Dedicated to all that are stuck in this worldshift mess!
"Believe me, this wasn't our idea." ---Northstar of Midgardsormr, QCDN board
"You're not alone. Say it one more time, you're not alone..." - From "You're Not Alone" by Micheal McLean
The whole thing had started in Whitegate. Elizara had only been running there to meet Gencay, since his last piece of thief AF was in Castle Zhval. No smart person wanted to mess with a coffer there, since the demons would see you open it, but this time if was necessary. Elizara had offered to help by getting her black mage on and sleepga'ing the demons so he could pick in peace; the plan was if the darn chest was trapped and threw a mimic, they'd escape out fast before that thing killed both of them. If he got it, they were going to escape out anyway since if they didn't the demons would eat Elizara's face once they woke up.
Just as Elizara started to go to the mog house, she saw an Adventurer's Board crier come into the main part of the square. What the?, she thought. Adventurer's Board is making a announcement? What is it this time?
"Hear ye hear ye!" the crier shouted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads. "Some wonderful things are going to happen to Vana'Diel! You will all be able to finally become much stronger if you wish, and new areas are coming!" There were a lot of cheers at that, and some boos since this was unexpected.
Elizara goggled at that. He went on, saying that it was almost time to finally find out why the maws were around, and some other things. Then came the bad news that hit Elizara to the back of the head as if she'd been hit with a board...
"There will be a lot more adventurers soon, but there is a heavy price. All your linkshells will be broken unless you are the shellholder, and then it will be changed to what it was in the beginning. Some of you will have to be reborn with different names...You won't have to start over, thank Altana though! The ones that you will be coming to will be able to keep their names and linkshells, however. Also everything on the AHs will be destroyed to make room for their stuff, and if you have parcels, make sure you get them before it happens. I'm sorry, but there is no other way." He gave a date when this would happen, and said the rest would happen at a later time.
"What?" Elizara said. There were a lot of mutters as the crier left. Elizara was upset, scared, and unhappy. Who am I going to lose? That's almost too steep a price to pay, though there's been a lot of adventurers retiring, then disappearing, lately...She stuffed her feelings down deep inside for the moment. Gencay was waiting. She headed to the mog house, touching her friend pearl on the way. Waitaminute, did Nayami hear that?, she thought.
She whispered into her friend pearl. "Nayami, did you hear that?"
"Yeah. I don't think I can do it..I don't have as much time anymore, so I think it's time to hang up my hat. Renard agrees with me and is going to too." Oh nooooo! Not more friends retiring!, Elizara thought. She stuffed it down as best she could, since she didn't want to cry right now. "I'm going to miss you horribly.." She ran into the mog house to get changed, then something occurred to her. "Nay, I'm gonna be getting blm on..could you tele me to Xarc? I'm meeting a friend to help him get his thief shirt."
"Sure! I just told ArmyOfEwoks, they're going to have a retirement party for me and Ren, so we'll need to get back.."
Even though she didn't feel like it, Elizara smiled a little. "That won't be a problem..I guess you're relying on scholar instincts again?"
"Yep." She could almost hear Nayami smile.
"Well, I'll Warp 2 you and Renard home. Don't worry."
It didn't take Elizara long to talk to her moogle and get changed. She then met up with Renard and Nayami. Nayami cast the Teleport-Vahzl spell for her friend. Then Elizara waved to Gencay and sent both Renard and Nayami home so they could meet with that shell. Gencay was excited about the changes, which was infectious. Still, she thought, why do we have to pay such a heavy price to have more adventurers again? It's not fair! This just can't be happening!!!
Unfortunately, Gen got a mimic, so they had to escape. Then Gen had dynamis, so Elizara camped out in the snow, taking a nap with a lot of blankets just inside the castle. (There was only a friendly goblin there that didn't attack adventurers since he ran a shop, so she knew she was safe.) After he finished dyn, it took 2 more attempts for him to get the thief shirt (the second coffer she gave Gen a cream puff, since 'Neko had told her once that the same sort of gear that can help a black mage could help a thief pick chests. She knew cream puffs did the same thing, so it might help. She seemed to be right, but it was hard to tell from just one coffer)
Later that day, she saw Okamura standing by the Jeuno AH. He told her he'd heard the people they would be joining with were horrible, so he'd go elsewhere if it turned out bad. That made her heart drop down to her boots. Oka..No! No no no!
...The next few weeks were a blur. She did some avatar runs, her limbus shell decided to go on after the merge, she found out several of her friends were losing their names, including her dynamis lead, as well as a poor taru blm in her dyn shell. Fait in her social was also losing his name. A faraway friend managed to talk the adventurer's board into locking down Elizara's name so at least that wouldn't change. Mirrsie, a red haired pigtailed taru, finally managed to come out of retirement; Elizara'd gotten letters from her saying she was going to. Mirrsie was pissed about the changes but was going to continue on. Elizara found out that most of ShikigamiWeapon wasn't around,but Slayerindian was planning on remaking the shell once the changes occurred.
The night before it happened, Elizara had a long day, so she headed home for Windhurst to go to bed. Say it ain't so, I hope not.,she thought as she went to bed.
When she woke that morning, she reached for her CurseTheYagudo pearl. It was broken..the crier hadn't been lying. Things also felt a little off, like she wasn't where she had been.
In a fury, she checked all her storage and dragged out every linkpearl she had with one hand, clutching her CurseTheYagudo pearl in one hand. She looked at the poor sorry cracked CTY linksack she was holding, and remembered, starting to cry...
She was a scared cat back then..not very strong, just starting out. Everyone on MithraPride was busy, but she tried to make her way back to Windy after she'd been trioing with some folk. Just as she got near the river, a tall black haired female elvaan monk came up. "Need some help getting home?" It was Linmayu...
...Lin later sent her mom to give Elizara that pearl..The mom had said, "Make sure Linmayu stays out of trouble..." Elizara was later to find out that would never happen...not until Linmayu retired...
...later, a red haired thief called Sivara helped get Elizara some grass that she needed to get a chocobo license with. Elizara'd stupidly rested by a worm in the swamp, but had managed to kill it...The bunnies didn't want to give up the grass at first, but Siv got them to do it..Siv later turned out to like the way of the warrior better, so that's what she became...as well as a beastmaster...
...she'd met Drexel while fishing one day; it was a very much crying shame he'd mostly retired...he was a lot of fun...that old red mage...
...Mirrsie, that little red haired pigtailed taru, helped Elizara farm seeds at times with a friend...
...Zaalus, when the time came to help her get her AF, had soloed the key dropping mobs with his Beastmaster, and even helped her find the coffers...he also had helped her on his ninja get her a pentient's rope, along with Zoofster...
..Zoofster had helped Elizara calm down after she saw a red mage convert the first time, as she'd come screaming to him after she had ended training that day because she didn't know what to do...other than cure-bomb, which under most circumstances wasn't the right thing to do...
...Zoofster's girlfriend, Kahri, had made her a signed Traveler's Tunic to level summoner with, as well as a signed blink band that helped Shadowneko beat Maat...shame she retired...
...Nimbex had come to raise her one day when the paladin in her static had stupidly used Circle Blade in the Booyah tree..that pointy headed taru had scolded her but she deserved that for forgetting reraise...he'd also made her a signed aqua ring when she'd realized she needed one...
...she'd also helped Sivara get Utsu:Ni from burning circle fights along with a dragoon, she'd also been able to help a kitty who was practically her twin, Treasa, get it for her whm, though she was mostly a paladin...someone from MithraPride had ended up getting Elizara erase though she helped anyway, since she was a cat of her word... and she'd promised...
...she'd farmed with Fait on his dark knight once, since he needed scythe skill anyway, it was very much underleveled...nice little taru...she wondered what his name was now...
...she'd trained with Demandred and Klaital and had a good time doing it on summoner, once the adventurer's board found a way that a much stronger player could play with a weaker player...they had done prime avatars together as well..Klaital had helped her farm royal jelly as well so she could work on cooking, since the last bit to become a master was very much a pain...and she'd duoed bombs with Demandred to help him learn how to bomb-fu on summoner, which was becoming a lost art..
...she'd been able to help Morlock get tele crystals, and Shadowneko had written her to tell her he'd helped Morlock get his chocobo grass...he'd became a hell of a samurai...she'd even duoed with him as summoner and puppetmaster, though that didn't go as well as one would of hoped that day...
...she'd teamed up with Cydori's static and some people from FantasyInsanity to get sky...that was a lot of fun..Chaylinn, even though she was a wierdo who relied on red mage instincts on monk, had smashed that pot that they'd had to smash, in the end...Chay was also Mirrsie's adopted daughter...Elizara didn't mind she was offbeat, tho she knew some would care...and Cydori! Always getting lost, Elizara always thought she might even get lost in her mog house sometimes, but she loved her anyway...
...she'd helped Phht break his latent for Asuran Fists..shame he finally retired permanently when he heard of the changes...
...she'd been able to help Karlinn out some too, and he'd been able to help her back..she even prolly helped him squeak the win on Maat by making him some cream puffs...
...Scion had scared half the shell one day when he came in breathing fire about some stupid idiot that had aggroed the death house in dynamis windy...Chay had kept begging to know where the darn thing was...Elizara had privately found out exactly from someone else who was also in Deathwishes...Later, Scion had helped Elizara get her blessed mitts since there was some price jacker and she was sick of asking 'Neko to help her farm 'bues...He'd also introed her to Okamura when they had done some Assault...That fun old hume monk-key...who also could be a pirate...who helped her help a guy who wanted to make a mannequin to bring back his dead wife from the dead, tho that didn't work out...
...Madalynn always called herself a failure of a white mage, but Elizara didn't think so...she was also one of the twice born, which was rough on anyone...Elizara had helped her get {sea} the second time around...she'd gotten bard up first the second time, then white mage...
...Requin, who she remembered as Cybersharkx from her first life...she remembered the time that she'd been watching Dark Ixion with him and Hawkeeye and had gotten her tail kicked though her front since she couldn't resist raising people who died while she was getting the exact time of demise for Discordian, the head of Virtus, so he could watch for it later since him and his shell were busy...Beanie ended up rescuing her and Requin...She'd seen him from newbie adventurer and he had turned into a hell of a paladin...that old sharky...
She kicked the bed hard and then tossed the pearlsack in the trash can. It tinkled. Her moogle turned, and said quietly, "What's wrong mistress?!" Elizara ignored the moogle. She then picked up her broken Disenchanted pearl...
She'd found that static by accident. Very much accident. She'd only been looking for people to train with, and they'd invited her. Xornaar, who was a galka and thief, had given her that pearl...It'd been a hell of a introduction, since they'd gone to the wrong camp the first time...
...that darn rdm, who'd had a bad habit of wearing a subligar...silly Martigan...Even though he liked to eyeblind, he did cure her of being scared of convert...
... the pld, Soteria, who eventually had taken Blue Mage to the limit before he finished off paladin...She had almost cried when he retired paladin for a while...since she knew he was a good paladin, and good paladins were hard to find...
... Bigpapasmurf, the blm - for some reason everyone always called him "Papadoo"...she eventually got a blm called Cristoir to give him some advice to beat Maat...
Lorelei, who was the samurai..she was pretty darned good and a fun person to be around...
... they had tended to go to offbeat camps, even Newtown Movalopos. Not to mention they had a runin with Wyervenpoacher Draconox when she had to call for help on CTY since no one wanted to fight it for its bow...it was a shame when they'd disbanded soon as someone decided to open up the Empire...
... later she met Ezhno, who had also been in that shell, though he also was in a endgame shell called Calamity... crazy bard, before it was changed so that bards couldn't do it, he'd tank a lot of stuff on bard...he had lost the endgame shell in a way, when it later went to straight limbo..Sweetie bard, had helped her out on multiple occasions...though she'd hated it when Calamity had clashed with whoever she was doing dynamis with.. though they had turned into a limbus shell in the end only...
She shook as she pitched that pearl in the garbage can. She went over and kicked her workbench. The cricket cage jumped and the crickets gave out a very unmusical chirp, not to mention her pots and the fishbowls jumped and landed back on the bench with a loud bang. The moogle looked at her with a very shocked look; it had never seen her like this.
Picking up her Howitzer pearl, she thought: I hope Northstar's ok. Wonder what her name is now? She'll always be Northy to me. Though I hope the new people out there won't have conflicts with us, or my old dyn shell, Delevel...Ay, it could be bad. It could be good. I just hope since there's two different groups of people now, we can get along without fights and work out some common ground. I know what can happen when it doesn't quite work, sadly...and I made a lot of good friends there...aww Nayami...
And ay yi yi, I hope Nif and Beanie are ok. They lost their names, but I hope they're ok.
She pitched the broken pearl in the garbage, then knocked her butterfly cage over. Some of the butterflies flew out.. The moogle stared at her, like it wanted to say something, but didn't. She then picked up the omnipresence pearl...
Torideal, who had retired, had given her that one...they'd done salvage for a while even though she really needed to do Nyzul Isle; she'd wanted to do it at least once. They'd had a good time, tho the group sorta fell apart when Tori finally decided to retire. Elizara missed that beardie hume...and Akujunkan's taru friend...she hoped Aku was ok, Elizara hadn't seen her around much in a while...
She pitched that broken pearl in the garbage, then kicked her armorie. The milk crate sitting on the top rattled and almost fell. Her moogle puffed out its cheeks at her, starting to get annoyed. She then picked up her OmegaJenova sack, and remembered;
A galka who had once been a guy called Streetsoldier had gotten her into that shell after her old limbus shell had folded. It had gone through two breaks while she'd been around, but they were all a good group of people. Since she'd ended up one of the sacks, that last run she'd asked everyone to make sure they had either her, Poofykitty, Kurami, Killtype, Elizara, or Mishio on their friend pearls since she had found out that this was happening and it was a way they could find each other after, since friend pearls were not going to be affected. Hopefully when they gathered for limbus again, everyone made it though safely. It was gonna be hell to remake it for a third time, but hopefully that would be the last time. Also the remakes weren't due to drama or anything, it was just a changeover of leads. Nothing more. Poofykitty was shellholder now, or was...
She'd finally been able to get a piece of gear that had eluded her from there for a very long time...
She kicked her star globe; the moogle was really glaring at her now. She then took out her WeSayHurray pearl...
She'd gotten that pearl when she feared for her main social at one point, and to keep in touch with Miyasha and Cealia, who had both left CTY for their own reasons, which she didn't hold against either. She hadn't used it much...
She tossed the pearl in the garbage, and then kicked the workbench again. One of the pots fell off the back this time, but it didn't break.
She then picked up the broken ShikigamiWeapon sack...
Elizara blamed Okamura for what had happened. He'd gotten her into that shell, and she'd finally been able to
get help for a friend who had been having a horrible time hunting that nm by telling Twoofy on Izzitda. Twoofy
trusted her and eventually made her a sack, though he knew full well that her heart was in CurseTheYagudo,
shell wise. Twoofy helped her get Fenrir, and she'd also met a tall elvaan summoner who eventually was reborn
into a taru called Gelderelk..
There'd been hard times in that shell. It got broke and remade by Twoofy several times. Finally someone else took over shell lead and it didn't get broken again. Now it wasn't green, like it used to be. The new shellholder had tried to make it the blue of relic armor, but he'd missed a little bit. She didn't know what had happened to the newer shellholder, near the end, he'd sorta vanished...
She kicked her bookshelves. Some books fell off. It seemed though the moogle had finally had enough, for it said, "Kupo, kupo, stop this! You're making a horrible mess!"
Elizara ran over to the bed, gripping her very shattered MithraPride pearl. "No, you!" she shrieked, and chucked half the pearl at the moogle. The moogle cried "KUPO!" and ducked and then rolled up into a scared ball on the floor. (It missed the moogle and then barely missed her freshwater fish tank.) She then grabbed her muse tariquah and chucked it at the mannequin, crying her eyes out.
Just then there was a shy tap at the door. A familiar voice cried out, "Elizara? What's with all the freaking racket?"
"Mir-risse?"
"Yeah, it's me. What's all the fuss about?"
"Guess we're here, I'm chucking broken linkpearls, but all the memories..."
"Aww. I knowwww. You did knock some of my paintings off the wall though, not to mention you were making a racket fit to wake the dead. Can I come in?"
"Okay, but I'm not really in a mood for company..."
The door opened and Mirrsie walked in. She was a ninja at the moment; she'd always been either a thief or a ninja. She wasn't as strong as Elizara but she had been gone a while. She made a beeline for Elizara, who sat down so Mirrsie could reach. They snuggled a while, both crying because of what they had lost.
Just then, there was a familiar, yet sad cry from down the hall. "Umm.. whoever is making that huge racket please tone it down.. I'm trying to sleep off my worries." A door shut, almost reluctantly. Elizara could almost imagine that poor mithra's ears drooping, even though she wasn't looking that direction.
Elizara sniffled. "That was Northy...don't know what her name is now but at least she's ok...guess I really did make too much noise.."
Mirrsie sniffled and wiped one eye with one hand. "Prolly did, and I can see why." The moogle uncurled itself cautiously with a soft "Kupo? Kupo!" It took a butterfly net out of nowhere and caught the butterflies, then flew over to where the half-a-pearl had landed. It picked it up, then cautiously came over by Elizara.
"Um...don't need to leave this on the floor, mistress. You're not going to throw it at me again, kupo?"
Elizara shook her head. "Sorry about that moogle. I... lost control, but you're not the first one I've pitched something at when I was like this. Last time I was like this, 'Neko...left...Mom said something similar to what you said, and I threw my stuffed chocobo at her.."
Mirrsie looked up. "You tossed that at your moogle?!" Elizara nodded sadly. "Thought I heard a moogle scream-" She looked at the broken pearl.
"MithraPr..I can't make the rest out. Which is this, I didn't know-"
"Oh Mirrsie..." Elizara sighed. "That's part of my old MithraPride pearl, it was smashed already when this happened... was my first linkshell..."
"Why did you keep an old busted pearl like that, anyway? You couldn't use it-"
Elizara sighed. It didn't hurt to tell the story, and Mirrsie already knew what had happened to her. "Basically that's my third MP pearl, to be honest. First one was from the paws of a cat called Tigara; she was a ninja... We trained a lot in the maze, she got the new off me back then as white mage since I'd never done parties before. We were new, we didn't know much about things--I think she even had to blow up once... because things there just got too crazy--We even got a token hume at the end, Tig was so mad and wanted to know who pearled that guy..." She sighed again. "Well, then we all got reborn, and that's how we met, Mirr, well, eventually."
Mirrsie nodded and petted Elizara's shoulder. Elizara went on, "I don't know if anyone knew, but I had some fun times there before I kind of drifted away..The shell got remade once as well." Cheering up a little, she smiled, remembering, then said; "I remember one time before I really found CTY when me and Pyrexia on ranger went down to the maze to train. I don't know how we managed it, but me and Pyr managed to aggro a ghoul--"
"Oh dear. I can guess..."
"Yep. Splat. I managed to cry on the shell for help; Golddess said she was coming. Ya know how you can sorta see things when you're munching dirt?"
Mirrsie nodded. "Well, I kinda whispered to Pyr 'Hey, I hope I don't see naked mithra'...guess how Goldy showed up?"
"Yep. She raised Pyr, then the ghoul agged and killed her again. Goldy muttered something about wishing she'd remembered her hammer, punched it a few times, then turned tail and ran away."
Mirrsie started to laugh, since she could see the mental image of a naked mithra running away from a ghoul. Elizara smiled. "It had a happy ending though. Another whm came by with a holy breastplate on once Goldy got away. She killed the ghoul, then Golddess came back. Goldy raised me, the other whm got Pyrexia."
Mirrsie smiled and nodded. Just then there was a timid knock at the door. "Um..Elizara?"
"Who's there?"
There was a laugh. "I forgot; we'd just been pen pals before. It's Kaehlan. What was all that noise about?"
Oh my...This isn't a joke, I know it isn't... She ran up and opened the door. A mithra stood there with spikey red hair. She was on Red Mage, pimp hat and all. She looked around.
"Yikes! What were you doing?"
Elizara toed the floor. "My emotions got ahead of my head when I found all my pearls smashed, and I kinda lost control..."
Just then, a bearded hume monk walked up. "Jeez loise, you'd think someone's getting murdered over here!" Wait, I think I know which pen pal that is... "Quorinth? That you?"
"The one and only! Hey there!" He looked in. "Man, what hit your room?"
Kaehlan turned to Quorinth. "I thought you were in Bastok the other day.."
He looked sheepish. "Yeah, that's my home, but a friend of mine wanted help with a dragon over here late last night, so I just got a rent-a-room and crashed..."
Elizara winked. "That happens, I know I've done the same for the one over by Bastok a few times." She looked at the room and sighed. "That's what happens when I'm really upset and mad; I think I almost overdid it this time though..."
The moogle turned toward her. "Next time, try not to pitch something at me, ok kupo?"
Quorinth shook his head. "No wonder there was so much racket!" He gave Elizara a pat on the shoulder. "You ok now?"
Elizara nodded. "Still upset that I lost all my pearls, some of which I'll not be able to replace since I don't know the shellholders's names anymore. But... I guess I'm not alone."
Kaehlan slapped her on the back. "Course not. It's a hell of a wakeup call though, but welcome!"
Mirrsie giggled. "Hey, Elizara. I know the moogle got those butterflies, but why don't we clean this up? Can't make up for the noise but if Nimbex comes looking for you once he remakes CurseTheYagudo..."
Elizara smiled at her friends; they smiled back. "I think he's dead tired and on the other side of the mog house compound, so I don't think he heard that racket, but I'd rather not have that pointy headed taru to see this mess."
They worked together to clean it up. Elizara even boosted Mirrsie onto her shoulders to push the milk crate more firmly back on the armorie, as well as picked up her muse tarquah and put it on. Her and Quorinth were finishing up picking up the books on the floor when Elizara perked her ears from within her turban. She saw Kaehlan perking her ears as well.
"Who's crying?"
"Northy?! She didn't get back to sleep?"
Quorinth then asked, "What crying?"
Mithra hearing versus hume hearing again!, Elizara thought. "Oh there is, guess it's just mithra ears can catch it right now since it's really quiet. Try cupping one hand around one of your ears, ya might catch it."
He looked at her like she was weird. However, he did it anyway, and then his eyes widened. "Oh! That's...a friend of yours?"
"Yeah, but she's also my dynamis leader..Wait."
"Hm?" all three of her friends said.
"Shouldn't take much longer to finish this, we're almost done." She checked her friend pearl, which she hadn't done earlier since she was too upset to think about it. "I think she's alone at the moment, or thinks she is. 'Resh's still in bed. And just so you know, her name got changed..It's Kimina now...She used to be Northstar..."
Quornith looked startled; Kaehlan covered her mouth with one hand, and Mirrise's eyes widened. She said, "That's even worse! So cruel..."
Elizara nodded. "We both were lucky it didn't happen to us, Mirr. Our world fell apart, basically and now we're with you guys." She nodded at Quorinth and Kaehlan. They nodded back. "Anyway, I got a idea. I'll go find the broom and sweep up, then let's see if I can coax her out of her room."
Kaehlan then said, "I could do it.."
Elizara shook her head. "No, don't try. She wouldn't know you from Semih Lafihna, she'd prolly brush you off. I've at least got half a chance. We've been comrades, the leader and one of the whms in the shell. We never talked much, though she did see my mog house a while back." She shook her head sadly. "It's got to be me. Alone." Elizara shivered a little inside, knowing Northy could be really nice but also had a tough side.(Elizara had seen more of the tough side, so she didn't quite know what to expect.) She went to go find the broom. It didn't take long to sweep up, and she also made sure to hug her moogle as way of apology for scaring it.
She then told her friends to stay in her room for a moment while she checked this out.
Quorenth said, "Good luck!"
"Thanks." She walked down the hall, tracking the crying and gathering her courage. If how Lucious and
Gelderelk felt when they were reborn, but without their original names, is any indication, she's all torn up
inside, and they both handled it in their own way. Losing your name does that to a person, in my experience,
because you're losing a part of your identity. I'm glad Nymphadora saved mine, I don't know what I would of done
if I'd lost it. Prolly worse than just wrecking my room...
She had trouble telling which of two rooms the crying was coming from for a moment; then she removed her turban. (it didn't muffle sound..much.. but it did keep her ears from moving around too freely) After that, she found it. She put her turban back on, then drew a deep breath, then rapped on the door.
"Who...who's there?"
"It's Elizara, Northy.."
"That...that's not my name anymore...it's..."
Elizara tapped one booted toe on the floor and mentally crossed her fingers at the same time. "I don't care what the blazes it changed to, though I know what it is. Howitzer rule, remember? You're still Northy to me though."
"But..."
"No buts. I know who ya still are inside, that's what counts to me. You're not the first to lose their name... I have two friends who had worse than this..got totally reborn, but they also lost their names in the process." Elizara knew Northy/Kimina wouldn't have known.
"Who?"
"Gelderelk for one, he used to be Heimdall...I still call him "Heim" as a nickname out of habit. Then there is Lucious. You might recognize his old name from something Scion said...he was Juvian..."
There was a cry of surprise, though Elizara could still tell Northy was upset. She put her hand on the door. "Northy...you're not alone. Never alone. I'm here, and I feel your pain tho my name did not change..."
There were some hesitant footsteps, and then the door slowly opened. There Kimina stood, her ears drooping. (She was ninja at the moment, with her hard won Kikoku by her side.) Elizara reached up and carefully gave her a scritch behind the ears (that earned a sad purr) then gave her a pat on the back. I'd hug her if I knew her better but, rather not go TOO far. Heck, if it was Sivara, I'd hug her, even though she'd prolly not really like it...
Elizara's friends saw that and started coming down that way, to Kimina's surprise since she didn't know Eli had visitors. As Elizara made introductions, she thought: Well, what a way for this to begin. I hope this is a sign of things to come...that even though it may be rough at first, that we'll all work out our differences and get along...