Subj: [ffml] [HD] Trust your feelings, Luke... Date: 01-01-24 16:09:46 EST From: larathia@mcs.net (Larathia) Reply-to: ffml@egroups.com To: ffml@egroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com What was worse - a cage with bars, or a cage without? A cage with no key, or a cage where a broken key was in your hand? She'd promised neither to attack nor flee. It meant that even if a means of escape presented itself, she could not make use of it; she had had the key in her own hand, but had not felt it until she swore off its use. And now all the clear skies in the world were useless to her; she could not touch them. It was good the lizard had elected to leave the inn; the sense of confinement was playing havoc with her mind. What would Nighthawk do? she wondered. Every avariel knew of Nighthawk; the one who had led the avariel to this world, set them against the moogles, and refused the crown. She was supposed to be the creator of several very powerful spells. What would she have done, faced with the lizard? Probably used her wind magic to pick it up and batter it against something until it promised to behave. Lia almost growled at herself; it was a solution, but one she could not use. She was not a wind mage, and her wind magic was far below archmage level. And thinking of Nighthawk didn't help her temper; she had a sinking feeling that if Nighthawk were here, the *first* thing she would have done would be to give Lia a whack across the ear for surrendering so quickly. Her great-uncle would probably have done the same, come to think of it. Okay, so no wind magic. No ice magic; it had already been demonstrated conclusively that the lizard was immune. And testing her thunder magic would constitute an attack, which she'd promised not to do - but she mentally filed the option away against a time when she might be rescued. Rescue would end the bond, but unfortunately she was not allowed to rescue herself. What did that leave? Well, there was the excercises Master Arcanis had given her to study. Stuff to sharpen her mind, he'd said. It had certainly improved the power of her ice magic; she had made an ice1 spell go a *long* way lately, as frost and bolts and whatnot, reshaping the spell's effects almost endlessly, without altering its strength. It did not feel so much like magic as something else, though, when she considered it. Magic meant pulling the energy of the world into you, focusing it out again from you, using your own body as the nexus. This psi-magic was something else; a pulling from within, drawing power from the self and throwing it outward, or refocusing it inward on the self. Perhaps it was different enough for the lizard to either be unable to detect it, or not to care if he did. Either way, if she didn't hurt him with it, it wasn't an attack and he couldn't touch her. It was worth experimenting with. At the very very least, all magic left traces in the environment, and an esper should be sensitive enough to recognize their own work at even a considerable distance. So, then. As she walked with Ladaku and Kenaron, Lia let herself slip into a half-trance; alert enough not to stray or bump into things, but the rest of her concentration diverted. Mentally working through the intricacies of the exercise, she felt her awareness expand outward, like a thin sheet unrolling on the landscape. Lots of minds as far as she could reach (which wasn't all that far, perhaps a few blocks), each with a shape and colored thoughts. The moogle mind was red, red...a creature of impulse and passion, not much given to thought. Human minds of all kinds and colors, one a fascinating red and black and bruise-purple coiling around itself as though caged. And the lizard was sharp and silver with a thread of black amusement and suddenly nothing at all. Lia's mind snapped back into itself, causing her to blink many times in pain. The lizard could sense this magic too, it seemed, and guard itself against it - though it did not seem angry at her, any more than one is angry at a kitten that's just discovered the ball with a bell in it. If this sort of magic was a weapon, Master Arcanis had not taught her enough to know how to use it - unless it was *meant* to cause your brain to split in half and try running out your ears. Espers had an odd sense of humor, so it was hard to say. She held herself ramrod-straight as she walked, so as not to keel over, and tried reaching out with just her ears instead...though the din caused a second headache to compete with the first. When they collided with another group (had Ladaku been distracted by her exercise?) the external pain almost came as a relief - in the same way beating one's head against a wall can sometimes temporarily cure a headache. She focused all her attention on it; it was better just then than thinking or looking at Ladaku.... Larathia Subj: [ffml] [HD] Chock full of irony and it has good protein too Date: 01-01-25 11:03:55 EST From: larathia@mcs.net (Larathia) Reply-to: ffml@egroups.com To: ffml@egroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com Mostly written by DLE, with little bits thrown in by me... ************************ Celeste and Cait Sith hadn't "seen" Saaldor at the docks, so to speak, but it was pretty obvious he was with them. Night Horrors were only able to assume a physical form in the darkness. When cast with light they became wraiths. Celeste had been in Nikeah for about four hours and she hated it already. The noise was insane, she was amazed that she could hear herself think. How so many people could live in one location was disturbing as well, she noted. "Alright Cait Sith." she finally muttered, "You seem to be in charge here. What do we do now?" "Find Kefka and kill him." muttered Cait Sith. "Way to be blunt." "You might be interested in knowing there are others with the same intention in this town." cut in Saaldor. They both shook their heads. Celeste even turned to look before realizing no one would be able to see him. "How do you know?" she asked finally. "Not having a physical body at times is a damn good thing." snarled Saaldor. "A party of three should be leaving the historic inn right about now." "Anyone I know?" asked Cait Sith with a chuckle. "I doubt it. One's a Lizar, one's a Moogle and one's a... Avariel." "A what and a what?" asked Cait Sith as they turned a block to crash right into the three that Saaldor had mentioned. "Loltrek's bolts, how many people am I going to crash into suddenly this week." grumbled a large Reptilian beast in front of them. To his side was a Moogle, carefully eying the third figure, a young, elvish appearing woman with a pair of green wings, whose green eyes were clouded with pain. "Now this is a freakshow..." muttered Cait Sith. "A curious choice of words for a cat on a toy," replied the winged elf as she studied him like a specimen under a microscope. "What mage created you, golem?" "Silence, knave..." grumbled the Reptile as he pulled himself up. He then looked at Cait Sith and blinked. Shaking his head, he sighed. "Who are you?" "You first." retorted Cait Sith, motioning to his crossbow. For some reason, the avariel smiled, as though he were offering a sweet instead of instant death. The tips of her fingers started to glow a chilly white. "Kupo, don't make us-" cut in the Moogle before the Reptile raised his hand. "I am Ladaku, the seeker. The Moogle to my side is Kenaron, and the winged one is Lia. Lia, knock that off." The elf woman's fingers stopped glowing, but her smile grew if anything more cheerful; no telling why. "You're a Lizar, correct?" cut in Celeste. Ladaku nodded. "Oh! You're from the legendary continent of Sorna, a lost world in time that houses thousands of reptilian species lost everywhere else on the world. The Lizar are a tribal warrior-race that live in small family groups across the continent, and-" "And I know all this already." cut in Ladaku rather annoyed. He then smiled, "I do appreciate your interest in my homeland, however." "Thanks." smiled Celeste, noting that the avariel had been watching her closely as she spoke. One thing was bothering her, however. What was a Lizar doing this far away from a continent that, for all intents and purposes, was said to be unreachable? Kenaron shrugged. "So, kupo, I suppose we're gonna invite them to join our makeshift band, Ladaku?" "I'm considering it." added Ladaku with a smile. Suddenly, a young boy, about ten years old, crashed into Kenaron, knocking him over. "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry!" yelped the little child and he continued on. "Third time we've had a collision this week." muttered Ladaku. Kenaron groaned as he got up. "Kupo, twelfth if count all those-" "I don't, Kenaron." Lia muttered something about Moogles before she realized she recognized the boy. He must not be captured! Just then, Kenaron started to panic. "My money pouch... THAT LITTLE KUPO STOLE MY MONEY POUCH!" he roared as he tore after him. Ladaku sighed and started to stroll along. He turned to Cait Sith and Celeste. "You're welcome to come along." Celeste began to stroll forward. Cait Sith sighed and followed suit. The band saw Kenaron chase the little boy into a resteraunt called the "Underwear Heist Diner." Lia slowed noticeably as they grew closer. "Oh geeze..." grumbled Ladaku and Cait Sith in unison. Celeste took the hint that she didn't need to mention how the Underwear war was a precursor to Moogle War 2, begun by the evil Seph LaRoche when he started stealing people's knickers, which caught the evil Mog Senior's attention, and the rest was pretty bizzare. "Yo, spacecase!" yelled Ladaku, waving his sword around trying to look important, "We're going in. Are you coming?" No one else was around except for her and Ladaku. She nodded as the pair strolled in. The avariel. however, did not - she stopped right at the doorway. Ladaku waved his sword a little more pointedly, frowning. "Please, let me stay outside. The place is too small, too crowded...I gave my word, I'll wait right here...if he comes out I'll let you know." Her wings were trembling; she really did *not* want to go inside. Ladaku growled. Amazing how avariel could consider themselves powerful warriors when they couldn't handle going through a simple doorway... "All right," he growled. "You'd better be inside ten feet of this door when I come out, though." A look of pure relief flooded Lia's features as she nodded. "I'll just play here," she said. "You should be able to hear me then, if you want to, even over the noise in there." She reached into her belt pouch and withdrew a long slim case. Opening it, she pulled out a flute made of some silvery metal. Raising it to her lips, a happy chirping tune filled the air. And it did carry, though it wasn't loud. Pigeons and other city birds started landing nearby. What *was* loud was a yell from within: "GOT you, you little thieving - " "Keep playing," snapped Ladaku, turning back to the door. "I've got to take care of Kenaron." Lia was happy to oblige. Passersby were starting to cast change at her feet. Larathia