive me for not telling you from the beginning," he said quietly, "It wouldn't have become a wisp if it hadn't thought you a suitable bond. Otherwise it would've found its way back to me."

Elysia just stared at the shadowy Fiend as he grasped for the jewel in his chest. Was that how it worked? The Fiend came from inside the gem, and then the gem became a part of its body? Would that mean that without the gem, the Fiend would no longer exist? She had so many questions, but felt a bit overwhelmed by the situation.

"Yeah," she nodded, responding to Reyna's agreeable comment. "I've never seen anything quite like this, though I have had some of my children come from some very strange places..."

She looked over to the bright blue veined gem hovering over her shoulder, it's wisps reaching out and playing in her hair once again. "Hey you! I don't want you attached to my head again, so play nice, okay?" She wasn't sure if the gem could hear her, but it's tendrils pulled back in again, like it had understood what she wanted. "Maybe we can get used to each other..."

Elysia didn't look too shocked when Athan explained the bond of the Fiend to her. She'd had other creatures bond to her in this way as well, but the last one, Koniro the Windigo, had wanted to use her for her own crafty purposes--to possess the body of a young geisha. Would this creature be the same way?

"What exactly do the Fiends do? What is their purpose?" She had so many questions..."So this gem will look like him eventually?" She pointed to Mystic, still hiding in the shadow of the corner. "Do they eventually become real, instead of ethereal?"

"They don't nessecarily have a purpose aside from to live. This is their.. second chance at life, so to speak," he replied slowly as he folded his hands neatly in his lap, "Their souls are trapped within those gems. Or at least they were at one time." He trailed off after that, not really wanting to get into the rest of the story behind their creation. He was trying to push thoughts of Doran out of his mind completely.

"She will eventually grow up to be a little like Mystic, though she clearly won't look like him," he went on as his green eyes flickered over towards the Fiend that was hovering nervously about. "He's quite real as it is. They're a little of both, really."

He motioned for Mystic to come and sit with them. The Shadow heaved a heavy sigh and glanced imploringly towards his bonded who simply smirked and headed back into the main room of the store. 'Hello,' he murmured in his sort telepathic speech as he sat next to Athan, brow furrowed in anxious lines as he glanced back and forth between Elysia and his creator.

Elysia turned to look at the gem hovering above her shoulder, its wisps swirling around itself. She had barely noticed Athan's awkward answer to her question, and kept on prodding the question. "But why were their souls trapped in the first place?" Her brow furrowed as if she were deep in thought. "And are these the souls of actual people from the past? Or were they different kinds of creatures?"

Turning to speak to the gem once again, she put her hand up to it, giving it a bit of a rub, like she was doing when it sat quietly in her pocket the day she had left the shop. She was used to talking to what seemed like inanimate objects. It seemed everything in Gaia was alive somehow, even if it didn't seem like it. She'd had other gems that had hatched into creatures, so Labradorite wasn't THAT much of a surprise. Still, when she'd woken up to it attached to her...that was new! "So you're going to grow into something like him eh? Why don't you go introduce yourself?"

The turquoise gem bobbled up and down, circling around Elysia's head once. It didn't seem to want to leave her side. "Go on, go say hi," she encouraged it, hoping that the little gem could make friends already.

Eventually, it slowly bobbled over to the Fiend, hovering in front of its face, the wispy tendrils reaching out for it. It seemed as if it used its tendrils to feel whatever it was around, sort of like a blind person would feel a person's face to "see" them. It bobbled happily up and down for a second, then quickly moved back to Elysia's shoulder, seemingly not wanting to wear out its welcome.

"Well, wasn't that just cute. Making friends already..." Elysia mumbled, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Suddenly, she heard a strange voice in her head, and realized that it was the Fiend speaking. "They can use telepathy? That's amazing!" She paused, looking at the Fiend and extending a hand as if she wanted to shake his. "Hello there. Nice to meet you...Mystic, right? I'm Elysia."

"The reason why they were trapped in stones is.. more complicated than I could possibly explain in one sitting," he replied with a faint, charming sort of smile as he brushed the subject to the side for the most part, "They were actual people once, though I have no idea of knowing exactly who they were. I suppose they could be more than mere humans, as well, but as I said -- there's no way for me to know for sure."

Mystic eyed the piece of Labradorite, expression relaxing somewhat. He always thought that wisps were rather entertaining even if they couldn't really communicate with him. 'Yes.. we're telepathic,' the older Fiend answered quietly, 'Though as a wisp only emotions can be transferred to the bonded as a way of communication. Empathy.. I think it's called.'

Elysia looked at Athan quizzically, but didn't go further with her questioning. He obviously seemed that he didn't care to talk about it, and she decided to let it go. It seemed there would be much more time for him to explain things like that, now that the Labradorite gem was bonded to her. "I wonder what this little one will become?" she asked as she looked over to the hovering gem again. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to discuss their origins later..." she casually threw in, not wanting to press the subject too much.

Elysia looked to Mystic when she heard his quiet voice once again. "Aah, so I can feel what it's feeling...That's interesting. Maybe we can learn about each other, even if it is just a wisp now. Let's hope that it likes me...Though for now, it seems pretty attached, even if it is my forehead that it likes so much."

Elysia's cell phone rang, causing her to jump at the polyphonic tune that came from the tinny speaker. She pulled it out of her purse, and answered it, talking for a just a minute to the person on the other end. Hanging up, she looked back to Athan and Mystic.

"Well, looks like I've got something to take care of back at the lab. I'll have to say my goodbyes for now, but it's been nice talking to you. Thanks for all the information. Now I'll know what to do if the wisp attaches to me again." She stood up, the wisp still hovering right above her right shoulder, its wisps keeping ahold of her arm. "I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon. It's been a pleasure."

Waving to Mystic and Athan, Elysia headed back out toward the main shop, and out the door, back to Gambino, where it was time to take care of some of her own business matters...  

[Sizzla]

Elysia''s journal.

Wow. I had quite the wake up call this morning.

So I''m sleeping soundly when the alarm goes off, clanging next to my head as if it intentionally wanted to give me a headache. I rolled over to slap the snooze button, and then plopped back down for ten more precious minutes.

As I rolled onto my side and finally to my stomach, I could feel something strange and foreign between my forehead and the pillow. It was something hard. And it was annoying. I reached up to my forehead and guess what I happened to find?

That damn stone was stuck to my forehead! I thought I''d left it in the pocket of my pants from the day before, as I liked to carry it around with me. I''d rub it when I got nervous, so I thought it''d be good to keep it somewhere where I''d always know where it was. But this morning, I sure wasn''t expecting it to be attached to me, let alone the middle of my forehead!

Hopping out of bed, I went to the mirror in the bathroom to take a look at how it had gotten there. I pulled and tugged at it, to no avail. That bad boy wasn''t going to be removed from me!

Pissed off that a) I was woken up before I wanted to be and b) that a damn gem was attached to my forehead, I threw some clothes on and headed to Durem. I wanted to know how it had gotten there, and why it wouldn''t come off. That guy in the store was really strange, despite his very handsome looks. Maybe he did something to me. I was ready to rip his head off when I pushed the door to the shop open.

He (his name is Athan by the way) was really calm about it, and as he touched the gem, he easily pulled it off of my forehead. What I didn''t notice earlier was that it had strange shadowy tendrils coming off of it, as if it were giving them off. Athan further explained to me that the gem was called a ''wisp'' and that it contained the soul of someone from the past.

Okay, I''ve adopted my fair share of creatures and babies and kids of all shapes and sizes...but the soul of a person, trapped in a gem? Seriously?

As he explained further, the wisp, who I think I''ll call Labbie for now, hovered over my shoulder, it''s tendrils combing through my hair. Every time I moved, it''d follow closely behind, like it didn''t want to be far from me at all. Athan did explain that I was chosen to be Labbie''s bonded, and that the wisp would stay as close to me as possible.

So far, the wisp has stayed right over my shoulder, just hovering there like it was watching me...Maybe it''ll do something exciting soon...You just never know with things like this.

For now though, I should sign off. I''ll be sure to let you know more about my adventures with Labbie as things progress. For now though, I need sleep!

Elysia.  

[Sizzla]

headaches.

It was like a bolt of lightning shot through Elysia's forehead, from temple to temple, the pain surging through her instantly.

bzzzzzzz...

It was the only sound she could hear for minutes, and then the world went black as the pain instantly ceased.

Falling to the floor, Elysia drifted off, finally free from the aching in her head, finally able to rest...

Labradorite hovered over her, bobbing up and down, looking rather upset with her bonded's reaction. She finally landed in the center of Elysia's forehead, it's shadowy tendrils wrapping around her head for a second time.


The world was a different color, the reality of the place not quite sinking in. Elysia opened her eyes to a sky swirling with violet, blue and green hues. The clouds were a strange murky green, and the sun a violent gold. Blinking, she couldn't help but think she was no longer in Gaia. This place was different somehow, strange. She sat up slowly, taking in her surroundings. The ground around her was a dark rust color, like that of the desert. There were sparse patches of long grass around her, faded khaki in the heat of the place. It was quite warm, and as Elysia glanced down, she saw that her body had taken on a strange shape...

She was muscular and tanned, and her body was draped in a long light dress of sorts. She also wore a long, white linen hooded cloak, and a pair of leather sandals adorned her tanned feet. Examining them further, she saw her skin was remarkably soft, and her toenails clipped perfectly. Glancing at her arms, she saw they were uncovered, but her skin was tattooed. Black and purple swirls wrapped up the entirety of both arms, and she could only assume by pulling her sleeve back, that the design continued onto her back. She looked at them questioningly; this was quite odd. She'd had tattoos on Gaia, but they looked nothing like this.

Touching her hair, she noticed it was pulled up in a low ponytail, a few dark tendrils falling down in her face. Her hair was now brown, instead of her true black or silver coloration, and it was wavy instead of straight.

Something was very strange, she knew that for sure, but she wasn't ready to explore the cause just yet. Standing, she looked down again, noticing something strange off to her right, about five feet from where she'd been laying. Glinting into the sunlight, she saw it was a large sword, it's blade as wide as her palm. Walking over to it, she could clearly hear the dirt crunching beneath her feet, as if the world produced no other sounds. Not even the sound of the wind crossed her eardrums, and she found it eerie.

Reaching down to examine the sword, she picked it up, finding it quite light for its size. Her fingers gripped the black leather-wrapped handle, and it warmed instantly in her hand--as if it were alive. She felt a strange feeling envelop her body, like a warm hug, and she gripped it even tighter, entranced with the stones that decorated it's blade guard. She recognized the stones instantly: moonstone, amethyst and a piece of labradorite that looked strangely like the stone she'd become bonded to. Strange...

The stones glinted in the sunlight, and they began to glow, becoming bright enough to blind Elysia, the world turning white all around her.


Her eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she saw was the turquoise blue gem, hovering above her face. Her headache was gone, and right before Elysia had awoken, Labbie had detached herself from the woman's forehead, knowing that she wouldn't like it if she was still attached when she woke.

Sitting up, Elysia brought her forehead to her hands, questioning the dream she'd had. What could it mean? Who was the girl in her dream? And why did she feel so close to her? It was strange really, and she didn't know quite what to think of it. She turned to Labbie, wanting to ask her if she knew what was going on.

Labbie just bobbed up and down, as if nodding a yes. Elysia couldn't feel any emotions from the wisp, and she noticed that it seemed to be hiding something. But Elysia pushed the thought from her mind. It was only a gem. She couldn't have caused the headache...But the dream, it was so vivid...

Surely not.

Instead of dwelling on it, Elysia walked out to the front porch to get some fresh air, Labradorite bobbling along closely behind her.  

[Sizzla]

Elysia's Journal

Things have become rather strange...The wisp has been really active lately, and it's giving me this very creepy feeling. I'm not sure why...But I do know that she's been in charge of the strange visions I've been having.

It's like I'm waking up in another world, as an entirely different person. I'm not sure who I am, but I know what she looks like...Dark brown hair, long and cascading with waves. Sun-burnished skin, so nicely tanned. And the crimson eyes that seem to glow...

The visions aren't haunting or scary, but they are odd. The world of my visions looks entirely different from the one I know, and I wonder if there is some meaning to the way things are.

But as soon as I attempt to explore the nature of the place, the vision abruptly stops, and I wake up, coming out of what seems to be endless blackness. My vision eventually clears, and I wake up at home, or on the floor of some random place, not remembering much of anything I saw.

I hope the visions stop soon. It's becoming unnerving. I don't know what Labbie's intentions are, but I'm hoping that it has no malicious feelings. I've never had that feeling from it...but perhaps the wisp hides it...

I don't know, but I want to find out. Is it telling me something?  

[Sizzla]

halloween at twilight designs.

Please visit the link, here: http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10738952  

[Sizzla]

a meeting of kindred spirits.

Labbie floated above the doorway, flitting about anxiously. The wisp had been darting around the house for hours, anxiously anticipating Elysia's return. She knew what was going on, and waited for the girl who was to be her student. No one knew of this yet though, no one but the wisp of course...

Labbie had heard Elysia talking about the wisps, and the souls that they contain. She wasn't so much as interested in the subject as to Elysia's reaction to the truth. The wisp was conscious of its past life, and had known of the grand plan all along. It was interesting that instead of bonding to the little girl, the wisp had instead taken a liking to Elysia. Though it hadn't been planned that way, it would be okay. There was enough opportunity to help the little newcomer regardless of who Labbie was bonded to.

The wisp heard footfalls outside the door, and stood by to greet the little psion. Key entered lock, and the bolts inside gave way. Swinging open, the door creaked, and standing in the doorway was the silver-haired fae and a little girl, standing about the height of Elysia's knee. Elysia hadn't allowed Labbie to meet Rhea when she first came to the house. She didn't want to shock the little girl too soon. Labbie had graciously accepted this change of plans, and Elysia had agreed that after their next outing, the pair could meet.

"We're home!" Elysia exclaimed, walking through into the entryway. Typically, children and Furies of all kinds would come to greet them, but today, a solitary blue gem was hovering there, waiting for them. It was Labradorite. "Hi Labbie...I know I promised, so here you are. Rhea, this is Labradorite. You can call it Labbie. This gem is a Shadow Fiend, a wisp. Inside that gem is a soul waiting to be released. She has taken quite an interest in you...and in some of the powers that you have." Elysia stepped aside to allow the two a more proper greeting, and she headed back to the kitchen to start getting dinner ready.

Rhea regarded the wisp carefully, examining it from every angle. She could feel the elated emotions that the wisp was giving off, as if it had been anticipating her arrival for weeks. In her head, she projected a voice to the wisp...Hello there...It's nice to meet you Labradorite. I'm Rhea Medea. And I see you are sentient after all. Have you been waiting long? The little girl's gaze softened as she regarded the bobbing wisp.

The wisp bobbed up and down more quickly, as if she was nodding to answer Rhea's question. She had been waiting...for months it seemed. The wisp moved toward Rhea, circling her head, not wanting to make the girl uneasy, but wanting to see her more closely. It took extra care bobbing behind Rhea, looking at the swirled markings on the girl's back. The wisp knew what they were, but Rhea would have to discover their uses herself. Soon enough, it thought. Soon enough she would realize her powers.

Without hesitation, the wisp circled Rhea's head, and flew to her forehead, wisps grabbing at her hair. The gem attached to Rhea's forehead, and almost immediately, the little girl plopped down on the floor and the darkness crept in slowly to reveal a strange sight. This time, it was Rhea's turn...  

[Sizzla]

calm, cool and collected.

Days had past, and there had been not a peep from Labradorite. Elysia had been a bit wary, curious as to why the wisp had barely been active. It was as if she'd gotten something she'd always wanted, and felt fulfilled for the first time.

The past few days had been spent trying to settle Rhea into the house. She had made herself comfortable in the first few hours, happy with her new home and life. She was perfectly happy with her situation...it was the other children who weren't so sure about her. Ari seemed a bit jealous of the little girl, who could speak better than all other children her age...They were about the same age, but there was a huge difference between her ability to speak and his. She was just way beyond him, and it made him very unhappy.

Kappa had only stopped by briefly to see Elysia and her new charge, and he cooed Rhea and tickled her until her face turned red from laughter. They seemed to get along well enough, Elysia thought as she watched the pair play together.

Through the first weeks after Rhea's arrival, Labbie clung tightly to strands of Elysia's hair 24/7, seemingly unhappy to be away from her bonded. It was the first time in a long time that the wisp seemed happy, and comfortable in its surroundings. Elysia was glad. There hadn't been any bad dreams (ie. blackouts) in a long time...She hoped that there would be no more. It had started to freak her out, and she had started to worry about her state of mind. Though now that the dreams were gone, Elysia had begun to analyze them. Why was it that the arrival of Rhea had stopped the dreams? It was a question she'd ponder over and over again during the next months.

She felt relief that things were back to normal, and hoped that this lull would continue. She could use a break. But who knew how long that'd last...  

[Sizzla]

dirt poor and nothing to do.

Her pencil scratched across the page, the columns of numbers making columns and rows. Endless calculations, it seemed. Bills were never fun. With the shops she ran, and her home business, it seemed like Elysia was paying everyone, all the time. The woman sighed, running her fingers through her wavy silver hair. She propped her head up with her hand and stared down at the chicken scratch on the notepad.

Great.

Only $50 left for the rest of the week. It was now time to go into thrift-mode. It would be rice, mixed vegetables, hot dogs and ramen noodles until payday. Sometimes she felt sorry for the kids...But they seemed happy at least, and she knew that money didn't buy love. As she dropped the pencil onto the table, she could feel movement in her hair, by her right shoulder. Looking over, she saw dark tendrils reach out from between silver curls, and she smiled. Labbie had felt like gracing her with its presence.

The wisp had been even friendlier as of late, and now that it was getting warmer outside, Elysia liked to take Labbie with her. The wisp would dart off every now and then to explore a flower, or a strange insect, and it'd bob up and down and around the object, exploring every nook and cranny. Sometimes, the wisp would see an insect, and the tendrils of the wisp would transform into the same shape as the wings of the insect. Most of the time, the wisp would imitate a butterfly, but it was capable of other shapes--dragonflies, ladybugs, wasps---everything was fair game.

Today, the tendrils reached out over her shoulder, and the shadows pulled the gem along, moving down Elysia's forearm and down to her hand. Elysia raised her hand, propping it up on her elbow as the wisp played its shadowy tendrils around her fingers, the gem coming to rest in the palm of her hand. "Hey there," she said to the wisp. "Nice to see you again. Seems like it's been awhile when it was just the two of us sitting around and doing nothing."

The wisp flitted around her fingers, and up into the air, the tendrils once again forming wings, and fluttering as if they were real. The wisp seemed to be listeneing to her, so Elysia decided to vent.

"Man, I could really get out of the house! =Maybe I should make some new friends...go out or something. But sometimes it's not so fun out there. Going to the bar and getting smashed doesn't really sound like fun anymore," she sighed. The wisp just faced her, flapping it's wings in a constant rhythm. "Eh, nah. Maybe I'll just call Smerdle...or Silent. I'm sure Rhea'd like to see Angelus again. They have become fast friends."

Labbie's 'wings' faded into tendrils once again, and the wisp moved toward the pencil and paper, hovering over it as if she was analyzing the numbers. "Yeah, I know..." she said, rolling the pencil toward the wisp a little. "I'm too poor to go out anyway. I guess we can just hang out here." Standing up from the table, she pushed in the chair, and held a hand out for Labbie. "C'mon, let's go outside and get some fresh air. You can check out the flowers."

The wisp dove for her hand, hovering over it, the tendrils changing from wisps into wings of different shapes and sizes, of all kinds of insects. Obviously, this seemed like a good idea to the wisp. Elysia closed her hand around Labbie just enough to keep it in her hand, and walked toward the back door, the sunlight casting a shadow of the woman and the wisp across the wooden floor.  

[Sizzla]

learning to be -slightly- social.

Bright violet eyes narrowed and focused intently on the silent form that was hunkered over the desk, steadily working on a pile of paperwork. If he was silent, if he was careful, he might be able to sneak up on her. The little flaw in that plan was that his bonded was not an easy person to sneak up on and she was his bonded -- she knew when he was around reguardless.

"Nice try buddy, but you're going to have to try a bit harder than that," Reyna spoke up without ever taking her eyes off her paperwork.

'It was worth a try,' Mystic spoke up as he lazily drifted down along the wall and then the rest of the way through it so he was hovering just near his guardian's back. He felt utterly lethargic and it was visible in the way he moved and spoke. Seeing him move through the air was akin to watching a slow-moving fog creep across the ground, and his cloak only seemed to add to the unnerving visual. He huffed quietly as though sighing in a bored, detached manner despite his obvious lack of lungs to push the air forth needed to do so. The phantom ache and feeling of doing so was still there, though.

"Something wrong?"

'No. Why?' he asked as he curled loosely against Reyna's back and wrapped his arms about her shoulders.

"You're acting strangely," she said simply.

'Mmmm... it's because.. because I'm drowsy. Seems I've done nothing but sleep, though,' he answered as he slowly drifted away from her to lounge lazily midair, just barely visible with the light pouring through the front windows. 'Been having weird dreams,' he went on as he used his cloak as both a blanket and a pillow.

"Yeah?"

'Mmhm,' he replied, 'And all I remember about them is that there were two weird little kids running around playing with.. something. Something shiny.'

Reyna glanced back towards him with a faint, bemused expression. If her mind weren't linked to his she probably would have thought him insane. He typically didn't ramble, but that's what he was beginning to do. Or at least, that's how it sounded in her mind.

"Right. Uh. Watch the front end of the store for me for a minute," she murmured as she pushed away from her desk and disappeared into the back room with a stack of paper in her arms.

'Kay.' He floated back down towards the ground to stand on human-like feet before moving to sit at Reyna's desk with the hood of his cloak drawn up over his head. He looked very much like Athan sitting there moping about the shop with his dark robes, but Mystic was hardly the disgruntled mage.

Labbie seemed almost excited to be going back to the shop. It flitted ahead of Elysia, wisps fully formed into an elaborate set of butterfly wings that faded and wisped away at the very bottom. The wisp bobbed up and down excitedly, and waited in front of the door to the shop for Elysia to come open it. After all, it couldn't phase through the pane of glass...

"Gosh, aren't you excitable today!" Elysia exclaimed, power-walking behind the shadowy creature, trying to stay caught up to the energetic wisp. "You haven't been this motivated to move in a very long time...Feel good to be back?" she asked, not expecting any answer besides more bobbing up and down. Pushing the door to the shop open, Elysia stepped inside and waited for Labbie to follow.

Seeing the cloaked man at the desk, Elysia called out. "Athan, is that you?" she asked, not seeing that it was, in fact, Mystic. She'd only met Athan a couple of times, but he was usually all decked out in robes and black stuff. This guy seemed to match the profile.

The wisp darted over to the desk, and the butterfly wings transformed into swirling shadows again as the wisp checked the man out. She was obviously excited to see him.

Mystic laughed. It was an eerily soft sort of noise, but that was generally how his telepathic voice came across -- soft and quiet. Though it had deepened some since he had grown, but he was still rather soft spoken. At least most of the time. Unless, of course, a certain Seer were involved or the man in question whom Elysia had mistaken him as.

'I'm not Athan,' he murmured faintly as he reached to push the hood to his cloak out of his face to prove that point. Last he checked Athan wasn't purple. 'Thank the deities for that,' he added as he idly rested his chin in one hand and watched the little wisp curiously. It was an energetic little thing, though most of them seemed to be so from what he had seen.

'Hello, bug,' he replied. Surely, if he had had a mouth, he'd have been smirking.

Seeing the shadowed purple face emerge from underneath the dark cloak, Elysia smiled, her face becoming suddenly relaxed. "Oh, hi! I was expecting to see a more sour face under there," she chuckled. Athan always made her a bit nervous, in that "man-that-guy-is-just-a-little-creepy" kind of way. "You're Mystic right? Looks like you've gotten older since I saw you last. Looks as if the new age suits you. How are things around here?"

She leaned up against the counter, watching the wisp interact with the Fiend. Interesting...

The wisp bobbed happily up and down at the greeting, obviously oblivious to any ill will the Fiend might have had toward it. Uncoiling it's wings, shadowy tendrils explored Mystic's hair, and then they crept along the desk, backing slowly away from Mystic. There it rested, looking as if it were closely observing the Fiend.

'Yes, yes. I am Mystic,' he answered with a wave of one hand with a sort of bored, detached air, though his eyes didn't for one moment leave the little wisp that was floating about the desk. 'I'd say things are doing okay, but I don't actually work here, so I wouldn't know for certain. I make it a point not to visit too often.'

He fell quiet and tilted his head curiously to one side as he gazed intently at Elysia for a moment. 'What brings you buy? Shopping?' he snickered. Right. Who really came shopping at Twilight Designs once they'd been saddled with a Shadow?

"Aaah, well I guess it's good that you don't work here?" she asked, not really asking the question, because he made it clear that his answer would be yes.

"Yeah, I'm not around here very often either...and every time I am in here, there's no one else here...But I'm glad to hear that things are well enough." She paused, watching the wisp dance around the desk on it's shadowy tendrils.

"I've got a a question for you...not quite related to why I'm here, but something I've been wondering...Can you talk to it?" She pointed to Labbie, who was now resting atop a pen. "I try to talk to it, but I never get much feedback...but of course, it's been the source of more than a few strange dreams."

"And as to why I came by...I was also wondering if um...if it could get sick? It's not been acting very normal as of late...Labbie's been surprisingly quiet, and it's kind of concerning."

The wisp continued to perch on top of the pen, the wisps eventually reforming into wings and flapping silently, as if it was trying to keep its balance.

Somewhere in the back of his mind there was this wicked little voice whispering ever so softly that he ought to fill the woman with all sorts of lies. Oh sure! He could talk to it! Sort of like how he could talk to a brick wall. He resisted the urge to laugh outright at that train of thought as it would be more than a little rude, and he had a suspicious feeling that lying outright to the woman's face would come back and bite him later. Hard.

Squishing that mischeivous, nagging voice, he replied, 'No.' He paused for a brief moment as he peered down at the little wisp before deciding to elaborate. 'I can only feel what it feels if I wanted to try. But I don't. You should be able to as well. We are empathic. Pity emotions are so vauge, though.'

He leaned back away from the desk and idly swiveled the stool back and forth in a fidgety, child-like manner that belied his adult form. 'Can't say I recall ever being sick. Not really, anyway. Too much light inflicts headaches on occasion. Darkness is definately preferable,' he went on as he was more or less beginning to ramble as he scooted the stool back and forth, 'Closing off one's bond to one's guardian is also a tad painful, and I don't reccomend it, but she shouldn't be able to do that yet and I don't think you have a choice in the matter.'

He stopped suddenly and leaned over the desk with his dark hands flat against the surface as he all but invaded the small wisp's space so that his face was only inches from it. 'Question. What's your definition of normal?' He couldn't help the amusement that trickled into his voice.

"Well, sometimes I feel some occasional emotions from it, but never much...It's hard to tell. I can usually tell when it's happy, and if it's afraid...but that's about all," she said, not noticing a change in Mystic's demeanor. "I just thought you might have a way to communicate with it, since you're a Fiend too. Annnyways..." she paused to listen to potential reasons why Labbie might not be feeling so well, leaning up against the counter, her chin resting in her palm.

As he swivled around and put his face near the wisp, Elysia was a bit surprised to see the wisp jump a little, and she suddenly felt a surge of nervous emotions that could only have come from Labbie. The wisp was obviously agitated by Mystic's invastion of it's personal space. The wings quickly collapsed, as shadowy tendrils reached backward, pulling the gem backward with it, away from the Fiend's face. Once it was in a comfortable position once again, the shadows reformed into wings---dragonfly this time, and the wisp settled on the edge of the desk, the wings flapping more quickly this time, as if it was still a bit nervous.

"Well," she said, watching the poor creature jump and back away from Mystic. "Looks like it likes it's space...though it seems to have no problem invading other people's." She let out a chuckle, and then answered Mystic's question, noticing his jovial tone. "Well, Labbie's been so quiet. It hasn't really moved around much, and it used to be quite active...And now it's so serene and calm! It doesn't attach to my forehead anymore, and I don't get the dreams either....I was so used to its odd behavior, and now I think it's strange that these things aren't happening," she said, a look of concern on her face. "I guess I should probably welcome the blessing, but I just thought maybe there might be a problem with it..."

'Perhaps she's simply quiet by nature. It could be her personality showing through,' Mystic replied casually as he leaned back away from the wisp and crossed his arms over his chest comfortably. Or she could be plotting some sort of impending doom in the back of her nonexistent little head. Really, he needed to find a way to permanently squash that ickle little voice before it got
him into some serious trouble. Even if it was entertaining at times.

'I'm sure she's fine. She seems okay to me,' he went on, 'Dunno if there would be much you could do if she wasn't, though I'm certain if something was wrong you'd feel it.' Despite his lack of a mouth his face was quite expressive, and once more, he seemed to be smirking. 'It would be impossible not to.'

"I suppose you could be right," she said with a slight sigh, eyes carefully watching the wisp. "Her...behavior was just so odd at first," she paused, noticing that it was the first time she'd ever referred to the wisp as a female...but Mystic had said done it as well, and somehow Elysia was sure that she'd really known that Labbie was a female spirit all along.

Noticing the expression on his face, she instantly felt just a little creeped out by the adult Fiend. "Well, thanks for the reassurance anyway. I'm sure she's just fine...It'd probably be more obvious if things weren't going well, like you said." She stopped, feeling a bit of awkward silence. My, weren't things going pleasantly, she thought...maybe it was time to be going...

Seemingly examining Mystic once again, the wisp darted up and floated quickly around his head, and then moved back over to Elysia, her tendrils reaching out to once again curl around her silver hair. It moved up on top of her head and sat down, forming a strange diadem, and gave off a few happy vibes here and there.

'Yup,' he spoke up. Afterall, the woman still had a pulse and that was generally a good sign that things were going just fine. He nearly laughed out loud at that thought but was caught slightly off guard when Reyna bustled back into the room with a box full of papers.

"What sort of trouble are you stirring up?" she teased, but there was a knowing smile on her face as she plopped the box down upon the desk and ruffled Mystic's hair in a way that made him pull a rather sour face. She simply grinned before turning towards the other woman. "... Elysia, wasn't it?" she asked curiously before rifling through the box.

"Thanks for the info Mystic...I appreciate it---I don't really know what I'm dealing with..." she said with a slight shrug and appreciative smile. Hearing Reyna's voice, she stood up, no longer leaning on the counter, but standing casually, hands in her pockets.

"Yeah," she said, nodding at the woman. "I'm Elysia...Labbie's bonded. Nice to see you again. Reyna, right? It's been awhile since I've been here. Not since Halloween, I think it was." She looked curiously at the box that the woman was searching through, and then saw shadowy tendrils creeping down her arm. Had the wisp decided to make another appearance?"

Labbie crept slowly down Elysia's arm and along the counter, looking rather interested in Reyna. The shadows formed wings once again, and the wisp fluttered up into the air, and around the room, finally landing on the desk near the box.

Mystic said nothing as he stood from the chair to allow Reyna to sit. He idly leaned against her back and watched the little wisp from over her shoulder. Amusing little bug. He would have smiled at that thought, but Reyna smiled for him with a small chuckle.

"Yup. Hehe. That was a good party," she murmured as she set down a stack of papers to sort into different piles all over her desk. "Pity Athan doesn't seem too keen on hosting another."

'Could be because of the mess and how it ended in mass chaos,' he spoke up softly. A particularly wicked look fluttered across his face briefly. 'Not that I'm defending him.'

"It was quite the party, you're right," Elysia said, stifiling a giggle. "And it did get pretty rowdy there at the end...I had to crawl out the door to keep from becoming a target!"

She smiled at the pair, and continued. "Well, I'm sure the next gathering won't get so...out of hand," she said. "I'm sure Athan will keep things in line this time around..."

She sighed, and glanced around the shop once again. "How are things around here? Do many other Fiends and their guardians come around? I never see anyone when I come here."

The wisp seemed to be watching Reyna as she shuffled through her papers, and it was now giving off more pleasant vibes than it had been before. It's wings flapped slowly again, just to maintain it's balance.

Reyna snickered quietly under her breath. If she had her way, the next party (because there would SO be another whether Athan liked it or not) would be just as rowdy as the first. She smiled and continued shuffling through papers before pausing briefly to eye the wisp and then Elysia.

"Mm. It is fairly quiet here most of the time. Others do drop by every now and then," she answered quietly, "I suppose there's not much need to hang around this place too much. Fiends have a way of taking care of themselves."

She paused for a moment and glanced towards Mystic with a small smirk twitching at her lips. "Even if they do cause a fair amount of trouble."

Elysia shifted from one foot to the other. "Yeah, I just never see anyone unless you're having some sort of rowdy event..." She chuckled, and lifted her shoulder bag up, relieving her back of the weight for a short time. "I guess you're right about that," she said, knowing that Labbie could definitely take care of herself.

"I'm just glad Labbie hasn't caused me too much trouble. She seems so much more calm now that Rhea's living with us...I thought her erratic behavior was normal, but thank god it wasn't! I don't think I could have dealt with those headaches much longer..."

She paused. "And speaking of...well, sorta." She chuckled. "How long does it take for them to...mmm...mature? She's been a stone for so long now...I don't know if I'm just expecting it to grow like the Furies do, or what. They do have similar inital stages. I thought by now she'd be talking to me, and we could be having good times together!" She laughed, and as she did, the wisp fluttered over to her, bouncing up and down in front of Elysia's face happily. It seemed she wanted to enjoy herself too.

"Mmm.. that sounds like an Athan-question to me," Reyna spoke up as she rest her chin in one hand and paused from rummaging through paperwork. "I honestly couldn't tell you. Mystic was a wisp for quite some time. My guess would be that it's different for every Fiend."

Mystic simply nodded in solemn agreement with his guardian. It was the plain and simple truth as far as he knew.

"They are more fun when they're older, though personally I thought I was going to have to strangle Mystic a time or two when he was a kid."

The Shadow in question gave his guardian a rather exasperated look. Really, he was never going to live those times down.

"Mmm...Well, I'll just keep talking to her, and hopefully she'll decide to emerge one day. I just want her to be able to talk to me...She gives me such mixed emotions that I never know what's going on in her mind," she leaned up against the counter again. "Well, I can imagine they are more fun when they're older. At least they can interact with you..."

Turning to the bug resting on her shoulder, she spoke to it softly. "Not that you're not fun now Labbie...I just want you to be able to tell me what you're feeling and seeing..." She had begun to treat the wisp like a child, trying to show it things, and explain things to it as they travelled, so that when Labbie did emerge, she would understand at least some of the things around her.

Attention went back to Reyna, and Elysia giggled slightly. "Well, most of my kids did rowdy things when they were younger. It just means you'll have lots of stories to tell to your own kids one day."

"Mmmm... true," she replied slowly with a mischeivous glint in her visible eye, "I've always been fond of reflecting on the time Mystic got stuck in a wall. And then there was when he demolished my kitchen." A wicked smirk plastered itself across Reyna's face as she turned her gaze over towards the Fiend in question.

He huffed and folded his arms over his chest, but despite the rather stern look on his face it was quite obvious he was blushing and was more than a little embarrassed.

'You're almost as bad as Hawk.'

"Sorry, love," the woman smirked, "You make yourself an easy target."

Elysia giggled at the thought of Mystic getting trapped inside a wall. "How did he get in the wall Reyna?" Elysia asked, wondering if he just up and slid right on through..."And why couldn't he get out?"

Turning to Mystic, she gave him a knowing smile. "Hey, don't feel bad, every mother tells embarassing stories about their children...And she'll do it forever too, so I'd try to get used to it if I were you," she suggested, laughing.

Labbie just sat there contentedly, flapping her wings every now and then, radiating a peaceful feeling to Elysia.

Reyna shifted in her seat and leaned forward on the desk to rest her chin in her hand. "He hadn't been a child long when the incident occured," she answered quietly even though she could almost feel how Mystic rolled his eyes at her, "He was hiding in a wall trying to escape from me because I was scolding him for basically destroying my kitchen. He didn't realize he'd taken a solid form and he got so upset that he got stuck in the wall."

She laughed quietly under her breath at the memory. "Good times."

'Indeed,' Mystic grumbled.

Elysia nodded and gave Reyna an amused smile, and then she turned to Mystic with a curious look. "Did you become solid that quickly? When did that happen? I don't really know what kind of creature Labbie's going to grow into...Will she be invisible when she first grows--maybe look kind of like you?"

She had lots of questions about what Labbie might be like...It would be cool if she was see-through. She'd be like a small ghost, and who wouldn't want a cool ghost following them around? She supposed that she'd seen a couple of other ghostly looking Fiends at the Halloween party, but she hadn't noticed if they were opaque or not.

Mystic blinked and peered at the woman for a long moment before slowly replying. 'I did.. I just didn't know how to reverse it.. er.. well.. I did.. I was just too upset to,' he admitted with a grumble before glancing away. He fell silent for a time before turning his violet eyes back upon Elysia and Labradorite.

'You will know. She is.. bonded to you. You will feel it,' he answered, 'And she ought to be able to assume whatever form she pleases, but it will take time to control it as I and other older Shadows can.'

He faded from view almost entirely as though to demonstrate that particular ability causing to him appear very much like some strange spector floating through the air. He resumed a solid form as he stood behind Reyna on human-feet with one arm idly wrapped about her shoulders.

Getting the feeling that Mystic was bothered by her questions, Elysia decided to back off a bit. She knew she could get carried away sometimes, but she really was curious. After all, Labbie had been a stone for a long time, and she had no idea what to expect.

"Aww, I can imagine that changing for the first time would be a bit traumatic...Now, I'm sure you're great at it!" she said, giving him an enthusiastic look. She was never sure if he disliked her or not... "It's all a matter of practice."

Looking over at Labbie, contentedly flapping her wings, Elysia imagined what she might look like. Probably similar to the ghost she saw in that Casper movie. That's what most of the other Fiends she'd seen had looked like...

"Aaah, I see. Well, I'm sure she'll be beautiful, regardless of what form she chooses."

She watched as Mystic faded from view, and then reappeared behind Reyna. "WOW, that's so cool!"

Suddenly, an electronic beeping emerged from Elysia's pocket...and soon after, vibration followed, indicating the ringing of her cell phone. Pulling it out and flipping it open, she held a finger up. "Hold on one second..."

There was a brief discussion on the other end, and then she snapped the phone back into it's closed position. "Oh, I almost forgot! I have to go pick up Ari from the sitter. Looks like I was supposed to be there half an hour ago...God, I'm a horrible mother!"

Labbie flitted out toward Reyna and Mystic, sending them thankful vibes, and then she turned and moved back onto Elysia's shoulder, sensing that it was time to go.

"Take care," Reyna smirked. Mystic simply offered a small wave over her shoulder as he decided to hide in her shadow for the time being. He still really wasn't so used to be social, and it left him feeling a bit drained. He was beginning to think he didn't mind it too much, though. Time would tell.

"Later!" Elysia called as she headed out the door, Labbie safely riding on her shoulder, her wings no longer wings, but wisps again.

"See you guys again sometime. I know I'll be back eventually!" They all came back eventually, she thought to herself with a grin. Heading out the door, she let it close quickly behind her, and she walked into the evening, back toward Gambino.  

[Sizzla]

Elysia's Journal

Well, things have been so calm lately! Labbie's made hardly any trouble, and she even let Flora and Faun 'play' with her the other day. She seems to really like them, but then again, they are children of Chaos, even though they are a bit more pleasant than most. It must be the cheribum showing through.

They spent the good part of an hour zipping around the house, playing tag and hide and seek. Labbie seems to understand their games, and she was fairly sly about the whole thing, occasionally flitting about on butterfly wings, just giving the twins some time to find her. When they'd see her and start to fly toward her, she'd zip off, hiding easily from the them. They weren't born that long ago, and they haven't quite gotten used to flying. I just sit there and watch them while I'm reading or watching TV, and I usually get a good laugh.

I went to Twilight Designs not long ago, and got to meet Mystic--he's Reyna's Fiend. He seems like a nice enough kid--well, I guess he really is an adult. It's crazy to imagine Labbie like that...I'd be happy just to hear her talk! I feel a lot of emotions from her, but that's about all...Most of the time, she's feeling calm or happy, and I think that's probably a good thing.

It sounded like Mystic was pretty rambunctious when he was younger. And the night of the Halloween party led me to believe that there were other rowdy Fiends at the shop too. I wonder if Labbie's got that in there somewhere...maybe she's just waiting to let out her crazy side! heh. i just laughed at myself. I just can't imagine it!

I'm glad things are back to normal again. I'm not getting the headaches anymore, and that has to be a good sign. I'm hoping for more good things from here on out.

Ciao!  

[Sizzla]

Athan's dying!? oh no! (metaplot)

Reyna Crelos

The note arrives mysteriously out of nowhere whever the guardian is at the moment. The paper is folded in thirds and sealed with a small cresent shaped piece of silver wax.

Apologies for the abruptness of this message and the slight intrusion, but time is a commodity at the moment that we cannot afford to waist. I'm sure you are already aware of the Shadow that follows you around near constantly, as I too have one and therefore are at least somewhat familiar with whom Athan is. I'm afraid at the moment he is gravely ill and is in need of an antidote to a poison which he was exposed to.

Unfortunately I haven't time to explain how or why, but I need to ask a favor of you. Can you please retrieve the following item for me? It's an ingrediant to the spell which will help to cure him. I've attached a brief description and image of it. It's very urgent, and I'd do it myself but.. well.. I can't leave Athan alone, now can I? Besides, it'll save us time if we work together.

After all, it isn't just Athan's life that is at stake here. If he dies, as do our Shadows which could also prove dangerous for our own health as guardians since our souls are bound to them and may very well follow them into death.

Thanks in advance,
Reyna

Cradolith is a very strong liquid made from a rare, hard to find plant of the very same name. It is an antioxidant of sorts and is generally used to purify toxins within the body. It is purple in color and fizzles sort of like soda when it is contained. Because of how strong the liquid is, it is given out only in small vials. One drop can help cure someone from a poison, a thimble full can kill a person.

Location: This sort of liquid can only be found in an antique magic shop that deals in hard to find spell ingrediants. Be warned though, the shop keepers are usually rather exccentric (as constant exposure to old magic does corrode the mind). The shop will also likely appear to only sell normal, everyday merchandise of the non-magical variety. This is usually to help prevent theivery and of attracking the attention of those who would use their products in a negative manner.

Spell Use: The liquid will help seal the spell at the very end. The bonus is that is also used for curing people who've been poisoned.

(( click the item's name to see the image of it! you may do whatever you please with it in reguards to chopping it up and pasting it in your journal, etc. There is also a copy of the item description in the guild. ))

 

[Sizzla]

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