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PostPosted: August 14th, 2012, 11:24 pm 
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Moononite
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Zodiac: Sagittarius
Not in Kansas Anymore

Ava stumbled out of the backseat of the car, over packed camouflage backpack on one shoulder and her purse sliding off her other onto the ground. She groaned and leaned over to pick it up, fumbling with the elbow length rubber gloves. Her hands were sweaty underneath and she had to yank them up before she could retrieve her purse out of the dusty Midwestern soil.

Drummer silty clay loam maybe. She didn't actually know her soils, it was just a guess considering they were in Illinois and surrounded by farmland. She looked up at the creaking metal framed barn doubtfully. It had once been painted red, but now the paint was chipping off to reveal the rusting silver underneath.

"Welcome home," said the driver. He made a gesture at the door. "This is as far as I go, I'm afraid. Most of the place is hexed all to hell and back to keep folks like me out."

"Folks like you?" Ava blinked at him.

"Humans."

Ava grimaced and tried to ignore his implications. "That's stupid, isn't this place meant to protect dangerous artifacts and supernatural stuff? How can anyone take care of it if they can't get in?"

"Well, lets just say most of our caretaker types aren't the usual suspects." The driver looked at his feet, scuffing them in the dust. "Anyway, I have to go do another pickup. Just knock on the door and let them know who you are, we called ahead for you."

"Alright..." Ava looked back at the building as the driver climbed back into the car. She was still standing in place when the car turned back down the dirt road. She clenched her rubber coated palm around the strap of her purse, took a deep breath, and strode towards the entrance.

"Well, Ava, it can't get any weirder."

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PostPosted: August 15th, 2012, 10:44 am 
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APaleHorse wrote:
"Well, Ava, it can't get any weirder."


That has the distinct sound of some famous last words...

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PostPosted: August 15th, 2012, 10:44 pm 
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Moononite
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Zodiac: Sagittarius
Those Famous Last Words

Ava banged the side of her fist against the door - so as not to tear up her borrowed gloves - and was surprised to find it...very solid. It sounded nothing like the thin aluminum she had expected, instead the sound reverberated inside as though it was a steel door attached to a very large open space. It echoed inside.

She stepped back just to reassess the size of the place. Average barn size, it could maybe hold a combine and some other equipment. No way it should make that kind of sound. "Okay, so it can get weirder."

A slot in the door opened with a loud 'shunk' and a grey set of eyes peered out at her. "What's the password?"

Ava would have been startled prior to her incident, but now she could only blink in their direction. "Password?"

"You need a password to get in."

"I don't have a password. My name is Ava. I'm-" She paused, embarrassed. "Well, I'm nobody really." Being nobody was not nearly as strange as not being human.

"Well, then nobody gets to see the wizard, not no way, not no how!" The slot slammed shut.

"Oh come on, don't be an asshole! I don't even have a ride back!"

There was no answer, but she could hear a faint snicker on the other side of the door. So she lifted up a foot and kicked it as hard as she could. She was rewarded with a yelp of pain.

"I did NOT just come clear from New York for this!" She growled, turning on her heel and hefting her backpack more securely on her shoulder. She could follow the road as far as the highway and hitch hike if it came down to it.

Behind her she heard the door open.

"Alright, alright! I'm sorry. You can come in."

She looked over her shoulder, about to retort on why exactly she would want to, and froze.

He kept talking, but she really wasn't listening. He wasn't that much taller than her, and looked mostly human aside from the ears and-

"Horns," she blurted. "You have horns." She shook her head. That wasn't right. "No. Antlers. You have antlers."

"Do I?" he grinned, rubbing the edge of one. "I hadn't noticed. Thanks for pointing that out. By the way. Gloves. You have gloves."

She looked down at her hands briefly as though to confirm they were still there. "I...Yeah. I was a victim of a horrible fire. Ugly burn scars, pretty gross. You probably don't want to know what it looks li-"

"You're a fetch. You have bird arms. I read the dossier before you got here."

Ava frowned and looked away.

"What? It's nothing to be ashamed of. You are what you are. I'm Calvin by the way, Calvin Cottingly." He extended a hand, but retracted it when she made no move to shake it. "Okaaay then. I suppose I should let you know, I'm an elf."

"An elf?" Ava perked up a little. "I thought you might have had some magic mumbo jumbo happen to you. Or maybe a satyr."

"Nah, satyrs are jerks. I can do some magic mumbo jumbo though, wanna see?" He grinned, glancing back inside. "I have my stuff inside."

"No!" Ava backed up. "No way, no magic, not ever."

"Aww...Well can you at least come inside? I don't feel like putting a glamour on and it's hot anyway."

"It's like seventy degrees out here. What's a glamour?"

"I'm Nordic, and it's some of that magic mumbo jumbo you don't like so...Please just come inside?"

Ava grimaced and shuffled past Calvin into the barn-that-was-not-a-barn. Apparently it was even bigger inside than it had sounded. "Say, are you a Doctor?"

"A what?" Calvin cocked his head, shutting the door behind him. The edges glowed briefly, Ava recognized a futhark rune for change along the frame. She fingered the silver charm at her neck bearing the same rune. Ray had given it to her as a means of protection against regressing to what she was.

"Nevermind." She looked back out into the vast. The walls twisted and curved, forming hallways that went God-knows-where.

Calvin clapped her on the shoulder. "Welcome to the Reliquary."

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By Sentient Solipsising Schroedinger's limping cat!


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PostPosted: August 27th, 2012, 9:58 pm 
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Zodiac: Sagittarius
Misplaced Items

"-And this is where you're going to stay. Sorry it isn't a real room, we only had a week so...Anyway, you can drop your stuff off and then we can take a tour. Say, have you ever been to Canada?"

They had come to a halt in front of what resembled a blanket fort. Heavy packing blankets had been tied to the crates nearby to form a crude wall. Ava found it to be an uncomfortable reminder of how she had spent the last couple months living in very similar self-made quarters.

"Ever been to Canada?" Calvin asked again.

"Once when I was fifteen." Ava mumbled. She had tuned out most of Calvin's rambling up to that point. He seemed to talk incessantly.

"Really? Where? I have a girlfriend in Canada you know, she's a werewolf. Or at least I think she's a werewolf. Or she does. We met online, she sends me pictures of wolves and we talk about wolves a lot, it's awesome."

"That's nice..." Ava pushed aside the curtain and stepped inside. It was very humble; an army cot with some neatly folded blankets at the foot, a bedside table that had one leg inexplicably replaced with a baseball bat, a small lamp that looked new, and a chest of drawers missing one drawer. She set her backpack on the cot, wary of breaking the furniture. It was a little dim so she reached out to turn on the lamp.

"Oh, there's no outlet in here." Calvin supplied helpfully.

"...Then why the lamp?"

"Actually I'm going to wire a couple over here later, there just wasn't time earlier." He opened the top drawer of the chest of drawers and pulled out a small package. "In the meantime, I have a housewarming gift!"

Ava slipped the package open cautiously and found it to be a jar with a small rotting log inside, covered in orange mushrooms growing in a cluster. "Are these jack-o-lanterns?" She smiled. "Thank you."

"I see that you have settled our guest, Calvin." Rumbled a voice behind them. It was tinged with a hit of a French accent. "Now it is time to show her to her work."

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By Sentient Solipsising Schroedinger's limping cat!


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PostPosted: October 2nd, 2012, 8:55 pm 
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Moononite
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Joined: October 1st, 2011, 8:27 pm
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Zodiac: Sagittarius
Turns Out Birds are Mostly Assholes

All told the tour had kind of blended together in her mind until it was a jumbled up mess. There was a massive set of tanks in the basement holding a variety of sea and freshwater creatures. In the levels above that were some not-so-mythical animals, including a tiny unicorn that kind of looked like a goat with scales. She had been informed it was a kirin and wasn't actually a captive, it just chose to stay there.

Kirins could apparently teleport whenever they damn well pleased. Who knew.

She'd gone to bed in her dimly lit shanty town room still not knowing what was actually expected of her. It had been made clear that it was 'strongly suggested' that she remain here indefinitely.

Was this a job or was it a prison?

That was the state of mind she had woken with. She flung an arm across her forehead and stared up at the grimy window overhead. Pale pink light was filtering through the clear spots. It was probably around dawn. And as far as she knew she wasn't expected to actually do anything.

She rolled over and studied her talons. Dust motes fluttered down out of the rafters as something moved overhead, but she couldn't be bothered to look and see what it was. If something really wanted to eat her it was welcome to at this point.

Oh oh oh, whooooo are you? Asked a voice above her. Probably some other member of this weird cadre.

"What's it to you?" She muttered, putting her arm over her eyes, then thought better of it. She was apparently stuck here for a while. "I'm Ava."

Funny name, that one. You got funny arms too.

"Gee, thanks."

You got a funny way of talking too. Why's that? Why is that? You aren't very friendly.

"I don't really feel all that friendly right now. What is it, six?"

Not that early, been up a while. You look sad. That's dumb. You're being dumb.

"I didn't really ask your opinion."

Don't have to ask to get it. You should just go feel better, stupid. There was a light weight on her knee.

Ava sat up and swatted at what she had assumed was a hand. "Look, just leave me-"

With a shrieking cackle the raven left her knee and flew back into the rafters.

Oh just feel better, moron lady! With that he flew off to another part of the warehouse, leaving Ava staring at the downy feathers raining down on her.

She flopped back on the cot and clasped her face in her hands with a groan.

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By Sentient Solipsising Schroedinger's limping cat!


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