From the Abyss he came (Daft! I summon thee!)

[Anonymous]

"Other than the fact your world has a bunch of water on it." Nazarul murmured gently as he stuck his tongue out at her again. He rather liked the banter between them, it was a nice change of pace really.

"Fine, later I'll teach you more." He wanted to go outside and get a layout of the town. Also, he wanted to just go outside. In the Abyss his people lived mostly outside, so being inside like this was rather...interesting. He smiled to her as he sat up on the windowsill carefully, making sure not to knock anything off.

"That's because you're a mage Bella. Also you're a bit of a...bookworm." He said as he gestured to her various stacks of books, smirking ever so slightly. It was hard to understand the facial expression on him, as he lacked lips, but thankfully still managed to show some sort of emotion.

"A game though...a game..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. What sort of games did they play in the Abyss? Well, besides chasing each other around and general teasing and such. Hm, this might actually be a difficult question.

"There's hide and seek. I could shrink myself down to my smallest size, hide, and you could try to find me..." He always did enjoy that game, and here in this world there was no chance of some Abyssal Walker interrupting the game.

"Or if you have any games that don't involve me teaching that works too."

[Anonymous]

Bella turned to look at him and smirked at his response, but said nothing. Just because there was water didn’t mean she had to go anywhere near it, aside from the whole bathing thing.

“Alright, alright. Later.� She muttered, brushing her fingers through her bangs before tucking them behind her ear, giving a sigh as she turned to stare out of the window. There was an orangish tint covering the town now, with the sun nearing the horizon.

“A bookworm!� She yelled at him, as if offended, before slowly realizing that she was quite the bookworm. Her lack of knowledge in games proved that much. “Oh…never mind.� She muttered out.

At his suggestion of hide and seek she smiled, biting down to try and hide it, before shrugging her shoulders. The children of the town sometimes played the game. Whenever she sat outside and read she would watch them hide while one of their friends hid their face and counted to a certain number, before running off to find the hidden children.

“I…I haven’t ever played, but okay!� She said and grinned towards him, blinking a few times.

[Anonymous]

The flashing of his teeth were very apparent as he grinned at her reaction to his...judgement of her. She seemed however to realize how true it was, but he hadn't meant it in an insulting way after all.

"You haven't ever played? Never? Not even once?" Nazarul asked her almost stunned for a moment, staring at her with a feigned look of horror. This poor girl had never lived in her life had she? He would have to fix that, after all, she had the fun loving, spur of the moment Demni in her presence now.

"We've got to get you some friends Bella. I'm surprised that you haven't found any in a town full of Magi. You've all got something in common after all. Well. Except for you. You've got a creature from the Abyss living with you. You're one up on them." Nazarul pointed out, that grin crossing his face once more. Glowing yellow eyes slowly closed as he began to shrink down into his miniature size. Now anyone looking in would probably see Bella chasing a household cat. Nothing suspicious of that after all.

"And believe me, when night comes, we're going out. Now close your eyes and count to...say...fifteen." At least he had remembered the correct word for fifteen. He jumped from the window sill, sitting on his haunches with his tail swinging behind him in anticipation as he waited for her.

"Go on now, it's no fun if you see where I hide."

[Anonymous]

Bella blinked her bright eyes at him and shook her head, loose maroon strands of hair lightly brushing her cheeks.

“Uhm, no. I’ve never played. I was always doing something else.� Her head tilted to the side as she began to rock back and forth on the heels of the rugged boots she hadn’t exchanged for silky slippers, or something equally feminine.

“I have friends! I have… Well, I have them.� She pressed her lips together and stomped a foot down on the ground, before rolling her eyes and sighing in his general direction. The red-haired mage didn’t say anything while he shrunk down to a size close to a cat, and at his instructions to count to fifteen she nodded her head.

“Okay!� She said and spun around to nearly skip out of the room around the piles of book. She opened the door, turned to look at him and gave a wide smile, before turning and walking into the hallway, shutting the door behind herself, and she moved to lean against it.

“One! Two! Three! …..�

[Anonymous]

"Oh of course you do." Nazarul agreed with her, though perhaps a little sarcasm lacing his innocent sounding tones. However she skipped out of the room, his eyes now looking around for a good place to hide. Hm. His first thoughts were of mischief and simply knocking a bunch of book piles over and pretending to actually be a feline, but then his common sense took over.

He headed to a few stacks of books, pushing them all about until he made a sort of cave he could hide in. It wasn't facing the door, and he hadn't done much to reorganize it, so it wouldn't seem too out of place. However the small space where he could stick his eye to look out of him might have been a dead give away.

Perhaps it was also the tail that extended out of the back, subconsciously whipping around in excitement. He had always been really good at this game, and actually did love it so. Technically the game wasn't often played by adults, but it was a perfect thing when trying to teach others how to hunt and the like.

He could hear her counting, and even giggle to himself. She'd never find him here. It was such a good hiding spot. He stifled his giggle however and lay flat, trying to not draw too much attention to himself.

Nazarul was unsure what excited him more, this game, or the fact that in maybe half an hour or an hour he would be able to run outside along rooftops and scout this place out for potential meals for the coming nights. Probably that second one he guessed.

[Anonymous]

Bella tapped her fingers along the door as she continued to count in a loud, unnecessary voice, before finally reaching the end of her counting.

“Fifteen!� She yelled before spinning around and whipping the door open. She stared into a room she’d walked into numerous times before, but she actually looked at it this time. Her feet carried her into the room and she shut it behind herself, bright eyes sweeping over the room.

Bella had never been extremely good at the whole tracking business, her skill was always in books and learning, and that was it. She tiptoed around the books, pushing some out of the way, looking under them, in flower pots, in the corners of the room. After a few minutes of searching, she moved back to the mountains of books and began to go through those, before finding a pile of books that was in a shape she was sure she hadn’t created. She moved over to the unusual stack, and lifted the top few books off of his small hiding spot, and stared down into it. Unless he had moved, she would smile down into the little cave.

“Find you!� She said, her voice chipper and triumphant.

[Anonymous]

Nazarul had to cover his mouth and clench his teeth to keep himself from laughing as he watched Bella walk into the room and start looking. Okay, so maybe he wasn't always the best hider in the world, but he did try his best after all. Poor Bella would have a severe disadvantage if she tried to hide him after all.

He watched her as she walked away from where he was, and tried to keep his tail from whipping about and making too much noise. However, it didn't really seem to matter as she finally returned to where he was, removing the books from above him. He looked up at her with a grin, clambering up the side of the books carefully, as to not rip them, to sit on the highest book.

"Beginners luck!" He squeaked loudly at her, sitting up on his hind legs to cross his arms.

"Want to try again, or you think you can hide yourself from me?" Nazarul asked her as he jumped from the pile of books to land on the ground.

"I mean, no one has actually managed to hide from me yet, so I don't think you'd have much of a chance." Trying to goad her into it perhaps? Yes, he did want to see how good she was at that sort of thing.

[Anonymous]

Bella laughed as she stared down at him, taking a step back as he moved to perch upon a stack of books, her setting the books down that she had previously lifted. A smile split her lips and she slowly shook her head, hearing what he said, beginners luck.

“Oh! Me hide?� She asked, her eyes wide before she stared around the room. She wasn’t exactly an expert in stealth and hiding. She’d probably sneeze while hiding, or something equally loud. She finally nodded, her red hair brushing her cheeks as she stared down at him.

“Alright, I think I’ll try!� She said down to him, brushing her hair from her face as she tried to figure out how in the world she would hide from him, especially in a room simply filled with books. She wouldn’t use magic, simply because she didn’t think that would be too fair.

“Okay! Go count!� She said and pointed towards the door, bouncing on the toes of her boots.

[Anonymous]

"I won't cheat, or at least, not much! I promise!" Nazarul said with a toothy grin, slowly enlarging himself until he was about four and a half feet tall. He just smiled a little bit now as he headed into the other room as she pointed to where to go.

"Alright, I'll count to fifteen then. What comes after three, fourteen right?" He asked with a grin, and a flash as he stuck his tongue out at her before escaping into the other room. Hm. Now that he was in the other room, he had a few questions on his mind.

Cheat?

Abyss yes.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five!" He started counting, but his fingers were busy, writing in the air to summon for him a small portal that allowed him to see into the next room. Oh he was so evil and naughty sometimes wasn't he? This was going to be an easy game.

[Anonymous]

(I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was my turn to post! I guess I never got the e-mail or something. It won't happen again!)

Bella crossed her arms and eyed him a moment, before laughing as he left the room, shaking her head, causing her maroon strands of hair to brush her cheeks. How silly she felt, playing games with an abyssal creature. She ran into the next room where a desk was, although the desk couldn’t be used because of all the clutter, and slipped beneath where her legs were supposed to go. She curled her knees to her chest and let her head rest against the desk, listening carefully for any signs that he might be entering the room, biting her lower lip as a smile spread across her face.

[Anonymous]

Oh this was going to be very fun wasn't it? He watched her through his magic little portal. Well...there she was going wasn't it? That was good wasn't it? A very good spot to hide...Well...not from him at least. He made the portal go away and finished counting.

"Fifteen! I'm gonna get ya!" He dashed back into the room, looking around anxiously. He would play it off at first, like he didn't know where she was. He could smell where she went even. He didn't need to have cheated and yet...Nazarul was much happier cheating. His tail whipped behind him as he dashed around the room, changing sizes constantly to look in places she couldn't possible hide.

"You can't hide from me!" He called out as he jumped onto the desk, changing to a four foot size once more. He was grinning, letting his teeth flash as he leaned down and poked his head under the desk to look at her.

"So, you come here often?" He asked her with a giggle before hopping off the desk to sit in front of her, his tail wagging happily behind him.

"S'good hiding spot you know."

[Anonymous]

Bella remained curled up as she heard him finally reach fifteen. She could easily hear him scampering about the room, looking in random hiding places. She pressed her hand over her mouth, before she heard something land on the top of the desk, and she dropped her hand down, turning her head to see him peeking over the edge towards her. She lifted a hand and waved her fingers towards him.

“Yeah, every once in a while, I’ll just crawl under my desk and hide out.� She replied back to him, shifting as he jumped down to sit in front of her. She let her legs stretch out until her shins hit the desk, turning to look at him, rolling her emerald eyes.

“Terrific hiding spot.� She replied back to him with a grin, shifting to slip out from under the desk, while trying not to step or fall over him.

[Anonymous]

He was grinning all the while as she responded to his joke. He couldn't stand people who didn't have a sense of humour! Bella was lucky and had one, even after the feeding and such. Nazarul realized he probably was quite lucky to have met someone as nice as Bella.

"Well there's nothing wrong with that, I mean, it does look pretty safe in there, I bet it's easy to defend as well." He commented idly, examining the desk fro a moment before moving so she could get out without incident

"Perfect hiding spot! Your turn to be it again though!" He was enthusiastic about playing more of this game. He did like it so after all. It always was good for a laugh, and for practising your skills among other things. Already he was looking for a place to hide, and wondered if he should be very evil and use an illusion spell to cloak himself. Oh! Now there was an idea!

"Go count! I gotta find me a hiding spot." Nazarul was acting now, pretending to look for a spot, but he knew exactly how he was going to hide this time. He was going to hide pretty much in plain sight at this point and cast a small illusion spell to maybe make himself look like a stack of books or something like that. After all, it wasn't cheating technically! He had the ability to do such, so it was just using his natural gifts! Yes! That didn't sound like cheating at all.

[Anonymous]

Bella laughed as his enthusiasm and walked away from the desk. She turned around to roll her eyes at him, with the smile on her face.

“I’m going! I’m going!� She said before turning back around and jogging out of the room into the hallway. She shut the door quietly behind herself, not even thinking to cheat or use any of her magic to find him, unlike what he had used. She may have been book smart, but when it came to things such as cheating or doing something to better another person, well, she was clueless.

“One! Two! Three!…� She began to count loudly, probably disturbing other families that lived in the building.

[Anonymous]

"Gogogogo!"He was quite enthusiastic about this round, as he would be invisible for the most part. Now...all he had to do was just become another pile of books. He found a nice sized stand of them, shrinking down to their height so he could stand up straight beside them. Then, with a few quick writings in the air and his hand on the stack of them, he became a copy.

Granted, he didn't actually turn INTO them, instead he just became a mirror image of them. She would easily be able to find him, as the books beside him had letters on the front cover, while his were written backwards, as if someone was writing in a mirror. That and he was the only stack of books in the room with a long leathery tail.

"You'll never find me!" He called out to her in the next room. Oh this was going to be great! His tail whipped around behind him, almost like he didn't even know it was happening. In truth, sometimes he didn't. It was probably one of his greatest downfalls for that matter.

She would be nearing fifteen! Oh he hoped this really worked too. If only he knew his tail was going to be a give away.

[Anonymous]

“Fifteen!� She called loudly, before spinning around and opened the door into her messy house. She looked around, brushing her maroon hair from her face as she began to look around. She looked beneath the desk, in her closet, drawers, checked the stacks of books. Stacks of books. One of them looked particularly odd to her. She didn’t have a stack of books where the writing was backwards. She had yet to master that skill. And she couldn’t exactly remember when her books had started growing tails that wagged happily. She laughed and walked forward, leaning against the wall by the books, before reaching her foot out, and gently stepped on the tail.

“You forgot a part.� She said with a wide grin, her emerald eyes flashing with amusement. “And the writing is backwards on the book. If you have remembered those two things, then I would never have found you.� She said, letting his tail up as she stepped away from the wall.

[Anonymous]

He managed to suppress all his giggles as she entered the room and started looking around her messy house. Oh this was good! She was looking everywhere. She wouldn't find him in here! Oh no! Bella would be lost looking for him! Bwahahaha!

This was great, he couldn't believe how well this had-erk! She laughed...why did she-ACK! His tail! Though she wasn't stepping hard on his tail, it was still a surprise. The illusion disappeared, shattered now that she knew, and he quickly tried to dash away but found his tail still stuck under her foot. So he just fell on his stomach with a small thump and then glared ahead.

Damn. Hoisted by his own tail! That traitorous piece of flesh could be a bother sometimes. Bella was a smart cookie though, and he was glad that she had been able to find him! Very glad! It meant she knew every part of her house then.

"I thought my tail was hidden and the illusion sometimes messes up with writing." He said as he finally stood up and pulled his tail to look at it, dusting it off. He swore he saw a little dust print on it from her foot. Must have been his imagination.

"Even with my cheating you are a great seeker. I applaud you." He clapped his hands as he slowly grew to his normal size, stretching his arm out. That was pretty damn fun! They'd have to do that again, but outside at night.

"We'll play that again during the night. Use the entire town to hide with. I'll give you an advantage or something, something to make it easier on you. After all, in the darkness it's like I'm invisible." Black as night skin, in the night? Well, that just screamed good hiding!