Marvina Joyce Loveridge's Story

Marvina calmed herself down as she was still frazzled by all that had happened. Marvina listened to the story. As it ended she smiled at the druid. "Thank you for the story," she told him before moving on to express gratitude for earlier "And thank you for saving me back there. Who knows what would've happened if you weren't there," Marvina said, although they both knew what most likely would've happened. "I hope those arrows didn't hurt when they hit you." She knew that the arrows seemed to bounce off, and he didn't seem to have any marks, but she didn't know how the magic behind it all worked. Marvina glanced down at her wrist that was now swollen and starting to bruise. It throbbed, but she did her best to ignore it. She had had worse injuries before and came out fine. This too would heal.

"Ah, I'm fine. The wood I turned ma skin to was hard as rock. Like I said, I'm tough like an oa-" the Druid stopped mid sentence, his eyes looked directly at her wrist, "How?" Nevas' voice was low, with an icy edge to it. Oh, he had half a mind to hunt those bitches down and slaughter them one by one. The gypsy tried to play coy, but the mage wasn't having it, "You know what I'm talkin' 'bout. Show me." hesitantly, Marvina brought her wrist to bare. It was bruised, he could see the swelling clear as rain, and did his rage shoot back up.

Quickly calming down once more, the mage lightly placed his hands on the injured wrist. A light green glow emitted from the gaps in his clasped hands, the wrist flaired with pain for a small bit before it was cooled and the gypsy felt the swelling start to go down. She looked at Nevas in shock, when could he do this? Looking at her face briefly the Druid answered he unasked question, "Nature magic be one of duh best schools for healin' ya know."

After the wound was healed, and they had a small meal, Nevas put the gypsy to sleep using the lullaby. Once he knew she was asleep, his eyes hardened as his rage skyrocketed once more. Grabbing his staff, the Druid walked back to where they had encountered the man haters, and considering how badly he damaged them, he didn't expect to be too far from the original encounter spot. Low and behold, only ten yards away, his prey laid, unaware of the monster they woken.

The woman couldn't sleep, every time she tried she just saw those horrifying green eyes. Turning slightly to the right where she had first seen the monster, her heart stopped. There just a bit passed the fires glow, those toxic eyes looked right at her, she wanted to yell, scream to the others that they had to move. But the woman's wooden arm stopped that as it moved to cover he mouth, she couldn't do anything as the monster stepped into the light, "Like I said, I ain't as forgivin' as the lass." screams pierced the night sky, causing birds to fly away in fear.

Making his way back to camp, the Druid made sure to remove all traces of blood off of himself, especially his teeth. Yes he ate some of them, mostly an arm or leg, but he left the rest for the animals. His staff was a pain to clean, but it had to be done, he had sliced them up and summoned roots to finish the job, dragging some underground, effectively burring them alive. Once he made it back to Marvina, he gave a soft sigh of relief. She hadn't woken up, so she didn't have to know what he did. Laying down, the Druid faded off to sleep. Unbeknownst to Nevas however, was that the gypsy was awake. She head the screams.

The gypsy woke up and noticed Nevas was gone. She sat up and looked around. That's when she heard the screaming. The horrid screaming. Marvina held her ears to drown it out, but she could still hear it. A little while later she heard Nevas walking back. Marvina laid down and closed her eyes pretending to be asleep. She tossed and turned all night, but couldn't fall asleep. All she could think of was the screams, and that Nevas was most likely the one who caused them. Marvina was still awake when the sun began to rise. She sat up to watch it, but even that couldn't calm whatever it was she was feeling. She couldn't find quite the right word for it. Anger, betrayal, disappointment. Although those words might be able to touch upon what she was feeling, none of then seemed to explain it well enough. What was the point in him listening when I asked him to stop if he was just going to wait until I was sleeping to go out and finish them off. She felt as though he had went behind her back. The longer she thought about it, she figured that it may have been seeing her wrist that set him off, but that didn't make her any less upset. If I could've hid my wrist all of this could've been prevented. Hell, if I wouldn't have fought so hard to get away, I wouldn't even have had the injury in the first place. Marvina debated on confronting Nevas or not. Yeah that'll go well, MJ argued with herself, Remember last night when you thought I was sleeping, well I wasn't. I was faking. Surprise! Oh and by the way I heard the screams and if I'm not mistaken, I think you may have been the cause. Marvina shook her head. No, she couldn't confront him. Especially not now, when she was as heated as she was, but she felt as though if she held it in it would eat away at her. I suppose it'll be a long feast, because I'm going to let it eat away for a while. MJ thought telling herself that she wouldn't confront him yet.

Opening his eyes, Nevas sat up and cracked his back before noticing his companion was already awake, "Mornin' lass." he said as if he didn't just kill a whole group of people, as he got up. Seeing a lack of food he decided to get some for MJ, he had his fill last night so he wasn't really hungry, but he wanted to keep the illusion that he slept in camp. The Druid knew that if the gypsy found out what he did, well let's just say he didn't expect her to be happy. Honestly, those bitches brought it on their selves, if they didn't try to kill him and take his companion then they wouldn't have been injured as badly as they were. Hurting his friend just dug the grave.

Just like the farmer in the tale most, if not all, Druids get incredibly violent when some one close is being threatened or injured. Last night was the first time he felt the protective rage, it worried him slightly how unaffected he is about it. But he chalked it up to side effects of seeing that battle from the tree. Returning with nuts, the two ate as Nevas thought over the previous night. If he kept it a secret, and Marvina found out later from a different source then that might ruin their friendship. The Druid made his decision before the duo left, "Lass...I need to tell ya somethin'." he was going to tell her what he did and why he did it.

"What do you need to tell me?" Marvina played dumb. She figured, no, she hoped that he was about to tell her what he did. Not that that would change the fate of those women, or the lack of sleep MJ received thinking about it, but it would at least show her that he wasn't keeping things from her or going behind her back. As Marvina thought that, she immediately felt like a hypocrite. Keep things from you? How awful. I mean it not like you keep things from him, oh wait. Marvina felt as though her head was being invaded by negetive thoughts, but it was her own voice who spoke them. For starters, the whole being awake last night. Then there is the whole spirit guide ordeal. MJ shook her head as if that would shake the negative voice out. Stop it, she told herself as she tried to focus on what Nevas was telling her.

Taking a deep breath Nevas steeled himself before speaking, "Last night I...when you went to bed I hunted those women down." his voice stayed steady as he spoke, "I hunted them and slaughtered all of 'em. I know ya wanted me to let them go but...I told ya that story last night for a reason." he sat down with his eyes locked to the ground, it was starting to get hard for him to stand, harder to even look at the gypsy, "We Druids are protective of those close to us, deadly so. I was going to just let them go, truly I was, but seein' ya got hurt because of them...it set somethin' off inside me."

Taking a shaky breath, it was clear that this was starting to affect him, "I didn't feel anythin' doing it either, not satisfaction, or felt disgusted. I. Felt. Nothin'. Duh worse bit is that I even considered not even tellin' ya! I..I..I..." his conscience finally caught up with him as he stated to break down, tears raced down his face as Marvina moved to comfort the distressed Druid. Those women were the mage's first kills, and it made him feel sick. Sure he saw death in the flashback, but this was in the hear and now. It was his hands that ended their lives, and he felt disgusted, "Lass...could...could ya do that attunement again? Please?"

"Yes, of course," Marvina said, "Thank you for telling me." She said as she began the attunment, using the same process as the time before. Marvina couldn't be mad at the druid. She somewhat understood why he did what he had done. After the attunement, Marvina debated on coming clean about not being asleep, but she felt that would plague the conscience of the druid even moreso. She thought it best to keep to herself. Marvina sat next to the Druid and hugged him not wanting to let go, but did. "I'm sorry." Her bad habit of blaming herself came around again. If he hadn't of seen my wrist. If I hadn't struggled I wouldn't have been injured. If he wouldn't have met me, he wouldn't have had to save anybody. So many ifs. Too many ifs. Then a lighter kinder voice came into her mind. If you two hadn't met, there's a good possibility that nobody wouldve even made it off the boat at the beginning of the journey. You can't focus on ifs. The past is there. You can't change it. Why focus on something you can't do a thing about? Marvina took a deep breath. She knew the second voice was right, but sometimes it was so easy to fall into the trap of the first.

"Ya don't have anythin' to be sorry about. I'm duh one who went behind ya back and...ya know..." Nevas tried his best not to think about last night, it wouldn't be helpful for either of them, "Anyway let's start getting a move on. Hopefully we will run across a friendly Naga, or a caravan. either would be helpful." he said as the to headed out. The Druid felt a lot better after confessing to MJ and the following attunement session, he had no idea how it worked but damn it it wasn't effective. Since they left late, the two stopped for a break around three instead of one or two.

Plants where starting to become scarce, the desert could barely be seen int the distance. One more day of traveling and they would make it to their destination. Now going into a desert with no plan was extremely stupid, so the mage decided that they would only travel half a day into their destination, that way if something goes wrong then the duo could easily turn around and leave. Eating some rabbit, Nevas couldn't help but think about what was waiting for them at the Lunar Desert. He was hoping for nothing horrible, but with his luck, it was a good idea to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Marvina looked toward Nevas as she voiced her wondering. "I wonder what could be in Lunar Desert. I know you said that Lunar meant it could have something to do with the moon. The moon is already so beautiful, could you imagine if something there made the moon even more beautiful. Or maybe, the moonlight uncovers some secret place or item. Or, well, I suppose there could be anything. It doesn't necessarily have to do with the name. Although it would make sense." MJ rambled on, her thoughts running rampant. Upon catching herself rambling she stoooed herself. "Sorry, I'm going on and on. I'm just so excited. That's all."

Shaking his head in amusement, Nevas let out a chuckle, "Ya Fine lass. Truly I wished I had ya'r optimism right now." while the gypsy was thinking of all the stuff they could find, or what happens at night, the Druid was thinking of everything that could go wrong. Being separated, being trapped in a sandstorm losing their way, not having enough water, or not finding much food. Yup, the mage was internally worrying about what could go wrong, but he wasn't about to show it.

After resting for an hour, and having some leftover nuts from earlier, the duo started to head out again. As they walked, the desert was starting to get bigger and bigger, the map showed it covered the top left most part of the continent, but seeing how far it goes with his own eyes...the shifting sand was going to make finding their way back during the day really hard. Night would be as difficult, as who knows what nocturnal predators lurk. After making camp for the night and having some rabbit dinner, Nevas estimated that they would make it around noon tomorrow, "Alright lass, we are goin' to hit sand by the afternoon. We can spend the night, but I would recommend that we turn around. For our safety, and so we don't be gettin' lost."

Marvina nodded. "Okay. Whatever you think is best," she said. MJ trusted Nevas' judgement, even moreso than her own. Although Marvina had travelled often, it was always with the caravan. They always had the protection of tents and wagons and were sure to pack enough food and water. Marvina never had to worry about surviving in the desert, so she didn't learn the wisdom of how to make it through the desert safely. This was part of the reason she put so much trust in Nevas, but even if that weren't the case she felt as though she would still probably trust his words.

Going through their nightly rituals the two fell asleep soundly. Though as they slept, a silver light shot from the desert, the light split as it hit the sleeping travelers who would enter it's domain. The next morning Nevas awoke and did his stretching as normal, but oddly enough their was some resistance coming from his chest. When he looked down, a feminine scream escaped his lips, as while he was still in in clothes, he was now female. Looking over to where MJ was, he saw the opposite happened, she had turned into a guy.

Marvina awoke to the scream and looked to the Druid, wondering what that was. But her words where caught inher throat as she saw a woman in Nevas' clothes, "Lass..er lad? Before ya question me, ya best look down." doing what the woman said, the gypsy looked down. A manly yell of fright then echoed around the forest. Looking back to Nevas, he, or was it she now? Anyway thoughts for later, the Druid healer was looking at his, her?, new body. A small twinge of jealousy pinged in the now male gypsy, this female Nevas had a bigger chest then she had when she was still a young woman.

At first Marvina was upset. "Do you know how this happened? How do we get our old self back." Upon hearing her own voice she began to laugh. Her voice now was much deeper than the original. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Marvina said trying to control her laughter. "It's not funny. I'm sorry. I'm just not used to my voice sounding this way." This is crazy. She realized she was still in her dress, despite being now, a man. "Oh my goodness, I look absolutely ridiculous." She said. Marvina thought for a moment. Her mind moving thought to thought as if on a bunny trail. "I wonder if this is from the lunar desert." MJ voiced aloud. "I bet it is. Maybe if we stay another night we will switch back again. Until then, I suppose we make the most of it. Maybe I should act like a guy, I mean since I kind of am one. How do guys act?" Then she started to give an imitation of a guy, deepening her voice as though her voice wasn't already deeper, "Hello, I'm," she paused as she thought of a guy name that could sound similar to her real name, "Marv," She returned her voice to it's normal, now male, tone. "Oh that's not a very good name is it." She paused a moment longer before shouting out, "Marvin! Marvin is a guy name. That sounds kind of like Marvina. Today, I am Marvin. Hopefully tomorrow I will be Marvina again. But for now it is what it is." She stopped blabbering and looked up at the now female Nevas who was staring at her. "Sorry, I've just never been a man before. Not that you've been a woman before, but I don't know. Being a man sounds like it could be fun. Reminds me of a story of a daughter who dressed like a man so she could help her father protect the king's son. She was treated completely different as a man. Of course she just dressed up as a man, she didn't become one. She was found out. But the prince and girl fell in love. Of course in the end they couldn't be together because he was a prince, and she had no noble blood and no dowry. Any ways, you know, you are much prettier than I was. I'm kind of jealous" Then realizing what she said she went red in the face as she walked herself into embarrassment. "I mean, um. Uh." She stopped talking as she couldn't thing of a way to walk herself out of this one.

An idea came to the Druid's mind at her, now male, companion's compliment, "Oh? Pretty am I? Well, you're no slouch either there lad. Maybe we could use this time to...get better acquainted? Maybe take these bodies for a...ride?" she walked up to him, putting one hand by Marvin's stomach, the other on his inner thigh. The female Druid bursted into giggles at his red face, "Ahhahaha! O-Oh, Now I-I see wh-why women tease men, hahaha!" Deciding to do a bit of turnabout, the male gypsy used his knowledge of being a woman to his advantage. Grabbing one of the female mage's breasts in one hand, which he gave a light squeeze, and with his other hand, he placed it right on her firm rear.

A small moan escaped Nevas' Lips, she had never felt this kind of pleasure before. But as it came, the feeling soon left, causing her to whine slightly, "Ugh, lad ya made ya'r point." looking at her current attire, Nevas felt her new chest being to restrained. Taking off the outer most shirt seemed to do the trick, though there was still some discomfort, it wasn't horrible, "If ya going by Marvin, them I should go by somethin' else too." the Druid stated before putting her finger on her chin, tapping it as names went through her mind.

It only took a few minute but she decided to settle of the name Nepta, mostly cause it was close to Nevas. The two ended up switching clothes, as Marvin looked weird in a dress, and the female Druid felt a bit restricted in her normal attire, before the newly named Nepta went to collect some food. As usual breakfast was a rabbit and some nuts, though this time the Druid felt full after eating three fourths of the rabbit as a handful of nuts, while Marvin ate more than he usually would. After breakfast the two gender-bent travelers made their way to the desert.

Marvin sighed. His hair, although still red and curly was shorter. "I do miss my hair he said patting his head. It's not the same with it being this short. But at least it won't get into my face as much." I wonder how life would have been different if I was born a guy. I'd probably still be with the gypsies, considering I left the caravan to be with a guy. That was such a silly thing to do. That being said, I may have never met the gypsies if I was born a boy. They found me at the age of three on the side of the road. Maybe if I was a boy whoever my birth parents were would've wanted to keep me. Boys are less likely to be given up, for they carry on the family name. If that were the case, I'm happy I was a girl, for I wouldn't have wanted a life where the gypsies weren't my family. Marvin then went on to thinking about the boy he had left the gypsies for when he was still a girl. My only regret in life, so far, is that, and even that mistake I wouldn't change for through that I learned Reiki and it has also lead me where I am today. It lead me to meeting the druid and I wouldn't change having met the druid for the world. "Nev- I mean Nepta. Have you ever been in love?"

Raising an eyebrow, Nepta had to honestly think on that question, "I have. I love ma mum an' dad." Marvin proceeded to explain what he meant, "Oh...uhh, I can't say I have then lad. Haven't really been round a person long enough to get that attraction." the female Druid subconsciously twirled a couple strands of her, now longer, brown hair, taking a quick glance at the male gypsy. While as a guy her hair was long, in never went past the shoulders, now it reached the middle of her back.

It was confusing, she never felt like this as a male, but being around Marvin made her heart race slightly, she could just imagine the tiny little feet of kids running around a cottage, one with red hair and green eyes while the other had brown hair with blue eyes. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, maybe this was an after affect of what ever changed them? The two stopped around noon as the reached the deserts edge, the heat of the sands could be felt on their faces as the rested. Nepta made sure that their canteens where full and that there where enough nuts in her bag to last them the rest of the night into morning, she spoke up after an hour of preparing, "Alright lad, we be ready. Let's get headin' off."

Marvin nodded. "Alright," he said and they began to head off. "I do hope we switch back tonight," Marvin started, "While being a guy is fun in all, I feel as though it doesn't particularly suit me. I wonder if anything else strange will happen in the desert. Hopefully, a little less transforming though." He said. As they walked began Marvin began humming the tune of a song he had heard whenever he was with the caravan. The song was about a journey to the other side, but he couldn't quite remember the words, so he stuck to humming.

Many a curse flowed from the Druid's mouth, not even an hour had passed and she already hated this desert, "-No good, mother fuckin' son of a damn oak!" yup, she wasn't happy in the slightest. Nepta's feet were being burnt as they traveled the hot sands, as she refused to wear the gypsy's old shoes, while the girl turned man just used the spare clothes the young woman had in her pack. It got to the point were the mage just climbed on Marvin's back and, as with gender, the two also changed size along, as the gypsy was now a head and a half taller then the Druid, it also changed how much weight they could carry, so the young man had no problem with the Druid on his back, they just took breaks every now and then, for nuts and water.

Marvin was having a hard time concentrating, as the female Druid's large chest planted themselves into his back. He hoped that they would change back after tonight, though a part of him noted how good Nepta looked in his old clothes, another part thought of how she would look in a green dress, one that hugged her curves and brought out her eyes. The gypsy shook those thought out of his head, is this what men thought of when they see someone attractive? They made camp as the sun started to go down, tomorrow they would see if they changed back.

Nepta held onto Marvin as they slept, the desert was too cold for the small Druid to sleep on her own, so she had cuddled up to him before they went to sleep. As the night went on, the silver light that changed the two never showed, as was evident when Nepta awoke. Looking down, the Druid saw nothing had changed, it would seem that this was permanent, but she didn't know for sure. Maybe it was a curse? Whatever it was could wait, she needed to wake Marvin and then head back out of the desert. She was going to stick with their already decided plan, "Time to wake up lad, we best be headin' back."

Marvin got up rubbing his eyes. He grabbed his bag and was ready to go. Looking at Nepta the gypsy could easily see that she was still a she. He looked down at himself and could see that he was still a he. He shook his head disappointed. Will I be stuck this way forever? Marvin looked up at Nepta and offered a smile, "I'm ready to go," he said before they began heading back.

The duo had some nuts, and a bit of water, before making their way out of the desert. The sand this time around felt good on Nepta's burnt feet, as it was cooled from the cold night, so she didn't need to be given a ride out of the desert. Like entering before, it only took half a day to get out of the Lunar Desert, and the smaller Druid couldn't have been happier. The sand picked up in heat around the last half mile, but being the stubborn as she was, she toughed the last bit out with her feet only getting lightly burned this time 'round.

Once out of the sandy dunes, the mage used the water in her canteen to douse her feet. Maybe she should have wore the lads old shoes, but then she shook her head, the brunette didn't need shoes before, and she didn't need shoes now! Using a small healing spell to help alleviate the pain, the gypsy asked why she didn't use it yesterday, "Well lad, healing spells require concentration, and bein' in pain breaks that concentration faster than two rabbits in spring." thinking about rabbit caused the young woman's stomach to rumble, and a scarlet blush of embarrassment spread over her face. Marvin couldn't help but think it made the healer look a bit cuter.