No Place Like Home [FINISH]

[Harpsdesire]

Calamity growled to himself. He was getting tired, it was getting dark, and worst of all he was terribly frustrated. He let the stick he grasped in a front claw to drop to the ground, falling atop a few other discarded branches. This was just not working the way Cal wanted it to, and he was getting increasingly irritated with himself.

Normally, he was rather sweet-tempered, by cannibal standards (although when confronted with an Ace, all bets were off), but currently he was clearly infuriated by his failure. He clacked his beak angrily at the precarious pile of sticks before him.

Stupid wood… it just refused to build into a house! ”Bad, bad house-home,” He muttered, examining the poor excuse for a shelter with a critical gaze. ”Maybe you wood-sticks too small...” Earlier in the afternoon, inspired by the looming gray clouds he glimpsed through the thinner tree cover at the edge of the wood, Calamity had decided that he and his brothers and sister needed a house.

Families had houses, he knew (although he wasn’t sure how he knew) and they were a family, so they should have a house. In the same way, he knew that children had parents, but his understanding of ‘house’ was far greater than his understanding of ‘parent’, and he thought the former was probably easier to make, anyhow.

It was not nearly as easy as he had expected, however. The sort of lean-to structure he was working on had already collapsed a couple times, once on his head, and after a few hours of effort, it looked nothing even close to waterproof. There were obvious gaps in the branches that served as a roof, of sorts, although he had left the leaves on them in an attempt to make the inside shady.

Pretty soon, he noticed, shade would be a moot point (it already sort of was, since just a little further into the wood it was dark all day long). The sun was going down in the sky rapidly, it seemed, and his house was not yet finished, or even complete enough to provide protection from rain or the numerous predators that hunted in the wood at night. "No, no no!" Although he, like his siblings, was unusually bright for his age, he was still four years old and gearing up for a tantrum.

[Kari Muffin]

She shouldn't have wandered off without Vergel. She always felt lost and awkward when her brother wasn't around. Then again she didn't wander away very often. The Wood was a dangerous place, and she had already gotten a rather horrible punishment from Mommy and Daddy the last time she had wandered off.

This time she wouldn't be caught. She would hurry back home soon, she just had to investigate a little bit. Kafziel had over heard her father saying something about suspicious activities at the border. She wanted to take a peak.

They would probably run away at the sight of her. That would help out Dad at least a little bit.

Her ears perked at the sound of a voice. An odd voice. She proceeded with caution, which was far from difficult considering she floated rather than walked. The glimpse of gold and white made her freeze for a moment, slowly she hid behind a nearby tree, peaking around at Outsider.

Gold. White. Red. Highlander! Like Daddy's sister that she had never met. What was one doing here? And why was it throwing a tantrum?

"You shouldn't be here," she said flatly from behind the tree.

[Harpsdesire]

((Is happy to see that Kafz has found someone insane enough to not run away from her. Also there is almost no limit to what a four year old will accept without question.))

Calamity looked up, distracted from his impending meltdown by a strange sound. It was a strange sound that formed into words, making a strange voice[/c]. He hadn't heard one of those in some time. He looked around, but all he saw were trees in every direction. Even his siblings had wandered off far enough to be lost among the undergrowth.

The voice sounded a little angry, and seemed to think that he should be elsewhere. He agreed with what it said in principle, but he really didn't know where else he could go. If the house was working, he could be in it, he supposed. That would be a good place to be.

"Yes, should not be. Should be inna house. Family house-home, it's broken, though." He stated in a rather agreeable tone. He had entirely forgotten to be angry as it considered the issue the strange voice brought up. He looked around again, as it seemed strange that voice didn't have a body. Most voices that he knew did have bodies attached to them, but there were exceptions, he was pretty sure.

He looked around a few trees and still didn't see anything that looked like a person who would have a voice. Just in case, he decided that he had better ask. Very politely, he inquired, "Voice, are you invibsabull?"

[Kari Muffin]

Whoever this thing was they were strange. They were also on the young side to be left at the edge of the Wood. Daddy had always told her about the things that could eat normal little children and even her. Of course at the edge of the Wood things were far less likely to gobble up Outsiders.

She would have wrinkled her beak in annoyance at the Highlander's words. "No, you shouldn't be here at all. Outsiders aren't welcome." Her nails dug into the tree as she spoke. Her ears pulled backwards as a small growl escaped her. What was with this Outsider? When she peaked around the tree to get a better look at them she noticed their strange eyes. Mommy hadn't said anything about Highlanders having creepy eyes like that.

Her small wings fluffed up as the Highlander continued to speak. He sounded polite, but you could never be too careful. "No, I'm not invisible. But I'm not about to show myself to a dangerous Outsider."

She didn't notice when her deck activated as she spoke. Five of Cups shifted to the top.


(I drew a card from the top of my deck)

Once a day, someone she interacts with will trigger her tarot, one card will show prominently to the person she is interacting with, and something along the lines of the meaning of the card will follow through soon after.

Five of Cups: Partial loss, Regret, Friendship without real meaning, marriage without real love, Imperfection, Flaw, Inheritance, incomplete union of partnership.

[Harpsdesire]

Calamity considered the strange words the strange voice said. It sounded a bit angry, but he wasn't really able to determine why. He had agreed with it, after all, and been very polite. Now it was calling him names, and thought he was dangerous! In fact, he was somewhat dangerous, at least to the extent it was possible for a four year old to be, but he didn't see himself as a threatening individual. As long as he got fed on a somewhat regular basis and any books he managed to acquire were left unmolested, he was a reasonable guy.

"What is 'outsiders'?" He asked, scuffing one taloned foot on the leaf-littered floor. He knew the word 'outside', and as far as he could tell, the not-invisible person was equally as much outside as he was. Unless they were in an invisible house, which he thought was possible, but improbable. More likely they were just behind a tree, a nearby tree.

As he began to make a more thorough survey of the immediate area, he attempted to reassure the voice. "Cal is not Dangerous. Is Cal. Unless you's food-meat, then very dangerous. Rawr." He giggled at his own joke in a not entirely reassuring way. "But foods mostly not talk, so you probably are not that." The child peered around yet another tree.

[Kari Muffin]

Kafziel found herself slightly confused. How old was this person? And why were they at the edge of the Wood if they were that young? Were they abandoned? What had they done to deserve that. "Outsiders are non-Tulgey. You don't belong in the Wood, so get out."

A small sigh escaped her. The last time she had tried something like this the pair of Outsiders were too stupid to get the hint and her father had come along to find her. In this case her father wasn't around to save her. Which meant if things got bad she only had one spell to defend herself. And it would at least give her time to get away.

Her ears pressed against her skull at the comment about food-meat. What did he mean by that? She looked around the tree, her head in plan sight so she could watch the child. She didn't say anything else, since she assumed that if he saw her rather odd and disembodied face he would at least pause to back away, even if he wasn't that close.

[Harpsdesire]

Now the voice was being downright mean. Calamity's voice was half-petulant, half sorrowful as he answered, "Go where? I don't know where the other places are. I lives here, with my brother-sister family." He could only remember ever being in one other place, the dark, drug-addled prison that he and his siblings knew only as the Bad Place. He didn't want to go back there, but even if he did, he wouldn't know where to begin looking for it.

Suddenly, he spotted a funny little face behind a tree. That must be the voice! The voice's head seemed to be mostly white, and had stick-up ears and a beak like himself and his family. She probably had a body and legs, too, but he couldn't see them. Even though her beak and eyes were dark, she almost looked like family. At this welcome sight, he looked more cheerful, and his own tufted ears pricked forward. "Found Joo!" He pranced happily in her direction. "I was right. You aren't a food. More like me, 'n Cat, 'n Fi, 'n Hereliescappenunnerwood. That's my sister-brothers. They lives here, but gone hunting. Maybe come back with something foody later. I was supposta build-make house, but it broke." He was more chatty now that he was confidant that the voice wasn't coming from something edible or scary. It was nice to know that things lived among the big trees besides the hard to find Foods and all too easy to find Bad Things.

[Kari Muffin]

Abandoned then. That was a little depressing. She was a freak of nature and yet her parents still loved her more than anything. Well, Mom did. She wasn't particular sure about Mom sometimes. She gave her strange looks periodically and father really was the only one who could function normally in society.

She was surprised by the boy's exclamation. Honestly she had expected him, however young he was, to run away like most strangers had to. And for some reason he was coming towards her. A surprised gasp escaped her as she floated backwards, and ultimately into sight.

"You really shouldn't be here," she said as she edged away slightly. Her wings puffed up, though it looked only a little odd on in combination with the rest of very little limbs. "The Woods are dangerous for little kids. If the nasty critters don't eat you and your siblings, the people could very well make a pet out of you!"

She really wished she could make proper facial expressions.

[Harpsdesire]

Well, the creature attached to the voice certainly did look strange, but Cal didn't have enough experience with people to realize the full extent of how bizarre looking she really was. It was like some of her parts were invisible after all, and others were floating a little away from the main bit of her, which itself was moving around in an awfully disconcerting fashion. When he could see the whole creature, it was obvious that it was not as altogether similar to himself as the head had led him to believe.

He looked intently at the floaty bits. Huh. That was... strange... but a lot of things in his drug memories and even here in the wood were at least as strange as this, so Calamity was more confused and curious than frightened. "Yes, so danger-scary inna woods. Not safe for little kids." Cal agreed, walking toward Kafziel casually. "Bad Ones try to eat us at night, but we hided."

Eating things and narrowly escaping being eaten by things was a familiar enough concept that it was hardly a threat. It was a daily reality for the siblings, who had learned quickly to hide tightly curled together in a small space, such as a hollow log, each night after dark.

Pets, on the other hand, was another of those concepts he had read about in books without fully comprehending. As far as he knew, pets were banders or momes, small fuzzy creatures, and he didn't fancy being made into one of those at all. He was a little horrified that such a thing was even possible. "Make pet?!? I don't want to be 'make pet'!" He looked around suspiciously as if one of the people in question could be lurking around at that very moment. "I like to be Cal! ....Mostly."

What he would rather be was Cal With a House and Dinner, but even cold, hungry Cal was better than being a mome. "How to get away? I should hide?"

[Kari Muffin]

Kafziel was surprised to find that this Outsider was actually kind of adorable in a pathetic sort of way. She was used to having her brother out smart her in almost every area. So meeting someone so... simple was like finding a puppy dog lost without an owner. And the fact that he had yet to run away? Maybe she could... make friends?

"Ah... you're alone out here with your siblings?" Her ears pressed against her head again. She looked around to scan the area. It was empty. He seemed to be completely alone now. And what had he said his siblings names were? And his? It was a very odd assortment.

Her wings settled, the feathers smoothing out with very little help. The rest of her body attempted to act remotely normal. The card that had shifted with still clearly on top, not about to shuffle back into the deck.

"You should... leave the Woods. People here don't like Outsiders. Daddy had a neighbor who made any Outsider a pet. And Mommy used to be a servant to a pure Tulgey." She paused. How could she explain the outside world when she had never seen it. "You should uh... walk away from the Wood. Daddy says that there's a city that connects all of the realms. You should go there and see if you can find your parents. It would be safer than staying here."

Hopefully that made sense.

"I'm Kafziel," she said after a moment.