Perfect Impressions (feat. Kendall;Closed)

[Tiki]

The ripples were rather violent in their meddling over the water’s surface, and beneath that barrier things were generally unclear. There was a strange calm under the water for the kelvic, being a cat and all, comfort in the gentle tones and focused sound of water falling down. It was simply…unique, rare, and enjoyable for the occasion. Not all was skewed beneath the surface though. As if in a blink the color change was notable. He remained under a moment more now scarred to reveal his own intent. Though his eyes glowed golden beneath he too had meant to change. He did in fact, finding himself attracted to the girl and wanting to show her his entirety. The moment she…he rather, ran from the cave was very confusing to Tiki. He felt uneasy… the unknown is feared by him, though a curiosity as well. He looked down a moment to see what the pool held for him. It was dark, unsettling, malevolent, but out of reach. He looked back to the surface only to be halted a moment more. The light before him was fleeing, and he was being pulled away down into darkness. His feet kicked in panic to no end. Screams were let loose only to be muffled by the liquid around him. No bubbles signaled his current suffering, merely absence of being. In what felt to be a final might he dared downward and swept his hand across to claw whatever invisible being had hold over him. With a sense of metal relief he was freed, though there was no sense of his human hand causing grave enough a wound. He thought nothing of it and rushed to the edge and surface with all his vigor. The surface broke again and he was swimming towards the exit in human form. He appeared the same as he did in her morning glory, though exposed; he cleaned up well for his own preference. He was blinking, trying to make out what had happened, but the water clouded his vision a great deal. By the time he brought himself to the edge and leap up it was too late. Though now he saw clear without water blurring his sight, there was nothing in sight to behold! He was chasing now, chasing, much like hunting. There was an oddity of this hunt though, not the regular…food hunt? Hide and seek hunt… There was a frantic atmosphere in his perspective, as if what was running from him could have been what he was searching for all along. He ran. Once outside the water battled him back down. He stooped a little and brought a hand up to see. His eyes focused in on the light among the darkness. Something was still very wrong as the rain was joined by a fog, slow moving and pale…some dreadful mist. He looked back and forth for means of escape. The higher elevation was clear but he was called elsewhere. There was greater purpose in him following the light. Soon it seemed the mist was forming all around them, slowly thickening. He ceased his personal torment and ran for her. Things were too unclear to bring him to realization of her state. He was on her heels in seconds. The mud of the ground, the sound of slush as his feet made contact with deep rooted footsteps, brought him back to earth. Whatever majestic powers he once felt in this sanctuary of the mind faded. He seized her by the shirt, about the shoulder, and spun her round. He looked into her eyes panting. “Don’t leave me. Please, don’t leave. I’m scared.” His fears became fully realized as he backed up against Kendall, relocating his grip on the sleeve. He seemed as if in a great fright, and panicked. The mist was thick as was the rain, the darkened sky helped none. There were shadows in the mist, it seemed, crawling nearer. None could be seen, but they were heard and felt. The chill of death manifested in such a form before them.

OOCThe shades, if you want to move into it further rather than relocate into the mist more, are the black cats from the Spires threat. Dog sized, black fur, milky eyes, large canines and claws, the saliva drip over the fangs is venomous to a degree (paralysis or lethal is unclear still, so feel free to play with it.) Pack formation, very intelligent in terms of coordinating attacks, inner hierarchy of pack alpha, etc. there is a degree of pride and sadism, surprisingly. Feel free to morph or add to this image of course because it is as much Kendall’s dream-nightmare as it is Tiki’s at this stage. And please, you so got your petals.

[Kendall Saarinen]

When Kendall had stopped his fearful run he found himself in the middle of a dark forest, the rain still pattering against the leaves. Hunching over onto his knees, the blond tried to catch his breath. He had no idea how long he had run, only that he had left the cave far behind him. As he looked up there was a girl standing before him. He was standing before himself, if one could even say that. Kendall could not speak, only look at the girl who was him, at least in a sense. "You… you are me…." He was still panting to catch his breath. It seemed almost disgraceful in front of this female version of himself. He watched as she moved forward, the rain dripping from his bangs. "I…" Had he really stopped looking for her, for himself? "I never stopped looking. I'm trying. I'm trying so hard. I want to be me… to be you." He felt tears coming to him although they could be hard to see when mixed with the pouring rain. He wanted to reach out and touch her, of only to know she was real. As she stepped closer all he wanted was to run. To run like he always did. She emanated such a strange aura along with the shifting temperatures radiating from her form. What was she? "They are in Zeltiva. They've always been there. They don't want me though. You must know that." Kendall looked the girl over, his mismatched eyes seeming to glare at her through the rain. "I've looked and looked. I've tried to find my way back but you are still here, somewhere." Kendall had no idea what to say. Had he started to lose his female self? In his futile attempts to be "normal" was he becoming someone else? The girl in front of Kendall seemed to only be getting more angry. She looked almost feral. Kendall grabbed onto her shoulders, looking her right in her eyes. Those eyes that seemed to be a mirror image of his own. "How can you not see how hard I am trying. Everything I do is to bring you back. Do you think I like being stuck like this?" He did not want to be mad at her. She was just trying to save herself. "There is not a day that I don't think about you. I am doing everything I can but it takes time." He was not sure what to do next. Let her go? Embrace her? He let his hands fall as he stepped backwards. "Hadrian is going to teach me to morph. Until then we have nothing we can do but wait." The blond did not know why he was talking to this doppleganger of himself. What would be gained from it? He just looked at her and tried to take her in. Why had she become so bestial? "You will have to live with the fact you may never be found though." Kendall could not look at her as he said this. "Some scars never heal. I won't forget you though. I never will." His words were cut off by a person, seemingly nude, running towards the pair in the rain. He wouldn't have known the man but his golden eyes gave him away. "Tiki…" He was not sure what to do now that he was faced with the girl and the kelvic at his side. As the shadows grew thicker around them, Kendall felt his fear raising. The kelvic was in no shape to deal with whatever was coming and who knew if the girl in front of him was? "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here." The words seemed to have meaning for both Tiki and the girl. He was there to comfort Tiki if needed and he would not leave the girl, no matter how long he stayed in this masculine body.

[Colombina]

The girl had flung her accusations. They were barbed and full of the poison of intimate knowledge. She was both childish and womanly, wounded and clever. While he retorted she waited for her pain to spring fresh in Kendall His tears were a salve to her, offering some relief. Her hand raised to his face sparing the tears from the rain. The elegant gesture was ruined as she licked them off her fingers. A meager proof that she still had meaning to him. But when Kendall presented the possibility of never being found, her moon colored face dimmed “Live with the fact?” her laugh was short and hysterical, “Live? You have given me a sword to die on and asked me to find peace.” The girl shook her head and spoke with an old grief. “You live, you thrive,” she raised both her hands as closed fists, “And I…” she opened her hands releasing motes of her self to the wind. Kendall could see her initial anger was planted by the fear and sorrow she showed now. “I am slowly perishing without the chance to live. I- I- miss my name, my worth, and all the strength of a woman you never found and won’t seek." Her hand reached out and cold fingers clutched around Kendall’s shirt. “Remember me and all I have yet to be.” She let go of Kendall and staggered back in the rain, each step sinking her further in the mud. The damp earth was rising around her legs pulling her into itself. By the time Kendall was able to move again, she was submerged to her thighs. Her eyes were lifted to his face with all the pleading of a prayer.

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall's brow furrowed as he looked at the girl. The touch of her fingers, the feral look in her eyes when she licked up his tears. He could not lie. He was scared as he looked at the girl. Was this what he had become? Her laugh was demeaning, even more so because somewhere in him it was his own. He looked at her with a stern glance. "What do you want me to say?" He felt the tear within him again. Half of him wanted to cry and beg the girl for forgiveness while the other half of him, most likely the masculine part of him, wanted to talk her down for speaking to him as she did. "Don't you think if I could magically bring you back I would." He felt the tears coming again. As much as he wanted to get the girl to back down, he couldn't. "I am just as trapped as you are. You get to be who you are, who you want to be. I have to pretend everyday to be something, someone I am not." He wiped at the tears that were mixing with the rain. "I can't give you peace. I cannot even find it for myself." As the hands of the girl seemed to fleck off into the wind Kendall felt as though he was watching his female self receding and ceasing to exist. "Barely…" He felt at times he was no longer alive, just making the movements of a fully functioning person. "You can't die. I need you. Without you I am lost." He looked down into the girl's eyes, the perfect copy of his own, as she held tight to his shirt. In every way she was him, right down the last detail. She was cold, ice cold, which stood in stark contrast to his own burning skin. As the girl walked away Kendall watched her in fear. "I need to save her Tiki. I just don't know how." The tears were rolling down his cheeks now, mixing with the cool rain. He ran after her calling out the only name she could have called her own. "Kendall!" The mud was already around her knees by the time he could even react. His feet sloshed in the mud, catching with every step. If only there was some reprieve, some way to help the girl that was slowly fading and falling away. Kendall fell to his knees when he reached her, grabbing onto her arms. "Kendall… I cannot exist without you. You are me. I am you. If you disappear I will as well." He pulled at her, hoping to dislodge her from the sinking mud. "I'm never going to forget you and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I made you feel like I didn't care." Kendall turned to Tiki, motioning for him to find something to help get the girl out of the mud. "We need to help her Tiki. Get something, anything to help her out." He looked back at her, gripping her tightly in hopes that he would not lose her to the mud. "Please don't leave me Kendall… You will exist again. I'm never going to stop trying."

[Tiki]

The request was an odd one, danger was on the move and they had to stop and save a girl. And of course, in those wondrous dream circumstances, against all feeling that tells one to run for his life, Tiki jumped at the command and snapped his head back and forth to find something. Meanwhile he tried to make sense of it all, what sense he could permeate through his slumber. At the deceiving convenience of the nightmare, he did find a branch sturdy enough to cross over the mud and allow her to hold onto. From there she could be pulled up, and they’d be back on the move. He struggled at first, but got an end up and pulled it over with great haste. He was checking over his shoulder for them, but nothing appeared yet. The branch was in place and he slid it under Kendall’s many arms for her to push and pull. Tiki put himself at their side and reached to the female vision. He tried to grab under her arm and around her back for a firm hold while also positioning a stance to pull. He wasn’t going to let her go, she meant too much to him in this situation. He spoke to her, possibly the couple of them judging from the angle of his head, “You shouldn’t have run off to start, you could get hurt. I want to be your friend, so please don’t leave again.” He kneeled on his left and arched his right to shift his weight back with her in his arms. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself either. You’re not going anywhere, and you won’t get hurt. Not while I’m here.” The last of his words rolled off with a sensation of courage. He had always stood for those he cared for, or cared for him, as he did for Kashal and Greth. He was staring into her eyes as if stone; he would not falter. His face scrunched up and his muscles tensed as he pulled and shifted his weight and position to make her budge. He was her for her, and hopefully she’d do the same. Worst things lurk in the forest beyond mud pits.

[Colombina]

Her arms were slick with rain and her flesh was raised with chills. When Kendall tried to grip her limbs his fingers slid and turned pink and white with the pressure. It was the final embrace that gave him leverage. When Kendall reached for her she did not recoil but let him wrap his arms around her. She rested her head in the crook of his neck. "How long, how long til the search ruins us both...?" Was she only going to be found when she had faded from beauty and passed the years of love and family? Would Kendall be so deep in his search that he missed his own opportunities? Desperate and crying, her arms became bands across Kendall's shoulder, but the communion was broken by a branch and a new set of tugging hands hooked under her shoulders. Their effort was strong but the earth was a mighty force, absorbing her into itself, reclaiming the dust Caiyha had livened. Her body was descending, promising to pull them into the mud with her. "Will you truly never let go?" she asked as the earth came closer still.

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall was pleased with how eager Tiki was to help. While in a way he wanted to deal with the girl on his own he was quickly finding he could not. Even in his waking life he could not find her on his own. Ethan, Hadrian, and even Sondra were trying to help him find her. When the Kelvic man was off in an attempt to find something to help the girl with Kendall focused solely on her. He tried to console her, calling her by his own name, holding her close against his body. He wanted to make her better, to make himself better. Kendall laid his head against the girl's. This was the first kind reaction she had to him. He held her tightly, hoping that she would not fall again. "I don't know Kendall…" He worried that it already had. He was already changing, becoming someone different than who he was in Zeltiva. He had fallen in love with someone new, he was gaining all new friends, even his personality was changing. "Time goes on, we change. You will always be a part of me though." Kendall knew these words were futile. He could not lie to her though. He did not want to keep anything from her. "You will always be with me, you are changing, I am changing, and someday we will be one in the same again." Between the two, Kendall could feel the stick that Tiki retrieved attempting to help the girl out of the mud. Sadly, the mud was stronger, pulling her away from Kendall's grasp. "Please don't leave me…" He wasn't ready to let her go. He was scared that if she sunk into the mud that she was gone, not just in this dream, but all of them, and maybe in his waking life as well. What if what she was saying was true? Could he have really started to lose his femininity? In his attempts to seem like a normal male was he becoming just that? A male? He held tight to the girl's hand, looking deep into her eyes. "I lost sight of you. I wanted to desperately to be like everyone else. To pretend that there was nothing wrong with me." He tried to think of when he still let himself act like how he was back in Zeltiva. It was when he was alone with Hadrian. "I'm sorry I took you for granted." Kendall kept pulling. In his desperation he almost did not hear Tiki speaking to him. He had just met the Kelvic and yet he was being so kind. He could not look at him so his eyes stayed locked on his female double. "I was scared. Not everyone takes my change well. I did not want you to see me in any way other than how I wish to be. I'm glad you want to be friends though. I would like that as well." A small smile formed on his lips. He wanted to reach out and hug Tiki. There were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment though. He needed Tiki's help to free the girl from the mud but he was hesitant to ask. Kendall did not want anyone else to touch her. Although she talked bravely and she seemed strong Kendall worried that she was on the verge of breaking. That is if the mud did not claim her first. Perhaps this was like letting Hadrian and Ethan in. Letting them see the person who was deep inside of him, slowly slipping away. He needed to trust, even if he didn't want to. "Tiki grab her other arm, we need to get her out of the mud." As the pair pulled Kendall watched the girl sadly. "I'm never letting go. Not until you are back on the surface again."

[Tiki]

He had a struggle of his own, the kelvic. His mind, sound asleep, now found itself trapped. Stuck in the dark, misted forest between a pool of mud pulling down all its contents and whatever shades lurked within the mist. Instinct said run, it wasn’t safe, and he was being stupid really. When your pride mates fall and don’t get up they’re dead before they even try to get up. Nature takes its course on all, no matter how beautiful the girl or sweet her voice. Of course there was Marcus Kelvic’s gift to individuals like Tiki, sentience beyond the animal realm. Was it much, probably not, but rather than purely loving another for sake of security and reproduction – which does sound oh so bestial – he could feel and comprehend greater…feeling. This impression left him with a very pure sense of feeling; he was attracted to her, that’s why he stayed more than anything. It was a dream too, there was no conscious weight of the rest of the world on his shoulders to pull him away from here, and from his free will he remained. There’s the problem though, she’s also him. Or…was she? That’s what it sounded like, but that was unheard of to his bank of knowledge. Her transformation to a male was doable, he too was a shape shifter of sorts, but to see this being ripped to two was conflicting. Mixed feelings…as accurate at the description was it did no justice to their situation: the girl was trapped, she was also a man, and there was something coming. He should have ran, he wanted to run, but didn’t. Where would he be if he did run anyway? His feet shifted again and he grabbed a good hold of her, his arms reaching under for some leverage and grabbing hold of her clothing with his hands. His already flustered face swelled red from his attempt to pull her out. He slipped, his foot sliding in the mud. He recovered quickly and went back to work. His eyes which looked so very human in their shape reflected a great pain in his heart. He didn’t think he could do it; this pit drew her in as if it were a part of itself. Twig snaps, brushing rushes, wind in the barren branches above, all were sounds and signs of the nearing entity which struck such a great fear. He urged them both, “We have to go, we have to go!” with the most frantic of motions as he now leaned into her more to pull her against his chest and heave her up with all his being. There simply wasn’t time left to dilly-dally over this. Her male counterpart could have easily been shoved out of the way with him doing this. “Grab me and pull us both out, we have to go.” He was so unaware of what was happening between the two, and was overcome with his own fear. This was, to him, but a dream and these people more figments of imagination. To seem so heartless was far from his intentions and mind. If this combined effort didn’t help her out, then there was nothing her could do. He held her, warm and strong, but it might have just not been enough. He didn't want to let go, but...

[Colombina]

In this half living state what followed made sense. The dreamers' thoughts lacked the edge and doubt of those when awake, allowing faces to shift and new ground to bloom without pause. The changing texture of her skin was both natural and magical. It transmuted to glass, cool and wonderfully smooth. "You and I, forever." She spoke softly and almost happily as her face became perfect. Every pore smoothed into beautiful porcelain and her eyes let line shine from behind them. "Do not fear the within." They were her last words as she shattered into millions of dazzling fragments. The glass fell in a cloud to the earth, only to be stirred into the mud. A spark of blue glass pierced Kendall to the heart and a sliver of green slipped into Tiki's. It was not painless but it did not last. The skin sealed over the fragment, leaving only an inarticulate ache. As they looked over the new scene, objects would shift with a sheen of blue or green before fading to their original color. And what a scene it was. Gone was the rain and the mud. The shades had dried up and the sky was unbearably deep in hues of plum and indigo. The ground was a mosaic of earth and so many bright and broken things: black opals, morwenite, abalone and prismonyx. This new gleaming earth stretched wide in front of them, broken only by patches of heath and small green bogs decked in moss. Thrown amongst the landscape were half buried objects, unnerving in their significance to the dreamers.

OOC: You're on your own from here

[Kendall Saarinen]

Tiki listened, much to Kendall's relief. He had just met the man, changed genders in front of him, even seemed to carry on a conversation with himself, and the man still stood by his side. The effort was not needed though. Before them the girl was changing and becoming like glass. Kendall did not know what to say. He could only watch as the girl's skin smoothed over, turning perfect under it's glazed surface. "Yes… forever." He did not know what else to say to her. She looked happy though, like she was at peace. It was all he wanted. Her last words were what haunted him the most but he took them to heart. "Do not fear the within." He did fear but he had to try to find courage. It was not only for himself but for the girl as well. He was not sure when the two part of himself had split, or if they even had actually severed. All he knew was that he needed to keep working, keep moving forward to find the girl in him that had felt neglected and lost. As the girl shattered, shards of what seemed to be parts of her porcelain body shot off, a blue shard ripping through his chest. In fear, he gripped his chest, yelling out in pain. The pain did not say long but when Kendall opened his eyes he saw the scene around him had taken on a blue tint, almost as if he was looking through glass. He looked over at Tiki, the blue in his sight starting to wane. He could see the Kelvic clutching his chest in the same place he had. A part of the girl had shot off into Tiki as well. A part of him, at least in a way. "Are you okay?" His mismatched eyes watched the kelvic with a hint of concern. Tiki had taken a look deep into who Kendall was. He saw the emotions that had been raging deep within him take form and he has been nothing but thankful. "Thank you for your help." Kendall smiled lightly at Tiki. He was scared to let people see the more uncontrolled part of him but there was nothing to do now but hope that Tiki would not leave. Looking out over the scene in front of him, Kendall saw a world different than the one before. It was beautiful and shining. Gems seemed to stretch out in a glorious design on the ground, halted only by objects sitting half in the jeweled dirt. Some of the objects Kendall did not recognize but others were extremely symbolic. The first one that caught Kendall's eye was a pair of objects, a sword and shield bearing the symbol of the Syliran Knights. Slowly he walked over to it, reaching to lift the shield from the dirt. Suddenly a rat scampered out from under it, ambling up the body of the sword and sitting to face Kendall on the hilt. "Markus…" Kendall smiled lightly, a small tear threatened to roll down his cheek. It reminded him of his first love, Markus Andres. They had met when someone had shoved a rat down Kendall's dress as a young girl. Little did he know it was Markus who had done it and not the bully, Jimmy, that Markus had blamed it on. He had been scared of rats since the meeting but at this moment he felt free of fear. He held a finger out to the rat, letting it sniff at his finger. It sniffed gingerly before looking up at him, almost in fear and jumping off the sword only to run off into the bushes. The rat had ran, just like Markus had.