A fresh, verdant planet, not unlike a fictitious planet Moorn might have created had things gone a bit differently in his past dealings with Felina Deyono. Cherry trees about, and wetlands are the rule rather than the exception. A strange tower stands in the middle of this place... the only shelter on the entire face of the planet. The rest is wild, and beautifully so.
The second-youngest of the universe's dumen-kitties glances up at the sky when he arrives on the world, sun glinting through golden eyes. It's been raining quite a bit, lately...Moorn had decided that the flora needed it. It's crystal clear and generally pleasant today. The ladies must have tired of the gloominess and cornered him over it.
He glances up to his ever-present companion since his toddler days: a mid-sized dragon. "Ixen. Don't step on anything this time, or he'll break your tail. Okay?"
The dragon, feral and only a touch smarter than any other clever beast, snorts acknowledgement, amused.
There's a soft, tinkling melody floating around the halls of the tower today, as Anna practices her "I need to learn to walk around while playing this thing" skills with her guitar. She's just stepping into the light of the balcony, where Ai had once catcalled at a training Dewei, when Huo and Ixen arrive.
And promptly hits a sour note.
Ixencha'sid proceeds to throw his long neck into the air to loose a roaring howl.
Huo groans. "She's going to kill me for that, you understand." Kicks the dragon's calf, totally and intentionally ineffectively.
"Hey, I heard that! I'm gonna come down there -" Anna vanishes, reappearing a few steps in front of them, "- and kick your butts!" She shoulders the guitar, a gift from Orrin and (a somewhat hesitant) Felina, who knew just how Moorn would react to his daughter's dream of being a musician instead of a sorceress.
"He did it!" Huo protests, scooting the dragon between them. "Don't blame me, I only paid him to." He's his mother's son in many ways, more than the twins...and normally a very serious sort. But Anna, better than anyone else, brings out what silly side he has.
"Of course he did. Ixen's a good boy." Anna beams at the dragon, her mother's impish smile sharpened by her father's eyes--colored with a demonic, frosty blue. "So, how did your brother's honeymoon go? Is he all used up?"
"That's one way of putting it. 'Completely and totally unable to walk straight' is another," Huo snickers. "Your sister had far too much fun.
This, of course, as Ixen bends waaay down to nudge his second favorite person with his head for a nose-rubbing.
Anna is only too happy to do so, too. She loves dragons, especially dumb ones.
"That's good to hear. I was so sad to see them fighting all the time," she says, voice dropping a little. It's got Mara's music, too, and her emotions are impossible to hide because of it. "Dad was pissed. He's really fond of Dewei."
"Supposedly it's normal right before a marriage." Huo smiles reassuringly. "I'm sure they'll be fine...they know it, too, or they wouldn't have gone through with it. Vowing to spend forever with someone matters even more than usually when you'll actually live that long. ...and, Dewei really is on dream street." He chuckles, though this is swallowed by Ixen's dragon-purring.
"Anyway, mother's hinting that there's something interesting in a certain temple out in the garnet dimension...I was wondering if you'd like to come?"
"Me? Trip? Adventure? No way! Of course!" Anna brightens up at this, and titters just like AUntie Ting. She does love to travel.
Huo grins. "I have no idea what to expect. She said to take Ixen and arm myself," the pun of his bound arm doesn't occur to him, "but you know how cryptic she can be when she wants someone to learn something. Also, I caught her before her morning tea. Always creative."
"Aw. I should go see her. So she'll tell me what's actually up and I can help you." Anna scritches behind Ixen's ears. "I'm not strong like you, so I have to do smartness."
"Have to do what?" He grins. "You should, she's always happy to see you! For a recluse, she loves her family quite a lot."
Anna smiles a softer smile. Far from loving Felina, Anna reveres her. She can barely look at her when other people are around, just holds her eyes down.
"Would you take me there?" Anna hugs Ixen's neck. She can't make the jump herself, as often as she has tried, and as often as her parents have given up in frustration.
"Of course."
Once she leans over on him, and hearing the conversation, the dragon tosses his neck gently to pitch Anna securely on top of it, looking pleased with himself. Dragonriding is a bit part of his life as much as it is Huo's.
"Waaah!" Anna squeaks when he tosses her, just catching her guitar before it falls off. "Ixen! You've gotta warn me, cutie. I'm fragile!"
"Pff. Delicate flower. Didn't you manifest a copy of your guitar last month and hit me with it?" Huo rolls his eyes, withholding the snicker, as he jumps up behind her. "Take us there, Ix!" The dragon can't teleport, of course. But it makes him feel good to carry them and the dumenkitty knows it. A moment after the dragon leaps happily into the air, they're bound for Seran Deru.
Anna is pounced bodily into a thick, fluffy patch of groundcover in the courtyard. Ting, whose hair is much longer these days though sporting a more modern cut than anyone else's, grins down at her. "Always happy to help!"
Anna blinks up at Ting, still in mid-eep. Closes her mouth.
"Hug!" She reaches her arms around to pin-hug her favorite Auntie. "Also payback 'cause I smell funky!"
"Hee." Ting smiles, and hugs her niece tightly until Anna decides to let go. Goodness knows she probably needs it...and she did good! "Yes yes you do. That's okay! I brought lavender soap for you."
Anna does let go, but it isn't quick. She isn't sniffling, but thinks she probably should.
"A lich, Auntie. A horrible smelly lich," she mewls.
"I know, sweetie...I know." Ting hugs Anna a bit tighter, and kisses your hair. "Believe me I know. I've been exactly where you are. Bad times there. You did great, though. You did! You kicked her bony ass. And have a better ass!"
"Of course I do!" Anna smiles a bit more at Ting, her favorite kitty. She separates a little, closes her eyes, and casts the only spell she's really good at. "The Anna's too tired for a shower superclean scrub and wash and rinser!"
And it works, of course. SHe even smells like ginger.
Ting wrinkles her nose, amused. "Cheater!" She gets up, helping Anna up as she goes. Grins. "You should find your dad before too long. He always worries when you're getting into trouble. And tosses things at my little brother. Littler brother. Kinda littler? Muscly younger brother." Titters.
"True. He's that way." Anna jerks her thumb toward the cairn stones. "But... I want to talk to you, Auntie. DO you have time?"
"Of course!" Ting beams. She wants to go back to the temple and help get the monks pulled back together, she's sure that the temple's energies are restoring them. And put that skeleton that had helped Anna back together. But Anna comes first, and is equal parts needing and deserving the attention.
Anna nods a bit.
"How come it is that Auntie Ting showed up?"
"Because something was wrong. And then I heard you talking at me and wish I was there. So then I was." Ting smiles at Anna, and fluffs her hair. "Mom didn't send me, if that's what you're asking."
Anna purrs just softly. That's what she needed to hear.
"Thank you, Auntie. I should go find dad now, but... don't be a stranger, kay? Luff."
"Luff!" Ting beams. "Let me know if you need anything, sweetie. Believe me I know how it feels like to deal with those creepy stinky bastards."
"I will, Auntie." Anna bows her head just a bit, smiles into Ting's weird-assed eyes. "Bye!" And she heads off to find her dad, pleased as punch and kick.
Ting's beaming fades a bit as the other mutt walks away. Poor Anna. What a day. She flits home to check on her brother, and then heads back to the Temple of the Sun for cleanup detail. She knows one creepy undead turncoat who agrees that it's a good thing to take care of creepy undead turncoats!
When Anna comes upon her father, he's standing in the water by the Cairn stones, watching what is now a reasonable river babble by. Radivishe Moorn is still the ghostly creature Ting met outside Cocytus years ago. He's corporeal enough, but he definitely *looks* like a ghost.
"Anna. You went on another of Felina's fetch quests, did you not?"
Anna wilts. "Um... yes, sir."
"After I told you not to."
"Yes."
"Why did I tell you not to?"
"Because you said I'm not ready."
"Do you think you were ready?"
"Not really."
"And now?"
"Maybe?"
Radivishe Moorn looks at his daughter, displeasure evident in his snowy features. "Ai was never ready to fight, Anna. But she attached herself to someone who can protect her. For disobeying me, you will spend the next two days in study."
"Dad!"
"Quiet." The ghost steps onto the bank, not a drop of water pouring from him. "You will either learn to protect yourself properly, or you will attach yourself to someone who can protect you."
Anna blinks. "Huh?"
"That's all, Anna."
She blinks again, but starts to walk away.
I love you, daughter. I promise.
Anna smiles a little, and walks back to the house.
An hour or so later, Huo slips off of ixen as the dragon finishes alighting in the courtyard. Immediately senses a barrier...not to keep Anna in, but to keep him--or anyone her dad doesn't expressly allow--out from disturbing her. Study session, nice. He winces inwardly. This probably means he's in hot water with her father, too...and her dad is legitimately scary as hell.
The good news is, her dad is still at the stones.
"Huo!"
The sound only just chirps before a speeding ball of red hair and ears explodes from the tower entrance, rushing straight toward him.
Ears fold down, though the rest of his face doesn't change much. Here comes the mega-pounce. "Er...hi, Aunt. You're looking well." Brace.
She barrels to a stop. Smiles at him, and pokes his nose.
"Gotcha. Hi! I heard you and my Anna got in trouble today."
"Yeah." He scritches the back part of his hair sheepishly. "It was my fault. I slipped, and she didn't have a way to leave without calling for help."
Mara-kuru, still smiling even though her face has more marks than before Xen'tal showed up, gently pokes at Huo again. "Gabriel was piiiiiissed. He was all 'Huo's going to turn Anna into another adventurer type before we can get her ready not to get herself splatted!' I'm paraphrasing. A little."
"If anyone asked me to not ask Anna to go, I wouldn't," Huo points out. Including his mom. Felina, however, doesn't intend to do any such thing until Moorn or Mara specifically asks her too. Evidentally, it's being put on Anna. "She actually did great, for the record."
Mara wiggles a little bit, her now-patented "I'm here" dance. Her ears flick.
"You don't have to be testy with Mara. Mara remembers what it's like to go adventuring all the time." She beams. "But you know Gabriel. Anna Anna is his baby girl. He'll act all crass and stuff, but if someone hurts Anna someone gets turned into a mosquito or something. Not fun!"
"Sorry, Aunt." Huo's quick to bow his head, of course, hands folded. He'd spent some years in a monastery, himself, it's where he'd picked up his current dressing and hairstyle habits. "So...I'm to exclude Anna from assorted dangerous happenings in the future, then?"
Mara purrs a bit, in the back of her throat. "Hell no! If she wants to adventure, yay! Gabriel doesn't seem to notice that adventuring is good because otherwise Anna would just take her guitar and strum and strum and strum and strum and strum and strum and pick and strum and all day would be gone poof!"
Huo grins a bit. "Ah. You're not warning me away, you're warning about the hell I'm going to catch in the near future, yes?" Yay Moorn!
"Yup! He's gonna eat your face. But that's okay, 'cause he'll just gripe." Mara beams. "He has a dumb idea, though, that might not be bad. Wantsta know it?"
This gets his attention. If Radivishe Moorn "has an idea" rather than just doing something, it's notable. "Of course."
"Well. He says Anna's prolly not gonna be super tough. It bugs him out of his ugly because he wanted a superstrong son, but he has two daughters who can't always protect themselves." Mara's ears sag a little, but perk back up almost immediately. "He said if Anna can't protect herself, she needs to find someone who can. So. We're gonna hunt for Anna a man! Or a tribe, or something. Wanna help?"
Huo blinks. "Anna," he observes, "is going to kill me."
"Yup!" Mara purrs. "Dead!"
Huo snickers. "Alright. I'll help between beatings. So...how's she doing?"
"She's studying. Teleportness. Gabriel was so mad, because she can't jump between places like us, and if she could, she could have come for help. Which is what smart people do!"
"I need to study it more, too," Huo admits. "I thought that the inside of the temple was warded against teleporting in or out, but Ting circumvented it somehow."
"Well. Ting grew up a bunch at one time. Besides, she's a girl." Mara beams. "Girls win."
"My father and my brother both taught me to never argue that point, yes."
"Yes! Smart Huo. Now, hm. How do you find a man, hon?" Mara grins.
Huo smirks, almost but not quite sheepishly. "Me? It wouldn't be the right kind of man for Anna."
Mara opens her mouth. Closes it. Opens it again.
"You never know," she purrs. "Where do guys hang out, though? Mara has not been whoring in a while."
"You're asking a usually-monk? I wouldn't know, Aunt. Guys are too distracting; I like to keep my head on my training for now."
Mara nods a little. "Kay... well, poo. I should ask Tingy. She'll know! Okay, carry on!"
Huo smiles a bit, and nods. Looks up to the tower. "Sooo...I'm guessing, for both our sakes, seeing Anna right now is not going to happen, right?"
"Maybe. Mara does not know for sure! You could ask him, though. He's a comin' to see... you!" Mara pokes Huo gently. "Next time I'ma pounce ya. Keep that in mind, bitch."
Huo snickers, though hiding nervousness at the upcoming encounter. "I never doubt you, Aunt."
"Good! Doubt is for frogs. And Gabriel's by the river. You'd better go to him, 'stead of the other way around." And Mara bounces back toward the tower, laughing at herself. As usual.
Huo breathes out. Looks up to his dragon. "All right. Let's get this over with." Sets his hands on the sides of the creature's mouth when it bends its head down to him. "And Ixencha'sid, if you break something on the way, there's going to be talk of lizard stew." Pats the nose to remind that he's joking--mostly, and heads off in that direction. Ixen hops the courtyard wall, to rumbling but thankfully without a smash, and follows along behind.
Huo takes a deep breath when he sees the sorceror--without acknowledgement so far, of course--and approaches quietly. Bows his head in the same gesture Mara had seen a couple of minutes before. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
Moorn has been sitting on the stones for a while, now. Long enough to think about what's going on, and really put weight into how he's planning to punish Huo.
"I understand you and Anna went to a temple on one of Felina's training wheels quests."
"Yes, sir." He doesn't add fluff or unsolicited explanations when speaking to this particular fellow.
Which is actually a pretty good idea, considering how quickly he goes into 'teacher mode' with Felina's children as well as his own.
"If you ever intend to take her somewhere like that again, you will inform at least one member of her family." Moorn pushes off the stone, float-falling the seven or so feet to the ground and landing, appropriiately, without a sound. Ghost-forms can be lovely. "You do remember who her family is, do you not?"
"You are, sir. And Mara, Ai, and Yue, and possibly Dewei." He is, as far as he's concerned. But now isn't the time.
The spectral sorcerer finally meets Huo's eyes.
"Definitely Dewei. You will inform at least one of us in advance. I could not care less if Felina knows, she always does. But I will not see my daughter suffer like she did today simply because someone else feels it will be a learning experience. Do you understand?" Even he knows it's a stupid question to end with. But, still, dads have used it against boys of all sorts for ages.
Huo avoids wincing. When Gabriel's pissed off, he has teh same problem with eyes that Anna does with his mother. Unlike Anna, he forces himself to grin and bear it...not that it's any more pleasant for it. "Yes, sir. And I am sorry for what happened." He knows the ghost-sorceror doesn't care for apologies, but it's still true. He feels awflul about what had happened; the first thing he should have done when that gate had crashed down was find some way to get Anna out. Also, he'd dragged her in the first place.
"Sorry is a waste of time. Make amends instead of promising to." Moorn turns his eyes to the tower, to Anna's room in particular. "You will teach her to jump from place to place, Huo. Does that sound fair?" Of course, it doesn't matter if it does or doesn't.
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I expect her to have jumped from here to Seran Deru by nightfall." THe sorcerer turns his back on Huo, now, and walks back to the river. Not that Huo couldn't stop him, if he had something to say.
He doesn't. He likes being intact. Not that Moorn's ever seriously hit him outside of a training exercise, but he certainly manages to put across the idea across that he will. Especially where his daughters are concerned.
He breathes out, and looks up to the dragon. "Let's head back. We've got a lot to cover, and...hey! Ixen, put me down right now!" Huo doesn't swear, but if he did, there would be more red cheeks than just his own right now. The dragon, protective as always at the tense apprehension, has picked him up by the puffy part of his pants to carry him away. It is why Felina's crippled son had received a hatchling dragon as a toddler, after all.
Anna, looking through her window, tries not to titter.
She fails, but it was a good try.
The dragon growls. Mmnope. Master still smells like sick. He tosses his head instead, sending Huo flying to land neatly on Ixen's head. It's a trick that had taken them both awhile to perfect, way back when.
Huo grumbles as Ixencha'sid, who looks pleased with himself though still unhappy with the smell of sick and trots off towards the tower. The mutt turns, craning his neck, and takes ahold of a rip in the seat of his pants, cheeks still red. The top cheeks. A thread from the garment looses itself to stitch the gap closed in a few moments. He hasn't quite mastered the more trying cloth-reweaving versions yet.
"Well, so much of getting out of this with day with any pride left intact," he murmurs, smacking the top of the dragon's head as he sits cross-legged. Totally ineffectively, of course. He smirks a bit at Anna's face and emotion when the dragon raises his neck to put him about even with her window. "You can stop holding the laugh. You're going to pop a kidney that way, or something."
Anna, now dressed in a super-fluffly gray robe and looking snug, snickers at poor Huo. "I'm just pleased to see you're up and getting tossed. Um. Come in?"
He smiles. "Right then." Steps in through her sizeable window, treading lightly on the desk before stepping to the floor. "And...well. I'm okay thanks to you, Anna. So...thank you."
Anna lets her eyes drop some. She used to do it for show, but it's become such a common gesture to her that she does it regardless, nowadays.
"I'm just glad. Stupid zombie bitsh." Anna shuts the window behind him. "So. Did dad yell at you a lot?"
"Not too badly." Huo sits on the bed. "I need to tech you how to transport between here anad Deru and back again by nightfall. So, he was more worried than angry."
"Oh. Well. Good luck, smokey." Anna titters a nervous titter. "I've been trying forever! I just can't get the barrier thingy to listen to me."
Huo blinks. "Ooo...you've been messing with the Barrier method, Anna? Umm...my mom does it that way because she's got a weird rapport with it since she's a Guardian technically. But that would explain why you've been having trouble. It's one of the hardest methods."
"I didn't know there was another way," she admits. "I kinda got bored reading, and dad wouldn't show me how he does it. He said he doesn't want me 'playing with nether forces that would rip out my spine if I offended them'."
"Also fair." Huo smirks a little. Fades to neutral seriousness. It usually does when he's talking bout something training-related. "Well, other than the barrier method, which you would use to cross dimensions, and your dad's, which I don't have the balls to try nd my mom would bet me if I did, there are two others. The easiest and least power-demanding one is basically a place-changing one. All that you do is mentally picture the place you're trying to go, manifest little bit of little bit of energy there--that's the harder part--and then use the link between you and the energy to switch places with it.
"That sounds deceptively easy," Anna observes. "What's the downside? There's always a downside. LIke, if Anna's legs don't come with her or summit."
"The downside is that it can't get through any barrier you can't get energy through. You'd need to circumvent that to get to either Seran or Helantri Deru, for example, because of their shields. Those can range from really simple to really complex...sometimes, like for the Deru's, there's very small, very specific energy inflection allowed through the everyday shields, for example, like a key. Istan Aiga's everyday cloaks and shields have the same kind of setup...I think your dad put the detail in when we were kids, specifically so that you could get through.
Anna just smiles at him. "You totally lost me."
Huo grins. "It'll make more sense as soon as you've seen how the energy link works, I promise. Let's get someone off this world, way from the shields, and practice it?"
"Sure, except dad said not to leave my room." Anna coughs. "Kind of a conundrum?"
"Ahh...right. My mom teaches by getting us into trouble; your dad teaches by messing with our heads." Huo grins a bit.
"Oh yeah. But you know, I don't think dad really wants me to be a strong person like you. I think he'd rather I was a politician or something." Anna smiles at Huo, as she usually does. "Ai gets hurt a lot."
He nods. Smiles a bit. "Well. That's okay with you, right? You don't want to be the dumb muscle who punches things like me, either."
"I'd rather just be nobody," Anna answers with abrupt bite. "I don't want to be important. I just want to be Anna."
Huo nods. "'The girl with the guitar.'" Grins a bit. "Alright. We should get started, for the sake of me still existing in the future.
"Okay." Anna nods. Sighs a little. Broken guitar. "Where are we going first?"
"Staying in the room shouldn't be a problem to start, actually. Okay." He holds out a hand. He knows the key-pattern for Istan Aiga. A small, unnecessary light manifests few inches of his hand, and the signature is broadcast very clearly. "Most kinds of energy are good for this kind of teleportation. We need to use this one specifically this time, because it's the one your dad designed Istan Aiga to allow. Think you can copy it cold? I can build it step by step if it will help."
Anna looks at it for a second. Closes her eyes. "I just can't see it, Huo," she mewls. "I can't understand those light patterns and signatures like you guys do."
"Hey...don't worry about it. I'm not here to judge you, remember." Huo smiles. "You just need to visualize them in a different way. Like..." Thinks. Considers. It is really tough problem. "Alright...can you give me an energy pinpoint, like the one you use right before your wind gathers?"
Anna blinks. "Can I just gather wind?"
Huo shakes his head. "Nope. If can cut it short just before the wind forms and just hold onto that...feeling right before it, you'll have some pure, uncommitted energy to use for whatever you need. Also, once you manage to make that stop, the rest of what you need to do is essentially just a different spin on it." smiles.
Anna nods. "Okay... I think. But stand back, okay? I don't want to gust you out the window." Of course, Huo could save himself easily enough. It would just suck.
"Of couse." He smiles, and steps back.
Anna cups her hands, as she generally does despite not having to. She closes her eyes. Searching for that spark... she draws her energy together, and tries to stop it just at the focal point of a gale.
"Eep!"
Shards of glass spray out of the tower when Anna's spell shatters the window, sending papers scattering all over the room.
Huo catches the papers that try to fly out the hole. "That was great, Anna! You stopped it at just the right time. Try repeating that, but imagine, as you're getting the spell ready, that you have a halved steel orb in your hands. Make sure to clap the lid on tightly as soon as you have the energy isolated like that. Don't be surprised when it pushes back, it will! But it's not violent, it just needs coaxing. Kind of like Ixen out there."
A loud sniff assures that the dragon's listening.
"Okay..." Anna's nervous, which is not helping matters. She cups her hands, draws her power together, and releases it in time to imagine a cap slamming shut on the ball of the wind.
Nothing happens. She feels sick, someone, dizzy, but nothing gets blown up.
Huo smiles softly. "Perfect." His voice is softer, now...the front never has any suddeness to it, to avoid breaking her concentration. "Just hold onto it for a minute. Pay close attention to what's inside that...just pay attention exactly how it's acting...how it's pushing, and wht it's doing. Pause. Something suddenly occurs to him. Smiles a bit.
"Like musical note. Treat it like a single note on a scale. Get a feel for it, because this one's going to be your pitch pipe."
Anna nods a little. A pitch pipe. So tune it, Stupid Anna.
The energy ebbs a bit, folds into a more manageable ball. The kitty mutt breathes out again, holding it still. "I think I have it," she whispers.
"You do. Awesome job, hold it." Huo bites one of his knuckles thoughtfully. He's onto something with this one, and he knows it. But only if he explains it well, and does it right. Heads over to her bookcase, and takes a small keyboard from it, switching it on. Scales, scales...she's tried hard for so many years to teach him this stuff. Scales. Right. This one...here, is c. Right? Right.
"Alright. What you're holding is a c." He turns the volume on the keyboard way down, and presses the note. "And you've got a great hold of it. Don't stop trying, but don't be afraid of it. It's under control. What I want you to do now is...warm it. Slowly push it warmer, happier, more energetic. Be ready to hold it there when I tell you to, okay? Start whenever you're ready."
Anna isn't sure what he means. Warmer, happier. She closes her eyes again. "I don't understand," she mewls, "push it." The ball changes a little, warbling, and goes right back to 'c'.
"Don't think about manipulating it," Huo coaxes. "Remember, it's your energy...it's part of you, and works with you. It doesn't need to be manipulated, it works with you by nature. Just warm your own thoughts...work with your emotions towards something lighter, peppier, more energetic. It will follow you."
She nods again. "Okay. Warmer. Peppier. Tingish." Sure enough, the little ball moves into a more pleasant signature. "Like that?"
"A little more...okay, hold there." Huo's carefully containing rising excitement so the emotions don't interfered, and just smiles softly. "That's your 'e'," plays that note on the soft keyboard, "so, you're working on a major chord. If you push it in the same direction and stop it in the right spot, you can finish out the chord. Give that a shot?"
Anna thinks about that one. Okay... so the distance between energies is being compared to the distance between notes. So. 'C', 'E', and... 'G'? Anna moves her energy to the point she feels corresponding with G, and holds it there. "Like that...?"
"Perfect!" Huo switches to that note, beaming. Anna is really damned good at one thing, and that's music. "Now find that original c again." After a few more minutes, Anna's accurately shifting up and down a scale of energies, both "higher" and "lower."
"Alright. We should take a break before going on so you don't wear yourself out before we get to next part. You okay?"
Anna beams at him, bright eyed. "I'm great! This is awesome. Awesome!" She moves the energy up and down her 'scale', and when she does, a haunting hum sounds at each switch. It sounds almost like a breathy baritone, humming up and down. "I can go all night!"
Huo smiles. Pays close attention to her energies...yeah. She's not letting it run away with her and drain her like she usually does. It's under control. "All right. Next you need to focus on actually making a chord. Go back to a c, and then let's go back to picturing the energy as a sphere. Try taking just half that sphere, and raising half of it to an e, so that you have both notes going.
Anna bites her lip. Okay... so. Divide her attention, and...
The chord sounds, and with it, two soft, glowing green egg-shapes float in the air in front of her.
"You're doing awesome, Anna," Huo nods. "Okay. get comfortable with those two...it feels like you pretty much already are. But make sure, move them around a bit. Once you feel ready, you need to try to finish out the chord...put the third note in there. You just know your music sense is weeping to have the first two hanging out alone, anyway."
"Of course!" Anna blinks. The eggs whirl, split in the middle, and form a third. The chord sounds out-- loud. Loud enough that the walls are beginning to quiver.
The only reason he doesn't wince is that it might make her think she's done something wrong, but his ears are folded down at the noise. Ow...ow...ow...
"Perfect!" he purrs. "Okay. That chord right there? If you add the seventh, that's the 'key' you need to get into and out of Istan Aiga. Anytime you want to come, go, or teleport on this world, that's the energy you need to use to do it." It's weird, actually. It is a perfect chord. Heh. Well, his mother has always taught him that magic rules and physical rules are entertwined everywhere, and anywhere it seems totally illogical just marks somewhere no one had deciphered yet.
Anna closes her eyes. Okay. She can do this.
Adds the seventh.
The eggs begin to swirl around Anna, faster and faster, until they begin to blur.
One of them changes direction.
The wind picks up.
"It sounds perfect. Watch the g it's getting away...remember, it does want to work in time with you, but you need to keep giving it directions. Just relax. This is music. You kick ass at music."
Anna tries to get it back. Thinks she's succeeded.
And then the cyclone tears through Anna's chamber. winds pouring her green glow around her until she vanishes, to appear just outside the tower.
A startled Ixen opens his jaws in the nick of time to catch her. It's raining cool people today!
Anna meeps when he catches her. Blinks at him. "Ixen, gotta get Huo! I think I broke the spell!"
"Nah...you did great, Anna," Huo laughs after sealing a little cut he'd gotten so she didn't have to feel guilty for it. He appears standing on a ledge outside the tower. "I'm not sure exactly how, though. We didn't get to that part of the spell yet." He grins. "But, you did it!"
"And I almost blew up my room! Um. Ixen? sweety? Sugarplumdumplingbutt? Anna's about to fall out of her robe."
Huo snickers. Payback!
The dragon shifts Anna a bit with a couple pokes of his mercifully dryish tongue, and proceeds to do the "land on my head now!" toss. It's a good day when he gets to do it so often!
And she does! Anna pats Ixen's head, pretty hard for a person but pleasantly for a dragon. "Good job! Luff. So... now what, Huo?"
"We should rest a few minutes. Even if you don't feel drained, you've been working hard, so there's no need to push it. Also, I think your mother wants to pounce you off a dragon's head."
"That's preposterous, Huo, why would gyaaaaahi mom!"
A blur and a crash later, Anna's looking into the eyes of her purry mom, whose blood-colored curls tickle her daughter's nose.
"Hiya Anna! You did it, didn't ya? I saw. And yay! Huo's all smart and stuff for coming up with a way to make you learn the spell thingy because Gabriel doesn't know music too well even though he can sing don't ask him to he won't cause he's a guy and he doesn't like to because he thinks its womanly and he looks like a girly guy but he'll kick your ass!" Mara looks up to Ixen. "Hi!"
The dragon bark-chirps right back.
Huo smiles a bit. "Well, we're not done yet. Moorn said he wanted us to be able to transport between here and Seran Deru and back by nightfall. But...Anna got the hard part already, she's awesome. The rest is adjustment."
Anna just blushes, and turns her head. Praise gooood.
Mara snickers a little bit. "Yeah! She just learned how to give a first-class blowjob!"
Huo just snickers. They are perhaps the most amusing mother-daughter pair he's ever seen. Not that he's been around all that many in more than passing, honestly, but still. Jots things in a notebook. "Bitsh...ass...geek..."
"That's the coolest crossword ever." Mara nods. Lets Anna up, and beams at both of them. "You guys are such a good pair. It's such a pity Huo is a dandy 'cause he's not technically related to us."
"Mom!"
"Just babbling, baby." Mara purrs.
The Ono shakes his head. "I'm just glad I am. Being regularly set up with someone who's like my sister would give me even more reason to be a monk."
Anna grins. "Ting's awesome, and don'tcha forget it!"
Mara nods. "Tingy is my cake."
"With frosting!"
"Nah, that's Dewei."
"Dewei?"
"Sure, Ai likes cake."
"Eww!"
Huo's fingers press to the bridge of his nose. "I did not need to hear that."
"Me neither mom stop being gross!" Anna coughs. "Maybe."
Mara-kuru just purrs. She stands up - a little slowly. Felina wasn't the only one to enjoy a downside to fighting Xen'tal, afterall - and titters at the both of them.
"You guys are cute. Is it food time yet? Because you have a lot to do and need cake."
"Actually, I am kind of hungry," Huo realizes. He hasn't eaten since before the sun temple thing. "Your call, though, Anna."
"Food is good! Dad's a good cook." Anna beams.
Ah. Goood. "Do you think we should finish the teleportation things first...?"
"Nah. I've got a microphone cable around here somewhere," Mara purrs. "He can wait, or Mara can choke a bitch."
Huo snickers softly. "I love you, Aunt."
Mara purrs softly at this. "Mara loves Huo! Nyah!" And she bounces back into the tower, calling for them to hurry the hell up.
Anna covers her eyes. "My mom," she sighs, tittering.
"You get it from somewhere," Huo grins. Jumps down from the window as Huo lowers Anna to the ground. "I'll bring you something soon, Ixen!"
Anna beams. "Bye cutie!" She pats Ixen's nose, and runs for the kitchen where, if scent is accurate, wontons are in progress.
Huo smiles a bit as he follows after, though it fades to his usual demi-seriousness. Wontons good. The region's food is fairly prevalent in his house, after all.
Anna slinks along the wall when she enters the kitchen. Her father, of course, is not cooking by hand, but reading as his spells do it for him.
"I could swear I confined you to your room, Anna," he grumbles in greeting.
"Shut up bitch," Mara purrs. "She teleported already!"
Moorn doesn't answer this.
"Huo. Are you eating with us?" He looks up from the book, lips set, but eyes more amused than anything else.
"If that's alright, sir, yes." He does note the somewhat less militant mood, though he's in no mood to push his luck today. He still doesn't feel all that hot, honestly.
"Sit, then." And he goes back to his reading.
Mara sits as well, at their circular table set for five, all the time. "The did really well. Kicked the ass off a lich!"
"Yes, I know. Eat."
This as the food floats toward the table, depositing itself into bowls with sides of carrots and broccoli.
"Thank you." Huo breathes out. It feels good to sit down...though he gives no other indication of this. Smiles at Anna as he picks up a fork. "You really did to well, Anna. You certainly covered for my mistakes."
Mara glances at them. "House rules! No talky bidness at the table. Mara will smack." She takes a fork for herself, beaming. Takes a bite. "Mmm... chickeny."
Huo chuckles. "Sorry, Aunt." Eats quietly a bit. "So...what is it that you've been tackling my sister over so frequently, lately?"
Mara's ears perk. "I'm sure I dunno what you're talking about! I pounce Tingy-pie all the time!"
"Uh-huh. But more than usual. And her boyfriend. And I can't help but observe that the twins' hundred and fiftieth birthday is coming up soon." Huo whistles.
"Oh, that! Oh. Oh! Oh. Fuck! Gotta do something, right?" Mara takes another bite, smiling her close-lipped "innocent" smile.
Huo snickers. "Or, you could have just been in a mood to pounce Ting lately. I just figured that was it. You do have a history of ambushing family members with celebrations."
"I do, don't I?" Mara purrs.
Anna rolls her eyes. "You're planning something and you know it."
"Quiet, you."
Both Serinians look at the pale face in the room. He doesn't even look up, but does smirk a little.
Huo smiles a bit, and looks down to his plate. Heh. Well. He does like Dewei...and, more grudgingly, Ting too. They've both earned his respect.
Anna eats quietly. She's thinking, again.
"Father," she softly begins. "May I take some of this to Felina?"
"Not if Huo has to take you there."
Anna looks at her 'brother'.
He nods. "We should probably get back to work, then. You're almost there, really."
Anna nods. "Are you done eating, then?"
"I think so." Huo stands, taking his dish of course to put away, and bows his head to Mara and Moorn. "Thank you for lunch. I need to feed Ixen real quick, Anna."
Anna nods. "I need to talk to my parents, anyway. I'll see you in a minute?"
Huo smiles a bit. "Of course." Puts away his cleaned dish, and heads outside to a fidgety, impatient dragon. Where's a village of juicy peasants when you need one?
A little while later, Anna emerges from her house, a violin case in one hand, a flute in the other. The dark marks below her eyes are shining with sparkling tears by the time she gets to Huo.
"Hi guys," she mews. "Ready to work?"
"Sure thing." Huo's just sitting nearby while Ixen chows down on a large amount of just-rotten-enough-for-flavor meat. "Um...are you all right, Anna...?"
The musician nods, eyes a little down. "Anna has just left home. She is going to ask her sister for a place to stay when we're finished."
Huo cringes...but doesn't press. "Right...do you want to finish our lessons, then, or just head over there and do it some other time...?" Steps closer to hug her gently.
Anna's nose wiggles a little, but she doesn't fight the hug. "I should learn to go by myself," she very softly says.
He nods. "So where do you want to work on it?" Steps away from her after just a moment to retrive his guan-dao.
"Can we go to Seran Deru...?"
"Sure thing." He looks to the dragon. "You ready, Ixen? I'll bring the food, I promise."
The dragon seems a bit annoyed at this...but, after a few moments, nods, chubby-cheeked. Huo smirks a bit, and all three of them are headed for Seran Deru.
A few hours later, Felina steps into the courtyrd. She's not sure whether Mara or Moorn will approach her first, so she lets them determine that for themselves. She doubts it will be long, anyway. Looks up to the ether sculpture, leaning on her cane.
"Do you think I have a fat ass?" the statue asks in Mara's voice.
"Nah. Ninety million tons suits you beautifully."
Mara-kuru appears on top of the things head, beaming down at her favorite sister. "Hello, my love! Whatcha doin' takling to a statue, huh?" Which of course means "what business brings you here today, Felina?"
"Hey, Mara." Felina smiles. "I actually wanted to talk to you and Moorn about Anna."
Mara's ears wilt. "Fuck." She nods. "Whatcha got to say, jiggly?" The red-haired Serinian lets herself fall from the statue's head, landing neat as a kitty to turn her blood-red eyes on Felina's gold.
"Well, the first thing she did was come to my house, of course...it's a convenient place for a one-night stop. I'd like to know how you two feel about her staying with me, for one, if it becomes regular request."
"I'm fine with it. You're my love after all, I trust ya, and I trust ya won't steer her wrong. Ting I dunno. Cute though! Gabriel has officially washed his hands of Anna," Mara explains as she looks to the tower, ears un-sagging a little. "But just officially. He's so worried that he locked himself in the tower to keep from going after her. I think he's got girly mags in there, though."
"Probably." Felina smirks bit, though it sobers. "I know there's been some tension that Huo invites her along on my tasks for him, and I do nothing. I've been ignoring it, but with things reaching such a boil, I'd quite like to get things settled."
Mara-kuru's eyes flicker, catching the light just so they sparkle blue for a second. "Honey. Anna left us."
"I know." Felina's eyes soften, and she reaches out to take Mara's hand gently, squeezing it. "It's not you. You know that, I hope. It's us...all of us, my family too. Anna wants nothing to do with the world-shaking business."
Mara smiles a little kitten smile. Felina's softened so much since having Huo, she really has.
"I know. Anna told me she wants everyone in the universe to know her name like they know yours, only for music, and not for saving it." She huffs softly. Again. "Sorry, my love. Mara has had a coughing thingy since yesterday."
Felina's face softens with concern. Sickness isn't something that comes easily to them. "Really? Do you know what's causing it?" Reaches up to her double's temple gently, feeling for the problem.
Mara gently takes hold of Felina's wrist.
"Mara-kuru is just getting old, my love." She tries to urge Felina's hand anyway, a half-apology in her eyes.
Felina smiles a bit, and nods. Looks down and aside. Back to her double. "I'm excited for the twins' birthday. I'll see Huo's hundred and fiftieth, too. But I won't see his two fiftieth."
Mara chuckles a little bit. "You probably will, my love. You're a lot longer in the lifespan than Mara is." Which is probably true, considering their creators. "We gotta do some fun stuff for 'em!" Ears up. "Gonna gotta hm. What do you give someone you've birthday'd a hundred and forty-nine times?"
Felina just smiles. She won't. Though it is true. Her father had loved her...she would live forever, left alone. Age isn't a concern. "It's good question. Ai and Dewei been getting so much more involved with the world tree again, and being smarter about it this time, that I'd like to think of something really notable to help him in their budding duties there. Ting...I'm not sure about her. Her life has been taking such an odd turn since the war, I just haven't decided what to do for her just yet."
"Tingy needs a few normal days!" Mara purrs softly. "She needs to go on a cruise somewhere, and just be regular like we used to do!"
Felina smiles a bit. "That's actually not a bad idea, Mara. Somewhere they haven't heard of her."
"Right! Just somewhere she can have some fun. And! We should send Anna with her!" Mara beams, purring softly at her brilliance.
Smile broadens. "That sounds like a good idea, yes. Any ideas on where they should go? You're better with this sort of thing than I am."
"What kind of place does Ting like?" Mara coughs again, twice, and sits on the ether statue. Coughs. "Ugh. Sorry, my love. Um, maybe a water planet? Easy to find a cruise there?"
Felina nods. "Somewhere lively...open to some degree of oddballs, even if they need to take the form of the local race, and probably technologically based instead of magically. They both love 'modern conveniences.'"
Mara tilts her head, side to side, pondering. "Well. Um. Yeah! And... we should so accidentally send them on a gay cruise."
Felina snickers. "It's Ting's birthday, Mara, not yours."
"Aww... point." Mara looks at her feet. 'Do you know any water planets, my love?"
Felina considers. She isn't really the best one to ask about pleasure-activity related things. "Well, the water planet that you and Yoru visited harbors a few too many bad memories..." ponders. "There is Earth. They're practically a water planet, and love that kind of thing. Also, pretty accepting of personalities like the girls'."
Mara nods a little. "Earth, though. It's... weird. Mistrusting. What about... Oleptura? Mara went there with Ai once, it was luff."
She smiles, and nods. "That sounds perfect, Mara. Want me to make the arrangements?"
"That sounds like a plan, luff." Mara nods. Blinks. "Ooh. Mara's dizzy. She's going to go lie down for a while, okay my love?"
"Yeah...you do that. Feel better, right?" Felina smiles. She worries about her double, she does. It's not they haven't lived long enough, they have, but...well. Still.
Mara wanders back into her house. She lies down, just as she said she would, and closes her eyes. Mewls quietly, and sleeps.
Felina ponders her next destination a moment, before her clothes shift back to her old, old standby of nondescript beige clothes with a white shirt and cargo jacket. Her features shift a little to be fully human, losing the markings, ears, and claws, and her eyes take a human shape rather than their usual feline one, though the iris retains the dull gold. Then she's off to Oleptura.
2006-10-24[Mister Saint]: Gourd, love... this is fabulous. o.o
Stumble!