Myst

[Pandoras_Box]

I'm trying on a new skin here. This one has been looking at me imploringly for a few days, so I'm going to give her a try. Play with her a bit so I can get a feel for her while Lili is re-accepted. No rush.

Name: Myst

Gender: Female

Species: Gryphon (Lynx/Osprey)

Age: 15

Mature adult at age: 20

Good or Evil: Good

Appearance: She's small, her shoulders standing at about hip height on the average human. She has a lean body and long legs. In fact, she's quite self conscious about her legs; she thinks they make her look disproportionate, so she has a tendency to creep along at a half crouch to mask their length. Her forequarters are osprey: black, grey and white feathers. Her hooked beak is dark gray, her eyes are pale gold, and black streaks run from her eyes down the sides of her neck to merge with the dark feathers at her nape. Her ears are short and triangular, with long black tufts. She thinks they're a boring shape. Her forelegs are feathered and furred to the elbows, before giving way to pale gray scales and black talons. Her wings also seem a bit large and awkward for her body. She keeps them tucked tightly to her back. Her hindquarters are lynx: long, thick hind legs, thin body, and fur that's a dirty gray with small, indistinct smudgy spots that don't really form a pattern. Her tail is like the ospreys, dark blue-gray feathers banded with black. The tail feathers are long, and trail along behind her.

Personality: She's a nervous, edgy type, and very self-conscious. As a teenaged creature, she is self-critical, and likes very little about her appearance. She spends a lot of time hoping that people don't notice her supposed flaws, when in reality, she looks like any growing creature in it's awkward stages, and that she has nothing to be embarrassed about. She is shy, easily flustered, has a hard time making friends, and has a tendency to stutter. Underneath it all is a very smart person, who is compassionate and gentle. Despite her nature as a predator, she couldn't deliberately hurt anyone. She is a worrier, and prefers to back away from heated encounters. Fighting easily upsets her, although often she'll not show how much it affects her. She internalizes a lot of negative stimulus, hiding her pain from others.

Abilities/Disadvantages: She has the ospreys eyes, the ability to see beneath the surface of water, which she uses to fish for her meals. She can fly, of course, and doesn't mind cold, snowy areas. Her feathers and fur are quite suitable for it. She sheds water fairly well, but prefers to stay out of the rain anyway. Razor sharp eyes (excellent day vision but poor night vision), but relatively poor sense of smell and taste, excellent hearing. Quick reflexes, fairly skilled at flying, though awkward on the ground, with an uneven gait if she is forced to run before she can take flight. She has no magical powers, and a limited education. She cannot read or write, although she has on occasion taken to sketching crude drawings, mostly maps, of areas she had seen while flying. She is a skilled fisher, both from the air, and from the waterside. A lot of her disadvantages are mental: she's easily discouraged, often lacks motivation, is frightened easily, and has low self esteem and confidence.

Family/History: Grew up in the north, with a small group of others of her kind. They kept to themselves mostly, and community was only a loose term for the group. She lived with her mother (Brighteyes), father (Talon) and two siblings (Cloud and Skye) in a den which rapidly grew crowded. Her mother was loving, but her father was warlike, and wanted all his children to be the same, and didn't approve of what he called "her timid nature". When he failed to make a fighter out of her, there was a huge argument. Her mother and siblings defended her, of course, appalled by his behavior, but Myst decided that perhaps there was simply no more room for her in the nest. She reasoned that her family would get along fine without her, and in the night, when the others lay sleeping, she crept out of the den and disappeared into the darkness, carrying nothing but her closest possessions in a small rough pack. It never occurred to her how much anguish she would cause her family by doing so. She hopes that maybe someday she can return as the person her father wanted her to be, even though she herself detests the idea. Her father was the only person who ever seemed to dislike her, and that bothers her immensely.

Anything Else: She carries a pack around with her. It's relatively light, made from woven strands of stringy, beaten tree bark, one of the few crafts the little group of gryphons managed. It carries a number of small items, among them a small stuffed doll. It's somewhat raggedy, and crudely made, with a round head and the suggestion of wings, and no limbs. She rarely takes it out, and never in public, but when she does, she sleeps with it and thinks of the home she left behind.

IC:

She was unbelievably tired. Exhausted. Wiped out. Dead on her feet.

She was so tired it was beyond her to keep her wings from drooping, and lifting her head to keeping looking forwards was an immense effort. One wing dragged more limply than the other, injured. It stabbed pain into her side and shoulder. She swore that even her feathers hurt.

I can't even remember why I'm out here, she thought. No wait, she could.

She had been chased. First from the air and then by ground when a gust had caught her and tumbled her in the sky, spraining a wing badly enough to keep her from flying. She had barely managed to land without killing herself. At her greatest disadvantage (afoot) she had pelted along the rough ground as fast as her uneven legs could carry her, pursued by a wild band of brigands. She surprised herself by just how fast she could move at her stumbling scramble.

She had no idea who they were, no why they took it into their fancy to try and catch a gryphon. She felt no reason to find out which is why, when she reached the edge of the wastelands and went over it's border into it, she didn't bother to go back when they stopped chasing her. She managed to scare herself just enough to keep going.

For days.

I think this was a stupid idea.

And yet, every time she thought that, she'd look back, see a mirage or a dust devil and spook herself into continuing onwards. Surely there had to be an end to this place, right?

Her only problem was that she was out of water. The small flask in her pack had been emptied yesterday. It had been amazing that she had nursed it as long as she did, actually. Now the dust caked her mouth and feet and underbelly, and her wing hurt abominably, and she was thirsty, hungry, and wanted to drop in her tracks and sleep for a million years.

She had taken to blacking out periodically, and waking up with a start, wondering where she was, and then dragging herself to her feet and continuing on. Nights were the worst. Unable to see much at night, and still stumbling along, with nothing but her hearing to tell her of the world, was positively hair raising.

But finally, off in the distance, her blurring vision spotted a dark line. Trees? Mountains?

Would there be water? Shade? Fish? She could do with a fish, or two. Or a hundred. Mm, fish-

Stop it, she managed to chide herself. You'll only make it worse. Keep walking.

Her stomach growled emptily, the only sound in this wasteland other than the wind, or the occasional rustle of dry grass.

She was starting to wander more. It took a supreme force of concentration to keep going in a straight line. Gradually, the dark line drew nearer, and she could see now that it was, indeed, trees. Tall, dark, brooding trees, sparse around the edge, and then forming a black thicket the deeper they went. Her wavering eyesight could not penetrate the forest's darkness.

She broke into a shambling trot, nearly pitching onto her face with every step as she chivvied her protesting body along. There was shade! Under that tree, the nearest one. Where there was shade, surely she could take a nap. A nap would be good. Yes. Nap.

She found a hollow between two roots, hardly more than a scoop in the ground. Just big enough for her if she curled up. And she did.

And she lay there, sleeping, or unconscious. She didn't mind which.

[The_Vizir]

Well, well, well... what do we have here?

Inky shadows crept down the trunk of the tree, oozing like blasphemous tar from the upper branches. The Edge of these woods was a chaotic place... so many creatures coming and going, flickering in and out from the myriad worlds and realities linked by the portals.


This was why he was here, of course, trying to find the road back home... of course, it seemed that the universe was out to spite him. He hadn't seen any species he'd recognized since arriving here months ago - and this one wasn't an exception. It looked like some kind of gryphon-like creature, but... well, considering the only places he'd seen gryphons were in art and illustration, he couldn't be entirely certain that was what it was. Or if was sentient.

Or if it could fear...

The slithering darkness stopped its descent for a second, as it considered the ramifications. Those claws looked mighty sharp... to say nothing of the beak. If it wasn't one to get scared then... eep.

However, a pang of hunger quickly reminded him why he was doing this. He hadn't had a good meal in weeks, and his mind was starting to dull because of the hunger. Can't have that! His brain was his best weapon, really his only weapon is this place. A bit of fear, the scent of terror, that's all he needed to return to tip-top shape. And, the spirits of the shadows willing, he'd be able to catch a bite today!

Slowly, shadows bubbled up behind the gryphon, as the detritus of the forest floor rattled in an unearthly wind. The shadows of the forest seemed to deepen, twisting unnaturally as the sun's light grew weaker.

And then the wind rustled up the gryphon's flank, carrying with it the chill winds of darker worlds, and the scent of dust and decay, until it reached the gryphon's ears.

The wind carried with it the faintest sounds of creaking doors, of clanking chains, of an evil wind blowing through autumn leaves.

And a dozen alien voices whispering "We see you..."

[Pandoras_Box]

"We see you..."

A faint voice penetrated the deepest depths of her sleep. Her hide shivered over her flanks as a chill wind blew over her. There were doors creaking, some kind of metallic clanking noises, leaves whispering in the wind...

Wait, doors?

Groggily she climbed back out of sleep. It was like moving in molasses. She felt sluggish and stupid and only wanted to slip back under, but for the niggling thought that she was in a forest, where there were no doors. But she was so tired, and she was kind of annoyed that someone came around to bother her, specially since they sounded weird and creepy.

She started to roll over, waving a taloned forefoot. "G'way," she muttered, eyes still closed. "'M sleepin-"

She tweaked her sprained wing, and pain shot like lightning bolts through her. Her yellow eyes flew open and she screeched shrilly, legs flailing. She rolled completely over in her haste to get up off the injured limb and landed on her face in the loam.

"Blehptoo!" she spat out leaves and shook her head, before gazing around blearily.

"Bweh?"

It was dark. Or not quite dark. More dim. The shadows seemed deeper. How long had she been asleep? She couldn't tell. She didn't feel rested in the least bit. She couldn't see the sun real well, but it struck her that it still seemed pretty high in the sky. Then why was it so dark?

"S-s-somebody there?" she stammered. Curse her stutter! She sounded like an idiot. She peered into the dimness. She could still hear the breeze and the faint creepy noises, but she could see no source for them, and could see nobody, solid or otherwise.

She pushed herself to her feet and tottered unsteadily for a few steps, before her rear end plopped down and refused to get up.

So here I sit, like a lump on a log, she thought gloomily.

"Wh-who's there?"

[The_Vizir]

Did... did he use door noises?

In a place where there were no doors... anywhere?

GENIUS!

The bubbling shadows began mentally berating himself, before he heard the gryphon mutter something. It... it was in no language he knew, but because of funky forest magic, he understood it completely - as well as its implications.

This creature was sentient.

The shadows swirled about in jubilation for a second before catching himself. No, no... this was not the time for that, Grey, this was the time to fea- HELLO!

The screech of pain sent the shadows crawling towards the gryphon scampering away, the dark tendrils returning to the shapes one would expect to find in the forest, as the faint rattling of chains halted for a second... for up on the tree branches above, a small, grey-furred bat-like creature lay, clutching a limb with wing and hindclaw for dear life.

Slowly, as the gryponess below him regained her senses, the bat-beast tilted his leaf-nosed head over the side and gazed nervously down at the newcomer. She... she hadn't seen him, she didn't know he was there! Of course she didn't know he was there, he hadn't really done anything yet. How stupid would he have to have been to be caught this early in a haunting? A slight laugh rose in his chest, but he cut it off by biting his tongue before it had a chance to emerge.

Of course, biting one's tongue hurts, as his bulging eyes immediately showed.

Lulling out the long, red organ and waving frantically at it with a wing, he momentary lost his focus on his intended target... that is, until she said that one thing that was music to every closet monster's ears.

Somebody there?

A big, goofy smile crossed the beast's face as he smelt the faint scent of fear on the wind... made even goofier by his long, pointed tongue drooping beneath his chin. Quickly, the beast recomposed himself, straightening himself up and yanking his tongue back behind his teeth. A slight rustle of the fur along his ruff and - he was gone in a shadowy distortion of reality.

The shadows that had retreated from the grypohness began twisting and spiralling towards her again, no long echoing the reality that was, but some twisted, gothic world of barren trees and jagged rocks. A faint rattling of chains was heard again, before wind whipped around the poor newcomer, rustling the dead leaves and needles on the ground. Haunting, childish laughter was heard behind the trees, coming from all directions and no direction at once, as the chilling breeze slowly crawled up the gryphoness to her ear, bringing with it yet another message whispered from a dozen voices.

"You should not be here..."

And somewhere, in one of the shadows, a big, dark grin filled with dozens of needle-like teeth smiled.

[Pandoras_Box]

The shadows had retreated when she had scrambled up, leaving the day brighter, although no more clear. She appeared to be alone, but very little escaped her hearing. Was that an intake of breath she heard? The rapid beating of a tiny heart?

Her tufted ears rotated, taking in the forest sounds, her mind sifting out the leaf sounds, the wind, the creaking trees, seeking and homing in on the sound of prey.

Her ears zeroed in on the branches above her, but when she focused her razor sharp eyes on them, she couldn't see anyone. She could see the veins in the leaves as if they were right in front of her. She could see the wood lice and ants on the tree bark. She could see the individual fibers in the tree bark.

But no sign of life. So either she was imagining it, or it was a very small creature hidden in the branches. They were large branches, it wouldn't be impossible to hide from someone looking up from below.

She cocked her head, ears pricked forward. Had that been the ticking of claws against bark?

Suddenly shadows seemed to grow and lengthen around her, dimming the day once more.

Why me? she thought wearily. She just wanted a nap. And host of other things, of course, but a nap was what she'd been interrupted from.

Blackness flowed like thick, sticky sap down the tree.

Okay, that was less than normal.

Myst heaved to her feet again and backed up a few steps, watching warily. Wind picked up and swirled around her, blowing leaves and other detritus around her. It was a chilly wind. She shook and fluffed up her fur and feathers, insulating herself (and throwing off a cloud of dust in the process), but she could hear the echoes of far away laughter and more rattling chains. Whoever this creature was, he was a real creeper. Maybe he had a dungeon. She'd heard about dungeons in her travels. She didn't feel like going to one though.

The wind seemed to climb up her body, and even though she told herself it was just wind, she felt like rolling on the ground and scratching. It was like knowing you had ants crawling all over your fur but did nothing about it. Because she knew this was no natural wind.

A dozen voices seemed to speak all at once, whispering in her ears.

"You should not be here..."

Classic. Count on her, to stumble her way into someones territory and offend them. Sigh.

"S-s-sorry," she muttered, sliding her gaze to the ground. She hated her stammer. How mortifying it was, to be faced with a stranger, and be unable to speak properly. "Just p-passing through."

She turned and started walking away, deeper into the forest. She would just have to keep walking until she found a place she could relax without annoying anyone. Though somewhat concerned and nervous, she hadn't yet seen reason to be truly frightened, seeing as nothing had tried to hurt her yet. But all the same, she deemed it would probably be safest if she moved on.

Sigh.

[The_Vizir]

Wait wait wait... what?

The shadows halted their advance in confusion as the gryphoness got up to leave. This... this wasn't supposed to be happening!

Peeling himself from the shadows behind the departing grphon, Grey's physical form took in a deep breath. There was fear there, but it was weak and muted. This wasn't a meal! It was barely a snack! The closet monster growled softly. He was hungry, he hadn't eaten in the Bogeyman knows how long, and this gryphon had the audacity to simply walk away?

He didn't think so...

Vanishing back into the darkness, Grey slipped ahead of the weary beast. Right, let's try this again.

Once again, the sun's light was clouded slightly by the summoning of shadows, crawling down the trees again, forming twisted limbs and claws in the manipulated darkness. Once again, the sounds of many footsteps sounded around the gryphoness, the rustling of feet kicking around the detritus that lined the forest's floor. Once again, an ill wind blew around the gryphon.

"Don't leave now..." the whispering voices laughed. "We aren't done with you..."

Darkness spiralled around the gryphon and the childish whispered darkened into a horrible alien growl. "Yet."

If Grey had his fur at the moment, it would have been standing on end. Perfect! Perfect!

Wait... would human psychology work here against a gryphon? Drat! Why didn't he ever study mythical creatures!?!

[Pandoras_Box]

Myst picked up a tiny growl behind her. She aimed her ears back to listen for movement, tracked a whisper through the leaves, and once more, the tiny ticking of claws on wood. Ahead of her now. That was fast. Granted, she herself hadn't been moving too quickly...

Once more, there were shadows and a cold breeze, and the whispering voices which, rather than frightening her, were actually starting to make her annoyed and moody. Who was this freak? She said she was leaving, that she'd only been passing through.

"Don't leave now..." the whispering voices laughed. "We aren't done with you..."

"Come back right now, pipsqueak, I am not done with you!"

She gasped at the memory of her fathers voice, just as the childish voices suddenly turned into nasty growls. "Yet."

She'd been afraid of her father. He had never approved of her shy nature and quiet manner, and had spent a lot of time criticizing and railing about what, exactly, was wrong with her. It had made the entire family feel awkward. Her siblings were too cautious to really stand up for her though they would comfort her after, and her mother tended to be more diplomatic than violent, as some gryphon mothers could be.

That night her father gave her a thrashing and said if she didn't come out of her stupor he'd chase her away himself... they had all come to her defense. He hadn't laid a talon on any of them, but that night he'd flown into a rage when she had cringed away from him, and had thrown her across the den in a hurricane of claws and feathers. It was the first time she'd seen her mother strike out in anger, and her siblings Cloud and Skye had stood between her and her growling, screeching parents as they fought. She remembered lying there dazed, and seeing Cloud's crest raised around the back of his head, and Skye crouched low, hissing like a snake with her wings mantled around her in a threat display.

That was the night she had left home. She had decided that she simply wouldn't, couldn't live with her beast of a father any more. Even if her mother threw him out of the den, she didn't trust a world with him in it. And yet, at the same time, she still wanted to hear some kind of approval from him. That maybe she really wasn't a failure at life, and that she just had to find the right moment...

What a stupid way to think, she thought bitterly.

She realized suddenly that she'd stopped where she was, and was standing gazing at the leaf littered forest floor, watching blindly as the shadows swirled around her.

Did she really think it was necessary to flee from everything? Her gaze focused sharply on her right forefoot. Pale gray scales, wickedly sharp, curved black talons, three forward, one back. She flexed them, watched them bite into the loam. The powerful grip, the reluctance to let go. Fish writhing in her grasp, rabbits squealing sharply before their voices were cut off with a wet crunch...

She was a predator, was she not? She could hunt and fight and defend. So what was the problem?

She was like her mother. She preferred diplomacy. She'd rather talk and work things out than fight. Fighting was so pointless. So you killed the person you didn't like. Now what? What about them? What about their family? Pointless. Stupid.

The shadows still wrapped her, but she was not afraid anymore, just annoyed, and border-line angry. She focused her ears, and then her eyes, and sat back onto her hind legs. She bristled slightly. If she'd been human, she'd have frowned, but her face was almost always fierce.

"Who are y-you?" she said. Her stutter made her angrier. Her voice quavered on some sounds. She'd never been able to speak properly. Her siblings had blamed it on being traumatized when she was very young. It had been a source of humiliation for as long as she could remember.

"Sh-show yourself." She clenched her fists on a fallen branch she'd picked up. Her talons sank deeply into the dry, spongy wood.

Or gods help me, I'll find you myself and make you sing, she thought, seething.

[The_Vizir]

There it was! There it was! That wonderful rush of terror - of dark memories boiling to the surface. The shadows drank deep - oh he had not eaten like this in longer than he cared to remember. There it was - keep on com...

Wait.

The fear stopped suddenly, as the stuttering gryphoness got a hold of herself. Her fight or flight instincts had activated, and she had chosen to fight.

Grey whined mentally - it was going so swell for a few seconds there. He was finally getting the meal he deserved, and then POW! Fear turned to annoyance, annoyance turned to anger... and anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side.

He must be really missing Earth if he started mentally quoting Star Wars.

She sat back, and though her voice stuttered, her pose was more confident and confrontational than he had hoped. Especially when she grasped for a stick. Now, normally he wasn't afraid of sticks, but if she thought it could hurt it - it could prove painful.

Think, Grey, think! Yes, she's not human, but COME ON! You're the smartest guy in the room, normally, how could you not reduce this gryphon to a cowering wreck?

The young closet monster swirled around his prey, still dissipated into hundreds of shadowy wisps... what does this gryphon fear? What are her weaknesses? What was that memory that elicited that wonderful bouquet of terror?

Taking a deep mental breath in, Grey's shadows dove in for the metaphorical attack, warping the appearance of the trees into horrible, gangly, graspy things, as shadowy humanoid shapes flickered behind them - just tricks of the darkness, of course, but maybe...

Again, the voices came from everywhere and nowhere at once...

"We're so cold... so lonely... so lost. Won't you stay with us? Won't you...JOIN US?" The childish whispers twisted again, as a dozen horrible hands rose out of cracks and crevices in trees - far too skinny and far too boney, with too many joints, their blanketed emaciated flesh wrapped in rattling ebon chains.

This had better work, Grey grumbled to himself... he was running dangerously low on ideas - and the fear to power them.

[Pandoras_Box]

Myst gaped at the trees as they went all wobbly. Their trunks bent and twisted and generally did things that trees had no natural right to do. The shadows writhed among them. The stick in her hands creaked as her grip unconsciously tightened.

"Um..."

Were the shadows watching her? Was she just imagining the eyes looking at her from the shadowy shapes that flitted between the weird trees? Concern started replacing her annoyance again as twisted claws started sprouting from the trees like grotesque branches, reaching toward her. Their fingers crooked and withered.

"Ew," she said, moving away awkwardly from the closest hand, trying to balance precariously on her hind legs with weak wings outstretched. Her sprained wing made her want to whimper.

"We're so cold... so lonely... so lost. Won't you stay with us? Won't you...JOIN US?"

"Ugh, really?" she grumbled. "If you're so lonely, get some friends."

She swiped experimentally at the shadows with her stick. It didn't seem to touch anything. The shadows just kept swirling around. She poked at them, trying to ignore the weaving trees. She had a strange moment where she sorta felt sorry for it. Cold, lonely and lost? Yes, that was rather like her a lot of times in her traveling. Cold, lonely, and lost.

"And w-why are y-y-you here?" she asked, trying to draw a response from it, anything to keep it busy. Maybe she could find a way to locate whoever was casting this magic... at least, she was pretty sure it was magic. She had none herself, but she knew that it existed. She sometimes wished she had a better sense of smell. Her sense of smell was useless.

[The_Vizir]

Hahaha! Yes, yes there we go! There we go! Some good, old fear. Just what the witch doctor ordered. Mm... Grey mentally grinned as the gryphoness' claw clutched around the stick. Yes... try to strike the darkness. Try to hurt shadows. Try to injure terror.

She did have bluster, though - suppressing her fear, turning what should have been a deluge into a trickle. It was still there, and he was able to feed himself, so there was that. But it wasn't enough, not yet. He needed more... more fear, more worry, more concern... how to pull this off?

A twinge of sympathy crossed the gryphoness' face - or at least he thought it was sympathy - it might just be indigestion. He didn't read 'gryphon.' But, if he was right... the gears in his head started turning. Yes, yes this could do...

Shifting his consciousness through the surrounding trees, he found one with a decent sized hollow... perfect. A simple little thought, and the sound of frantic scratching and rattling chains sounded from within. All the while, the trees kept grasping and the shadowy children kept flitting through the trees. The newcomer did try to attack the shadows, but... it was only an illusion. Well, mostly. A bit of it was letting the Netherworld slip through into the mortal world, but that wasn't very harmful at all. A bit chilling and spooky, but harmful? Nah...

Slowly, Grey pulled himself out of the shadows, letting his illusions run on basically autopilot. It wasn't very easy, but the prize would be worth it. One last thing...

The wind tapped on the gryphoness's shoulder, carrying with it the unholy giggles of the illusory children "You can't leave yet... you still have warmth..." the voices urged. "You still have LIFE!"

And with that, Grey pulled himself out of his illusions and incarnated his physical avatar in the hollow. The shadows bubbled up, forming a skeleton of black bones, then the squirming internal organs, bright green eyes, and a darkly glowing hear. Finally, a wave of dark grey fur rose up over the macabre creation like a fur coat - before tightening to match the body perfectly, leaving a small, grey-furred, bat-like creature. Grey cracked his neck and smirked. The scratches and chains were good, but, well... he wasn't just a stage hand. He was an actor.

He hadn't spent a decade on Broadway for nothing.

"HELP!" he cried, his voice artificially dry and raspy. He shrugged, and shadowy tendrils reached out and caressed his body, before jerking and becoming corporeal chains of frigid onyx metal.

Now the show begins, Grey thought with a dark grin, before lurching himself out of the hollow, and towards the gryphoness.

"HELP ME! PLEASE!" he pleaded, crawling forward, his wing-claws grasping at the loose needles and soil that formed the forest floor, one agonizing thrust of a forelimb at a time. The chains pulled him back, trying to jerk his prone form back into his 'hollow prison' - but not with too much force. He didn't want to actually lift himself off the ground. That would be counter productive!

Coughing weakly, he looked up towards the nervous gryphoness as the shadows continued to swirl around her. He raised one weak, emaciated wing towards her - the emaciation wasn't part of the getup, he actually was that starved - and looked up at his potential 'saviour' (in more ways than one) with his big, green eyes.

"Help..." he whispered.

This was an art, and he was an artist, born and bred to pull this off perfectly.

He was, after all, a fear of betrayal.

[Pandoras_Box]

The breeze tapped at her shoulder, cold and creepy. "You can't leave yet... you still have warmth..." the voices urged. "You still have LIFE!"

She eyeballed the shadows again.

"And I intend t-to k-keep b-b-buh-both." Her stutter was getting worse, the longer this went on. Not good for her nerves, this shadow business.

She dropped the stick and started walking away again, making her best effort to ignore the psycho shadows and the dancing trees. She had managed to get several determined feet, marching with her head down and her eyes mostly closed, before she heard a new voice.

"HELP!"

She jerked her head around in a sharp movement. The new voice was dry and rasping, and small. A small voice, for a small... thing.

Gah, what is that thing? A bat? She'd seen bats before, the little brown bats that looked like mice with wings, but this one... gah! It was emaciated and gray, and half dead looking with a strange face and unnaturally bright green eyes.

It jerked, and clawed and crawled it's way toward her like some kind of ghoul, while black chains seemed to try to pull it back into the hollow of the tree that he had crawled from.

"HELP ME! PLEASE!" The creature stretched a withered gray wing out towards her, pleading.

"Help..." it whispered.

Myst realized her beak was hanging open, in a mixture of confusion and horror. She closed it, and then blinked, ruffling her feathers up. She wanted to poke it to see if it was solid. She raised a curved talon to do so, but hesitated.

What sort of magic was this? How powerful was it? What if she touched it, and it made her arm fall off? Turned her to dust? Gave her some nasty disease?

She was sliding back into suspicion again. This creature... these shadows... they just happened to have a prisoner hanging around? Especially after she felt pity for the voices and their supposed plight? And after the voices basically told her that they wanted her dead?

What?

Myst felt the need to put a hand to her face. She wasn't sure how to feel: scared, annoyed, angry, exasperated, nervous. It wants her company but it wants her dead but it waves around a live prisoner. It was just another being messing with her head. Scaring her. Making her weak. Preying on her.

Like her father did.

Preying on her.

Wait, hold on. Was that what this was? Was she being preyed upon? It must not have been for her flesh or blood, because if it had been she was sure it would have killed her already. If not for flesh, than what?

She glared at the creature, ignoring it's pleas for the moment, but still feeling the adrenaline pumping in her system. Fear, fight, whatever. It made her insides quiver. Or maybe that was just hunger.

You are one nasty looking critter, she thought.

She wasn't stupid. She was timid on most occassions, and yes, she was slow on the uptake sometimes, but this persistent harassment was forcing her to think about the situation, instead of letting her run away and avoid it like she normally would when stuff got this weird.

But she couldn't remember any times when stuff had actually gotten this weird.

Well, she could stick around, or she could bust tail and get out of there. Flying was not an option.

She decided she didn't like this forest very much.

So she turned tail and dashed for the open wasteland.

[The_Vizir]

The gryphoness looked at him with suspicion and revulsion, and Grey had to stop himself from slapping his face with a wing. Why oh why did he choose his natural form? Couldn't he have shifted into a fox or a raccoon or a cat or something that was, you know, less threatening than a giant bat-monster. Still, there was a chance he could convince the gryphon to "help" him... closing his eyes and taking in a deep ragged breath, he centred himself. Looking back up at the newcomer, he raised his wing forward again. "Please... please don't leave me here with them..." he begged.

But that was only met with a glare.

Grey flinched back, real fear evident in his eyes. She wasn't going to hurt him, was she? Had he misjudged her? She was a gryphon, after all... he had no idea how they thought!

Was she going to eat him?

Nope, apparently not... she turned tail and ran, charging through the twisting shadows and leaving only whispy darkness in her wake.

Grey took a second to realize what just happened, before letting a great big, heartfelt laugh rise from his chest. He had done it! HE HAD FRIGHTENED THE FIGURATIVE PANTS OFF SOMEONE! The shadows, the wind, the chains - the all stopped their programmed motions, and within seconds had slid back into Grey's form. Taking in a deep breath, he absorbed the fear the gryphoness had left behind. Oh, it was rich - a bit alien to his senses, but he was not in the mood to complain. Yes, this hit the spot...

The closet monster stretched as the oily tendrils of fear were drawn into his maw and nostrils. The shear amount of fear he had been able elicit from that gryphoness was marvellous - why hadn't he thought of this trick sooner? Already, his emaciated form was filling out, his flesh no longer drawn tight over bones, but instead showing some "meat", his fur regaining its plushness and rich quality. Shaking himself, Grey rose to his hind feet - and looked like a new man... monster... whatever.

Well, that's the main course? How about some dessert, hmm?

Grey's form exploded in a burst of shadow, and reappeared in the shadowy boughs ahead of the gryphoness' path. A dark grin spread across his face, and he rubbed his wings together. The poor beast was probably on the brink of collapse now - how could he push her over? How could he top this all off. How could - oh no.

A flash of orange fur in the trees before him made Grey realize his mistake - he wasn't the only hungry closet monster in the forest...

Seconds later, Gloom had plummeted out of the trees into the gryphoness's path with a cry of "BANZAIII!" and a cheerful roar from her tail. The ochre-furred red panda-like beast landed with a soft thud, and grinned a mischievous grin filled with too many teeth, as the fanged maw that split her tail drooled hungrily. However, Grey wasn't about to let his childhood friend ruin the best meal he'd had in... he needed a calendar. He really did. Regardless of that side-tracked thought, Grey snapped forward a wing, and a chain of shadow sped forward from the darkness, grabbing Gloom around the hind legs before pulling her into the broughs next to Grey.

"HEY!" the hunger horror shouted, flailing uselessly as she hung from Grey's chain. "WHAT'S THE BIG-"

"SHHH!" Grey hissed, and placed a claw up to Gloom's mouth - almost getting it bitten off in the process. "I'm on this. She's mine, okay?"

Gloom scoffed. "Really, 'cause I thought she'd just run into a giant spider or something. You're saying you scared her like this?"

Grey raised his hackles and shot his compatriot a glare "I'm not as stupid as I-" Gloom crossed her arms and raised one sarcastic eyebrow "Okay, listen, just let me handle this, okay? I've got this?"

The ochre monster said nothing, simply watching Grey judgmentally, arms crossed, while hanging upside-down by shadow-chains.

Some days...

[Pandoras_Box]

"BANZAIII!"

The trees were starting to thin out when something largish and red-orange dropped out of the trees into her path. Myst skidded to a halt, forelegs digging furrows into the loamy soil. This creature was even stranger than the first one, bigger, weirder, and with a tail that had a toothy mouth. It leered at her, but before it could do anything else, black shadows wrapped it's hind legs and hoisted it into the branches above.

She could hear every word of the conversation that ensued.

"HEY! WHAT'S THE BIG-"

"SHHH! I'm on this. She's mine, okay?"

"Really, 'cause I thought she'd just run into a giant spider or something. You're saying you scared her like this?"

"I'm not as stupid as I- Okay, listen, just let me handle this, okay? I've got this?"

Myst glared up into the tree, her fright beginning to melt away. Through the criss crossed leaves and branches she could see the top of the red creatures head. Clearly, it was still hanging upside down. The other was harder to glimpse. Just a bit of grey. But she was pretty sure it was that bat creature.

So. She was prey after all, but of a different sort. Perhaps it fed off emotions, hence it's harassment of her. Or fear. Some dragons liked to feed on fear. The dragons she'd met at the Guild Inn some months back had told her stories of them. There was no point in running from these things, she decided. She was too tired, too, hungry, and her patience was far too thin at this point to put up with anymore of it. In fact, make that "zero patience".

It was like something in her snapped. It was a very small thing, like a twig plugging a hole in a big dam. But that little twig was vital to holding everything back that she had kept bottled up inside her for years. Every unkind word, every little abuse, every torment was held in that dam. And it had just sprung a leak.

How dare they foul with a gryphon? Especially one who did nothing to them? Who only wanted to nap? Or eat? Or let her wing rest?

She folded her wings, sat back on her haunches, and launched herself into the tree. Though gryphons were better suited for flying, it did not mean they were strangers to an arboreal nature. They were mean climbers when they put their minds to it.

Myst's leap carried her up several feet, her jump powered by the liquid steel muscles of her feline hindquarters. Talons and claws bit into bark, and she climbed with shocking speed for someone who had been so exhausted. Fueled by anger, she reached the first of the branches, and leapt from limb to limb, circling the thick tree trunk, and keeping her quarry in sight.

She could hear a rattling, hissing growl, and realized that she was making the sound. Her beak gaped open in a threat gesture, her crest feathers were raised around her head in a bristling halo of white, gray and black feathers, her black tufted ears were flattened, and even her wings were hooded around her. All worked to make her look bigger, stronger, and extremely pissed off.

"Pray to whatever deities you trust, you miserable vermin, because the next thing YOU'LL be discussing is who gets to meet them first! I only wanted to nap and catch a fish, but NO, you had to come along and pick on the tired gryphon who did NOTHING to you, NOTHING! All I wanted was sleep, but you woke me up, and now you argue who over WHO gets to have ME? You will rue the day you picked me! Just wait till I get my talons around you, you pestilential cockroaches!!"

The irony of it all was that she was so spitting mad that she didn't even notice that her stutter had evaporated completely.

[The_Vizir]

*SNAP*

Colour drained from Grey's body as he looked past Gloom to the large gryphoness that was now circling the bark, hoping upwards from branch to branch while letting off a furious hiss that would rouse the dead.

"Meep," Grey flinched back, his eyes darting around for an escape.

"So... you've totally got this, right?" his fellow closet monster asked drolly, still swinging back and forth.

"I... I... FINE!" he growled, as the chains vanished around Gloom's legs.

Gracefully slipping into shadow before she even hit the branch, she rose up out of the darkness between the trunk and Grey, hackles raised and eyes glowing a cold, dead white. As the gryphon reached the branch the two horrors were on, her tail let out a dark laugh, and she sunk her claws into the shadows - sending a paralyzing chill through the darkness to the furious beast. "You think you're the only one who has to eat here?" she growled. "You think you're the only being in this forest entitled to their sustenance? The arrogance, the gall!" she sneered, her muzzle pulled back to show the wicked fangs in her mouth. "You wanted to catch a fish? Guess what - you're our fish! You didn't have to do anything - you're not special, you're not unique. You just fear..." the last word carried with it an icy rush of wind and the sound of shattering glass.

"And now you have the audacity to call us cockroaches?" Gloom's voice rose almost to a shriek. "US? We are the heirs of the Nightmare Court, lords of the shadows and masters of terror," - then her eyes turned pitch black as oily tar started dripping out. Her mouth hung open, limp, but a horrible voice did emerge: "SPAWN OF THE END OF EVERYTHING."

Chains sounded above the gryphon as Grey grinned down from above, flickering away while Gloom distracted their erstwhile assailant. Though nervousness played in his eyes, he took a deep breath and tried to match his partner's bravado. "That means we're not the vermin - you are," he laughed darkly as ebon chains once again tried to bind the gryphoness.

And then they run away - cow the target so they still fear, and run away.

[Pandoras_Box]

Her enraged approached definitely shook the monsters up. One retreated with a squeak, and the other dissolved and then reappeared before her. She halted in front of her, almost beak to nose, and stood there bristling. She was taller than she had looked on the ground, and though while she still wasn't too large, it meant that her usually half crouched cower was a much more agressive stance, her back arched, and her legs stiff.

"You think you're the only one who has to eat here?" the creature growled. "You think you're the only being in this forest entitled to their sustenance? The arrogance, the gall!" The creature sneered, ugly as an eel with all those fangs in it's mouth, but Myst was beyond flinching. "You wanted to catch a fish? Guess what - you're our fish! You didn't have to do anything - you're not special, you're not unique. You just fear..."

The last word came with an icy rush of wind and the sound of shattering glass. And that was when Myst sneered as well.

"Such a brave hunter," she said scathingly. "Making shadows and stupid noises and illusions, instead of going claw to claw like any decent predator. It seems to me that the only ones who should be fearing here are you two ugly mugs."

"And now you have the audacity to call us cockroaches?" The creature continued at a screech. "US? We are the heirs of the Nightmare Court, lords of the shadows and masters of terror," Myst saw the beasts eyes turn black and start dripping something thick and nasty, but after the trees and the shadows, she wasn't impressed in the least. It's mouth hung open while it roared: "SPAWN OF THE END OF EVERYTHING."

Those stupid chains clattered again above her. The bat-thing was up there, leering at her.

"That means we're not the vermin - you are," he said, laughing. The chains dangled down around her, trying to grasp at her.

"BLAH. BLAH. BLAH." She shouted rudely. She'd heard enough. "So impressive. NOT. You two slacked jawed idiots have no idea what fear is, if these cheap tricks are all you can use."

Her talons had clenched so hard on the bark that she accidentally ripped a chunk off. Fair enough. She flung it at the monster in front of her, and leapt up to bat-thing's branch.

"It seems to me that only ones who are afraid now ARE actually you! You cower away, and-"

They both turned and ran. Frustrated and literally vibrating from rage, Myst lunged forward and Just raked the bat-things back with her outstretched talons, but it was too late to do any real damage.

"Go ahead, run away, you slimy little eels," she screeched after them, her voice harsh and piercing.

She started pacing, like an angry feline, hissing and growling, still too jumped up with anger to sit down and be still. She didn't feel tired anymore, just so, so MAD. She'd never been so uncontrolled before. Usually she was good at holding her temper. Creatures that hid their temper usually lived longer.

At least now you know why you were being harassed, she thought hotly. Who are the cowards now, eh?

She kept pacing, back and forth, back and forth on the thick limb.

And why do you think they were after you? Because you were weak! You let them prey on you, just like you let everything else prey on you.

She paused. She was having difficulty hearing the surrounding sounds, her ears were pressed so tightly to her skull. She forced herself to take a deep breath, and lifted her ears for a listen.

Birds. Breeze. Leaves. The creaking of the trees. Mice or something crawling around amongst the roots. Her predators eyes could see the treeline at least half a mile away as clear as anything right up close. She stretched her wings. The sprained one hurt, but less than it had. Too much adrenaline in her blood. Or maybe just enough. It numbed the pain.

She flapped experimentally. Yes, feel the pain. Let it fuel you for a little longer. Don't let the anger leave you quite yet. She was sure they weren't quite finished with her.

She launched out of the tree, gritted her beak tightly against the howl of over used muscles, and started flapping determinedly, away from the two monsters and their escape route. She'd fly until she had to drop. Again.

Let them follow her through the air, in her element.

[The_Vizir]

This... scragly mutt dared insult GLOOM? The ruddy closet monster raised her her fur - and her spines - in annoyance at the offence. A brave hunter? You don't have to be brave if you're smart, you don't have to kill if you can bleed! Gloom growled dangerously at the grayphoness as her claws dug even further into the offending beast's shadow, the deathly cold of the netherworld seeping through to chill the blood in the avian mammal's, or mammalian avian's, veins.

"You want fear? I'll show you fear," Gloom growled as her fur clawed away from her face, leaving her an ivory skull with glowing orbs of ice for eyes and a voice that echoed with the terror of the shadowed realm. "I'll rip every single nightmare from your mind and play them over and over until you beg me to stop. You're alone, an outcast, a failure." Gloom snarled. Of course this was just intuition, based on the gyphoness' ragged pack, her juvenile appearance, and the fact that she was here all alone. If Gloom had thought further, she might have realized that the gryphoness was emotionally unstable, but Gloom herself wasn't exactly the most stable creature in the multiverse herself, and right now she was pretty darned annoyed at this stupid twat of a mortal insulting her understanding of fear. "I am the fear of - AAH!"

The shards of wood hit Gloom square in the centre of her face, embedding themselves into her skull as she fell back, stumbling, off the branch. Landing with a painful CRUNCH, she twitched momentarily, her body shattered, before dissolving into a pool of inky shadows. The shadows swirled about furiously for several seconds, before rising upwards to the position Gloom had previously occupied, before the monster clawed her way out of the darkness, shards of wood still embedded in her head, viscous black blood seeping out. With a pained grunt, she grabbed the largest shard, a steak embedded square between her eyes, and gingerly drew it out, feeling the deadly spike being pulled from her brain. When it was finally out, the blood and gore that covered the steak lept back off, refilling the would it had left. With an annoyed growl, Gloom tossed the large wooden shard to the ground, and glared a glare of pure hate up at the gryphoness.

However, in the time it took for Gloom to reform herself and repair her infuries, Grey had leaned over, grasped his branch tightly and began summoning chains of shadow to grab her - but had stopped the moment he felt a heavy weight on his branch. By time time his companion was drawing the steak from her head, the gryphoness was hissing in anger at Grey, spouting off about the only one here afraid was them - how right she was. "Listen, lady, you've gotta understand, we need fear to-" Grey's nervous comments were cut short as his stomach was sliced open. Grey had a moment of shock to watch as his shadowy entrails dropped out, before managing to get off a very annoyed "Wonderful," and fall unconscious, toppling off the branch and landing with a wet THUD on the forest floor.

Gloom had barely managed to regain her footing before her friend of 120 years was falling past her, his organs falling afterwards. "GREY!" Gloom cried out, flickering down to his side. His eyes were closed and he wasn't breathing, but, well, that meant nothing other than his physical form was broken. The red-furred closet monster stuck her claws into Grey's form, and all of it - blood, organs, and corpse, melted into a puddle of shadow. Several long moments later, Grey pulled himself forth from the inky pool, stretching and trying to straighten out all the breaks and kinks caused by the fall.

"I'm... I'm not going to lie. That ranks in the top twenty most painful events of my life." The closet monster mumbled as he shoved his shoulder back into place. "Ow."

Before Gloom could respond, the irate gryphoness burst upwards through the branches above them, crashing through until she cleared the canopy.

The two monsters stared after her for a few awkward moments, before Grey muttered "Well that happe - OW!" he exclaimed and rubbed the back of his head. "What was that for?"

Gloom waved the paw she had just used to cuff Grey, trying to reduce the sting. "Because I still haven't eaten in days, genius!"

"Well excuse me, princess," the grey-furred monster huffed back, crossing his wings. "But I think I had it all under control until you showed up!"

Gloom stuck her nose up in the air and 'humphed' back lightly "Doesn't change the fact that I'm still hungry."

"Fine..." Grey mumbled. "I'll help you find the next poor schmuck to wander into the forest, and then if we can take him - if - he's all yours."

The red monster proceeded to grab her grey companion's wing in her claw and shake it. "Deals a deal. Now let's get out of here before the Ms. Psycho Gryff gets the bright idea to check out our corpses."

Grey sighed and nodded, and with one last nervous glance to the sky, both horrors vanished into the flickering darkness.

"You know you've still got wood sticking out of your - OW!"

[Grey and Gloom have left the tread]

[Pandoras_Box]

A glance back determined that Myst was alone in the skies, apart from a few small birds. It was just as well. Her adrenaline and determination had burned out a lot faster than she wanted it to, and every beat of the wings was a struggle, not to mention how much pain was caused by the movement.

She descended steeply- too steeply. For a few seconds, she consider folding her wings and slamming head first into the boulders below her, at the wastelands borders. But she pulled out of the dive, and glided, hardly flapping at all, until she was able to touch her feet down.

Where she promptly collapsed, hit the ground, and rolled to a stop in a heap and cloud of dust.

Once more, she found herself at the edge of the woods, whimpering and alone. One sprained wing that wanted nothing to do with her. Her left hind foot she suspected was broken in the crash landing, if she could judge anything by the agony. Still thirsty, still hungry, and still exhausted.

Today was a good day to hate existence.

[Gaius]

'Today is a good day to be bored out of my gourd.' These were the thoughts of the grazing individual near Myst's touchdown site, at T-minus 2 minutes. 'Seriously. This is a magical forest. Why does nothing ever happen, here?' This was far from true, but Devon did spend most of his days meandering around, not really doing much of anything nor finding much of anything to do. Exploring was all well and good, and there was plenty of that, but he needed to break that up sometimes. The donkey looked forward to running into someone whenever he did, but that wasn't an everyday thing. After all, the Forest was big and, well, Deep.

It was part of what had brought Devon near the edge. He hadn't had many encounters near the middle of the Forest, but there seemed to be no end to them at its Edge. Well, it still wasn't common, but the odds seemed higher. Much as that made little sense to him in most ways. And a lot of sense in crazy ways, which he felt didn't count.

Anyway, today again bore out the madness, as T-minus 30 seconds found his long ears jumping. As he lifted his head curiously from his meal, the ears pivoted and zeroed in on the source of that airborne whistling. He squinted into a sunbeam, shielding his eyes with a forehoof. Devon's eyes couldn't make out more than a blur, but his ears told him just how close to him the blur was hurtling. With a panicked shout, he hurled himself to the side, scattering leaves. And panicking a deer who had been his impromptu grazing buddy. Entirely unnecessary, given the gryphon's actual landing site, but better safe than sorry, he felt.

He apparently felt different after pulling himself back to his rear hooves. The donkey's eyes widened at the downed predator and he hurried his staggering, clomping steps over to her. "Holy crap, are you okay?" he asked, and then felt dumb. Most creatures with obvious injuries after a crash-landing were just so hunky-dory, after all. Especially when he could see at least one limb in an unnatural posture.

Long face a mask of concern, Devon fidgeted with his jeans from not knowing what to do. He then decided to drop to all-fours; her eyes were still closed, and seeing someone nearer her height tended to go over better with quadrupeds. "I-I mean, I want to help. How bad is it?"

[Pandoras_Box]

"Holy crap, are you okay?" A voice asked her suddenly. She didn't bother to question who or what it was that addressed her.

"I want to d-die," she croaked, still lying with her eyes closed. She made no effort to get up or move.

She heard two soft clumps near her head, and the voice inquiring again.

"I-I mean, I want to help. How bad is it?"

She pried her eyes open with some effort. Squinting through the dust and grit that had fallen into them, she made out the form of what looked a small horse. Only there was something weird about the horse. It was wearing clothing. It's long face was near hers. He looked concerned. If that's what concerned horses looked like.

"I-...I th-think my leg is b-broken," she said. "Wing is...s-sp-sprained. Hungry. T-tired. Thirsty."

She aimed her eyes up toward the newcomer's. It was a rather confronting view for a predator. She could count the individual hairs. In his nostrils. Never a pretty sight.

"Are you a h-horse?"

[Gaius]

Devon winced. A death wish wasn't a promising start. Not that he could blame the stranger; she looked to be in really bad shape. The guy didn't even need to know what good shape looked like for her.

Still, it was a good sign that she could open her eyes and lift her head. And an even better one that she could speak coherently. That inventory of problems was less encouraging, but it was good to know where they were before settling on where they should be. Also, the optimist in him had adopted an accurate, if stupid, view of the situation: 'Oh, just the two limbs? Why, that's less than half! Things could be much worse. And hey, if we're counting only ground limbs, it's just 25% down! Even more manageable!' The donkey was glad to keep these "insights" to himself.

"Got it." Devon gave a nod and then turned his head deeper into the Forest, brow furrowed. "Hmm... River, river..." There weren't exactly a lot of landmarks at the Edge, or at least not many he'd noticed, but he tried to think of the fastest way he could. His looking off probably gave the gryphon a nicer look than up his shnozz. Probably the nicest-looking equine shnozz to look up that there was, as per the fey enchantments woven throughout his body, but that wasn't much of a selling point.

Distracted by his contemplation of the nearest water source, Devon answered the question absently. "Well, most would say donkey, but that's also not r--" He caught himself and shook his head, sending his ears flapping about a moment. "Er, uh, not important right now."

He took one last look into the Forest, and then heaved a braying sigh. At which he twitched in annoyance. "Anyway, I don't know the quickest way, but I know the general direction. We'll turn when we hear the river. Water will do a lot for ya, so we should just start walking." At which point Devon paused, and his ears drooped a bit. He'd set the cart before the gryphon. One with a broken leg, at that. "Er. How well can you...?"