• PM To Join • Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

Arc 716, 53rd trial of Vhalar

Alex sat down, her mind reeling with the possibilities. I could make myself look like anyone?

It had all started a few trials ago when, as an off handed remark to Rita, her teacher, Alex had mentioned how much she needed Disguise lessons. The woman had stared at Alex incredulously, one eyebrow arched almost comically high.

“What are you talking about? You Loodies have it easy. A bit of practice and you can look like anyone. Not like us common folk.” Her words were laced with disgust, and the look she gave Alex reinforced how little she liked her. Alex had begun to realize that most of the woman’s aggression stemmed from her hatred of anything different- like most Etzori, she has an innate dislike of any of the “unusual” races. Avriel, Akari, Mer, Naerrik, all were fair game to her. But one such as Alex was even worse. A useful tool at best, and abomination at worst.

And to be fair, if what she had been told was true, Alex was far closer to understanding why people disliked Yludih. Someone that could steal your face and identity was something to be feared and hated me

Rita had let their conversation drop there, turning the attention back to a door Alex was struggling to unlock.

The trial after that, she had been studiously working at the Gardener’s Grace, trying to make up for all the breaks she was spending at the Cauldron warehouse when a thought came to her.

If I know how to shift into an animal, why couldn’t I do the same with people?

That thought destroyed any chances she had of working. The possibilities whirled through her head.

Okay. First I need a model…but who? It needs to be someone I know well enough to study without it being weird.

A smile crossed her face as she remembered the unconscious Avriel in the back room
Half-Avriel she reminded herself. Quietly, she rose to her feet, padding forward on the balls of her feet as she’d learned from Rita. The floor groaned softly under her feet and she froze. She paused for a few trills, creeping onward slowly when she didn’t hear any sound from the back room. Slowly, she opened the door. The well-oiled hinges moved soundlessly, and Alex crept inside to sit beside the bed.

Staring down at her face, Alex forced herself to relax, picking out the details to ingrain in memory. Nightshade skin was like milk, a notable feature for someone who spent so much time outside. Her hair was long and black, resting gracefully around her shoulders as she slept. Her face appeared fully human, and Alex carefully looked at the little details- things like the angle of her cheekbones, the slope of her brown and the cut of her hairline.

She closed her eyes, breathing slowly. The meditative state she remembered was hovering just out of reach. Bits passed as she calmed her mind fixing the image of Nightshade in her mind. At last, it click3d, the relaxed feeling washing over her.

She felt her face grow warm as she melded her crystals together. The cool lines of the nose were followed by the lips, chin and cheeks as more and more of Nightshade face poked out from the blank slate that was her head. Her bright red hair suddenly blackened, as if sprayed with ink, and fell out of its usual braid to hang loose and flowing across her back. Her skin paled, turning porcelain white.

Alex didn’t focus on the body- that could come later. For now, having a working face would do. She glanced off to the side, looking for the full length mirror that was in the room.

Rising silently, she crept across the floor to look at her work.

[Nightshade Eld]

While studying the woman knocked out on the cot Alex's eyes had only glazed over her face. Meaning she had missed something very important. Her wings were twitching and starting to bristle with that all to familiar cat like reaction to anger or fear. Her talons dug themselves into the cot her feet twitching slightly as well. The movements were small, minute details it would take a very attentive person who wasn't focused on a different aspect of her body to notice. Her breath hitched slightly as she came to a complete stop of any kind of moment. Her breathing became shallow and almost nonexistent as her feathers puffed out completely.

As her nightmare ended with a shock Night leaped out of the bed launching herself across the room. A spray of feathers comically got lose as she beat her wings fluttering across the room. This place was unfamiliar, she felt like a bird that was trapped and scared. The nightmare had honestly hit a little harder than nightmares in the past, most likely because the details of the dream.

Screechy noises of fear and anger came from her throat, a sound far more like a fearful bird than that of something that was half human. She slammed her back into a wall, a shot of pain irritating the bruises lining her back. Her eyes cleared from the foggy mist of post nightmare, she shook her head trying to get her wits about her. She didn't notice Alex in her daze. She seemed to still be grappling with the concept of reality.

However she did notice the unfamiliar presence. The shadow of movement in the corner of her eye. She sent herself flying to the opposite side of the room to Alex and set on her a vicious glare, still not understanding what was going on. Night was still trying to determine if what she was seeing was still dream or nightmare or what.

[Vluharqih]

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The eyes were wrong. Completely, totally off. Alex hadn't paid attention to them when they had treated her, and they were closed while she was asleep, so all that was left were two black orbs where the eyes should be. Not to mention, Alex hadn't had time to study how Nightshade moved, so every time she smiled or frowned the skin folded in unrealistic ways and made her face look like a cheap mask.

She was leaning in, pulling at the skin around the cheeks when Night woke up. Alex didn't even notice the half-breed in the mirror, so large was the cloud of feathers that she stirred up. She spun around to see the disturbance, only to lock eyes with Night halfway across the room. The screech echoed throughout the room, making Alex wince in pain. Even the wince caused her more pain, and she her face shifted back to its emotionless state with no small amount of relief. It was uncomfortable to hold her face in a position she hadn't yet studied. As if at a great distance, she heard Mr.Gardener yell something from his lair in the basement. She was sure he'd be coming up the stairs any moment, but the urgency disappeared as she looked at the expression on Night's face. The rushing sound in her ears was new, and it slowly grew.

She cocked her head to the side, baring her teeth in a grimace. She could feel the crystals adjust as she memorized the features across from her, fine tuning to exactly become a perfect replica. Her eyes filled themselves in, a sight sure to be unnerving for the recently awoken woman. Alex stayed frozen, studying exactly how the face was formed, and desperately trying to memorize it. The crashing in her ears faded as she perfected the expression.

She returned her head to normal, staring at the woman, wondering what her next move should be as a thundering from below signaled Mr.Gardener's imminent arrival.

[Nightshade Eld]

Night's eyes widened as she slowly came to a vague realization as to what was going on, or at least what she thought was going on. She pulled in on herself using her wings as a shield. She tried her best to crawl away into a corner of the room. Wave after wave of distrust and fear hit her like a sack of bricks. But fear usually led to a natural response of aggression. She wanted to flee, oh how badly did she want to slice her way through the room and run out the door. But that could be bad. It was a miracle her thrashing didn't open up any of her injuries. But she hadn't moved her arms, most of her flailing about had been of the wings so in a way it made sense. She beat her wings in irritation, causing the feathers on the ground to rise up and fluttered towards Alex.

She waited silently for something, anything, remaining completely motionless in her corner. Whether Alex approached her or not or tried to speak to her or whatever, she didn't plan to leave her corner. I can just stay here. I'll sleep here with my body completely curled up behind my wings. And if anyone tries to touch my wings I'll know. I don't have to ever leave this corner again, she quietly thought to herself slowly pulling her body even closer in on itself. It was actually kind of amusing to watch such a powerful looking woman become little more than a medium sized pile of feathers curled into herself on the floor.

She was still trying to figure out what she'd seen. What the heck was that! She wasn't completely sure what she found before her, the main thing she focused on were the black hole like eyes. She had quickly retreated into her protective layer of wing before she had seen them actually change into anything else. Right now the main thought in her mind was that she had been about to lose her soul. The fact this rang similar to the contents of her nightmare didn't help. Foreshadowing, her nightmare had been foreshadowing. She combed over her thoughts and knowledge meticulously trying to decide what she had just seen.

Had she ever seen anything similar before she couldn't form the connecting thought right now. She was quickly just as frazzled as she had been when she arrived at this little shop of horrors.


OOC: Would Nightshade have seen Vlu with her face? I wasn't sure so I left it ambiguous. I can adjust to the answer next post.

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

The woman's shock appeared to quickly change to fear as she retreated. Her agressive stance disappeared as she pulled herself smaller and smaller into a ball. Her wings beat, stirring up a cloud of feathers that settled over everything in the room.

When Alex looked down, the woman was nothing more than a lump in the corner of the room, completely covered by her wings. Luckily there were no traces of blood anyway, so Alex hoped she hadn't reopened any of her wounds. Mr.Gardener would no doubt take it out of her pay if she had.

Her face was complete now, though she still could only manage anger and fear, along with the slack look of one who was sleeping. Picking the lesser of the evils, she settled for the slack look and approached the woman.

"Hey, you okay? What's the matter?" She couldn't decide between shifting back to her natural face and hoping the woman hadn't noticed, or staying and getting the rest of the expressions. But whenever she went to shift, a rushing filled her ears and she couldn't concentrate. It was still far too new to switch to without a full meditative trance, and there was no way she'd have time for that.

"It's okay. I don't know what you saw, but its not real. You're not going crazy either. Can you talk?" Mr.Gardener burst into the room as Alex finished speaking, puffing heavily. He took in the room in a glance, and his jaw dropped as he caught sight of Alex's face. His gaze grew thunderous as he mouthed 'later', and slowly closed the door behind himself. Alex knew she was in trouble, but felt a strange desire to finish the form. She didn't like leaving it half done.

[Nightshade Eld]

"I know what I saw," Nightshade quietly growled. She opened up her wings, but at the bottom towards her feet and only just enough to keep her voice from being completely muffled. She was still guarding her face. "So you are going to tell me everything," she said. There was a kind of firmness in her voice that said she wanted the story as to what Alex was doing and what Alex was.

"Everything, or else I can't trust you. And if I can't trust you then I have to protect myself, by any means necessary," the last line wasn't spoken like a threat. It wasn't suppose to be a threat even though it sounded mildly like a threat. Those words were meant to be a warning.

An underestimation of her skills would be bad right now. She wasn't just a danger to herself at this point, she could potentially be a danger to Alex considering how close Alex had moved towards her. She had moved right into Night's striking range, Night having made sure to hide in the corner on her feet. If she started to feel threatened there was the potential she could lunge. Her first response would be to run, just run as fast as she possibly could. But if her own life was at as much risk as she was feeling like it was now she would slice her way to the door and fly all the way to Mal! Etzos be damned, it got harder to find a reason to stay every day.

Slowly her mind started to make a connection. Though it had been bad for the couple seconds Night saw it, it looked like Alex had been trying to copy her face. And even though her education wasn't as extensive as it could have been when she was very little she would steal books from the masters library and convince her father or the servants to read to her. One of the books she managed to snatch was about the Yudlith, or what little could be said about them. Even though it was a loose connection at best and she couldn't remember specific details for the life of her, the connection was made none the less. The only other idea she could come up with was a Becomer like Mal, but she still had all her body parts as far as she could assess and from what information she had gleaned on Becoming from Mal that was the only way a Becomer would be able to steal her form.

Now the question was how Alex was going to respond to this. Would she tell the truth about the situation, or was she gonna lie and try to convince Night what happened was a bad dream. Once again Night's life was like a pendulum. Except this time she was the one who was going to swing to one of two extremes depending on how Alex approached the situation. Even though Alex wouldn't be able to see it Night's eyes narrowed as a critical look crossed her features. She shuffled slightly so that she could barely see through her feathers, but it was be almost impossible for Alex to see anything of her

[Vluharqih]

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The woman's voice broke the stillness, her voice firmer that Alex would've thought possible.

Alex stared silently at the ball, Night's face still hidden in the folds of her feathers. She thought about the possible outcomes, weighing her options.

She didn't let letting people know she was Yludih, but recently she seemed to be making a habit of it. A scary number of people seemed to know her secret, and it wouldn't be long before someone let it slip.

She opened her mouth to explain, closing it lamely as she realized she couldn't do that. Her face was still rearranged in the woman's features. Regardless of that though, she felt see could trust this strange woman. Maybe it was how quick she had been to act to save those she obviously didn't like. Despite Alex's scorn at the idea of selflessness and nobility, she had to admit it made it far easier to trust the woman.

And it would be nice to have a friend. Alex had been oh so lonely since coming here. Hell, since leaving Alfred and Joanna's. Mr.Gardener was nice, but he was far too old, and the only other people she knew were either clients or those from the Cauldron- hardly the best circle of acquaintances.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she worked up the courage she needed.

"I'm a Yludih."

She sat, silent for a moment as she gauged Night's reaction. The woman didn't move, still covering her head with her wings, and Alex let others another sigh.

"I'm a Yludih. A shape-shifter. Whatever you want to call me. There's not much to tell beyond that." She desperately hoped the woman wouldn't ask about the face, but the sinking feeling in her stomach told her otherwise.

[Nightshade Eld]

Night thought quietly for a couple of minutes trying to figure out what to do. There were a lot of choices to weigh here. But luckily for Alex she seemed to have preformed the action to get the best response. Night slowly lowered her wings looking curiously at the other woman.

"Were you trying to copy me in my sleep? Do you realize just how creepy that seems?" She asked with an incredulous tone like the thing shocking her right now was that and that alone.

There had only been a moments pause for her when Alex admitted she was a Yudlith. As a half avriel she had never been the kind to judge a person on their race, she didn't want to be judged on her own so it was only fair. But that didn't keep looks of cross confusion from muddling her features and a slightly larger amount of annoyance in her voice than was good for the conversation.

"Why," she said very slowly in a quiet and breathy voice. She kind of shook her head making perfect eye contact with Alex. "Why?" She just whispered a second time.

To Nightshade the idea of trying to copy the features of someone in their sleep was stupid on so many levels. It just didn't make sense. It could be done so much easier if they just asked. Of course Night shouldn't expect a Yudlith to ask anyone but her for permission. She was a rare case. The fact still stood though that if Alex had asked she could have been willing to help Alex, as long as Alex promised not to use her face for misdeeds. There was still a part of her that would be willing to help if asked now, though the rest of her would need a little more convincing.

[Vluharqih]

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The silence stretched after her comments, and Alex anxiously shifted from foot to foot.

What am I going to do? If she brings this to a guard I'm as good as dead. I can't let that happen. One way or another, she won't be telling anyone.

She felt the urge rise up, demanding that she kill the woman. She'll tell! You'll die, it screamed at her, but she pushed it down, determined that, this time at least, killing was not the answer.

When at last the wings dropped, Alex let out a relieved sigh. The Night's words brought a tinge of shame, her face flushing bright red as she realized how bad it looked.

"Yes, I do. But to be fair, with the amount of drugs you drank, and the nature of your injuries, we figured you'd be asleep for at least another trial. You would've left none the wiser. Besides, it's not like I was going to use it for anything bad. I need the practice." She couldn't meet the woman's eyes, keeping hers firmly downcast.

Her voice was defensive as she continued. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I just saw you sleeping there...It's not often I get the chance to study someone that closely without them wondering why. And giving them the reason wouldn't go over very well. I think I'm probably the one race hated more than Avriels."

She did feel bad about the situation. She honestly hadn't considered the circumstances or repercussions before she acted, and she knew she had messed up. Added onto that was the worry about Mr.Gardener and what he was going to say once Night left: Alex was sure she'd be in trouble tonight.

[Nightshade Eld]

She listened quietly her eyes assessing the woman in front of her. As far as she could tell it wasn't a lie. There was still a nagging sensation of fear in the back of her mind. Was she lying? Night crushed the feeling with a small sigh. Her eyes softened by a great amount. Her body completely relaxed.

"You didn't get a chance to finish did you?" She asked. She flinched slightly at the vague blur of memory, the half finished product had been horrific to say the least. "That means you still need to finish practicing, right?" she asked with a small tilt of her head.

She forced her facial expressions to completely relax and become blank despite the spark of fear in the back of her mind. If she let this person completely learn all of her expressions, her mannerisms, then there was the possibility that it could be used against her. But Nightshade was nothing if not an overly willing to help fool. She would place her trust in this woman, even if it turned sour. Life was sometimes about making mistakes in order to help another person. Yes, she was a fool. But at least she was brave enough to take the chance in order to help someone else out.

"Just tell me what you need me to do," she said looking at Alex with all the foolishly blind kindness and willingness to help in the world. Could a person this pure actually exist? Sometimes Night didn't even understand her own reasoning as to why she was so helpful. Perhaps her motives were darker. But at the surface level there were few people who could claim to have a better nature. "If you really need to practice that badly I'll be your model, so you can just tell me what to do as long as you promise you won't be using my face for anything malicious," she said. there was a spark of fear in her tone towards the end of the line, a testament to how much this situation was really freaking her out.

Whatever Alex ordered her to do from there she would comply, being the perfect little model though occasionally lapsing out of ordered expression or being a little fidgety when she was supposed to be still.