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 Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:09 pm
A purple dash darted through the wet swamplands. The heavy air sank down into her fur, clumping her once soft hairs and flattening them against her shivering body. A stray beam of light cut through the canopy of leaves every once in a while, but the majority of the swamp was as she remembered it.
Cold, dank, dark, putrid, and utterly miserable.
Her eyes darted across the swamp as she sat up on her hind legs, her nose sniffing the air. She perched there, like a meerkat on the lookout, her vibrant claws curling into the moist bark of the fallen tree limb. A stream of oozing mud squeezed past the tree limb below, carrying leaves and other debris downhill like a little river.
No signs of him.
Oh, where could that infuriating little annoying twit of a man be?
She wiped on of her muddy front paws on the tree limb, trying to clean it at least somewhat. No luck. It would take her hours to get all of the mud out of her fur.
Fluffy was not a happy camper. Not in the least bit. Now where in the world was that man?
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:35 pm
Bauh eimVenturing into a place that had yet to be explored in his mind's eye, the purposeful pad falls of the dog's feet came in percise order. Stalking? He just might have been, for his belly was low to the ground, his tail drug out behind him into the mud, and those murderous crystaline eyes gleamed with knowing. Perhaps there was something about that had caught his interest, for his every now and again his ears perked at what could have been the snap of a twig, or the flutter of wings. Most certainly, his mind decided not, and Bauh'eim came to a sudden stop, allowing his blue orbs to rest on this part of Beastia. Now he hadn't quite made it this far in his travels just yet, despite the region being part of his home, but he found that he perfered a certain territory that he knew just reeked of his own scent.
Even now, as the dog raised his nose towards the sky and inhaled deeply, he could smell the faint wafts of his own 'territory'. Of course, he knew it was not, for the Living Tree, or 'Pan' as so he had called himself, had made it quite clear that this forest was not the dog's. Oh no. As he thought and considered this, Bauh'eim gave a canine shrug and allowed it to roll over his shoulder, he would fully stick by the permissions he had been given. One being, to his utmost and utter joy, was the hunting of interruders. For some reason, the Living Tree had not liked them, and in order to keep up a certain level freedom within the forest, so it seemed to the dog, he would uphold this gleeful chore. As it was though, Bauh'eim had yet to encounter such things, which sent a frustrated shiver down his matted clumps of fur.
Flicking his crystaline gaze back towards what was ahead of him, the canine terror took a loud and wide yawn, before resting back on his haunches, and scooting his forelegs foreward till he was resting on his belly in the mud. His little hunt wasn't over yet, for the scent had not been lost in his excellent nostrils. She was out here somehere, wounded by his own teeth, and if she hadn't woken up just yet... Bauh'eim would find that worthless little human girl. Thinking on this, the corners of his maw rose into a cruel grin, bareing those ivory teeth of his as small jests of a throaty laughter krept its way past them. Perhas he will allow the woman to suffer her fear alone in the forest, where just about anything could happen.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:21 pm
Ara slinked through the undergrowth, staying close to the ground, hoping that none of the guardians of Bestia would sent her. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be here, but she had come anyways. Though, the demon kept looking over her shoulder ever few seconds in fear. She had just wanted to explore somewhere outside of her city.
Ara hadn’t bothered summoning her human into the nightscape yet either. As much as she hated the worthless lump of walking flesh, she was hers to torment. She’d wait a little bit. As long as she didn’t run into Pan, she should be fine…actually, running into no one would be best.
Glancing up from the ground, Ara caught sight of a purple blur. She recoiled back into the undergrowth, though she had no reason to fear it. It was to small to pose a threat to her. Leaning forward, she saw it was a Gremlin.
Ara didn’t really know much about Gremlins. All she knew was that they were kinder than the tradition denizens of the Nightscape. She also knew that they often hung around a nightmare of some sort. Inwardly she hoped that this particular Gremlin wasn’t following around a Nightmare, or at the very least was following someone who wasn’t welcome in the particular world too.
Ara stepped forward to get a closer look, but her fleshy ‘wing’ got caught on a tree branch. She stumbled forward and into the tree the Gremlin was by. Colourful curses flitted through her mind, since she knew that it would have been better for her to stay hidden. She muttered and stood up to her full height to glare at the furry creature.
“Can I help you?” she growled, as if the creature had come and bothered her.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 4:13 pm
She sniffed, peering down her nose at the other creature. This involved tilting her head far back, as the creature happened to be much taller than she was. Much much taller.
"No, you can't help me," she snapped, flicking her tail with annoyance. The woman had no right questioning her. Not that she really was being questioned, but the gremlin was easily insulted by the smallest of things. "I'm looking for someone, actually." Her eyes darted back and forth. Still no sign of him.
At this rate, she'd never find him unless she asked someone for help.
Her tail dropped, and she let out a sigh. Oh well. Time for pride to be lost. "Have you seen a nightmare with a lab coat go by?" she asked. She dug her claws into the bark, seething with frustration. He should have been back by now. And Fluffy was covered in dirt and mud. That was absolutely disgusting. If he had come back when he had said he'd be back, then she wouldn't have had to trudge through this horrible smelly swampland in the first place. That Faust was getting a scolding when he came back. Oh, she'd give him a piece of her mind, all right. What a jerk. He was always a jerk. Hmph. Fluffy flicked her tail in annoyance. "His name's Faust, and he has green hair. Seen anyone like him anywhere around this place? Other than his hair, he looks pretty human. Like a weird demented human, but a human nonetheless."
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:32 pm
It was a rather short distance away, to the dog's ears any how, that a few sounds had caught his attention. Now Bauh'eim wasn't quite use to hearing other voices, besides his own and the Worthless One's, but it had certainly caught his attention. With a small sniff coming from his dark nose, the canine flicked an ear in a sudden grip of panic. Was SHE still out there? Had SHE woken up by now? Flicking his gaze off in the direction of the voices, he could feel his muscles tensing. If whoever they were had caught his property, he'd surely snap. With a grunt, the terror raised himself from his position in the mud, allowing his nose to sniff at the ground for a bit longer, and turn his attention in the other direction. No, no, even in this swampy area, he was able to tell that the woman had ran off in the other direction. That was a relief, but despite himself he couldn't quite decide on which way to go.
Follow the scent that would surely lead him to the heap of what was left of the woman, or follow the voices and check them out. Certainly, the voices were quite some distance away, and Bauh'eim wasn't too keen and walking very far away from Ropin, for fear some other nightmare would get the chance to torment her; and thus, robbing him of his property. With a low growl to himself and his indecision, the dog couldn't quite shake off the need to be curious, and slowly trudged in the direction of the two voices.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 1:39 pm
Ara looked at the gremlin in amusement. Though, she was still highly aware of the fact she shouldn’t be in Bestia, she didn’t find anything wrong with conversing with the small creature. Something amusing was always good.
“Proud little creature aren’t we now?” Ara said sarcastically to the gremlin. “Anyways, no, I have not. In fact I’ve seen none but you. I’m trying to avoid being seen at all. Now I would help you, but I’d run the risk of this ‘Faust’ being from Bestia and deciding I was a threat and chasing me out.” She paused, thinking, “Unless of course, this Faust is not from Bestia. Then I could help you.
She looked over the gremlin carefully, to make sure it wouldn’t have some surprise attack to chase her out. The animal wasn’t exactly what she would call friendly, but then again, what kind of Nightmare is? A tamed one?
She shifted her wing uncomfortably and glanced around once again. So far she hadn’t seen or heard anything, but then again, her senses weren’t nearly as good as the creatures of Bestia. For all she knew, something could be lurking in the trees at this moment, waiting to chase her off.
Ara frowned and looked up at the Gremlin. “What’s this Faust’s human’s fear?” she asked in pure curiosity.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 7:04 pm
Fluffy scowled, her sharp pointed teeth glinting in the dim light. How dare this nightmare call her proud? Demons were the worst of the sort, they always thought themselves so high and mighty. Well, Fluffy had a news flash for the demon: gremlins were just as powerful as other nightmares were. In fact, they were almost more important than the others. Yes. Small size had nothing to do with power. Her mouth curved into a smug smile. Hah. The power of gremlins.
Then again, Faust had always called Fluffy a bit of a dramatic creature, one that liked to be in the spotlight and thought herself above others, always stepping out of her proper station. But that didn't make her proud, did it? She mentally shook her head. No. Of course not. Most definitely not.
Fluffy shrugged. "Faust's not from around here," she said. "He's from Operis, originally. There's just business he's got to do over here, or something stupid like that."
The gremlin's purple back fur raised on end, and her claws punctured the bark of the branch she stood on. "The little brat's afraid of doctors," she snapped. Her tail twitched. Faust spent too much time with that girl. Even when he wasn't with that annoying human, he just spent his time thinking of more ways to torture her. He was so rude, ignoring Fluffy all the time for that bratty little baby.
"What's your human's fear?" she asked. It looked pretty nasty, from Fluffy's point of view. Then again, Fluffy hadn't ever been a gremlin who enjoyed the sight of deformities. Just another difference between her and Faust, she supposed. Speaking of Faust, why in the world was he taking so long? Didn't he know better than to keep her waiting?
She let out an aggravated sigh. "Where is that jerk?" she muttered. "Always doing another one of his experiments..."
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 8:43 pm
Flicking a bushy tail behind him as the mud made sucking noises with his padfalls, the canine made his way around the swampy area, and for the most part silently. Asides from the twitching of his ears, swishing of his tail, and the quick movements of his limbs; his journey was mostly a silent one. Stalking? Not quite in the same way he had been with Ropin, oh no. Bauh'eim had been on a hunt then, but this time, he was quite curious to discover just what lay beyond him and with the discovery of the voices.
A small, cruel smile krept its way up to the corners of his lips, exposing his ivory row of teeth. Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him? That sounded lovely, for the last thing the Worthless One needed was an insane killer every time she fell asleep. And certainly, he had already made an impression on the woman, despite him just being a terror at this point. Oh it made his matted fur crawl and shiver in delight to think about how and what he would do to her when he was stronger, and could pull her into the nightscape for even longer intervals of time. A chilling look seeped into those crystline eyes of his as he came yet nearer to the voices, now able to catch the smallest hint of a mixed scents. Mixed? He couldn't quite tell which belonged to what and vise versa, but the dog knew something was there.
At the peak of his curiousity, he slanked forward, his belly near to the ground as he could tell he was getting closer. In a bit of a crouch, Bauh'eim allowed his gaze to scan the area, his lips still upturned into that morbid grin he wore upon his maw. Now... where were they? After checking the area visually, despite his rather poor sight, the terror got to his paws and walked forward once more; the quiet sucking of the mud announcing his presence to any that were nearby.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 9:02 am
Ara took a step backward, upon seeing the gremlins reaction to calling it proud. Obviously she’d said something she should not of. She would have to be a bit more cautious. Maybe gremlins weren’t so harmless after all. They were a kind of nightmare.
“Operis?” the demon asked, interest perking, “I think I could just help you look for him after all, being from that big old city as well.”
As the gremlins fur bristled, Ara wondered if she’d done something wrong again, but the creature’s next words betrayed her dislike for the human. Doctors. Interesting. Ara had always wondered why her human hadn’t just simply been afraid of doctors and was specifically afraid of amputation. They were closely related, weren’t they?
“Amputation,” Ara said in a mockingly cheerful voice. “Though, I guess it makes sense,” she muttered, looking herself over. She knew she wasn’t all that…good looking. It’s hard to have a fear of something like amputation and still look good. Though, truthfully, she didn’t care how she looked.
All of a sudden, Ara whirled around to face the woodland, convinced she’d heard something lurking in the dark. She felt the fear welling up in her again, but when she heard nothing else; she dismissed it and turned nervously back to the gremlin.
“So, uh, what’s you name?” Ara asked, not willing to let the safe feeling of being with something that wasn’t going to harm her…yet slip away. It was one of those rare times when she didn’t prefer solitude.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 12:28 pm
The gremlin's nose twitched. Hm. The demon seemed to hear something. One of her large ears lifted like a satellite dish, swiveling around to try and hear anything around her. Nope. Nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe the demon was simply paranoid or something. She decided not to worry about it.
"Fluffy," she said. "My name's Fluffy. I'm from Operis as well. Why are you down around here? Oh, and what's your name, anyway?"
A squishing sound echoed from nearby, and the gremlin whirled around. It sounded like something was trudging through the mud. Her nose quivered. It smelled like the something was another nightmare, probably one of the canine variety. A shiver ran down her spine. Ew. Dogs. Those were nasty. Almost as nasty as humans, but not quite.
"Do you hear that nightmare?" she asked. "Are they with you?"
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 12:46 pm
“Well, hello to you Fluffy.” Ara said politely. Her fear was making her somewhat nicer. She craved the company of something that wouldn’t tear her to shreds. She glanced around once more before continuing. “I guess I got tired of Operis and wanted to explore another place.” Ara laughed nervously. “I don’t seem to be doing very well.” Pause, “My names Ara.”
Upon once again hearing the squishing sound again, Ara whirled. She knew she wasn’t imagining it. Fear welled up inside her and she glanced around the clearing. In her fear she almost didn’t hear Fluffy’s next words. Did she look like she was with any other nightmares?
“I heard it.” Obviously, she added silently, “and no, I’m not with anyone. I think I’m being hunted. I should be in Operis after all.”
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 2:31 pm
"I hope it's not trying to hunt me," Fluffy said. She flicked her tail, her nose wrinkling. Lots of large creatures liked to pick on gremlins, if only because of their small size. If Faust was back, like he should have been, she'd have no reason to fear any unusual noises. Even though Faust was only a terror, he still had a habit of intimidating people and nightmares. She supposed Faust was pretty creepy, with all that blood that usually covered him and all. Not to mention that he acted pretty creepy most of the time as well.
"Well, nice to meet you, Ara," she said. "It's odd running into someone else from Operis in Bestia. Do you usually explore on your own? Seems kind of boring without other nightmares to me. Don't you like talking to other nightmares?"
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 2:36 pm
The dog hardly paid attention to the noise he was making, for despite himself and his stalking actions, Bauh'eim was quite aware that it wasn't exactly a smart idea to sneak up on most nightmares. Heck, especially the Living Tree, he would bet. Lifting a foreleg up and out of the mud, one of his ears flickered to the side at the sound of the voices once more. As if in suit, his whole head turned in that direction, and soon after his body slinked off in a quick bend at the middle; nothing more then a flick of his bushy tail in the last farewell to the previous route. Up ahead, through the mess of trees and underbrush, he could have sworn he saw movement ahead, but with his poor eyesight, he couldn't really be sure.
To confirm this, he raised his nose ever so slightly to test the air, finding once again the mixed scents of creatures. 'Well hello,' he thought briefly in his success of tracking down the voices. Unsure of what he would find, but certainly apathetic of danger within the Living Tree's realm, the dog continued forward, clearly seeing... something up ahead. His gaze though, was not directed upwards, but rather something oddly large on the ground. Larger then himself at least, only being a terror. Still, that didn't stop him from approaching.
One ear, the one bent at the corner, flicked itself forward as he caught the last words of conversation. "Operis?" The questioning tone came with a dripping venom of amusement as he emerged from the underbrush. Such a thing he had never heard of, but a quick sniff of the air told him the scent wasn't that of bestia. Quirking a cruel muzzle, still upturned in that morbid grin of his, towards the large nightmare; he had yet to lay his crystaline gaze upon the Gremlin. Heck, he hadn't even noticed where the little gremlin was at the moment, just that the there was one in the area. After all, he had heard her voice. Now Bauh'eim didn't exactly have 'attack' written on his features, for he was far more curious then he was savage at the moment; despite a constant flicking of his bushy tail.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 5:09 pm
Ara looked at Fluffy in amusment. The creature really didn’t seem all that afraid of being here. In fact, the little gremlin seemed almost at home. Well, except for the fact it seemed displeased about all the mud on its fur. Ara appreciated the gremlins…kindness. It was a nice change from all the solitude and hostile nightmares.
“It is odd,” Ara said, trying to dismiss the feeling she was being watched. It was best to pretend she didn’t know. Maybe the thing watching wouldn’t attack if she didn’t act hostile. “I don’t normally explore and it is boring not coming in contact with other nightmares. Though, I don’t rea-” she cut off suddenly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she had finally seen the thing watching her. She froze, watching it. Hoping dearly it would not attack, but the creature was just watching her.
“Do you need something?” she asked, her voice betraying no emotion at all.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 7:21 pm
Crystaline eyes gazed at the sight before him, taking in the stance of this nightmare, which would hopefully tell him what he needed to know about her position on hostility. Of course, he didn't find anything of much use, but had in fact seen something rather amiss. Differet shades of flesh, odd little lines, and the proportion all seemed to confuse him. Bauh'eim was comfortable just watching for the moment, but he his ears did catch the statement. Raising his morbid stare up to the nightmare's face once more, he couldn't quite say he enjoyed that little testiment. He was still unable to tell just how she would react at his presence, for her voice too, gave him no clues. "No more then you need another limb replaced" the dog observed in a near whisper of breath, just loud enough for the nightmare to hear. His own however, was beyond apathy. He spoke with a sense of belonging to the Bestia region around them, and did not hesitate to make that fact known.
"I haven't heard much about Operis", he explained once his crystaline orbs were set on a deep pondering, the corners of his maw still upturned into a toothy grin, that showed hints of ivory teeth from beyond his gums. Once he thought about, he could have sworn he remembered something that the Living Tree had told him about intruders, but at the moment, his curiousity overpowered his memory, much less the need to obey at the very second. "I heard you were from there, so no chance in denying it", he spoke, his voice almost breaking into an excited snarrle before he continued. "What's it like?" he finally questioned, allowing curiousity to overpower his sense of protection, as he sat himself down on his haunches in the mud to show he held no ill-will... at the moment. After all, it would not be wise to attack a demon without fully knowing their intentions. For Bauh'eim, was merely a terror, and a great deal smaller.
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