Nano ho!
Cerina tried again in vain to speak, finally clearing her throat forcefully, a vibrant blush rising in her cheeks as her eyes met his. "Oh, I see. But... Wow. Were you just mostly human the first time you happened to stumble into here, or was it something that you had to work at?"
"Work at?" he cocked his head at her curiously, his mannerisms still very much cat, even in this very alluring human form. "What do you mean?"
Cerina looked at her feet to keep her mind on trying to articulate her thoughts into words. "Did you have to do something, a task or whatever, to get a human form?"
He shrugged. "I was simply a cat to begin with. But then as I was simply out and about, I started wondering what it would be like to be human. Or to at least have opposable thumbs," he added the last with a laugh that showed that he still had small cat-like fangs behind those perfectly sculpted cupid's bow lips. "Words have great power here, Cerina. And thoughts do as well. If you can dream it, it can become reality."
Cerina looked up at him then, taking a step closer as an ominous chill ran down her spine. "But, Bla- Bastien... Not everyone has good dreams."
The feline man smirked very slightly, no humor present in his half smile. "I know."
Bastien's stance changed very quickly, going from aloof and relaxed to on edge and looking ready to fight. Cerina could almost see his hackles rising. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, but he quickly clamped a hand over her lips to silence her. As his eyes looked down into hers, they narrowed slightly and they flicked to the right. He held a finger to his own lips to warn her to be silent and grabbed her hand, taking off at a dead run that she almost couldn't keep up with. His long legs took strides much lengthier than her own, but she pushed herself to make her pace almost match his. The urgency in his eyes and the almost palpable fear around him warned her that something very dangerous was back there behind them.
Whatever it was, she heard no signs of pursuit but still they dashed on madly. Her legs ached, her lungs burned, her heartbeat was like thunder in her ears, and that was when it happened. She lost her focus, and then she lost her footing. It was only a momentary setback, as Bastien caught her and pulled her back up without even slowing. And then she heard it...
A piercing shriek echoed through the moonlit night, one that made her blood run cold. Only something from a person's worst nightmares could ever make such a sound, like dragging broken shards of glass across a chalk board.
"What in the name of fuck was-?!"
"Forget it! Keep running! It can't touch us once we've gotten past the Barrier!"
Before she could ask what the Barrier was, a sudden icy chill ran across her skin, like the frigid deluge from a waterfall. They were surrounded by sparkling white light and her vision was lost to the brightness for a moment before everything returned to normal and they finally stopped running. Bastien helped her stay standing as she panted, turning to look behind them.
The Barrier was some sort of magical shield that kept certain things from entering mildly populated places, from what she'd just seen. They were now on the outskirts of a rather large city that had been hidden in the darkness and dense foliage. And back in the direction they'd come from, a bird so large that its form blocked out the light of the moons and stars with its terrifyingly large shape. "What was..?" Her voice sounded small and frightened, even to her.
"An Uard..." Bastien said with distaste. "Vile creatures that hover about in the nights here, looking for unwary travelers who've ventured too far away from the beaten path. They especially like hanging about near the places where this world joins with others."
"Others? You mean others aside from my Earth?"
The man nodded. "There's more to this universe than your mind can even begin to grasp, Cerina."
She collapsed to the ground, her legs weak beneath her. After a few moments of breathing deeply with her head down, Cerina's speeding heart beat returned to something much closer to normal and she looked up to see Bastien's face close to hers. He held out a silver chalice to her, the liquid in it clear and odorless.
"Drink?"
He didn't need to ask her twice. She wrapped her shaking fingers around his and lifted it to her lips, slowly sipping the liquid so as not to upset her already queasy stomach by giving it too much work all at once. It was cool and refreshing as it slid down her throat, doing more to undo the damage from her ragged breathing than any normal water should have been able to do. She made a mental note to herself to ask him what it had been at some point later on.
Bastien helped her to her feet and the road beneath them changed from hard packed dirt to dark cobblestone and things began looking much more urban. Buildings began popping up around them, crawling higher and higher into the sky with their stony fingers that seemed desperate to scratch the eyes from the heavens.
"This city is Motui," he explained as they walked, his arm around her waist to help support her still slightly shaking legs. "It's the place I was when I first stumbled upon Moordarq. My first few weeks were spent here as a cat. Then I wondered what being human would be like, and I woke up one morning to no fur." He chuckled. "It was pretty disconcerting at first, but once I found myself some clothes and got used to the whole being bipedal thing, I discovered that I like being in this form much more."
"Yeah, go figure." Cerina said in reply, trying not to let herself get distracted by staring at him again. The fact that he was her cat was weirding her out too much for comfort. Seriously... Could thoughts really hold that much power? She made a mental note to be careful not to fall into her usual habits of wishing people dead. If Blackbeard could physically become a man rather than a house cat, she was likely to end up killing someone by accident. But surely the thought had to have a little more force behind it than that? Maybe it needed repetition, or true emotion from the heart...
She shook her head to clear everything from it. Cerina felt like she was overthinking things. Entirely too much. She sighed and leaned into Bastien. "I'm exhausted and you woke me up in the middle of the night, then I had to run a marathon to escape from some giant-ass bird out for blood... Can we go take a nap or something?"
The enchanting feline man chuckled and rubbed her arm lightly with strong fingers. "Certainly. I have a small flat here. We can head there and crash for the rest of the night."
She looked up at him curiously then. "Bastien... Why in the name of hell do you have an almost British accent?"
He laughed heartily, leading her through the twisting and turning maze of unfamiliar streets that made up the map of Mortui. "I do sound a bit European, don't I?" His laughter lightened a little. "I guess it's because everyone here has a vague British or New Zealand sounding accent. People, and I use that term loosely, come from many different realms and worlds here, Cerina. But somehow... that accent just seems to be the easiest to slip into and be accepted by everyone here. It's almost.. a lack of an accent in this place. Honestly, your Northern New Yorker almost Canadian accent will probably get you some odd looks here.
"They'll be able to tell you're a foreigner, but it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. As long as you're polite and civil, which you usually are anyway, you shouldn't have any issues getting on with the locals. Well... the ones who expect you to be civil."
"What do you mean by that?" Cerina asked, covering her mouth to stifle a yawn.
"Some of the... people here are not so civilized. They come from wilder, more harsh places, and you have to change your speech and mannerisms accordingly, or you'll end up with your head on a pike." Cerina stopped dead in her tracks, staring up at him as her jaw dropped. Bastien just gave her one of those mysterious smirks again and said simply, "I never did say that everyone's dreams and wishes here turned out the way they intended, or that they were full of fluffy bunnies and rainbows."
"But you didn't mention anything about polearm wielding whackjobs wanting to eviscerate anyone who looked at them sideways, either!"
"Ssh... Keep your voice down, luv. Many of the denizens here are nocturnal, but it's still respectful to be quiet when you're out on the streets at night."
The girl sighed and they stopped in front of a decent enough looking building. Pretty black granite made up the stones, and the windows on this building -unlike some on the other side of the street- didn't have steel bars on them. "We're here. Top floor."
He lead her up an iron staircase that resembled a fire escape on the outside of the building, putting his palm against a panel on the door and closing his eyes for a moment. The door swung inward as if by magic. Before she could say anything, he pulled her inside and shut the door behind them.
He held a finger to his lips and smiled. "It's triggered by a command word that I think. That way I never have to worry about someone breaking through a lock or tearing it down." As he said the last, the door completely disappeared as if it had never been.
Cerina shook her head. "I need to go to bed..."
Bastien smirked. "You sure you'll be comfortable sleeping in the same room as a strange man, Cerina?"
She crossed her arms over her chest and retorted with, "That depends... Will you be sleeping at the foot of the bed, or curled up on my pillow and purring in my ear?"
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"Work at?" he cocked his head at her curiously, his mannerisms still very much cat, even in this very alluring human form. "What do you mean?"
Cerina looked at her feet to keep her mind on trying to articulate her thoughts into words. "Did you have to do something, a task or whatever, to get a human form?"
He shrugged. "I was simply a cat to begin with. But then as I was simply out and about, I started wondering what it would be like to be human. Or to at least have opposable thumbs," he added the last with a laugh that showed that he still had small cat-like fangs behind those perfectly sculpted cupid's bow lips. "Words have great power here, Cerina. And thoughts do as well. If you can dream it, it can become reality."
Cerina looked up at him then, taking a step closer as an ominous chill ran down her spine. "But, Bla- Bastien... Not everyone has good dreams."
The feline man smirked very slightly, no humor present in his half smile. "I know."
Bastien's stance changed very quickly, going from aloof and relaxed to on edge and looking ready to fight. Cerina could almost see his hackles rising. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, but he quickly clamped a hand over her lips to silence her. As his eyes looked down into hers, they narrowed slightly and they flicked to the right. He held a finger to his own lips to warn her to be silent and grabbed her hand, taking off at a dead run that she almost couldn't keep up with. His long legs took strides much lengthier than her own, but she pushed herself to make her pace almost match his. The urgency in his eyes and the almost palpable fear around him warned her that something very dangerous was back there behind them.
Whatever it was, she heard no signs of pursuit but still they dashed on madly. Her legs ached, her lungs burned, her heartbeat was like thunder in her ears, and that was when it happened. She lost her focus, and then she lost her footing. It was only a momentary setback, as Bastien caught her and pulled her back up without even slowing. And then she heard it...
A piercing shriek echoed through the moonlit night, one that made her blood run cold. Only something from a person's worst nightmares could ever make such a sound, like dragging broken shards of glass across a chalk board.
"What in the name of fuck was-?!"
"Forget it! Keep running! It can't touch us once we've gotten past the Barrier!"
Before she could ask what the Barrier was, a sudden icy chill ran across her skin, like the frigid deluge from a waterfall. They were surrounded by sparkling white light and her vision was lost to the brightness for a moment before everything returned to normal and they finally stopped running. Bastien helped her stay standing as she panted, turning to look behind them.
The Barrier was some sort of magical shield that kept certain things from entering mildly populated places, from what she'd just seen. They were now on the outskirts of a rather large city that had been hidden in the darkness and dense foliage. And back in the direction they'd come from, a bird so large that its form blocked out the light of the moons and stars with its terrifyingly large shape. "What was..?" Her voice sounded small and frightened, even to her.
"An Uard..." Bastien said with distaste. "Vile creatures that hover about in the nights here, looking for unwary travelers who've ventured too far away from the beaten path. They especially like hanging about near the places where this world joins with others."
"Others? You mean others aside from my Earth?"
The man nodded. "There's more to this universe than your mind can even begin to grasp, Cerina."
She collapsed to the ground, her legs weak beneath her. After a few moments of breathing deeply with her head down, Cerina's speeding heart beat returned to something much closer to normal and she looked up to see Bastien's face close to hers. He held out a silver chalice to her, the liquid in it clear and odorless.
"Drink?"
He didn't need to ask her twice. She wrapped her shaking fingers around his and lifted it to her lips, slowly sipping the liquid so as not to upset her already queasy stomach by giving it too much work all at once. It was cool and refreshing as it slid down her throat, doing more to undo the damage from her ragged breathing than any normal water should have been able to do. She made a mental note to herself to ask him what it had been at some point later on.
Bastien helped her to her feet and the road beneath them changed from hard packed dirt to dark cobblestone and things began looking much more urban. Buildings began popping up around them, crawling higher and higher into the sky with their stony fingers that seemed desperate to scratch the eyes from the heavens.
"This city is Motui," he explained as they walked, his arm around her waist to help support her still slightly shaking legs. "It's the place I was when I first stumbled upon Moordarq. My first few weeks were spent here as a cat. Then I wondered what being human would be like, and I woke up one morning to no fur." He chuckled. "It was pretty disconcerting at first, but once I found myself some clothes and got used to the whole being bipedal thing, I discovered that I like being in this form much more."
"Yeah, go figure." Cerina said in reply, trying not to let herself get distracted by staring at him again. The fact that he was her cat was weirding her out too much for comfort. Seriously... Could thoughts really hold that much power? She made a mental note to be careful not to fall into her usual habits of wishing people dead. If Blackbeard could physically become a man rather than a house cat, she was likely to end up killing someone by accident. But surely the thought had to have a little more force behind it than that? Maybe it needed repetition, or true emotion from the heart...
She shook her head to clear everything from it. Cerina felt like she was overthinking things. Entirely too much. She sighed and leaned into Bastien. "I'm exhausted and you woke me up in the middle of the night, then I had to run a marathon to escape from some giant-ass bird out for blood... Can we go take a nap or something?"
The enchanting feline man chuckled and rubbed her arm lightly with strong fingers. "Certainly. I have a small flat here. We can head there and crash for the rest of the night."
She looked up at him curiously then. "Bastien... Why in the name of hell do you have an almost British accent?"
He laughed heartily, leading her through the twisting and turning maze of unfamiliar streets that made up the map of Mortui. "I do sound a bit European, don't I?" His laughter lightened a little. "I guess it's because everyone here has a vague British or New Zealand sounding accent. People, and I use that term loosely, come from many different realms and worlds here, Cerina. But somehow... that accent just seems to be the easiest to slip into and be accepted by everyone here. It's almost.. a lack of an accent in this place. Honestly, your Northern New Yorker almost Canadian accent will probably get you some odd looks here.
"They'll be able to tell you're a foreigner, but it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. As long as you're polite and civil, which you usually are anyway, you shouldn't have any issues getting on with the locals. Well... the ones who expect you to be civil."
"What do you mean by that?" Cerina asked, covering her mouth to stifle a yawn.
"Some of the... people here are not so civilized. They come from wilder, more harsh places, and you have to change your speech and mannerisms accordingly, or you'll end up with your head on a pike." Cerina stopped dead in her tracks, staring up at him as her jaw dropped. Bastien just gave her one of those mysterious smirks again and said simply, "I never did say that everyone's dreams and wishes here turned out the way they intended, or that they were full of fluffy bunnies and rainbows."
"But you didn't mention anything about polearm wielding whackjobs wanting to eviscerate anyone who looked at them sideways, either!"
"Ssh... Keep your voice down, luv. Many of the denizens here are nocturnal, but it's still respectful to be quiet when you're out on the streets at night."
The girl sighed and they stopped in front of a decent enough looking building. Pretty black granite made up the stones, and the windows on this building -unlike some on the other side of the street- didn't have steel bars on them. "We're here. Top floor."
He lead her up an iron staircase that resembled a fire escape on the outside of the building, putting his palm against a panel on the door and closing his eyes for a moment. The door swung inward as if by magic. Before she could say anything, he pulled her inside and shut the door behind them.
He held a finger to his lips and smiled. "It's triggered by a command word that I think. That way I never have to worry about someone breaking through a lock or tearing it down." As he said the last, the door completely disappeared as if it had never been.
Cerina shook her head. "I need to go to bed..."
Bastien smirked. "You sure you'll be comfortable sleeping in the same room as a strange man, Cerina?"
She crossed her arms over her chest and retorted with, "That depends... Will you be sleeping at the foot of the bed, or curled up on my pillow and purring in my ear?"
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