Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Espoir took a few tiny steps back when the fairy practically exploded at them, blinking in a dazed confusion and building fear. She was rather afraid to begin with, and the fairy's lost of temper did not help things either. She quickly decided not to say or do anything in response to the fairy, for fear she might blow up even more, and Espoir certainly didn't want that.

Espoir turned jerkily at the kelpie when he started to speak. He seemed shy and rather nervous, kind of like how she was feeling too. The centaur had already gone off into the forest, and the Kelpie seemed to indicate that he wanted to see what was going on as well.

She had about two choices at the moment. First, she could choose to remain here with a very enraged fairy. Second, she could go and investigate the explosion with the centaur and the kelpie. She didn't find making a decision very difficult in this case. Frightened enough as she was, she doubted she could bear any more screaming thrown at her way. Espoir nodded at Puk. For one, she didn't want to be stuck alone with an angry fairy and the explosion had certainly piqued her interest, now that most of the initial shock the explosion had caused, had subsided.

'I'll go.'

[I'm going to Canada until the 17th and then I'm moving out of my home for two months. I really have no clue about internet access so this is aaall up to you lot until I get regular access.

Oh yes, new stuff to first post.]

Senya stiffened up even further when she heard the kelpie ask them to ride it. A vague memory about riding kelpies being dangerous flashed through her head.

"I'm not riding you!" she burst out fearfully. "Go away, the two of you. Go on! Hurry up and leave!" Then, as if she couldn't wait for them to hurry up and go away, she ran away from them across the shore back towards the rocks.

Slipping behind an overhanging rock, she hid herself from sight. She felt about for her sealskin, panic-stricken. The only thing she wanted to do was run away from these faeries and from everything that was happening. Her fear seemed irrational, but she wasn't thinking rationally now. Good, the sealskin was still there. Taking off her faerie garments at lightning speed and donning on her comfortable sealskin, she turned into a seal again.

Gripping the garments between her teeth, she slipped almost soundlessly into the ocean, making a tiny splash as she swam downwards ... down, down, down, deep down into the deepest depths.

---

At a palace, the faerie king asked his advisors, "Well, what do you make of it?"

Slowly, each advisor shook his or her head in a doubtful manner. A few vague suggestions that meant nothing at all were brought up and immediately dismissed by the speaker. It was a terribly confusing thing.

"Your Royal Majesty!" a soldier saluted the king. "There has been no intrusion into the Otherworld by any disbelievers! The wards are still clear and working."

The king sighed. He had wondered if someone who did not believe in faeries had entered the Otherworld and had sent his soldiers to check on the wards. Once upon an age, a disbeliever had entered and there had been some pretty havoc. Since then, the wards had been set up and worked very well too.

"Your Royal Majesty..." the soldier hesitated. Clearly there was more to his report. The king made an impatient gesture for the soldier to continue. "The wise ones" -- the wise ones were elderly faeries reknowned for their knowledge, a few old faeries who lived solitary lives in the palace's topmost towers -- "believe that someone has entered. Someone who doesn't belong here and who might be trying to do something terrible to the Otherworld."

The king frowned. At length he said, "Find that someone and bring him or her to me."

[Explanations! Rather badly done, but hopefully you get the idea. This is a different king to a different realm than the one Alex has, by the way. This one is on land somewhere. Or air. I'm not sure. Not under the sea anyway.

Wards have been set up to prevent anyone who doesn't believe in faeries to enter the Otherworld. There are wards that also prevent people, in general, from entering unless deliberately invited by a faerie to do so. A person may be invited into the Otherworld without being aware of it, e.g. a kelpie captured a person and brought them to the Otherworld. Sometimes people really do stumble across the Otherworld by accident, like Lilac's character. However, people who stumble across are open to the possibility that faeries may exist or they do believe in faeries. Anyway, they don't blatently disbelieve in faeries so the wards don't go off.

Usually, when people believe in faeries, they like them or they feel neutral towards them. There are no wards to prevent an anti-faerie person from entering. (Anti-faerie as in "I hate faeries although I know they exist", just like "I hate green peppers even though I know they exist". I am anti-green pepper.)

There lies the key difference. There are wards to stop disbelievers. There are no wards to stop anti-faerie believers. The wise ones' theory (which may prove to be unfounded after all) is that an anti-faerie believer has entered the Otherworld. Or this believer wants to do something that upsets the balance of nature, even though the intruder may not be anti-faerie at all, and just very ignorant.

As a general rule, this realm's soldiers bring back suspects to the king, who isn't a bad fellow, just likes to prove he's powerful. He likes to flex his muscles and show off, so to speak. So the soldiers aren't always humane fellows and may resort to kidnapping, torturing, interrogation, etc, to get things out of you. (Torturing nothing too brutal for this role play, by the way. No food and water usually works wonders.) Some of the more impulsive have accidentally killed hostages and things are hushed up. Most faeries are apathetic to these killings since suspects are "criminals" anyway and humans don't really matter too much. Anyway, it's a rare happening.

But now anyone who has recently entered the Otherworld, anyone who is human, anyone who just looks suspicious at all (travellers, because they're not living at home), anyone who's done anything slightly out of place which is not part of their daily ritual, is going to be hunted. That includes you, you and you. *points finger randomly*]

As soon as she had gone a few metres into the forest Artemis turned around, she looked towards the beach and, with her exceptional hearing, heard that the kelpie and fairie had decided to investigate the explosion also. Galloping back towards the beach she softened her harsh gaze at the two creatures, "Well? Are you two coming or not?"

Puk watched the angry faerie dissapear amongst the rocky shores a little further. He blinked.

"Did I say something wrong?"

It wouldn't be that hard to find her, but, the explosion interested him more right now. He promised himself he would return to seek her afterwards.

The centaur women had returned, she looked a little impatient.

"Well? Are you two coming or not?"

Puk bopped his head, lifted himself out of the sand, and trotted to Artemis.

The angry fairy was gone. Espoir wasn't exactly sure how she disappeared so easily into the river, unless she was really one of the water creatures that resided in water.

'I'm coming,' Espoir said again, more to herself. She nodded at the wind bird who took flight and followed her in a mass of glittering feathers. Espoir hurried after Puk, not wanting to be left behind.

Nobody continued speaking with Tekuri. He apparently was dead set on joining the gypsies for the time being. "I can fend for myself," could be overheard through the conversation. While Nobody seemed the type to joke about anything, he seemed to be serious about how he cared for himself and naturally avoided being a burden.

Occasionally he would glance around the camp. He saw the look on Ilmena's face a moment later. Whether she was trying to hide her emotions or not, the Alven saw them. He gently held each end of his mouth with an index finger and pulled up, creating a grin. "Smile, its the first step out of that pit of sorrow, Miss," he suggested to the human girl.

Ilmena looked up at the Alven, startled, then blushed and looked down as she realized what he meant.

"It's not a pit of sorrow, really," she remarked with a wry grin. "More like an abyss of confusion. I'm from Imorna," the girl explained, "and I haven't been out of the country since I arrived there. So it's cultural shock and all that, then, right now. I'm very much a fish out of water- literally, I suppose- around gypsies, as you can probably see."

Relaxing as she became a bit more confident that this faerie didn't know who she really was, Ilmena smiled and extended her hand towards him. "My name's Eeta, by the way. Not Miss, though I suppose that would certainly be an interesting name, wouldn't it."


((Hurrah... Finally, Ilmena starts to be normal. Well. Not really normal, I suppose, seeing how she's a human noble who's lived among water creatures her entire life and is now traveling with a group of gypsies, but... Normal for her personality, anyway. ))

Artemis nodded at the two creatures, she felt a strange desire to be especially kind to them both. The feeling was probably because the kelpie was an equine creature like herself and the fairy was a creature of the forest. She trotted off into the forest, trying to move slower than normal so the two could keep up. Every few minutes she would glance back, checking to make sure they weren't getting left behind. "So...." she began, she had never been a very social creature, "What do you think caused the explosion?"

((okay sounds good about the gypsies not knowing ))

The fairies carrying Celeste's stretcher continued to ignore her as she sat up on her elbows, a bit precariously, as they moved toward a wagon covered with deep green cloth at the end of the caravan. She had gotten over the majority of the initial shock of her discovery, and since she was usually not faint of heart at all, was now overwhelmed with curiousity (the fainting incident had been something strange and unlike her).

"Excuse me?" she said, rather timidly, directing her words toward the fairy at the foot of her stretcher (who happened to be Blurin). He didn't respond in the slightest.

"'Scuse me." This time she repeated herself a little more strongly and loudly. He turned his head, but he had a sour look on his face, though there was a bit of tell-tale residual fairy merriment sparkling in his eyes.

"What, Human?" he replied, not quite gruffly or meanly, really, but with an edge of prejudice in his voice. Celeste was taken aback. She had never thought about the fact that she might not be welcome in the Otherworld. No, actually, she had worried about that. But it had never occurred to her that the fairies' voices would be anything but soft, beautiful, and melodious, like the voice she heard the night her sister disappeared. And Blurin's was still somewhat melodious, but far from soft or sweet.

She swallowed nervously, her determination waning a bit. "I...I...I was wondering if perhaps you've run into any other humans these past three or so years? I'm looking for my sister and -"

The fairy by her head spoke abruptly, startling her and interrupting her. "No. No we haven't run into many humans in our travels," it said, and from the voice Celeste couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl. She strained to look at the face of the speaker, but couldn't manage without risking dumping herself out of the stretcher.

"None at all," Blurin added, "Except her."

He pointed an almost accusatory finger at Ilmena, glaring slightly in her general direction, almost as if he had personally been injured or betrayed by the girl. Celeste looked hard at her, she seemed somewhat fairy-like, although Celeste identified with her straight red hair, which was of a deeper and brighter shade than Celeste's oranger hair. The other human girl was talking to some sort of fairy, it seemed to be a young he-fairy who looked nice enough - he was smiling, as was the girl, which was a nice change to the grim or worried faces of the rest of the fairies around her.

Celeste nodded her thanks to the fairies carrying her, giving a small smile. They seemed to deem the conversation finished and turned away once again. But Celeste wondered about the girl and the fairy talking to her, she wanted to talk to them. And she let herself entertain the idea that perhaps they would be friends in this surprisingly unfriendly Otherworld she had stumbled into.

((ooch, hope it is okay that I basically highlighted the fact that Ilmena is human, but I believe she did yell the fact out a few posts back when Celeste had just fainted, so yeah. If this is problem, please let me know. Worked well to get my char somewhat connected with yours in her concious state though, so that's why I did it.))

[Hoo boy. *is temporary GC in Lillie's absence*]

Espoir made no reply. She honestly had no idea. Through her rather short lifetime, she had yet to come across explosions of any sort. She remained silent, occasionally casting a few glances at her surroundings and companions.

[Darn, writers' block...]

Puk trotted next to the big centaur, to better hear her words. Occasionally, he met a particulary dense bush, because of that, he had to silence for a moment and wriggle through.

His manes and tail were full of leaves, thorns and all other kind of forest plant material.

"Hmm.. I once heard a dragon breathing, one with fire. But it wasn't quite the same. It sounded more like WOOSH, instead of KABOOM!"

The smell of burned wood because stronger.

"I don't know why he was that angry.. I mean, don't dragons breath if they are angry? Or maybe he was happy?"

Puk noticed they had bended their course a little to the North West. In the direction of Whitepool.

"You know what, in that direction there is a great lake."

By now the scrubbery became less dense and green. In fact, the air felt a little hot.

[I live! I'm in Vancouver at the moment and we're off to Victoria today. It's way too early in the morning to be up, but my jet lag is messing me up anyway. ]

Swimming deeper down than she normally did, Senya tried to recover herself and collect her wits about her. The coolness and familiarity of the salt water calmed her down a little and eventually, she began to breathe easier. Her swimming slowed but she continued her slow descent underwater.

What on earth had happened? she wondered. The explosion had frightened her to pieces and she wasn't used to how land faeries worked. Their thoughts and speech and action seemed almost completely alien to her. The only faerie she had half understood was the kelpie, who was, after all, a water-abiding faerie like herself. Kelpies were certainly strange, though, in her mind. How could any self-respecting water-faerie run towards danger on land when there was safety in water?

Senya was not completely right there. In her right mind, she would not have swum to the deepest depths of the ocean. The dark, murky waters often housed some more unfriendly creatures. Now she could not help but notice how the water was frothing slightly. This made no sense to her, as she was so deep down under the ocean, and it gave her an uneasy feeling.

Just as she was thinking she should return higher up to better-known waters, a nasally, gloating voice cried out, "Gotcha!" and something slimy was thrown over her eyes completely blinding her. Something had caught hold of her flippers and she could not move, much as she tried.

She descended further into pitch black.

((Sorry for the short notice, but I, most likely, won't be able to be online tonight, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. I'll be in Victoria (like Lillie!), waiting for the camp I'm going to to start. The camp does have a computer lab, so while I won't be online eight hours a day, as I usually am during the summer ( ), I will be able to go online.

But the camp starts on the 9th (day after tomorrow), so until then, I'll be staying in a hotel, as my mom could only find plane tickets for tonight. Bleh.

For the time being, pretend Ilmena went to sleep or something after saying hello to Celeste and 'Nobody'. Or she fainted. Either one.

I will be on later today, before we leave, to post- right now I'm super-busy trying to pack. And I just realized I need to charge my iPod's battery, so ta-ta!))

((Actually, I'll be in Vancouver for part of tomorrow, then in Victoria for the rest of the day and Saturday. Yeah.

I think.))

Nobody just stared at the fire. He had explained to the red-haired girl, who had not known to be from a land of faeries herself, that he was the type to throw himself into other cultures. He recalled his own words quietly, "Other cultures are more enjoyable than that of my own. People smile more and sometimes even say hi and mean it."

The fairies carrying Celeste's stretcher gently set her down in the back of the wagon they had been moving towards. Inside it was dark and musty-smelling, but amidst the traces of dust there was the faintest smell of lavender and violets. That and the dim yellow light coming from mysterious glowing orbs warmed Celeste's spirits a bit as the fairies left her alone without a word.

She glanced about the wagon, which was dusty but obviously often used. The dust was the kind of dust that came from life on the road. It sparkled slightly too, which amazed Celeste. Amazement was an emotion that she was beginning to attempt to get used to. She had a feeling that it would only grow as she was exposed to more of the Otherworld.

She sat up on her elbows again, wanting to get up and explore, to learn and take in and perhaps talk to the other girl, the girl who was sort of like she was. However her legs were still shaky, and despite the fact that she felt more comfortable with being in this entirely new universe, her body had not quite adjusted. Consoling herself by searching the inside of the wagon with her eyes alone, she took in what appeared to be the entire home of one or a family of these traveling fairies. There was a basin that appeared to drain out of the bottom of the wagon, like a sink, and jugs and jars under shelves along one wall. Cooking supplies had recently been tossed in an open chest, it appeared, and there were a few sealed baskets of what smelled like fish, berries, and dried meat. Three cots were stacked in a corner, along with some blankets of the same soft, burlap-ish substance that her stretcher was made out of.

Celeste's eyes widened as she looked above herself and noticed that the roof of the wagon was decorated with tiny dangling stars. They were a dusty gold color, not quite shiny, not quite dull. And they seemed to be full of life, sparkles running around the outlines of each, the stars bouncing and spinning a bit with the occaisional waft of the night breeze. Celeste nearly clapped her hands in delight, and then glanced back out into the campground. The fairies had nearly finished dismantling it, and she wondered once again, why there was so much of a fuss going on in the middle of the night.

Perhaps these Otherworlders are nightdwellers, she told herself. But she didn't believe it. Something in their faces told her that things were not progressing ordinarily. And furthermore, she knew that she was one of the unusual aspects of the evening.

Sighing, she sat back down and tried to go to sleep. She had been traveling for a good portion of the night and knew that she needed it. But her mind was racing with too many things. And she was already beginning to despair in finding Adelaide - she felt that no one would feel like helping her. She was unmistakably human, which here seemed to be a borderline crime.

Celeste sighed again, and briefly opened her eyes again, in frustration that sleep would not come. It was at this moment that her eyes alighted on a silvery cerulean notebook, wedged beneath the cupboard that rose high above her head and was sitting next to the sink. She rolled onto her side and reached for the book.

It was stuck in there, and clearly had not been moved for quite some time. Yet Celeste kept tugging at it, it was soft and mossy against her fingertips, and the more she touched it, the more she wanted to know what was inside. Finally, it came free from the cupboard's clutches and the cupboard seemed to sag a little now that the notebook was in her hand.

Curious runes were etched in a circle in the center of the cover, and the etchings were filled with silver ink. Her eyes sparkling with curiousity, Celeste pulled back the cover, silvery dust exploding onto her cloak that was currently serving as her blanket. A small gasp of surprise escaped as she beheld the opening page.