Home 22: Our neighborhood watch is extra vigilant

[Recaiden]

"I'm sure I'd hear soon enough, yeah. But I wanna know when you get warning! To have a real little sibling!"
Hunter grins.

And now Cleo returns. She slinks in, and acquires a careful dragony smile.
"Hunter! And Sandra! What a nice surprise."

"Hi dad. I just came to see the eggs, but while you're here, and since you're not a god, I've got an offer you can't refuse. Change over to being human for a while."
Now it's the biggest Leah-y grin ever that she's wearing.

[Fenric]

Keiko beams happily

Hi, sweetie. How're you?

Sandra bows politely

Hello Cleo, nice to see you again.

Then they both turn curiously to Hunter to see what's going on.

[Recaiden]

The nice part of the surprise mostly being Sandra.
"Great, love; you're awake!"

"I'm going to share with you my power. The one I got the Conductor, not Shadow's."
"This helps me because it lets me keep in touch with you, and because we can always use more voices in the choir; there's only one other who can handle the complex parts."
"And this helps you because it gives you another voice to do magic with. Plus, you look like a Conductor already...shouldn't you have eight legs like a basilisk?"

"What would I do with an extra pair of feet, dear?"
"That offer is hard to disagree with. So why has everyone else turned it down?"
But Cleo does go to her human form as requested: a dress the same color as her scales, the bells strung in braided hair, he gem moved down to a necklace, her claws only daggers at her sides. And a little unsteady on her feet.

"What everyone? I've talked to three people, one was already psychic, one couldn't be a host, and the last I think I scared with my enthusiasm. I don't met a lot of people monster-hunting, you know."

"Okay, okay."

"This'll hurt for a while."
Hunter takes Cleo's hand in her own, lifts it up, and bites her. Surely at least Keiko can smell the blood welling up.

[Fenric]

Sandra arches her eyebrows, and Keiko's fins flare out just a little bit as Leah bites Cleo. Neither of them understand much of what Leah just said.

Uh...

[Recaiden]

Cleo winces and-
"It's all right, Keiko."

And here Leah is putting a bandage on Cleo's hand right after.
"I confused them, didn't I? That always happens; how do you stand just talking to each other?"

"Maybe you should run along now."

[Fenric]

Keiko looks reassured by Cleo's statement that everything is alright.

Sorry... normally I'd be fine with Leah biting whoever she wants, but that was surprisingly ... bothering.

Then she grins

So what, are you a were-Leah now?

Sandra facepalms

[Deathkeeper]

A Hobbit Hole

Well, not quite. It's very close though, as its resident is only three inches taller than your average halfling. A simple, normal little flat with browns and greens and normal furniture, with a mostly normal little half-halfling, off from work at Gilded Caravan (Inc.) and reading a book. He's a fairly normal Nexus resident with a very ordinary job. And the biggest problem in his life has been the smallest: he doesn't really like having to look up at everything. Maybe being tall or being able to fly or ride around on clouds (like a certain mythological monkey) might be neat, but he's never obsessed over it. Just a thought he gets every once and a while in this very normal living space.

[Recaiden]

[Eggs!]

"It's no problem. Who else will look after me?"

At that question, there is a moment of indecision. But Hunter decides facepalming as well is the correct decision.

"Thankfully not."

Okay, palm back to normal position, putting her helmet on.
"Hahaha, I don't think so. It makes you telepathic in a weak way. A way that's really good for singing! Dad's right; I have some new monsters to test out. I'll see you soon, right?"

[Dancing Fox Inn]

But not the inn part, the residential part where the proprietor stays.

Perhaps there's someone knocking at the 2nd story window.
Perhaps they're coming inside at a time when no one's here drinking.
Perhaps the mailbox is being made use of (though one shudders to think what the postal service goes through to deliver to a teleporting address) if in fact there is a mailbox. That would be best, if the little messenger orb could just drop a letter here and move on.

[Deathkeeper]

Dancing Fox Inn

But not the thread, though that could have been used.
Either way, the proprietor's window is open a crack to let fresh air in, and there is a small wall where the room keys are stored which has a mailbox for each one. Either one could be the recipient of a letter if the orb so chooses one of them.

[Recaiden]

But not without someone else posting first.

A small wall with room keys, is it?
Perfect.
A letter swings around and is put in the appropriate little mailbox for Mist. Mail is a good system. No need for immediate responses. The orb approves of it.

[Deathkeeper]

Dancing Fox Inn

A letter? That doesn't happen often. Some time later, Mist will check the mailbox and read the letter, cutting it open with the tip of his claw.

[Recaiden]

Letters are one of the best things to send through the mail.

"Dear Mist," It starts off.

"It turns out writing letters is difficult, and I have no idea what to say."

"Love,
-Message."

[Rebonack]

[Hobbit Hole]

There's a draconequus in Hugh's personal space.

When did that happen?

HOW did that happen?

Yes.

"Oh my goodness!" the rather massive creature moans in sheer exasperation. Most of her body is currently clipping the walls and ceiling like a poorly collision mapped Bethesda game. "Look at you! You're so boring! You're SO BORING that I can practically hear the out of character pleas to make you less boring! Do you have any idea how boring that is?"

That's at least seven out of five boring.

And that's really boring.

"See? Even Narrator Two says that's super boring!" Fortuna exclaims, waving her paws about frantically. "And Narrator Two is easily the most boring Narrator. So we're going to try a few things to get that excitement quotient up. Like THIS!"

Nothing happens. Forte wrinkles her nose at the nothing. Maybe it broke? Or maybe it's just because Narrator Two is too boring to talk about cool things happening.

"Aaww, come on buddy, I didn't mean it!" Fortuna says, putting on her most apologetic face while Hugh spontaneously turns into a full-sized sphinx. Well, full sized for a linx, anyway. She's a linx-sphinx now!

Hey! I was supposed to cover the chaosing! You're supposed to narrate what Forte is doing while she's talking!

[Deathkeeper]

Dancing Fox Inn

Mist smiles and shakes his head.
You know, you can talk to me whenever you want. he thinks, knowing Message can probably hear it.

Hobbit Hole

The poor half-halfling nearly jumps out of his chair, and can't even get a word in edgewise. He wants to say something but Forte just isn't giving him an opportunity. And then-
Hugh (who might be needing a new name?) flops out of his her chair, suddenly entirely unsuited for it. She makes a very feline noise in surprise, landing hard-
on her paws?
But of course. Cats, after all. That doesn't stop her from staring at her huge paws. Her big, furry gray paws.
"I don't- but you- what?" is all she can respond with.

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx-hole?]

For the record, Hugh now has the sandy fur and spots of a linx in addition to a set of tawny eagle wings. His Her face sits comfortably between beautiful and uncanny due to the feline eyes and teeth. Her front paws are thankfully equipped with opposable thumbs, otherwise the lack of hands would probably be a real bother. She's quite a bit bigger than your average linx, but not nearly 'giant lion sized' as one might expect from a normal sphinx. In all, she should be noticeably larger than she was as a halfling.

"Come on you guys, don't fight!" Forte pleads with apparently no one. But actually someone. The someone being her Narrators. Narrator one in particular, since he's unusually handsome and witty. "Stop gloating! And why did you turn him into a sphinx? I was just going to give him hilarious platform shoes!"

That's a pretty good question, right there. Why a sphinx indeed? Fortuna seems to be far more focused on talking to apparently no one to notice Hugh's protests regarding his sudden transition into a tiny version of a classical mythological beast.

Maybe because it's funny? And linxsphinx sounds funny! And just look at her, isn't she adorable now? Way cooler than a boring old hobbit. Fortuna considers the former halfling with a sigh. "Well, I guess that works. But it wasn't quite what I was shooting for. Maybe I should try something else?"

Like spontaneously causing thousands of riddles scrawled in spidery hand-writing to begin tracing themselves across every single surface in Hugh's house?

That's pretty weird, too.

"Oh right! The riddles!" Fortuna exclaims with a grin. "Riddle powers!"

Then she reaches out to boop Hugh on the end of the nose. Should she succeed...

"Beep! Riddle get! Now you have riddle powers! Because the riddling game is cool, right?"

Fortuna declines to provide further information on this subject.

[Deathkeeper]

Sphinx Hole

Hugh's house came from his dad, and as a half-halfling he was already outgrowing it. Now the ceilings seem even lower! But she's busy looking at her wings and flexing her paw-fingers. She doesn't really notice the change in pronouns aside from wondering why her voice is higher. She also can't help but mrow and bat at Forte's claw after being booped on the nose. Instinct.
"What are you doing to my house? I don't want riddle powers! I don't want any of this! Fix it mrow!" she yells, her player not being able to resist sticking one more cat joke in her protests.

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx Hole]

"Nope! I can't fix it, sorry," Fortuna replies with a cheeky grin. "Only YOU can fix it! This-"

Suddenly she's behind Hugh, poking her in her silly triangular ears.

"-will last exactly one week. As soon as time is up, you'll change back to normal! Hooray!"

It's now raining pastel colored confetti all over the house.

Confetti laced with catnip.

"BUT ONLY IF YOU *WANT* to change back! Hehehehe! If you have any hesitation, even a tiny amount of desire to remain a sphinx, you'll be one foreeeeeeever!" Forte says, proclaiming Hugh's doom upon her with far more doomy finger wiggling than strictly required. "Foreeeeeeever! Foreeeeeeeeeeeeeever!"

As she pretends to echo 'forever' Forte slowly recedes into the ceiling until she's totally out of sight.

"Hehe. Unless you can think of something even less boring than a linxsphinx. Maybe I could try that instead?" the draconequus asks, her voice coming from between the cushions of Hugh's chair.

[Deathkeeper]

Sphinx Hole

There might be more protest, but Fortuna just rained down catnip on a cat. Suddenly everything's weird.
"Foreveh? That sounds way too long. So, less boring. Lesssss boring. Okay. Riddle me this batman: what'ss less boring than a power? More than one power! Wukong has more than one power, 'cause he's a mystical Sage. Magical monkeys. Or an alien that's also a wizard! Not an alien, a were...thing. Or birds. Magic bird. Bird-people. Fish people? No, bird. Bird-people. Like the lady on the news, but magic. Wind? Or just magical bird. Or a po-oh-oh-kee-mon master. Just the mon?" rambles the feline. Hopefully the confetti vanishes before long or she won't be able to leave her house.
Catnip probably doesn't work that fast but hey, cartoon logic.

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx Hole]

Ah catnip.

Are you ever NOT amusing?

"Nuuuu... it has to be thematic! And I've already summoned Sun Wukong before," Forte objects. "No repeat performances unless they're randomly rolled! You get the Riddle Game (Su), the ability to remember any riddle you ever read or hear, and flight! Vaguely magic flight. Born upon desert winds! Because there's no way physics would let you fly with that wingspan to weight ratio. Maybe cool south-wind powers? There! That's at LEAST four powers! And that's plenty. Toodles!"

And then the voices cease to come from Hugh's chair.

A fierce wind whips through Hugh's home, sweeping up all the confetti and catnip with a sound of furious tempest! The strangely localized storm manages to send the swirling mass of pastel and green careening out of the window and sailing off into the sky-!

-only to be dumped on some poor cat-girl three blocks away. It must be a party!

[Deathkeeper]

Sphinx Hole

"All 'f that was thematic! And those powers're lame! Lame! Hugh means spirit 'r something, y'know. A sage's way more spiritual than a cat with wings 'n riddles. And a were-thing represents the duality of man and uncontrollable animal-ness, and a wizard controls the world around him, so a wizard that's a were-thing represents 'how they're in control and not in control at the same time!" she insists as the 'nip wears off.
Now she's just coughing up term papers from her college years.
"Birds have all sort of spiritual significance. And pokemon are cool." Hugh insists to no one in particular.
Something's really going to have to be done about that name.

[Fenric]

Keiko nods

Yeah! We need to have a good hunt!

Oooh! Ooh! Oooh! I snagged a suit of Tammy's weird tiny-machine-infested armor and told it that it had to fit, and the tiny machines did it! And they ate a whole pile of coal while they did: it was the weirdest thing to watch, ever!

Sandra smirks, still happily sporting her own instance of that particular armor.

It does look pretty awesome on her, actually.

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx Hole]

No one in particular replies to Hugh, though someone in particular might still be listening. Fortuna wants to observe for a bit before she decides whether or not she wants to do something else.

After all, over-designing chaos can ruin it! Sometimes just sticking with spontaneity is the best route to take.

Meanwhile, those riddles keep writing themselves all over everything. There's a slight tinge of smoke to the air, almost as if the various sayings and proverbs are being burned onto the surface of Hugh's home. That's vandalism, no doubt. What an inconsiderate chaos monster. Or maybe very considerate? After all, someone's desire for Hugh to be strange and different drew her here in the first place.

And speaking of strange and different!

There's a knock at Hugh's front door!

Wonder who that could be?

Maybe a wizard looking for someone to share an adventure with?

There's only one way to find out.

[Deathkeeper]

Sphinx Hole

There's more grumbling, mostly about burning her father's house. But no time for that. Hesitantly, Hugh goes to the door and cracks it open, looking through.
"Hello?"

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx Hole]

Hugh opens the door to discover-!

Some kid wearing a red cap and jacket holding a microphone. Behind him an electabuzz begins shredding it on an electric guitar.

"I wanna be the very best~
Like no one ever was~
To catch them is my quest~
To train them is my cause~"

You can probably tell where things are going from there.

Fortuna is nowhere to be seen, though several people are peeking out of windows to see what all the commotion is.

And the commotion is silly.

[Deathkeeper]

Sphinx Hole

Hugh gapes, but recovers fast enough to be flustered.
"Why are you singing at my house? There aren't any Pokemon here! Go away." she insists.
What is that guitar plugged into? It better not be this house.

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx Hole]

The electabuzz has the cord 'plugged' into his mouth.

What else did you expect?

"Wait, really? Are you sure?" the kid asks after stumbling over 'ooooh you're my best friend' in his surprise. "But I battled this cool lady and she said I would be able to find some pokemon here if I cam and sang at the door. She wasn't pranking me, was she?"

Probably, yeah.

Though maybe not?

If she wasn't pranking the kid, that might explain Hugh's Luxray's body and Zapdos wings. Did she always have those? She probably always had those. Nothing to be concerned about there. Probably. Defiantly not the result of a draconequus messing with Hugh's body-image.

"You look kind of like a pokemon to me," the young trainer points out. "Are you sure you aren't one?"

Maybe... she is?

[Deathkeeper]

Sphinx Hole

Static suddenly crackles as Hugh inspects a paw without thinking about it. And it's already changed color?!
"I'm not and there's no one else here. Either she was pranking you or you got the wrong address." she says firmly and closes the door.

Now she just wants to find a good spot to curl up and sleep for a week. Maybe cry a little in the meantime.

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx Hole]

"But don't you want to go on an adventure to learn what friendship really-"

And then the door is closed.

Hanging from the inside of the door are three pull-ropes. The sort you might expect to find attached to some really old, fancy doorbell. All of them have little signs attached.

The first reads: 'Sphinx sphinx'

The second: 'Pokemon sphinx'

And the third? 'And now for something completely different'.

Does Hugh try pulling one?

Or maybe none of them.

[Deathkeeper]

Sphinx Hole

Hugh reads the little signs and examines a wing. With a crackle of static the second sign is proven right.
"Whoever you are, you're a terrible person." she says and delicately pulls at the last rope with two little paw-digits.
"It has to get better from here."
Well, you don't know that, Hugh. Next might be a chocolate milk cow, or Yog's geeky cousin. Or a pineapple. Well, probably not an immobile fruit. That wouldn't be fun.

[Rebonack]

[Sphinx Hole]

There comes a rather mighty POOF! of plaid smoke as Hugh pulls the third rope!

And when it clears?

She's totally back to normal!

That is to say, she's a linxsphinx again.

Another sign suddenly drops from the ceiling suspended by a thin length of string tied to the bottom of a skyhook.

The skyhook, of course, is connected to nothing.

Whoops, labeled the pull-ropes wrong. Sorry!
<3 Fortuna

...that isn't very helpful at all, is it?