‘Seattle is a nice town, they said. You’ll like it, they said. It grows on you after the first week, they said.’ A platinum blond angrily thought to herself as she marched down the busy streets of downtown Seattle. She continued to mentally gripe as people jostled her around as she continued to walk, heavy books weighing down her crocodile shaped backpack as rain continued to fall adding to her misery.
She made her way down the busy sidewalks, slowly ascending a large hill, passing a busy restaurant on her way towards her home. The building she was heading for is a large grey two story apartment complex, which has obviously seen better days. The parking lot was full of cracks and potholes, and half the cars parked there were broken down or held together with duct-tape.
‘Well guess what Miss. Recruitment lady, it still sucks after a month! The people are rude, the weather sucks, and I can’t find a single Arbys!’ She made a left on a small street, heading towards an apartment complex, nearly knocking over an elderly gentleman and his tired eyed teenaged companion. “Sorry”, she halfheartedly mumbled, doubting they could even hear her in the rain.
‘At least I’m not alone in this miserable place.’ She thought, placing her soaked backpack and equally soaked purple rain coat on a small wooden rack near the door of her shared appartment, ‘At least Baldons here.’ She smiled at the thought of her best friend and twin brother, before scowling as she noticed two perfectly dry shoes and a backpack in the living room.
Her eye began to twitch in rage as she noticed a pair of socked feet hanging over the shoulder of their brown couch, and the sound of snoring. ‘He didn’t.’ She thought, approaching the sofa, ‘He wouldn’t.’ She assured herself. ‘He did.’
“Baldon, you asshole, you ditched class again!” She shouted at the top of her lungs, startling her sleeping brother awake as he jerked up, eyes wide with fright.
‘Shit.’ He eloquently thought. ‘Busted.’
The female platinum blond glared daggers at her fraternal twin, angry green eyes staring from behind soaked hair. “What,” she began in a dangerous tone, ”do you think you are doing?” Not giving him a chance to respond she answered her own question. “Because it looks to me like you were ditching class to take a nap. Again.”
The brother let out a small groan, knowing he’d been caught. He decided he’d half ass today’s excuse. Slowly he pulled his act together and put on a lazy and very tired expression, giving a loud yawn and topping it off with an eye rub. “You always assume stuff, Aria. My alarm didn’t go off, simple as that.”
Mentally he was counting out the ways she was going to brutally beat him for ditching, but he held a strong poker face.
Aria rolled her eyes as she snatched her brothers phone from his hands and quickly checked the alarm,”Oh, I see the problem!” She said sweetly, before she glared at her brother, who was still holding a strong poker face, “It was set to twelve forty, you know, half an hour before I normally get home! Did you really think that would work?” She glared for a moment longer before sighing and pushing his legs off the side of the sofa so she could sit. “You can’t keep ditching Baldon, Mom and Dad don’t have the money to pay for classes that you don’t even attend! I mean, you’ve already ditched three times!” She looked at him, “ Its only been a month, Bal, and you know that Mr. Si…” She was interrupted by Baldon putting a finger to her purple lips.
He began making an overly drawn out shushing noise, while smearing his digit around her mouth. “Shush, I know the situation just as much as you, sis. I was there. The money is low, the stakes are high, there’s nothing really to get. Either way, I’m skipping because lets face it, the beginning of college is a joke. It’s just rehashed material I learned senior year.” His entire facade now completely dropped.
Moving his finger he sat up on his own side of the couch and kicked back. He propped his feet up on the coffee table centering the room. With a small sigh he continued.
“I mean, come on, you have to be at least a little bored with this semester.”
She kicked his feet off the table while wiping her mouth with a look of disgust, “When was the last time you washed your hands, they taste like chicken!” She shook her head , remembering the chicken they had for dinner last night.
“Never mind. How could I be bored with something that started three weeks ago? I actually like my classes, and you might like them too if you actually attended.” She said with a pointed look.
Dawning his own look of slight annoyance, Baldon looked over to his sister. “Hey, I’ve gone. Just enough to know I won’t be going back anytime soon.”
He gets a smug grin and starts to walk away towards the kitchen section of the apartment they share. It’s all really one big room aside from the bedrooms and bathroom. The entire livingroom, dining, and kitchen are just kind of crammed into one little spot.
“Heheh, by the way, thanks for telling me about the chicken. I’ll be sure to get it all next time I lick em clean.”
“Eww!” She laughed out, still glaring a bit.
A chuckle could be heard from the kitchen as Baldon began messing around with stuff at the sink. “How about helping with some dishes instead of hounding me all day?”
Standing up Aria rolled her eyes and opened the budget washing machine, “Fine, only because you suck at cleaning, and I don’t feel like eating on half-assed plates.”
Baldon didn’t feel the need to argue a mute point. Rather he just got to work on his half of the dishes. Chores were divided up into sections for them to do. Both were pretty animate about keeping them done as not wanting their current home to end up looking nasty. Strict parenting might have nailed some household etiquette into their heads and they couldn’t be more grateful for it.
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After a long hour of daily clean up duty, fatigue slowly start setting in and Baldon crashed back on the couch with a ‘humph’.
“Gaaaaah, man, finally. Sis, what’s for dinner?” He called lazily from his new spot on the quite comfortable, dark black sofa. Having already inspected the mini-fridge he pretty much knew the answer already.
“I don’t know, you tell me.” She said with a huff walking back into the ‘living room’, patting her damp hands on her ‘Smile-you're not dead shirt, “I cooked yesterday.”
“Heating up pre-cooked store chicken and baking a can of beans to go with it doesn’t really count as cooking.” The similarly green eye’d twin claimed off handedly.
Shuffling through her crocodile backpack she took out her literature book and corresponding thesaurus, before plopping herself on the couch, ”Still counts, and its better than your ‘pizza beagle surprise’.” She shuddered at the memory. “I didnt know anyone could mess those up.”
Baldon rolled his eyes at that. He had considered that since they were going onto their fourth night of pizza oriented food that he might spice things up a bit. The outcome being an assortment of cheese and sauces that should never even be put in the same room let alone slapped together onto a small splotch of dough. It was terrible, just...terrible.
“Okay okay, whatever, what are we in the mood for? I’ve got a little money stashed away. We’ll go out.”
Aria rose a brow,”Where did you get money?” All the spare money they had was poured into the necessities of life, and what wasn’t generally went into a emergency fund incase one of them had an accident.
“Let’s say I won an expensive bet, okay? It doesn’t really matter how I got it, just that it’ll tie us over for the next couple days until we get that next check from dad. An awesome dinner tonight and more leftovers to last us tomorrow.” He cuckled as he sat back up and reached into his pocket to pull out two crisp twenties. “Your big bro has us covered, no worries.”
Aria scowled,” We’re twins, were the same age. But I suppose it would be nice to eat something that doesn't come from a can. Or likely to kill you.” She sent a pointed look at her twin,”One question though.”
“Shoot.” He encouraged, enjoying the fact that the source of his new money hasn’t been dragged into the spotlight.
As though she had just read his mind, she asked the one thing he dreaded most, “What was the bet?”
Her brother immediately avoided eye contact and sighed loudly. “Welp, we better get going. I’m starving.” He got up and headed towards his room to get his skateboard, the only vehicle he had any license to drive really.
“Is it still pouring out there?” Aria yelled after Baldon as he passed their only window. She needed to know if it would be safe for her to skate, or if she would be stuck walking. And she hated walking next to Baldon as he skated.
Having not even looked he disappeared inside his room for a bit, the door shutting behind him. After a quick second he walked back out with suddenly, surprise surprise a shirt on finally. His year old, greenish-blue ‘Imagine Dragon’ T-shirt hung rather low on him, his shorts were the usual baggy hole worn ones he always wore. All his shorts seemed to come in that style, Aria had made several points to make fun of him about it to get him to change something, but as usually it was blown off for /later/. His shoes were typical flat bottom shoes which were also almost completely worn out.
“It doesn’t matter, the place we’re going to is down hill so we won’t even be in the rain that long.” He blinks at her suddenly and frowns. “Have you even changed?”
Sighing at the fact she wouldn’t be able to use her beloved skates, again, she gave Baldon an annoyed look, “Is there something wrong with how I look?” Her tone promised pain if his answer was not to her liking.
The brother stopped in his tracks, his face contorting into a look of worry rather quickly. “N-No…I was just remembering you coming back skin soaked. Thought maybe you’d wanted to get out of those clothes.”
Aria blinked. Then blinked again. Then looked at her clothes. Before Baldon had a chance to react he was slammed into a wall as his sister dashed past him into her room. “Its your fault, you know!” Aria screamed, drawers slammed and the sound of things being tossed around could be heard. “If you hadn’t distracted me with your laziness I wouldn’t have forgotten to change.” A beat. “I know that doesn't make sense, so don’t you dare say anything!”
All the while his sister yelled, Baldon recovered from the floor. Making a hand puppet, he mocked Aria with it. “Blah blah blah blah blah.” He whispered to himself. Rolling his eyes he headed over and waited on the couch.
Finally after several minutes Aria walked out of her room. She had taken the time to reapply her smeared lipstick, making her lips a uniform purple, and tied her hair back into a single ponytail that reached just past her shoulders. The female of the sibling duo had thrown on a slightly large black shirt, featuring Richard from the web comic ‘Looking for Group’ and a pair of dark purple pants that could almost pass for black. In her left ear was a purple earring.
“Okay, lets go.” She said as she walked towards the door, grabbing her beloved crocodile backpack and jacket.
Baldon watched her for a second and hopped up quickly to follow her to the door. He always felt off with the really dark look his sister went for, but he couldn’t complain, purple suited her, and it could have been worse. She could dress like a prep.
“You aren’t gonna take your skates?” He questioned, not really having to point out that it was infact still raining as clearly seen from the door window.
“And run into a parked car like last time? I don’t think so.” Its a shame that, even though she was an amazing skater, Aria just could not skate in the rain, a fact Baldon took great joy in mocking.
Today, funnily enough, wasn’t that kind of day. Frowning, her brother just sighed. “Well, wasn’t much point to you changing then, was it?”
Suddenly, he holds out his skate board. “Ride this, no funny tricks, it’s just a slope. You’ve done it before.”
“I am not riding that, especially in the rain, and as for changing,” She grabbed an umbrella from the corner right next to the door, ”It’s not a waste, im dry now, and plan to stay that way.” She thought for a moment, “Okay, so I suppose my old clothes were drying out, but these are way more comfortable.”
Baldon blinked at her, then withdrew his board and pinched the bridge of his nose. “How long have we had an umbrella?” He sighs.
“Since we moved in, why?” She tapped it against her leg.
He nods slowly. “And why haven’t neither of us used it since then?”
Aria sighed and turned the umbrella to point at the main room and opened it, revealing all its Hello Kitty wonder. “Mom bought it.”
The platinum blonde headed brother tossed his board to the couch and moved to open the door. “After you.”
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The siblings reached their destination with hardly a drop on them, both not making eye contact with other weary travelers on their way. It just so happens practically everyone and their mother were outside walking in the rain.
“God, what's with all the people today? I swear I almost got trampled twice!” Aria whined as she collapsed the embarrassing umbrella, before plopping down at one of the chairs at the counter . The restaurant was packed with pedestrians seeking shelter from the rain.
Baldon merely shrugged. “I know, and I think I caught a couple guys from my classes chuckling at us. The jerks.”
“Well you were under a ‘Hello Kitty’ umbrella with your sister. Not to mention you screamed when you got splashed by that puddle.” Aria giggled at her brothers misfortune.
There wasn’t a response as she watched him turn away for his own little private blush. “Lets just eat already.”
Aria laughed at her brother’s attitude, before calling over one of the few non busy waiters. The two quickly placed their orders, which just so happened to be whatever was cheapest, and some water. As they waited a old man and a teen that could easily be described as his grandson due to their similarities, sat to Arias left.
Both seem a tad bit confused at their new guests, the brother was first to look around and see if they were just the only empty seats. Surprisingly, there was plenty of counter space, though that was quickly being filled. Looking back, Baldon asked the first question to come to mind. “Can we help you?”
The question hung in the air for a bit as the teen just smiled at Aria and Baldon respectively. His grandfather showing little to almost no interest in them at all. He just looked terribly grumpy like any other sour old man. Predictably, the teen was the first to finally answer.
“My brother and I were just scouting around. We saw the chance and thought we’d grace you with both our company and proposition.” His fairly eloquent english accent resemble something along the lines of sour patch kids, shocking at first, but carried a soothing after taste. It was delicious to listen to.
Baldon’s first real thought focused on his tone. This guy came across as a major prick and he was not looking forward to having to deal with this. He looked to his sister to see her reaction. She looked almost like she was swooning….that or she was just as confused as he was.
‘This guy *gag*. Smells… like a bar bathroom.’ She leaned back to get away from the awful smell when a thought struck her. “Brother? Did you say that old guy is your brother?”
“Oh my gosh, Aria, rude much?” He chuckled a bit. “But, yeah, what’s up with that?”
The old man grimaced for some reason and turned further away from the conversation in his stool, finding random gag signs found on the wall to be quite more amusing than they probably were. The dark haired british wonder happily answered them of course, leaving that annoying tone in just out spite of Baldon, had to be. No one talks that condescendingly by accident.
“Now, lets everyone hush. I’m sure there’s a great number of questions swimming through those little minds of yours, but right now there is something left to be established.”
“Maybe we could get your names first?” Aria asked, still on the far edge of her seat.
There was a small silence as the random brit stared at them. He closed his eyes, presumably in thought. Suddenly, his next few words had a different voice to them, sounding deeper and more metallic and echo-y. He opened his eyes to reveal brightly glowing irises, staring directly at both brother and sister.
“I believe some enlightenment is in order.”
The siblings were entranced by the glow for a second before both simultaneously snapping out of it. They instinctively hopped from their chairs and took steps away from the very creepy kid.
“W-What the hell?!” Baldon asked, uncertain of what else he could possibly ask.
Strange noises filled the room, cracking sounds, loud as could be. Looking around the ‘children’ spotted several noticeable cracks on the bodies of other patrons in the diner. Everyone slow gaining more and more disturbingly ridged cracks. Then, with a snap of british fingers, every person in the bar shattered. Their pieces falling to the floor and dissipating before making contact with the ground.
Very quickly the twins found themselves now alone with the old man and freaky teen, but the crazy didn’t stop there. The walls around them began to fade in color. Literally fade, almost like they were being drained from existence. With the color slowly depleting, there started to form some visible lines being left behind, resembling something of a background border sketch. Soon the room was void of color, nothing but sketch of walls, tables, and tiled floors. Baldon and Aria both had the same epiphany, quickly inspecting each other only to find their own color was still there.
“You're good.” Baldon whispered, a little short on breath.
“Y-You too.” His sister practically squeaked back.
They both gave the room another look over and gapped. The lines were beginning to erase!
“Heheheheh.” The teen chuckled darkly as he sat watching the pair for some amazing reactions.
Baldon got in front of his sister and kept her behind him out of an odd attempt of protection as the floor beneath them vanished. Expecting a plummet that would surely be fatal he was surprised to find both were still standing fine as if the ground was still there, just inconceivable to the human eye. The room they were once in was completely gone, nothing left but the four of them. The two over at the counter seem to have been able to keep their chairs oddly enough. The elder still looked peeved while the teen was enjoying the show.
“Naaaah, marvelous, isn’t it?” He exclaimed happily, his eyes and voice returning to it’s ‘normal’ jerky tone.
He chuckled to himself again, less darkly this time, and held out his hand. Slowly, a drink sketched itself into existence before him. It was colored with the appearance of an unknown liquid floating inside that the teen downed without care.
“Aaah, but, what would you expect within a dream?”
As the twins glanced around the blank world around them with a growing sense of horror, they failed to hear the god like teens word, or the old man standing from his seat.
“Enough, Hypnos.” The old mans voice was firm, yet raspy like dried leaves against the sidewalk, “We are here to convince the brats to work for us, not to scare them into my domain.” He sent a pointed look at Hypnos, the kind of look Baldon recognized from having his parents and sister use it on him so many times, and the younger of the two strangers sighed before waving his hands.
The room was still a great expanse of white, but there was now a small sitting room set up around the four, and the twins felt a bit more relaxed in their setting.
“Where the hell are we?” That was the first thing that came to the sole female of the groups mind.
“Oh, save it, brother. I was simply playing. It’s not everyday that we get to mess with humans.” He grins over at the two. “Just look at their expressions. Gorgeous animals, simply gorgeous.” He completely ignores Aria’s question in favor to talking idolly with the old man.
Baldon frowned deeply, still completely confused, but finding a way to focus his sanity all on hating that teens stupid voice. “Shut up and answer us! Who the hell are you?! Where are we?!”
With an annoyed wave of his hand, Hypnos watched as the young man locked up slowly, falling to his knees and practically freezing in that position. With a grunt, Baldon tried to resist, but was left helpless.
“I think you need to understand who’s in control here. Something simple seems to have slipped your mind and you’ve tricked yourself into thinking you have free will in my realm.” The apparent super human growled as he sat in a new, comfier chair, crossing his legs.
Rolling his eyes at his brothers antics, the elder man looked at the paralyzed teen before sitting in his own chair.
“Seeing as Hypnos refuses to answer your question, I shall. I am Thanatos, and this is my brother Hypnos. We are what you would call the greek deities of death and sleep, respectively.” Thanatos said it so bluntly that there was no way to take it as a joke. “As for where you are, you are in a little restaurant in Seattle starring off into space.”
Baldon is released and face plants on the floor having not expected to need to use his strength again so suddenly. His sister is thankfully there for him and helps pick him up. Slowly they both sit back into their seats and sink into the cushion, staring at the gods with mix feelings of confusion and pure fear.
“We’re still at the diner?” Aria asks for them both, slightly stuttering, having practically read her brother like a public book.
Hypnos nodded slowly. “And that’s where you will stay until a certain agreement is made.” He looks to his brother and smiles. “I believe it’s your turn to play /good cop/.”
“Fine.” He turned to the two teens, fear on their face as the realisation that this is /really/ happening hit them. The old man visage began to waver as Thanatos grew in his chair, shadows that were nonexistent until that moment wrapping around his figure like a secondary skin. When they settled all that could be seen was a void of black, a pit darkness that contrasted dramatically from the white around it.
“Twenty souls.” There was no voice, just an impression that something had spoken. “Twenty souls have escaped my grasp to a world known as Equestria because of the foolish antics of my brother. These souls must be returned, least the world they have been unleashed in wither away into nothing.” There was no change in pitch in the non voice, yet the anger the thing that once was an old felt as he spoke of his brothers antics could still be heard.
“I said I was sorry,” Hypnos mumbled from his chair.
“What do you want us to do about it?” Aria barely managed to choke her question out, the overwhelming terror from the knowledge she could die any second because of these two nearly freezing her vocal cords.
“I want you to seek out and capture these souls, and then return them to me. Failure to do so will result in eternal damnation within the fields of punishment. Success and you will be given a kings ransom.”
Hypnos coughs a bit. “Let us not forget that declining this offer isn’t much of an option. Agree and there is a promised happy ending. Disagree, then we all sit here and wait till your bodies die, which I promise won’t be fun to watch. Well, for you.” A insanely happy grin spread across his face. “I could go both ways.”
Baldon, finally coming to, glares at the British douche. “H-How do we go about doing anything for you? We’re just normal people.”
“Well, simple, we change that.” His smug grin holds, even spreading a bit as he tells the siblings the situation.
“The world you’ll be going to is infested with magic, not to mention every other creature you meet will try to kill you, and that’s excluding normal inhabitants. You’ll need better bodies in order to survive, which we’ll provide.”
“You’re just going to change our species, just like that? Not even going to let us have a say in it?”
“No,” came the cold response of Thanatos. “The forms we have chosen are the most efficient for the task at hand, and I do not feel the need to waste time in debating what form you will take when every moment we waste those souls have a larger head start and can better prepare and strengthen themselves.” There was a moment of silence before Aria decided to break it.
Turning her head to her brother, she sent him a fake smile, “I guess we don’t really have a choice, do we?”
“I don’t know, sis. A lot of what they say doesn’t really add up. Just keeps making things more and more confusing….” He’s got Aria in a one arm hug, keeping her close helps him think right now. Suddenly, he lets out a very worried sigh and relents. “We need to do as they say.”
“Yeah, I don’t really feel like dying today or tomorrow. I kinda like life, even if I have to live as a whatever I’m gonna be.” Turning to the two gods, and feeling like she was about to throw up she said, “We accept, but, if you don’t mind, can you at least tell us what we are going to be, and what we are doing?”
Hypnos looks to Thanatos. “Well, your call, brother.”
What could only be described as a snort came from the incarnation of death, ”I shall tell you your mission, but I shall leave the nature of your forms to Hypnos. In the world you are being sent to, a world the Gods have taken to using as a chessboard to settle all manner of disputes, the twenty souls I have charged you to capture now roam free. Some are evil, twisted spirits while others are just the simple ghosts of innocents who wandered out of the breach my brother foolishly created.”
His brother visibly winced at yet another jab at his blunder, you could tell he wasn’t enjoying the constant reminder. Thanatos continued. “You are to find them, catch them, and then present them to any object bearing a theta.” Being the kind aspect of death that he is, Thanatos drew a theta in the air for reference. “When you do, you must say a prayer, anything will work, and I will be able to draw them back to where they belong.” He gave them a moment to absorb the information. “Understand? Good. You have one life time to gather all twenty. At that point, when you die there I will either return you to your old life, or send you to suffer for eternity. This holds true should you be killed prematurely. ”
“That lovely thought aside,” Hypnos chuckled a bit. “The creatures chosen for you are as we said, efficient for fighting and most of all living. This is more than a survival game, this is a job. We needed pawns who could not only get the job done, but get it done quickly. So, getting right into it, the boy will be a chimera and the girl will be a anthropomorphic tiger. Any questions or can we go?”
Baldon blinked at being called the boy then decided to focus on what really mattered. “What the hell is a Chimera?”
The god of snooze just sighed, keeping his grin in check. “Wouldn’t you like to know. Look, I’d rather not sit here all day. You’ve agreed so that means it’s time to go.”
“Wait, what do you mean . . .!” Aria question was cut short as she screamed at being grabbed by an unseen force and flung at the god of deaths body, which posed no resistance as she hit it, her brother soon following. The form of the death god soon broke apart and revealed the old man once again.
“Can’t resist the theatrics, can you?” Hypnos asked rhetorically.
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In the Hollow forests, the forests surrounding the town of Hollow Shades, a pair of bright white lights can be seen briefly throughout the trees, gaining the attention of the ponies of the small equestrian town. Most of the ponies simply put it off as some strange unicorn practicing and continue on their marry way, but one grey Pegasus decides the matter warrants looking into.
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Throughout his life, Baldon has managed to truly master only two things. Skating, a careful art and sports practice, and Sleep, might as well be life itself. If he could really choose his specialty it’d be a no brainer Sleep is everything. It replenishes strength as well as helps the mind grow. What Aria doesn’t know is by that logic he’s technically smarter than her. In any case my be, Baldon knows his sleep, he loves his sleep, so there has to be something wrong if he wakes up feeling grumpy and out of place.
Baldon just happened to be in a terrible mood right now, he can remember why, kinda. It’s on the border of being filed as just a dream or a sign that he’s slowly going insane. That’s another thing he couldn’t make up his mind. Everything was in a state of disarray, this wasn’t sleep. Sleep would never treat him like crap. No, this was an imposter. Something he always dreaded subcuming to when skating. You see, he was unconscious. A terrible limbo for all skaters everywhere. Here he was, trapped in the terrible clutches of a fate worse than death. The walls are closing...he can’t breath! The agony!
His left eye suddenly opened, before he could register a single thing a huge wave of relief washed over him. Life was good again, the universe was rebalanced. He blinked his eye shut then decided opening both. It was dark...it was cold...and the grass he was on was softer than silk. Could be worse
Shifting around he quickly realized something was up. Getting up was now like a steep climb. He didn’t have it in him to try more than twice and both times failed. Deciding that this was his spot for the night he tried the next best thing. He rolled around on his back and looked for his sister.
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Aria tossed and turned as her subconscious mind tortured her with images of nightmarish beings and twisted versions of her meeting with the gods, horrible monsters and twisted realties.
Gasping, she shot up, off the soft grass she was laying on. She groaned, dismissing the growl she heard as the lingering remnants of her nightmare. Looking about, Aria noticed that she was in a clearing surrounded by giant trees.
‘Guess that part about being forced to be a couple of god’s errand girl wasn’t just another dream.’ The thought uneased her, but the knowledge that she was not alone in this situation eased her a bit. Looking around she failed to notice her brother anywhere around her.
“Baldon!” She called out, taken aback as it came out more like a roar. “What the hell…” She muttered to herself, before she tried to stand up, and finally noticed the change to her body.
Her arm was covered in orange and black fur, which she noticed covered the entirety of her body, and her clothes had slightly changed to accommodate her new form, including to her dismay a tail. A quick peek under her shirt, and in her pants, assured her that she was indeed still female, and also revealed the fact that from her chin down to her inner thighs her fur was white. Each finger sported a retractable black claw. Quickly running a hand over her head she noticed she now had ears on the top of her head instead of the sides.
‘I think I’m going to freak out now.’ And freak out she did.
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Her brother, having heard his name yelled in the most terrifying way possible was now on his back, his head lifted up so he could peer down his belly and look for where the voice had come from. His first really big surprise for the day was that he was now apparently very quadruped.
Wiggling his paws to make sure they worked, he inspected himself rather thoroughly. It all seemed to check out to him, everything about his new body explained why he was having a terrible time getting up. So, at least his mind could be put at ease from those clarifications. The only thing that’s really causing him any grief is that his tail is solid black….and it just blinked at him.
“...” A sudden loud scream can be heard for at least a mile away as the now very large quadruped scrambled to get away from the giant snake.
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Aria was doing the thing reasonable people do when they find themselves suddenly turned into a large bipedal tiger: running through the trees like a chicken with its head cut off. Shouting obscenities every time she took a break from running long enough to make sure that she was still a tiger. Which she was, every time she checked.
She was still running through the trees when she heard a familiar scream.
“Baldon?!” She shouted, before taking off like greased lightning in the direction of her brothers yell, praying to god that he had at least a tiny idea of what was going on. Oh, and he wasn’t being eaten by some kind of monster or something.
-lb-
After about a good minute of tumbling and stumbling around with a giant snake grasped in his paws, the two found a middle ground. A truce was formed in the span of three minutes and now they were sitting curled up next to a bush. The quadruped had learned a lot about his new body during the great battle. His horns get in the way and his wings are good for slapping. His arsenal is set, turning him into a very deadly machine. He was just finishing up telling the snake about his predicament, the snake having given absolutely nothing to the conversation the entire time.
“You know, you’re terrible at chit chat.” He sighed, the snake tilting its head at him and flicking it’s tongue at him a couple times. Baldon had finally stopped taking offense after remembering that’s how his species smells things.
Not being able to stand it he pounces and gives the snake a hug. “Awww, I couldn’t stay mad at you!”
Just as he was finishing his one sided hug, a figurer came barreling out of the trees and tripping over him, tumbling for a second from their momentum, and crashing into a nearby tree.
“Ugh, my head.” Aria moaned as she stood up and leaned against the tree. She looked back at what she had tripped over, and screamed.
Baldon winced at the loud scream, his ears folding back a bit as he broke the hug and looked over at his new visitor. After dealing with his snake he’d learned that judging people wasn’t the best way at going about things. And although this thing had a very cute look going for it, it was still a tiger… a very large bipedal tiger.
“Okay…um, hello.” He offered his paw as if to shake. It’d be awkward, but dammit he was going to come across as friendly or die trying.
Aria stopped yelling when she heard the familiar voice coming from the monster in front of her. It was roughly three feet tall, and a little over double that in length with large wings on its lion like back. Its head resembled a lion as well, but with goat like horns on its head. Oh,and it had what looked like a black mamba attached to its ass. But never the less she recognized the monsters voice.
“Baldon? Is that you brother?”
The lion looking creature blinked at her, retracting his paw slowly, he gave the tigress a long stare. He took in her features one by one, trying to place her voice. It didn’t truly connect until he looked into her eyes.
“Aria?” A very uncertain look on his muzzle as he stared at his sister questioningly. He didn’t get a reply, at least, not a verbal one. Aria, the now tigress, launched herself at her twin, wrapping her arms around him awkwardly in a hug. She wasn’t normally a crier, and she didn’t cry now, but Baldon could feel the sadness and confusion his sister was putting into her hug.
Chuckling a bit as his hard work at finding a comfy position was thrown out the window, Baldon embraced his sibling with his own beefy paws. His mitts were as fuzzy as the rest of him, redefining the word soft.
“Heh, whoa there, what’d I say? You’re all worked up.” Baldon began stroking his sister’s back in an attempt at comfort. He immediately regretted his words as he received a fist to his head
“How could I not be worked up, idiot!” She growled, before furiously hitting her brothers muzzle. Really, the nerve.
The lion mutant broke their hug quickly and held his paws over his muzzle. “Ow, what the fuck!” He roared at her before rolling around to hide his face from his punch happy sister. The chimera was a bit glad to see she was still normal at least.
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Things had turned ugly pretty fast. That blow to the noggin loosened a few screws in Baldon’s head and the state it left him was pitiful to say the least. Aria, sadly, had the displeasure of watching her brother, in all his lion glory, freak out like a small girl.
It’d begun with yelling, then muttering, and now drawing out with lots of wild screaming and flailing. Having tried her best to snap him out of it with no luck and not really wanting to risk hitting him again out of fear of what it might do, Aria sat down in the grass, her legs crossed, while she waited for her brother’s fit to subside.
Taking some time to herself, no longer willing to bother with her sibling, she began to scan the area with her eyes. She felt a kind of focus that was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She was aware of everything, literally everything. Her ears would twitch at every rustle of leaves, she could smell rather strong scents of creatures she could surprisingly not even see, considering her eyes seemed to pick out even the tiniest detail of the world around her, and then there was this other sense she was feeling. It was alien to her and kept her squirming as she sat. Where ever they were didn’t feel safe in the slightest.
A ruffle in the bushes caught her attention, she turned her head slightly to focus on the bush. For a reason she couldn’t explain she moved from her little spot on the floor and got on all four of her paws and slowly started to stalk towards the bush. Just as she was about to get to the bush, a small brown rabbit took off in terror.
‘Chase!’ Was the only thought that ran through her mind as she took off after the terrified mammal. Her whole focus was centered on the rabbit as she chased it through the forest dodging branches in a single minded desire to kill and devour the smaller creature. Finally after a moment of very sloppy hunting. And just as she took her first bite of warm bunny flesh her mind came back to he.
‘Ummm, what is this?’ Her consciences mind wandered as she continued to chew on the rabbit flesh as blood poured down her chin. ‘It kinda tastes like … rabbit.’ Her eyes fell on the bloody corpse in front of her. She chewed once more before swallowing. “Pour bunny.” She sadly said before taking another bite, crying. “I’m a horrible person.” She took another bite. “But it’s sooo good!” So, sobbing sadly to herself, she ate the rabbit with relish.
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“What the fuck am I suppose to even be?!” Baldon studied his forepaw and growled, suddenly slamming it on the ground several times. Small bits of dirt sprayed from the contact and clung to his fur. He didn’t care and continued to mistreat the ground.
“Where the fuck are we?!!” He gritted through clinched teeth.
Finally, in attempt to rid himself of all his frustrations he took a deep breath, and followed with a powerful roar. His vocals must of overstressed, because pathetically enough it ended with a hoarse squeak. That small bit of weakness at the end left him extremely unsatisfied.
“Dammit,” He groaned, his voice wavering slightly as he spoke. “I’m sorry about that Ari… just needed to stop a second and vent. I mean, holy shit, right?”
He looked back and his face dropped. He had already been frowning, so nothing changed except for the corners of his maw drooping half an inch lower.
Baldon’s left eye twitched slightly as he stared at an empty patch of matted grass.
“DAMMIT ARIA!” He some how mustered the ability to ignore his sore throat and yell probably louder than he had roared. He began stumbling rather comically towards a random direction as he started searching for his stupid sister.
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Walking with two pairs of legs was no easy task to learn, especially in a single day with the weight of a giant boa weighing you down, but after having a nice stomp through the woods, Baldon was slowly getting the hang of it. The lion had wasted every last fraction of voice he had screaming for his sister to no avail.
He climbed his way over some pesky over-sized root slowly. Looking over he could see some light from another canopy opening hidden behind what looked like a wall of brambles up ahead. Of course it had to be brambles. With a reluctant sigh he trudged over towards what looked to be guaranteed torture. If he’d been a little more level headed, Baldon might of noticed that said clearing was more than just an opening. He’d found the tree line and was now exiting the forest. Simply walking a couple yards to either direction then proceeding could have saved him from his pointy fate, but given the reality of the situation…
“Graaaah!” What came out of his mouth was meant to be a roar of some kind. Instead it resembled that of a crackling whine. It stung his throat at just attempting to react to the pain of thousands of tiny pricks shredding his fur and slicing his skin.
After what felt like an hour of unbearable trudging, the Chimera took his first step out of the horrible forest and into.... a pony?
Baldon stared down his muzzle at the small filly in front of him. She was a small little thing, peach colored fur with fuzzy patches of cream on her head and extruding from her rump. His first thoughts were quite peaceful, her color pattern calming him a bit. It’d taken a couple of seconds but he noticed the little ball of cute was breathing a bit heavily. Their muzzles uncomfortably close to each other. While the lion hybrid found the sudden revelation mildly shocking, the small filly decided to give him something else to gripe about. She shrieked into his face and turned quickly to run, her speed impressive for something her size.
Baldon gritted his teeth as he was left with a terrible ringing in his ears. Using his digits, he picked at the insides of one of his ears to try and ease the pain. It didn’t work, but for some reason this felt like an appropriate reaction.
The black monstrosity on his butt hissed in his own experience of pain, both of them looked at each other in shared sympathy for one another, having a small bro moment. Said moment was broken by yet another shriek, followed by a new barrage of loud noise.
Confused, Baldon looked back towards the source to find he’d arrived at a town. A colorful, varied stylistic town full of pretty colored equine horse things. All of them now completely and utterly terrified of him. The sound he was hearing was a collection of screaming and clopping of hooves as they fled for safety.
There was a small moment of silence as the lion watched the ponies run for their homes, scrambling this way and that, trying desperately to flee faster than they were physically capable of doing. Annoying at first, Baldon found himself enjoying some of their screams. He couldn’t tell what, but something about their panic made him feel better. His anger was kind of slipping away, leaving him rather at ease. A smile slowly began to spread across his face, and his eyes squinted with a sense of glee. “Hello, therapy!”
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Aria was taking a bath. A cat bath to be precise. ‘I’ve gone mad.’ She thought to herself as she continued on from her left arm to her paw hand. ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I using my tongue to clean this gunk off and not some water. I’m not a cat, tiger, whatever. I’m a human being! But, am I really human anymore?’ She paused in her actions as she thought of the conversation with the gods/titans/entities from the diner.
‘They said they would turn me into an anthropomorphic tiger, but does that mean I'm no longer human? Did they take that away from me, leaving only the creature they need to get the job done?’ She shook her head, angry and confused. Everything seemed to be happening so fast, from complaining about her brothers laziness to talking to gods and watching her brother flip the hell out, as a monster, in only a couple of hours.
‘Not to mention me falling for some basic instinct to chase rabbits.’ She mentally added, before freezing. The word instinct ricochet around in her head before finally clicking in her head. ‘Instinct, I’m acting on this body’s instinct.’ For some reason this comforted her greatly. Perhaps it was because that meant she would be able to eventually control herself so she didn’t run off after every rabbit she came across, or maybe because it meant she had less to learn in terms of how to manage her body. Or perhaps because it meant she wasn’t going crazy. With that established she allowed her body to resume grooming as she allowed the situation to sink in.
She was licking away the blood and gore from her kill when she heard a sound from the trees above her. A sound the sounded conspicuously like someone falling. Reacting more on instinct than anything else, as she seemed to be doing more as of late, the anthropomorphic tiger, formerly a human, jumped away from her position on the forest floor just as a grey blur crashed through the canopy where Aria had been giving herself a tongue bath.
“Oww,” The grey form whined as it straightened up, revealing a small winged pony. “That has got to be one of the worst landings I have ever had. But that’s what I get for chasing after mysterious lights in the dead of night.” The decidedly male pony shakes himself like a cat, kicking off dirt and bits of tree.
As the pony continued to shake itself off, continuing to berate himself for crashing, Aria was having a small dilemma, should she approach the pony and ask for help out of this forest and hopefully to civilization, or hide and seek out Baldon so they could figure out what they were going to do in this strange world. The choice was ultimately taken away from her when the pony looked directly at her.
And screamed. Frightened by his sudden yell, her new ears making it louder than it was, Aria began screaming herself, resulting in both tiger and pony screaming in fear into each others faces. This continued for a good minute before the two ran out of breath.
Hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath, Aria looked up as she heard the pony approach her. “So,” he began in an uncertain voice, “are you going to try to eat me? ‘Cuse, I’d like to request a five minute head start.”
“What, no!” Aria protested loudly. The pony looked nervous as it launched itself into the sky and began to climb higher.
“Well, can’t blame a guy for trying!” He called back to her, picking up speed as he started to actively fly away.
“No, wait!” Aria cried out desperately, ”I meant I wasn’t going to eat you!”
