Um... bah? (Mona)

[Anonymous]

For a shapeshifter who couldn't quite control their other form, just leaving any shelter that could be found could be a problem. And a sheep was quite possibly the worst animal to turn into. So when I was just casually walking down the street, minding my own business, and some inconsiderate soul bumped into me and scared me which caused me to involuntarily shift, my first thought was that I shouldn't have left the abandoned shack i'd spent yet another sleepless night in.

Then thoughts that were more practical and less retrospective sank in. thoughts like, Great, now everyone knows I scare easily. That was a sign of weakness here, in one of Arca's rare, scattered slums, and could easily get me attacked. And my only real defence was to make my aggressor fall asleep and then flee.

And running wouldn't work forever...

I turned my head upwards and looked at whoever the culprit was, the brown eyes of my sheep form glowing with human intelligence. I didn't recognize the teen in front of me, but I memorized the face and the fact that they had whacked into me and accidentally turned me into a sheep for future reference.

"Baaah," I whined. That was just about all I could say with a sheep's vocal cords.

I continued on, waiting for the shocked to wear off so I could change back. Luckily, moments later I was calm enough to return to normal. Wool disappeared, hooves became hands and feet, and ram's horns vanished. Within mere seconds a little boy crouched where a black sheep had once stood. I climbed cautiously to my feet. The stranger who had smacked into me into me turne and looked at me over their shoulder in disbeleif. A sheep was an uncommon form for a shifter, probably because it was almost completely useless.  Baahing someone to death wasn't very intimidating.

Brushing dust off of my tattered clothes, I smiled nervously at them. Don't make any new enemies, I told myself.

(OOC: I kind of left it open for you to decide whether the person who bumps into him is her or not. Sorry for the sucky post, it was all I could come up with at the moment.)

[Anonymous]

Can you breath in the music, that wanders by?
Hear the heart beating, and childrens cry?
Listen to the wind, as it comes around...

You know somethings happening,
When you feel the heat.
Listen well, becuase it's you........

The coins rained at her feet, and she scooped them up into her skirt, then her pack, smiling shyly and nodding thanks.
Only when she had collected the very last coin did she slip away, the people's who's attetion she had captured moments before off on another person, this time juggling. Sinking to her feet in an alley, she slid the coins back into her lap, and began to count, dropping them back into her bag as she asked them,
"Are you real?"

"No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes"

Most were real, and those that weren't she threw away.
Getting up and dusting off her blue skirt, she walked from the alley quietly, and started the long walk from the middle of Arca to the slums.
Her long plain dirty blond hair was pulled in a loose ponytail that clung to her back, and it swung as she walked, her hands folded on her pack infront of her in an easy slightly confident walk.

However, she felt nothing but confident.
"Here ya go, Granny."
She murmured as she dropped two coins in an old Lady's lap, grinning as she looked up and smiled with a face caked with dirt, and a toothless mouth.
"Bless ye, child."
This happened over and over again, until Solita had done the whole round and was back where she had started, to hear something she normally didn't.

"Cousin!"
She turned, grinning at her younger friend.
"Yes, Jeramy?"
"I just ran into a kid, and he turned into a goat, then back! He bahed at me!"
She laughed, and handed him 3 coins.
"Go take a bath, get something to eat, and give the change to your mother."
With a grin the kid did as he was told.

"Where'd the sheep go?" She asked the road.
"Who, the sheep-boy? Over there." It rippled slightly to show.
"Thanks."
She walked closer to the boy, and grinned at him when she was a couple feet away.
"Hi!" (Her)
"Yep, that's him. Kinda smelly though." (Road)
"Hush!" (Her)

[Anonymous]

The road rippled. I jumped up from it, screamed, and backed against the nearest crumbling brick wall.  I lost control again and became a sheep. Damn!

I turned my head in the direction of the voice, my haunted eyes widening slightly. Someone had said something... was she talking to me? Looked a little too well-taken-care-of to be from around here. She stood with confidence, too, and she was grinning. What could she want with anyone (especially a sheep) in this... neighbourhood? Jeez, "neighbourhood" wasn't even the right word for it. My eyes darted around nervously.

I jumped, startled, when something answered her. Was that the road talking?! Oh my god! I had to be hallucinating!  And hey, I was not smelly! Well, okay, I was… I couldn’t afford to bathe very often.

“Baaah!�

I looked around. People on the street were beginning to look sleepy, and a few ragged, bone-thin children who couldn’t have been older than six were already tossing and turning nearby. I had to calm down before more people nodded off, and hopefully get back to human form. I looked up at the girl, who was now telling the road to be quiet. I had taken a slow, cautious step back, and I was shivering.  I took a deep breath,  and tried not to think about the fact that the road was talking.

[Anonymous]

He can hear the voices, everybody can. It's just her magic makes them talk.

[Anonymous]

Ok, sorry about that! :D. I edited it so tha he hears them.

[Anonymous]

She looked at the sheep, kind eyes quiet, dancing with happiness.
So, he was a shapeshifter.
She had grown up around here, and though she looked better off, don't be fooled.
It was only becuase of the fact that she could sing and she raked it in when she did.
As he just looked at her with a dumb face, she realized that she was acting far to alive in this part of Arca's slums.
Ah, whatever.

"I still think he's smelly, and besides, why should I hush?"
"Road, I command you to stop talking."
"Ahh, darn!"
And it stopped.
'Baaah!'
The kid looked creeped out.
"Don't worry young one, that's just my magic. I can speak any lauange, of the inanimate and alive. Well, what are we going to do with you? Before you changed, you were a young boy, were you not? Howabout you change back, and I'll give you a hot meal and a place to sleep the night?"

How was she susposed to know that he couldn't control his form?

(Sorry for the shortness, didn't really know what to say.)

[Anonymous]

She smiled when I shifted, which creeped me out more. Was she looking for a sheep or something? Was that it? Was she going to turn me into mutton?

The road was persistent about me being smelly, and the girl had to tell it to stop twice more before it did. How the hell could it smell me anyway, when it didn't have a nose? Was the road possessed? Or had lack of sleep and the stress of being afraid of almost everything finally cracked my mind?

She explained that it was her magic presence that made it talk. That...made...sense... I blinked and stopped shaking, but I wasn't quite calm enough to shift back yet. Wait... she could speak any language... could she speak sheep? Even if she couldn't, I would be glad to get to know another rmagic user- although Arca seemed to be full of them, they weren't usually seen in this part of town, and when they were they usually just caused mischeif. Although of course over the past few months, people had begun to talk about a timid preteen who was sleeping in and abandoned barn, and if you scared him he'd turn into a ram. It would, I feared, become a sport over time: scare the sheep boy. And although curiosity was usually against my nature, overpowered by suspiscion and fear, I was dying to know just why this girl had said hello to me.

"Baah?"

The offer of a place to stay the night sounded wonderful. I walked up to her and, careful not to butt her with my horns, went to poke her knee with my nose. I hoped she'd guess eventually that I couldn't change back yet.
 
(OOC: Same here. Maybe we should plot out something really interesting that happens to liven up the thread and make our posts longer, a random danger or something?)

[Anonymous]

(Yeah yeah. Have any ideas? Just feel free to throw them out.)

Man, the kid sure was jumpy.
And no, the magic she emitted had something to do with the fact it could smell and hear and stuff, but she really didn't know the full details.
She took it as a good sign when the shaking was subbdued, and gave another relaxing smile.
Yes, she could speak sheep, but there was a difference between just making a sound and actually speaking a word or two.
Come to think about it, she had heard a rumor or two about the shapeshifter down here that would turn into a ram when you spokked him...
Oh!

'Baah?'
"Wait, you can't control your powers, can you?"
Smooth.
"It's sorta my job to help people out in this particualr area."
She said in way of an explaination.
Solita held prefectly still as the sheep came up and placed his fuzzy nose against her kneww, which wasn't susposed to be showing anyway.
"Fantastic! Come on, I'll take you to the inn."
And she set off, skirt billowing out as she urged the sheep foward.

[Anonymous]

(OOC: No ideas :( And sorry for the delay and the short post)

She realized out loud that I couldn't control my sheep form, and explained that it was in a way her job to help people out here. I wondered how exactly it was her job, but didn't ask.

She offered to take me to an inn, and began to lead me away. I followed obediently, looking forward not only to having a place to stay the night but to possibly making a new friend- a rare occurance for someone like me.  

We had only walked a few steps when I was calm enough to change back. People around us stopped falling asleep, and some of the less affected woke up.

[Anonymous]

(Ah, well, it'll some sooner or later. And don't worry, I completely understand.)

As he followed her, she began to notice around them, that people had stopped what tehy were doing and began nodding off.
Odd, for something in the middle of the afternoon, but okay.
And then a small noise from behind her and she saw a young boy in place of the sheep that was just following her, and the people began to stir.
Hey, wait...
"So, what is you're name, kid?"
She asked with a small smile, dropping back to talk with him.
"I'm Solita. And incase you were wondering why it is my job, it's basically because everybody here took me in when I was just a baby, and raised me up, so in turn I help them."
A wider grin was thrown out, and she hurrid up her pace.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the outer fringes of the Slums, and she lead him up to a nice building, and slipped inside, ushering him in.
"Welcome to the community home."
Was her words.
And it did seem that it was.
Everybody was their, people who obviously didn't live here, and some who did.
A wave of noise greeted them as the people saw it was Solita, and she waved at them, waving through the tables to get to the kitchen, grabbing empty plates and cups, promisng more food here, and another ale here.
Finally, after making her way through, she pushed open the kitchen doors to come into the heat, and more quiet.
"That's better."
Dumping the dishes in the sink, she turned to the boy.
"Food?"

[Anonymous]

(OOC: Hopefully it will. And thanks for being patient.)

She looked around, noticing that people had been dozing. It seemed that she hadn’t noticed before, and it occurred to me that she didn’t know I had other powers I couldn’t control, mostly putting people to sleep. It should have seemed odd to me, too, but I had seen it loads of times so it was not.

I looked up to see her dropping back to ask me my name. I looked up at her as I spoke with eyes that never seemed to stop darting about, looking this way and that. I usually tried to avoid talking whenever I could, as I had an awful stutter.

‘I-I-I’m Layne.�

 So that was why she seemed so confident! She’d grown up here, and somehow gotten out. I thought it was very good of her to come back and help others who lived here, and smiled to show it, but didn’t say anything because of my stutter.

When she sped up I had to almost jog to keep up with her, which I wouldn’t be able to do for long since I was tired and, like many others from around here, malnourished. I somehow managed not to lose sight of her and followed her into the building, cowering behind her at the sight of so many people. They were everywhere, some too well-kept to be from around here and others not so. They seemed to be pretty glad to see her, and a pretty friendly bunch overall, but that didn’t do much to banish my fears.

As she weaved between the tables, picking up empty dishes, I couldn’t seem to move except for small, quick steps. All of these people! Eeeek!

 I breathed a sigh of relief as we entered the quieter, warmer room that appeared to be a kitchen, watching her put the dishes she had gathered in the sink.

The offer of food sounded almost unreal. When was the last time I had eaten? Three days? Four days? Longer? Suddenly it didn’t matter.

“Y-yes p-p-please, that w-would be w-wonderful,� I replied, smiling slightly through my seemingly ever-present expression of nervousness.