"I would not wander so close to the edge young one," A soft voice echoes.
Shaking his head Impulse sits against the cool bedrock, "I'm hearing things again," He mumbles to himself.
"I am not just some voice, I don't think you are ready to know what I truly am."
"Ok, I've officially lost my mind," Impulse grumbles.
The voice laughs softy, "Sweet child, you are not insane. I am the void. I shall not say more than that."
Impulse backs away from the hole and towards the ladder a feeling of safety washes over him.
"Please don't leave. I would like to talk."
Stopping Impulse turns around slowly, "Okay."
"Thank you, after you became infused with void I was able to speak with you. You just thought that I was the sound the void makes. Which in a way is true," The more Void talks the less threatening and more peaceful it sounds, "Tell me young one what happened to infuse you and void."
"Uh, there's a meteor that's been turning my friends and I into different things. He won't let us leave so we just have to make do..."
"That fiend. If only she were still here..."
"When you said I was infused with void what do you mean?"
After a moment the Void answers, "I am the void, bedrock is the barrier between me and my siblings. You may have bedrock patches but your eyes and blood are void. You are one of my Voidlings."
A warm feeling takes hold and Impulse nods softly, "Oh, uh is it bad to have holes in the bedrock?"
The void laughs for a moment, "No child, a very long time ago I would have swallowed the world. Now I am no longer in charge or such things."
Nodding sagely Impulse looks at his hands. The bedrock patches seem to reflect the void.
"I will protect you from wandering too close to the edge but when you are ready and step off. I will be here to welcome and great you," With that the void falls silent and Impulse is left frozen looking into the starry void glittering below.
......
Joe squeaks in pure terror as he's suddenly falling. Thankfully Cloe had the common sense to catch him. She gently sets him down on the end table and shoots Xisuma a message.
"Ok, X will be here in a few minutes," Cleo says as she inspects the tiny bat.
He's light brown and is about the size of her palm. Despite the fact that he had fallen and is still in shock from turning into a bat he looks relatively ok. He wiggles around on the table attempting to sit up.
"Joe," Cleo says softly to get his attention, "You're an evening bat."
Joe squeaks quietly before inspecting his wings.
The room is deathly silent as Xisuma walks in. Cleo points him over to where Joe is sitting.
"So, shapeshifting..." Xisuma grins softly under his mask, "That'll be fun once you get used to it, won't it?"
The bat softly nods his head and squeaks.
"Do you think you'll be able to shift into other animals," Xisuma asks as he lets Joe pull himself up onto his hand.
Joe shrugs, as Cleo hands Xisuma the vampire book, "So far he's been following the vampires from this. It says they can turn into snakes and wolves along with being bats."
Xisuma winces, "Scar won't like that."
Clicking her tongue Cleo nods, "Yeah, but Ren will be happy to have a wolf friend."
Squeaking Joe shudders as he rolls off of Xisuma's hand as his form melts into a large gray snake.
Xisuma yelps in surprise, as Joe slithers around a lamp post, "Cleo how long did it take for him to turn into a bat then snake?"
"Uh, like ten minutes, I think.
Cleo pulls her communicator out and gets a picture of the snake. She and Xisuma spend the next few minutes trying to figure out what kind of snake Joe is.
"He looks like a Gray Ratsnake," Xisuma murmurs as he carefully moves Joe off the lamp. He sets him down in the middle of the floor and watches as he starts slithering around. He looks to be about the length of a five year old. As he moves around he starts getting the hang of slithering.
A few minutes later the snake form is replaced with a small reddish brown wolf. After determining that he's a red wolf Joe stands up and starts padding around the house.
When he turns back to human he makes a face, "That was horrible."
"Didn't like shapeshifting that frequently?" Xisuma grins from under his mask.
Joe nods, "I don't think shapeshifting is supposed to be all back and forth."
Xisuma nods, his tail flicking softly, "I wouldn't imagine so."
Taking a seat Joe inspects his fangs, "Uh, do my fangs look sharper?"
Pausing for a moment Xisuma inspects the sharp teeth, "I think so."
After a second Cleo chimes in, "You're probably not supposed to purely drink from cups. Your fangs need to be dulled down as you bite."
"Oh, Well that's a problem," Joe mutters, "i need to drain animals... that makes a huge mess."
Xisuma laughs, "Well, Doc can probably help with that. I think he has like silicone dog toys or something that he uses to keep his fangs dull."
"That could work," Joe murmurs, "My fangs are supposed to be able to rip flesh from bone and drain blood."
As the conversation winds down it shifts to eating with fangs in general. As a general consensus it's not easy.
"I keep biting my lip," Joe grins.
Xisuma nods in sympathy and Cleo cackles, "Yeah, you just need to practice."
Leaning back Joe gasps, "Please, I do my best."
"I'm sure you do," Cleo grins.
Joe shakes his head in mock offense, "I've gotten a lot better."
"Well, if you practice eating with your fangs you can probably drain animals without making a mess," Xisuma explains as he flicks his tail.
"You're probably right," Joe groans, "It's just I don't like killing them, what I do now they live and drinking from them kills them,"
Cleo nods softly, "You could probably find a way to not drain the animal."
"It would take a lot of practice..." He trails off.
Xisuma's spines flair slightly, "There's a bit more to it than that isn't there?"
Hesitantly Joe nods, "Drinking from the source is a bit too good, I want to keep drinking and the more blood I drink at once it's like the blood lust increases more every time."
With a soft sigh Xisuma shakes his head, "Avar is trying to make us fight isn't he..."
Joe nods a bit sadly, "Yeah, he thrives on negative emotions and I think he's trying to do something extreme so we turn away from someone."
"If that bastard thinks we would ever do that he's dead wrong," Cleo glowers, Xisuma nods in agreement as his tail flops against the ground.
After a moment Joe picks at his nails a little, "Uh Xisuma, would it be possible to file my claws?"
The end drake looks over and inspects the claws for a moment, "You don't need them?"
"Nope, they probably would have been used to help restrain prey and well, that's not the problem."
"You should be good to cut them if you want to," Xisuma nods.
Joe grins softly, "Ok, thanks."
Xisuma chuffs slightly, "Doc says the meteor has been talking about a gift... i don't know what he means by that but something else might happen. Avar has been calling you little bard."
Joe winces softly, "I don't like that..."
"I don't like it either," Xisuma mutters his spines brissaling.
Cleo stands up, "Joe, which hermits have you drunk from?"
"Uh i had a little bit of Stress's blood and i think that's it. I try to avoid drinking player blood."
"Is the blood weird tasting?"
Joe shakes his head, "It's more addictive... it tasted way too good so I don't think it would be overly safe if I drank it."
Xisuma nods, "I'm glad you're taking the safety of others into account."
"Avar is trying to make me a reason to argue, I'm doing my best to avoid that," Joe yawns, "Sorry I guess I'm a bit sleepy."
Chuffing softly Xisuma nods, "I would expect this all to be very tiring. Send me a messing when you wake up."
Standing up, Cleo pushes him towards his bed room, "Go to sleep, your brain needs a break."
Joe nods and walks back to his room. After he's in pajamas he lays down in his coffin and is out in a matter of seconds. As the day goes by Joe is soundly asleep and the other hermits go about their days.
At one point Xisuma finds the vampire book and flips through it a bit. He finds a small subsection in the coffin chapter about roses. As he reads he realises that could potentially be a hazard. If someone puts a rose on his coffin when he's in it he would be forced into sleep and wouldn't wake up until it's removed. Making a note of this Xisuma warns the chat.
While Joe sleeps Cleo starts making sunlight resistance potions. She knows that Joe will protest the potions saying he can make them himself... it's safer for everyone on the server if Cleo supplies him with the potions. Bdubs has learned how to make them but Joe can't be trusted with a brewing stand. Cleo puts an umbrella in with the potions.
It will work perfectly for if he's heading to his underground cave or feeding the dogs.