"Barriers": One Stormy Evening

[Aaron]

Calabré Tyssachr stood on the battlements of his tower. his silver hair was unbound and streamed behind him like a standard in the fierce gale. Wayward streams of rain flickered here and there as the wind lashed it about. Thunder boomed in the distance. Lightning flashed periodically, throwing the darkness of the stormy evening into stark white relief. But none of this seemed to affect Calabré whatsoever. He was like a statue carved out of the stone of the tower itself, but for his hair, which tossed and snapped in the stormy air.

Then, all at once, the air seemed to ripple, as if it were a pond and someone had thrown a stone into it. Or was it reality that rippled? Then it was gone, as soon as it had come, but now there was a large orange shape surrounding the mage, an orange shape with black stripes. A tiger? As it came into focus, though, it was a somewhat translucent image of an enormous orange python, with Cal's body held loosely in its coils. Cal's eyelids fluttered, and suddenly his statuesque visage became full of life and humanity again. Looking quite surprised indeed, he looked up into his dæmon's piercingly orange eyes and said, "Kusa?"

||Now, everyone playing an apprentice mage in the tower or someone passing by the tower can be startled by the sudden appearance of a ghost - their dæmon!||

[Sil and Veil]

There were certain things young women were not expected to do, but did anyway. Sneaking out of the collective dorms at night to cavort with young men in rather shady establishments was one of them. Not that Art much cared... this was far too fun, and far too delicious, to pass up. Thus it was that at one in the morning she was stumbling somewhat drunkly along the streets, singing, arm in arm with two men she hardly knew, cheerful as anything.

Just as suddenly, there was a slightly popping noise, and something appeared on her shoulder. "Bloody hell! How much did I drink?" She was close to home now anyway.. .she could ignore this strange apparition until she got home to bed. Well, she could have, had it not started talking to her.
"You've been drinking a lot, but that's not it hun. I'm Jacquarth." The golden furred thing licked her cheek. It was then Art screamed, bolting with Jacquarth hanging onto her shoulder with grim determination.

Up the stairs, so many stairs... "Cal! Master Cal! There's a demon on my shoulder, get it off!" But her teacher appeared to be wrapped in a giant snake... "Oh dear... I've had far too much to drink."

[Aaron]

Kusa's iridescent orange head turned toward the newcomer. Without budging from her position, embracing her own dear self, she extended the length of her enormous body trailing on the floor - as loosely wrapping Calabré didn't even take up half of her - and held the tip of it under Jacquarth's chin. "So I'm not the only one..." she said, but of course, only her human could hear her, given that she had no real physical form in this universe, thinned barrier or no.

For a moment, Cal was too utterly absorbed in the wonder of his dæmon to take note of anything but her. But then he followed her gaze and saw one of his apprentices, and...she had one too? <i>Oh, but of course,</i> he thought to Kusa. <i>The barrier is thin in and around the tower. But what can I say to her?</i> The mage opened his mouth for a moment, then said, "It's...it's part of my experiment, Sehena. Don't fear him. Talk with him."

"Let's do get inside first, shall we? The weather's abominable," Kusa told him.

"Ah, yes. Let's go to my quarters, and I'll fix a cup of coffee." He had noted the slurring in the girl's voice. He wasn't stupid. Kusa unwound herself and slithered down the steps beside him, her body bent upward at one point so her head could be level with Calabré's.

[brooke]

"Master..."Raion said, looking a bit too shaken for his own good. "I...is this what you meant to happen?"
Rai had been there,helping Cal with his experiment, but he didn't expect such a grand attempt at anything to work. But there she was. The creatures that he had been talking about. His soul. She was beautiful,the most beautiful feline imaginable, but he wasn't sure she represented him.
Until they touched.
"Psycha.."he said,amazed, wrapping his arms around her.
"Raion..."she said,purring with a low,husky female voice.
Raion stood,an ecstatic look covering his face. "Master,master,master! it worked it wor-..."he saw the python,"I suppose you know that."
Such an expression of glee and satisfaction wasn't something that came from him very often, but this was history,and he was THERE FOR IT. It was amazing, an exhilarating feeling.

From just outside-far too close for just a passerby- a girl shreiked.
Cecilia had been just outside, carefully hidden in the shadows when it all hapened. First there was a ripple...or somethign..in the air,the next thing she knew, there was a stick-dog beside her,trying to talk to her. If only she knew what it was that the mages have been doing,she might not've come at all. Raion had been ignoring her for the past two weeks, and she had to know why. What seemed like the only logical thing to do seemed now to be the dumbest idea in the world.

In a fit of hysterics,she started to run away, only to fall a few meters away as a feeling tore at her heart, as if her sould-essences were being pulled from her body. The creature sat there,watching her, a vague hint of intelligence in its eyes.

[Matt and Ari]

Eric was slowly walking home from the girl's appartment. "COME BACK WHEN YOU'RE NOT AN IDIOT!" That worked out well... he thought quietly to himself. He kicked a nearby can un-necesesarily. He grunted and kept moving.

"Amber was a lost cause anyway, you should stop worrying about her," Kiyasi said soothingly.

"But I really liked her," Eric whined.

"You only liked her figure! She was a naggy brat!"

"Not unlike someone I know..." Eric muttered.

"What was that?!" Kiyasi demanded.

Eric stammered, now was definitely not the time to get into fight with Kiyasi. "L...L-l-loook over there!" Eric pointed to a nearby wall and ran away from her. Eric sometimes forgot that daemons are physically, mentally, and spiritually connected to their humans. Kiyasi bound after him angrily. However, Eric, although he wasn't aware, was not comletely wrong about there being something to look at. Eric ran as fast as his legs would take him, and looked back just to see if Kiyasi was still on his tail. This might have served him, if there had not been a wall in front of him. Eric slammed into it, making a sickening jolt in all his joints, Kiyasi accidentally ran into him.

"OW!," He yelled. Eric fell backwards and lie there, dazed. When he came to his senses he looked, upside down, at a man, who's python daemon was encircling him. "Where am I?..." He asked, and then passed out.

Eric woke up a few moments later and found himself in that same alley he was in. Some dream... he thought to himself. Eric tried to get up, but found something very strange happen as he did. As he pressed his hand against the cobble stone.. his hand kept going. Eric gasped and pulled his hand back, but found his skin to be rocky and hard once it was out. He scrambled up and ran home, in hopes of waching off the... whatever it was on his hands.

[Aaron]

Calabré looked over his shoulder and gave Raion one of his mysterious smiles. "Yes, it worked. You did help, I daresay. This night was the perfect alignment of universes for the experiment, and you did help choose it." He continued down the steps, Kusa streaming gracefully beside him. Her 28-foot-long body took up much of the staircase and impeded the progress of any coming behind her, as it was instinctual knowledge that one must never touch another's dæmon, not even a ghostly image of one. But then, she was quite slender, and didn't take up the full width of the stairs. "We're going to have coffee in my quarters, and I will help you get used to the idea of knowing your souls."

"As if you're accustomed," Kusa teased, putting her head conspiratorially to his ear, as if whispering in it. Cal jumped a bit, startled, and she laughed. "See?"

[brooke]

"I will, but first I have something to attend to." Raion said a bit too loudly to speak over the loud thinking his sister was blasting through his mind.Usually he only heard snipets of converstaions, but anything she thought too loudly was heard. He never told her this,however, for he knew she wouldn't appreciate that. With this, he shook his head and started walking away at a fast pace, his snow leopard daimon beside him.

She was on the ground, as far away as she could be from the creature- not /even/ a creature, more like a ghost-monster. She felt like she had been sitting there forever,wide-eyed at the creature when a silver blur tackled it, and erupted into a swirling vision of white and red-orange, snow and fire.
"Ceci," he said calmly, approaching her as the daimons aquainted with each other,pouncing and playing around with each other. "You're okay. Don't worry about the animal."
"What in hell's name did you mages do?"
"What we did is beside the point- you weren't supposed to be around here. If you follow me to my Master's quarters, everything will be explained."

She considered this with narrowed eyes, weighing her options.Cecilia hated mages and anyone who practiced magic, with the exception of Raion- though even he was on her hate-list at the moment. Having something magic- for some demon-spirit was obviously what the ghost-monster was- was something she didn't want hanging around her for the rest of eternity.
"Fine, I'll go." she said reluctantly,letting Raion help her to her feet and lead her to Cal's quarters, the daimon's trotting ahead,repective of her unacceptance.

"Master?"RAion asked when he entered, wondering where he was and where the coffee was (and possibly the liquor to help calm Cecilia's nerves).

[Winger]

Rossakal squinted at the faded writing of the scroll, and sighed in disgust. They hadn't mentioned that wearing out your eyesight was part of the whole mage deal. It seemed that everything worth learning was either in an unbelievable complicated script, or etched onto parchment so worn and faded in was impossible to read.

The young man rolled his shoulders, and tilted his head from one side to the next, wincing at the cracks. There were a thousand places he'd rather be, but he really needed to get this section down-pat or he'd fall way behind. Ross cast the scroll a death-glare that should have had it bursting into flames.

The scroll stared calmly back.

He scrubbed a hand across his eyes is exasperation. Great, now he was imagining staring scrolls. He'd definitely been up too late. Ross tapped his fingers against the worn desk in his room, wavering between duty to his studies and duty to his weary body. It seemed like body was the winner when...

...something...

...happened.

It was as though the world about him jerked sideways, and he remained where he was. There was a hot shudder than swept through his body, ending in a tingling at his fingertips. He clutched the edge of his desk, disorientated, blinking in bemusement. Ross sucked in a few steadying breaths. What was that? He frowned at he scroll speculatively. Chances were the older mages had been trying some experiment. But nothng this strange had happened before!

It had certainly made up his mind. Time for bed. He pushed the chair back and stood up, stretching high to his full 146cm. He was walking over to his bed when a voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"If you fail, I'm going to have to bite you."

The corner of his eye twitched. Oh boy. Ross slowly turned his head, scanning his room. There was nothing there...wait. Down by the desk. A long shape that hadn't been there before. He narrowed his eyes. It was...an otter?

The otter scowled. "What?"

Ross wasn't exactly how he'd managed to run so fast, but next thing he knew, he was standing outside of the Master's quarters, with the otter close behind him, panting and looking peeved. He poked his head in, wide-eyed. "Master? There's been a slight...oh." He hadn't really expected this. The Master was in there, as were a few others - he recognised Cecilia, a fellow apprentice.

And they all had animals with them.

[brooke]

((Raion is the apprentice, not Cecilia. I'll consider it the other way around.))

“Ross?” Raion asked, looking at his friend. No one except those assisting the master were supposed to be in the castle. Wasn’t Ross supposed to be visiting famil? ”I thought you wer-“

Cecilia cut him off with a,”Whose he? Another mage?” she said with disgust. TwoThree mages were bad enough and now there were four. This one had an animal with him too,though,which brought her back to the original question and problem at hand.

“What are these ghost-monsters and how do we get rid of them?”she asked.

[Sil and Veil]

"Right... inside. Warmth. Cold here." Fear could drain the alcohol out of anyone, it had been proved. Right now Art felt nothing but fear. This creature...was part of her?

"Creature, what is your name?"
"Jacquarth... I'm part of you, you know."

All too strange. Far too strange. "Master... I don't understand. One minute I was with my mates, and the next, this. What happened? Something strange, I know that." Others were coming now, with equally strange creatures around them.

"Creature, Jacquarth...What are you anyway?"
"Japanese marten."

Strange how he made her feel whole...

[Aaron]

When they reached Calabré's chambers, Kusa soon realized that with all these other people in here, plus the furniture and magical paraphernalia, there was no room for her massive body to stretch out. Hissing a bit in annoyance, she slithered up onto her human's bed and curled up into a huge stack of glistening orange coils. Her head trailed off the edge of the bed so she could keep an eye on everything.

Cal leaned against the foot of his bed, stroking his dæmon's large head with one finger, even though he couldn't actually feel anything physical beneath it. He looked around to assess the situation. Cecilia didn't trouble him overmuch. Raion had told him that he had a twin, and the girl looked quite like him, and he could put two and two together. Rossakal was another apprentice who would naturally come to him for help in the case of such a startling event.

But most of all, there were the dæmons - or ghostly images of them, anyway. He had never imagined that this would affect anyone but him! The area over which the barrier had been thinned must have been wider than he thought. There was Kusa, of course, the reticulated python, but then there was the river otter, the snow leopard, the maned wolf, and the Japanese marten. What a success. Cal set some coffee going on the stove, then began to speak.

"I think I owe you all an explanation. My experiment was more far-reaching than I imagined, and now I've drawn you all into it. These creatures by your side are not ghosts, nor are they monsters. They are your dæmons. They are the other half of your soul, the half that tells you that you shouldn't have had so many drinks last night, the one that calms you down when you're wound up. Until now, this half has lived within all of us. But now it has a face, a gender, even a name. I know this one's name is Kusa." He cupped his hand under her incorporeal chin. "If its presence disturbs you, simply leave my tower and its environs, and its image will disappear. But no matter what you do, it will always live on inside you."

The mage's eyes of flint met Art's. "Yes, I owe an explanation of that too. The whole concept is rather complicated, but as I may have told you, my magic involves seeing and hearing worlds beyond our own. And in one such world, I found a place where these souls, our dæmons, actually have physical form and audible voice. I was fascinated, and...I found a way to make the barrier between that world and this somewhat thinner, in and around the tower. Some things can leak through to our world, and our dæmons were given faces."

Kusa held her head to Calabré's ear and hissed sibilantly in it. "Kusa would like to address the dæmons directly. I will speak for her, as she can be heard only in my head, in this world." He cleared his throat, and suddenly his voice seemed a little lighter and more slippery. "Dæmons. Have no fear. What we have done is meant to empower you. We wish to discover more about dæmons and ourselves, and achieve even greater communion with ourselves."

[brooke]

Raion smiled,his daimon watching every being with slight amusement and picking up some of their thoughts. It' was Cecilia's,however,that worried him the most.

She was looking nervously at her daimon,partly in disbelief and partly in disgust. "How could you? I don't want my soul to be in front of me. I don't want some dog following me around all the time." she said, feeling an odd sense of regret at her words. "I...I can't take this."

She turned to leave the room into the kitchen-area. Raion began to follow her,but she gave him a death look as her daimon walked behind her,as far away as he could without hurting.

"What should I do,master? She shouldn't have been here. She's not a mage,and has never wanted anythign to do with magic..."Raion said, sitting down,frusterated.
'Let her go.' a deep,husky but definitively female voice flowed into his mind. 'I'm sure her soul will touch her. If not, she will not want any help from you of anyone."

((OOC:: This is where I'd like some people to just randomly drop in some 'we were thinking's so Raon can read minds. It's a crappy power if it doens't get used.lol.)

[Winger]

He blinked, once, twice, then stared at the otter. It was a part of him? The otter was currently grooming a paw, its rudder-like tail twitching. It looked so real! As if sensing his attention, it lifted its head, and a voice rang between his ears.

"I'm not an it," the river-dog grumbled. "I'm a she. And I have a name."

Another tingle, but one far more familiar. It was almost a relief to be experiencing the regular kind of magic. Ross nodded as the word appeared in his mind, as though placed there by some outside force. "Chanello."

The otter - Chanello - bobbed her head in satisfaction. "d**n straight. So none of this 'it' business."

Ross rolled the word around his mouth. "Chanello. Chelly. Ello. Chello."

The rounded ears twitched. "I'll suffer the last one. But that's all."

He couldn't help it, and grinned. He was starting to like this snarky critter.

(OOC: Short, yeah, but deal.)

[brooke]

Cecilia came back out and looked at everyone and their animals and how they were getting along. She looked to her own Tav and said very matter-of-factly,"I'll put up with you until you're gone. Okay?"
The dog barked and wagged his tail.

Rai grinned, glad she was letting some of her guard down. "As it stands, most of you," he glanced at Cecilia,"Don't want your companion to go. The good thing is tat they don't have to. However, it might be for te best if you don't let the rest of this world in on them too much. It's not something they would be used to- especially not the non-mages." he cast anoter look at Cecilia.
"For most of you this won't have an affect on your daily life at all."

Cecilia said nothing, but thought about all the things she wouldn't be able to do. Go out in puclic, be too close to people...

"Some of you it might take some adjustment." Raion said again. "I think that, for the time being at least, we should try and stick together. It seems most logical since we don't know if there will be any immediate side-effects as of yet. There's already been one- Master Cal and I were the only ones supposed to be affected."

[Aaron]

"I am quite sure, however," pointed out the mage, "that if you leave the environs of the tower, the image of your dæmon will disappear. So you may visit your families if they live in some other village." He took the coffeepot off the fire and filled several mugs. He chose one for himself, and waved at them, an invitation for the rest to partake of the caffeine. "You may be dismissed, guests, if you so choose, or stay with me. I will, however, have a word with my apprentices," he said, giving Cecilia a particular look.

Sipping at the hot drink, Cal did address the youths under his care. "I would like you to know that it is my intention to study the magical capabilities of dæmons. I am quite sure that there are some. I may ask some of you to help, and I may need to experiment with some of you, though Kusa will mostly be my subject." The python dæmon flicked her tongue out in response. "I will keep you up to date with my discoveries. Should any of you discover something interesting, please tell me."