"Oooh, momma! Lookit that one!"
You pointed up at a bright yellow star that flew freely through the air, with colorful streamers on each point, making it look as if it were an actual shooting star.
You always loved it when humans brought out their colorful kites. Especially the ones with the colorful streamers that danced through the air on the edges of them. Humans always had such creativity. "I like that one the best!"
Your mother chuckled softly at your enthusiasm, adjusting her position on her rocky perch, so you'd be in a more comfortable position in her lap, wrapping her wings around you to keep you warm from the chilly seabreeze. "Heheh... me to, darling."
You giggled, cuddling closer into your mother's soft plume of chest feathers, watching as the land dwellers played on the beach from your boulder perch a safe distance away from the shore. It wasn't often that your mother did this. The only times you went to the surface was either after lunch or dinner to bask on a nearby sandbar, or to just at certain times when the beach was empty. This was a fairly new experience.
"...why do you think the humans make those thingies, mama?"
Your mother rested her chin on the top of your head and thought for a moment.
"...I'm not sure my dear." She admitted. "Humans do a lot of things we don't quite understand."
There was a beat of silence between you both as you continued your kite watching. Your mother's embrace suddenly tightened a bit. You turned back to look at her curiously, and saw that her previously placid look was now a bit tense as she looked down to meet your gaze.
"Be very careful of them, (Name)." She warned, her wings carefully wrapping around you even tighter. "They can be very unpredictable."
"Unpredictable?" You asked, toying with your tail tip.
Your mother nodded, looking back up at the beach. Her eyes were narrowed slightly, into a look of distrust. "Yes, my dear. Which is why I ask of you to be weary of them."
"They can be kind one moment, but then they can be cruel another. All for reasons only known to them." She explained. "Never let your guard down around them."
"O...kay." you replied, uneasily. "I'll do my best."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"(Name)? Hey... wake up.."
You awoke to a light prodding on your face, gently pulling you out of your slumber. "We're here." You instinctively went to blink the sleep out of your eyes, but remembered the blindfold that was unfortunately still tied around them. However, you were delighted to find that your legs were no longer bound together as you were assisted out of the van, and stood on soft sand.
"Took ya long enough." Called the familiar, gruff female voice.
Almost immediately, you tensed up at the sound of the brutress' voice, but felt a gentle, reassuring pat on your back. "Well, can't risk crashing and getting myself and (name) hurt...."
Jasper let out a mocking scoff. "(Name)? Is that what you call it now?"
"No." You replied sharply. "(Name) is my actual birth name."
Jasper hums in dull surprise at your answer, before letting out a short snicker. "Huh... impressive that you got it to talk as well. Well, come on. I've notified everyone of its arrival; let's not keep them waiting." You felt Greg gently grip your cuffed hands and pat your back. "Nice and easy."
What happens next is a bit of a blurr as you are then lead up a set of wooden stairs, into a fragrant enclosure with a rather cold floor. "Okay... the warp pad's just over here." You couldn't see where, but said nothing as you complied with his movement, letting him lead you onto a cold stone platform. You suddenly felt his hands grasp both your arms, making you hum in startlement at the sudden action, in which he whispers. "Just to keep you in place." He whispers to you. "Warps can be pretty crazy for first timers."
What-?
In a burst of speed, you suddenly felt the ground leave your feet, as you suddenly became airborne, along with a loud almost deafening whooshing sound filling your ears, prompting you to squeal and flail in a confused protest.
In the process, your tail thwacks jasper in the thigh, sending a brief yet sharp sting through the warrior's leg. "Augh! Greg, control that thing before it knocks one of us out of the warp tunnel!" In response Greg pulls you into a bridal style hold, not only giving your more stability, but the warmth of the man offered eased you subtly. "Is that better?" He asked you, in which you nodded with a hum.
Then as soon as it happened, everything fell silent again, and you felt gravity return to you as you slumped into Greg's arms, leaving you mildly dizzy.
"Told you it was a wild ride." He whispered as you felt him step off the warp device.
"Why yes, thank you for the heads up." You grumbled sarcastically with a pout.
Now of course, you couldn't see it, but you felt that the air was much different; slightly heavier and slightly colder than before.
Where are we now?
"Almost there now." There was a lengthy silence as the two walked a bit more, which was surprisingly peaceful for you, aside from the occasional shift as Greg adjusted your weight in his arms. It was at this point that you decided to let yourself fall into a brief sleeping trance, curling up comfortably in the man's embrace with a small purr.
"Aw. I think we got a good deal here, jasper" Greg chuckled lightly, readjusting your weight yet again. "She's a real sweetheart. Cooperative to."
"Don't get attached, Greg..." Jasper grumbled, with a roll of her eyes. "Don't forget it who it's going to."
He looked down at your sleeping form in his arms, feeling the weight of dread fill his chest. Greg was silent for a moment before he sighing heavily. "I... I know."
Let's just hope you're durable as well...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ah, there you are."
You're suddenly jolted awake by an abrupt feminine, nasaly voice speak, and instictively leaned into Greg's chest with a whimper, in which he places his cheek on the top of yours. "I assume that what you have there is the siren?"
"Of course it is." Rumbles Jasper. "What kind of human looks like this?"
There was a haughty hmph! from the nasely voice. "Bring it closer. Let's have a better look."
Greg steps forward and sets you gently on the ground, and sets a hand on your shoulder. You couldn't tell of it was to keep you in place or to comfort you, but it nevertheless helped ease you.
"Why does she have a blindfold?" Asked a soft spoken female's voice, one that was actually quite pleasant to hear.
"Well you can't really try to run when you can't see..." Greg explains with a shrug. "Besides, it kept her calm throughout the trip."
"Ah. How clever." Notes the soft voice lightheartedly.
"Mhm... well... it doesn't look like the ones that human Connie described... but it is still quite pleasant to look at." Hummed the haughty voice. "Take off that blindfold."
At once, the blindfold was lifted from your head, and after a brief shake of your head you slowly reopened your eyes, blinking away the glare and looking up to survey your new surroundings.
You let out a short gasp at the rather MASSIVE room, with exotic, abstract columns aligning the room's walls, symmetrically framing 4 massive diamond shaped thrones. They themselves were positioned in the shape of the diamond, with the highest one was a crisp white, the right one being a sky blue and the left one being a bright yellow. The one that was sat on the ground was a pretty cerise pink, though there were notably thick cracks on the arm-rests.
A red carpet with four white lines lead to the thrones, which, when you turned around, lead to the presumed curtain entrance way to the four colored thrones positioned like the original symbol where sit.
Am I at a castle?
"Ah, that's better..."
You snapped your attention back in front of you, meeting two slim figures in front of you.
One woman had an entirely yellow complexion. Her hair done up in a neat short pixie cut with a spiked tuft at the top. She had a her hands behind her back, with her chin raised in a smug stance as she looked you over with a mild look of interest.
The other was entirely blue, her hair about chin-length and mildly messy, hanging in long locks over her face, covering her eyes entirely. She had more of modest stance, with her hands laced infront of her. You couldn't tell, but from the look of her slightly tipped head, she was scanning you as well.
"....my, what interesting eyes." Noted the blue woman. "I thought only earth cats had those kinds of pupils."
"Hm..." the yellow woman looked you up and down pensively. While she likely didn't want to show it, she appeared uncertain at something on you. "...are you sure there's no others around?"
Greg shrugged. "As far as we know..."
There was a pause as the yellow woman rubbed her chin. "In that case..." she sighed.
"She'll have to do."