• Graded • CitW: The Waiting Place

[Pegasus]

My childish mind followed on outside.

A crack appeared inside a wall,
A door sprang up around it.
Each of these so finely drawn
I could not believe I found it.
A wildish wind blew it open wide,
My childish mind followed on outside,
And so I found myself among
My hearts delight surrounded.

A world of wonder lay without,
It was all of nature's calling.
With field and forest, clouds and sun
Cascades of salt water falling.

Heights and valleys, dark ravines
Ivy thick and wild, deep and thorny scenes,
And yet each thing did love its place
In the lap of all of nature's sprawling.

And so and so it goes.

I asked the one whose land this was
If I might have a token
To take with me back to the other side
To have and to keep unspoken.

I asked three times and was thrice denied.
I asked again without my pride
And found I'd lost that world I'd lived
Returned as one now broken,

To a crumb, a rag, a withered leaf
In the chilly winds of cold relief
I knew myself as I had been,
As from a dream awoken.

And so and so it goes.

But then a crack appeared inside a wall
And a door sprang up around it

.

120th Ashan, 719. Midnight

Prologue

It was in the same moment that it happened for them all.

As the bells of midnight chimed, as darkness gripped the land in it's deepest grasp, they each of them saw it. If they were asleep, they saw it in their dreams; and if they were awake it was there, physically, in front of them. A crack in reality.

A crack which soon opened into a rip, then a tear and finally, a doorway. If they were with someone, no one else but them saw this thing happening and, no matter what they did ~ run towards or run away, stand and stare or anything in between ~ it was there. Where they were.

Through it, there was a boy. Or maybe a man. He could even be an infant, or a woman. The form was almost amorphous, fluid and shifting. It seemed. But he held the door open and, for those who had been summoned recognised the shifting, changing figure as the Wingless Man. Whereas, for those who considered this a random act (if ever such a thing existed), they saw someone familiar.

After all, they'd been seeing him out of the corner of their eyes for seasons now. he'd haunted their dreams always watching in the shadows. Never there, not in plain sight, but always on the periphery.

Watching.

If they chose to walk through the door, made from the crack, then they would find themselves there immediately. For those who chose not to walk through the rip in reality, well that was their choice. But it kept appearing in front of them and, at some point in their trial they would walk through a door, or an opening, step from one place to another and, when they did... they found it.

The place which had been calling them all.

Their place.

The Waiting Place

Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles cross weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

The Waiting Place.

Once it had been a library, full of tomes of knowledge and wisdom. They lived there still, although mostly now they were old and cantankerous and did not like to be disturbed. Young things, alive things... awake things reading them would be horrifying to these tomes and, should anyone open a book, or touch one, they would find themselves ... well. Lets just see what happens.

When it had been a library, there had been two sweeping staircases. One for him, one for her. Both made of dark wood with swirling metal railings, leading up to The Exit (very clearly labelled). The stairs looked as the awakers arrived. The left staircase frowned, the right one smiled ~ showing perfectly even teeth.

"Welcome!" The two staircases said at once. One happy, one sad, one grumpy one cheery. "Welcome to the Waiting Place!" In front of each of them, as they arrived, there was a desk. It was carved from ebony and black wood. It was inlaid with beautiful, glittering runes which sparkled in the light. They weren't immediately decipherable, those runes, but there was the "Big Book Of Rune Deciphering" on the desk. Maybe that would help, if someone wanted to?

Other than that, there was a single apple - half eaten and with the hole from a worm. There were also two pears, three plums, four strawberries and five oranges in a bowl of green glass. Next to that bowl was one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake and one slice of watermelon.

And next to them, was a very round, very large caterpillar.

"You're here already!" The caterpillar squeaked and, unseen by the awakers, the teapot scurried off. "You're here already! We aren't prepared!! Will you wait? Please, oh please!! Wait. Look. There are chairs!!"

There were, indeed, chairs. One for each of them. Sat in a circle around a strange spherical... thing. Made of bits of glass and metal, it seemed completely random. It was spinning on a plinth and each person who looked on it saw something they knew. Something they remembered or knew.. or wanted. In the reflection of the spinning sphere, they saw a dream.

And, as they arrived they each saw that they were wearing nothing but a pair of pyjamas, white thick socks and a headband with a pair of animal ears (your choice which animal). Any items at all from the waking / outside / really real world were not with them. You arrive in the order you post - so the first one to post arrives in an empty room, etc etc.

"Oh, please, may I get you some tea!?" The caterpillar asked. The others might notice that to one of them... Hart, of course, the caterpillar bowed a deep and respectful bow.

And found I'd lost that world I'd lived, returned as one now broken.

Available Actions

1. Open or touch a book.
2. Step on, or reply to, a staircase (tell me which)
3. Specifically interact with the runes or the Big Book of Rune Deciphering in any way.
4. Touch or ingest any of the foodstuffs.
5. Talk to the caterpillar.
6. Sit on a chair (or touch one)
7. Go to The Exit (this will involve going on a staircase and thus is 2 actions)
8. Interact with the sphere thingie in the middle.

Rules

Welcome to Emea. This place has no rules, but you still do.

Each of the 8 possible things in the "Available Actions" tab is an action. You have precisely TWO actions. Hart has four.

Everything here has consequences. They will not always make sense.

You have all been given an item (see the sign up thread). This is your "token".

If you were in the Maze, you may bring your animal companion, mirror and notebook with you. Let me know if you are. If you were given a ribbon. You have it.

For THIS ROUND ONLY everyone will post here. This is your introduction post. Then, we will split off into threads. Which thread you are in has already been determined, but your actions here could change it.

Objectives

!	Message from: MUST DO OBJECTIVES
	1. Use up your two actions. 2. Describe your pyjamas. 3. Describe your token.

!	Message from: CAN DO OBJECTIVES
	None this round

Dates & Deadlines

You need to post here by Friday, 15th Feb. If you have not done so, you've missed the round. I will be locking the thread at that time.
I will post on Saturday 16th Feb.

[Nightshade Eld]

The half-breed didn't resist when the portal of sorts appeared. For a woman who had long ago entrenched herself in the doings of Immortals, weirder things had happened. Weirder indeed... However, the end result of entering this portal was perhaps one of the oddest things she'd encountered yet. At least while she conscious enough to understand what was going on.

Entering what seemed to be a large waiting room, the half-breed looked around. She wasn't scared but she was cautious as she looked around, trying to catch sight of other people. Either she was the first or others were already so entrenched in their activities that she didn't get the chance to see then before her mind began to wander and she tried to take stock of the situation itself. She was dressed in pajamas... Odd. It seemed to be a onesie of sorts, black as pitch and black as her wings. The pajamas were thick, and warm, and soft, made from a material that was obviously high quality but she couldn't put a name to. Someone had attempted to put socks on her feet, but they didn't quite fit given the nature of the half-breed's feet themselves. One size fits all didn't really work with her. Her feet were cramped, her talons sticking out and poking holes through the material. Her headband had wolf ears.

Feeling something in her hands she realized it looked to be a child's toy of some kind. Some kind of humanoid shape that had long been worn by attention that it no longer looked like it was supposed to. Curious. It had a strange weight in her hand, being lighter than one might expect. For the sake of caution, she'd hold onto it.

Continuing to look around the room she watched as the caterpillar panicked, bidding her and whoever else appeared to wait. She had no problems with that. There were so many objects all around the room that caught her eye.

The thing that caught her eye most was the book of runes. She didn't mention it often, but she was a woman who appreciated knowledge. Intelligence. For that reason, she appreciated Treid, but the long incapacitated immortal was likely never to answer any of her prayers if he was even still a function of this existence. That, however, didn't stop her from seeking an answer. In a situation like this, she was all the more curious. So much knowledge in this room, yet she'd have to be cautious. Who knew what might be dangerous.

She approached the rune book carefully. "Grand book? Do you mind if I take a peak?" She asked the thing. She was adapting rather well. In a world where caterpillars could talk she assumed it might be best to ask for permission before going snooping around. The runes interested her though and she would so greatly love to take a look at what kind of information the book might hold, to learn it and to pass it on. There were so many ways that knowledge of runes could be used! Should the book actually respond to her then she would oblige whatever its answer was though. She was a polite, well-behaved half-avriel. She wouldn't force the book to be read if it didn't want to be read.

Should the book not respond at all then perhaps she might just leave the thing alone. It would depend on how dangerous it seemed.

After inspecting the big book of runes she decided to continue her investigation focusing on the books. Carefully, she walked towards the bookshelves, watching the books that seemed to live. They felt alive. Felt sentient. Felt smart. She didn't think randomly touching one would go well though...They seemed too smart... She decided that she'd rather not touch any of the books and instead turned her attention to the caterpillar.

"Excuse me sir or madam, would you care to have a chat? I'd like to know a little more about what's going on," he half-breed gently told the caterpillar. She tried to keep a voice that was gentle, calm, trying to coax words and information out of the small creature. It seemed easily frightened and she'd rather not scare it off.

"Common"

"Ith'ession"

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Nightshade's actions have been noted and will be responded to in the next mod-post.

[Cirrina]

It rained shrimp.

Or it had been raining shrimp.

She’d been plucking them from the sky and snacking pleasantly when the water she laid upon had split open the shrimp falling dead and rotten onto the door she laid on. The mer was tempted to ignore it but voices on the other side made her both wary and annoyed. She would have been perfectly content to gorge herself but they had interrupted!

With more force than warranted the door was wretched open so the mer could plop through, landing on her feet with a frown. What in the name of her disaster of a creator was she wearing? Her hair wiggled around the strange headband that gave her bear ears and formed to fit was a strange pair of human like pajamas, with bottoms made with multiple silken leg holes for each tentacle. Which was the only reason she didn’t fling them off, if they had hindered her she would have happily used the rags as tooth picks as she was about to do with her headband. But the sight of the sock on one arm tentacle stopped her. It was like a forlorn mitten and she stared at it incredulously before her head jerked up to stare at the bird person and talking furniture.

Of all these the dreams she had been in, this was surely the strangest and most real feeling. But more than confusion she was still hungry, her eyes settling on the neurotically babbling land morsel. Whatever else she would finish her dinner this night but theater woman interrupted her, speaking to the caterpillar as if it were more than a late night snack.

“Do you always chat up your food before you eat it?” To the caterpillar she smirked, showing off her teeth even as her stomach grumbled and her eyes darted to the pastries. A rarity for her, plucking up a piece of watermelon to bite even as she taunted the fat creature, “Will you be adding yourself to menu with the tea?”

Her grin turned more feral, bits of the juice running down the corner of her mouth that she wiped at absently, still wondering if he tasted as good as he looked.

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Cirrina's actions have been noted and will be responded to in the next mod-post.

[Red]

Auya looked up, face covered in sweat and dirty from her work as the portal opened up. She had been hard at work, laying down the finishing touches to her new workshop, shaving down the floorboards with her chisels. She'd sand it soon. There were wood shavings in her crimson hair and her hands were sore from the day's work. In the portal, she saw her dead husband. She'd been seeing him for many trials now, in mirrors, in shadows, in the fires. She thought it was Faldrun taunting her, testing her, making sure she didn't forget her true mission at hand.

And she hadn't.

So she welcomed the strange, magical portal. It was clearly a gift from Faldrun. So she walked through it. And she was there. There was a strange, yet cozy foyer of some sort. Or library. Entryway? Auya never really knew the difference of such terms. But she was quickly welcomed by two staircases. That was... odd. Auya was new to this, but this was clearly a test by her patron. One she'd have to accept at face value. She smiled at both staircases, offering a light curtsy with a flourish of her hand, which then moved to wiping her brow of the sweat.

That was when she realized there was something on her head. She felt at it. A headband of sorts, with furry ears on top. Pointed, lightly tufted. She couldn't see them, but they were deep crimson, with black tips. Fox ears. She looked down, her work attire was gone, and instead she was wearing thick, comfy cotton pajamas. They were plaid, the background coloring black, with forest green and burgendy stripes for the plaidwork. There was nothing sexy about them, and she was okay with that, Varlum wasn't here after all. And she was comfortable, could move easily. As she stepped forward, she felt something in her pocket.

She reached in and found a glass snowflake. It was the size of her palm and was of phenomenal craftmanship. She held it up closer to her eyes, examining it as only a craftsman might, appreciating its beauty, and hoping to learn something from its creation. She held it in hand, for glass in the pocket was asking to break. She approached the sad looking staircase, feeling the metalwork on it. She knelt down next to its frowning features. She didn't speak for quite a while, but she kept her eyes on its wooden and metal features, looking it over, while her hand rubbed it, like one might an ailing pet or sad lover. Again, beautiful craftmanship. Prior to this cycle Auya had only worked with metal, but lately she'd been working on wood as she built her shop and home. There was deep admiration in how this stair case was made.

After rubbing the rail for a while, she smiled softly, "I'm Auya. What has you so down, friend?" She sat down next to it, waiting on it to respond in some fashion. She would listen and watch, smiling at it. After a fair bit of just sitting there, "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back." She passed by the winged woman that was talking to a book, paying her no mind at the moment. She walked over to where all the food was.

It was an easy pick for the craftswoman. She picked up the icecream cone. It looked sweet, and Auya was a notorious sweet tooth. And it was cool to the touch, which was nice after all the work she'd put in today. She held it in hand before walking back to the grumpy staircase, sitting next to it once more. She made sure to be extra careful so as to not drip anything upon the beautiful wood. "I spent many trials being angry and scared, ya know? I didn't like the city I was in. I didn't like the people around me. I didn't like what was happening to me. I got a little bit of help, but really, it didn't matter. So I helped myself, and I left. I'm much happier now for it. I would like to help you too. How can I do that?" She licked at the sweet ice cream, enjoying it, but her attention was on the sad staircase.

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Auya's actions have been noted and will be responded to in the next mod-post.

[Praetorum]

120th of Ashan, Arc 719

Praetorum had been patrolling. Not in any official capacity, but it felt better to think of it as patrolling, rather than admit to himself he couldn't sleep. Finishing off his route around the burho, Praetorum returned to his dwelling, sitting down at the doorstep. He didn't quite want to go in yet and try to sleep again, so he let his shield and scythe rest on the ground, lowering his head to pull off his gauntlets.

When he looked up again, there was a doorway in front of him. Praetorum blinked, rubbed his eyes. The doorway remained. It was hazy, insubstantial, but most definitely there, distinct despite its clear unreality. There was a figure through the doorway, who might have been a human or ithecal or child or something else entirely, holding the door open like they were inviting him to come in.

A fracture of some sort, it had to be. Which probably meant Praetorum would have to sleep elsewhere tonight, just to be on the safe side. Gathering up his things, Praetorum stood, and walked into his house.

At least, that had been the intention. Only once through the doorway, he found himself somewhere that was distinctly not the inside of his home. He'd never seen this room before—in fact, he'd never even seen anything like this room before. Stilling, Praetorum narrowed his eyes, taking stock of the situation.

Nothing appeared immediately dangerous, which was good. No animals or enemies that he could see, and as unnerving as it was to see staircases and a caterpillar talking, they seemed.... welcoming. There were others around too, three of them each dressed in the same bizarre way. Pajamas, socks and some sort of headband, each with the ears of a different animal. Uneasy, Praetorum looked down, finding himself wearing the same thing instead of the armor he'd gone patrolling in.

His pajamas were patterned with dots, white on pale blue, while his socks were pure white. Reaching for his head, he found the ears atop them were pinched together at the bottom, and pointed at the top, with a leathery texture along the back. Someone more familiar than animals than he was might have recognized them as the ears of an armadillo; as it was, his attention was soon drawn towards the center of the room.

Surrounded by over a dozen chairs, a strange sphere of glass and metal whirled and spun on a platform, the constant movement of the outer layer making it difficult to see what was inside. And there was something inside, its silhouette so familiar to Praetorum that he couldn't help but drift closer.

When he reached the ring of chairs, the figure within the sphere came into focus, and Praetorum let out a soft, shocked noise, holding on to one of the chairs for support. It was a person, an ithecal, curled up in the fetal position. It did not move as Praetorum came closer, but even through the glass and metal he could clearly see the rise and fall of its chest, steady as a drumbeat. It was a figure he would have recognized anywhere; and one that could not possibly be here, alive and breathing.

He stepped up closer, reaching out for the spinning orb that contained his sleeping brother. He stilled, his hand hovering above the surface of the orb for a trill. There was a ring on his finger that he didn't recognize, a plain silver band, a jarring reminder that something, everything about this scenario was wrong. Gritting his teeth, he drew his hand back without making contact with the sphere, clenching them into fists to resist the urge to touch.

"What is this?" He rasped out instead, not to anyone in particular. "Why... Serinus..."

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Praetorum's actions have been noted and will be responded to in the next mod-post.

[Tio Silver]

When the space in front of him first tore itself open into a little hole in reality, Tio wondered if perhaps he was witnessing a fracture opening up in front of his very eye! Statistically speaking the chances of it happening were about the same as getting repeatedly struck by lightning on a sunny day, but it wasn't theoretically impossible! But when Tio spotted that same Wingless Man he'd briefly seen during the adventure into the Emean Maze a few seasons ago holding the tear open he stilled, realizing where this was going. He still had no idea what exactly that whole maze escapade had been about, but ever since then so many people had spoken of terrible nightmares haunting them in their sleep. It was hard not to wonder if the two events were connected somehow. If that man was here again then it would seem the business that'd begun in that maze was not yet finished after all.

"What do you think Tio? Should we go in?" Fred asked, apparently having come to the exact same conclusion. Fred had remained tight-lipped about where exactly he'd come from before Tio had met him in that maze and what exactly he was, but had thoroughly loved his time on Idalos; eagerly sampling every kind of food, drink and entertainment Yaralon had to offer. A lot of people had pointed and stared at the masked man in the bizarre shirt who went around talking to the seemingly normal fox, but when that fox had somehow cleaned out everybody else at the poker table they'd accepted it as just another one of the weird-but-tolerable things that happened around the city. Fred wore the red ribbon Tio had found in his hand at the end of the maze journey around his neck like a scarf, which complemented his smooth red fur very nicely.

A grin slowly crept up behind his mask as Tio eyed the tear. "Absolutely! Maybe we can end this nightmare problem everybody's been experiencing? Besides, it was a lot of fun last time." With a nod the two stepped forwards, walking confidently into the tear and closing their eyes as their visions were filled with bright light.

When the light faded Tio was stood in a... well, he honestly wasn't quite sure what it was. Some kind of library? Bakery? It wasn't quite clear which.

"Umm... Tio. Your clothes..." Fred began to say, but trailed off awkwardly. Tio looked down at himself in confusion. His regular clothes had vanished, replaced with a pair of fancy satin pajamas. Ordinarily this wouldn't be much of a problem, except for the fact that these pajamas clearly weren't meant for men. It was a very delicate, very frilly and very pink nightgown; the sort of thing that wouldn't look out of place in a princesses wardrobe were it not for the pair of fake wooly sheep ears badly balanced atop his mask. He also noticed that the mirror and notepad from the maze had appeared in his hand, as well as a small, precisely cut clear crystal, but the rest of his items were gone.

"...These are... these are..." Tio gasped, looking down at the ill-fitting garments. "So easy to move in! And so comfortable too!" He twirled his arms experimentally, relishing how light the whole thing was.

It was difficult for a Fox to pull of a human expression of incredulity, but Fred somehow managed it. "You-... You do know those are girls clothes right?"

"Maybe, but damn it if I don't look fabulous in it!"

The staircases issued their greetings (which was so utterly weird that it removed any doubts he had that he was in Emea once again,) and Tio looked around at the other people hanging around this strange room. "Hey now, is that... Night? Night, over here! Fancy seeing you again in a place like this." He called, waving at the half-avriel and hoping that she'd be able to recognize him behind his new mask. He went over to see her, and peered curiously at the big book of rune she was in the middle of talking to. "What's this, some kinda dictionary?" There were a bunch of runic symbols painted across the pages. Maybe some of them could be used for hone magic?

He then approached the staircase that'd greeted him happily, charmed by the brilliant strangeness of it all. Who could possibly pass up the chance to have a chat with a cheerful, talking flight of stairs? "Hi there! My name is Tio. What's yours? Say, I don't suppose you could tell me about that man who was standing in the tear that brought me here could you?"

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Tio's actions have been noted and will be responded to in the next mod-post.

[Eliza Soule]

When the crack first appeared on the wall, from floor to ceiling, Eliza had been upstairs in her little house at the edge of Caervalle Town, working on a landscape in what she'd turned into her gallery. That's exactly what she'd assumed it was when she first noticed it. A crack, probably due to a problem with the foundation of her newly purchased home. The young mortalborn had resolved on the spot, that she'd be having some very stern words with the seller.

But then the thing, which turned out not to be an ordinary crack at all, had turned into some sort of otherworldly rift. Eliza's sense of wonder and curiosity was as well developed as anyone else's. But she still wasn't sure it was wise to go strolling through a gaping extra-dimensional rift that appeared out of nowhere, and in the drawing room outside one's own bedchamber no less. At least not without taking a great deal of care to prepare oneself. But how did one prepare for something like that, she'd asked her tiny, Emea born primate friend Eberhardt, who'd kept up a constant stream of chatter since the first trills that the thing had appeared.

When she finally spied the shadowy figure that she recognized immediately, the wingless man from the maze, she knew that she'd go. And she knew exactly how she should prepare herself. First, she dressed in warm, rugged clothing and boots. Armed herself with sword and bow, because a girl could never be too careful. But more importantly, into the pocket of her cloak went the ribbon, the mirror, and the notebook. Naturally, Eberhardt would be going with her, and the tiny primate had already clambered up onto her shoulder, under the hood of her cloak and was peeking out ahead of them as Eliza stepped into the rift. "Keep an eye on the place while I'm gone," Eliza had said to her hound Darwin, as the enormous dog had whined and watched her go.

And as soon as she stepped through, she realized that all of her preparations, or at least most of them, had been for nothing. The good serviceable boots and sturdy trousers were gone. Her bow and her short sword were gone too. All that remained were the last things that she'd dropped into the inside pocket of her cloak. The mirror, the book and the ribbon. Except that her cloak was gone too. In place of her winter gear, she was wearing a fairly ridiculous looking onesie in a soft mottled gray color, and very thick white socks with no shoes. Feeling around her forehead, she discovered the headband, pulled it off to have a look and found a pair of ears. Fairly large for her own size, rounded, fuzzy and tufted. A koala's ears, to be sure.

There was something else in the over sized pocket of her pajamas, and reaching down, Eliza grabbed hold and held the thing up. A whirligig? She smiled and couldn't resist blowing a puff of air across the paddles, each in their own bright, bold color, and watching it spin. She'd had one of her own as a child, and she'd loved it. And oh, Eberhardt was still there and keeping up an excited stream of dialogue in Eliza's ear, as she perched on her shoulder. It was a library, and the most unusual and marvelous one that Eliza had ever seen. The books themselves seemed ancient, wise and alive. And they weren't the only ones. Even a number of the fixtures and decorations were much more alive seeming than not. Somehow, though Eliza's eyes were wide with wonder and delight, she managed to take it all in, mostly in stride.

The staircase startled her, and she jumped a little. But she smiled and tilted her head in response to the banister's welcome..as a 'thank you very much', of sorts. She wondered if the desk in front of her, was a sign in desk of sorts. But then the book there didn't look like the kind of thing you ought to be writing your name in. She was beyond curious however, yearning to know what was inside. "Hello," she said to the caterpillar. "My name is Eliza." And the little monkey on her shoulder peaked out from the fall of Eliza's dark hair, and chattered away impatiently. "Sorry," Eliza said to her pint-sized friend. "and this is Eberhardt. It's very nice to meet you. Of course we'll wait."

For the first time, she noticed that there were others there waiting. Like her, but not like her. And if she wouldn't have chosen for herself, her current state of dress for this gathering, at least she could say that they all looked as silly as she did. At any rate she didn't recognize any of the faces just yet. Or, maybe she did and was slow to realize it. Either way, she spied the food, laid out like a banquet, Eliza was taken by a few trills worth of indecision. Were they meant to take something? She wasn't sure. Probably. She did very much like sweets, and the slice of chocolate cake seemed to be calling her name. If she'd been at home and not in polite company, she'd have picked it up by hand and devoured it.

On the other hand, over the past, more than two centuries, she'd had any number of tutors and parents, who'd later be grandparents, who'd drilled a strict sense of politeness into her. A lady never took the last one of anything. It simply wasn't done. So she reached towards the bowl and plucked out an orange. She might save it for later, and could share the peeled slices with Eberhardt. The spherical thing was interesting, and there were chairs around it for sitting. But Eliza decided that she'd rather not, just yet, and would rather walk along the rows of books and look at their titles. No touching, of course, but just looking. "I'd like that very much, thank you," she said when little pot asked about tea.

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Eliza's actions have been noted and will be responded to in the next mod-post.

[Hart]

"Speaking in Rakahi"
"Speaking in Common"
"Speaking in Common sign"

They were in a dream. Wasn't that how it had all last started?

In the dream, Wren had wings. His wings were little and white like a cherub's, small enough that he could not fly. And yet, the boy seemed so light. There was a glimmer of pure contentness in his dark blue eyes that was not usually there. When he walked, he seemed to do so as if on clouds. When he ran, it was as if his feet didn't touch the ground. When he jumped he didn't jump, but he soared.

In the dream he was buoyant and unrestrained and he was free. The boy looked over at Hart and smiled a big smile.

It was a good dream.

And then the door appeared. And in the door was the wingless man.

Hart looked from the wingless man to Wren and back again, who was just coming down from a spectacular jump. The boy touched lightly down to the ground. He turned and saw the man in the doorway. They looked at each other for a long moment.

Then the man was gone. And the door, the door. The door was still there. And it was open.

"Wren," Hart said, and the boy was at his side, small fingers gripping tight to his left hand. "Wake up," he said, and expected it to be so. But they didn't wake. They were still in the dream.

"Wake up," Hart said again, and looked down to see Wren looking up at him. "Wren, wake up!" he said.

"I can't," the boy whispered.

"Karshe!" Hart called, and the stag was beside him as if she had always been there. The crystal from the maze hung around her neck on a silver string and she stood on the other side of Wren. She fixed Hart with worried eyes as he extended his right hand.

As soon as he put out his hand a sword appeared in it. It was an unusual sword which waved like the ocean and sung of promise, at least in his dreams. He heard the sword hum like a warning, like the chime of a bell. Like the chime of 12 bells all together.

Midnight.

"Midnight," he muttered, and then he said, "Karshe, stay with Wren," and he let go of the boy's hand.

But Wren did not let go of him.

The book and the mirror from the maze appeared beside Hart as he turned to look at Wren. They hung around his person, apparently ready to follow him wherever he went. "Wren," he said, and the boy shook his head.

"Wren," Hart said again. "No," the boy said.

"Wren, please," Hart said.

"It's alright," Karshe told him. "We'll protect him."

Hart held his breath.

Then, "Alright," he said. "You're both with me."

And all three of them went through the door.
extra line here

There was a library on the other side and Wren, looking around, immediately livened up. There were talking stairwells, books and desks and more books, and an array of sweets and fruit. Wren looked around at it all, his dark eyes taking everything in. There was a woman with wings on the other side of the door, and the boy opened his mouth as if to call out to her. Then his eyes became uncertain and he stood silently, holding Hart's left hand very tight.

Hart realized that the sword had gone from his right hand. In its place was a small silver bird, very delicately carved. He and Karshe exchanged a look.

The next thing Hart noticed was the caterpillar. It spoke in a rush and bowed to him and after a brief hesitation, Hart bowed back. Wren simply looked at it, but Karshe inclined her head at the neck.

Then, "Hart," Karshe said with delight, "You've got antlers like mine!"

He and Wren, Hart saw, were dressed in night clothes. Wren had pajama bottoms, intricately embroided with small birds. They were wrens, Hart saw-- sort of like the silver bird in his hand.

Wren still had his little cherub's wings, and though the lightness had gone from him, they fluttered every so often as if in excitement or surprise. The boy was wearing Hart's sweater as well-- the one Hart had given him when he had brought Wren back. Upon his small head perched a headband. From the headband hung, oddly, the soft white ears of a lamb.

Hart too was wearing night clothes of fine make, though his were of a deep, emerald green. Flowers seemed to curl within the stitching, detailing so light as to not be seen. On his head was a headband similar to Wren's, from which the antlers stuck. They were identical in shape to Karshe's, which made the stag smile, a quick gnashing of square teeth.

Between the antlers, like a halo, floated a crown of flowers. The crown rotated slowly, and moved along with Hart to stay perfectly in place. Hovering behind him, two strange slashes of silver light danced and glimmered. Though they were not exceedingly bright, if one looked at them at just the right angle, it was as if they could blind.

Hart took it all in, and then, because the caterpillar had spoken to him --to all of them-- he said, "Tea would be nice, thank you. With honey, if it isn't too much to ask." Wren's hand was still in his, and he saw that the young boy was looking longingly at the bookshelves and the food in equal measure. Hart bowed again to the caterpillar and took Wren over to the food. Karshe trailed behind them.

"Which would you like?" Hart asked, and Wren pointed to an orange. "Are you sure you don't want the lollipop?" Hart asked, and the boy nodded. "Okay," Hart said. He very carefully picked up the orange and handed it to Wren. The boy didn't eat it, and Hart wasn't sure he even knew how to peel the fruit, but it seemed to make him happy. He held it cupped in his little hands.

When asked if Karshe wanted anything, she shook her head.

Wren tugged on Hart's sleeve and they went over to the bookshelves next. Wren's eyes flitted from book to book, searching, searching, and his little wings fluttered. Then he smiled, and reached out for one of the old tomes.

"Wait," Hart said, just on a feeling, but then he didn't know why he'd said it. "Nevermind," he said, and Wren reached and took, very very carefully, an old book from one of the cases.

The book was a faded blue with no title, and so well-worn it was falling apart. Wren touched it lightly with his fingers, more carefully than Hart had ever seen the boy handle anything. Offhandedly, he tossed the orange into the air around Hart-- and it stuck in the air next to the mirror and the book from the maze.

"It's alright," the little boy whispered, and Hart knew at once that he was talking to the tome.

They returned to the caterpillar who had promised Hart tea.

"If you don't mind me asking," Hart said politely to the caterpillar, hardly looking at the mer nearby, "What are we waiting for?" For having been offered tea he didn't see a teapot or teacups.

The stairwells had greeted them and called this library the Waiting Place, and Hart glanced over to see a woman sitting next to one of the stairs, seeming to have a chat with it. There was a man in women's nightwear speaking to the other. In the middle of the room, an ithecal reached out towards a strange sphere, his expression one of shock. And strolling beside the bookcases was another woman, one he recognized. Nobody as of yet had tried to leave the room.

"It's just that I tried to wake up," Hart said, "And I couldn't."

"And I saw--" he said, half to himself and half to the caterpillar.

"I saw Anthropos Apteros."

OOC: Hart brought Wren and Karshe with him. He also brought the mirror and the book from the maze.

The four actions Hart (and Wren) took were:
1. Hart talked to the caterpillar
2. Hart gave Wren an orange
3. Hart let Wren take a book from one of the shelves
4. Hart agreed to have tea (which, to me, also counts as a food action)

!	Message from: Pegasus
	The moment that one of the books was taken from the shelves, all the books in the room begin to sing a soft and gentle song. It's sweet and innocent and, to Hart, it is very reminiscent of Wren. Anyone after this post may / should respond to this. Those before it may do so in their next post. The song is this one ish - sorta - for inspiration kind of thing......

[Nir'wei]

Sleep was both the easiest, and the most thing to come by for Nir'wei. His work was exhausting, and yet when it called, it could not be delayed. It was Greyhide he comforted this night, in the gentle heat of Ashan, staring into the pale sky and wondering aloud on the things that could yet be, when reality split before them both, yawning wide to make room for an unknowable figure. Hazy, distant, and yet... it pinged some distant memory, like a faint familiarity in the back of his head that drew him to stand and wander forwards. Enough to lower his guard just a little, just a touch. Somewhere behind him Greyhide yelled a warning, but when he turned, he'd already come too far; his last fleeting glance caught the wolf in mid-pounce towards the flashing portal before everything twisted around him, and the portal was gone. In its place was the room.

Though it felt like barely a second, clearly a great many things had happened in that time. First of all, he could feel something in his hand, and lifting it, he found a common glass jar, its neck stuffed with cork - the kind one could easily fill with milk, or confections, or even alcohol. His was filled with yellow sand, the kind often drawn from tropical beaches, and it swirled as he twisted it upside-down and back around again. Very mundane.

Not at all like his pajamas.

He'd never worn pajamas to bed before, yet he immediately knew what these were - and how very ostentatious they were, too. It looked and felt like a onesie, but no onesie should be as furry as this one. Dense, soft fur was everywhere, and as he twisted and turned to try and get a better look at himself, he felt something whacking against the backs of his thighs. He reached back with his free hand and found... a tail. Soft and squishy in his hand, like it was filled with stuffing. At least he couldn't feel anything through it - just another part of the outfit. But if he had a tail, did that mean he also had... yes, he did actually. Ears poked from the top of his head, squishy but perky. "Just what the hell is this?" he asked to nobody in particular, until he checked his arm, then his leg. GREY fur. "Oh for Karem's sake." So much for tension and uncertainty. It was a wolf onesie. Not just a wolf onesie, a GREYHIDE onesie. It was a perfect mapping of all Greyhide's fur patterns, only really broken up by leaving space for his hands and by thick white socks for his feet. The top of the hood, currently drawn over his head, had little black eyes sewn into a makeshift face, his face-hole made to look like the wolf's open mouth with a fabric tongue sticking out and flopping against his forehead. "If this is someone's idea of a joke, it's not funny."

"You can say that again." Nir'wei nearly jumped out of his own pajamas, but when he found the source of the voice, he genuinely thought he might cry. "Not. A single. Word." Greyhide had made it through the portal after all, but just because he was a wolf didn't mean he was exempt from the rules of this new dimension. Far from it. He'd been granted his own set of pajamas, only these replaced his grey fur with a rich oak-brown, shorter and with two sets of slippers for each of his four paws ending in small black fabric paws. What really gave away its species, though, was his new tail. Huge, curled against his back and extremely bushy. He couldn't stop the giggles, he just couldn't. "Hey! Shut up! I mean it!" Greyhide growled in seething annoyance, trying in vain to pull one of the slippers off and finding it was simply too tight, regardless of how much pressure he put down on it.

Finally, Archailist appeared. If Nir was Greyhide, and Greyhide was Archailist, then Archailist had to be... "Wait, how the hell is that me?!" Nir'wei spluttered as Greyhide burst into laughter of his own. The little squirrel's hood showed two small rounded ears and his bushy tail had been replaced by a long, flopping one that hung down behind him as he perched on Greyhide's head, little hands pressed on his hips. He didn't have brown fur, or a tail... but he quickly caught on to the running gag when he saw the face stitched onto the hood. "Oh, a monkey. Yes, ha ha ha. Very funny."

Once they'd finally gotten over their respective mockery and laughter at the pajamas of the other two, Nir finally composed himself and pocketed the jar of sand, with some effort, as he looked around the room and eyed the various parts of it. Their room seemed to have a name - The Waiting Place, a staircase told him. Two staircases. Talking caterpillars, too. Briefly he became aware of the fact that there were plenty of other people moving around the room at the same time as him, one of them even touching one of the books on the shelves, prompting the others to sing in a tune that he found rather comforting. Except, this... "I don't like this." He didn't like talking staircases, or caterpillars, he certainly didn't know what the caterpillar intended he wait for, but...

He wasn't waiting. Not here. Since nobody else had yet, he ascended the stairs - not checking which was which, he climbed the grumpy one - and made for The Exit.

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Nir'wei's actions have been noticed. The moment that he stepped onto the grumpy stairs, he disappeared from view, along with any and all of his NPCs. This will be dealt with in the next mod post

[Nasod]

蛇 Dosan Saito 蛇

蛇 Mood: Confused ASF!
蛇 Current Thought: WTF!!!!
蛇 Current Theme: Yinyang

蛇 Dosan slept at odd times mostly, unlike most other in Quacia. He was sitting upon a rooftop in the Lair, looking on at the sea of dredges that walked the streets. It was another one of those trials for him, that crippling feel of loneliness pressing another inch more onto his mind.

Dangerous thoughts of leaping off the rooftop danced in the back of his mind, tears of sadness falling. His head sunk into his lap as he silently sobbed. It wasn't normal to be that lonely, but then again he wasn't normal, to begin with.

That's when he heard it, the sound of a door opening behind him. The light from this doorway obscured his sight, and for some reason, he wanted to walk through it. Looking back to see if anyone else saw it he got up and went forward, answering the call of a figure that loomed in the doorframe.

Passing through it, he found himself in a strange room with strange people.

"What the fuck!?"

he said in Vahanic, his head swiveling from side to side as he was in shock at what he saw. Things that shouldn't be talking.......were talking!

On top of that........ he was in pajamas. When and how did this happen?! How did he get into these......wow they were actually comfortable. Purple silk pajama set with matching slippers. He relaxed a bit, but shit was still freaking him out.

Books were singing....like actually singing and he was definitely freaking out. He had to take deep breaths to calm himself down, and take in what he was dealing with. He wondered why the books were singing, what room he was in, and figure out who he was with?

But first came figuring out what this place was. When the stairs greeted him he fell on his ass, scared out his mind that they even spoke to him. With a sheepish wave to the happier of the two staircases, he scuttled his way from them and found a corner. Popping his head up from around the corner, he looked at everything and everyone.

Why the hell were they so calm? Was this normal for them? He didnt like it at all and working up the courage to come from the corner he stood and inched over to object in the center of the room.

Once close enough to it he found himself foundling something he felt in his pajama pocket. It was smooth on the surface yet hard to the touch, and upon retrieving it he found it to be a shell of some sort.

The colors reminded him of his Scarlet Beast disguise and smile came on his face, feeling a little better. He inspected the spherical contraption in front of him. It looked Quacian in its design but he couldn't truly be sure about that. Peering into it as it spun he saw something that truly made him smile ear to ear.

Coated in crimson, his Scarlet Beast attire splattered in blood he saw himself standing over his mother's decapitated corpse, her head firmly gripped in his hands with a devilish smirk on his face.

Such a sight invigorated Dosan to the core, a matching smirk on his face as he cheered.

"Thats right, die you fucking monster!"

he expclaimed in his native tongue.

It was the one thing he aimed for in his life, the trial when he could finally kill that horrid creature he once called mother. he was glued to the spinning sphere, wanting to see it over and over as many times as he could. 蛇

"Common Speech"

"Vahanic Speech"

!	Message from: Peg
	Dosan's actions have been noted and will be responded to in the next mod-post.