Meanwhile, Jeran kept running, trying to find the dweomercat now that the winds were decreasing and the ground had stopped shaking.
"Yeah. I'm trying to think of ways to mask you from your mother using my champion abilities...some kind of deep stasis maybe? I dunno. I feel a little helpless...I'm supposed to protect you!"
"Well, at least rearranging my DNA is less drastic than the other option. I'd have to be dead...all the way dead not mostly dead....for at least several minutes for the powers to transfer. I don't know about you, but that seems awfully risky to me."
She smiled. "Well, I appreciate the thought anyways. The problem with stasis is that it doesn't solve the underlying problem. Well, it would certainly help with convincing her that the clone was me since there would be less chance of finding out. But I still can't think of any not drastic ways to abdicate my position as the princess."
"Maybe you can look through the books again, see if you get any ideas. Maybe I'm missing a loophole."
"I can, but I believe you scoured the book for them, and if a fey can't find a loophole, I dunno how much better I'd do. Dunno why giving her a genetic duplicate wouldn't suffice. If that's what matters, the purity. Simply say 'Sorry mom, I don't want to be your princess, but here is a genetic duplicate you can...whatever' then you can fulfill your duties and not be the one fulfilling them. I don't know why she wouldn't accept that, unless she is malevolent by nature and enjoys suffering for suffering's sake." he says sulking.
"Or tell her you've already had a child, and show her EJ? No, that wouldn't be fair to him...I suppose If theres a copy of the seelie rules, I could show them to my patron, see if she can find any loopholes..."
The forest spirit stopped dead in its tracks as if it were struggling against bindings. It was starting to become more insubstantial. Ori's outline can be seen inside it.
"Come on, get control again..." The strain of holding the powerful spirit was getting to Oniero already, and he hadn't been in top condition to begin with.
Khasser and Jeran both find the dweomercat unconscious under the still burning tree Oniero threw at it. Despite the flames, it doesn't look much worse than it did before it was hit, and the cracks in the gem are even slowly vanishing.
In her hurry out the door, Vai almost trips over a bouquet left there. She stops up short and picks it up, seeing the note is addressed to her. Vai opens the note inquisitively and reads it, feeling worse with every word. Now she defintely felt terrible about leaving Sadie behind... but there wasn't any time now, if she was going to make her meeting with Ryleh. Vai finds a container and some water and then runs out the door, barely making the meeting on time.
"I can, but I believe you scoured the book for them, and if a fey can't find a loophole, I dunno how much better I'd do. Dunno why giving her a genetic duplicate wouldn't suffice. If that's what matters, the purity. Simply say 'Sorry mom, I don't want to be your princess, but here is a genetic duplicate you can...whatever' then you can fulfill your duties and not be the one fulfilling them. I don't know why she wouldn't accept that, unless she is malevolent by nature and enjoys suffering for suffering's sake." he says sulking.
"Or tell her you've already had a child, and show her EJ? No, that wouldn't be fair to him...I suppose If theres a copy of the seelie rules, I could show them to my patron, see if she can find any loopholes..."
She sighed. "Well, EJ would be ineligible to begin with because he isn't female. Technically he hasn't got any gender at all, though he prefers to be referred to with masculine pronouns. And having a child isn't the whole point. It's transferring the powers that's the sticking point. I have to either be dead or ineligible to hold the title for some reason like being dead or not being fey...being male would work too but to my mind that's even more drastic than shutting off my fey DNA. At that point it's not a matter of convincing the queen that the clone is the princess since she will be. It's a matter of convincing her the clone is me so she doesn't keep looking for me to take revenge for getting away from her."
"Well...the library is interesting. Technically if a book exists in Agartha...and some that don't quite frankly...you can find it there. So if you go to the library looking for a copy of the seelie rules, since I know one exists, you will find it."
The forest spirit stopped dead in its tracks as if it were struggling against bindings. It was starting to become more insubstantial. Ori's outline can be seen inside it."Come on, get control again..." The strain of holding the powerful spirit was getting to Oniero already, and he hadn't been in top condition to begin with.
Khasser and Jeran both find the dweomercat unconscious under the still burning tree Oniero threw at it. Despite the flames, it doesn't look much worse than it did before it was hit, and the cracks in the gem are even slowly vanishing.
Jeran focuses all of his power on a single blow against the gem.
Jeran focuses all of his power on a single blow against the gem.
The gem doesn't break, but the crack now looks more like a tremor from the earthquake made it instead of a forest spirit.
The forest spirit is almost entirely clear now, and Ori can be seen inside it clutching an amulet that hangs around her neck as she pours every ounce of focus she has into the seals.
"Hold it down in case it wakes up," Jeran says to Khassar before trying to land another blow on the gem.
"She won't win you know. Its going to take over completely."
"Shut up." Oniero growls as he concentrates harder.
"By all means, keep trying. Maybe saving her will make up for killing your best friend back home. It's why you can't sleep: you can't face the people you knew."
That comment almost breaks his resolve, but whoever owned that voice would not trick him again.
The forest spirit fades away completely as the seals finally take hold. Ori collapses to the ground, exhausted.
With a thunderous *CRACK* the tiger screams and the gem shatters, falling out of what is now a fatal hole in the dweomercats chest.
"I was... just his claws..." It rasps before dying.
The anchors all explode in tiny little bursts of energy as Oniero falls to his knees and the magic fades. That was too close. He was at his limit now.
"Pro...Professor? Are y-you okay?"
"Ah," Michael sighs as he leans back happily, "even with the chance of being poisoned, I think the food was pretty good. Good food, a beautiful girl, and a singer of questionable skill make for a pretty good breakfast, huh?"
As Fei is getting cleaned up all of the lights suddenly go out - plunging the locker room area, and the young monk, into darkness.
Accustomed to his vision adjusting to the darkness almost immediately, he starts to grow concerned as the pitch black conditions persist, and now even the sound of the water fades away. Fei quietly slides into a defensive stance as his senses try to perceive....well, anything...
"Many mortals are afraid of the dark," a deep yet feminine voice intones from Fei's right. "I would have thought that a sun-worshipper would be even moreso. But I guess it defeats the purpose of picking you to be my champion if something like this scares you. But I digress....I hope this wasn't a bad time to introduce myself?"
Fei blinks as light returns to the room. Poking his head out of the shower area and into the locker room, he sees the source of the voice. Draped over one of the banks of lockers is something that looks a lot like a griffon - except with a gyrfalcon's head and a white tiger's body.
"Um.....I was....showering?" he says by way of reply. (^.^)
"And you were actually alone for once, which doesn't happen as often as I thought it would, given your general lack of socializing," the creature replies with what could be taken as an amused look in her avian eyes.
"And I like my conversations to be one-on-one instead of a forum."
"In any event, you may call me Valēre, and I will be your patron in your new role as the Champion of Courage. Any questions?"
[Blink, Blink]
"....What...am I supposed to do, exactly?"
With a thunderous *CRACK* the tiger screams and the gem shatters, falling out of what is now a fatal hole in the dweomercats chest.
"I was... just his claws..." It rasps before dying.
The anchors all explode in tiny little bursts of energy as Oniero falls to his knees and the magic fades. That was too close. He was at his limit now.
"Pro...Professor? Are y-you okay?"
"Yeah," she gasped. "Sorry. It...takes a while....to recover whenever that thing breaks its bonds. I....I didn't hurt any of you, did I?"
"That's simple - just do exactly what you've been doing," Valēre replies cryptically. "It's why I picked you in the first place."
"Now that Madness has been set back for a little while, things should be a bit more relaxed, but I'll let you know if some more specific duties arise that need your attention. Other than that - keep demonstrating that being afraid doesn't mean being unable to act to change things, regardless of the situation. There are a few people here who could benefit from that example, actually."
The room goes dark again.
"Oh....and try to play well with the other Champions. You're all quite the mixed bag of uniqueness this time - and that's a very good thing."
After a moment, light returns again to the room, and Fei is alone - Valēre is nowhere to be seen, and the dripping of water down the drain is the only other sound besides the young monk's breathing.
"Ah," Michael sighs as he leans back happily, "even with the chance of being poisoned, I think the food was pretty good. Good food, a beautiful girl, and a singer of questionable skill make for a pretty good breakfast, huh?"
"Absolutely perfect," Kitty agreed with a grin and hugged him. "I can't think of anything I would like better."
"I'm pretty out of it right now, but Khasser got pinned under a tree. No biggie." He coughs, and blood flies from his mouth. "That cat sure did a number on me though." He says shakily.
"Absolutely perfect," Kitty agreed with a grin and hugged him. "I can't think of anything I would like better."
"Doing this all again at your place without having to wear shuriken proof-armor might come close."
"Absolutely perfect," Kitty agreed with a grin and hugged him. "I can't think of anything I would like better.""Doing this all again at your place without having to wear shuriken proof-armor might come close."
She giggled. "Deal. Next time we can have a sleepover in my room," she said impishly.
Khassar walks over to Oneiro, picks him up in a firemans carry, and sets him down carefully over with the rest of the group.
"I'll just start supper while all of you rest up, then we will decide what's next."
She giggled. "Deal. Next time we can have a sleepover in my room," she said impishly.
Michael nudges her playfully.
"Which one? You're back up to two now."
She giggled. "Deal. Next time we can have a sleepover in my room," she said impishly.Michael nudges her playfully.
"Which one? You're back up to two now."
She giggled. "Not really. In Nishioki I share a room with Nee-chan."
"One and a half then. Guess that answers my question though. Ugh, I'm going to be sleeping in a force field when we visit your home. It's the only way I'll get some sleep."
"Oh, food sounds great right now." Oniero groans. "Can't believe it's that late though..."
"One and a half then. Guess that answers my question though. Ugh, I'm going to be sleeping in a force field when we visit your home. It's the only way I'll get some sleep."
"Definitely a wise choice. You'll likely be sharing a room with Nii-chan and Aoi-kun, so safe isn't really hpw I'd describe that. Safish. They won't do any permenant damage. But they're difficult at times."
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Ehos was getting bored, and a little cranky. Everyone who was coming in was cranky and uninteresting. He felt like he hadn't done anything since coming to Avalon. Getting drunk and grinding with a girl with piercings wasn't exactly 'doing' things. Ehos fingers his scarf pensively, while watching people file into the cafeteria.
"Definitely a wise choice. You'll likely be sharing a room with Nii-chan and Aoi-kun, so safe isn't really hpw I'd describe that. Safish. They won't do any permenant damage. But they're difficult at times."
"And we'll probably be adding Anthony to the mix as well. I'm not sure I'm going to survive that visit, Kitty."
She kissed him. "It'll be fine. I'll protect you. They might try to annoy you to death, but nothing worse. Or they'll have to deal with me," she said, and kissed him again for good measure.
"So.. how'd you learn the tree thing?" Oniero asks his teacher. "I wasn't sure I could even move one, let alone make it into a treant."
Ori made a face. "It's not really my trick. If I release a couple of the seals I can use the Guardian Spirit's power...something I should remember never to do when angry. The seals all come off when I lose my temper."
After taking a few moments to process that rather bizarre exchange with Valēre, Fei dries off and starts to dress. After a moment he stops, goes to his locker, and changes into his swimming trunks. In all the time he had been here, he has not once taken the time to actually swim...and there was wisdom in Kitty's words from last night about trying to relax a bit.
The young monk grabs a towel and heads for the pool. He dives in and starts a series of slow laps, letting the gentle flow of the water guide his meditative state.
"Huh. I thought it was a paper mage thing. Wonder how I threw that tree then..."
"One of the voices that have been bothering us tried to distract me while I had the Spirit bound."He says quietly. "It almost worked. They hadn't mentioned my other home before."