shiversinSILENCE__

[MACHOmalli]

It had been days since the girl had last left her home town, presuming into the endless journey that laid before her. Her mother had described what she must do, that she must make the journey herself with her own feet, or in this case paws or wings, and wait in the 'Ghost Shipyard,' or whatever she had called it. For someone, but she couldn't remember who her mother had stated precisely; or had she even said anyone in specific?

It was too tiring to concentrate, but rather to follow the river as it curled along through the many terrains, in any shape she could to save energy, often shifted into a fish or some other marine animal. But something was changing in the water, as if it were becoming polluted, though the water was just as clear as it had been when she first came to the River. Something had seemed odd, and she'd begun to stick to the land or air.

Currently she walked carefully as a small dog, too exhausted to run but rather just dragging herself along. In the whole forty-five hours of her travels, she'd only had a total of six hours of sleep. Her body felt heavy and lumbering, her eyes threatened to droop. She appeared much like a zombie, just moving so she didn't collapse.

In her excitement to get to the school, she couldn't bring herself to stop, and wanted to keep as fast as she could to get there, but her lack of sleep was quickly beginning to take its toll. Her mother had warned her to sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to.

'When the air feels odd, you're within a half hour away.' her mother had said, and now she could feel it strongly, even outside the water. Silently she prepared herself for whatever laid ahead, for neither parents would explain what the place was, but only that the sea was to stay out of and fog often covers the majority of the area.

Suddenly it seemed as if she were walking into a cloud, and found herself moving into an even smaller form, a black, thick-furred cat. Her eyes thickened, the pupils expanding to see through the near dark. The thin forms of trees stood out a little more, to prevent her from knocking herself unconscious by running into a branch sticking out.

Looking around, she noticed odd shapes leaning out of what appeared to be some large body of water, ocean or lake, she couldn't tell. Though her curiosity was strong, becoming a cat had nearly doubled her exhaustion: Cats slept more hours of the day than they were awake.

She gathered the last bit of her energy, so as not to just collapse right there on the ground, and struggled up a low branch she could reach from the ground as a human, for she guessed that as she slept she might unwillingly shift to human and lose any sense of balance she had. That way she might not hurt herself too much.

The bark of the tree, which might previously have driven her to insanity, seemed terribly comfy, and in seconds she'd been overcome and fallen unconscious.

[[red].Raven]

The heavy fog rolled and tumbled in thick waves, blanketing the area in an endless, swirling canvas of misty whites and greys. Each small movement, every turn of the swirling cloud made unrecognizable shapes and nameless faces, some of which seeming far too real for comfort. A fair distance away from the tree that sheltered a small black feline, the fog began to dance and contract around and within itself, even more-so than one may think was logically possible. A defined, familiar shape began to piece itself together, slowly but surely drifting on its way closer and closer to Julia's branch. Soon, a torso could be picked out of the rolling mist, and then two slender arms, a delicate waist, a slim neck and pixie-like face surrounded by waves of foggy hair; a creature composed of only mist, but far too real to be considered only a passing image.

With one last gentle gust of wind, the fog's ghostly apparition had been competed, and was now silently making a beeline toward the cat's tree, its strides aloof and graceful. The best way to describe this creature would be to label it as a centaur; a beautiful, fragilely built being with the torso of a delicate woman and the pure white body of a unicorn. A spiraling, smoky horn could just be made out at the center of the creature's forehead. Pausing just by the tree, neck craned back to peer up at the sleeping feline, the Centauress raised up two misty arms as though reaching for Julia. A faint voice, coming from no obvious source, called gently to the snoozing cat. "Julia... Juuuulia... Wake up... It's time to go, little one..."[/b] The words seemed to mesh together into some sort of ancient melody, putting even the sweetest lullaby to shame.

[MACHOmalli]

Seconds turned to minutes, and slowly they drug on, the sleeping being unaware of how quickly time moved around her as dreams overcame her mind. Of home, of friends, of nightmares of her new life ahead. Of things that were going to change drastically.

The process was slowly beginning, struggling to overcome her body as an invisible figure, veiled by the fog, crept toward her perch, her reasoning for the action unknown by the dozing feline as unconsciously her body gradually increased in size, restoring itself to a human.

The fifteen minutes of sleep she received before the song hit her seemed as if it had lasted a mere fifteen seconds. But as the soft lullaby-like tune reached her ears, she slowly stirred, rather than fall into a deeper slumber. Gradually her eyes flickered open, and the slightest movement seemed to put her transformation into overdrive.

As her legs quickly extended and any cat sense she had left vanished, it seemed that any balance she had ever possessed vanished within the depths of the fog, and in a second gravity lured the human form down the few feet toward the ground. The drop was short enough that nothing hurt terribly, just a sore arm as she landed on her side, but the shock was enough to make up from the pain.

Startled, wide eyes looked around as the blurry outline of a figure before her gradually came into view, her pupils taking their precious time to adjust to the darkness of the fog, even when she should have been able to see her rather clearly. As her body relaxed itself from its hurtle through the air seconds ago, her eyes finally seemed to cooperate and she was able to clearly see the shape of the being feet away from her.

As the sight was placed in her eyes, she wondered if she had hit her head too hard as she fell. For, just steps away, a centaur stood, the most elegant sight she had ever laid eyes upon. The graceful being seemed full of mysteries and intelligence to her human eyes, and even though her mother had warned her that many creatures that we had only heard of in story books could be witnessed face-to-face in this new place, she still couldn't accept that this was truly real.

Taking a small breath, she pondered if the creature, female as far as she could see, was the one who had produced the strange song, which were found to her ears as a melody when truly they were just words, calling to her as she slept. Terrified she was to speak, and wondered if she was to or not.

[hopefully i got that right...
if not yell at meh. x3]

[[red].Raven]

((No, it's terrific, you're an excellent poster ^^ I really must apologize for this taking so long. School has made me slightly inactive, but I promise it will never take this long again. *offers large plate of cookies*))

The Centaur stepped back in subtle surprise when Julia fell from her perch, her slender arms finding their way to her 'face' as though concealing a dropped jaw. This movement sent the woman's figure into an even more indistinguishable blur of mist and fog. It seemed that the stiller this creature was, the more defined she would become. However, even if frozen, no one would ever truly see her. "Julia..." The melodic voice's tone was sincerely apologetic and concerned, but also reassuring; Julia didn't have to be afraid. With one arm still bent inward, the Centaur seemed to lean down and reach out for the shape-shifting girl. "Darling Julia... are you ready to go? Twilight Moon is awaiting your arrival, little one... "[/i] Gentle spindles of cool fog traced delicate paths around Julia's body, dancing across her skin like butterflies. Although nearly invisible, each spindle could somehow be traced back to the figure who stood before her. She wanted to Julia to be calm.

"The Academy lies just on the other side of this lake, Julia... your journey is almost at an end, while another is just about to start..."[/i] Still in the same position as before, the woman tilted her head to one side. "Tell me... do you have enough confidence in your abilities to cross us over the lake on your own?"[/i] Every student's first 'assessment', if you will, was to see if they were strong or skilled enough with their powers to get both themselves and their teachers across the lake safely. Of course, it was no crime if they couldn't, and should they be the least bit unsure, the teachers were happy to do the job. The trip across gave them an ample amount of time to get to know one another.