Shooting Star

[Anonymous]

A storm had settled into the valley for the past few days, blocking out the sun and leaving the atmosphere dim and cold. It was raining hard, the rumbling of thunder permeating a low tone. There wasn't much wind, just a constant heavy downpour, making travel that much more inconvenient. Other than that, it wasn't a horribly bad night. Quite soothing actually, in a way.

The rain came down, banging gently against the walls of the house, a constant tune that created a repetitive pattern. Tonight this pattern was rudely interrupted, however. A blaze of light reflected off the glass windows as a light traveled through the sky. It was a small ball of fire, a meteor perhaps. It flashed across the dark sky, already steaming from the rain as it descended quickly. Unlike a simple comet, this one began to take shape as it got closer, something spiraling out of control and heading for the secluded house, breaking past the branches of the trees.

Luckily, the trees provided a net, slowing the speed of said object, but it want enough to stop it completely. In a burst of flame and steam, the fiery mass collapsed against a portion of the roof, flattening out and disturbing the gentle mood of the rain with a loud thud, the creaking and cracking of the wood sounding after the impact. A moment later, the soft mass broke through, falling through the ceiling and crashing onto the floor, small flames spewing off as the fire went dim and then finally flickered out, the hiss of hot material getting hit with rainwater filling the room.

Within the mess, a tiny singed creature lay unconscious, not burnt to a crisp, but very well wounded and scorched by the fire. Long wavy hair escaped the leather-like goggled helmet of what appeared to be a small girl. She was strapped up tight in what looked like a leather and mail crafted armor, areas of the metal still heated red from where fire had jettisoned from what looked like layered vents and funnels built into the sleek suit. It seemed futuristic in ability, but it looked similar to a rogue's or assassin's armor, though this get-up wasn't meant for sneaking as much as for aerodynamics.  

With a closer examination, the female intruder would be identified as not human, featuring a long slender tail and anthro legs. Her face was slightly elongated and she had pointed ears. Her features combined were similar to that of a mouse almost, or a mammalian reptile. The girl was significantly injured with burns and scrapes from both the flight and the landing, and possibly broken or fractured bone and bruises. The heavy ran came pouring through the hole soon after, dripping and trickling down the edges and cooling off the now heated room.

OOC: Feel free to decide the extent of the damage and where the damage is. ^^

[Winters-Feather]

OOC: Will do ;D

Ophelia like the rain. It was soothing, and the woman liked the coziness of her fireplace. However, the storm was dragging itself out; she couldn't go out and do her hunting or gardening. At least, not much of it. The woman sighed as she flipped through the pages of another book while sipping tea. She was her calmest at moments like these, which was a good thing. The woman felt normal.
And whose fault is it for people thinking you're a crazy old maid, she scoffed to herself as she got up to go clean the dishes. Rain dripped in from the ceiling near the table. Ophelia frowned; she was going to have to fix that, later.

Just then, a large flash was seen. The woman frighteningly jumped, and instinctively covered her head with her arms. The light didn't go away either; in fact it was making a noise, a rather LOUD one...Ophelia moaned as she reached for her turtle and crouched in the corner of her house, praying for it to go away. Only, it didn't go away.  Instead, the noise just kept getting louder and louder until whatever it was that made the noise came crashing into her house and onto the dining room table.  Rubble and debris flew everywhere; Ophelia screamed as she protected herself, though she could hear some dishes break, wood crack, and books spewing all over the floor. To make matters worse, the heavenly rain was now making half the inside of her house all wet and cold.

The woman's eyes found an inhuman figure limp inside the catastrophe. It was a he, the woman thought. His  thought's voice, though faint were...ambiguous. The figure was badly wounded and needed medical attention. However, the woman was too scared to do anything, at first. Instead, for a good five minutes, she just stared, bewildered and shocked.
Courage, Ophelia, couragee, she coaxed herself as she slowly stood up and approached the figure with a frying pan, which had knocked against the wall by her.
"H-hello..." she asked, meekly, trying to stay away from it as much as possible. However, the woman didn't get any answer. She tisked; the poor dear did look awefuly hurt. What could it possibly do to her? With a sigh, Ophelia reached in and gently extracted the alien from her broken table. She laid it out on her comfortable bed and began to treat it as best she could.

[Anonymous]

A while later, after the incident had settled down, the creature finally came to. A small groan was heard as she twitched, wincing and shifting, still dazed. Teal eyes flittered open, hazy and looking around the room a bit, but that wasn't about to stop her. Within seconds, she realized what had happened last and shot up to a sitting position. Her petite little frame was lithe and lean, though she had a nice figure for such a tiny girl, with accentuated hips especially. This little body was covered in burn scars and cut scars from explosives and shrapnel, some very old, and some recent. Her regenerative ability was quite amazing though. Normal wounds healed easily. And for such scars to be left, she had experienced incredibly deadly situations and survived.

"Wahh!" she squeaked, blinking and looking around like a frightened little mouse, only it wasn't as much fright as it was gathering her sporadic thoughts. Moving too much, she winced again, tensing up and almost falling back to a laying position. Ack-eek-shhh-owowowowie...!" she clutched herself, a big grin on her little face as she laughed through her pain like she had successfully accomplished something.

It was then she spotted the woman beside the bed and her little ears tipped back like she had embarrassed herself. Finally, she lay back down, shivering from the pain and panting through her laugh and cute smile. "O-oh hi there!" she trembled. "Um...so...!" she broke eye contact with the woman to look around the room again before reconnecting eyes. "Uh....what did I do and how much damage did I do to it?" she asked with a guilty grin.

"I'm Erisin, by the way!" she reached out a small hand to greet the woman, quickly feeling more pain and twitching, fighting through it as if it were nothing. "Aheheheh!" she gave a bright dorky smile and fought the urge to collapse back on the bed, though she was pretty dizzy still. The then realized something and those teal eyes widened. Quickly, she lifted the sheets that covered her, finding herself in just her panties. She exhaled in relief and dropped the sheets back down, sighing and relaxing.

Again, she twitched, realizing the just did that in front of the lady and gave another nervous laugh. She wasn't upset about being undressed. She was just worried her panties weren't removed! How awkward THAT would be, you know?! "Soooo! Um...yeah...! I'm...in trouble, aren't I?" those little ears tipped back again as she clutched the sheets, covering her bare chest and lowering her head in apology. "So....what do I owe...?" She offered herself to the woman, imagining she had done something awful.

[Winters-Feather]

Ophelia had tried the best she could. The woman had made splints for the broken bones and bandaged all the rest. Her work had left her exhausted; in the end, she fell asleep in a chair next to her bed, with her turtle at her feet. Sleep was almost peaceful, until woefully shattered by the wailing of the creature. Ophelia gave a shout of fright as she woke, immanently rose to her feet and stepped back several paces, away from the bed.

Panting out of shock, Ophelia could only watch as the creature reached out a hand to shake. The woman hid her hand in her skirts. No way was she going to shake hands- she might do some harm, after all! Rewind all those wounds to their former state...
She heals quick, the woman noticed. The creature, after all, was being quite...lively. A normal person wouldn't be nearly as sharp after such an impact. After several awkward moments of not speaking, the lady realized it was her turn to speak.
"M-my name's Ophelia Vallyhyde," she replied with a curtsy.
The woman's head turned towards her damaged kitchen and gave a small wimper. She then turned towards the alien with a surprising  fierce determination.
"You may tell me what you are and how you did...that," she demanded.
Ophelia twirled a curl around a finger on her right hand.
"So much to do , so much to do..." she muttered.

[Anonymous]

Erisin raised her head and gave a soft smile. "Nice to meet you! I really hope I didn't cause too much trouble!" she paused to ponder a bit before speaking, forcing herself to relax under the bandaging. "Mm....okay...I am...hm...that's an odd one to answer! But I should be used to that by now! How strange!" she giggled. "Well...My dad is Jerren, and my mum is Shessuth!" she began to explain, gesturing with her hands. "Normally, or what I'm told is normally, they don't commonly conceive together! But my dad fell in love with my mum, whish is apparently unusual! And so I was born! I've known I was different since birth, but I accept that I'm a Halfling!" she nodded, still twitching and wincing every so often as she cheerily told the story.

"Anyway! I grew up in a mixed race society! Well mostly! Um...mostly Jerren, like yourself! But there were others, strangers, who took a liking to me because I was different! Not different like them, They were well, just the minority, but I was welcomed among them!" she continued very descriptively and with that warm smile. "So there was this one Urrat'ny girl I made very good friends with! I was desperate to fly through the sky like she could! So...i branched out from my dad's teachings from smithing, and I crafted an armor to soar through the sky! It was wonderful! SHE was wonderful! A feisty one too!" she laughed.

"We had so many bets! She pushed my limitations, she did! But nothing can stop me! I did it! And I keep doing it! Sure, I had a few losses, but it was worth it! I mean seriously! That bet was the farthest thing from my mind-err um! Eheheheheh!" she realized where she was stepping and almost began talking about her sexuality, quickly stopping herself, cheeks flushed. "So well...A-anyway...sorry, I got off track! Anyway, my armor! YES! My armor, such a marvel! It's a prototype, the only one of its kind! It has taken me places I've never dreamed of seeing! I've visited places that are not of my world! And I haven't figured out how to return!" she rambled on, her hyperness finally shifting into a calm as she realized her failure in that area.

"Yeah...I keep traveling to new places...I can't find my way home...!" she said with a smile, though her words were a little heavy with sadness. "Eheheheh! And now, there's something odd with my armor since my travels...I've been trying to adjust things here and there, but it fights me...I am afraid I'm losing my sync with it...!" She explained further, looking a little dim now, though still smiling for the woman. "W-where is it, by the way?" She asked curiously. "Prolly have a lot of work to do on it now...!"

There was a moment of silence finally, and she looked at the woman, Ophelia Vallyhyde. Such a pretty name! "Ophelia Vallyhyde!" she repeated. "What a lovely name that is! "Vallyhyde!" she repeated again, mmming contently. She was quite a random girl, changing subjects so quickly. "Erisin Vallyhyde." She said to herself, eyes wandering around the room again. "That goes really well with my name!" she noticed, eyes darting from one thing to another, examining anything she could before finally returning her teal gaze to Miss Ophelia with that wonderful smile. So many things were on her mind right now, it was hard for her to sit still.

[Winters-Feather]

For the next few minutes, Ophelia sat and listened to the creature named Erisin talk. It was all she could do; the young one rather overwhelmed her. For comfort, she reached out for her turtle, and held him firmly in her grip as she listened and observed. It was hard to put a gender to Erisin...He had to be male, but there were some very obvious feminine features about him that he could have been that, too. He probably was. Both? Ophelia tried not to think about it much. Not only was the subject of Erisin's gender confusing, but also the word's he used. The woman could pick out that he was bi-species...She assumed that "Jerren" meant human and that she (no...he, he was a HE) grew up among them.

Erisin brought up a bet, though had stopped. Opehlia wondered what it could have been, but the half-breed had continued on with his story. The woman's eyes widened as her face flushed from embarrassment when she realized what Erisin was talking about. Suit?  She was so flustered about it, she ignored his following words. Slowly, Ophelia set down her turtle.
"Yes," she muttered, "Suit..."
Ophelia reached into a basket near the bed and pulled it out. This armor, this technology which was supposed to bring Erisin home was in quite the pathetic state. There were burn marks and violent tears. Not to mention she had to cleanly rip off a sleeve and cut the thing in half in order to remove it from wounded areas (like the broken bones) much more easily. The woman bit her lip. It was obviously an important item to Erisin, not to mention his only piece of clothing!
"I'm sorry," she whispered as she shoved the pieces towards Erisin and rushed off towards her drawer of clothes.
"I have things in here that you could wear, for the time being," she offered as she threw Erisin a brown tunic, debating if she should offer pants or a skirt.

[Anonymous]

Erisin blinked when the pieces were placed before her. She gasped and whined, cute little ears tipping back as she pulled them into her lap to examine them with her good arm. "Wah! Nonono, this is a mess. This'll need much work!" she rambled like a little engineer. She looked over the pieces. "I-its okay! Really! It's still manageable, I just need a forge!" she explained, looking over at Ophelia with a kind smile, not wanting her to feel bad for what had to be done. "Is there a forge near by? A blacksmith?" she asked, perking up again and finding herself lifting her bum and crawling to the end of the bed as Ophelia walked off to rummage for clothing. "I can fix it, really, its okay, heh!" she tried to comfort still, tail rising and curling as she smiled brightly, on her hand and knees and cradling her hurt arm.

Th-things?" she immediately shifted gears, head tilting and tail forming what looked like a question mark, eyes bright and staring. "Whatwhat??" she asked curiously. A small meep sound escaped the tiny girl as the tunic was thrown at her and she fell back onto her bum, pulling it off her face and blinking at it. Swift like fire, that tunic was on and she was already out of bed and sneaking up behind Ophelia, quiet as a mouse as she slipped beside the kind woman watching her make a decision. That tail swayed, standing tall and lifting the back of the tunic. Her panties were fancy and very low cut, allowing her tail freedom above it.

"I wouldn't want you to ruin your pants! Ya know, making a hole for my tail an all!" she squeaked selflessly, smiling bashfully. Even with her wounds, she stood heartily, enjoying the woman's company so far, but probably pushing her body a little bit too much. "The skirt is fine...really!" she insisted, blushing a bit. "Oh! An thank you for uh, treating me!" she exclaimed randomly. "I didn't think to thank you before, that was rude of me, heh!" Erisin really had no idea if this woman would force her back in bed or not. She was a little maniac, but an adorable one.

[Winters-Feather]

Ophelia's eyes wided at the Erisin's suggestion as she  wordlessly threw the creature a pair of pants. On one hand, it was a relief that everything would be alright...But, on the other...
"T-the blacksmith?" she repeated, her voice shaken.
The woman's face was turning pale. They would have to go...there? To the village? But she couldn't go near the village. Villages meant people , and people meant voices, and voices meant noise, and noise meant silence and silence meant...
Ophelia's gloved hands clutched tightly to her skirt. NO, she couldn't go, absolutely not! No, no, no , no....
"Excuse me. Please don't move," the woman whispered as she rushed towards the door and grabbed a bucket for no particular reason.

Ophelia walked towards the back of the cottage, away from Erisin. She looked at the damage at her house from the outside, and moaned.
I need to chop more wood, she thought, grimly, Now.
But..she had a bucket. You can't chop wood with buckets. But you can get water.
Water first.
The woman half ran, half awkwardly walked towards the near by stream, though she didn't know why. What was she running from? Well, the answer, she deducted, was obvious; the village. She hadn't been there in months,  and months before hand. The woman had to go down there, sometimes. It was a two days journey and it hurt her head awfully, but some things just needed to be done.
Just like this one, Ophelia scowled at herself as she bent down to scoop water out of the river.
After all, she felt sorry for poor Erisin, crashing into her roof like that. And if it was his only way to get home...
"I'll do it!" she practically shouted, though she didn't know to whom she was shouting to.
Ophelia's resolve set, she marched right back to the cottage, a pail full of water in hand.
I'll need to pack...

[Anonymous]

"Eep!" she squeaked, scrabbling to grab the pants with one arm. "Aheh...okay...do you mid if I rip them?" she asked. "Y-yeah, black-" she was cut off when Ophelia became frantic. "-O-okay." She responded, blinking as the woman left her to exit her house. Her ear twitched and she quirked a brow. "Hmmm." She pondered for a moment, still fiddling with the pants, holding them by one of the legs. She was told not to move buuuut, c'mon, this was Erisin. And so, the curious little mouse scampered outside with a natural sneak, following after Ophelia with extreme curiosity.

"You'll do what? You sure have a lot on your mind, huh?" the sneak piped up out of nowhere, having slipped to Ophelia's side out by the water. "I know you told me to stay but..." she rambled guilty. "Um, well, you looked kinda...freaked out." She explained, tail lowering timidly as she smiled softly up at Ophelia. The little thing was out of breath, having staggered along to keep up with the quite active woman this far, and tried to make sure she wasn't causing trouble again.

And, of course, she was wearing only the tunic and her underwear, having not gotten permission to rip the pants yet. Aaand, she had set them down onto the bed to run after Ophelia, good job. Because of the storms lately, the ground was muddy and damp too. And SOMEHOW this girl managed to get dirty with mud on the way out here. There was clearly no hiding she had slipped and fallen somewhere along the path. But she was so quiet, it went unnoticed, or Ophelia was very distracted. So there little Erisin stood, dirty and half naked, tied up in bandages, standing before Ophelia, both tough and tender, and trying to make things right.

[Winters-Feather]

OOC: No internet, so I dunno when the next time i'll be able to post.  (plus i have to go pretty soon, so whatever flaws this post has, i'm sorry XD)
IC:

Ophelia screamed in surprise as she turned around to find Erisin right behind her. Her body shaking, Ophelia sank to her knees. She had dropped the bucket, so the pail rolled on the ground, water everywhere and getting her skirt dirty, as well. The woman stared at the creature with startled eyes for several moments before regaining her senses.
"O-oh, I see," she said, getting to her feet and picking up the bucket again.
The woman began to walk back to the river, and beckoned for Erisin to follow her. Besides, by the looks of him, he needed a good washing.
"Yes, I do," she admitted, "I'm..not quite in the state to be here. But don't let that trouble you," she quickly added, realizing that she was saying rather troubling things that might not make much sense.
It's none of his business, anyway, she added.
"No, I'll accompany you to the nearest village. They have a gifted blacksmith that around people for too long, see.  I'm a mage, you see. "
The woman laughed.
"Though I suppose you could say things got...out of hand. It's safer for me out I'm sure will be able to help you. Now let's get you cleaned up...."

[Anonymous]

The scream made Erisin tense up, a shiver running up her spine and she almost cowered. "Eheheh..." she lowered her head, feeling bad about that too now. She just made things worse, didn't she? Ophelia watched her and her ears tipped back shamefully, listening to what she had to say. Erisin blinked at the lack of feeling and watched as Ophelia returned to the water, and beckoned her. Ears flickered at this and she perked up, prancing along after the woman obediently.

Erisin's expression saddened as Ophelia went on. "A-are you ill?" she couldn't help but ask as she came beside the woman, standing close. Her mood then shifted a little when she mentioned the blacksmith. "Ha...! I only require the facility!" she announced with a hearty nod. "Whether or not the owner is skilled is of no consequence...!" she giggled. "For you see, I am a skilled smith as well!" she informed with a little dance, twitching in pain every so often still.

Erisin blinked again at Ophelia when she described herself then. "A mage huh? So you know magic too?! What kind?!" she bounced a little bit now. "What do you man?? Are you okay?? Did you break stuff like me??" she seemed very interested. "Cleaned up??" she sounded confused, changing subjects quickly. "Oh...!" She looked down at herself. "Eheheheh!" she shrank back again. "Yeah...i fell! I'm sorry! And after you looked after me too!" she bowed her head in shame, bopping it into Ophelia. "Ooof! Sorry, sorry!" she squeaked, stumbling backward and falling down again.

[Winters-Feather]

Ophelia giggled at Erisin's obscure dance.
"I see," she said as she filled the bucket up with water, once more.
" I don't think he would appreciate that very much, "  the woman pointed out. "He's a proud man."
She didn't add that he probably would wring the creature's neck if he dared touch his anvil.  
Ophelia, however, was curious as to how the suit could be properly fixed. After all, it was of an advanced technology she had never seen before, if Erisin's story was true. He used awfully strange words, too. Nothing that sounded like any language here....

Erisin's questions about her magic left Ophelia feeling uncomfortable.  Her magic was a subject of sensitivity. Her decay power was rather similar to the curse of Fell, though it was hard for the woman to tell if she had been cursed with it or not. After all, she had met many mages. Whose to tell who brought it with them? Or maybe it was something natural of her own powers. It was a riddle she was never able to solve. However, not really wishing to discuss these matters with her stumbling foolish guest, Ophelia helped the creature up to his feet.
"Go wash yourself off in the river," she instructed before walking back towards the wrecked cottage.