Kristen stared at the people assembling aroung her. Holly shit she  though to herself. What the hell is going on? She stared at Eric  and Nikita. She would reconized ~them~ anywhere. She didn't know  the purple haired girl but she heard her introduce herself. Xella...  wow, this was turning into a family picnic.

She stepped up and gave a small bow. "Hello new arrivals! My name  is Kris-Chan and this is California! The purple smiley's behind me  is Larry, Moe, and Curly."

At the mention of their names they spoke. ".... .... ........ .. ..!"

California blinked at them. "What did they say?" she inquired  politely.

Kristen smiled. "They said 'Hi!'" She grinned widely. She wondered  how she managed to find her way in this bruhaha. That was fine by  her. Her family, on her mother's and father's side, have been  nagging her about needing to go out more. They were afraid she would  either die a virgin or become a lesbian. Gah... her family were  idiots sometimes.

This was sweet. She would get to interact with her friends  characters! How sweet was that? Way sweet! Indeed... Idubidibly.

California was watching Kristen's grin warily. It had more than a  tad of mischief in it. She knew the girl was harmless... but she was  overly eccentric which made her wonder what the girl was hiding, and  she was hiding something. She could practically see it. Her  instincts were ralely wrong.

"Kristen?" California asked casually, "Where are you from?"

"Earth." Kristen answered promptly.

"Where on earth, Kris-Chan?" California asked patiently.

Kristen grinned at her. "Peekskill, New York. You?" she countered  back.

California grinned back at her "I'm just a few hours away from you, I  think."

Kristen walked up to where Xella, Erik, and Nikita were. "If you  don't mind answering, but what planet or place are you from?" She  asked politely. She beamed at them and practically had a halo over  head and angel wings too.

California looked at Kristen amused as she turned chibi again and got  a cute halo with angel wings. Her eyes were big and cute, filled  with polite curiosity. She refrained from giggling. She had a  feeling Kristen didn't realize she went chibi. She was genuinely  being cute. It wansn't an act.

 "I think, then, sir, that I will indeed ask.  May I know the name of the person to whom I am speaking?"

Erik debated a moment. "Erik Devraj," he finaly replied stuffily. "What are you?" he asked tacklessly.

 "If you don't mind answering, but what planet or place are you from?"

Erik almost scowled. "I do mind. Mind your own business," he replied curtly. He didn't like the way the girl was smiling... that almost smug look of someone who knows something but is delighting in not telling.

California sweatdropped and gave a small wave. She gave Erik and  Nikita a mildly curious look, but that's about it. She was paying  attention to when Erik introduced themeselves. She hoped she didn't  have to break up a fight or anything. It was amusing... ~her~  breaking up a fight.

Kristen dimpled. "I like you!" she giggles at Erik. "Nice to meet  ya!" she igored his surliness. She was in a good mood. If he didn't  like her, well... nothing she could do about that. She was who she  was and all she could ever hope or want to be.

Erik scowled, then remembered what form he was in and internaly swore. He breifly debated returning to human form, but decided enough damnage had been done and to save that for a later occasion.

  Xellandria gave an odd look towards California and Kristen.  California wasn't.. as.. aggravatingly happy as the shorter, chibier  of the two, but.. both WERE getting on her nerves. Fast.

After duly noting this fact in her mind, and filing it away, the  question that Erik had asked finally sunk into her conciousness.  "What.. am I? Em..." she shot a look towards Erik, then quickly  over at Callifornia and Kristen, and back to Erik. "Eh... human,  whatever gave you the impression that I wasn't, eh. Heh. Heh."  She forced a laugh, and rubbed the back of her head.

Erik almost smiled. She was a bad lier...

"And, eh,  out of curiosity, whatever brought this on? Ah, nevermind, I have..  human-like things to do, and I really should go do them,  because that's what humans do! And wow, this is some nice  weather, isn't it? It'd be nicer if it was overcast, don't you just  LOVE overcast? I mean, overcast-ness is just the greatest, and  yeah, overcast days with snow on the ground, ooh, that's so  creamy and gootness and..."

He nodded. As his drunken haze was leaving he was more able to pin point observations to what they were. It was a safe bet the girl was of demonic origns. Of what type, he was not sure. It depended it this were her true form or not. Hopefuly she wouldn't turn out typical, but so far she had not been. Most demons wouldn't bother trying to lie, they would have just gone for the physical assult...

He ignored her question. "Xellandria, was it? Do come with me a moment so we may converse in private."  Normaly he didn't care about respecting others privacy, but he was still a bit drunk.....

Xellandria closed her eyes, letting out a breath of relief. Getting  away from the two females was goot. Yes, very goot. Goot was  goot. She nodded, ready to follow him wherever he may have  decided to lead her. "Right-o, Mister Erik. Lead the way."

"Right-o, Mister Erik. Lead the way."

Erik nearly gave a snort of laughter. 'Mister Erik?' he chortled to himself.

He noticed Nikita was clinging to his arm, walking almost as if to blend into Erik's shadow. He put his arm around the boy and sent him comforting thoughts, mostly atesting to his growning sobriety.

"Now," he addressed Xellandria once they had left the two girl's view and he had cast an anti-listening spell around them both. "You are of demonic origin, are you not?" he asked, assuming an air of authority and business.

> "Whatcha readin'? Can I see?" Callista reached for
> one of his comics with her chocolatey caramely vanilla sprinkly
> fingers..

 Nav gave a scream like a housewife who's seen a mouse. "Get-- get-- GET AWAY FROM THE COMICS!" he yelled, clutching the comic to himself. "Damned... happy... girl... THING! HAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWK!"

Hawk (still in the other room,) paid no attention, pouring himself more coffee.

Callista pouted. "I just wanna see.. pleeeeeeaaaaaaasse?" she  asked, putting on her cutest big-shiny-eye face. "I won't hurt  anything."

Nav pointed a trembling finger at her. "You... spawn of cuteness! Begone before I-- I--" Nav's face scrunched up. 'Happy... child... stealing... energy....' "HAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWK!" he yelled again, sounding much like a child himself.

"Stop yer whining!" Hawk yelled back.

He paused, realizing someone else had walked into the kiction.

"There a fridged around here?"

"Erm... probally, just look. Things have an annoying habit of appearing...." he responded.

 Callista blinked.. then smiled. "That's alright, that's okay, cuz I  love you anyway!" she skipped around Nav in a circle, humming  the rest of the song to herself. Then, she stopped. "Hey, do you  have any candy for meee? Candy's my favorite food group, you  know."

Nav's eyes rolled back and he passed out, energy sapped compleatly by the girl's hyper happy.
 
 

 Xellandria fidgeted. "Yeah, well, you could say that if you wanted, coz' yaknow, then it'd be true, but its true anyway, so..."

Erik nodded. "What type?"

"Zomadic. There's a bit of keeper in there, too, but I'm not sure if that's really considered demonic. I mean, I wasn't.. whasis.. born, I guess is the right word.. with it, but it was kinda smacked onto my astral spirit or something." She shrugged. "I don't really know.. not much is written on Keepers in the Ancient texts, anyway."

Erik blinked. "I've... never heard of that sort of demon...." he said slowly. "Are you sure that's what they're called by the other races as well?"

Xella shrugged. "I've been around a bit, and I've heard us be called other things as well.. Emoai, Zoma is the official name, Zomakou, Mazoku, et cetera."

Erik blinked again. "Mazoku... those are cousins of the Maku, are they not? Emotional energy tranfered to life and magic energy for the consumption of the demon?"

It was Xella's turn to blink. "I suppose.. that sounds about right, anyway."

"Intersting..." Erik said slowly. "Tell me... Do you know of the ruleing class of High Demons?" he said, voice almost hesitant.

"Ruling class of high demons.. well, there are the Zomadic lords.. but they're just more powerful than the other Zomadics... and then there's Vorikuvan, the Dark Lord above all others... but.."

"Erm..." Erik grimced. "So... you don't know about... the High Demon king?" he asked.

Xellandria plopped on the ground, thinking. "Lemme think.. some multiverses have that, I've heard.. one demon to rule all others, but I've never actually been anyplace that has that kind of system. Well, no, that's not true.. I have, but they tried to kill me, so.."

Erik blinked. "Multiverses?"

Xellandria paused, trying to figure out a way to phrase it. "Like.. different universe. There's the one that I'm from, obviously you're not from around.. there.. since I don't think we're in Quinnealisis, anymore, Toto.. there's gotta be the one those two..girls.. were from.. and.. yeah."

Erik blinked again. "Quinnealisis?" he repeated, feeling rather lost. "What are you trying to convay?" he asked, still feeling sligtly drunk.

Xellandria sighed. "The beliefs of my people are as follows: The grand Creator, Asluaii, a being without measurable power, who was both good and evil, and yet not either, created a tree. From this tree sprouted many branches, and from these branches, there sprouted multiverses, an entire world. But these worlds were unpopulated, and the tree threatened to die. So, Asluaii created good and evil, and per world, there was one ultimate good, and one ultimate evil. But on each world, there followed the same pattern: the ultimate good and evil spawned their own, and used their spawn to try and destroy the other. So Asluaii created the neutrals, the plants, animals, and humans, who were free to do their own, and created a Guardian, to keep the ultimates in check, so Her tree would not wither. If one ultimate was killed, the guardian would be forced to take its place, or the entire would would collapse, as the ballance would be broken."

Erik blinked again, feeling rather lost. Then something slowly dawned on him. "So... you mean to say... that we are no longer in our home universes?"

Xellandria shrugged. "Travel between the worlds is possible. I've done it before, but never beyond three branches away from Quinnealisis. I think we've somehow managed to unknowingly change universes, but.. I'm not sure. I've never really experienced this kind of thing."

Erik stared a moment, and the cracked into a grin and gave out a loud yell of triumph. "YEEEEEEEEESSSSS!"

Nikita backed up a step. "Master?" he said hesitently. What was wrong with Erik. He'd never acted like that before.

Xellandria blinked, and would have fallen on her butt had she not already been sitting down. "Em.. I'm assuming something is good, then?"

Erik smiled happily. He picked up NIkita with a hug and twirled him around in a circle once, laughing. "No more filthy morons to rule!" he exclaimed happily. "No more assaination attempts, no more bad wine, no more dirty palace, and they DIDN'T kill me or drive me insane to do it! I won!" He gave another laugh.

Xellandria blinked a moment, then it clicked. "Oh! So you're like one of those high demon king things you were talking about! Spiffy," she said, smiling.

Erik smiled and nodded. "The current one and only, yes. It's rather a pleasure not to be known and to deal with a demon not from the realm of idoits I rule...."

Xellandria blinked. "Deal with a demon.. that'd be me, then?"

"Well, you said you were one, correct?"

Xellandria nodded slowly. "Yeah.. I guess.. whee, don't I feel smart.." She sweatdropped slightly, smiling.

"Now... an honest opinion, being you have no reason to bullshit me," Erik began. "This form... what do you think of it?" he asked, spreading his wings out slightly to bring attention to them. "Impressive or pathetic?"

Xellandria paused to think. "I suppose.. it depends on your definition of the words, and whether 'impressive' is supposed to mean 'drop-dead gorgeous' or 'uberscary weird' or something of that ilk. Going from the former perspective, insanely impressive.  Wanted to be moreso, the wingspan could be increased a bit, or just brought down to a tiny size, if you're able to do that.. hair is c'est magnifique. Now, from the second perspective, well.. kind of mediocre.  I mean.." She paused a minute, organizing her thoughts, then continued, "I mean, I really am assuming you can change your appearance, so all this may be completely off, but the eyes.. either.. very very light, like icey, more, or maybe a deep crimson or yellow-gold, and slitted. Because that's all that truly matters, is the eyes. Because that's where you see the soul, or that's how its supposed to work, anyway. So if the eyes are creepy, then you've got the whole 'egads, that's scary!' thing going on.. most people prefer battish wings, I've noticed, but in Quinnealisis, where I'm from, the roles are really very reversed.. feathered wings are a sign of evil, wheras bat wings are what all the good angel-type dragon folks have. S'why I'm always hiding behind this mask.. but anyway! That's not the point. The eyes. And if you wanted, maybe change the color..might work."

Erik blinked. "Acutaly, I only have a very small amount of control of my form beyond switching from human to... 'true' form," he sighed. "So..." he mused to himself. "Which impressive would have a greater effect, do you know? Because in my idoit realm the beauty end of it was utterly useless. Only realy good for getting humans to do what I wanted...."

Xellandria blinked. "Yamean which would work better here? Because I dunno about here.. Quinnealisis WAS over.. that way," she gestured to the direction from whence she had come, "but I don't think it's there anymore.. since all I've seen thus far are those two girls, and you two, I'd imagine the impressive drop-dead gorgeous would work best."

"I more meant in general," Erik corrected. "Never the less, I do thank you for your help and information."

Xellandria smiled slightly. "No problem-o. As I have no clue how things are in your realm, I can't help you there, but in general, I say the drop-dead works very well."

Erik smiled. "THank you."
 
 

> Nav's eyes rolled back and he passed out, energy
> sapped compleatly by the girl's hyper happy.

 Callista giggled happily, spying a candy bar in the corner. "Never  mind, found one!" She bounced over, then yoinked the candy  from the floor. Then, she turned back to find Nav unconcious on  the floor. "Eh.. uh-oh." Callista toddled over and poked his shoulder.  "Dumbass? I mean, Nav? Hellooo?" After a few more pokes, she  then wandered into the kitchen.  "Uncy Haawk.. I think I accimuhdentally did something bad.."  Callista frowned, looking down at her feet. "Nav went to sleep on  the floor."
 
 

> "Erm... probally, just look. Things have an annoying
> habit of appearing...." he responded.

 Kristen blinked at that. "That's cool. I'm having the strongest  craving for a Mint Snapple Tea." She sighed blisfully heading for  the fridge.

Three timid popped up beside her. She scowled at them, but ignored  them. She went to the fridge in the kitchen and opened it, finding a  whole shelf of the stuff. She made a happy whooping sound.

 She was just about to open her third when she hear the girl call out  for 'Uncy Hawk'. She resisted the urge to giggle. What was it with  Nav and cute bubbly children anyhow?

 Hawk sighed, swearing under his breath. "Wonderful..." He looked over at Callista. "It happens. He can't take happy kids. They overload him and he's out like those idoit lights that always turn off when ya go by then," he grumbled. He got up and walked over to where Nav was passed out. "Oi! Dumbass!" He kicked at Nav a bit, glaring irratation at him.

Nav groaned slightly.

"Get some sheilds, would ya?" Hawk said grumpily before heading back to the kiction.

Kristen blinked. Was that Nav? Of course it was. Who else would  bellow for Hawk? She shrugged and grabbed three more of the  Snapples. She sat down, and started drinking her Snapple. The  purple smiley's floated next to her, but she ignored them. They were  pouting. Funny that. Smiley's pouting. She rolled her eyes. Shit  like this seemed to happen to only her.

Her stomach rumbled. She sighed. She could really do with some  Chinese food. Pineapple Duck... Chicken Low Mien... Sweet and Sour  Chicken... Winter Melon Soup... Fried Dumplings... She swallowed.  She could almost smell it. She made a pathetic noise and flopped her  head on her folded hands on the table.