Anthem Ray's Story

The city of Spireworth was bustling as usual even after the welcoming warmth of the sun had fallen. In it's place was the pale luminous moon casting its light upon the crowds. Said crowds were with the magically gifted as well as those who were 'normal', as it was common for many mages to use their talents to make a living in a variety of ways. Stall owners called out selling crystals that held special healing properties, additional accessories for Conducts, and as normal in many markets an abundance of food. Apparently there is nothing better for roasted corn cooked by a fire mage..although normally the stall wouldn't be producing so much smoke.

A few disgruntled shoppers coughed loudly as the smoke continued, even a few remarked at the level of smoke. The fire breather merely shook his head mutely as the smoke continued to bellow out in a hurry. Said smoke was coming from behind the corn stall, seeping through the doors of a bar. There was a loud feminine cough as a young woman walked out clutching something in her hands along with a fat-looking wallet. An angry shout quickly followed the woman's exit as a rough bar patron pointed an accusing finger at the elegantly dressed woman "You cheated! You don't deserve that money..don't try to deny it. Only a cheat would do something as dirty as try to escape using that...thing...". Said thing merely glared with black eyes at its attacker before spitefully puffing out more some from its' head as a dainty hand waved the fumes away from her face "Kind sir, I am appalled you would accuse me of such a thing. I won our wager fair and was playing 'dirty' as you claimed due to your violence reaction to loosing...around". A smirk came onto the woman's face as she waved the wallet towards its former owner "Say..five hundred dollars? Shame luck wasn't on your side tonight. Maybe next time you should keep a better poker face..".

Struggling to find the right words, as the man let roar of rage, flames engulfing his fists as he swung blindly at the young woman before dropping to his knees clutching his manhood as the curved horns of Ollie slammed brutally into the man's stomach before trotting, albeit a bit clumsily towards the waiting Belladonna. The young woman merely gave the goat a gentle pat on his horns before walking away as if it was just another evening for her. The few spectators quickly cleared a path, not eager to give the hostile goat another reason to charge. Her destination was that of the bus stop which would take her back to the welcoming bed awaiting her return. Her other summon let out another huff of smoke at the small bleating of the goat. It seemed the two summons were having an arguments of sorts..."Now do behave you two, Luck you did good work tonight. Take a rest". The dice cup spirit merely let out a small smoke heart before pressing itself to the waiting card in his Summoner's hands.

Shuffling the card among the numerous others as Belladonna merely smiled at the events of the night. The money she had earned would help pay off her upcoming rent, and bring in much needed groceries. Eventually the wheezing of the bus broke her trance of shuffling as both Summoner and Spirit boarded the transporter. Eventually the place the duo called home came into view, the house was silent given the late hour. Moonlight gave some light through the windows as Belladonna shuffled towards her room eyeing each passing room briefly. She didn't know much about her roommates, although like every other mage she crossed with there were quirks to deal with. The first room belonged to Martin, a quiet, but kind man. Apparently being sickly all your life made you really focus on keeping a positive environment.

The door across from Martin belonged to an equally secretive Saturday who seemed keen on hiding herself away unless directly her scathing sarcasm at someone. Said sarcasm was actually pretty entertaining as long as it wasn't directed at Belladonna. While down from Saturday was someone clearly hiding something behind all that bravado. Xavier Poll was clearly raised with manners, although it could be hard to tell when the young man was bouncing off the walls with excitement over something trivial. Still she was becoming fond the infectious energy her roommate had, not to mention the utter heart melting cuteness of his rabbit summon. A sigh escaped her as she passed the surprisingly quiet room of her final roommate Anthem..as a house of quiet individuals would considered sacrilege as the man was nearly as boisterous as Xavier, although his energy had a more aggressive feel about it than kind. To say it was surprising this rough and tumble mage was a summoner would have shocked her given the nature of his Conduct. A baseball bat, an interesting choice..but it seemed fitting enough.

Finally reaching the end of the hall for her own piece of mind as soft cotton sheets crooned at her as she tiredly stripped down to her normal sleep ware. A simple bra and under ware would suffice..despite her favored preference of sleeping in the nude..it would do little good to flash unsuspecting roommates. Ollie merely settled himself at the end of the bed and was sleep within seconds. Envious of the goat's easy dreams, a sigh escaped Belladonna as she waited for her fatigue to take over her body.

A few hours passed by without any type of interruption...that was until a tingle came down Belladonna's spine. Darting awake as the tingles became like small shocks as her hands groped blindly for something on her nightstand. Finally her hands grasped her chosen object and roughly threw it against the wall. Cards scattered upon impact..as her eyes widened at her action of throwing her Conduct. The tingling had stopped..but the cards still rustled as before floating upwards revealing two figures, one taller and the other shorter. Snapping her fingers rapidly as the cards flew back into her hands like eager puppies, and a stunned Ollie merely charged at the taller figure without a second thought...


Who were these strangers and why did they seem so familiar to her magic?????

By the time he had returned to the house night was already beginning to set in, though still quite early with all things considered, as Anthem retreated to his room as he had done so every other day. Whether the other housemates were in or out, or about somewhere he wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t a major issue for him to fret over it. Considering they’d all only been together for a short amount of time, their ties in his opinion, weren’t much to incline him to express concern just yet.

“Come on Chow, time to hit the hay!” He sighed somewhat loudly, as the patter of small paws hurried on after the figure with the occasional pant. Surprisingly, despite seeming the type, Anthem rarely stayed out late. Though this may have been due to his habit of fleeing the house at ungodly hours while many would have still been asleep, perhaps. But it wasn’t as if he had somewhere to go, far from it. Anthem only gave the illusion of being busy when in all matters of truth he wasn’t in the slightest, clearly having no job and by all rights any means of earning money. But since no one had really questioned the boy it was unlikely he’d reveal the more preferred method behind his presumed earnings.

As both mage and mutt made their way to their designated room within the building, the boy couldn’t help but cast a few stares at each door they passed, though it was likely he couldn’t even recall who slept where. For all he knew someone could have moved out and it would be days later until he noticed, if that.

First there was Belladonna, some girl with a thing for gambling from what he had heard. But if you asked him he would’ve sworn she was cheating and much of the likes, and then there was that weird goat that followed her. The other girl however was more likely than some to not get on his bad side, despite how little he actually knew of her. Saturday, an odd name but at least he could remember it. Chow seemed oddly fond of the female, more than his master, maybe. In a weird way it was strange to be living so close to the opposite gender, considering his lack of interaction with such, but at least there wasn’t much in the way of incidents. Then there was Martin, a quiet guy who keeps to himself, something of a foreign concept to Anthem to the point that the other male bewildered him in a little. But there was also Xavier, who was a pretty good kid, if not something of a fantasist.

It wasn’t like Anthem paid any particular interest in the others, just occasionally taking little notes per say, considering they all were living together after all. Shaking his head he continued into his room and closed the door once Chow was safely in, wasting little time as the boy flopped down onto his bed without a second thought. Lying against the bed on his stomach, Chow had already joined the boy and was curled up next to him, sound asleep. Normally the pair wouldn’t have succumbed to slumber so quickly, but they had been especially busy that day and rest was too tempting to resist. Usually, you could’ve found Anthem doing something or another, or just listening to music. Anything for the sake of causing some noise and making his presence known, but not tonight.

The tired duo had been asleep for a few hours already and yet still neither showed signs of stirring, though the odd few twitches here and there came into play, with the occasional mumble or snore. Unknowingly, Anthem was still holding onto his bat from earlier, and gave it a few swings now and again. Amidst his sleep, he had been plagued by the feeling of a prickling sensation on his body that would disrupt his snoozing ever so slightly. At first he was able to ignore it, but as time passed on and the feeling increased, the boy gripped the bat harder and smacked the end against the floor in slight annoyance before dropping it. Though not opening his eyes right away the mage was more conscious now than he had originally been, and Chow was more than awake due to the sudden loud noise.

Though it wasn’t entirely uncommon to hear Anthem hitting something during the night, though only gentler and less noisy, and without any real purpose. Once he had dropped the conduct and let out a quiet groan, the bat began to vibrate and then soon rolled across the floor on its own. Such a thing had happened a handful of times in the past but this time was different, even if he couldn’t guess why, Anthem just got a feeling which prompted the mage to force his eyes open albeit still somewhat sleepily. His vision was blurred a little and at a disadvantage due to the darkness, but he knew something must’ve been near them as the small dog came to life and barked continually, and annoyingly.

A rift had opened, intentionally or not, and in his room no less. Perhaps even excitedly, Chow was practically bouncing up and down off the floor by that point, the fluff-ball both curious and cautious of the strange presences that came from said rift. On the other side of the room the outlines of two figures could be made-out, causing Anthem to force himself upright fully with a wary stare. “Who the hell’s there?” He asked in a rough demanding tone, reaching a hand over to snatch the dog up before it worked itself into a small frenzy of curiosity. “Answer me!”

Today was a work day, Saturday took shifts on going back and forth from making the art to selling it, today was a day to make art. She decided to make the best of it by doing her favorite thing, painting, she loved to paint and it showed in the amount of canvases that were strewn about the room some bank, others half finished and a few that had already been finished and were waiting to dry.

Her room was a bit of a mess with paint splatters on the tiled floor and walls, half finished projects laying on top of boxes of sewing supplies and paints. Her bed was just a mattress on the floor with a bed sheet in a bunch over the top but it wasn't like she used it much anyway. Button was laying on the bed not fast asleep from a long day of work, but Saturday had no suck luxury. She wasn't a slob or just lazy she just didn't have the time to be cleaning when she needed to make more things to sell.

It had been only a few weeks since she moved into an apartment and already it felt like home, which she couldn't say the same about her roommates. Starting from her least favorite, Belladonna, the woman was alright but she gambled like it was crack, Saturday had a chip on her shoulder for gambling and so this girl annoyed her with her pack of cards and coy smile.

Next was Martin, he was quiet a bit too quiet for Saturday's taste, he had a sort of eerie feel about him which made her want to avoid him, it felt as though he was hiding something even she didn't want to know. Xavier was the polar opposite always way too loud and rowdy making her want to shove pencils in her ears. He just talked way too much and gave weird responses to her sarcasm.

Lastly there was Anthem, she had mixed feeling about him he was the kinda guy that she normally wouldn't get along with but there was an air about him that she could help but subconsciously respect. And then there was his wisp, a little dog with big eyes that melted her heart, and she hated him for it any time he followed her around the house she tried shooing him away only to have him follow her more.

She listened as each one of them came home, hearing them walk past her door which was slightly ajar. But her main focus was on her painting it was a full sized canvas that stood vertical against her wall, she was painting the portrait of a man she had never seen before. She had been painting him for weeks now he started off as a speck in the distance of a landscape she was doing and each time she painted he was always there each time coming closer and closer. This scared and intrigued her but she dared not to stop,

This time he seems to be right up next to her standing in a far away place that was not of this world and he seemed so real almost like he was looking right at her. Then she herd Cho's barks from the other room and was about to go see what had happened when a flash of light came from the painting and she was knocked backward onto her rear.

She looked up to see her painting had come to life, something that had never happened before. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at the man she had painted, he was real, had she created him? “Go away,” she said half forceful half bewildered.

A certain star floating through the void of space, not shinning any brighter or dimmer than any of the others, just another in an ocean of twinkling light.

This particular star had felt ordinary and plain even though most of the stars in the universe had taken bride in their jobs in painting the night skies with light. But most had their own shine to them, some had hues of color and some were bright, some were dubbed part of constellations, but not this star.

It didn't necessarily feel left out just bored in its placement in the sky, questioning its own existence if only to add a tiny dot in the night. It was the living embodiment of an identity crisis, it got confused on why it was only one of a billion, then frustrated for not knowing then exhausted from the mix of emotions.

But that all changed when he felt the tingling, it started off small but it had already recognized the sensation from the past times that it had shown itself. It knew what was to come next, the feeling would fade and everything would go back to as it was, normal. Boring.

But something was different this time, the feeling didn't go instead it grew and the star looked around hurriedly, was this what it was like when a star died. But this one was a practically young star only having live a couple thousand years, it couldn't be dieing now, but the feeling grew more and more coming from the inside out.

The star began to glow brighter and it panicked thinking that this was it this was the moment it would explode, but not having any eyes to close it had to watch as a strange light overtook its own shine until there was nothing but the light. Then suddenly, abruptly it winked out of the night sky, but instead of winking out of existence he found himself in a strange place that he had never seen before and could not describe.

He had his arms over his head and his eyes were shut tight as if he was still bracing himself for death, but when he realized it had not come he opened his eyes standing up straight. There were two other figures in the room but his eyes were still adjusting to the light. “Who the hell’s there?” Came a voice from one of the figures, the one furthest away from him. “Answer me!” But he was too petrified to speak.

A variety of emotions welled up in Belladonna as the past few moments felt like eons as magical energy practically radiated in waves that Belladonna had never felt in all her short life. The first primarily emotion being shock just at the sudden appearance of the two...Spirits as well as the trance-like Ollie had been put into all by the simplest touch by the blue-haired...girl? A bit of nausea came about as her body floated into the air as the second Spirit..a male by the looks it made his displeasure clear by tossing her bed easily across the room. Cold dark eyes looked over her body as a faint flush came to Belladonna's face as she attempted to use the bed sheet in her grasp as an improv dress of sorts as it floated in the air as well. As soon as her bed came crashing along with a few mementos falling to the ground from the impact, her body hit the floor as well.


Grumbling under her breath at the rough landing and to add insult to injury, a fluffy pillow bounced off her head. Moving her messy hair out her face as a low whine escaped her throat as a large amount of fatigue hit her body. Laying back on the ground in defeat as she sighed before sitting up eyeing the two Spirits "Well it seems like there are a few of us enjoying this sudden turn of events...". Her sharp comment was directed at her once loyal Ollie and the male Spirit who was certainly making himself at home. Ollie merely let out a sheepish bleat before nudging the blue-spirit's hand as a request for her to continue her ministrations of petting. Sticking her tongue out at the goat childishly as she directed her attention to the male Spirit before stating "You know, it is not exactly polite to toss a lady's sleeping area about the room. Besides look what you did to all my mementos...". Said mementos ranged from small crystal balls, a few prized processions won from gambling, and even a few holo-pictures of her past. Said holo-pictures were quite expensive in their own right given it took specially mages to create the images from hand. Her favorite one lay on its side near the Spirit's leg, the image of a sunny day with both Luck and Ollie on her shoulders enjoying the beautiful day. A large brim hat covered the sun from her face, yet it couldn't dim the smile on her face that day.

A faint blush came upon her once again as she noted her state of dress. Those that said she had problem with stripping under stress were incorrect. She stripped to free up her focus in the heat of combat or a bet..or just to piss someone off. Gingerly picking her way to her closet in hopes of finding something a bit more suitable for entertaining guests at this late hour. Settling on a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top in her rush as she looked at both her 'guests' before rubbing the back of her head "I am not entirely sure what is going on here. Yet from what I am assuming...you two are what the scholars would call Spirits right? It's been centuries since any mage has been able to do this. At least according to the book we found...". Snapping her fingers out of reflex as the various cards about the room zipped into her hands once again as she began shuffling them out of habit "I apologize for the untimely summoning..it wasn't intentional I promise you that. I think I would have chosen Spirits who were less likely to toss me out of my bed and steal the affections of my goat..". Her words were a touch sarcastic as she hoped humor would help diffuse the tension in the Spirit's. Who knew what power lurked beneath their mortal forms...what did they exactly look like?


A small groan escaped her as she realized the likely possibility that her fellow roommates were dealing with uninvited guests as well. A faint laugh escaped her at the hilarity of the situation at all the possible damages that would occur. So much for reassuring the landlord that the house would remain standing after this group inhabited the home. The shuffling stopped in an abrupt manner as she said in a hopeful voice "Well it seems I will have to call a house-meeting..can you two please stay here. Or at least not wreak anymore of my room...You can keep Ollie for company". A wink was directed at the blue-haired girl as the goat rubbed its face affectionally against her leg. Taking small steps out of the room as she pointed an accusatory finger at the lounging spirit "I mean it..don't start throwing shit around again". The door to the bedroom closed quietly, only to be opened roughly as Belladonna poked her head into the room.."By the way, my name is Belladonna Ace. I am a Summoner..and I guess now yours too..Unless this one huge dream...". Shuffling down the hall as she rapped loudly on each door with her knuckles before announcing "I am assuming we need to have a house meeting...might I suggest we leave our guests alone to get to know one another..".

Without waiting for a response, the brunette walked wearily into the kitchen before browsing through the fridge and popping the lid off a cold beer. Placing the cool glass along her forehead as a headache was starting to form and sitting on top of a bar stool near the kitchen island waiting for the inevitable similar tales from her roommates. Taking another sip of the bitter liquid as Belladonna grumbled "I am going to need another one of these...". Hopefully the Spirits would at least take her words to heart as she did not want to have play a game of hide and seek in the city tonight...

Anthem widened his eyes to the bizarre sight before him, a somewhat unexpected vision to say the least as a red-haired boy and dark, blue-haired girl stood in his room. Neither opted to give him an answer though, which irked him evidently, more so once an awkward silence began to linger as neither side offered much in the way of words. Anthem was stubbornly holding his tongue in hope of getting a response, however the silence that hung was soon broken once the girl had began to cry.

”Hey, hey, stop that already!” He called albeit weakly, his voice partly breaking as the sound of the girls crying began to unsettle the mage a little. After all, the last thing he needed on top of everything else was a girl crying in his bedroom, of all things. ”Look, no need to get hung up over it, alright? Heck, I’m not that scary am I?” Forcing a small begrudged smile the boy slid off the bed at that moment, the small dog also hopping off, as the pair gradually progressed across the room and towards the two strange beings. As if forgetting the possible threat they could pose Anthem strolled up to the two, eying them up and down quietly, before allowing Chow to sniff the duo in a curious fashion.

”Like, I don’t know what the hell you are, or where you two came from but--” Upon closer inspection the boy just noticed, if not being somewhat surprised by the realization that these two figures appeared more frightened than anything else. The girl was easier to read given her tears, but the red-haired boy similarly gave off a vibe of being fearful. Just then there was a knock on the door, snatching the boy’s attention as he heard the familiar voice of Belladonna. "I am assuming we need to have a house meeting... might I suggest we leave our guests alone to get to know one another.." Rolling his eyes ever so slightly to the mild intrusion, Anthem redirected his stare back over to the boy and girl. ”Guess I ain’t the only one who got a bump in the night.” He sighed and dropped his shoulders, clearly still somewhat tired and too confused to really figure out what had happened. Obviously, they were summoned there, but that was about it. Surely it hadn’t been him?

Shaking his head, Anthem gave the two spirits a slight unamused stare. ”Looks like I gotta go, but you two had just better stay here… and don’t touch anything! Got it? ‘Cause if you do I’ll know about it.” With a single swing of his arm he scooped the small dog up and held the thing against his side, before turning on his heel and facing towards the door. However, before he took his leave Anthem gave the pair another glance, before raising his free hand and pointing towards his bed. ”Sit over there if you want, it’s comfier than standing around doin’ nothing.” With that said he left the room abruptly, dog in hand, and calmly made his way down the hallway until reaching the end, as the boy suddenly sprang into a run and darted for the kitchen.

Upon entering his eyes immediately fell onto the figure of the woman who had requested the gathering, and without waiting for any word of acknowledgment, the boy slammed his clenched hand against a counter-top while still carrying Chow in his other arm. ”Hey! This ain’t no time to be drinking, we’ve got a bit of a problem or did you forget?!” Anthem snapped, though quickly calmed himself and took a deep breath. Remaining on his feet the boy leaned against the counter-top, placing Chow down on it carefully beside him, to which the small dog let out a quiet bark. ”I don’t know about you or the other guys, but I got two weirdo’s in my room. One of them started crying as soon as I spoke! The other, well he just looked terrified, heh.” Silencing himself, the boy turned his gaze towards the door to see who would appear next, and more importantly, find out whether or not they had all experienced similar ordeals.

---

Nothing was normal anymore it had all been ripped away, almost as if he had been plucked out by some god and dropped here to be observed and tested. And standing in front of him was the very person who was trying to play as this god, the kid was shorter than himself but looked so much wiser like the stars of old as if he had seen things that most wouldn't have dared. This both frightened and intrigued the young star, only he wasn't a star any more, he had another form, one that seemed oddly familiar to him but not. Something from a far away dream, only half remembered and so far away.

Next to him was a smaller version of himself which was more petite and had dark blue hair that was much longer than his own, but something was happening to her she seemed to be choking. The red head almost panicked, wide eyed looking at the other figure as what to do but was calmed when he saw that the expression on the boys face was not fear but that of gentle concern or nervousness. The now boy watched as the kid in front of him said a few words before standing up and walking towards him, he took a step back in response to a small figure that followed after him which didn't seem to be ready for attack but one could never be too careful.

The small creature smelled him and he in turn took an intake of breath taking in the scent of the tiny beast, it was sharp and musty with again that familiarity that hung around him like a cloud. A rapping at the door startled him train of thought making him jump slightly head snapping to look at the source, a door, and beyond it a woman spoke. The boy wanted to find out who it was and was about to move towards the door when the other boy advised against it, ”Looks like I gotta go, but you two had just better stay here… and don’t touch anything! Got it? ‘Cause if you do I’ll know about it.”

He could only nob as the kid walked out, not knowing anything about summoners and what they could do, all these events happened to be very confusing and it didn't help that they girl was still making that choking noise. He hoped that she would stop soon everything about it sounded just painful, stepping away from the girl he made his way over to a desk making awkward wobbly steps as he went, much like a drunk man or a small child. He looked around and objects on the desk to the bed that seemed soft and comforting, but it turned out changing form from an entity to flesh and blood had its side effects as he was barely able to open up a drawer on the desk before he bent over and threw chunks into it letting out a gut wrenching groan as he did so.

Looking up over the drawer to the girl across the room clutching the handle in one hand and the desk with the other mouth hanging open as it waiting for more, ”Do you think he'll notice.” He finally spoke trying to let humor settle the tension, he did not feel shame for what he did, nor remorse, because he didn't know how, a light in the sky cannot receive punishment or guilt so he was unaware of the severity of his actions. Instead he reached up wiping a bit of spit from his lower lip with his thump slowly closing the drawer with the other hand as he stood up to stumble over to the bed and lay down.[/font]

Martin

A man and a woman.

As he rubbed the glow of the bright light out of his still tired eyes that much was made clear to him. Upon taking a second look he could clearly see the two he had unknowingly brought into this world. The absurdity of the situation deepened as he looked upon two models of physical perfection. The woman had a body that most women would kill for and most men would kill each other over, complete with long flowing red hair which only accentuated matters. The man was herculean in appearance, towering over Martin with muscles that were almost as large as his whole body.

"Simply... Amazing." He marveled, eyes wide with both shock and wonder. He gripped his cane tightly as his knees were weak under him, threatening collapse with wobbles of instability. This still moment continued until the need to brace himself against the wall to keep from falling over came upon him. He reached out and supported himself against the wall adjacent to him, gathering his balance and with it his coherency of thought. Before all these questions I have I should introduce myself.


"Hel-" Just as he was about to greet them a deep cough gripped his chest. He lifted the hand that was holding the cane, putting more pressure on the hand against the wall for greater support, and put it before his mouth. He coughed loudly into his closed hand, the force of his hacking shaking his whole body. After he was finished clearing his lungs of the sickness which gripped him he regained what little composure he had and readdressed his two guests to this world.

And of course not moments after that things started to get out of hand. The two spirits introduced themselves to each other, Koneko seeming extremely inquisitive with little restraint like a child while Shulkun-Yol was more mature but equally confused. In very short order Martin was even more confused as he watched Koneko start groping Shulkun-Yol, speaking of breasts as though the concept was new to her. Shulkun-Yol lost a great deal of his gravitas as he started squirming away from Koneko, apparently quite ticklish it seemed.

"Why the hell is it so hard to walk in this body? And hey whats your name?!" Her exuberance caused him to take a step back as she came much too close for comfort. He still was not quite certain of their dispositions and thus was still quite wary of them for now. "M-my name is Martin. It is good to meet you both." He introduced himself, still looking equal parts surprised, confused and amazed. He sort of froze there as Koneko leaned in to smell him, only untensing when she leaned back with a bright smile.


Knock, knock, knock. The sound of his fellow roommate Belladonna walking down the hall rapping upon each of their respective room doors. "I am assuming we need to have a house meeting...might I suggest we leave our guests alone to get to know one another.." Her voice could be heard quite clearly as she yelled from down the hall before leaving into another part of the house. The walls of this house did little to muffle the voices and sounds from other areas of the house, a feature which had it's pluses and minuses. At the very least everyone would hear if the summons suddenly got it in their head to try and tear him limb from limb.

"Oooh who's that? Guests? Am I a guest? What's a guest?"

Koneko rained questions down upon him, questions that were innocent enough at the very least. "Well, a guest in our world is someone who is welcome into a person's place of living. Since I live here and I summoned you both, or at least that is what it appeared to be, both of you are technically guests of mine. I must say though, I have very little idea of what happened myself." He explained to her, strictly honest in his answer. "The person knocking was my roommate. I should probably-"

"What in grandfather's name is this madness!?" He was cut off as Shulkun-Yol's shouted while his arms suddenly erupted with flames. Martin gave a short yelp of surprise as he almost fell backwards, bumping into the window sill behind him. This was looking quite dangerous as he was almost certain his own summons were going to end up burning the whole house down. While he had little to no furniture in this room due to the fact that he couldn't afford anything more than a blanket to rest on, everything else having already been sold so he could afford his part of the rent, it was still wholly possible to set the room on fire if Shulkun-Yol didn't control his powers soon.

---

Meanwhile...

---

Flone had been sleeping upon the highest point on the roof, the phantasmal orbs behind the protective discs in it's eye sockets only faintly glowing as it's head rested atop the socket just above it's shoulders. It sort of loomed over the path up to the front door like a rather eccentric looking gargoyle statue. It liked being in the winds and the light of the moon as it slept plus it could see if any strangers approached the house. While it was not an overly protective summon anyone it didn't recognize that would come up to a house in the dead of night without announcing themselves earned some well warranted suspicion.

Thus, when it heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice talking and moving about the yard it woke up, it's eyes lighting right up as the mask lifted from it's stand and begun to hover over it's body once more. It looked down from it's perch to see a strange dark haired man rummaging through the garbage before wandering out into the road, causing a car to swerve out of the way. This was interesting but at the same time slightly worrying, causing Flone to give a quick hope and gently float down onto the edge of the roof for a closer look.


It looked at the stranger who was busy flipping off the driver that just passed and then looked back along the path the man came along, following the trail until it spotted the window to Belladonna's room wide open. Now it had some cause for concern. With a great big flap from it's feathered arms it caught itself up in the wind, it's many wings carrying it up. With a flap, aided of course by it's natural wind manipulation, it swept past a couple sides of the house until Martin's window was in sight. Flattening it's wings out it braced itself against the wind, halting it's momentum so it could gently descend to around eye level with it's summoner's room.

The scene inside was quite a sight indeed. From what it could tell Martin was apparently being accosted by two strange mostly nude people, the larger more dangerous looking of which had his arms set on fire. Now it wasn't going to go making baseless assumptions about these stranger's character right off the bat but the fire alone was a pressing danger for it's summoner.

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Martin suddenly felt the window open wide, an unexpected event which caused him to jump with alarm. Before he could turn to see what else he had to add to his list of worries a set of rather large feet grasped him around the shoulders and he was immediately pulled out the window. At first he was quite scared, more so than he was at the time, until he turned and saw the comforting white hue of his summon's feet. It's feet were surprisingly prehensile, it having long finger-like toes and feet that almost resembled it's hands with the exceptions of lacking feathers, having a heel and being attached to it's legs.

Still somehow holding onto his cane throughout this Martin closed his eyes tight as he didn't want to look at the ground as that would only make things worse. He just clutched his cane with both hands and put his faith in Flone.


Flone for being a wisp was surprisingly large for it's stature as a summon. Amongst the various summons of this household it was particularly impressive in it's own right. Still, it wasn't huge and even the task of flying with someone as light as Martin was wasn't an inconsiderable effort. Luckily for Flone it didn't really need to lift Martin up, it just needed to get him down gently. Holding on to it's summoner tight it put all it's wings to the task of helping it glide down until it could gently set Martin down right in front of the front door.

When his feet touched the ground he finally opened his eyes, relief washing over him as he didn't straight up hit the ground as feared. Flone gently floated down like a downy feather in still air, touching down right next to him. Martin looked over to his summon, a smile finally able to appear upon his face as the veil of danger was lifted.

"Thank you Flone. I'm not sure I'd be able to return the favor for all the times you've looked out for me." He was most gracious for his summon's help. He never wanted their relationship to be like that of a master over a servant. He wanted his summon to know that all it's help was greatly appreciated, that it was genuinely valued not just as a summon but as a friend.


Flone simply shook it's head with a hand up in such a way that indicated that no favors were necessary. It was just doing it's job, being a good summon and such. Martin had learned well to be able to interpret his summon's various gestures just as his summon had learned to speak to whatever limited extent it could.

Bracing himself upon his cane to walk he stepped up and opened the front door, walking inside with his summon close behind. Inside he could see two of his other roommates already waiting and discussing matters with each other. Gently shutting the door behind him he turned to face the others, his face back to it's tired looking natural state with only a hint of concern behind it.

"I guess you both must of experienced some unusual activity as well. We might need to call the fire department as I cannot be sure that the two spirits in my room won't go ahead and set fire to my room."

Eyes locked, a clock continued to tick, a wisp napped, Saturday held her breath waiting for the man in front of her to disappear or worse, stay. When neither of them had moved for quite some time she finally couldn't take it any more and she let out a huge gasp of breath continuing to breathe once more. But this did not ease her nerves in the least in fact it only made her skin prickle more with that fact that he would not leave or speak. She wondered if he could speak like he was Frankenstein's monster new life that was incapable of doing much of anything, or perhaps he was a doll unable to move unless she moved his arms and legs for him.

She wondered if it had just been an optical illusion as she might have painted him so well that he looked real to her, she was on the ground still sitting up on both elbows legs sprawled out on the floor. To test her theory she leaned to one side to look around the man glancing at the painting behind him. Alas, she was wrong he was standing about a foot away from the painting and in his place there was an outline of where he had once stood and inside the outline was a world she had never seen before with creatures she couldn't name.

While she was wondering what kind of place it was she noticed that it was in her style of painting even down to the fine details but she didn't remember painting them, perhaps it was something that she didn't have control of like when she painted him. The man that stood before her, he was still not speaking so she assumed him ill, Saturday slowly stood up before him looking him up and down. She abruptly move her body trying to catch him off guard as she moved towards him pushing against the strangers shoulders trying in vain to get him back into the painting.

She tried hard to move him her socks sliding across the tiles as she only managed to push herself backwards, her attempts were interrupted at a loud noise coming from down the hall. This made the girl stop almost causing her to fall to the floor again but she caught herself just before only to look over her shoulder at the door behind her, eyes narrowing. It had sounded like a crash and she remembered that there was a commotion in Anthem's room as well. “What the..” was all she could say before there was a knock at her door.

"I am assuming we need to have a house meeting... might I suggest we leave our guests alone to get to know one another.." She looked back up at the guy as Belladonna spoke get to know one another? she wondered confused as to who her 'guest' was supposed to get to know, ”do you know anything about this?” without waiting for an answer she moved toward the door listening as footsteps moved in the hall, she backed away from the door going over to a mirror hanging from the wall checking that her reflection was presentable.

There was odd colors of paint all over her hands face and hair which was pulled up into her signature mini buns, Saturday huffed raking her fingers through her bangs hopelessly trying to get them to lay flat. When she gave up she took off her apron and tossed it onto the bed waking her small wisp, Button followed his summoner to the door but she raised a hand for him to stay to which he stopped abruptly noticing the other figure in the room. Button put up his arms trying to act like an intimidating bear of some sort but with his small body and ever present smile it didn't work too much. Outside Saturday moved towards the kitchen her steps firm and deliberate against the floor boards, when she entered the room she heard Anthem finishing a lecture on not being a time for a drink.

The underage girl slipped the bottle out of Belladonna's grasp tipping it back for a swig before setting down on the island counter top in front of the woman leaning against it across from them. ”I say, if not now then when is the time.” She gave a little half smile but it didn't show in her eyes, ”and what do you mean by guests I only got one guy in my room I have no idea where he came fr-... She stop suddenly noticing Chow causing her heart to stop for a beat, she swore that no matter how many times she saw him it would always be the same reaction but she shook it off and finished what she was saying, ”..from.”

One by one, the roommates slowly trickled in with a variety of expressions on their faces. There was at least one rational human with the appropriate expression of fatigue..but Martin always seemed so tried. Xavier looked like a child that had been told Christmas had come early. While Anthem looked pissed off as normal and chided her on the emergency beer..even his dog seemed to be scolding her. While Saturday decided to be a little pest and steal away her beloved drink..a small pout formed on Belladonna's face at the action which faded as questions each posing a similar wording came from then.


Stretching her arms over her head as a yawn broke as Belladonna halfheartedly poked Saturday's forehead "Stay away from my drinks, kid..". Her eyes widened as a loud honking from outside broke the silence..~Please tell me it wasn't that Grey Spirit..I don't want to have to chase him around town~. As the sound faded away Belladonna merely snapped her fingers before scooting off her seating "Do not move. I just remembered something that might help us..". Running down the hall as she quickly darted into her room rummaging through a bookshelf. Grasping a large leather tome with a victorious smile before walking out of the room. Her head did a quick double-take as girl Spirt seemed to be taking it upon herself to grow a 'fairy garden' of sorts.. finding her voice "Please do make sure..those plants don't uproot too much of the carpet. I still am not sure how I will explain that to my landlord. Oh and keep Ollie away from those roses..he gets a bit energetic after eating them.". The goat merely let out a sheepish response before inching his way towards the pink flesh of a rose blooming elegantly.

A few minutes passed by as Belladonna made her way through that once quiet hallway..hushed voices came from a few bedrooms and there appeared to be smoke coming from Martin's. With a sigh Belladonna slammed the tome down before the others in the center of the kitchen table before the rustling of papers and a few muttered words came from her as her finger came down onto a lengthy passage "It's stated here of a legend of Summoners that managed to call upon these Spirits through consolidating their powers with one another. Although we obviously haven't been having any pow-wow sessions..or at least I haven't. Her smile became a teasing smirk as her eyes caught each roommate's within her own as if tempting to weed out those that would have such friendly relations so early...

Flexing her fingers in apprehension as she said "Well since we know how we called these Spirits here. What exactly do you think we should do with them..Obviously some of them aren't pleased by the sudden Summoning..and are frightened to say the least. I think since we brought them here, we owe it to the Spirits and on our names as Summoners to be a guardian of sorts until we figure out how to send them back into their own Realms. That way if they do want to work alongside us..they know we only have the best intentions in mind..". A faint smile come on her face as the opportunity the humans had been given..hopefully it all worked out in the end.

The faint roar of a car broke her peaceful state as her mind returned to the destructive Spirit that she had hypothesized had left her room. With a faint wave she called over her shoulder "If you hear screaming and or stuff starts getting thrown into the air..that would be my Spirit's doing..Wish me luck". Hesitantly stepping outside the safety of the house as a bizarre scene sat before her..the Spirit was standing near the area where a mailbox should have been and flipping the empty road off?


Nervous laughter bubbled up from her throat as she inched closer to the Spirit "You know that is a bit rude. Then again you do seem like an asshole for a Spirit..from my personal experience with your charming personality..". A sigh escaped her as she inspected the damage done to the driveway "Well the landlord is going to have a field day with this. This". Her hand snapped toward the broken mailbox with accusation "Is why I asked you to stay inside..which is where you really should be as of now. So will you come with me or not?". Raising her fingers to her lips as she let out a low whistle..a distant baa answered as she hoped Ollie would bring his new friend along with him to this potential fight.. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be Grey. All I want is to get some shut-eye and I am sure you want that too. The sooner this night is over..the sooner we can try and figure out how to get you Spirits back home..".

Martin

It seemed everyone else was having a tense night as well as everyone seemed to react strongly to the event that just transpired. As Belladonna went to retrieve an old book on summoning Martin couldn't help but feel a little awkward just standing there with everyone else in the room like so.

"It's stated here of a legend of Summoners that managed to call upon these Spirits through consolidating their powers with one another, Although we obviously haven't been having any pow-wow sessions.. or at least I haven't."

As Belladonna's eyes met with his own his own he quickly caught on to the nature of her stare, his eyes widening with surprise. He quickly shook his head and waved a hand in objection to the perceived notion, his unhealthily pale face blushing out of embarrassment from the possible insinuations.


"Well since we know how we called these Spirits here, What exactly do you think we should do with them? Obviously some of them aren't pleased by the sudden Summoning.. and are frightened to say the least. I think since we brought them here, we owe it to the Spirits and on our names as Summoners to be a guardian of sorts until we figure out how to send them back into their own Realms. That way if they do want to work alongside us.. they know we only have the best intentions in mind.."

After she had diverted the topic onto the matter of dealing with the spirits he found her points to be rather reasonable. Martin nodded in agreement to her proposal before speaking his mind on the plan.

"I think that sounds quite reasonable. It seems they came not by their own choosing so it is only fair that we dedicate our time and efforts towards helping them return to their homes. Until such a method is discovered though we are currently their only guides in this world. Also, If my guess serves me right then there's at least two summons per one of us and yet I don't believe we currently have enough rooms to house even double our own numbers, let alone double and then set on top of the remaining. Not sure how well that's going to work out."


He had brought up an interesting dilemma, well, at least something important enough to him to warrant bringing it up. They were currently set up to support four people, not twelve or more. It was going to awkward for him if he had to explain to the ones he summoned that they were all going to have to share the same tooth brush, well, unless he dug into the money he had saved up for lunch for the next three days.

In rather short order Belladonna left and then some stranger, her summon he could only assume, stepped in looking rather disgruntled. He didn't clearly hear everything that was said and done out there but it seemed they weren't on the best terms quite yet. He'd of stayed and inquired as to the summon's identity and such but the matter of the possible house fire growing in his room was a concern he couldn't leave unattended.


With a short glance to each of the other summoners and a nod of welcome to the spirit he started making his way up the stairs. Slowly but surely he reached the top where he could now easily see his room as it was now starting to spit smoke out from the cracks of the door. He gave a weary sigh as he did not look forward to the idea of watching the roof he finally managed to put over his head come toppling down in a blaze of fire.

He was no fool either. He was quite well aware of the concept of back drafts and knew better than to just open the door if his room was on fire. Using an end of his shirt as a buffer he gingerly felt the doorknob to make sure it wasn't hot. The doorknob felt cool enough but he was still somewhat wary, letting go of his shirt and stepping back from the door just a tad.


"Hello? Is everything alright in there?" He sort of felt silly since he was asking what appeared to be two fire spirits who were likely not bothered by the flames if it was alright. Then again, it was a rather ambiguous question so it wasn't all that out of place anyways. "I'd just like to say I'm sorry for dragging you both away from your worlds without any warning or invitation. I swear-"

A waft of smoke caught his lungs by surprise and triggered his currently sensitive lungs, forcing him to cough loudly for a few seconds as he tried to clear the unwelcome gases from his throat. "- I swear I didn't mean to summon you, it just sort of happened all of a sudden." He turned away from the door for a moment to take in a breath of clean air. "I can explain more if you both like. If you could both come out that would be helpful as I can't say talking through a door is all that."

He just stood back after that and mentally prepared himself for the many number of reactions he might receive from them.

Anthem quietly observed as the remaining roommates flooded into the room gradually after each other, his eyes especially keeping note of little things, though otherwise he refrained from speaking. Really there wasn’t much to say anyway, he was as confused as the rest of them, and it didn’t calm his slight irritableness when watching Belladonna hurrying back out the room. Upon her return however, a tome was dropped before the small group, and half-heartedly curious, Anthem stared at the thing.

From what he could understand, the summoners had brought the spirits into their world and thus, quite frankly, it was their own doing and fault. Though Anthem couldn’t really believe how exactly he had supposedly summoned the spirits, but he figured, in some way, it must make sense. Although that didn’t necessarily mean he was over the moon to have the unexpected guests, per say. Let alone placing himself as some makeshift guardian of sorts. That may have just been a bit too much responsibility for the lad, then again he hadn’t faired too badly with Chow, so maybe he could, in some strange way, handle the challenge?

At some point Belladonna took her leave to deal with some issue outside, though Anthem hadn’t been paying much attention, and promptly redirected his stare back to the group. Eying Saturday, Martin and Xavier closely. ”Well, guess that’s sorted.” He said rather casually, and quite calmly. ”Oh, and if you hear any crying coming from my room, don’t fret.” Hopefully the girl from his room had ceased shedding tears, since Anthem didn’t know the first thing about comforting a girl. But then, likewise, he hoped the pair hadn’t gotten up to mischief in his absence.

When he was about to turn and take his leave someone else spoke up, Martin, or so he believed. Listening to the other summoner briefly Anthem considered the issue he had brought up, something about lack of room, and whatnot. But he wasn’t overly worried. ”Guess they can just sleep on the floor.” A simple solution perhaps, but Anthem was quite seriously considering that as an option. Especially if the spirits gave him a reason, of course. However, once more as he was about to retreat to his room, an unfamiliar figure entered the area.

”Hell, we ain’t half overrun, are we?” Jesting a little, Anthem turned round and scooped up his small companion from the counter. About ready to make a hasty exit this time, Chow suddenly let out a small whine which caught the boy’s attention. Though it didn’t take the summoner long to quickly figure out what was wrong, and without even saying a word, Anthem spun round and extended his arms out as he held the small dog towards Saturday. ”Chow wanna says goodbye.” He then said, the dog in turn letting out a light yip towards the girl. Seemingly content from doing it, the furry bundle began to wag it’s tail freely before being held against Anthem’s chest. ”Anyway, you know like, if you need any help or whatever, then you just come and ask me or, stuff. Since Chow seems to think you’re ok, and I ain’t gonna argue with him.”

With that as a goodbye the boy took his leave shortly after Martin, as Anthem made his way back to his room, of which was where he left the two spirits. Hopefully his room was still in one piece, and untouched? By the time he reached his door the mage set the dog down to the floor, before nudging the door open and cautiously entering his living space. As Anthem peered round the door and eyed up the area, somewhat suspiciously, his eyes soon landed on the two spirits.

”Alright, so what did you do?” He asked rather loudly, mostly just to gain their attention when noticing the pair was engaged in conversation. ”I know you did something, you must’ve.” Honestly he had no clue, however he had learned that if you questioned people straight up, something was bound to come to light. Tilting his head to the side the boy gave the small dog a knowing look, as Chow soon entered the room and immediately began to start sniffing around the place. Seemingly after only a few minutes the dog picked up something, a smell perhaps that intrigued it, as the animal began to toddle over towards where the two spirits stood. ”Look, I may have been a bit off before, so give us a chance to redo things over alright? My names Anthem Ray, and that’s Chow. Where I go, he goes. So if you mistreat him then, well, I’m gonna have to kick your ass, got it?”

Giving a slight grin, the boy raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck briefly. ”Anyway it looks like I’m your summoner for now, since it may have been down to me that your both here. Though, if you want you can ask me questions but I can’t really guarantee any answers.” Pausing briefly, he dropped his hand and placed both to his hips. ”Which brings me back to what I was asking earlier; did you do anything while I was gone? Could’ve sworn I smelt something, but I guess not.”

After having spent several days straight of being awake the waves of exhaustion hit Saturday like ocean waves beating against a solid rock, if one were to look closely enough they would see her move and sway ever so slightly as if in response to the push and pull of the water. But she tried her hardest to make sure that there was no sign of weakness no sign of her struggle to perform normal tasks to keep the bitterness from becoming too harsh she even covered up the bags from under her eye just to keep people from knowing. She made it no secret that she never slept, often leaving her lights on all night, playing music or making noise at odd times in the morning. These were things that were not unusual for her room only on the rare occasion during the day would her door be shut with the lights off but this would be for only thirty minutes at a time before she was back to creating what ever project she left unfinished.

A poke to her forehead brought the girl back to reality causing to her to glare at the woman as she spoke, ”Stay away from my drinks, kid.." Where did she get to calling me a kid? Her eyes followed Belladonna as she left the room only to return a moment later holding a rather large book, this caught Saturday's attention forcing herself to focus and take things a little more seriously. She listened intently as everyone spoke, Spirits? Summoning? she knew that summoning was a thing that she could do but summoning a whole spirit that was something to be excited about, she only grimaced when Belladonna mentioned having relations between any of the roommates she looked around thinking that she hardly gave any of them the time of day much less... that!

When Belladonna had left Saturday moved over to the book still left open leaning over the counter to take a look at it, eyes half closed she read parts of the writing skimming over the words as she went. Ignoring everything else in the room as people spoke and moved around, it wasn't until a spirit walked through the front door that she looked up feeling the power radiate off of him and even though she would never admit it deep down she felt scared. Instead she covered up the fear with hatred hating the way he stood, how he scoffed at them, how calm he seemed even though she wanted to throw something heavy in his direction. Her jaw clenched in anger and she looked over at the tall figure her palms beginning to sweat as she pushed down the fear trying to forget it.

It wasn't until Anthem approached her that she looked away from Grey when her attention caught on Chow her face flushing pink from how cute he was her eyes going wide, when he let out a small bark Saturday quickly turned her head staring back into the book. Her heart had completely melted by then trying not to let it show her face returned to its usual stone like qualities allowing Anthem to continue speaking, ”Anyway, you know like, if you need any help or whatever, then you just come and ask me or, stuff. Since Chow seems to think you’re ok, and I ain’t gonna argue with him.” What a stupid thing to say, of course she didn't need any help, she had taken care of herself for so long that she wouldn't even know how to ask for help but instead of saying any of this she just replied in a cold voice, ”kay.”

When he left she she tried concentrating on the words in the book but it was proving more difficult than she could have thought, not having a high school education she couldn't understand some of the larger words which were long and foreign to her. It finally occurred to her that she should return to her room and address the man she had left there, so she picked up the rather large and ancient looking book and hesitated thinking for a moment before grabbing the bottle of alcohol from the counter taking a swig of it as she went making her way towards her room giving a glance toward Grey as she passed him eyes narrowing as she did.

Saturday opened the door only to be surprised at not seeing a man in her room she looked around the room only seeing Button sewing eyes onto a doll who pointed over to the wall where she followed his indication. She saw the painting that he had previously come out of noticing that he had returned to it but instead he had his back to her walking back into the painting as if he was going back to where he had come from. She couldn't help but feel more than a little disappointed in this even though it was what she had originally wanted once she had learned what he was and how he had gotten there she got herself pumped up ready to have someone else in her life but now he was gone.

Not letting it get her down she tossed the book on her bed giving a thumbs up to Button to let him know to keep working as she left her room to try and see if any of the other spirits had left as well. She followed the scent of burning to Martin's room where he was standing outside talking to his door, Saturday strolled up next to him taking another long swig from the bottle she still held about to put it down to say something to him when a voice from the other side of the door made her jump a little, "I would love to come out. I want to meet the other people! But I don't know how..." The voice surprised her it was not only loud but female, Saturday looked from Martin to the door and back again crossing one arm over her chest and nursing the alcohol to her lips with the other raising an eyebrow.