How Can I Help You? [Finished]

[carcinoGeneticist]

The lizard ran his fingers over the strings of the guitar, feeling the tension of them.

It was a beautiful day. Perfect for sitting out in his usual spot, enjoying the sun on his skin, and making a little music. The crowds were light, but he knew that he'd attract enough attention so that by the end of the day, he'd be able to afford a nice dinner. That was really all that mattered to Damien.

Day after day passed like this, under the lazy summer sun. Damien played his guitar, songs he made up as he went, rocking slowly back and forth as his hands played over the strings. It was a custom instrument, designed for use by someone with only stubby fingers like his. It was his pride and joy, the thing that kept him content. He had a sunny patch, a place to rest his legs, and his music. Sometimes he thought he'd have made a better Villa than Golfam.

Today was no different. As soon as he started to play, people noticed, passing by and tossing the occasional coin into his empty case. He gave every one a smile and a nod, occasionally a murmured word of thanks. After all, they were doing something nice for him, it seemed to be the least he could do to help them feel better about themselves. Besides, the better mood people were in, the more money that left their hands and entered his own.

[The Jenn]

Felaria wandered beside Harold as he walked through the streets of the Capital, the same streets he'd walked for a good three days already. Inn, library, food, inn, library, food, inn... ugh. Her poor man. He wore himself out trying to figure out what the hell he could do about her, himself, and this whole damn world. Such a sweetie. She couldn't have loved him any more than she already did.

Except physically. She could be loving him physically. That would be nice.

Mood going more sour and not bothering to avoid the tangible bodies that passed right through hers, she continued to stare around at the place jam-packed with people. Traveling with him as long as she had, first in his head and now by his side, she'd seen a whole hell of a lot. Lots of people, lots of places, lots of really weird things... there was a lot more to the world than she could have imagined, growing up in her secluded little swampy patch of the marsh. It was exciting, tiring, and terrifying. So different.

Thoughts flickering towards home, her eyes gravitated towards the source of nearby music and widened when she took note of a Golfam as the player. She hadn't seen one of her own in weeks, it felt like! Muttering something at Harold, she scooted towards his playing and watched for a minute.

Not bad. Kind of frilly and flitty. It didn't have as much a ring of 'home' as she would have liked. And my, wasn't he a sociable little bastard. So very polite. The outside had definitely gotten to him. She moved closer, watching his weird lizard digits dance over his instrument, and grunted. Then she poked at his head. It would go right through, just like every other time.

[Kari Muffin]

Harold clutched the book in his arms. It was a small hint perhaps? He highly doubted it at this point. Not matter how hard he tried he couldn't find a documented case of anything remotely close to his plight. It was a hopeless search. He knew it and yet he continued to comb every book in the libraries he could get into.

It wasn't like he didn't have time to kill. As long as his problem remained he wouldn't age.

He wasn't quite paying attention to were he was going, when Felaria had muttered to him. He jumped spinning around, and accidentally bumping into brightly colored stranger. He stumbled back dropping his book, noticing Felaria receding into the distance. He mumbled an apology as he scooped up the book and hurried to follow Felaria.

The sight was enough to make him slow down and pause with a curious expression. He had never seen a sociable Golfram, and not to mention one playing guitar. He watched from a distance as Felaria reached out to touch him. It was such a strange sight seeing her go through people.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Damien was, of course, completely oblivious to the reason for the lavender-haired man's approach. All the lizard saw was someone who was standing close by and staring at him. After a moment's playing he stopped, resting the guitar against his legs, head inclined to the side as he considered the strange man. He looked somewhat... distressed, if truth be told, and Damien wondered vaguely if there was something that he was doing wrong.

After all, how could he know that a ghostly woman was currently jamming her hand in his head?

The lizard smiled at Harold, an open and inviting expression on his face. "Hello there, friend,[/b]" he greeted, giving the man a small nod of his head, hands resting on the body of his instrument. "Is there something I can do for you?[/b]"

There was a reason the lizard had left Golfam, and it was written across his face as clearly as the smile he wore. Damien was just too damn nice, and he wanted to see the good in people.

[Kari Muffin]

Harold jumped as soon as the man spoke, he desperately clutched his books so they wouldn't fall yet again. Today really wasn't his day for being put together and organized. Not like he did that very often.

"U-uh! I'm sorry I didn't mean to stare!" he said as he straightened himself out. At least the man wasn't upset. He actually seemed fairly nice. Strange. Weren't most residents rather nasty? Of course that was just going by the fact that he had been killed all those years ago. All right, enough of that. He needed to focus.

"I just noticed your song, and I couldn't help but be curious. There aren't that many people from your region running around... so I was surprised. I apologize if I was staring. You just reminded me of someone... she would have liked to meet you."

Actually she was putting her hand through his head, but there wasn't a chance he was going to say that out loud.

[The Jenn]

"Oh, you totally meant to stare," Felaria countered him with a snort, wiggling her fingers around the Golfam musician's head. Her eyebrows raised and she regarded the lizard half with bemused interest and half with amused disbelief. "Oh man, 's this guy for real? Yeah, sure, I woulda liked t'meet 'im. See what sorta shit he's on, at any rate. You suppose he's doped up t'be sittin' around the city like this with some music an' callin' random strangers 'friend'?"[/color][/b]

She would have said more, but something in his... well, his presence seemed to change. She didn't know what it was, but she couldn't look away. It didn't seem to affect him on the outside, but something on the inside was different, in his body or his head or something along those lines. What was that? How was she sensing something about this lizard guy?

He felt suddenly open, if that made any sense at all. She reached through him and the feeling only increased. Stepping back and turning to look at Harold, she frowned. "Somethin's wrong with this guy. Really wrong." Leaning in again, she looked straight into his eyes, her muzzle passing through the front of his head. Then her eyes widened.

She could... almost feel something else. His head. His mind? Both hands slowly rose to rest approximately on either side of his head. It would all look incredibly weird to Harold.

[carcinoGeneticist]

For a moment, the lizard simply stared at the purple haired man, seeming to consider what he was saying. In actuality, he was staring because there was a sharp pain in his head, a sudden headache that he hadn't felt before. His brows furrowed as he raised a flipper to rub at his forehead.

"Remind you of someone? A friend, I should hope," Damien said, trying to push the pain out of his mind, but... It was getting worse. And his body was starting to tremble oddly. He looked back at the Esterberry and opened his mouth, then closed it, a frown making its way across his expression. "Listen, friend, I'm sorry 'bout this, but I think I need to continue this conversation with you another time. I've got the worst headache comin' on...[/b]" he trailed off and slid down from his seated position, swinging the guitar over his back. Were his words slurring? It sounded like they were....

He glanced up at Harold and froze, eyes going out of focus as he moved to take a step forward and then stumbled. He was in the middle of attempting a second step when his legs crumpled and he collapsed, his limbs twitching, mouth opening and closing. His body wasn't working, and his vision continued to fade in and out of focus, and then...

Oh, suits. He was dying, wasn't he? He had time to consider the qualities of brain death before his vision went completely black.

[Kari Muffin]

Harold was confused. Suddenly everything seemed to shift gears. He opened his mouth to reply to Felaria, and stopped as he watched the man. Like she said, something was wrong. And from the looks of it something was going horribly wrong.

"Uh..." was all he managed to get out as he watched the bizarre actions of Felaria and the strange lizard. He would have honestly moved if he could figure out what was going on. Instead he watched as the man slid off the bench, complaining of a headache. It was a little unexpected to see the man collapse suddenly.

Oh dear. Harold watched wide eyed, his death grip on his books slacked completely. The tumbled to the ground as he stared in horror. What had just happened?! He frantically looked around, wondering why no one had bothered to stop to see what was wrong.

And what the hell was he supposed to do?

[The Jenn]

One minute the lizard was up, and the next he was sliding down to the ground. And Felaria was sliding with him. Something in her wouldn't, couldn't let go of his head. His mind. His body. She gripped it with all of the intangible strength that she could summon and surprisingly... it worked.

She felt her hands sliding somewhere they shouldn't be, going in to the elbow without poking out the other side of his head. Then up to the shoulder. Staring half in panic and half in frantic fascination, she had to make a snap decision. She made it.

Then she seemingly absorbed into Damien's body and his closed eyes snapped open with a perfectly timed wheezing gasp from the dry throat. Webbed hands scrabbled at the cobbles they'd suddenly found themselves on and she wheezed for air. Breathing. How long had it been since she'd actually breathed air?

Her head felt all fucked up and this body wasn't responding right. "H-help! Lover..." she slurred at Harold in a voice that was both like and unlike Damien's original voice. Something about the inflection was different, even in that one word. Then she passed into insensibility. Hopefully he would figure out what the hell.

What the hell was wrong. What the hell had happened. What the hell she'd just done.

[Kari Muffin]

There was a split second where everything in Harold's brain came to a grinding halt. Felaria had disappeared from sight. And the voice. That... it couldn't be possible.

The shock wore off when the realization hit fairly quickly. He rushed forward, books abandoned as he feel to his needs besides the lizard. He forced himself to clam down. Slurred speech. That could mean quite a few bad things. Oh god. They needed a doctor. Corvistowne! But it wasn't like he could carry her there. Even with his Club ability he was a wonderful shade of scrawny and weak. He had to hurry though.

He took deep breath and did something completely uncharacteristic of his normal self. He grabbed the nearest stranger in a bipedal form. It was a canine of some sort of mix region he assumed, but could care less. They towered above him and they clearly had more strength than he could ever muster. "Would you mind helping me get my friend to Corvistowne, or the nearest respectable Corvistowne doctor? You really don't have the option of saying no just to warn you."

He smiled, looking a tiny bit unhinged as the man agreed.

Harold was still a ball of stress that wouldn't change until everything was at least in a better state than it was before.