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Post by Verius on Jul 15, 2006 12:13:21 GMT
He turned and spat on the ground... but it wasn't saliva that flew from his mouth, it was three little bone needles, as sharp and solid as any metal, that punctured the top of the roof. "I can do that too. However... it's a lot more... strange with me." He reached down and pulled the needles from the ground, putting them back into the bone on his arm where he'd taken a small bite from before. He raised a hand to lift the dragon skull from his head. The skull easily hinged back and came right off, revealing his rather normal looking face. He tended to have something of feline features, as his face was sleek and sharp. He turned to face Eliana and stare with his fierce yellow eyes. His eyebrows were something of thin lines splayed across his face to accent his angles. From his hairline grew spikes of bone, instead of hair, there were multiple layers of bone that got longer the closer they got to the back of his head.
"Mmm... y'see, it's something like this." He hunched over and dropped to his knees, the bone was retracting from the outside of his legs, revealing his normality, under the bone. His feet were visable for a moment, before they pulled back, beginning to shorten. His knee made a sickening snap before it bent backward completely, his legs now viasbly bending in the opposite direction, much like a bird. He legs shortened, to a quarter their normal length, though they thickened outward. His toes seperated themselves with grating noises, moving around the foot, forming large talons. His smallest toe entirely disappeared back into his foot. As this all happened, the fingers on his hand began to move down his arm. The arm itself grew in length until they were five feet, each. There became a large bend in the arms, where the fingers all went to, aside from the thumb, which stayed at the tip of the (now what you would call) wing, elongating itself, as did all the other fingers, they splayed themselves outwards at distances that grew further down the width of the wing.
With sickening noises his whole body's bone structure had changed to that of a human sized predatory bird, much like a falcon. The last thing left, was that his flesh (coating the main part of the wing somewhat {main, not being the little bony sections that extended from the crook of the wing}), along the large bones of his new "wing" burst open. Membrane shot from the torn flesh and wrapped themselves around the bone "fingers" of his wing, creating gruesome semi-clear wings. In place of feathers, this creature had patches of bone plates sticking out from it's skin, covering it's belly, and the vital areas (down it's legs, along the front of it's wings, it's neck). He'd moved to lift the dragon mask with his wing, placing it over his face, within a moment the mask changed shape (along with the jaw attached to his own) to form that of a bird's own skull. It appeared as if he was actually just a giant undead bird, himself.
"Easy."
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Post by Widdershins on Jul 15, 2006 12:30:21 GMT
Eliana raised an eyebrow, seeming unimpressed. "Very... attractive." she remarked. From her expression she seemed as though she finally understood why he claimed no one would accept him.
She smiled, seeing that one fault.
"You may have it in your abilities to transform your appearance... but your problem is not the lack of that. It is what others around you deem... acceptable." Eliana said gently and tactfully. What she had to offer was more than mere transformation... a chance to be in the world and be accepted. Of course, Eliana knew very well the disadvantages of such things. It would be to live a lie. But to have such an experience in one's memory was not something easily forgotten... and one could easily forget how one looks.
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Post by Verius on Jul 15, 2006 12:37:50 GMT
He tilted his head, with jerky movements much like a bird. His head poked out occasionally, as if it just happened, and he wasn't controlling it.
"I already know the problem, I can't actually create anything... normal." His voice seemed to be underlaid by a very strange high pitched droning noise. "Normally one would assume that I could retract all my bones back into my body, that's not so true. I can't actually make myself any bigger or smaller than I normally am, except in certain cases..." He shook his head, "Not the case though... even if I could do that, my bones would have to be so dense and thick that it would be noticeable that something was wrong just by looking at me, and by touching me one would realize that I'm not normal." He sighed, "Even if they did accept me... that not enough, to tell the truth... it's more than acceptance."
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Post by Widdershins on Jul 15, 2006 12:58:38 GMT
Eliana considered for a moment before replying. "My Illusions don't work that way. They are designed to fool the senses... all the senses. A part of you, that is not 'needed' so to speak, is still there, but if someone reached out and touched you, they would feel the Illusion, in exactly the contours that I choose. You would feel the Illusion. Reality might be that you touch a dragon, but the Illusion tells you that you've touched a mouse. There is no creature in all the Realms, dead or alive, in whatever form, that cannot be fooled by an Illusion, a true Illusion. I cannot make things real, like-" she made a sword out of thin air and began to weild it, but as soon as she touched the roof with it, it merely made a small, but visible dent and melted away into nothingness, "-make that sword do more than signal I'm armed, I cannot kill a man with it... but not so with appearances. If I decided to turn you into a mouse, you would become a mouse, and you and everyone else would only realize the difference once the spell wears off... which varies, depending on size and style. But I shall not force anything upon you, if you do not wish to accept what I have to offer, then so be it." She shrugged.
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Post by Verius on Jul 15, 2006 13:34:52 GMT
"You can't change the reality of what I am. They'll still feel the fear that eminates from my body. Even if you can make them think I'm normal, I won't actually be. Not long enough..." He began to speak rather quietly, "Not soon enough... it's too late for any of that. It may have once been a useful trick, but not anymore." He shook his head as if to wake himself up.
"That doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm still this horror you see infront of you because of my own ambition. The touch of a human can't save me. In the end, it would only make me worse. Your spell would have to come to an end, and everything would be the same... except, I would have had another taste of my own humanity, and then lost it instantly. At least when I gained this form on my own..." He paused a moment, "I'd been such for years prior... it wasn't so hard for me, I could hardly remember the face of the people who used to mean so much to me anyway..." He sighed, and looked up at her, though he did not speak.
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Post by Widdershins on Jul 15, 2006 20:44:55 GMT
Eliana wasn't deterred. "I did say that my Illusions fool... all... the senses..." she smiled. "But if you don't want to try it, never mind." She waved a hand, as if to dismiss a silly thought.
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Post by Verius on Jul 16, 2006 1:51:29 GMT
His head twitched, "You may as well play my nightmare out infront of me, if that's the case."
He looked around for a moment however... "I have to admit though... it is quite tiring to be completely alone." He sighed, and lowered himself to the ground. "Just give me your gem and we can get on with our lives, I won't try to change reality, even through illusions." He waited, watching her with his head rested on the ground.
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Post by Widdershins on Jul 16, 2006 10:19:50 GMT
Eliana considered rolling her eyes for a moment, but settled for an elongated, flat look in his direction. He still did not understand the nature of her Illusions. "If you are not willing to try an Illusion, then name the price you will accept!" She had difficulty believing that he would do this for her without a price. It just didn't make sense to her; her cool logic demanded that he ask for something, and she didn't understand why he wasn't asking for at least something.
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Post by Verius on Jul 17, 2006 5:13:05 GMT
He sighed out of annoyance. "In any event I understand how your spells work, I just have a sense of morality that extends beyond your offer. It's something of a pointless gesture in this case."
He shifted uneasily, "Does everything have to have a price with you? Perhaps you've noticed that I don't wish to name a 'price', I'm better off without one, thanks. Any price I name will only get me into trouble." He breathed for a moment his bony beak opening and closing as though he didn't control it, "Those things are in my past anyway..."
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Post by Widdershins on Jul 17, 2006 5:36:37 GMT
"So there is something!" Eliana grinned triumphantly. "Personally I don't have enough morals left in me," she grimaced, "I deal with swindlers and evil men, I cannot afford weaknesses such as those. Of course, I know how to bring them back, but honesty with everyone is not always the best choice. I never lie - verbally, at least - if I don't want to say something I go around it and just don't say it. I do not believe in lies because they are faliable, they are unreliable, but I do know when it is not wise to be bluntly honest. I have seen too many of my kind destroyed for doing nothing wrong..." her expression darkened slightly, "you might not think much of it, as you seem not to be of a good opinion of mages, but these days things are much too tense in the guilds for any mage to feel him- or herself safe." Eliana nodded, seeming to wrap things up. She held out the stone.
"If you will not name anything now, then I give you the stone... and I remain in your debt." With a very faint trace of a frown, she signaled that the thought didn't exactly appeal to her. She didn't like being in debt to anyone, which was the reason she pressed the point of a price. Everything had a universal balance, she believed, and if she didn't keep things in order, they would catch up to her in the most inconvenient moments. This was the one honorable trait that she refused to give up, but not necessarily for any honorable reason, or for morals, more for the sake that she knew what debts a soul paid if he or she owed something. Life was merciless with such things.
Somewhere in the back of an alley, Shalin paced slowly down it, and froze for a moment, hearing voices. Her dark eyes narrowed as she approached, taking care to keep herself hidden, and irritatedly swishing back her long dark red hair over her shoulder. That was the tenth time that it did that. Usually the velvet held it in place on her back, where it should be, but not today it seemed. Today everything was an exception, and she didn't like it at all. Distantly, she thought she heard a woman saying "...I remain in your debt...", and she suddenly smiled evilly. An honorable person, what better pray to lighten her mood.
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Post by Verius on Jul 17, 2006 10:53:06 GMT
He shifted back to his taloned feet, "And I deal with virtually no one, but you were a special case today." He said, "Normally, everyone runs from me on sight. It's useful in some cases, because then those particular emotions, and ideals that you find usless, never have to come into play." He chuckled with the noise of a bird's screeching aswell as his own voice, his beak clacked along with it, "I'm not in good opinion of mages, because in some twisted way, I am one. I tend not to like the way many of them go about their dealings... and I'm not so fond of what I've become, but I've learned to accept it."
His wings turned back to arms with a series of sickening snaps. He held out his hand to recieve the stone, only to deposit it inside a patch of bone on his arm large enough to accept the stone, and then cover the hole up. "You know that I'll never be able to ask you for anything. Debt, and prices are all wasted on me. I could spend days here, attempting to think of something, and yet, even though I would have many things I wanted, none of them would be of any use to me at all." With that, the rest of his body turned back to it's apparantly "normal" form, appearing as some sort of warped human with bone covering his body, aswell as jutting from it in spikes. His spine tail also grew back, making itself obvious above all else, though it only dragged on the ground at this point.
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Post by Widdershins on Jul 17, 2006 13:27:05 GMT
Eliana made a sour face that could have been mistaken for a cross of a grimace and a smile, feeling bitterness. She didn't like ties. If she had any, she severed them quickly, but this one would not be a quick job at all. She would have tried to convince him of a gift she could give in exchange, to pay off her debt cleanly, if for nothing else. Something he had said caught her attention.
"You were once a mage?" that would explain a lot. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, the only sign of her burning desire to get away from the stone and this alley. Perhaps another time she could question him more about it, but now that the he had the stone, she wanted to get as far away from him as possible, so that no one could even accidentally see them together. Instinctively she began to form darkness again, but stopped, frustrated. It was pointless now.
Shalin listened intently, disappointed that she couldn't hear anything clearly. Sidling on towards the voices, she tried to get in range without being seen or heard. It sounded as though the female speaker was about to leave. Good. Her lips curled upwards. A human, most likely... she absolutely despised humans. Perhaps she would kill the female just for pleasure.
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Post by Verius on Jul 17, 2006 13:54:12 GMT
He looked to the left, as if it was an unconcious impluse of his nature to look over his shoulders, "I spoke in present tense. That's what I am now, though I belong to no kind of 'guild' as they would all see me as an abomination anyway." He drew a long breath, and watched her carefully, he'd noted that she looked anxious to put distance between them. "You may go if you wish, I don't mean to keep you here, I've learned what I wanted anyway." He shrugged and sat down on the roof, leaning back against the side.
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Post by Widdershins on Jul 17, 2006 13:59:56 GMT
Eliana frowned in thought. "Well, I spoke in past tense because you don't actually do much." She smiled. "But no matter. I fear I have much work to do... so this is where I leave you." She nodded her head in leave-taking, and felt her stone grow slightly warm - enemies were near. Her face slackened, then she looked sharply at the creature, but he didn't seem hostile. It must have been someone else. Quick as lightning, Eliana was off the roof, and plunged into darkness.
Shalin looked extremely disappointed again, because it was suddenly incredibly dark, and she could not see the female, who had just taken her leave of the other person above. Then, the darkness was gone... and so was the female. She cursed under her breath, too low a sound for anyone without elven ears to have heard, and she moved ahead. There was one human still somewhere above... but how to get up? She didn't exactly feel like climbing, and she didn't want to waste a spell on getting herself up there. So she leaned against the wall and waited. He had to come down sometime, then she could have her fun. One less human to be rid of. Her smile was back.
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Post by Verius on Jul 17, 2006 14:26:11 GMT
He muttered to himself grimly, "I can do much more than you could ever imagine..." With that he sighed and scratched at a random area of bone on his left forearm for a moment before standing back up. He moved toward the edge of the roof facing the alley he'd come from. He didn't feel like crawling down, so he just lept down, the plates on his feet thickening to support his ankles as he hit the ground. He turned and walked slowly down the alley, in no rush to get anywhere. "Really... it's always got to be the ones that look like that.." He muttered, holding his hand up to his head.
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