Katzaniel

The passage shimmers like everything else in her immediate area. Inbi backs up so that the sphere around the backpack doesn't touch the wall, and the corridor disappears. The girl takes off the pack again, approaches and finds nothing, and comes forward again with one of the eyes in her hand. The passage shimmers into view. There was no question that the eyes were the source of a strange magic. If she really wanted to solve this problem, Inbi knew she would have to accept this and just keep on going. The danger component kept growing in her mind, but to live was to risk dying. To avoid further risks was to avoid living life. If she turned back now she would never be able to forgive herself, but if she died solving a puzzle she would probably die happy. Besides, she was not totally without defense. Besides being beyond good with a pair of daggers, Inbi Infusco had a magical ability. She didn't like to rely on it, but she was also quite practised in that aspect of her skills. Remembering the disappearance of the daggers, Inbi had a sudden fear that her magic might also be suppressed, and right then and there she decided she had to make sure she hadn't lost that defense as well, even if it meant drawing attention to the magic being used. She set the eye down at the side of the corridor and cleared her mind. Cupping her hands together, a little flame rose inside of them and warmed her worries. Slowly pulling her hands apart, the fire followed and soon became an arc connecting her hands. She clapped them together and it disappeared - no need to test further by throwing the flame at anything. But, while she was at it she may as well test her second magic. Taking her right hand and making a motion as if to toss something in the air, a jet of ice rose from her open palm. She grasped it with her hand and swung it, making it grow a little more and shaping itself into a blade. Of course this was less effective than a real sword but Inbi could make the ice take almost any form she pleased.. Relieved, she ran her left hand along the length of the ice and flames tickled its surface, turning the ice to water which she leaned down to carefully heat to vapour before she stopped. Grabbing the pack again but leaving the eye where it was, Inbi walked down the passage. It travelled with her, which was a little disconcerting, but she was more concerned with watching for any presence besides her own than she was with dropping eyes to keep the passage around. She did, upon reaching the other end into a room which seemed to exist at a more permanent level, drop another eye at the opening so that it wouldn't disappear again. Inbi watched at every moment for anyone to appear, but the young woman was nevertheless surprised when she almost walked into another person, someone who appeared shimmering before her just as the passage had. Not even noticing what the person had looked like, Inbi stumbled back until the figure was gone. She regretted this moments later, realizing that they could now travel anywhere without her seeing. Reaching quickly around to the pack strapped behind her, she fumbled to open it and grabbed a handful of the little eyes. She threw them forward, and they went to all corners of the room - except the ones that hit the person standing in front of her, dropped down their front, and lay at their feet, making the person fully visible once more.

"She's not dead!" cries Kerri, scrambling to take the towel off. "She can't possibly be dead, it's not possible, she's not really dead..." Kerri continues on in this vein while Heinrich and Tom hold her away from the body. "Let me go!" she screams at them, slumping to the floor. They let her fall on her knees and she sobs, hunched over, not even noticing when Timmy grabs her hand. "Terri... Terri... you're not really dead... my dear dear Terri... it's not possible." Some of the men look at each other, but they leave her to cry it out. After a while Kerri finally looks up at the rest of them. Tears are still running down her cheeks and her voice is hoarse. "She said there was another. We have to avenge her. Jamia has been right all along - it's Ed Cooper. When Pavlov might have saved himself by voting for Cooper, he didn't. Instead he accused poor Zach. Heinrich hadn't voted yet, and might easily have supported Pavlov by repeating his earlier vote for Cooper. But Pavlov chose not to cast his vote that way. I say we avenge Terri of the one that her killer was trying to protect." OOC: a vote for Eyremon - Ed Cooper

"Thank you," said Kerri, giggling a little as the cast went on. "Oh." she said, looking at it afterward. "Is that wrong?" asks Aiden. "No," Kerri replies, her face going screwy. "What are you doing?" questions the boy, confusion surfacing. "It-reminds-me-of-Albert!" Kerri wails, throwing herself into Aiden's arms and crying up a storm. Edit: OOC: Oh no! Ozymandias is dead but still alive!!

Kerri sobs too, putting an arm on Terri. "Poor Albert. He was so smart, and he was right about that Pavlov guy from the beginning. I'm so glad this is over. I think we need to get out of here. I'll change from these bloodied clothes and then pack. And we'll need a way to bring the body so we can give him a decent funeral." She begins to leave, and Terri looks like she might follow, but Kerri spots Aiden standing a few feet away. "Oh, Aiden, you were so brave! Hey, do you think you could help me put a cast on this arm?" she shakes her non-dominant left arm and it wobbles a little. "I don't think it's any good to me anymore..." Terri pauses, seeing that Kerri doesn't really need her, and goes back to hugging Zach.

"Obviously that's us!" says Kerri, clapping Terri on the shoulder and looking very proud.

As Shanna was behind the bar grabbing another round of drinks for the table behind that of the strange travellers, one of the other barmaids stopped her. "You're listening to the clients again, aren't you?" Shanna shrugged, a little embarrassed. "They tell such good stories." "Well, stop being so shy, girl. I've worked here all my life and I can tell you it doesn't get any better. He's about your age, he's really handsome, and he can take you out of this town. I'll cover for you - go see if they won't let you join their conversation." The young serving girl was surprised, but happily. "Okay, I'll take you up on that." She started to walk toward the table, then by chance looked right into the ranger's eyes. He was watching her. She stopped, heart pounding, fear rising. A poke from the back and whispered encouragement made her force her legs, though. Shanna made herself walk right up to their table. He already knew she had listened. If she didn't talk to them now, she might get a knife in the back later anyway. The thought of which didn't help much. "Um.. sir, and sir." Shanna made a small curtsy. "I overheard part of your conversation as I was serving." The one who had introduced himself as Finnius began to say something, but she went right on. "I would like to come too."

OOC: Foolish, Vahk requested that we go into movie-mode where "night" phase comes every couple of IC hours. You're waiting in your closet all alone, buddy

It took her another few hours, but finally Inbi found herself underneath a trapdoor. Stomach grumbling, hoping this wasn't just another small triumph, the girl reached up and unhooked the latch, swinging the door down. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the inside of a castle. Inbi looked around and failed to see anything that indicated danger. Pulling herself up into the interior, Inbi carefully replaced the trapdoor, which blended nicely into the floor. Unfortunately, the floor shimmered around that area and it was difficult to tell exactly what she was looking at: stone, wood, a fuzzy sort of woollike material... it switched back and forth as she looked at it. Further on, a few paces, the shimmering quieted and the floor faded into solid stone. Magic, surely. Nothing like her own magic, nothing like anything she'd ever seen. This was magic applied in perpetuity to an object, for no apparent purpose. Certainly no one was around casting the spell, or why were staying hidden? Besides, magic to keep oneself hidden and still having strength to do fancy tricks was power that Inbi could not imagine. There was no point banking on that possibility, since if it were the case she was already too deep in that person's grasp to escape. So, she began to explore. The young woman had only made it a few steps when she realized that the magic was following her. The patch on the floor followed her and even spread to the walls when she neared them. They began to shimmer back and forth between stone, smooth rock, smooth white material, brick and others. It was making her sick to watch. But she did watch, carefully, and determined that there was a spherical area around subject to the strange spell - but it was not centered on her. Removing the pack, Inbi walked a few paces, and knew that the spell was centered around the eyes or the pack itself, and not her. Inbi placed the backpack directly on top of the trapdoor and left it. She hoped it would be there when she returned, because the eyes might be useful again and also because its disappearance would mean someone else was around. On the other hand, nothing in it was hers, whomever had cast the spell might want them back, and it would be useful to know if she was not alone. It also occurred to her that the eyes and the magic around them could be easily used to track her down if she continued to carry them with her. After a careful and exhaustive search of the castle, Inbi was feeling pretty confident that no one was around. Surely there was little reason for anyone to still be in hiding, even if they could find someplace that she had not searched. She had checked on the room with the trapdoor several times and the backpack was never disturbed. Not knowing what else to do, Inbi went to the kitchens. In the course of her search she had noted that the food was all fresh, but even as hungry as she was she could not eat without looking around first. Having had no encounters with the castle owner, Inbi went back to the food. Even if it were poisoned it was better to eat than die of starvation. Something inside of her kept expecting something to happen, and kept being disappointed. This didn't make any sense. A castle and maze of hedges appears where nothing had been, and she had happened to be just outside of it? She had traversed the maze and eaten the food in the castle, and still no one appeared to take her prisoner, claim back the eyes, make a request or demand her to leave. Disappointed and with the aim of further exploration, Inbi decides to put the backpack on again. It takes a little to get used to the magic acting on things all around her, but she does, and she travels a few rooms down. And directly in front of her, where she was certain had been moments before a wall, the shimmering magic reveals a passageway.

Shanna, the young serving maid, brought the men their drinks without complaint, but she couldn't help hovering nearby as much as possible to overhear what she could, for they looked to be interesting. Long experience had taught Shanna that rarely did anyone pay attention to the serving girls, but that acted to her detriment too. She dreamed often of travelling, adventuring, and she heard the most intriguing stories via careful eavesdropping on clients, but she had never been outside of Eelix. Being careful to serve the other customers and not bring attention to herself in any way, Shanna continued to listen to the two travellers. She wished she had enough courage to say something, do something, make them bring her with them. But she just kept bringing drinks.

OOC: To make this interesting, I'm going to ask that Tanuchan and Tamaranis meet next. I am also throwing away the original "meet within one post of each player in the group" rule - it wasn't very good, and if I tried to enforce it, the meetings would be forced and choppy. Meanwhile Inbi will have to keep wandering around her maze (when I get time to post something more lengthy than this) which, as Tanuchan pointed out to me, could be a different magical hedge maze. If there's a reason for one to grow overnight, little reason why there couldn't be more. So I'll see how it plays out.

After carefully searching all the rooms, the theatre, the mess hall, the twins and Zach finally stumble upon Timmy in the kitchens with Jamia. "You had us so worried!" the twins say together. "I guess we didn't need to be," Terri pronounces, looking at Jamia. "Still, you could have been hurt, Timmy," adds Kerri. "Please don't run off again." at the same time. "Aaaw, I'm just eating ice cream." whines the little boy, still looking wary of Zach. "Timmy, I apologized before but I'll say it again. I'm sorry for going against Albert and for scaring you. I've voted now how he did the first night. Won't you forgive me and do the same?" "Albert knew everything!" chimes in Kerri, a tear sliding down her face. "We trust him." says Terri solemnly. "Could I have some ice cream, too?" says Kerri.

Thanks all. I appreciate the comments. Didn't mean it to be haunting, but I guess it can't help but be, can it? Ayshela: do you mean Death is irresistable? I didn't mean this to refer to suicide, and I really hope that's not how you feel. At any rate: *hugs back*

When Terri gets distracted by Morris Pavlov in the hallway, Kerri is thinking to herself, Yeah.. no triangle at all... Zach... Albert sniff poor Albert... Zach drags her away, and Kerri beckons them both. "It's not worth arguing with that man. C'mon, lets get Timmy!"

I would say it's probably because you see a sound with the lips apart (G.) and hear one with the lips together (B.), your brain takes what you hear (B.) and substitutes the sound that is closest to it but with an open mouth - D. But you probably didn't want to hear that sort of explanation Edit: silly thing substitued smilies on me until I added dots after my B's

Kerri doesn't notice right away that Timmy has left, her grief taking over. Slowly it sinks in that he was talking and now isn't - she jumps up. "Where did Timmy go?" "He got jealous and ran off that way, sis." "He could get hurt." Glancing at the actor, she continues, "If I'm wrong about him, or if he has a partner, then there's no place safe for any of us." Looking her sister in the eyes, she doesn't even need to ask if she's coming. They both rush off, leaving Zach slightly behind in what's going on, but he follows.

"I loved him! I was just dreaming about him! How could someone possibly set up a trap that could kill someone as great as Albert? He only died because he was trying to help us! Oh no!!" Kerri was crying and crying, huddled in a corner in her bunny jammies. "I just knew something bad would happen, my dream was a premon-prenom-pre... a fortelling! I dreamed about Albert and it was so terrible..." Terri holds Kerri, rocking her back and forth while saying, "Kerri, it was so unjust, there's no meaning to his death, I know how bad you must feel. Poor Kerri. Poor Kerri. My poor poor sister." And Zach looks like he wants to help, but doesn't know how. Timmy runs up to his sisters and hugs them both, still eyeing Zach a little warily. "It's not fair. Someone tried to kill us all, and Albert was only trying to save us... Someone will pay dearly for this." Kerri looks directly at Morris Pavlov, tears still running down her cheek. "Why are you doing this to me?" OOC: Another vote for Ozymandias - Morris Pavlov

OOC: Hmm. So you are in the castle that I'm heading toward - I actually didn't think of that. That's fine as long as you and I don't actually meet until later, okay? If I have the urge to post again before Canid and dragonqueen have finished meeting, I'll make sure I end up in some other part of the castle.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the other side of town a dark presence stirs. One thing has gone right, but something else is about to go horribly wrong. This Heinrich must be stopped. OOC: Microsoft Word counts contractions as one word. For ease of counting, I think we should go with that.

Kerri was sitting in a meadow and there were bunny rabbits hopping gently in and out of her lap. She was smiling, petting them happily, and she looked up to see Albert standing behind her, a rabbit in his hand. With his other hand, he reached to her and rested it on her shoulder. She looked at him and knew that she loved him with all her soul. Zach was totally history. He was perfect for Terri, that was true, and he was a good guy, but she didn't know how she had ever loved him. A good thing for her that Terri had stolen him in order that she might discover Albert. This of course did not mean that she had to tell Terri right away that she had been forgiven, she deserved to stew in guilt at least until morning. All of this perfection was suddenly and violently thrown aside when Kerri looked down at her dream self. Her scream filled the air and dream-Albert began to laugh mockingly. Her pants did not match her shirt!! She was wearing a nice red top but her pants were YELLOW. Kerri's sudden emotional distress woke her from her slumber and she threw her covers off to race to Terri and Zach's room. Greg paused on his way to the bathroom and stared at her splendid pink bunny-covered nightie, but she barely noticed. "Terri!" she cried, stumbling into the room. "I had an awful dream, and I have this terrible feeling now that something bad is going to happen!" Edit: To redirect Kerri to the right room, oops.

Well, I've got one that says "I'm with Blondie

The sun had descended to a faint glow above the tops of the hedge, and Inbi was starved to the point of wondering whether the eyes in her pack might be any good to eat. She did not want to go back, knowing she would just have to start again later, and certainly not ready to give up altogether, but she knew that very soon, food would become an unignorable issue. The young woman had covered a great deal of the maze and was beginning to wonder whether is was indeed even possible. At a point earlier in the day she had gotten close enough to a clearing in the center of the hedges to see a great castle rising amidst them. That must be the destination, but she was certain she had been since then to every point at the outer edge of that clearing, and come to no openings. And now, in front of her and looking conspicuously unique, was a fountain with a statue in its center, a horse and rider in shining gold-coloured metal, water flowing down the horse's back and little lights all around the circular edge of the construction. Inbi inspected the whole thing closely, knowing that it had to be part of the puzzle. She felt all around the niches of the statue, even ran her hand along the seams underneath the water. Finally she struck a clue when she noticed that inserted into each of the lights was a little eye like the ones she had found in her bag. She struck a more important clue when she discovered that it was each of the lights but one. Certain now that someone was watching and therefore expecting her, Inbi felt around the light. It gave way when she tried to move it to the left, and then silently and quickly the statue began to move. It lifted as if by magic, the base becoming an opening to an underground tunnel. She didn't have time to inspect the mechanism as it began to close again immediately upon reaching its zenith. Not pausing to consider the wisdom of the action, Inbi jumped into the falling water and descended a ladder into this new area. The water fell through a grate in the floor and she could hear a noise above her that must be the fountain replenishing itself. The girl let most of the water drip off her clothing before stepping into the tunnel. Her heart was beating quickly, thinking she would soon discover the reason for the hedge maze and the castle, but the whole underground seemed also to be a maze. Inbi kept on working at the problem systematically, though, and winding herself ever closer to where she knew the castle must be. OOC: Welcome, Finnius. I hope it's as interesting as you think it will be.

Yays!

Kerri has no such worries. She is sad about the loss of an innocent, certain in her condemnation of Morris Pavlov, and sleepy enough to fall asleep moments after hitting the bed.

Good to see Peredhil not sounding rushed. Have a great one, Tanuchan. In your little time here thus far, I have gotten to know you fairly well, and am happier for it. *Drops off a werewolf-hunting kit, complete with silver daggers and a pink shirt that says "I'm with Blondie -->"

OOC: This is the first poem I have written in a few years, and the first non-rhyming poem I have ever written for myself. It was inspired by the emotions of finding out about the death of someone that knew, if not very well. Death's voice is soft Like Angel's feather wings But reality is harsh And the gravel tones touch us all. Death's robe swishes in the moonlight He treads with a slow step Carefully around the flowers in the garden But his presence hurts us anyway. Death is crying And so am I He hugs me and I succumb But our lives are void of a person we knew. Death's voice is soft.