Open No One is the Same

[Nira'lia]

“Thank you, Ball… here you go—”

Nira’lia stopped mid-sentence. She turned her head and saw that not only did the Kelvic not take her advice to sit down, she had also started to walk away. It turned ut that Ball’s generosity to give a certain knight’s shirt went unheeded.

“I guess she doesn’t want it…” whispered Nira’lia as she leaned down and handed the shirt back to Ball. “I suppose we should follow her? Uhm… let’s go?”

The young Konti was visibly puzzled. There was something different and eccentric about the girl in orange, one that Nira’lia could not pinpoint. Nira’lia also had no idea as to why they were being asked to follow, as she didn’t realize the signs of oncoming rain. Perplexed, she followed Keyta, a few steps behind. She also assumed that the Pycon was following.

Nira’lia was still outside the doors of the shop when the rain started to fall. Giving a surprised squeak, she abruptly rushed inside, gesturing for Ball and his dog to follow quickly. The downpour had been sudden and she was now wet.

She loved the rain, and she liked the sound of it falling against the ground—but it still surprised her. Blinking, she stood inside the clothes shop and looked at Keyta quizzically. At the same time, she realized something important.

“Wait!” she called out. “Your nose, is it fine now?”

[Ball]

Ball blinked, well he would've if he had eyes, when Nira handed him back the strip of fabric and stated that the Carrot Pycon didn't need it after all. When he realized that both Pretty Lady Pycon and Carrot Pycon were walking off, Ball did what he came here to do, follow Nira'lia and keep her out of harm's way. So Ball took his lovely mount and followed after them.

He could hear the thunder in the background and nearly froze in response to it, shaking and scared though the Pycon followed both of the other people into a clothing store, listening to what Pretty Lady Pycon was saying to Carrot Pycon, however the squire didn't respond to anything that they were saying, he just froze in place, even his tentacles weren't moving. It was an odd sight and one surely to catch most eyes that looked upon him. The dog seemed to sense his owner's distress and let out a whimper and crying sound.

Obviously the dog was well trained, but Ball was still trying to overcome the horror that he witness and was a part of during the trip to Sahova.

Big monster... Scary monster...

OOCWell, this is a small post. Sorry guys. >.<

[Keyta]

Keyta was glad to see both the konti and the clay... thing, had followed her into the store when she heard the first of several rain drops and then the soft rumble of thunder in the distance. A small shiver found its' way down the girl's spine when she recognized the roar of the sky, but quickly regained herself when she looked back up to the pale woman. She hadn't payed much mind to it herself but her nose had already stop running with blood although it was still very red and sore. The red stood out even the Keyta as her nose is normally as pale as the rest of her, but now a different color invaded her face and looked as though it would take some time before it would go away. The kelvic wished to scratch at her nose but resisted upon fears of making it more painful. After a moment, the dog that Ball was riding upon made a noise that sounded like crying without actually crying, and only then did Keyta's eyes finally pay attention to the clay man as he was completely frozen still. It was odd, first he was completely animated, but now he looked like something Keyta would have actually made out of clay. Curious, the kelvic walked over to the dog and kneeled down, placing her hands over the dog's head and leaned as close to the clay model as she could without touching her nose to it. The smell of clay filled her nose as she sniffed the air near it quietly, wondering if it was some special toy this konti had or if maybe they had short lived and it had already died. Obviously smelling it she couldn't tell, so she took her left hand and started to reach for the pycon, with one extended finger to touch him with. Perhaps it was just sleeping.

[Nira'lia]

As soon as she heard the whimper from Ball’s dog, Nira’lia blinked and spun around. She was surprised to see the Pycon staying still, frozen. His entire being was unmoving, and he looked unanimated, similar to a stone doll. The Konti had never seen him in this state.

“Ball…?”

With a concerned and panicked look, Nira’lia leaned down beside Keyta. She said nothing as the Kelvic reached out to poke at the Pycon.

Outside the store, thunder resounded in the sky. Rain fell loudly against the walls and the roof of the store. Strangely, the wound relaxed Nira’lia… and her obliviousness kept her from understand what was causing the Pycon to react this way. Nira’lia did not even stop to think that Ball was relating it to that horrible day out at sea, when a vast creature had attacked them. No, she had no idea what was going on.

“Baaaall…?” she called out again in a playful tone. Nira’lia looked between him and his mount, and then at Keyta, who looked curious just like her.

[Ball]

Registering Keyta's face not far from his form didn't shake the pycon's frozen state, nor did Nira calling out his name. What did cause him to react was probably the most innocent of actions, however it didn't register that way to Ball.

His nexus was stuck on remembering the fight against the Lagool, the huge tentacle smashing boats, throwing knights overboard, and over all causing chaos and destruction in it's wake. The pycon squire remembered everyone just sitting there, frozen in their place as the monstrosity reared itself out of the water and started destroying everything around it. When Keyta reached in with her finger Ball only saw the tentacle coming up out of the water and smashing onto the boat's deck, taking knights and ship pieces and tossing them into the ocean like they were play toys.

So Ball did exactly what he did against the Lagool's tentacle... The Pycon pushed off of his mount's back. Which caused the dog to slink back and cower almost, all Ball saw was himself pushing off of the swaying deck towards the tentacle. History replayed itself as Ball's initial point of attack became Keyta's fingertip. Unfortunately though for Ball he reverted to the shape he held during that horrible fight.

No hurt! Ball's form retained it's spherical shape he got his namesake from, except for one small change, on the side that faced Keyta's finger, and ultimately was visible to both Nira'li and Keyta, was a round hole lined with what appeared to be several dozen sharp and pointy clay teeth. If the bite connected, well, Keyta wouldn't bleed, luckily enough, but she'd have one hell of a time getting Ball off the tip of her finger.

The bit would feel at first like a bees sting, a slight annoyance, then the odd feeling of her finger being swallowed whole by a clay creature in what can only be described as a vacuuming sucking motion.

[Aunalee]

The moonlight seemed to go right through Aunalee's translucent skin making her pink scales stick out even more. She yawned. 'It's been a long day and I still need to go buy different clothes.' She walked silently and quickly through the streets too focused to notice anyone. That was until a cool drop hit her forehead.

"Huh?" Aunalee said to herself while looking up into the sky. The clouds had darkened and turned menacing above. A few more raindrops hit her face before she heard the rumble of thunder. She felt a surge of adrenaline pump through her heart and her pupil's dilated. 'I can't stand lightening!' Her fast paced walk turned into an all out sprint. The rain started to come down faster just as she reached the doors of the store. Breathlessly, she pushed them open with little effort.

Aunalee stepped in side quickly and closed the door not noticing the other people. She instinctively grabbed a handful of her purple shirt and twisted it, letting some water drip from it. She then ran her fingers through her tangled hair, having little success. She turned around to see two people staring at a clay man. Then suddenly the clay pushed off his dog and bared his teeth. Unsure of what to do she just stood there, staring.

"What is that-" She paused in mid sentence unsure of what to call it. "Clay thing?" She asked not noticing that is was bearing it's clay-like teeth at the two woman.

[Keyta]

The kelvic jumped back as the pain of several teeth sunk into her finger. Keyta flipped onto her back, waving her arm in the air wildly trying to escape the sudden grasp of the angered clay ball. She quickly slapped her hand on the floor several times, attempting to force the mouth of the clay-being open, before finally putting her other hand on it as she tried to force it off. Thunder rolled loudly outside as the rain grew heavier, several women were fleeing the rain into the store, but some were startled when they saw the orange-haired girl rolling on the ground. For once, the kelvic girl ignored the roaring sky, but instead was focused on the pain that filled her hand, trying to rub it, sooth the pain away, but with little success. Keyta looked up to Nira'lia, wondering if she had a trick for getting rid of this pain as well. Such a simple task had turned into a strange and painful event. OOCsorry for the long wait and the short post, I honestly just had trouble trying to come up with something for this and couldn't think of any more details to lengthen it.

[Nira'lia]

Surprised, Nira’lia gave a shriek and backed away. In the commotion, she fell down backwards and fell on her bottom. Immediately she felt herself against the wet pavement. Completely lost and puzzled, Nira’lia had no idea what to do. She had dueled with Ball before and she was well aware of how difficult it was to get the pycon’s grasp loose.

At the corner of her eye, she noticed a newcomer. It was one of her sisters, and as expected, she was asking about the situation. Nira’lia didn’t even think it was odd that her sister wouldn’t know what a pycon was. Nira’lia hadn’t been familiar with one either until recently. However, she was panicking too much to stop and give the Aunalee a proper answer.

“You’re hurting her, let go of her!” called out Nira’lia. However, she didn’t move. She stayed in place and didn’t help pry the pycon off. Unconsciously, the Konti was frightened of getting hurt as well.

Frantically, she looked around. Her eyes met the newcomer, the one who had been asking about the ‘clay thing’. She sent Aunalee an expression that was asking for assistance, if there was anything she could do at all.

[Ball]

Ball heard the cry out from Aunalee, but it only registered in the pycon's nexus, it didn't cause him any remorse or stop in his chomping onto Keyta's fingertip. It was as if the world he truly resided in was just background noise, the crashing of the waves the moaning, groaning, and screaming of fellow knights and squires...

Keyta's attempt to push and pry him off only forced him to wrap his being around the prying fingers, doing what he did to Nira the day before in their training session. When Nira shrieked in terror Ball's nexus only registered the Lagool's screeches when the mage knights unleashed their attacks against it an actually wounded it. This only pushed him further in his attempt to subdue Keyta's hands. It was a struggle for his body to contort and thin itself out enough to wrap around several finger tips and still commence on the chewing away, it was obvious to Keyta though that even if Ball was chewing on her finger, it wouldn't cause any bloodshed on her behalf.

When Nira called out to him that he was harming her the Pycon's body shuddered and stopped writhing around the kelvic's fingers and the chewing teeth ceased their attack. If Ball had eyes and eyelids, he would have definitely blinked in confusion as his body swivelled in place, as if looking around, before he recoiled from Keyta and dropped back into place on his trusty mount's back. Without a word Ball's mouth produced a frown.

I have dishonored my oath and pledge to my friends...

[Aunalee]

Aunalee felt her heart race watching the Kelvic fight off the clay as thunder roared across the room. 'Why's it attacking her? More importantly how is clay even alive?' She couldn't bare the sight of violence so she turned to her sister who had fallen on the ground. The Konti shouted something at the clay then looked up at Aunalee. The look was something Aunalee rarely saw, it made her heart clench. 'What can I do?' She looked back to the battle and was surprised to see it had ended. The clay had jumped back on it's dog and seemed to be calm now.

With a natural reflex, Aunalee's eyes assessed the orange haired girl's hand which was remarkably undamaged. 'Interesting although not unexpected. It is clay after all...' She offered her wet hand to her sister who had fallen to the floor. "I'm Aunalee. Are you three alright?" She asked the group feeling bad for the clay thing. 'Judging by it's actions I don't think it meant to hurt the young Kelvic but I'm not sure. I think it's best if I just listen to the story before making any serious decisions.' Aunalee then let a sweet smile inch across her face hoping this would calm everyone's nerves. She had completely forgotten about the raging storm that kept on outside.