Courtyard (North)

[Sexy Suki]

Naomi and Cheyenne nodded to them both. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Yes we're twins and you two are close friends?" Naomi spoke she didn't know what she meant by the close part but she thought they were good friends

Cheyenne noticed the other girl who didn't speak she went over ot really her face and looked at her. "Are you mute or something? We son't hurt you we're your friends"

 

[Armohny]

"Yes we're very close friends. We've been that way since we were young." Minami noticed the girl who had introduced herself as Cheyenne go up to Livvy. She gently grabbed her arm to get her attention. "That's not very wise deary," she said as she sweetly as she could. "Don't mind her. She's just shy and anitsocial... She doesn't talk much to anyone, so don't take it personally." Minami noticed Livvy was beginning to look a bit uncomfortable, so she changed the subject. "So, twins? That's really neat. Sometimes I wish I had a twin, or any siblings at all. I'm an only child. Tell me, what's it like?"  

[Sexy Suki]

Naomi looked at the girl grabb her sister as she shot an evil look that soon faded away as Cheyenne made her way back ignoring what she had said.
They both shooked their head. "We have 3 other sisters and a brother..well we have a good neighbor who i slike a sister a childhood friend but ...its a big family" they nodded in unison as she looked at minami  

[Armohny]

"It really is big, but you're lucky. Being an only child isn't much fun especially when your parents work all the time." Minami looked at her friend and tried to get her to join the conversation too. "You know how hard it is being an only child too, don't you Miranda?"

Livvy sighed and nodded. "I know what it's like to hardly have any family at all," She looked at the two girls with no visible expression on her face. "You are lucky. Don't take it for granted like so many do."

Minami changed the subject again. Livvy just seemed to make anything they talked about go the wrong way. "So how old are you girls?" She smiled cheerfully as she asked. She might as well be friendly since Livvy obviously wasn't. It kind of irked Minami a bit that she was totally blowing off a perfectly good opportunity to make some friends. She'd have a talk with Livvy later about it, that's for sure.  

[Sexy Suki]

Naomi and Cheyenne nodded at their statement. They were happy that they had their family with them and never took it for granted.

Naomi looked over at Livvy and tilted her head. "Her name is Miranda?" She had heard Olvia and Livvy it must be a nickname but maybe Miranda is the first?

Cheyenne went on ahead to anser the age question. "We are both 15 in a half" She smiled and looked at Livvy and the whole Miranda thing then looked back at Minami. "How old are you two?"

 

[Armohny]

Minami answered Naomi's question first. "Her first name is Miranda, but since she came to Ria, she's used her middle name, Olivia." Livvy nodded, verifying the statement. "And only Minami may call me by my first name." She was very strict about that; it was one of the things that made their friendship special.

Minami looked from Naomi to Cheyenne. "We're both seventeen," she told her. The sisters weren't too much younger than them, but at their age two years seemed like a lot.  

[Misao]

Rachel staggered her way through the courtyard, her appearance having reverted back to her usual looks after the star test concluded. Nobara had offered to help her get to the hospital, but she assured her that she would be fine on her own. Now she was starting to regret that statement. The pain in her hands was worse than ever, and she still had them jammed sharply into her pockets so no one would notice. Even so, there were still a lot of people staring. Not that that was particularly odd either, but still.

"Gah..." she muttered, making her way toward the campus hospital. "This is going to be one hell of an explanation for the doctors."  

[Stephen Pact]

Graymalk wandered through the courtyard. He'd been busy doing important cat things in the World of Dreams most of the afternoon, but now he was wondering where Rachel had gone. Fortunately, he'd noticed that one sure way to find her was to look for the gaping humans; she tended to have that effect on people.

Ah, there she was! But wait; something was wrong. It was always hard to read Rachel's expressions, but she looked... paler than usual. She had her arms curled against her chest, she wasn't walking properly, and as Graymalk cat-sauntered closer he noticed the smell! It was amazing the humans didn't notice it! Something was wrong with his human, that much was clear, and he wanted to know what!

"Purrrrrrrr..." said Graymalk, rubbing against Rachel's shins. He did his best to indicate that he wanted to talk to her, but body language... well, it was limited. Graymalk walked toward the shadows of a nearby shed, looking back periodically at Rachel, and hoped she would follow. This could be important!  

[Misao]

Rachel gave a weak smile as she noticed Graymalk padding up to her. Leaning down, she instinctively reached out to pet him, but was quickly reminded of the scarring and pain in her hands, and immediately thrust the hand back into her pocket. Wondering if he'd noticed, and assuming he probably had, she sighed to herself, quietly following him over to the shed. Looking around a little, she nudged the door to the shed open with her foot, walking in and holding it open for her feline friend to follow. Crouching down as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the small amount of light entering through the crack in the door, she slumped up quietly against the wall.

"So..." she started, somewhat awkwardly. "I suppose you've noticed my... accident by now." She sighed again, leaning her head back and staring up at the dark corners of the ceiling.  

[Stephen Pact]

"Accident?" said Graymalk with all of the considerable incredulity a cat can muster. "Just what sort of accident did you have? I thought you were gonna go help your friend Nobarra with a class or something!" at this point, Graymalk realized he was almost hissing. He smoothed down his fur and tried to calm himself. "Look, seriously, what have you been doing? I'm no judge of humans, but you're acting like you're seriously hurt, and you smell like some of the nastier spells I'm familiar with. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, what with my master's life hanging in the balance and all, but it's just that I!" Graymalk paused, shocked himself at what he was saying. "I worry." he finished, softly.

Graymalk gathered his composure. "Anyway, show me what's wrong, would you? I'm no medic, but maybe I'll know something that can help."  

[Misao]

Rachel raised her eyebrows at Graymalk's outburst. He really must have been concerned about her to break composure like that. Granted, she didn't possess the same gifts as her mother when it came to talking to animals and discerning their emotions, but she'd listened to her talk about them enough times to know the personality archetypes. Hesitating for a moment, she winced as she pulled her hands out of her pockets, slowly thrusting them toward Graymalk. They were badly burned and scarred from exposure to the acidic digestive juices of the cave ooze she and Nobara had been fighting in the star test.

"Pretty bad, huh?" she half-choked out, looking as if she were mere moments away from becoming physically sick at the sight of her own scarred flesh. "I guess I overdid it a little. I was careless..." Visibly trembling at this point, Rachel closed her eyes again, whispering. "Go ahead and do your thing. I... don't really want to look at it right now."  

[Stephen Pact]

"Ye gods" muttered Graymalk "this looks serious. Blisters, scars - I don't know how you stand the pain of this."

Graymalk stepped back and looked Rachel directly in the eyes, a trick he normally only did with potential prey. It was a risk, in a way, but he needed to know with absolute certainty the answer to his next question.

"I won't lie to you. This is beyond my ability to heal directly. It may be that there are humans or" Graymalk swallowed a grimace "angels who can heal it, but I know of only one way to heal it quickly and painlessly.

"Do you remember the card? I've already chosen you as a partner. If you'll agree, we can form a contract, tying your body to my magic. If we do that, the magic can heal you, and there'll be other benefits too; it may be that we can even avoid... incidents like this in the future. We'll be equal partners for as long as we're both happy with the arrangement, and you won't owe me or Heaven's legions anything. That's my offer. What do you say??  

[Misao]

"What, you can do that kind of stuff too...?" Rachel asked, opening her eyes under Graymalk's steely gaze. She avoided looking down at her hands, still unable to stomach the sight of them in their injured state. Mentally going over what happened when she touched the card before, she shuddered a little to herself as she thought things over. She was pretty sure Graymalk wouldn't lie to her, especially after something like that, and it would certainly be nice to get her hands fixed up.

After a few seconds, she gave a sort of guarded nod back. "...Okay," she said quietly. "That sounds all right to me. I'd do almost anything right now to get rid of this pain." A few seconds later, she added as an afterthought: "...but I'm also well aware of the other obligations this carries with it. Go right ahead and do whatever you need to do."  

[Stephen Pact]

Graymalk nodded, only then breaking eye contact.

"Stay right there." he said "We'll need an open space and something to write with... let's see... OK, this should do." he added, pulling what looked like sidewalk chalk from a bucket over among the odds-and-ends in the corner.

Graymalk began creating an elaborate magical circle in the middle of the floor, arranging it so that Rachel knelt with her face and arms near it's center. "OK, let me give you a fair warning of what's going to happen" he explained as best he could while he worked. "To make the contract, we need to perform a ceremonial act representing the depth our dedication to one another. Kisses and blood-brother pacts are pretty common among humans, as I understand it, but given the current circumstances I think a hug from you will more than demonstrate willingness on your side. Once the spell starts, there'll be a bright flash of light, and you should feel a substantial degree of pleasure or euphoria as the magic flows into you. It should take a few seconds longer than normal for the spell to complete, as it reconstructs your hands and arms, and then the cards should form in the center of the circle. If your wounds heal properly and the card looks right, we'll know we've done the ceremony correctly." Graymalk completed the circle.

"I'll probably be pretty wiped out after the spell's done, just so you'll know, and we will be linked at a pretty fundamental level. If you want to back out, now's the time. Otherwise, the spell's ready," Graymalk positioned himself on the opposite side of the circle, facing Rachel "and so am I."  

[Misao]

Rachel watched curiously as Graymalk formed the circle in the middle of the floor. She would have offered to help if not for the twin difficulties of not knowing exactly how to draw a magic circle for this sort of thing and her hands being horribly burned. For the moment, she simply contented herself to watch, making mental notes of what Graymalk was doing in case it ever became important later.

"Okay, that sounds easy enough..." she said as she listened to his explanation of the ritual. "Open-minded as I am about talking animals, kissing a cat is a little over the line for me anyway," she said dryly in a weak attempt at humor to lighten her mood a little. Hesitating for a moment, she reached out and gently took hold of Graymalk, cradling him close to her chest as she waited for the magic to begin working.