The Inn Grounds

The various children were all inexplicably lost into the gap. Seemingly at random these children happened to be the few that slipped out of reality...

Here on the precipice of two worlds, they were lost- utterly removed from the confines of logic. All they had was a feeling, an attraction. The glow of the lights playing against the dancing shadows of an immense, colorful building drew them in like fireflies. For some reason, each child found himself or herself looking up at the hulking building before them, only somewhat conscious of the others around them. They stood in the stone pavilion, lanterns burning and a sweet incense's aroma mixed with that of the flower garden wafting through the air.

They were so overcome they did not notice the body of a stooped old woman waddling toward them. It wasn't until a birdlike "Squawk!" pierced their ears that they noticed the creature. The old woman stood in an old, flowery dress several yards away, yet her face was directly in Cecile's. The body was attached to the head via an incredibly long, serpentine, navy blue neck. It curled about as the wrinkled face which, rather than a nose and mouth, had a large sharp beak tilted about looking over the children. Her gray hair was wispy, and puffed out in various directions. "Ah... you are... UGLY! SQUAWK! What vile creatures are you? Speak now! I can sense you're not spirits. My eyes may be old, but my Sense is never wrong! What are you?!" She pecked in Avery's direction. "SQUAWK! Speak! Or can you vile creatures not?"

This lady, this...thing scared the crap out of him. What was she? Her squawking was the scariest, promting Ryou to take a step back. Oh, jeez! What's going on? He looked at the creature, really studied her for a moment. Then, taking a deep breath, he stepped out in front of the others. "M-ma'am," He stuttered, not sure whether the creature was going to peck his eyes out or not, "please, d-don't hurt us. M-my name is Ryou Hatsuya." He bowed respectfully to her, keeping his gaze on her all the while. "I-I'm not sure, b-but I think we're all lost. W-we're just n-normal kids, normal h-human beings." He straightened up. He was scared, but he looked her in the eyes nonetheless.

Cecile’s brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed as the squawks pierced her ears. She hadn’t noticed the old ‘woman’ until her beak was practically pecking out her eyes, she was so close. Cecile stepped back, almost stumbling, in surprise but then she fisted her hands and stood her ground. This was probably just a dream. She must have fallen and hit her head in that crowd, that’s all it was. She wasn’t afraid of a dream. …Maybe a little afraid, but she wasn’t going to show it. She was mostly just annoyed by how loud the bird woman was.

She watched as a boy, around her age it looked like, went ahead and spoke up to the old bird. It was obvious he was frightened, his voice was a dead giveaway, but he still stood up to the crowing woman. Cecile couldn’t help but feel a sense of respect for this boy, even if he was just part of a dream as well.

Shiro’s eyes could not avoid glancing at the creature that spoke at them, "a bird?" the thought got directly into his head. And on his head Nifel stood still, amazed from the image of that old bird before her and her friend "bawk" escaped from the black crow’s beak, "never in my travels...have I seen a bird so..." Shiro’s eyes gleamed brightly; he was overwhelmed by this lady’s presence “So…beautiful“ what has he said? Not even he knew for sure, but he had said so. He stepped up and walked towards the bird and saw a pair of kids talking to her, “more persons” the sight really seemed like a dream, the bird he cataloged as beautiful talking. With a short bawk, Nifel jumped from shiro’s hair to his Shoulder “Ah, thank you” Shiro said while fixing his hair slightly, “Compared with mine, this lady’s hair seems more natural” He said while thinking in his pure white hair, Maybe they could see his white hair and black clothing as weird but he overcame that feeling momentarily, enough to walk towards them.
He was also slightly taken with her silver hair; he imagined how this lady could be when she was younger but quickly snapped back to reality or the reality where he was, noticing the boy afraid, but at least from what he knew, birds don´t eat humans normally.

Having heard small parts of the conversation while walking he decided to present himself, giving his name, or at least the name he took for himself, he bowed before the birdlike lady, taking care to not ignore the other children. “I am, Shiro Lostwind, and this creature here is my partner Nifel” Having heard its name, the black crow gave out a small caw and stood still, waiting for this fellow bird to talk

Tanya stood still, staring at the strange woman-creature before her. As the woman-snake-bird thing started squawking, Tanya just continued staring. She'd been drawn here, but she wasn't sure as to what was going on. This didn't feel like a dream, but surely this couldn't be reality. The strange woman thing squawked about spirits, and surely those didn't exist. Of course, not.

Tanya hung back from the other children, content to let them keep the attention unless she really had something she had to add. As in something her life depended on, which, luckily, hopefully, wouldn't happen. The others seemed to be giving the woman the correct answers, for the most part. Some children were amazingly calm in the face of such a creature.

Sighing shakily, Tanya just stood, waiting for a time where she could hopefully leave this messed up place.