You're spending some time alone. It's been a long day, but by the end you have recieved word that the three poachers you were working so hard to stop have finally been sent to prison. Seems their endless supply of cash and favors ran out. Side Session Start. * Fatima lounges on a divan. Alright, SLUMPS. Apparently all that interacting with sweaty smelly men has sapped the strength right out of her. Roll perception. You see a bird winging its way directly towards the window; if you didn't know any better, you'd think it's doing straight for *you*. Of course, being a bird, and the window being a window, it rams straight into it and falls. (doing -> going) * Fatima blinks and sits up, long black hair falling over her shoulders as she does so, and tilts her head at the window. "Oh, dear..." * Fatima stands up and walks to the window, opening it gingerly. Fortunately, it was a first story window, so the bird didn't experience much of a fall. It wobbles to its feet and chirps almost indignantly, but shakily spreads its wings. * Fatima chuckles and extends a finger, smiling. "Poor thing. I shall tell the butlers to be less scrupulous about cleaning the windows from now on." Animal friendship... ^_^ Or we'll just assume you make it. Ha! Um. Lemme consult my sheet. And we have no dicebot. ;_; I have, like, a -4 bonus. :P Yeah. :P So I'm assuming you made it. (At least, to animal training, but the bird wants to chat with you anyway. Kind of.) * Fatima blinks and eyes the bird curiously. "My, you're intelligent." (What type of bird is it? ^^;) It seems hesitant at first, but soon flaps up to your finger. As you get a closer look, you can see that it has a nasty bruise on its beak. (Tropical. It just may have been one of the escaped animals from those poachers.) * Fatima puts her other hand over her mouth, then slowly strokes the poor thing's neck. "Come inside, little one... let's see what we can do about that." She sucks in a breath through her teeth. "Ridiculous men. Did they do this to you?" It chirps and rubs the side of its head against your hand. A faint red glow appears beneath its feet. * Fatima takes a sharp, short breath and stops walking, actually stumbling backward a step and almost dropping the bird in surprise. It hops up and flies up to perch on your head, making noise that sound almost like the bird equivalent of laughter. Where it used to sit, on your index finger, is a gold ring with a red stone. * Fatima blinks (she apparently does a lot of blinking) and then narrows her brow, eyeing the ring carefully. Birds often carry shiny things, that's not so unbeliveable. How'd it get the ring on her FINGER, now that's curious. The bird bends and nuzzles at your forehead, and then flies off to the open window. As it does so, you see the ring begin to glow. * Fatima blinks (again), eyes widening this time. "What the..." Trusting or no, strange glowing jewlery is bad, especially since if it's something strange from the poachers... she tries to pull the ring off but quick. Just as you're about to do so, you feel... extremely warm. Comfortable. Like those warm fuzzies people keep talking about given actual form. You hear, or see, something that *must* be the bird winging away, laughing and giving you thanks for its newfound freedom. And in a flash, everything's red. * Fatima is Arabic. Warm is bad. It's still daytime! She pauses for a minute, but still seems intent on... well, redness! (Hee!) Roll me a d6. The red fades, and you're standing on a sandy surface. Before you is a dense jungle forest. You can hear, and smell, the ocean nearby. * Fatima actually falls on her backside out of raw shock, probably because she was wearing heeled boots and they don't get along with sand. Perception! ( Sorry. Was getting dinner. ) ('Sokay. ^^) (Made it.) You hear something coming! * Fatima struggles to stand up (still not easy, sand) but manages to do so. She's a fairly calm person but this has very thoroughly freaked her out. She looks around for somewhere to hide. There's sand! And ocean! And the forest, but that's where the sound is coming from. * Fatima curses in Arabic, but it's a mild curse. She starts backing down the beach away from the sound, having totally forgotten the ring at this point. * Spanky has joined #heart * Spanky pokes its yellow-striped penguin head out from behind a tree. "Wak?" * Fatima blinks, but manages to keep from falling on her backside again. She just sort of... stares. * Spanky waddles over towards Fatima, looking up at her the entire time. "Wak. Wak wak waaaak." * Fatima tilts her head, evaluates the situation as best she can, and manages to squeak out in an embarassed voice, "I'm sorry, I don't speak penguin." * Spanky blinks at her once, then pecks the ring. "Wak." It turns and starts waddling back into the forest. * Fatima is reminded of the ring, and looks at it again, looking deeply at the stone. And incidentally completely forgetting about Spanky. It sparkles, but doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. You hear an annoyed WAK! coming from Spanky's direction. * Fatima looks up, and just now it hits her, and she asks out loud before realizing she's talking to a penguin, "What is a penguin doing on a tropical island?" There is a brief pause. "What am *I* doing on a tropical island?" * Spanky waks and takes a few steps towards the forest. It turns and looks at Fatima, waking again. * Fatima sighs and breathes out, trying to pull off the ring (again). She glances at the penguin and "wak"s at it somewhat annoyedly in return. The ring reluctantly slips off. For some reason, you feel a little empty when it's not on your finger. * Spanky nodnods. "Wak!" * Fatima pulls the hand with the ring in it to her chest and breathes out. A little empty? Sure. But also a little safer. She glances at the trees and shakes her head. "I shall have to head inland... maybe find a village or city." She glances at Spanky, then walks toward the forest. * Spanky waits for Fatima to catch up to it, then waddles alongside her. It takes about ten minutes of walking, but you do manage to reach a clearing. And, before you, is that wonderfully large, impossibly polished, crystalline structure. * Spanky waks towards the opening to the structure, and waddles towards it. (We're with the main channel now.)