A Curious Troupe

[Aramyllis Dae]

Myllis did her best to ignore the nearby faerie's incoherent terror, despite the way its sharp metallic tang filled her mouth like blood, setting her teeth on edge and raising the hair all over her body. She glanced over at Gelden's huddled figure, her now-exposed wings crushed against her shivering form; despite her fear, the fae seemed safe enough.

Willing her heart to stop its vicarious palpitations, Myllis turned her attention back to the odd blue sphere. She still had no idea what it was, and although it had not yet attempted any dangerous moves, she was still inclined to treat it as a threat, despite its apparently helpless position. On the other hand, the longer it detained them, the longer she could avoid this proposed 'play.' Although Myllis had enjoyed joking over the subject, Merc almost seemed serious, but there was no way Myllis would be caught dead making a fool of herself in front of an audience. No, it seemed safer to stay here and risk it with the giant talking ball--which was now proceeding to holler at them in a most undignified and human-like manner.

As the words coming from the sphere ended with an rude command to bugger off and the ball began rocking treacherously within its pit, Myllis' eyebrows drew down into an expression bordering on disbelief. Why, I think it's having a temper tantrum... Stifling an amused snort, she addressed the creature in return.

"The guardhouse? I'm not sure that's a good idea right now." She glanced down at Geld's revealed wings as she spoke, wondering how long it would take the faerie to reproduce her spell. "Besides, I'm not sure why you think the guards will be so keen to come to your aid. They're not always very welcoming to such... unusual creatures."

[Mercedes D'Amour]

She was too late - again. The fairy had seen the troll-man and now they were in even more danger than just being near the guy. Her wings were showing. As much as she pitied the poor thing - she was obviously scared half to death - Merc's head swivelled about, checking to see if anyone was watching. Sure enough, there were. Who wouldn't be staring at a giant blue ball in the middle of the road and now a screaming fairy? They needed to get away from here - out of sight - just...anywhere. The theatre's imposing structure swam into view again. It would be the perfect hiding place for a girl with wings, not to mention a good place to find out more about this strange city.

About to say as much to Aramyllis, Merc jumped at the booming voice that erupted with all the subtlety of a volcano from the blue...thing. Somehow she hadn't expected it to be able to speak, which perhaps startled her more than the sheer volume of the noise. What the ball had to say, however, was an entirely different matter and brought about an entirely different reaction.

Mercedes should have been able to keep control, really she should have, but there was something about the use of the words "lass" and "fishtin" coupled with the rough accent that sort of started a cascade effect. As the creature ranted on, a smile slowly panned across her face and a chuckle started low until it was a full belly laugh. Merc sat down, unable to remain standing, but kept herself from falling prone under the gales of laughter. She really needed to stop laughing. The creature would get mad, it definitely wouldn't be helping Gelden calm down at all, and Aramyllis' austere response was as much a reprimand as it was appropriate. Her own behaviour, or lack thereof, simply wouldn't do and she struggled to pull herself together.

But she was so very, very tired.

Eventually a lack of breath slowed her hysterics to a continuous giggle. She really hated giggling. It was so girly. Taking a few more gasps in an attempt to halt her laughter all together, she tried to focus on Aramyllis and the blue ball's response. They looked a little fuzzy and out of focus and Myllis' words were all distorted like she were speaking through a tin can.

"Tin can. Heh." she mumbled.

This had been equated with the earlier "fishtin" and brought about another series of chuckles. No. Get serious. She didn't have time for this. Geldenwing. Yeah, focus on her instead. Merc's head bobbled in the fairy's direction and she attempted to rise. Aramyllis could stand out here and chat all she liked, but Gelden needed to get off the street. The fuzziness intensified the further she got from the ground and the fogginess turned into a rather obnoxious buzzing. Ignoring both, she half-crawled toward the balled-up fairy, nearly falling on her before managing to halt her forward progress. Again sitting, Merc put her head between her knees for a minute before glancing at Gelden and laying her hand as lightly as she could on the slender shoulder beside her.

"C'mon less getchu insie. No' li' e's gonna eacha."

It was meant to be funny, but suddenly she wasn't feeling much like laughing.

[Geldenwing]

She'd been afraid. Terrified even. Merc's gentle touch and slurred words were as much of a comfort as the woman hoped for. The fairy's terrified whimpering abruptly stopped when she felt someone touching her, and she raised the hat with both hands to look over at Merc. Her wide eyes were rimmed with red and moisture from her tears, but she was grinning. It was clear that she'd immediately thought whoever was touching her was friend. The touch had been gentle, not smushy, and Gelden was at her core a trusting sort.

She inhaled hard through her nose, attempting to clear up the clogged airways she'd created through her own panic. She refrained from wiping her nose on her arm and turned wide eyes to the creature before them. It hadn't scared her initially, the big giant man had. But he was quiet and hadn't smushed her, which made him a friend. So now they were left with this spherical creature...which could talk.

The fae tried to jump up to her feet, wings shooting up with excitement. She didn't manage a graceful leap, instead stumbling a step or two, but her hands were busy clapping with glee. It could talk! Why, if it could talk then they could hold their play and their new friends could be part of it too! This roly-poly ball would make a perfect addition!

"Murk murk, did you hear? Did you hear what it said? Did you hear? It can talk! It can talk and it can be in our play too!"

She beamed at both women, excitement quivering from every pore of her being, and gave a small hop to launch into the air. Her wings fluttered hard enough to create a nice breeze, keeping the slight woman afloat through a combination of inherent magic and luck. She flew up and up, landing on top of the creature with a graceless thud. Once on top, she raised both hands and crossed one foot in front of the other, striking what she considered to be an actress pose.

To ensure that any semblance of secrecy was utterly destroyed, she bellowed down to her lady friends:

"We're gonna have the best play ever!"

And now she collapsed to her knees on top of the creature and knocked its top with her knuckles, trying to get its attention.

"Hey, hey roly poly ball! Hey! You wanna be in a play roly poly ball? We're gonna make a play and you can play with us! Hey!"

She yelled at it, reasoning that if the creature yelled at them maybe it was hard of hearing and needed to be yelled back at too.

[Gizmo]

Qasar was attempting frantically to brush piping hot coffee from his lap before it seeped through to his groin. After managing to save his procreative equipment, he withdrew a directional stethoscope, curses running in a thick and grisly undercurrent on his breath. He shifted it between plates, hoping to zoom in on sounds that were being made in different areas of their environment. One was laughing at Regibald's little speech, and this cheered up Qasar immensely. He routed the stethoscope through the intercom so that the other two could hear.

"Hehe, ye hear that, pappy? Ye've got a fan!"

He then switched plates with the instrument, and picked up Aramyllis' words, while Regibald and Junior kept an ear and an eye on the movements of the winged one:

"The guardhouse? I'm not sure that's a good idea right now." She glanced down at Geld's revealed wings as she spoke, wondering how long it would take the faerie to reproduce her spell. "Besides, I'm not sure why you think the guards will be so keen to come to your aid. They're not always very welcoming to such... unusual creatures."

Regibald fielded that one: "Yer lookin' at a guard, missy. An' as a matter'a'fac', no we ain't too welcoming to sech unYOOsual critters as yer little pest of a friend what's perched on top o' me. But I'll cut ye a deal, seein' as I'm in a bit of a fix meself. Yew folks help me outta this 'ere hole, an' I'll make sure this winged menace don' have no trouble 'ere in Marn."

Regibald turned off the megaphone and patted his belly in satisfaction, thinking himself quite the businessman. Junior, meanwhile, was keeping a wary on the plates of his Section. After reassuring himself that there were no niches in them, and that every shifting part was aligned as it should be, he spoke to the other three: "Hey fellas, izzat coffee still around?"

This earned him a glare from his father, who was also keeping a close eye on their general surroundings with the panoramoscope (his personal favourite).

"Hey, hey roly poly ball! Hey! You wanna be in a play roly poly ball? We're gonna make a play and you can play with us! Hey!"

As luck would have it, Junior's stethoscope had the gain cranked, and the monitor right by his ear, and the little fae happened to be yelling right into it. He jumped and put a finger in his ear, attempting to scratch out the itchy, ringy feeling that marked the sudden onset of tinnitus. "I'm gonna reckon ye heard that, gramps." he shouted down ruefully.

Regibald, in a much better mood now, chuckled at this. "No' quite, laddie, I might jes' ask 'er to repeat that a little louder."

Young Flipswitch made a vulgar hand signal in his grandfather's general direction, and turned back to his controls. Regibald, meanwhile, resumed his place at the megaphone.

"The name's Gizmo, lass. And of course, I'd love te join ye in a play!" His eyes gleamed at the thought of stardom and the stage, completely oblivious to the looks of shock and despair this lofty promise was earning him from his descendants.

Qasar was eyeing his father with increasing anger, which erupted two seconds later with a hail of nuts, bolts, and verbal abuse. "You... bloody... FOOL! We wouldn' even fit 'n th' blazin' building, and we'd mos' likely fall throo th' stage! I ain't actin'! I ain't gettin' up there 'n front o' all them people! An' I'll be damned if you drag us into this baloney! Pappy, I've always treated ye wid respect, but consarn feckin'... GRRR..."

Junior was releasing his own barrage simultaneously, while Regibald fought back in retort at his two assailants. Soon, hammers and swear words were flying ingloriously across the innards of Gizmo. Faces were red and slavering, and the battle had reached a fever pitch. It was a bloody good thing the plates were tight, otherwise they might have been heard...

[Garfane]

Julius had his head down. Hood up, arms folded tight across his chest. Ro had just vanished, not so much as a word of where he was going. One minute he was behind him the next just gone! It would of been less annoying if there had been a mist of some kind. Also that would of been pretty impressive but this was just plain annoying and Julius didn't like being annoyed it.... annoys him.

He had no idea where he was going to find a fae for this Lord D'or, who had paid him in advance. None of his books helped, he kicked a stone in the road and he tumbled down the street. To keep himself occupied he kicked it again and again. Stones where boring though he wanted to meet people he had been away for so long. Keltaris was nice and all that. But this was home.

The sun had come out now. Lowering his hood he could hear the hussle and bussle of the street. He'd missed that. He thought he had made a friend in the man called Ro but he guessed wrong and there was something about D'or that unsettled the novice mage. But still the answers could wait---

"What the...?" Julius had just come over a crest and was now staring at a unlikely group of people...well beings not all were people. He stood there staring at the group. His black hair and robes blowing in the wind. "This is special and ooo she's pretty" Julius muttered to no one imparticular. He slowly moved forward brushing pasted over on lookers and rubber neckers.

Someone was yelling through a mega phone and was from what Julius could tell was angry about coffee and plays. He shrugged. each to his own he thought with a smirk. At last he was next to the attractive women. "Ahem." He mimiced a cough very badly. "Excuse me m'lady, My name is Julius Henry Garfane," He said and bowed his head slighly, Before extending a hand. "And you are?"

[Aramyllis Dae]

Gizmo? What kind of name is Gizmo? And why would the guards make such a freak-of-nature one of their own? It must be a great asset, for them to accept a being like that. Unless it's not of nature... Aramyllis mused to herself, arms crossed in front of her in dissatisfaction. She didn't like not having the answers to her questions, it made her feel rather frustrated. And, it made her want to find out even more.

Still ruminating as the ball continued hollering at them, Myllis chose to ignore the creature's earlier subtle threat against Geldenwing, as she reckoned it wasn't in a position to carry it out right then. Not unless they got the guards to free it from the pothole, that was. It really wasn't very persuasive. On the other hand, she doubted the faerie was helping anything, bouncing around and pounding on the damn thing... Strangely, this Gizmo didn't seem to notice, or perhaps it just didn't mind. She winced as it expressed its desire to join in the play, resisting the urge to slap a hand over her face in resignation, and settled for rolling her eyes in an exaggerated manner. She glanced over towards Merc, wondering if the human was feeling as exasperated as she; clearly Mercedes wanted to get the hell out of there, if nothing else.

"Geld, is that really necessary? Why don't you come back down here before it throws another tantrum and smushes you?"

Uncrossing her arms, she shifted her hands to her hips, her foot tapping in impatience. She remembered when her mother used to do that to hurry her along as a child; it had had little effect on the young Myllis. Hopefully the faerie wouldn't be such a pain in the ass.

Too late, she amended.

Distracted by the odd circumstances she found herself in, Myllis didn't notice the newcomer until he was within 50 feet. Now, why he didn't run fleeing from the scene was completely beyond her. Surely any sane man would know upon sight to avoid the bizarre ball and raucous fairy.

Myllis' expression reflect this opinion, displaying a mix of bewilderment and apprehension. The last thing they needed was another witness. Unfortunately, her face also betrayed this thought, for it drew down into a slight, unwelcoming scowl. As the man approached her, her countenance continued to darken. Nevertheless, she kept telling herself that maybe he would think better of it and turn away before reaching their little group.

No luck there. And, of course, he just had to pick her to bother.

As he proceeded to introduce himself, her brows lifted in incredulity and she eyed his hand as if it were a snake about to bite her. Remaining silent, she glared down until a voice interrupted her brooding.

'Come now, don't be rude,' it chastised wryly, audible only in her mind, and she found herself wishing she could ignore Gabi'Rel as easily as she had her mother.

"Oh, go away, you," she muttered under her breath to him, momentarily forgetting the waiting newcomer before her. Suddenly recalling his presence, she blushed furiously at her own words, which he was likely to interpret as being directed at him. In an attempt to cover for herself, she reluctantly thrust her hand into his and shook vigorously.

"Um, hi, Julius..." Clearly wanting to leave it at that, she turned to Merc helplessly, looking for someone to save her. After a moment, she realized the man was still standing there expectantly, and continued, flustered, "It's Myllis. My name, I mean."

[Mercedes D'Amour]

Merc watched the following proceedings through increasingly bleary vision. The paleness of her face offset the growing purple marks under her eyes, across the bridge of her nose and around the cut on her forehead. Her head pounded out tympani - why was it always those blasted pipes – and she fought to remain in the moment. Whether or not she winced from the onset headache or the constant confirmation of “their play”. Why oh WHY did she even…wait, it was Aimee. This whole “play” idea was all HER fault! Oh ho. She would pay when it got to be her turn at the wheel.

The talking blue ball should have stayed a non-talking blue ball. Of this she was certain. It was loud. It was a guard. It wanted their help…or presumably it’d scream loud enough to get another of its fellow members over to mess up Gelden. Simple logic. At least she hadn’t lost that yet. Very slowly, Merc regained her feet – hands and knees, knees and feet, hands to knees, and standing. Sort of. Staggering slightly, she caught Myllis’ wild glance for help with a brand spanking new suitor. Heh. Oh to be young. She smirked and shrugged, but decided at the last minute not to leave her hanging.

“Hey Myllis, bluey’s made ‘s an offer. Be rude t’ignore’m.” her look was much more serious than the smile was conveying. In other words, the sooner they could get the blue thing out of here and Gelden out of sight, the better.

Then she turned to address Gizmo. “So, we help you out, you let th’ fairy be – ‘t’s a deal.”

Resting a hand on the blue beast’s side, Merc dropped to her knees once more. No sense expending more energy than she had to – she would need it for this next bit of work. Gizmo was far too heavy to attempt to lift. However, what where cobble streets made of but lots of little stones? Speaking a little louder, she called out what she wanted to see happen.

“Alright, we move sum’a this out of the way from o’er here, an summon else kin push from o’er ther. We good?”

Wow. That was incredibly articulate. Snerking to herself, Merc focused on trying to pull some of the loosened soil and rock away from the side of the hole to make a crude ramp. As her fingers grasped a larger stone, she used some minor psionics to move the particles of dirt away from it and allow her to remove it more easily. Ugh. This wasn’t going to hold out too long. Why couldn’t things go smooth just once in her life? Just once.

[Geldenwing]

The roly poly ball wanted to be in the play! Gelden squealed her delight and grabbed clumps of blue hair, tugging it to get the thing's attention - as though it hadn't just directly addressed her.

"A play! A play a play! You can be the moon!"

The fairy beamed down at the pretty rock-name lady and shrieked to make sure she could be heard.

"It won't squish me, we're friends now!"

This declaration was punctuated by a sudden thock underneath her knees. She turned concerned eyes down to her new friend and frowned. Another dull thock, the vibrations wavering gently through her knees, and she emitted a soft cry of dismay on behalf of her new friend. She released one clump of hair to inside stroke the creature gently, her tiny hand dwarfed in the sheer size of the thing. She saw Merc come closer and vanish from sight near the underparts, and she called out, this time merely yelling so that the poor hungry ball wouldn't be hurt by a shriek.

"His tumbly's rumbly! I think he's hungry!"

But what did roly poly balls eat? She'd seen tiny ones all over dead birds and rotting things, but she sure didn't want to carry stinky things just so it could eat. It could at least talk, so she decided to ask.

"Hey, Mr. Blue Ball! Whatcha eat? I can get ya some food if it's not stinky. I won't get stinky food."

[Garfane]

Julius looked at the girl. Feeling a slight uneasiness coming off her he nodded,
"Pleasure to meet you. Is that a Fae on the giant ball of ball?" Julius squinted. Straining his eyes to view the Fae who was bouncing around like a over active child.

Julius took a deep breath and moved forward he wanted to get a closer look. Glancing back over his shoulder to see if the lady was taking a interest in him. "Ah well" He sighed to himself, " oooooo ahhhhh" He mouthed as the got closer to the ball. He look at the ball again then noticed a lady on the ground shifting the dirty. "Excuse me miss? Do you need a hand?" Julius smiled slightly. of course she needs a hand he thought.

The fae on the ball who was now shouting something about being friends with a fool. Her voice was being drowned out by other goings on. Julius looked up at her again, placing his hands in his pockets he pulled out a apple he had taken from the inn. "Excuse me!" He yelled at the Fae, " See if it likes apples?" He threw it upward. He crossed his fingers for luck. Lord D'or wouldnt be happy if he squished a fae instead of caught one.

Julius knelt down and examined the floor with the other lady next to him and whispered "What are you doing, and erm... why?"

[Gizmo]

The bowels of the ball were still in turmoil through the next few minutes, and none of the three laid mark to what was happening outside until finally, they wore themselves out. It was then, and only then, that they returned to their instruments of detection.

"Hey, Mr. Blue Ball! Whatcha eat? I can get ya some food if it's not stinky. I won't get stinky food."

This question aroused somewhat of a discussion, the undercurrents of which still held bitterness over the recent war. Regibald spoke first: "I guess we could use this opportunity te nab some fresh grub. Getting tired o' this storage food..."

Junior replied "yer a bastid, ol' man. The last thing we need in 'ere is stinky food with you hangin' round." This curt response nearly sparked another war, but Qasar managed, with a sufficiently dirty set of glares, to alleviate the boiling tension, and Regibald took up the megaphone to reply to the little fae.

"Aye, some fresh carrots 'd be downrigh' marvelous, lass." He then paused and eyed a tin that lay at his feet, the contents of which were dwindling rapidly in the wake of a stressful few days. "...an' mebbe some fine pipe tabaccy. My belly loves that stuff, mm mmm." This little attempt caused his son and grandson to shake their heads and glower at him.

"I tol' ye already, ye stink the place up enough as it is, ol' man."

It was then that Qasar noticed the newcomer, smoothly chatting up the other two ladies. "Well, what in hell have we here..." he muttered under his breath. "On the alert, men, we've got another weirdo on the scene. An' one o' these dames is gettin' mighty close. So far's I can see, she's tryin' te dig us out, but Junior, yew jest keep an eye on 'er, eh boy?"

Junior obeyed his father, and once more, it was all business within the bowels of Gizmo.

[Aramyllis Dae]

As the man--Julian, she thought he'd said--retargeted his attention onto Mercedes without another word to her, Aramyllis found herself feeling increasingly bewildered, even disoriented. The unnaturally colored ball containing three distinct beings who nevertheless identified themselves as one; the scattered interest shown by the newcomer; the enthusiastic and highly visible faerie shouting and alternately yanking at and then stroking the blue fur, which seemed insensitive to her agitation... There were just too much to take in, no way of making mental order from the sensory chaos.

Stirring, she followed Julian to where Merc was down in the dirt at the edge of the pothole, digging as if to make a ramp out for the ball. Given the depth of the pit---which by all rights ought to have been fixed long ago---they were going to be there a long time. That much was obvious. They didn't even have shovels! What was the woman thinking?

Squatting down on the edge of the cavity, Myllis gave Julian a hard look, then beckoned to the woman. "Merc? Hey, I'm not sure that's the best way to do it." She held out a hand, palm upwards and open, conjuring the human up out of the dirt. "I think maybe you should take Geld on to the theatre---we're attracting eyes here, which is the last thing we want---and I'll go gets the guards." Raising her voice so that all could hear now, she continued, "I'll have another word with the Gizmo thing to make sure it's going to keep quiet in return. Hell, maybe I'll even bring him around for the play, after the guards get him out."

Catching sight of Merc's full face for the first time, Myllis studied the pale, drooping features and hazy eyes with pursed lips. "You don't look so good. Feeling alright? Maybe you're the one who needs something to eat. You look like you might pass out! I don't want to leave you like this."

She paused, merely for dramatic effect, letting her worried eyes shift over to the man and urging her face into an expression of revelation. "Or, maybe Julian could run and get the guards for us. That would really be giving us a hand!"

[Mercedes D'Amour]

The exchange between Gelden, Gizmo and Julian went unnoticed. She was too busy focusing on breathing and moving the rocks. When a male voice suddenly sounded quite close, Merc abruptly stopped using her telekinesis. It wouldn’t do to go showing off – not when this was all she could pull off. Tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, she rolled her eyes and took hold of another stone. Do I need a hand. Is he freaking blind and deaf? Of course he wasn’t – else he wouldn’t be here chatting up Aramyllis…and now her. Fabulous. A very unladylike grunt escaped her tightly pursed lips as she gripped another cobble without the help of her telekinesis.

“I’m goin’ to Tian Xia. Wanna come?”

Ask a stupid question…She simply wasn’t in the mood to babysit some fawning boy. Merc nearly said something equally sarcastic to Myllis, but was too busy gathering breath to respond before the girl carried on with laying out a much better plan than hers. Lazily turning her head upwards, she saw the proffered hand and haltingly took a hold of it. Boy, that spell was making a lasting impression. She thought they were fine…maybe they had taken some taint? It does tend to compound over time. Uluki could heal… She shook her head. No, no time for this. This was now and they would just have to deal with whatever was going on by themselves.

For now, she simply nodded along with Myllis’ idea to just take Gelden into the theatre and let the guards dig out the blue thing. Smirking when the girl asked how she was doing, Merc looked her in the eye to communicate the “No, actually I’m feeling pretty shitty, thanks for noticing.” phrase she was mentally forming. She was getting tired of sounding like she was drunk – especially when she didn’t get any of the other bonuses. Something to eat - about time she figured that out. She was certain that a meal would set her straight, or at least straight-er.

However, Merc had to admit that this Myllis was one smooth operator. Get rid of the guard and the boy in one fell swoop. She raised up her left hand in a “why didn’t I think of that” motion and gave Julian an approving nod. Looking up over her shoulder, she tossed her words up to the dancing fairy.

“Hey Geld, y’hear that? Less go.”

Merc tried to smile, but it took so much less energy not to.

[Geldenwing]

An apple magically appeared in the air in front of her, and Gelden had just enough time to stick both hands straight out and fail at catching the heavy fruit. It knocked against both thumbs before sailing to thunk her right shoulder before plopping to the blue fur beneath her feet. It was only the bunched-up fur that kept it from rolling away to the ground on the spherical animal.

If the fairy minded being hit by a fruit, she didn't display any resentment. Instead an excited squeal erupted from her lips even as a small bruise began forming on her little shoulder.

"Oooooo, it's an apple! I made an apple!"

She looked up, where the upwards-moving apple had clearly not come from, and decided that not only had she made an apple, but she'd made it come from the sky.

Impressed by her amazing feats of magical mystery, she collapsed to her knees again and took up the apple. She spoke directly at the creature beneath her, yelling loudly just in case its tummy rumbles drowned out her little voice.

"I ain't got no carrots but I got an apple! Where's your mouth?"

She thonked the apple against the creature a few times, then began grinding it into the fur, rubbing off small segments of apple skin into the creature's. She couldn't find the mouth anyway, and she knew that some animals ate through their skin, so maybe that's how this animal ate too. She was determined enough to keep rubbing until the whole apple was reduced to a small puddle of apple sauce.

"I can't go nowhere Murky, I gotta feed it!"

[Gizmo]

By the time Junior realized what the fae was doing, the apple had been half-crushed into Gizmo's fur. He quickly opened up the right plate, just a crack, so that the remnants of the apple were pushed through by the little fae hand, and deftly closed it without pinching the fae's fingers.

He nodded to Regibald, chuckling a little: "We've got our food, gramps. Well done."

Regibald Pockbert leaped up in excitement, and was about to thank the fae profusely when he saw the shitty little apple, half reduced to hairy, blue-dyed apple sauce, oozing out over Junior's platform. He shook his head with a sigh, and seemed about to say something sarcastic into the megaphone when Qasar intervened.

"Pops, she don't know no better, go easy on 'er, eh?" His pleading eyes emphasized his request, and with a grumble, old Regibald obliged.

"Ohhhh, mmm, mmmm, NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM, that was a good apple. Thank ye, missy. Mum's the word, eh? If'n yer ever in a spot o' trouble, you just fly right up an' I'll let ye hide in me fur, okay? Now run along an' join yer friends, methinks they're in a hurry. Can't possibly imagine why..." Turning off the megaphone, he slumped into his chair, disgusted with the day's proceedings. "Gents, we been up all night, an' then some. We's stuck in a great ruddy hole, an' the town is comin' alive aroun' us. Bloody 'ell, we shoulda stuck to the perimeter."

There was no answer, only a shuffling of feet, and a nonchalant squeak of Junior's upholstered platform chair as he munched on the good half of the little fae's peace offering.

[Garfane]

Julius Ignored the constant getting his name wrong after all. He thought, it wasn't their fault he had surprised them by just turning up out of the blue. The apple he had thrown up was just munched by the big blue ball of fur. What was with that? he thought to himself. He wanted to touch it but the pretty girl had said something to him. Now he was distracted he looked back down at her.

She paused, merely for dramatic effect, letting her worried eyes shift over to the man and urging her face into an expression of revelation. "Or, maybe Julian could run and get the guards for us. That would really be giving us a hand!"

Julius looked up at the fae. After all this wasnt about the money he'd be offered by D'or this was about his study of magic. He couldn't, won't let the fae get away from him for to long and if going to the town guards would get him closer into the inner circle of this group... well you never know what might happen. He smiled at Myllis and nodded. "I did ask how I could help. And this is what I shall do." He Turned on his heels taking one last look at the big blue ball shaped monster and left.

The wind was battering him now, dust was whipping up into his face. How had this happened he looked up through his hood. Stopping for a moment to hold down his robes. He had been walking for a while now. He wondered what the others were doing. Some time later he found the guard tower and knocked on the door. Waiting for a while he looked over his shoulders and shrugged.

"Sod this!" He turned back and looked for a small alley crouched behind some old boxes and began the incantation to morph into his field mouse. He figured that if they didnt know he could do this he could keep his eyes on them. After a moment he felt the familar pain that came with animorphing his face began to narrow his nose became mosit. Everything got much bigger, not to mention momentary blurred.

"Ah.... thats better" He climbed the box and looked back at the guard tower. A guard had just decided to open the door. Not to worry he was going to go back and see how things unfolded maybe even follow and befriend the over excited Fae. It would take a while mind. Having tiny legs would make it so. "Well, no use hanging around." He looked around. Wiped his new whiskers and began to move back towards the big blue ball.