PARADISA LOST

[There will be a small announcement through the journals today, perhaps a bit overdue, but it is finally coming and he knows he owes it, especially to certain people.]

For anyone who encountered me when I was infected with the Heavy Metal Shard, I am sorry if I hurt you during that time. I wish I could take it back, but it happened and though I was not in my right mind it does not mean I do not owe you an apology. So, I am sorry and I pray that no such thing happens again.

[There, that is done. Good. His/Her conscious is clear.

Now he/she feels free to dress, actually enjoying the new clothes the castle has afforded her. They might not work when she returns to her male body, but perhaps they can be tweaked. Certainly every day she has seen Felix in what passes for the male versions are quite lovely. So today she has taken care and dress in an outfit of lovely, soft blue and accented it with an array of jewels (not that that was somehow new to her in any way).

Assured of her readiness to face the public, Ashura leaves and heads out, secretly loving the lamps and the baths and all the changes, though a part of her is more than ready for the other shoe to drop, but keeps mostly a hope that this is just what it looks like - an innocent celebration. She even finds the cows alluring in their own way, all decked out as they are and with those deep, soulful eyes. So perhaps you find her walking or perhaps you find her offering the cow some treats and laughing as her palm is eagerly licked clean of every trace of said treat by a bovine companion. Either way, she's around.]

[Well, Paradisa, you thought you only had a few of those Heavy Metal guys wandering around, right? WRONG. There is another one! And yes, it is Ashura. Oh yes, it is Ashura. He looks pretty much the same as he always does, wandering about in extravagant clothing and a king's ransom worth of jewels. But today he has an added feature - a great, sweeping red cloak of doom! And yes, it is of doom, because of course a villian cannot wear a cloak of any other kind. It simply does not work that way - never has and never will.

So Ashura is sweeping through the Castle and its grounds, letting loose a few low evil cackles to fill the halls with the appropriate amount of dread and eeriness. But most dastardly of all - when he passes someone eating something - anything at all, be it cereal or a candy bar or a full fledged turkey - guess what? It bursts into flames! Why yes, he is burning all of your food Paradisa. No one shall enjoy the sweet succulence of that bit of chicken cooked just right, that bit of chocolate that has just the right amount of cocoa, or the sweet, sweet saltiness of that perfect chip. No! None shall have such pleasure! He shall not allow it, he, the great overlord!

And if you are extra unfortunate, along with your food burning, the heat produced from this most devious of acts will create frizzies on you! So, Paradisa, what shall you do to combat this twin horror of burnt, crispy food and hair days gone wrong? Mwhahahahah!]

[ooc: Yeah, Ashura has a HM Shard in him, and he is going around burning food to being an inedible sort of crispy. Like, he takes blackened chicken to a new level. Also, bad hair days. You know they are just so dastardly. Stop at will, though your sandwiches and fishes may not survive!]

[It was a small blessing to be in his own 'room' after the... well, horror might be to strong a word and it might not, but horror was the only thing to come to mind, of Felix's room. It gave him insights into his lover's mind he had not known and was not sure he felt comfortable knowing, if only because such information had been so harshly gleaned or for some other reason he could not admit. 

But for the moment he could be put out of mind as he stood on the balcony of one of two palaces, looking down at the forest. It seemed his room had been transformed into a large, floating island in the sky, separated into three parts. Beneath his eyes, at the base of the island in the sea of stars, lay a vast forest - thick and lush, birds sometimes flittering above the boughs. Further up as where he stood now, in a palace supported in the boughs and trunk of a single, massive tree and into the back of the cliff behind it, dripping fines and waterfalls misting from it. And the last part, higher than the palace he stood in now, was the palace from the Castle of the Moon, darker than his, somehow more foreboding, shrouded in a partial mist he to often thought to be to red for his liking. He did not go up there, knowing what waited, and not wanting to relive it. 

He turned away from the balcony, heading back inside the comfort of his home where tea waited and fruit and, in the corner, the way out.]

[ooc: The forest is Ashura's subconcious. The palace he is in now are his good memories and where the door to his room opens into. If you venture up into the higher castle, those are memories of war, so nothing pleasant. You can designate where you are/want to be and go from there. Have funs.]

[Agni looked up sharply from his play with one of his toys, watching with wide dark eyes as the orb that held Ashura began to pulse with a faint red light. The little creature whined and went to a nearby chair, leaping up and then up onto the chest where the golden torque sat. It padded over, sniffing, and finally took the torque into its mouth and leaped down. Fluffy yellow tail swishing he hurries through the rooms, seeking someone - the new male that frequented the apartments and the red male that took care of him.

Not finding him in the living area, the little creature went to the doggie door in the room's door and slid out into the hall, sniffing, and heading for the stair way that lead down. Carefully he began to pick his way down the steps, since the torque was rather large and Agni had never been big in the first place.

Step. Clink. Step. Clink. Step -

Agni lost his balance as he went down, slipping a step. The torque fell from his mouth with the sudden jolt, bouncing down the staircase with dull, ringing tones. It finally came to the end, turning so that the jewel hit the stone first....

And there was a cracking boom, like a firework going off, a brief flash of bright hot light. When it faded, Ashura would be lying on the floor, his hair pooled around him (almost stragetically, it seemed) to shield him, because as he had been in the gem, he was naked now. He remained asleep, almost dead to the world, breathing, but otherwise showing no more signs of life.

Agni hurried on down the stairs, pawing at the prone form of its master and beginning to yip, dual attempts at waking the man and crying for help.]

[ooc: So I am back and Ashura is released from the gem, but for the moment remains asleep. Help him back to his room? He is currently on level 9, near the stairs, and there will be a worried Flareon yipping - so there's that to draw someone's attention.]