Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen)

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Aug 08, 2013 7:02 pm

Rhys watched Maurice carefully, not sure what to make of his question, but reacted a little better than Zeke. He wasn’t speechless, he just didn’t have anything to say. Part of him was all giddy and worried, pleased that Maurice was alright but angry that he had been in danger in the first place. The rest of him knew better than to ask.

Zeke seemed to have more questions than ever before, and Rhys just listened as the younger man reeled them all off, trying to think of answers to some to save Maurice the trouble. He couldn’t think of anything – it was all too bizarre.

He was surprised when Maurice fixed his gaze of Rhys himself rather than Zeke, but cleared his throat to answer anyway. “Umm, well I’d like t’ know what all this was about,” he gestured to the unconscious creature, his tone sounding like a disappointed parent, “but we’d better know what this place is first. How the hell did yer get ‘ere?” The issue of the other creature seemed to have been resolved, so he assumed that was the next most important question.

It looked decidedly… less normal now. As well as the unconscious (but apparently stirring, that was worrying) creature beneath Maurice’s hooves, there were odd plants around the patch of bare dirt that had served as an arena for the fight moments ago, and the river seemed to be lifting out of its bed somehow and flowing backwards. He was going to point it out, but it didn’t seem like the time just yet.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Aug 11, 2013 8:48 pm

“I just walked here,” Maurice replied as though that were the most obvious thing in the world, which maybe it even was, just not quite in the world Zeke and Rhys had come from. Although, they really had only worked here as well but of course they had had to walk through a portal first in order to get here.

Nothing seemed to be quite ordinary but Zeke didn’t know anymore where to look first. Before he could ask any more questions however after Rhys had put his words in, Maurice continued. “I’m here because I want to find my real mother. I want to know where I come from, I want to know the meaning of all that has been happening myself. You were right, even though you may not have voiced all your concerns but I am not the typical kind of… creature, let’s put it that way.”

“So you’re not mad at us for… you know?” Zeke was a little lost for words, which really didn’t happen often but once in a while it did. The unicorn just looked at him with a ‘are-you-kidding-me’ look and looked at Rhys briefly before looking back at Zeke. “Well I’m mad at you,” he growled before once again returning his glance to Rhys. “You’re probably wondering what this ugly thing beneath my hooves is, right?” As if on cue, the creature began to wriggle a little harder but still seemed to remain unconscious. Zeke was huffing but decided against commenting.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:22 pm

Rhys nodded along, feeling a little pang at the idea of Maurice running off to his real mother instead of staying with the two men, but he understood well enough. He would have done the same, if he hadn’t landed so nicely on his feet in the absence of his parents.

“Maurice, be nice…” Rhys cautioned, but otherwise let the conversation bounce back and forth before him. Finally, when it seemed like the other two were done, he nodded at the creature Maurice was standing on. “Yeah, it’d be great t’know what that is. Yer prob’ly right about this being the place to look though – could be your egg ended up slipping through to our side of…” Of what? He didn’t want to say ‘that freaky-ass door that seemed to appear between the ground and sky’, so he just stopped there. He assumed the others would get what he meant.

Maurice didn’t look happy about being told off by Rhys, but he didn’t protest – not yet at least. Rhys, meanwhile, tried to get a grip of everything about this side of the portal (for want of a better word). Weird creatures, slightly upside-down bushes, barren ground, freaky river… the further he looked the more unusual it seemed… and the more Maurice seemed to fit in. He seemed so calm about ‘walking there’, so maybe it was possible that he had accidentally slipped through to the wrong side… either way, they needed to look for his mother. There was only one ‘path’ as such, so once Maurice had explained a few things and dealt with the spikey creature properly, that would probably be the best route to follow.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:33 pm

Mmmhhh other side of what, indeed? Zeke thought as his mind wandered along much the same lines as Rhys’. Had Maurice’s egg really just slipped through by accident or had it been planted? If the latter was true, why had this been? Why had he been left all on his own though?

For the time being, the young man simply chose to ignore Maurice little jabs however, knowing that there wasn’t anything he could do about them anyways, not that he could change the unicorn’s mind or anything that had happened between them until now. It was just their way of being, bickering whenever they had the chance to do so. There wasn’t nothing more to it. Was there?

When Maurice began to explain the creature beneath his feet, Zeke wasn’t quite sure whether he believed what he was hearing, well, he didn’t think the name was real. The thing was called a ‘spikey dog’ quite simply, though it in no way resembled a dog. A spikey creature, sure, but not a dog. Where was there a dog in this mix?

The unicorn noticed Zeke’s unbelieving frown but didn’t comment on it. “Spikey dogs are found roaming the grass plains every now and then. They arent’t exactly rare but they tend to keep to themselves. Most of them are loners and do not hunt or live in packs. Thus, it generally doesn’t prove too difficult to get rid of them or defeat them.” Zeke raised an eyebrow at this, considering the difficulty Maurice seemed to have had with the thing before the two men had showed up, but he knew better than to state this thought out loud. Maurice would rip his head off, or whatever the unicorn equivalent to that was.

“So this one was an old acquaintance from back in your egg-y days and wanted to get in touch again? Or did you interrupt it while it was out hunting for mice?”
“I wouldn’t joke about the mice, if I were you,” Maurice replied, dead-pan. “They’re rather large and vicious around these parts, unlike the little things you are used to that I wouldn’t even consider calling a mouse.”
Zeke was a little taken aback, once again, but too curious to linger on his stung feelings. “You do know quite a bit about this place without having been here for longer than just a couple of hours, actually. Do you remember this from way before you hatched or have you learned all of that in just a few minutes?”

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Sep 05, 2013 9:28 pm

Rhys just nodded meekly and took Maurice’s word for it. He believed that the outside world was the most dangerous place available, so the idea of mice and dogs being murderous beasts didn’t shock him too much. At least this side of the portal seemed less likely to have armed bandits. “Well, you’ll have ter look after us then – we’re not nearly as familiar with this place as you are.”

However, Zeke made a good point. How /did/ Maurice know so much? He had only been missing since morning. “Yeah, ‘bout that…” he added to Zeke’s enquiry, looking around. Maurice shook his head in exasperation, looking at the two men like they were idiots. “Of course I remember – you try looking through the egg shell. I know you still have some of it.” Rhys patted himself down, feeling in his pocket to seek out the bit of shell. He found it, sure enough, wrapped in the greased paper the salt pork had been in, and turned it over in his hands. It looked perfectly shiny and pearlescent to him, but as he moved it, he realised that he could see the faintest suggestion of the groud beneath his fingers.

“Zeke, look at this!” he held the shell up to the light. It was like a mirror – from the outside it was impossible to see through, but from the inside it was like looking through glass. “Well, I don’t remember all that much from inside, but still enough to help me get by. It’s odd, it turned all dark just before you two found me though.” Maurice chirruped, kicking the unconscious spike-dog to roll it over. It snored, but didn’t wake still.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:34 am

Zeke immediately shuffled closer to Rhys when the man called him over to show his the egg shell discovery. “Wow,” he breathed, “I never noticed that!” Of course, he had never really looked at the shell either. “So maybe the fact that it turned black means…”

All of a sudden, a commotion sounded from behind them and Zeke’s head whipped around to see what the problem was. It seemed as though their adventure was not yet over and the young man heaved an unbelieving sigh when he saw the shapes that had just appeared at the crest of the hill behind which the portal was situated.

“Bandits? Really? Don’t tell me those are the ones from yesterday,” he muttered as he turned to stare at Maurice briefly. “I thought this place was sort of secret?”
The unicorn had the decency to seem to blush a little at this, bristling before it replied. “That may have been caused by me biting them.” Maurice didn’t add anything else however, content to just stare and let the humans make their own conclusions.

“So I assume we better run,” Zeke stated, feeling oddly calm as the bandits sounded another battlecry and came running down the hill. At least this time they were on foot.
“Mmmh,” Maurice agreed. “This way!” The unicorn suddenly picked up its hooves and started running down along the path towards the spot where they had stumbled upon Maurice fighting the spikey dog – who was still lying unconscious on the ground, the unicorn seemed to have quite the kick! – and continued at a dead run.
“Let’s go go go,” Zeke grinned at Rhys before taking off at a quick pace to follow their guide.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:39 pm

Rhys continued to study the shell quite carefully. His mind was ticking over as he tried to think of a way to make more of the interesting substance to use in his magic act, so he didn’t register the shapes behind them until Zeke spoke. When he heard the other man’s voice, Rhys looked around slowly, and swore bitterly. “Fantastic...” he grumbled when his tongue was finally in check again. He felt ill just looking at the silhouetted men on the hill. He fixed Maurice with a very pointed glare as he spoke, but Rhys was NOT hanging about to see what the bandits wanted.

Maurice’s embarrassment was clear- Rhys had never realised a unicorn would blush, but after everything it was beyond him to question it - and Zeke looked much too cheerful about their situation in his opinion. As soon as Maurice had indicated a direction, Rhys was off like a shot. Well, he sprinted for around ten feet, before his side gave and limited him to a very quick hobble.

It was good that Zeke was at least a little calm, because Rhys’ nerves were well and truly frayed. At least nothing that the main roads between cities had to offer from now on would trouble him – not after this ‘adventure’. Hopefully Maurice would be able to find them somewhere safe and out of the way – Rhys did not want to have to fight off the bandits they had so angered the day before. Especially not under the influence of Maurice’s bite – he needed to ask the unicorn about that when they were out of harm’s way.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:33 pm

Running was starting to become of a habit, but not one Zeke was particularly intent on keeping up, all things considered.
“Are you alright?” he shouted towards Rhys when the man suddenly slowed down a little and seemed to only be able to hobble along at a scarily slow pace, or so it seemed to Zeke, who had to rein himself in to stay beside his companion. He wasn’t too happy about being slowed down, but he also didn’t want to leave the man too far behind. If they had to fight the bandits, then they would do it together. And that included Maurice, who was keeping pace with the two men, or at least only a couple of steps ahead.

All of a sudden however, there was no more ground beneath his feet. What the…?! Without uttering a sound, eyes widen open and confusion written all over his features, Zeke, having stepped onto nothingness, felt himself falling down. And further, and further down.

It wasn’t like a normal fall, not in the least. Instead of feeling as though his stomach had left his insides and remained at the top, Zeke rather felt like he was floating down, rather quite quickly still, but as if he were on a piece of cloud. It was an odd and fairly unsettling feeling and the young man looked around him but it didn’t look as though their surroundings had changed in the least.

The unicorn was still there, a few steps ahead and looked completely unfazed. When Zeke finally squealed, Maurice looked back with a grin. “We stepped into yet another dimension. The bandits shouldn’t be able to follow us here. Neither should the spikey dog, but I'd pay attention not to touch anything. Not everything down here is as harmless as it looks, unlike on the above dimension. Just a brief walk, then we'll be back onto your plan of existence.”

He made it sound so very easy and normal, yet Zeke did not at all feel normal. Then again, when had he ever truly felt normal? With a shrug, he looked at Rhys. “We might as well just continue down this path, now that we're on it, and hope for the best, right? It'll be fun!”

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Nov 14, 2013 1:57 pm

"I'm bloody fine," Rhys grunted, gripping his side and picking up his pace to a more comfortable jogging speed. He really was too old for this. That was embarrassing. He appreciated that the other two were waiting for him, but he still had no desire to run into the bandits again. This was literally the stuff of nightmares for Rhys, and he had no intention to find out how that particular night mare might end.

It seemed even more like a dream when his feet suddenly stopped working underneath him. Rhys looked down, and immediately wished he hadn’t. “Where in all the hells has the damned floor gone!?” he shouted, flailing his legs pathetically as he fell. That felt wrong too – like falling through custard or something. He didn’t like this side of the door, and had no plans to stay there long after finding Maurice’s mother.

Rhys blocked out Maurice’s words, unable to understand the idea of two dimensions stacked on top of each other. Not touching anything wasn’t in his nature, since he was much too nosy, but in this particular instance he was going to listen to every instruction the odd little unicorn gave them. He had been in mortal peril enough times in the last few weeks to ignore them now.

He stopped to catch his breath briefly, before nodding to Zeke. “Onward then,” He muttered, hardly feeling in a position to disagree. At least the path looked the same – they still didn’t have much chance of getting lost

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Nov 14, 2013 3:48 pm

In fact, Maurice had been right for a change and they didn’t encounter anything scary. The thugs didn’t follow, neither did the spikey dog and Zeke did his best not to touch anything even though he sometimes felt the urge to poke a bush here and there just because it seemed so… odd. But he didn’t, and he was almost proud of himself.

The next dimension door was upon them before quicker than Zeke would have thought and Maurice lead the way through. It was weird how they had fallen down here but now only took a step and they were back in the normal world without ever having to ascend a hill or whatnot. “We are back,” Maurice stated, and Zeke nodded frantically.

Even the air smelled the way it should again. It smelled like Dragons’ Cove. “I’m glad we are,” he stated. “Not that I do not like my little adventures, but even for me this was a little extreme.” After a moment’s hesitation and a few pleading looks in Rhys’ direction to help him with this particular bit of the conversation, Zeke said: “We still need to find your mum though.”

He wanted to say so much more, about everything that had been said the night before and everything that had happened since then but instead he firmly shut his mouth and let Rhys take over. He was better at that sort of thing, plus Maurice liked him, unlike Zeke. They definitely needed to figure something out however if they wanted to go on a wild goose chase to find Maurice’s mum.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:59 pm

Rhys looked behind his at the dimension door in utter confusion and frustration when they made their way back into the plane of existence they were used to. “But we walked all that way… how..” he gave up, deciding that he didn’t need to know how it all worked. Al that mattered was that they were back where they started… but Rhys had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that simple.

“Zeke’s right, we do need to find your mother…” he agreed, looking at Maurice with concern. He didn’t really want to give the unicorn up, but he needed to be where he belonged, not with two men who had no idea how to care for him. Zeke didn’t look comfortable with this bit of conversation, so Rhys took over happily. After everything, a conversation with a unicorn no taller that Rhys’ knee was no issue at all.

“Do you know anything else that might help us find her..? I mean, we’d be ‘appy to stay with you, but you really should be where y’belong. An’ we can’t even begin to look before we know a bit more.” With all the changes that had occurred in Maurice lately, they didn’t even know what his mother would look like, so there was nothing they could do without a little help from Maurice.

Maurice looked thoughtful for a while. “Well, I don’t know what to say – it’s hard to explain everything on the other side of the door all at once. She’ll be in there though – I think that’s where I must have come from.” He said firmly, looking to the two men for more specific questions.

It was all a bit sad, really, though the conversation was necessary, and actually overdue considering how far developed Maurice already was with just a few days out of the shell, especially with regards to how quickly his skills were developing. Not that half of those skills were anything Zeke would want him to develop any further but…

“Ok so basically you’re saying that we have to go back to the other side of the door in order to find your mother?” Zeke wanted to sigh, but he held back. As much as he was for adventure, he really did prefer them on this side of the door. However, if there was no other way to do this, then of course he would see it through and hopefully Rhys was of the same opinion.

“Can we travel on this side parallel to the other side until we reach the area your mother is residing in? Just because there are many unknown things to all of us on the other side of the door that could lead to potential disaster, it might be easier to stick to a side all of us know. Especially since we don’t really seem to know anything more about where we’re heading.”

Much to his surprise, the unicorn nodded at this. “Indeed, I’m not quite sure where exactly she is. I only get flashes every now and then, images of places but I don’t know what they are or where they belong. But yes, I think we should be able to keep travelling on this side and then just cross over when the time is right.”

Zeke looked at his partner in crime. “So what do you say, motherhen? Shall we keep travelling for a bit in search of adventures and lost mothers?”

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:06 pm

Rhys was beyond relieved when Maurice announced that they could stay on the right side of the funny little door for at least a little while, but he knew they were going to have to cross again sooner or later. It amused him to think that, for a creature that lived on the other side (like Maurice and his mother), the ‘normal’ side of the door must seem alien. But for all that the thought was amusing, it didn’t stop his stomach turning at the idea of going back through.

“Oh bugger it, we might as well. We’ve come this far, so I reckon there’s not much more tha’ can go wrong.” Rhys sighed, bidding normality farewell once again. After this, he would never again complain about being bored. He was looking forward to an uneventful day or two when he got home…

“Shall we just keep goin’ forwards then? Seems like the only way we CAN go for now…” Rhys suggested, taking an ambitious step forward, It was only then that he realised what Zeke had said. He stopped dead, and turned around slowly. “Mother hen? Really? Come on!” he grumbled, pulling a face. However, he couldn’t suppress his grin for long. It was pretty funny, even if he didn’t think he liked being called mother in any way, shape or form.

Maurice ignored them both, and trotted off forwards along the path. The path itself was fading a bit, where the grass was starting to grow back over the dirt, but at least it was more distinct and, erm, level, than the path on the other side of the door. Rhys would settle for a sheep track over that any day.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Tue Jan 14, 2014 9:54 am

Zeke burst into laughter when Rhys belated realised that he had received a new nickname. Slapping him on the shoulder, he moved to follow Maurice. “Ah, but you know it’s only the truth!” At least his friend was grinning again, probably also in relief though that they were back in a world they actually knew. He had to admit himself that it felt much better to be back where they belonged.

The unicorn stayed ahead of them for a long time, stopping every now and then to let them catch up and to see if he could catch any more glimpses of his mother but nothing seemed to be willing to reveal itself to him. The hours passed and soon enough they found themselves back on a slightly larger road, still overgrown with grass and dirt but a bit bigger and slightly more used.

“You know, I think I have completely lost my sense of direction after that little trip into wherever it was,” Zeke grumbled as he turned a full circle on the spot, trying to find any kind of landmarkers that could possibly tell them where they were. “Guess that means that we’ll just have to keep going and hope that eventually we’ll come back to civilisation.”

They couldn’t have strayed all too far from the road though but in any case, with everything that had been going on, Zeke didn’t even remember what they had wanted to do in the first place or where they had been headed. But in the end, it probably didn’t matter.

“I don’t know about you guys,” Zeke continued, “but I could use a little bit of a break. You know, sit down and stretch the legs in a different position. It’s been a rather rough morning already.”

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:21 pm

Rhys gave a scowley-grin, and let that be the end of the mother hen discussion. It was close enough to being accurate, so as long as nobody from the Circus ever heard the nickname, he was safe. If they did, he’d never hear the end of it... sometimes he thought it would be easier to be part of a major faction on the island instead – in the DDC he wouldn’t have to worry about getting teased to death over his affection for young animals. Tolerance was definitely a major selling point for the Island’s defenders.

They travelled uneventfully for a long while, which Rhys was immensely pleased about. However, when Zeke suggested a break, he was more than ready for one. “Civilisation seems a long way off now, but I’m sure we’ll find somewhere.” He said, relaxing down onto the soft grass to stretch out his legs and back. “Besides, I’ve always had a good sense o’ where the next city is.”

At least the road was looking a little better now. This seemed like a good point to be at – thicker paths were usually a little safer than tiny tracks, and after all his travelling in his youth, Rhys considered himself an expert on that. Thick paths also meant main trade routes, so it the path continued to improve, civilisation might not be as much of a far cry as they had expected.

“So, any updates Maurice? Anythin’ we should know about going on t’other side of that door?” he asked, shutting his eyes for a second and relaxing. His fear of everything beyond his safe little shack of a house in Jiluria was swamped by the events of the previous days, so he was actually as close to genuinely relaxed as he was likely to get. At least nothing horrific was happening at that exact moment.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:28 pm

“I’m sure something will pop up sooner or later on the horizon. I’m not all too worried either way.” Zeke settled comfortably onto the ground, or as comfortable as he could as the grass didn’t have quite so much moss and other things growing in between the blades to cushion his behind. They would have to hunt themselves something to eat soon again as well, though for now there was still a bit of meat leftover from their last cooking trial before the fish.

While he was searching his bag for a scrap thereof, Maurice contemplated Rhys’ question. “Well, you know. The usual, I guess. Stay from anything you don’t know, don’t anger the beasts and just... don’t be yourselves. That means you, Zeke.”

The man in question looked up from his futile search to stare innocently at the unicorn. “Me? What have I ever done? Trouble comes looking for me, not the other way around. I swear!” Not that either of the others would ever believe that but he could try right? And for the most part, things really were not his fault. Of course, it didn’t help that he indulged his adventurous nature, but at least half of the things that had happened to him in his life or even just on this trip had been through no fault of his.

Maurice just stared at him for a long time, almost openmouthed and clearly wondering what the heck the man was talking about and most definitely not believing him, but surprisingly, he didn't comment - for now. Probably too dumbstruck while Zeke grinned widely at the two of them.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Jun 08, 2014 8:49 pm

Rhys smirked when Maurice criticised Zeke, trying not to snort with laughter. The unicorn was great, and made excellent company surprisingly. “Zeke, y’know none of us believe yer, right? Now come on, le’s go find that damned doorway again.” Rhys chuckled, ignoring Zeke’s plea of innocence. It was true that he wasn’t actually to blame for any of the event of their journey, and Rhys had probably been more of a liability along the way, but Zeke seemed bothered by the very notion that it was his fault, so Rhys saw it as his duty to ensure that idea was suggested at every possible occasion.

Maurice said nothing about Zeke, for once, but did mention the door. “No need to find the old one, I can open up another one here. They’re really very simple, I can’t believe you two can’t do it.” Maurice announced, staring intently at a patch of air in front of his nose. He seemed genuinely bemused by his non-magical travelling companions.

There was a pause, slightly longer than Rhys had anticipated, and it was seeming more an more like Maurice was just staring at nothing, forgetting all about the task in hand. He was just about to question the unicorn when there was a whooshing sound, and a tiny circle of darkness appeared in the air in front of Maurice. It swirled and grew, before finally resolving itself into the shape of a doorway. The gap was like smoke, but on the other side they could clearly see the outline of the river on the other side. This door was much larger, obviously more equipped for the two humans, and Maurice looked quite proud of his work.

“Come on then, no point hanging about!” He chirped to the humans happily, trotting through the gate into the odd world beyond the new door.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:55 am

He could just…?! Zeke stared with wide eyes when Maurice suddenly started concentrating to open a doorway just right there, in front of them, as though it was nothing. And then he wondered why they couldn’t do it. There were a few things he could respond to that but he kept his mouth shut, otherwise the other two might just decide to gang up on him again. He still had to grin at the thought of this. Even Rhys was playing along with it. Good thing they could all laugh so easily!

Of course, while Zeke’s thoughts were still happily cruising around their conversation, nothing happened. His eyes grew a little less wide and he was just in the middle of raising a questioning eyebrow when suddenly the ominous doorway popped into existence. This really was quite something. For a moment, Zeke wasn’t sure whether he should be scared or impressed. Either way, Maurice’s growing skills in just about everything weird were fascinating.

He cocked an eyebrow at Rhys when the unicorn passed through the doorway and shrugged. “Guess this’ll be the next episode of Rhys’ and Zeke’s adventures? After you, my dear friend!”
The other side of the door presented a view they had already seen. The river with its surroundings, looking calm and peaceful. No weird creatures, no scary-looking plants. If they hadn’t known any better, it almost looked completely normal.

“So Maurice, any idea where to start looking? With just flashes of images, I hope you have a bit of a clue which direction to take?” Obviously, this once again just earned him a glare from the unicorn and Zeke just shrugged, rolling his eyes to heavens. “Some things never change, eh?” he grinned as he nudged Rhys.

Taking on a slightly more serious tone, he addressed the unicorn again: “We’re right here with you. Just lead the way.”

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:46 pm

Rhys was baffled by Maurice's growing power - from Zeke's expression he could tell that the younger man thought the same. The unicorn seemed to be developing these mysterious powers very rapidly, but Maurice didn't even acknowledge them as new. This 'doors' thing was new, but he treated it as nothing more than a convenient trik. The same went with him learning to talk, come to think of it. It was like the further they went through their journey, the more of Maurice's internal knowledge bubbled up to the surface. What they might find at the end of their journey seemed like a frightening prospect, if that was indeed the case.

"'Nother adventure?" Rhys grinned lopsidedly, "I suppose it is. Well, we'd best follow Maurice, before he leaves us behind." He nodded in the Unicorn's direction, who was already trotting down the path on the Other Side quite happily. Some of Zeke's adventurous attitude and optimism must have been rubbing off on Rhys, because some of his terror about the outside world was fading. A week ago, the idea of going through a weird door into a crazy place like this would have scared him out of his wits.

Maurice's treatment of Zeke was totally predictable, and they proceeded as a group, in a calm kind of quiet. Like before, everything seemed normal... until it didn't. A few steps along the path, their surroundings shifted, and things started seeming not quite right. It was subtle at first - just a feeling - but then the trees started growing the wrong way, and the river flowed in totally unnatural directions. Rhys swallowed, and finding that insufficient relief, took a mouthful of whiskey to calm his nerves. Maurice was obviously totally at home, but this place was really messing with Rhys' head.

"I guess it's best not t' take yer eyes off the path..."he mumbled to Zeke. It was the only part of the odd setting which seemed to stay constant, which Rhys was quite happy to accept. After all, one consistency was better than none, even though several would have been preferable.

Zeke was honestly happy that Rhys had finally really found the adventure spirit and was much less shy about venturing into new adventures – and through a portal – yet again. He wasn’t sure about the man’s motivations, but he would like to think that some of this was his doing and it made Zeke smile.

He had similar feelings as Rhys though in terms of their landscape on the other side of the portal. At first it had all seemed interesting and odd, but ever-changing environments made even Zeke a little edgy. “Yes, better not sway off the path,” he agreed when his companion whispered to him. Maurice was confidently striding along, leading the way as though he had taken this route a hundred times before. And maybe he had? Maybe he had been reborn? Zeke scolded himself. Of course not. Maurice was merely drawing on the memories that had been slumbering deep within him, just like he did with all the other memories, of speech, of sight, of magic-use and what have you not. It was disconcerting for sure but he was pretty sure that unicorns – even zombie ones – had to grow up pretty quickly and learn the ways of the world in order to get by.

When they came around a bend in the road, which had not been there just a moment ago, Maurice suddenly stopped and stared straight ahead. Zeke was squinting to see what it was their four-legged friend had discovered but couldn’t detect anything. Nudging Rhys, he looked at him questioningly before jerking his head into that same direction. Maybe he saw something?
Either way, Zeke was curious and he had already opened his mouth and prepared the question he wanted to ask, when his eyes suddenly did see what had Maurice stopping dead in his tracks. Surprised, he grabbed Rhys’ arm and unnecessarily pointed at the rather large unicorn – complete with rainbow colours shimmering over its coat in no clearly distinctive or discernible way – coming towards them.

“Is that...?” It sure did look like it could be Maurice’s mother but he didn’t voice the complete question, suddenly afraid he might jinx it all. That would not do. But he really hoped this was Maurice’s mother, that their quest had been successful and that their little friend would be reunited with his family.

Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:05 pm

Rhys kept his head down as they walked, part of him still in denial ofwhere he was, and made a point of not studying the landscape too hard. It was a bit much for him, even if he had found a little bit of adventurous spirit deep down, and this side of the portal was becoming one of Rhys' least favourite places.

Zeke's elbow distracted him from whatever place his mind had wondered off to, and Rhys looked up in time to see, well, another Maurice, but much bigger. The beast was probably bigger than a horse, and certainly broader in the shoulders, but it was undeniably another unicorn. Shimmering fur in all the colours of the rainbow, plus a few more besides, and a horn that was probably supposed to be beautiful, while Rhys could only see it as potentially deadly.

"I don't know, could be..?" Rhys responded, figuring out fairly easily what Zeke meant. "They do look alike, but I s'pose I've never seen a Unicorn before either." He just assumed that Maurice would be able to settle the matter for them. Maurice had stopped in his tracks a little further along the path, eyes locked onto the other unicorn, so the humans were left to watch the scene unfold between the two unicorns.

The larger unicorn approached slowly, and stopped a few feet away from Maurice. The two unicorns seemed to be looking deep into each other's eyes, and they stayed completely still for an almost uncomfortably long time. Eventually, however, they each dropped their eyes, and chirped. It was bizarre to hear that odd little sound from Maurice now that Rhys knew he could talk, but it sounded even stranger coming from the fully grown unicorn.

"What do you suppose that was all about..?" Rhys muttered to Zeke, not wanting to catch the attention of the larger unicorn until they were sure it wouldn't harm them. It could be as friendly as Maurice, but it could also be a whole lot less pleasant, and Rhys didn't fancy his chances of outrunning it. Especially if they pissed it off.

Zeke felt like an intruder, watching the bigger unicorn, presumable Maurice’s mother, and their little travel companion stare at each other. It felt intimate and the young man was certain that this should rather have been done without an audience. Chirping soon filled the air however and Zeke felt less uncomfortable, though it was odd hearing the sound again.

“Natural way of communication?” he guessed, considering that Maurice had been able to talk to them. Come to think of it however, he hadn’t done that right from the start.
Upon Rhys question, he shrugged: “Relating all that has happened since Maurice put a crack in that egg? I don’t know.”

As quietly as they had spoken, the unicorn still noticed and lifted her head to look at them. Not necessarily in a very friendly way. Zeke stiffened and wondered what was going to happen next. He was fairly optimistic still so there were no images of them being turned into zombies or skinned alive, but he was apprehensive of the mother. Even Maurice had his problems with him, so he had better not attract too much negative attention.

The silent staring was unsettling however, so he just waved and said: “Hello.”
When the mother just kept looking at them, the expression on her face darkening, Maurice chirped once more before switching to words the two humans could understand. “This is my mother. She won’t harm you, but she says that this place isn’t safe for you and you’ve already spent too much time here. We’ll bring you back.”