Blue Skin suits You (Ana)

[Ximal]

25th Winter, 512AV

Frozen air hung around the outside of the spires, the ground floor, Xi breathed a clod sigh of relaxation. He needed to be limber, but his mind was still playing with him, the pain had gone from his head, and he felt ...Clearer. His mind no longer, clouded with pain. Xi could almost feel the djed around him. Circling through his hands and into his fingers. He felt...At peace, but what he'd had to do to get there was not something that he wanted to submit too again. The want...no the need to kill. To alleviate the pain in his head. No he didn't want to have to live through that again, but now he had to wait around for an appointment he'd made with a sneaky little friend of his. Whether she was already there or not he didn't know. Still Xi knew that she'd turn up he'd turned up to her summons of him but then again this was more of a mutual agreement. A training session for a magic that neither of them had much practice of, Xi probably less than her, though Xi had more practice in magic in general. Still Xi couldn't help but wonder whether or not she'd had more magic than he did, after al his exposure to Wrens magic he'd bring up with her to see if she knew a little bit more about it or rather if she knew anything at all, about other magic.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Skulking about, the thief stepped lightly around tiny twigs and prickly bushes, she wrapped her cloak around her tightly, the hems tucked into her belt in hopes of keeping in the heat of her body better. Her form was bent, and arms were spread out lightly as she made her way across the ground floor. There was always a sort of danger here, one Ana couldn't deny, and why ever Ximal wanted to choose a remote place such as this she'd never come to like, but she understood why it was chosen in the first place. Magic was not something to play about with around other individuals, or the masses, lest they panic and all attempts to practice would fail. Not only that, but they would be discovered as mages, and generally that wasn't what a mage wanted to happen unless he or she were mad. I'll give it to ya Ximal, you have more brain than we give you credit...But how am I going to bloody petchin find you in all this shrubbery? Ana thought to herself, shimmying along a huge trees trunk, her eyes ever looking behind and around herself for predators. There was a snap as she stepped, that froze her in her tracks; heart jumping to her throat and lodging itself there with fear. She had felt the twig break and give way underneath through the sole of her boot. The noise seemed to be normal, but the wild life around them had quietened a smidge, becoming silent and after a few chimes of such deafening paranoia. There were a few calls that sounded about through the trees and echoed, the animals and birds formerly chattering had started up once more. Ana remained still as she looked above, trying to crane her neck to see better around her before beginning to move on. It seemed that such a call acted much like a signal to the other animals, or wildlife that all was safe, it was clear- there were no predators. There was only Ana, sifting through the trees and trying to be as unnoticiable as ever; back in Sunberth, there was dirt, stone, and cobble to sneak around on but here in the forests she had to be doubly careful with how she snuck about. Here, in the forest, there were no predators that had sentient minds, it was all survival of the fittest for them, and Ana would not be able to reason with animals in the least bit. She began to move once more, this time she would periodically glance down where she was stepping so as to not break a twig again; but her gaze kept examining deeper into the forests around her, she was determined not to become animal-meat for some hungry predator. So she went around rocks, broken stumps, and tall standing trees, as well as the shrubs that could have been considered normal trees back in the Sylira region. The travel was long, and her directions were few, but she finally managed to find Ximal just standing there like the ugly schmuck like he was. Perhaps she could observe him for a bit, see what he did, and so she quietely hid in some large ferns, with big leafy fronds that she could hide under and behind. The small girl was on one knelt down behind that fern, peeking out and around it to watch him, her back was leant forwards and a hand rested on the knee she was on, it helped keep her from swaying back and forth and losing her balance, while the other spread a fern very slowly to look through it better. An idea occurred to her, and it was rather a funny one to boot, she looked around the ground she had knelt on and picked up a small pebble. When he seemed to look behind him, Ana threw the pebble his way but not directly at him. There was a small echoe where the pebble had hit against a tree trunk, and the sound had made her tense up instinctively as well when she had made herself small again, to remain unseen. Her eyes locked onto Ximal for his reaction.

[Ximal]

X sat quietly on the cold hard ground his head trying to focus as his hands folded in his lap. deep breaths being drawn into his lungs as he tried to focus on the things around him, the trees, the snow, the animals. Just letting everything around him slowly filter into his system, Drawing a slow breath he started to push his djed around his body having the pirallign green glow appearing in his mind, mapping out every single piece of him pulling up his own self schematic. drawing a deep breath he focused the green glow around him into his left hand. Flexing his fingers he took a deep breath and spoke out slowly, and quietly in a slow methodical manner. "Change, claws, wolf, bear, tiger, change into claws." Repeating the chant in his head he lost the schimatic of his body and drew up the image of claws, wolf like bear like, tiger like. The sharp blades adoreing each finger tip, the slashing force, the cutting power,and then he felt the pain. The first signs of the slow awkward shift from human to some thing else. GHis hand began to change, staying human in shape but the finger nails growing thicker and longer, the skin receeding and his finger tips drawing out, te flesh peeling back to expose bone which shifted into the hard sharp points of a a claw, the tips extending by half an inch growing harder and darker in colour, he wanted to clench his fist but if he did he'd pierce his own flesh. A slow shuddering breath and his transformation halted and his eye's peered open, and his hand now from the normal human one on his right the bladed hand of a beast adorned him. His eye's locked onto the claw, flexing his fingers lightly he felt the mobility hadn't changed. But his hand felt, more awkward. He couldn't close his hand fully else he'd lacerate his won palm. instead he kept his left hand flat, and his right closed. A slow breath left him after the feeling of being weakened, Morphing was more taxing on him that his flux. but the results were... Unarguable. Then a loud thud, caused him to snap to attention. eye's shifting like darts as he rose from the ground letting his clawed hand slide behind the darkness of his cloak out of view as he darted his eye's around the monochrome land scape. Xi took a deep breath and was about to roar out his word before calming himself and speaking out a little louder than usual. "I know your there. Come out now. Because i will find you if you don't." Xi'd made a point of asking ana to come out here but he couldn't be sure this was here, hell he couldn't be sure who or what it was, but given his encounters with kelvics in this forest, he couldn't be too sure.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Laughing lightly outloud at Ximals reaction, she saw how he had become slightly paranoid, and perhaps she had giggled a little too loud. She placed a hand over her mouth and held her breath, a smile hidden underneath as she tried to hide the quiet laughter. Maybe Ana could play a small game with Ximal, unknowingly on his part, but a game nonetheless! She held onto her cloak, wrapped it around her body tightly in case any loose ends would catch hold of her surroundings and then began to slowly creep around the perimeter. Her footfalls were light on the crunch of frost, for every step she took, she tried to make it seem as if such noises were apart of the landscape. Hopefully she didn't screw up bad enough to be caught, she stepped over roots, and slid behind tree trunks twice the size of her body. However she made sure to keep Ximal within her sights, it wouldn't do her any good to get lost, especially with all the danger lurking about. Breathing out she noticed how her breath made white puffs of mist, such things could be detrimental to her stealth; so she wrapped a hand in her cloak and held onto it, bringing it up to her mouth so she could exhale without fear of the whiteness getting in the way. Wondering how far she could go, she stopped to wedge herself into the niche of one particular tree's roots, she looked through the small gaps to stare at him and observe further still; so he knows I'm here? Ana thought to herself calmly, or he must think that someone else is there, or perhaps a thing, an animal. Smiling outwardly, she let small wisps of white drift out from her nostrils, slow, as to regulate how much was coming out at once. This was suppose to be morphing practice together, but Ana was far more amused stalking him. One idea led after another, thoughts intermixed, and she finally came up with an excellent prank. I'll use a different voice, if I can change my body with morphing, who is to say I can't make different sounds? It was a simple enough idea, with its conclusion, and it maybe it wouldn't hurt to try. Leaning back, she relaxed into the roots of the tree, she wrapped one arm around her waist and with the other she brought a hem of the cloak up to cover her mouth and covered her face mostly with her hand and said cloak; exhaling, and inhaling into and through it. Magic required fine concentration, as she noticed with her previous attempts of magiv, something she didn't have; if the practice had no immediate purpose, she lost sight of what she was doing easily. It was easy to stray from the calm in ones body, and she was no exception to this. She shut her eyes and focused on the darkness behind her eyelids, feeling them flicker from side to side as she watched pin pricks of movement beneath them. With each breath she began to strain her eyes to stay in one place, to slow, and finally stop, it wasn't long after that her entire bodys fidgetting began to stop as well. There was purpose in what she was doing, or at least it would have an immediate affect on her, or around her if she focused without trifling mistakes. When she needed the morphing to come quick, and swift, and she wanted to use it now, not later, and so her body and mind seemed to comply without complaint (or at least, both particular ideas didn't take as long to settle down and work on the task at hand.) To her, focus required a situation that would need quick responses, whether that would be stealing, or sneaking, morphing and concentration- she found it was easier to do these things when it needed quicker responses. Focusing on the djed inside, Ana began to pull tendrils of it out, willing it with her mind to travel into her throat and mouth. The energy within was slow going, as if it had to forge new paths to areas never used. She could feel it flush itself up, a glorious feeling, but too much was becoming exactly that- too much. So she set on the task of pushing down any excess djed that came up, placing it back where it belonged but kept enough to mess with her throat (as she didn't know what vocal cords, or a voice box was yet) and brought a free hand up to feel her throat. Caressing around it, she directed the djed as close to the skin as she could but at the same time she was searching around for the thing which made sound. Opening her mouth slightly, she made 'ahh's' and 'oo's' into the air as quietly as she could, she knew that her mouth was the reason she could speak but it was just a tool for the sound to come out. Her finger went on different angles of her neck, until finally she felt the small vibrations underneath, they were so slight and may have been unnoticiable but she felt them. There, she directed the djed into that one place, she felt it take shape, and then travel upwards as if in cords until it flushed itself into her mouth and on the tounge, making a serenely sweet feeling. There were pin prickles all up and down her throat, they spiked into painful stings as she began trying to mess with her voices tone- it was extremely difficult to just do that. For the time it took for her to achieve that, Ximal could have found her by then; she turned her body to look through the gaps of the roots, to see he was not sitting there anymore. This wouldn't do at all. Where did you go? Ana chided at him inwardly, her grasp on the djed in her throat began to sporadically become unstable, causing her to hold onto the soft skin with a palm. Grimacing, she eased herself back into control, she had to move; and so she kept her hand where it was across her throat- how would she find him? Perhaps he went towards the direction she had thrown the pebble? "Ximal?" Ana said quietly with a rasp to her voice, the amount of djed had lowered her voice- it was not enough to make her sound normal, she paused as she got up- the sound of freshly crunching frost assaulted her ears and she feared for the worst. She darted to the open where Ximal had previously been, she held onto her neck and was suddenly scared, "Ximal?" Again she rasped, more urgently. Gods petching damnit! Ana bellowed within her mind. The fear of which she felt spiked into her throat, it fed her djed, and the task of which her mind had unwittingly come up with was to be ten times louder than before; so her voice echoed; "Ximal!?!" Spazzing at the volume of which her voice had become, she felt something snap in her djed, it lashed out at her and frantically she began to put the djed where it belong. The feeling which seared in her neck sent her to a knee in pain, it felt as if her throat had been rubbed raw from the inside, she shook and trembled, her mind battling to put it back until said djed became complacent to do so. "Petch" Her voice had become sore, and scratchy, it was painful to talk now. The joke had backfired on her.

[Ximal]

As Xi stood there in the cool flowing winds of the spires forest he closed his eye's and focused letting his ears do the observing for him listening out for whatever he could. Letting the snow coated ground be his guide, the rustle of the leaves, focusing on whatever he could to try and find whoever was there. Xi took no steps as he let his ears listen out for anything that could lead him towards whoever this was. Then he heard it noises like speech. Xi's ears homed in on the target as he flittered out of sight and behind the tree line of where the noise had come from, circling around behind the tree. Xi let his head peer around the side before spotting a black cloaked figure, with a strand of golden hair falling onto her face...Ana...Ok i'll get you back for that you little. Xi kept quiet behind the tree keeping a look on her sliding his now monstrously clawed hand from the confines of his cloak, listening out for when she would make a move. Peering around the corner of the tree he watched her side from the ground and speak, her voice some what altered. That must be the morphing. Xi thought as he watched her listening to her voice. She wanted to play a trick on him ? well he'd do the same, Xi stayed quiet as she panicked worried tones entering her raspy voice as she spoke his name. Though it was taxing him to hold onto the clawed form of his hand he thought he could get at least some use out of it. As she franticly shot out his name, calling out to get him to listen and come towards her. Xi watched as she then slumped to her knee before she croaked out the word "petch." Aw well not all ventures end in success. Xi smirked as he shuffled around the tree as quietly as he could before speaking calmly with a devilish grin. "There you are ana I've been trying to find you." Xi smirked as he brought his left clawed hand to rest upon her right shoulder as he then Took a deep hissing breath. More to put a point across that he was not Xi but a creature using his voice. The smile on his face grew as he gave her shoulder a lightly squeeze and spoke the words. "No where to run now, Aaana!"

[Ana Sol Starris]

This wasn't good, not good at all- what was she suppose to do now without him? The petching idiot, not to mention she had just made alot of disruption. Would the dangers that lurked about in the forest be ten times as likely to be attracted to their location compared to before? That wasn't something Ana didn't want to find out, she wasn't stupid enough to follow after the sound of a rock hitting a tree, or was she? Doubt wavered in her mind as she would then force herself up, the pain now in her neck not as bad as before, but definitely would be a problem if she didn't get it checked out. Hopefully it wouldn't become infected if she actually did rub the insides raw, the few moments before felt that it had been; maybe. As she rose she felt a hand clasp onto her shoulder, a voice behind her seemed so out of place with the area they were in, and held a tinge of Ximals tone. Her eyes snapped to the hand, its fingers now grotesquely clawed in form, giving her a start of fright as her eyes would travel upwards to find its owner. The voice was awful, was it Ximal, or a creature? Had she fallen asleep in the roots of the tree, for this to be an awful nightmare? It seemed logical. His next few words made her face pale and her body shudder in fright. Black flickered in her sight and she passed out from the scare, her form becoming limp, and falling over at the light squeeze he had done. This was all a dream, it was not real. Ana's mind tried to tell itself, she fell asleep in those tree roots. She was dreaming, the black of her mind was all that responded. Slowly the dark faded into light. Ana's eyes snapped open, her mouth gaping wide as she clenched at her throat for air, she turned on her side to do a kneel. Her reaction was sudden, and her awakening had been violent, she coughed, and spluttered, her throat was dryer than the hot Eyktol deserts were rumored to be. She wretched onto the forests ground with nothing coming out, and heard something beside her, she didn't even bother to look- too afraid to do so. It was Ximal's voice of course, if she hadn't been in pain, or half trying to wake up, she might have answered him right away. "Divine petch it all.." She cursed as she shuddered, relaxing into a fetal position with one hand holding her throat, and the other covering her head. Body bent forwards to meet her folded in knees, it took her a few moments to leave that state. When all was said and done, she looked about herself curiously- they were in a different area than before. What had happened before? Her mind grasped for details before the now quickly fading nightmare, only the gold eyes and fearsome fangs remained in her memory at that moment. Laying her eyes on Ximal who was sitting right next to her, she narrowed her eyebrows and swiped a hand at him in reaction, teeth grinding themselves as she quickly crawled away from him on her butt. "What the petch man!" Ana hissed at him, half whispering, half shouting, if there was ever such a way to describe her tone of voice. The hoarseness of her voice still very evident from her attempt at morphing earlier, it hurt to speak. How long have I been out..? The thought was harshly echoed within her head, irritated, though Ana didn't know it- her nightmare and her sleep had only lasted a bell at most. The look on her face must have asked it, as she examined where they had gone. It definitely wasn't the same place they had agreed to meet at.

[Ximal]

Looking down at her he watched her as she moved. her rising stunted as his hand squeezed her shoulder lightly, little movement as wsa usual from the thief, however twithin a few seconds of her movement from rising he felt her give out her legs leaveing her power and her body becoming limp. Had she just... "Ana? Talk to me ana? You alright ?" Within those few second she'd tilted and fallen her body becoming heavy and falling to the right. His left arm on her right shoulder he brought his body around to help catch her lifting her small frame off of the ground carefully to make sure she didn't hurt herself. Scooping her up in both arms he tucked his left arm beneath her legs making sure to keep his clawed hand from cutting into her. He'd only mean to give her a slight scar not make her pass out, though having said that...She was paranoid as it stood so it was probably a bit much to really make her jump. Sighing he lifted her off of the ground and brought her with him to a dry spot . Sitting her down in a corner away from any animals,Xi turned and started to gather some fire wood. Gathering some fallen branches and some starter tinder for the fire. Placing down the tinder beneath the sticks and edging it in with some rocks he pulled the flint and steel from his bag and set to work striking it up. Failing twice getting a few smoulders on the tinder then finally getting a small fire ion the third attempt he let it blaze lightly. Being far too could out to just sit with no warmth Xi let ana sit opposite him against a tree and himself sitting cross legged he focused n his hand again, willing it forcing it urging it to become human again. Human, flexibility, lightness of touch, flex, articulate stretch, smooth. The claws began to recede and pull back into his hand as the flesh re-grew around the pain searing him but having to stay focused or else facing irreparable damage, he pulled and shaped it with his mind to make it look like his right hand. As it settled back into normality he flexed his finger tips and poked at the fire. After about another forty-five minutes a murmur escaped ana as she roused back into conciousness. Xi smiled and spoke lightly. "well hello miss sleepy? Feeling better after your little nap?" Hearing her curse at both him and the air as she shuffled backwards into the tree further he tilted his head and held up his hands lightly. As if to say "what did i do?"

[Ana Sol Starris]

Rubbing her eyes, she relaxed where she was now, she had righted herself up and was now sitting on the ground. Bringing the hand that was around her throat now up to her eyes, she shielded them from the sparse light that filtered through the immensely large trees limbs and leaves. Letting her form slump against a tree, she couldn't help but feel irritated with everything around her; the sunlight, the trees, wildlife, morphing, Ximal, and everything inbetween. "No." Ana replied curtly to his question, she felt much worse afterwards. Letting her hand fall to rest on her knee, she looked at him tiredly "don't tell me I passed out again," her voice was hoarse, it cracked here and there. Wincing as she breathed in, and then exhaled, she brought the hand back up to attempt to massage the under side of her neck. It only seemed to make it worse, ugh, stupid jokes, and pranks, thats what she got for using magic as a toy. The both of them stayed quiet for a few chimes, the thief merely resting and glaring at the flame, and the oaf of a giant next to her trying to play innocent. The small fire before them burned and cackled, spirals of smoke travelled upwards and dispersed outwardly. There were so many trees around that they blocked any possibility of wind to come blow the smoke in either of their directions, there were here and there flickers, but nothing compared to the breezes in the Spires city area. "Have I slept long?" Ana questioned Ximal, not turning her eyes to him as she was mesmerized by the flame before having to clear her throat three times, coughing out her next words horribly "I only assume because you have a fire going.." Bringing her hands to her eyes again, she shifted to sit back up and slump forwards a bit, taking her hand down, and bringing both hands to hang limply forwards with her elbows on her knees. Turning her gaze to him, she redirected her glare to him, he was at fault for this, for making her sleep and then dream; biting back what she wanted to say to him, she turned her head away, feeling a clench in her hand as she bottled her anger up.

[Ximal]

Xi poked the fire as the no from ana seemed to slice the air as she spoke, her voice was rather rough perhaps she'd tried morphing on her voice? And maybe it hadn't gone off well. Xi Flicked a glance at her and hen back to the fire poking it lightly with long branch he'd found. It was too cold out to not have a fire. Xi coughed lightly as the silence ran by Xi looked down at ana lightly and listened as she asked him her question. "Not long , a bell at most. nd i got the fire going because it's bad to be out in the cold and not have some source of warmth. It can cause your joints to get stiff as well as your body to slow down. If it gets cold enough it can even kill you. That's why i built the fire." Xi moved his arm lightly and pulled the stick back from the fire and lifted his hand up infront of him lightly as he then flicked his eye's up to ana. "Ana your voice seems a bit sore...You've tried morphing it haven ya ? Or do you have a cold?" Xi lifted and shook his shoulders and then rolled his neck summoning forth an audible snap before flexing his fingers lightly, his left hand flexing lightly and then clenched his fist. Before speaking lightly. "Sorry about what happened. I think i may have over done it...Having said that...it sort of proves the power of morphing. It's a very powerful magic...One of many..."

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ximal's own question struck her odd, she could lie to his face and say it was a cold or tell him the truth she had been planning to use her jaggedly morphed voice as a way to freak him out from the sidelines. She scootched closer to the fire, indeed liking the warmth as he talked, holding her hands out to it and rubbing them together periodically. It was very cold out, but the cold wasn't something she noticed as of late, she was use to being in it but was not immune to its affects. Turning her attention to the fire, she thought for a few moments, letting her words form before having to unnescessarily speak them; what would happen if she lied to him? She weighed the possible consequences and finally decided she would lie. It was his fault, she wouldn't let him have the satsifaction to have the upper hand on her. Her pride lodged itself in her choices firmly. "It's a cold.." Ana croaked out, clearing her throat at the end "was getting better but started to panic when I couldn't find you," she pressed on the side of her neck, cringing as she did so "all the yelling made it sore again." "Me being sick isn't an uncommon sight, y'know" Ana chuckled out a laugh, it transitioned into an awful cough quickly, she brought her hand up to cover her mouth and turned her head to the side slightly to redirect it away from him. When she was done, she looked up at him, trying to gauge his reaction before it happened.