C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!

She stared at the hole in reality, trying to calm down as her wings fluttered in thought. After a few moments, she trilled a call in an ancient tongue to her companion, who half-rolled over to her like a cup caught in gusts of wind, using its handle to hobble along. Vered folded him up quietly and tucked it under her arm. “…d-do I have to take anything w-with me?”
“Nothing.” She swallowed, and then took her first trembling steps towards the door.

Eyes wide and heart racing, her wings were half-spread and her feathers all out of order as she scrambled away from the present nightmare, only half-standing. Harvey leapt from her arms, skittered rapidly towards the intruder, and pounced upon the shadowy figure, only to hit the wall behind it with a heavy thud. “It is quite useless to assault me. I come here with only a message.”
She replied with shallow breaths, “A m-m-message?”
“Actually, an invitation. You seek to see the world around you, do you not?” It gestured with a frail limb and cryptic signs, bringing about a glowing portal displaying a lavishly furnished bedroom. “Step through here, and a reality beyond your wildest imagination will be yours.”

Her umbrella stirred from its quasi-slumber in response to the sound of beating wings. Stretching its ribs out resignedly, it crawled over to the young woman of forty years. She glanced down at it, and smiled as she folded her wings once more. “Hello, Harvey…c’mere.” Scooping it up in her arms, she cradled her living umbrella. It nestled close to her chest and purred like plucked rubber bands. A sigh of sorrow escaped the pale half-human. “The world is so big, Harv, and yet, it seems that I won’t see any of it. I don’t know what I should do about it, though…I mean, I was lucky to find my first job at that tabern, and I doubt I will be able to get enough money to go anywhere…” She lowered her eyes. Then she shrieked as she saw the apparition standing quietly in the corner.

Here is Vered's, buddy.

The single-room apartment was dark, empty but for a single futon and one lonely girl hugging herself on top of it. Her raven wings flapped open in a futile attempt at flight as her blue almond eyes tried to burn a hole in the patch of sky she saw through her pane.
The stars glittered through the window, as dazzling as they were on the day that Vered had first stumbled out into the larger world. They spread themselves across the whole of that smoke-smeared sky and threatened to enthrall her despite the clear and present danger from the other experiments in the lab.

“Abroad, milord? You mean to lands unknown?”
“I mean another world. Will you come, priest-errant?”
Barzillai looked down at his feet, kickstand still out, carefully considering his answer. “…yes, I will come. I wish I had someone to lean on, but when the call to adventure comes, it is best not to delay.” Smiling once more, with tears on his cheeks, he leaned down and kissed Father Brown on his cheek. “I bid you farewell, Father.” With a clang, his kickstand came up, and Barzillai rolled/walked over to the waiting portal and stepped through without hesitation and without hurry, as the shadow’s eyes seemed to smile a grim smile.

As though to represent this void, a darkness began to etch itself into the colors that filled his eyes, until the tears ran down his cheeks and the shadowy form remained, standing next to him. His blank eyes stared into Beckalegg’s own. “…are you one of the Fair Folk, perchance?” Barz wiped his eyes with his sleeve, smiling sheepishly and only mildly surprised. A priest of King Arthur learns to see the strange without fear.
“You wish to leave this world, yes? I can offer you the escape you desire,” the shade intoned, echoing only within the half-cycle’s ears.
“That is quite generous of you, milord. But where is it you wish for me to go?”
“Does it matter? Nothing is left for you here. You have learned all you can from the Church, and all the people in the parish fear or despise you. Now is the time to begin your journeys abroad.”

Barz walked/rolled steadily over to the open casket to get a better look at his closest friend in the church. He always moved steadily, as seventeen years of living have shown him that he had to move like a bicycle to move well. His kickstand snapped out from his leg through its slash in his pants leg. Tears of oil began to well up in his eyes as young Barzillai finally felt the absence of Father Brown. The multi-colored fringe deepened into a rainbow smear as he groped for a more steady support, feeling far, far too tired to handle going on in this world, wishing he could go to sleep. Everyone around him seemed to consider him an abomination, and only one person had considered him truly human. That person was dead now.

The body still sat in its coffin, on display for the funeral tomorrow. Barzillai stood looking at it, alone in the dead of night in the empty church. Intellectually, he knew that Father Brown was no longer there, that he had died peacefully in the night after many years of faithful service in Arthur’s church, that it happened to everyone. His heart could not comprehend this, though. It churned like the ocean in a storm, unable to figure out what he would do without the kindly priest’s guidance.

Hey, just looking around. Did you and Cookie change your nicks? o-o

This IS Mizzy, right? . . . and for some reason, I forget what Cookie's old nick used to be, but I was under the impression that it was not Cookie. >_>;;

Anw, contact me tonight.