[-pats Kez- Of course it would. ^o^]

Felix gave Jesca a quick glance before stretching out his forepaws to ready himself to shift. His black tail flicked from side to side as the gargouille gave a small yawn, clawing at the sand. ‘Watch out,’ he growled loudly as a series of cracks spread across his body. Bit by bit the cracks grew and soon became large gashes, though there was nothing visible if one was to look inside them, just inky darkness. Crackling noises ensued as Felix stretched again, his scales crumbling into dust as the shell about him split into small pieces.

‘Mmmmm.’ The crooning, pleased sound came from within the last pieces of stone, a distinctly human and male tone. Long pale fingers wrapped themselves around the sharp edge of the largest piece, turning white as the shadowy figure inside slowly straightened. Shuffling noises inside indicated that whoever was cocooned within the stone pieces was moving about, stepping closer to the exit.

‘Jesca, are you alright?’ came a soft voice as a tall and slim man stepped out of the stone. Dressed in plain blue jeans and a white t-shirt the man appeared younger than he truly was. Tousled blonde hair fell over his eyes as he gave the girl before him a worried glance. Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, the rock pile behind him obediently shuddered and collapsed into sand and dust, leaving nothing behind of the miraculous transformation.

‘Went pretty well,’ he said casually, digging his hands deep into his pockets as he sauntered over to Jesca slowly.

~

The girl nodded and flashed her friend a shy grin. ‘It was a clean job Felix, Couldn’t have done better. It was a definite improvement from last time.’ She gave a small giggle as the unfortunate memory returned, causing the man to wince.

‘Come on Jesca, that’s not fair. I was half asleep at the time.’

A derisive ‘Right,’ was all he got in return for his pleading tone.

‘Besides,’ the girl continued. ‘I think we should go to the bonfire over there like Raphael suggested. I mean, he did invite us to.’ She bit her lip indecisively, now doubting her own decision.

~

Felix snorted and shot a look at the glowing flames. ‘Alright then. Don’t back out now Jesca, not like you always do. I’d like to get a good night’s sleep for once, on a proper bed. Not in some cave. Come on.’

He slid away from the girl quickly, causing her to run after him helplessly. ‘Alright,’ she hissed with annoyance as she caught his stride and walked beside him.

Simply flashing his white grin again the man walked boldly into the fire area, his weird grey eyes flashing as the light hit them. ‘Hello,’ he said simply.

[["lonely single man who needs some love." This makes me giggle cuz I still think my dice rolls proved Raphael is a player.

also, Zinc thinks Julian might be pretty lonely... *wink wink, nudge nudge, freak out and run away aaaah D:*]]

((Yes... That, Zombie, would have been SUCH A SHOCK had I not already re-read your bio's. *Cough* o-o And PFFT. There have been a lot of girls after Raffy. None of them are still here. D:

Pshhh. *Sniffle* Raffy's not a player, I don't think. o-o OH GOD. That's why all the girls have left him. Raffy how could you? D8

And I love how I have "romance" in the ti
tle, like I did in the last thread too, and I still have yet to see ANY. D<))

[[you actually go back and read those? XDDD I purposely change 'em every once and awhile to see if anyone has noticed. spider and yamas have been empty for awhile. Julian might have been all of their crushes at one point.

((ALL of them?... And you say Raphael gets around. xD Julian's a dark horse. o-o I'm glad you like him, though. xD

And no. xD It's very rare I go and re-read bio's. But I do do it. xD))

[Psh, there's something about Julian that is just so hot. If he existed in real life I might chase him myself. Provided, of course, I had my Julian repellent and Kez/Julian-proofed armor.

...

Oh wait, actually, I would bring Raffy's repellent, to attract the wild Julian. Then I would strike with my master ball. 8D]

[[hey three is less than everyone. as I am pretty sure everyone secretly loves Raph. even Break did.

Rare for me too, but I haven't noticed any changes with anyone elses. Nobody loves around here.

edit: ninja'd by Det!

Wild Julian appeared! Zombie used Great Ball! Zombie Pressed A+B+DOWN!]]

 Spider squinted at his sandcastle, far enough away from the fire that he couldn't fall in or be stepped on by someone, but still close enough to have enough light to see what he was doing. He wondered where Sh'Yama and Zinc and... everyone else that was missing had gone. He hoped Sh'Yama didn't stab anyone. It was a little weird being without them, even though a couple weeks ago he had never met Zinc and hadn't known he had a sister. 

Being dependent on people was irritating. What if they left him forever? He didn't even want to think about it. Rubbing grit out of his eyes, Spider sighed in hopelessness. Hopeless because he couldn't get this sand castle to look right. If only he had more materials. The sand castle was little more than a few lumps that had been molded into a castle-like shape with some shells thrown in. Sand was a very different medium and he certainly wasn't used to it.

[[But we love Julian so!]]

((Yeah. Cause of the whole new member thing. It takes enough time getting to know eachother. o-o Dravvy and Maya had that part over already, 7 years ago. D<

But yes. It'll come for the rest of them eventually. xD

Det. You won't get near Julian with Julian repellent... Cause. Yeah. The whole point of repellent... WHY would Raffy repellent ATTRACT Julian?... Remember, NEGATIVE EMOTION. We had this conversation already. xD

And Ima shut up nao cause I'm spamming my own board~ o-o

EDIT: You should all stop trying to catch Julian. D8 He's a speedy blighter, very DIFFICULT to catch, and then, of course... He has knives. o-o))

"Hello, Felix," Selvai greeted, peering around him to where Jesca was fidgeting.  "And hello to you too, Jesca.  I'm glad you both decided to join us."  He prodded at the bonfire with a nearby stick.  "Feel free to sit anywhere, just be careful you don't wake up Disera here.  She tends to be cranky when her sleep is interrupted." 

Selvai threw the piece of wood into the fire before continuing.  "Miss Kioko was just here, but she left to take a walk.  I'm sure she'd be happy to introduce herself to the both of you when she returns."

-----------------

Meanwhile, Kioko stood around and watched the others deal with Dravius. 

Nodding uncomfortably Jesca took a seat on the nearest log, not bothering to look at the people she had sat next to. It would only make her more nervous. 'Hi,' she said in a small voice, staring intently at the glowing embers of the bonfire. Who knew that fires could be so...mesmerising? Those flashing colors, a bit like herself really.

~

Felix simply grinned and plonked (xD) himself down next to Selvai happily. 'So, what's this circus of yours then?' he asked the man beside him, giving him a curious look. 'I've got a few names so far, Diresa, you, Raphael...perhaps a few more. But my memories terrible.' 

Shaking his head ruefully the gargouille looked down at his with lazy interest as an ember spiralled out of the flames and landed on his arm, pulsing a bright red as it sat on his arm.

'Oh,' he said in a bored tone, tapping the offending ember lightly. Now it was simply a dark gray bead, a small stone resting on his forearm. 

[Can he be sort of fire-proof? Being made of rock essentially? o-o]

Dravius tilted his still-smiling face at Yama's furious rant, smirking slightly. "Hmm, one with a tongue sharper than a sword," Looking down as his sleeve was released, he grinned at Maya and said, "Thank you, pretty one," Looking back to Yama, he shook a finger from side to side, laughing slightly, "No, I've had enough of attacking, sharp-tongue," Gazing with half-lidded eyes at Raphael, he raised an eyebrow, his smile fading only slightly as Raphael spoke, cocking his head this way and that as Raphael spoke, moving his eyes away to focus on a loose string on his long sleeve, using his sharp teeth to tug at the thread, unraveling some of the hem of his shirt before biting the thread off with a start, as Raphael took a step closer to him. Blinking slowly, Dravius looked from Maya to Raphael as they spoke in turns, his sleeve inside his mouth absently. It seemed he had decided the two were no longer interesting, and he was in the act of licking any and all blood and gore from his hands and any places he could reach with his long tongue.

Looking up as Dravius felt Raphael's serious stare, the boy tilted his head as he apologized, the other closing his eyes. "For wha-" Dravius's question was cut prematurely as the illusion wrapped it's coils around him, his one good eye widening almost impossibly. Dravius's mouth stayed in the same position, seeming to be stuck trying to finish his question as his eyes grew even wider, and gained some feeling as he let lose an unearthly shriek. It was turned into a high, drawn-out keening as the white-haired boys knees seemed to stop functioning, dropping to all fours while continueing the awful noise. The sound carried over the beach, freezing some of the bonfire members and producing more than one shiver as the keening was cut short. Dravius trembled violently, his hands fist on the ground. Through deeply gritted teeth, he managed to grunt out, "Stop." After a pause, "Please." Taking a deep breath, the keening began again, at an even higher, more headache inducing pitch.

((o-o Well that's strange, and Zombie is always changing the bio's. Subject to change, as they say~ xD And yes, Det, and. OMG. I love that picature, Zombie. <3 Made me giggle. <3))

Raphael watched in silence, his ex
pression never changing as thw white haired boy before him succumbed to his illusion, noticing without actually seeing Maya scoot over to him. The butterfly's face was strangely disbelieving. Yes, she knew Raphael had done this one before, no, she hadn't expected such a reaction, though it probably made sense. One who has never felt pain would not be used to such a feeling.

"Are you sure this might work?" She asked in an exhausted and weak voice, looking up at the Ring Master, her tears still very much in evidence.

"It might. I don't know, though. Not yet,"

It was taking a lot of effort in order for Maya to hold herself back from running to him, the boys obvious distress not being a usual occurance, and it was probably causing her just as much pain. Never in her life had she seen Dravius suffer from anything as much as he seemed to be suffering now. Raphael knew this, and glanced warily at the girl beside him, then turned back to Dravius when he managed to speak.

Eyes narrowing, Raphael glanced at both Nylat and Yama, conveying through his gaze that should this tac fail, they were welcome to restrain him. They were going to need to find another way around this if this didn't work. Looking back at Dravius, he lifted the illusion, ensuring he was still some distance from the trembling Co-Master.

~~~

Julian, who had been looking at the bonfire seeing as he had absoloutely nothing else to do, raised his eyes at the arrival of Jesca and Felix. He could tell they were the same people Raphael seemed to have been talking to earlier, and he watched the short conversation between them and Selvai without much interest.

He tilted his head only slightly at the sound of keening, his hearing sharp enough to catch the sound, and he glanced off towards the general direction, a frown on his face. He chose not to bother going to investigate, it wasn't really his business, and turned back to the fire.

[[i am to please with drawrings, and to confuse people with my crush changing!]]

Sharp-tongue? That's not all that's sharp, you little twerp. Sh'Yama crossed her arms, eyes glinting dangerously in the night. She could only nod at Raphael, afraid if she opened her mouth again it might find it's way into someones throat. Yama had never really thought about Raphael's ability, his Illusions, she thought, would be nothing but magicians tricks.

She was mistaken. Yama stepped back a bit from the now not pain-free boy. Sh'Yama couldn't feel sorry for him. Maybe a little bit. But she decided he deserved it. And she wasn't going to cover her ears. Her head might explode before he was done but it was only making her angrier. She almost wanted to get a grip on Maya and keep her from doing some fool-thing like throwing herself at him.

No, no no no, he'd had his chance and he threw it in her face, and then only walked around being mopey like some puppy that was too stupid to realize what he'd done wrong. Sh'Yama couldn't see what Maya saw in the stupid, self-destructive me-me.

"Oh jeez, someone let the banshee loose. What did they do?" Zinc slammed the dumpster he'd been shoving something in to and wiped his hands on the back of his jeans. "The fuzz'll be down there any minute now... Maybe I should have just hit him. Would have saved us a lot of trouble. Dream therapy, would have worked, I'm sure."

He supposed he'd have to walk back now, because that banshee wail surely woke up everyone within a five mile radius. Maybe more. Are they sure Dravius is a boy? Sighing in somewhat mock-despair, Zinc started his trek down the street, trying to look casual. As casual as a six foot tall dude with pink hair could.

Spider managed to jump at a sound that was a good distance away. It hadn't been the first time. "Oh... oh no, she didn't really... stab anyone did she?" Spider couldn't help but cringe at the awful noise. What if someone was hurt? What if it was Yama? She wouldn't listen to anyone else! So that would make it his fault if he stayed here and someone got... killed.

Making up his mind, Spider skittered to his van and shoved his shoes on, before taking off in the direction of the horrible noise.

Dravius coughed, breathing hard as the illusion lifted, his jaw still clenched as he sat back on his heels, his eyes closed as he sighed, althopugh his bad one didn't close completely, leaving a slight crescent of blue and white as he curled and uncurled his fingers, pushing his black-and-white hair back from his face, opening one eye and saying in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "Gee, thanks," Coughing again, Dravius closed his eye again, rubbing his face with one hand. His white hair hung in front of his bad eye, but he paid it no mind as he opened his eyes and got to his feet, twisting his neck from side to side until it cracked, rubbing his right wrist with another sigh, putting his hands in his pockets.

"As fun as that was, I do belive I'm going to go to sleep," Dravius yawned, his eyes and manner back to normal as he licked a finger and rubbed a spot of Break's blood from his forehead, adding, "And I need to clean up," flicking a hank of hair away from his eye, and heading back down the beach, his muscles taut and his face rather tight.  Sniffling slightly, Dravius looked at the sky as he hopped off of the natural wall, sighing deeply as he rubbed one side of his face.

"Oh good. Did you finally snap out of that little lapse?" Raphael asked, his ex
pression as grim as it had been earlier as he lifted both arms to rest behind his head. His eyes never once left the kids face as he watched, constantly wary just in case the illusion had not succeeded. He raised an eyebrow at the boys sarcastic tone. "Mmm. If only you saw yourself. Been a long time since I've seen you like that, I'll grant you,"

He sighed through his nose, his face relaxing somewhat as he continued to keep his eye on the younger male.

Maya, who had at some point started clinging to Raphael's sleeve during the illusionary introduction, was watching with an unreadable face. She was purposefully preventing herself from getting her hopes up about Dravius's current state, just in case it all proved false. Raphael's tone and address, however, suggested he was probably over it.

When the Co-Master upped and left, Raphael frowned slightly, having being duped out of asking the kid a question. He was barely able to phrase the words in his mind to ask Maya before she turned her back to the group and followed the Co-Master, wiping her wet face with her loose splint as she went. There's was no reason for it other than she needed to be sure he was back to normal. She'd be unable to rest easy, otherwise. Pausing not far from the leaving Co-Master, she glanced once over her shoulder, before speaking in a quiet and subdued voice. "Dravius?... Are you alright?"

Yes. It was a stupid question. No. She didn't particularly care.

Raphael blinked a few times as the members dissapated, frowning slightly, then looked over at Yama and Nylat. "Would either of you be able to clear this up for me?... What exactly happened?"