Completed [The Prairie] Adolescence (Celeste)

[Fubuki Kouri]

Edge of the Prairie, 17th of Bell, 57th of Fall 513 A.V "Uuuh..." The ghost girl put her right hand to her head and ruffled her alabaster locks, a look of confusion on her face. "What am I doing here again?" She spoke out loud in Vani. Kouri found herself facing a vast prairie, a barren meadow with the heavy stench of death lingering in the air. Even from here, she could see bones and remains littering the ground. The ghost girl was instantly struck by fear, this must be the 'Testing Grounds' Kriem told her about, where Sahovan Wizards let loose their experimental monstrosities. The little girl shuddered, in normal circumstances, she wouldn't be intimidated by the slightest with venturing out to a wilderness, being one of the ethereals. But this was Sahova, a place where a seemingly simple graveyard was inhabited by numerous spirits watched over by a master Spiritist who could trounce her in less than a tick. She was also stalked by a little - even more smaller than her - ghost girl with pure white eyes, Mia. Kouri looked to her surroundings just to make sure Mia wasn't there, the Vantha girl was afraid, mainly because of Mia slowly dragging her back to insanity. Mia very much acted like Kouri's insane side, if not even more detached, and it didn't bode well with her mental health. Sighing in relief, the ghost girl decided to float forward. Her curiosity driving her, in the back of her mind, she was regretting this. But at least, Mia wouldn't chase her all the way here... right?

[Celeste Arumen]

c

Run, run, run.

Stop, sniff about. No signs of life to be found.

Run some more. Stop to listen, pointed ears toward the sky, now attuned to Prairie sounds. It was all silence, punctuated with the crackling of the creosote and the brush of the dusty wind. There was a bit of burrowing here and there, from insects and mammals still determined to hide from the sun. But mostly it was a whole lot of nothing.

Until it was a sharp curse in a language she did not quite understand. It sounded annoyed, perhaps with itself, since there was no other. Celeste was drawn to it, though she didn’t want to draw too near. It could be a failbeast, in which case stealth was key. She could kill it quickly and move on with her day. But the curse sounded human in a perverse way; human, but not alive, which did not bode well, considering it did not smell like embalming fluid.

When she approached, in was in her dog model. Celeste looked very much like a dingo, bearing a set of sharply pointed ears and tail, fur brindled in muddy brown. One eye was interrupted by a smudge of brown, a dark blemish on two otherwise, perfectly gold eyes. She blinked at the sight, unable to comprehend the presence of two little girls among the hostile wastes of the Prairie.

”Who goes there?” She asked in common, hackles standing on end. Celeste bared her teeth and growled. ”It’s dangerous. These are Riyana Sterder’s Testing Grounds.”

But it was just too peculiar. A girl with white hair, accompanied by another, smaller companion. She was reminded of herself for a moment – it was easy to forget that Celeste was a little girl, too.
c

[Fubuki Kouri]

OOCMia is controlled by Mirage so I avoid mentioning she's actually there here. The prairie looked harmless enough so far. Kouri was not afraid of a little monster or two as she handled combats and wasn't a stranger to taking lives. Humans, yukmen, and animals fell victims to her blades. Her crimson eyes darted around as no signs of life - or unlife - could be seen so far, she also didn't detect any presence of soulmist other than her own so she felt rather safe. The ghost girl sighed in relief, out here in the bleak, but calm wilderness was better than the beautiful, but horrifying citadel. The memories of those poor tortured and chained souls inside the underground dungeon flashed briefly in her mind, her ethereal lips trembled as Kouri put her right hand to her forehead, shaking her head briskly. She hated how Mia could act so cheerful even when she was torturing innocent souls and she hated even more how the other ghost girl could actually convince Kouri to like it. Some unrestrained part of her mind took pleasure in seeing the agonized screams of pain emitted by those humans. "Eh?" A shuffling sound of footsteps echoed in her ethereal eardrums. The ghost girl looked around and prepared herself if said footsteps' owner was hostile, slight hunched down and four serrated black tendrils spawned form her back, lashing the air ready to cut apart any who tried to hurt her. She waited as the footsteps got closer and she turned her head to find a... dog. "Huh?" The ghost girl tilted her head as she examined the four-legged animal. It sure looked - and acted - like a dog, a brown dog. Kouri didn't know which breed it was, but she assumed it was indeed some kind of dog. What happened next made her reeled back in surprise, her tendrils lashing the air. The dog spoke! It couldn't be mistaken, there was no one her other than them both and the voice was coming from the dog. The dog's golden eyes looked worried, perhaps it was only afraid. The ghost girl then remembered she was in Sahova, land of magical wonders and abominations, she had met an undead spiritist who trounced her in less than a second, a ghost girl who was just - or more - powerful than she was, and stories of malevolent spirits literally sucking hope from the living and soulmist from the dead. A talking dog shouldn't be a surprise. There was actually nothing behind Kouri and it perhaps just a mirage or hallucination induced upon Celeste by the djed-heavy location. Kouri didn't realize the dog was trying to talk to two girls instead of one. "U-uhm..." Fearing to scare the dog further, Kouri retracted her tendrils and tried to reason with it. "L-look, I'm not here to hurt you." The talking canine spoke in Common, Kouri figured she should reply in kind. "I'm Fubuki Kouri Snowsong, buddy. You can call me Kouri." It was a dog, 'buddy' seemed appropriate, at least until she got its name. "Riyana who?" The Vantha tilted her head again, she was not familiar with the name, perhaps Riyana was one of the Wizards in charge of this 'testing grounds'. "Uuuh, I'm sorry, I don't know who Riyana is... may I know your name though? So uuuh... perhaps you can explain to me what kind of place this is?" Look at her, asking a dog for directions. She would be cuddling with an alligator the next morning for all she knew.

[Celeste Arumen]

c

Oh-kay. For a girl with large tendrils spewing out of her back, she was certainly congenial. Celeste blinked, trying to make sense of it all. Was she… A ghost? It was certainly possible. She’d never wandered into the local graveyard to meet any of the local spirits, so it could happen. But why would this girl, undead as she may be, act afraid of the living? Now that didn’t make sense.

Then again, perhaps they were unknown to one another… Did this spirit not know a morpher when she saw one? If she had not met one in life, she couldn’t know one in death. It made sense, but it still struck her as odd. Instead of continuing the interrogation, the dog sat back on her haunches. ”Alright.” She said, eyeing the girl up. ”Fubuki Kouri Snowsong. Are you dead or alive? Because I certainly can’t smell you and I can’t hear your heartbeat.”

It would be typical - just her luck, to be haunted in the middle of the day. Didn’t ghosts wait until the witching hour? Or was that just a story of Kalea? It was odd, having come from Alvadas. If Celeste had ever met a ghost, she never truly saw one. Everything out of the ordinary was just treated as an illusion. If the undead ever came to converse, she just met it with a shrug.

”I am Celeste Arumen, Initiate of the Prairie and Apprentice of Sahova. Tell me Fubuki – are you here to interrupt my training, or are you just passing by?” Gods help her if she was looking for company. Celeste had very recently gotten her period.

This would be quite the experience.
c

[Fubuki Kouri]

Her little persuasion worked, the dog was relaxed and now sitting on its butt. Kouri didn't know if it was because her sing-song Vantha voice or for some other reason that only a talking dog could understand. Still, it was good nonetheless the dog didn't try to attack her, past wolves and bears who tried in the past didn't... exactly go well for them. Currently, Kouri would just dash away if the dog should attack, she didn't want to kill for no reason anymore unless Mia convinced her otherwise with her sweet voice and whispers. The dog had the voice of a female, a young female by the sound of it, so Kouri would regard it as a fellow sentient being from now on. She sure is peculiar, isn't she? Usually... Kelvics can't talk in their animal form. True enough, the Kelvics she met in Syliras such as Ama the white wolf couldn't utter a single discernible word in Common or any other language instead of... whatever language spoken by canines. Not this dog though, she spoke very clearly in common, even surpassing Kouri's fluency in it. "Huh?" For a smart talking dog, she sure was strange. She wasn't sure if Kouri was dead or alive, the ghost girl didn't materialize herself prior to their meeting so she should look rather translucent and with the faint misty white wisps floating near her, her ghostly look was obvious as the danger of a charging tiger. Well, smart as she is, she is still a dog after all. From what she knew, dogs used their senses often and most likely, anything out of the ordinary to their sense brought them confusion. Kouri slowly approached the canine, putting her hands behind her back and smiling gently. If the dog didn't pull away she would kneel before her, materialized herself, and ruffled the dog's head; controlling her touch so it would only feel slightly chilling, not deadly cold. "I'm uh... I'm a Vantha, but I'm also a ghost, buddy. Hehe~" Kouri sheepishly giggled and twirled with one of her hair ribbons. "So yeah, I'm dead, but I'm still alive right now, right? As I know, dead people can't move or talk or do anything else really than being dead." So the dog had a name, good, she wouldn't have to keep calling her 'buddy' anymore, it felt rude as they only knew each other mere chimes ago. "Uhm okay, Celeste!" Her long title sounded odd, what Initiate? What kind of Apprentice? She didn't have a single clue about what Celese was talking about. "Uhm, interrupt you? Oh no, Celeste! I'm here to uh... just hanging out." Her lips curled into an awkward smile, hoping the dog would believe her. "I kinda don't want to be inside the citadel for now, can I uh... come with you instead?" Please say yes! Yes! If Celeste accepted, Kouri would follow her around and ask her questions about the 'initiate' and 'apprentice'.

[Celeste Arumen]

c

The translucent little girl drew closer, causing Celeste to recoil back. She still wasn’t sure whether or not to trust her. And her use of the term ‘buddy’ was becoming slightly grating. For a Vantha, she certainly had a colorful vocabulary. Then again, who knew how long the girl had been dead? Or if she’d even died on the Island in the first place? These little curiosities were what finally compelled her to reply.

After staring at her with a steady gaze, she sighed. ”Alright, Snowsong. You can follow me, if you like.” She was a ghost, after all. What could she possibly do? Celeste had heard stories before about the undead sneaking in and eating little kids in their sleep, but those were all just wives’ tales. They were little fables to make sure children listened to their parents and didn’t stay up too late.

”Come on now,” she said softly, continuing to walk where she’d been headed in the first place.

”So,” she then began, trying to keep alert while walking. ”You aren’t from around here, are you? The Island, I mean. We don’t see many Vantha and for that matter, any ghosts at all.” The realization struck her. ”You didn’t run into Mistress Wanda, did you?” The enigmatic crypt keeper of Sahova was something she’d only recently even heard of. From the little Celeste did understand of how things worked, it was Wanda’s job to keep the ravening spirits in check.

”Also, who’s your friend?” She gestured to the innocent, incorporeal face of Mia. There was something not quite right about the spirit’s little companion.

After a bit of walking, she finally slowed to a halt, allowing her grip on the form to loosen up. Sluggishly, her djed crept back into place and where there was once a dog, suddenly stood a girl.

Celeste was in sort of an awkward phase for a young girl, though it wasn’t entirely unflattering. Her arms and legs and breasts were all growing full and round, traits indicative of womanhood, though she was clearly transitioning from one stage of life to the next. She didn’t seem very happy about it, either, arms reflexively folding across her chest. What was most interesting however, was her bright red hair, an addition in the spirit of the Fall and an homage to Riyana.

”There,” she said, as if relieved. It was hard work to stay morphed for that long; before Fubuki came along, Celeste had been running patrols for hours.
c

[Fubuki Kouri]

Kouri was visibly disappointed when the female talking dog reeled back. The ghost girl made sure to control the degree of her materialized touch so it shouldn't be that bad, but maybe the dog still didn't like the chilling sensation. The little girl sighed in disappointment, but the dog's next statement somewhat brightened her mood. "Un! Okay! I'll follow you!" Nodding twice in rapid succession, Kouri grinned wide and floated slightly behind Celeste. If Celeste was in Avanthal, calling her 'Snowsong' would result in multiple people looking at her due to the Vantha's policy of last names. " The walk through the supposedly dangerous Prairie becamse cheerful and bright as Kouri found a new companion. Celeste acted more mature than she was, but not as cold as Wanda, it fitted perfectly with Kouri's ideal image of an older sister. Having a dog as an older sister, that would be strange and fun. As they walked, Celeste started asking her questions, it was only natural for dogs to be curious. "Yea, Celeste. I'm from Avanthal. Do you know of it? It's the northernmost city of Mizahar! Located in the very north of the Taldera region! It's home of the Vanthas, Children of the Winter Goddess-Queen Morwen! Our eyes are the representation of the Aurora shining above our city!" She went on and on about Avanthal and the Vanthas. Speaking about her origin always got her excited. "Eh? I think there are many ghosts here like in the... Courtyard." Kouri's cheerful tone visibly dimmed down at the mention of Wanda's lair. Rena, her adoptive ghostly little sister, was dusted by Wanda there; keeping Kouri's little sister as hostage to assure her obedience. "I... I... uh, uhm..." Celeste's spot-on question brought stutters to the ghost girl, her previously bright mood was all but gone. She really didn't want to remember Wanda right now. "I uhm...I did." Kouri supposed she should just be honest, it was no use hiding it. "She punished me because I was a bad girl... she even dus- ah, n-nevermind." She didn't need to tell Celeste about Rena so Kouri stopped herself. "My friend?" Kouri's face began showing a tint of panic instead of confusion. In a place like Sahova, strange happenings were very common and Celeste might notice someone or something was stalking them. Kouri looked to where Celeste was gesturing and... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" She screamed with all her might as the faint face of the insane ghost girl, Mia, looked to be floating on the air. Kouri panicked and her survival instincts kicked in, a black serrated tendril with its tip in the shape of a cobra's head launched from her back, going over her shoulder and charged to the floating face. The powerful ethereal appendage pierced through the mirage and the face disappeared. "Ha... ha..." Gasping for unneeded breath, she retraced her tendril and looked back to Celeste. She needed to explain something for her outburst. "I-it's okay! I was just surprised! T-there was nothing there! I-it was just... I don't know! But it's not real!" She used an excuse of being shocked, but the true reason was that she was terrified at the notion of Mia actually stalking her. If that mirage was truly the insane girl, Kouri didn't know on what to do. Harming Mia might result in Wanda punishing her by scattering Rena's dust to the wind. "Ha... phew, oh, you switched back?" Kouri was not surprised when the dog switched to her human form. She was definitely a Kelvic, only special in that Celeste could talk in her animal form as well. Kelvics always ended up naked after transforming, logical since their clothes didn't transform with them. Good thing Celeste was a girl for if she was a boy, the ghost girl would find herself blushing and embarrassed. "You're the only Kelvic I met who can talk in their animal form, how did you do that?" Kouri squinted her eyes in jealousy as she examined the older girl's form. She had the body of a very young woman, not a girl anymore. Celeste's human form had flowing red hair and deep amber-colored eyes. Her light skin-tone was healthy unlike Kouri's unnatural powder-white. Celeste's gesture at covering her chest brought annoyance to the ghost girl. Kouri died just a few seasons from her puberty, being a ghost stopped her growth and she was forever stuck in the body of a twelve years old just about to begin her secondary sexual traits. She growled at the pretty girl, wanting to possess her and use her skin as her own, but Kouri gritted her teeth and held it back; the girl did nothing wrong. It was not her fault to be growing like any other healthy girls. "...so, Celeste," Kouri sat down beside the girl, her form floating just a few inches from actually touching the ground. "Tell me about the Initiates and Apprentices, what are those? Some kind of students to the Wizards? And, what is this place? I mean, what is it exactly? I heard it's filled with strange monsters, what kind of monsters?" She distracted herself from thinking about growth by asking questions relevant to Sahova, since Celeste seemed experienced, maybe she could tell her more.

[Celeste Arumen]

c

Fubuki prattled on about Taldera, Avanthal, Morwen and her people the Vantha, but Celeste wasn’t bothered in the least. In fact, she was smiling all the while. Talk of the outside world lifted her spirits. It gave her something else to think about, other than undead Wizards and their sour attitudes. This girl was quickly growing on Celeste. But she seemed unnerved at the mention of Mistress Wanda and at the mention of her “friend” things became that much stranger.

Celeste simply froze in shock. Fubuki saw the disembodied head and screamed bloody murder. Utterly out of her element, she watched as the ghost shot out a serpentine tendril in self-defense, suddenly dissipating the illusion. She blinked once, twice, and then fought as hard as she could to bite back the laughter. Sivah’s smallclothes! This ghost was being haunted by a ghost.

It required everything she had not to let out a guffaw. Her abdomen convulsed with restrained hysteria. Gods, she’d never heard of anything funnier in her life. But she didn’t want to offend this ghost, especially since she had to the power to spew out ethereal tendrils that did Ionu only knew what. So instead she nodded in sympathy. It looked like she was choking.

”Kelvic?” She said softly, amusement fading. ”What’s that?” She’d sort of heard of it. Did this girl think she was a shapechanger? ”I’m not Kelvic,” she continued. ”I’m a just a mage. There is a magic called morphing that allows me to shift my djed in whatever way I please. I’m pretty good at it, too.” She gave the girl opposite her a wink.

”I can explain everything you need to know,” she replied. ”These are the Testing Grounds. The Wizards sometimes bite off more than they can chew, so they release the creatures out here for us to kill. Each part of the Grounds is assigned a Warden. This is the Prairie for example and the Warden is Riyanna Sterder – my Master. An initiate is someone who works under the Wardens to kill the beasies – that’s me. But I’m an apprentice, too. Initiates are generally rejects for the island. They’re humans that the Nuit don’t want. But I’m set to also become a Wizard, where I can do extraordinary things.”

She beamed. It was clear Celeste was proud and further, happy to finally be able to talk to somebody.
c

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Eh, you're... not?" Now this was interesting, Celeste denied she was a Kelvic then what was she? There was the Dhanis, but from what she heard, they were snake-people and logically could only change into... well, snakes. Kouri had no knowledge about other races who could shapechange into a wolf. At the young woman's mention of 'mage' then everything made sense. "Ah so, magic? I see." In the ghost's mind, magic was like a skeleton key, able to unlock doors to the impossible and tore upon the very fabric of reality. If people could create fireballs, shoot lightnings, and turn stone into lava; shape-shifting by magic was very feasible. "Morphing, huh? Oh! Can you turn into a snake?" By Celeste's statement, she basically said she could turn into anything she wanted. The ghost girl liked the serpentine creatures, they manifested in some of her ghostly traits such as her eyes turning reptilian when angered and the shape of her tendrils. Kouri wasn't aware of personal magics' risks such as overgiving, she saw it as one big fun toy which she couldn't learn. "If you can! Can you show me? Pleaaaase~" She made a puppy dog-eyed expression at Celeste with her large eyes. Kouri listened intently to Celeste's explanations, she must do so if she wanted to survive this magical island. "Uhm, so this place has lots of monsters and you must kill them? Sounds..." Kouri sounded serious for a while then suddenly beamed Celeste a very bright smile "Fun! Can I participate?" Yes, in her mind, killing monsters like Yukmen was also a big game. "Okay! Can I meet Madame Riyanna? She sounds wonderful! Ehehe~" A person with an apprentice as lovely as Celeste, she just had to meet her in person. "You can kil- uhm... sorry, I mean, how do you do it?" Celeste didn't look strong or combat-capable as far as she could see, but then the ghost girl remembered she was also a little girl with a very deceiving appearance compared to the ethereal powers she wield. "Ah so Initiates are puny people? Oh! I hope you become a Wizard soon! Like Master Vick!" Their little talk was suddenly interrupted as Kouri felt the presence of a foreign soulmist. Mia?! She turned around to find... nothing, though her eyes could see but the aura was undeniable. "S-something's here..." She warned Celeste, was this one of those monsters? Or was it one of those malevolent spirits Wanda warned about? "M-mia! If you are there! Please show yourse- GAHAK!!!" Her sentence was cut short as she felt her chest being pierced by a high-speed sharp projectile. How? Kouri was sure she didn't materialize herself. She clutched her chest and whimpered in pain. Then a creature straight out of a horror story slithered to the duo. It was a large scorpion, as big as a brown bear, with its long tail in the form of a spitting cobra, white mists surrounding it. It was soulmist and the thing that pierced Kouri was from the snake-tail. "W-what is... THAT?!!" Even through her pain, Kouri couldn't keep her shock. That thing could attack her unmaterialized body, this was not good. "C-celeste! R-run!" She was afraid for the girl's safety, she must defeat this thing but her body was wrecking with pain, she needed some time to recover herself. The snake-tailed scorpion was hungry for soulmist and the ghost girl was like a walking banquet, her powerful presence attracted it like shark to blood. The snake-tail hissed again, preparing to launch another projectile to weaken the ghost. OOCI talked to Mirage about spawning random creatures on the Prairie and he said it's fine!

[Celeste Arumen]

c

Talking to Kouri was much like having a younger sister. Her pleas left Celeste chuckling; what good would it do her to see a snake, anyway? And Celeste had no practice with reptiles, none whatsoever. But being able to morph wasn’t the only trick up her sleeve. With a grin, she accessed the mark of Ionu hidden just behind her left ear. It suddenly came alive, afire with secret delight as she changed her look to that of a giant snake sitting back on its tail, much like a Dhani would.

”Puny?” She laughed. ”Hardly. There is only one Warden per area of the Grounds and each of them have their own initiates. I could be just as strong as my Master, but I’d only be able to take her place if she died. It is a lot different than say, being an apprentice. Apprentices get promoted on the basis of merit. But I haven’t been here very long.” Still, she smiled brightly. Kouri had a bizarrely infectious enthusiasm.

”What?” She glanced around, unseeing. It was only as the tiny dart shot through her chest that Celeste spotted the skittering scorpion creature. It looked like an alchemical nightmare; it had a cobra for a tail and yet a bug for a body. The whole creature looked strangely hungry, wreathed in a strange mist she’d never even seen. Worst of all, it looked like it wanted Kouri. It paid Celeste little to no mind.

She dispelled the illusion at once. ”I’m not going anywhere,” she cried sharply. Almost instantly, she put her fingers to her lips to sound the call, in the hopes of summoning the other Prairie initiates. Meanwhile she rapidly began to shift, feeling the pressure to save her new friend.

”Hang in there,” she cried, glancing inward. She quickly ripped one hemisphere of djed from the next, seizing the bundle that manifested her physical appearance and shaping it into her larger dog form. Her bones cracked fiercely as she shuddered to the ground, two legs becoming four, knees bending inward with a sickening crunch. The swift transformation hurt, but she didn’t care; she had to save Kouri.

Celeste flanked to one side, trying to see if the beast would follow her. If it were to act distracted, she might use an illusion on the ground to draw off its attention.
c