Axcel: The World.

Maahes frowned, looking up from his injury and over at Zech. Was the furry man scared of him? Tilting his head ever so slightly to the side, he stared down at this guise's hands. Was his form on the seventh plane showing? He didn't think it was. Odris said people would want to kill him if they saw it, and not want to be his friend anymore, but Zech was still talking to him.

(Siren wasn't, which made him sad, but then he remembered that Siren wouldn't recognize him. Ah. That made sense, then! Siren wouldn't try to be mean to him. He was sure of it.)

"It's me," he simply said. He could say that it was his essence, but his essence was a part of him, so that was an accurate statement. He held out an essence-covered hand to Zech. "Don't worry, Zech! It's not dangerous. Odris didn't say it would hurt people." He paused, then added, "But you're all furry, so it might kill you if you touch it."

"Then why isn't it dangerous?" Zech yelled, leaping back. He tentatively reached a claw towards a part of Maahes's hand that wasn't covered in whatever that stuff was. Zech stopped, looking into Maahes's eyes. "Are you sure you okay?"

He eagerly nodded. "I'm fine! My insides are just on my outsides right now, but that's alright. I've lost more of it before."

"That's not helpful!" Zech said, yanking his hand back. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. This was normal. Just blood with a different color and texture. A lot of it. He could handle blood; he could handle this. So he said, unsteadily, "I need to know if your insides are safe, and if trying to patch them up will do anything."

He thought for a moment, then nodded. "They should be safe!" he earnestly confirmed. "I don't really think they'll do anything to you. Odris just said to always be open to possibilities, so I was trying to be open."

Then he was silent for another moment.

"But I don't think anything would really change if you tried bandaging them," he added, looking Zech in the eye. "My injuries don't heal like yours do."

A long pause. This was the Maahes he knew and, well, knew. "Be a little less open next time," Zech said. "Does it hurt?"

He nodded again. "It does, but not too much!" He thought for a moment, then sheepishly added, "I've gotten hurt worse before. I've fallen out of buildings and trees and I've gotten attacked by all sorts of animals on other worlds before."

Rose helped Tamika with her sprained ankle, doing some medical stuff. The swelling was reduced to the point where she should be able to at least walk. Ryder walked over to the blond boy, ignoring his wounds and weird stuff oozing out.
"Are you also like the others -- not from this world?" he asked, staying a foot or two away from the boy who could spew fire from his hands as the Draconians did from their bellies.

Rose smiled at Tamika. "There, that should help. At least a little bit," she said, before standing up.
"We can walk and talk, Ryder. That is if that kid can walk."

It would've been really nice if Maahes could just give an answer that wasn't some combination of disconcerting and relieving, but it looked like Zech wouldn't have such luck.

"Do you need anything at all?" Zech said, starting to sound exasperated.

Tamika gently tested her ankle before standing on it. It wasn't 100% good as new, but at least she could put her weight on it.

"Thank you." She gave a terse smile to the princess. "Um, I don't believe I caught your name." She gave a quick look around. "Any of your names. Mine is Tamika."

She was waiting for an introduction from the others when she noticed the boy's injury. A wave of shame washed over her- she had been too caught up in her own injury to second-guess the boy's reassurance and make sure he was okay.

Gingerly, she made her way over and sat down beside him, waiting like the others to hear if he needed anything.

Maahes turned to Ryder and gave him a confused look. "I've already-" His hand shot up to cover his mouth, eyes widening with horror when he realized that he almost had revealed the truth to him. He dropped his hand back down to his side and quickly replied. "I mean, uh, yeah! I'm from another world!"

He hurriedly turned to Zech in an attempt to change the topic. "I don't," he informed him. He looked Zech over, then frowned. "Why do you sound so exasperated, Zech? I already told Princess that I'm fine-"

He stopped when he noticed that the man with the pointy fangs was giving him a funny look. He started to return the look, but then stopped when he realized it wasn't really a diplomatic or scholarly thing to do. "Who are you?" the man asked.

Maahes nervously looked over at Zech. Would he help him with his alias, or would he reveal who he really was? "Aen!" he replied, his voice jumping up an octave in his worry.

The man crossed his arms and shook his head. "I think you're Maahes."

"I-I don't know who you're talking about," Maahes protested.

Now the girl standing next to the tall, scary man was giving him that same funny look, too. "Your voice sounds different," she said, taking a step towards him, "and you look different, but you're acting exactly the same. You're even calling Princess Rose Princess, and she hasn't even introduced herself to you yet."

Maahes puffed out his cheeks, blew out all the air and then gave a small nod. That logic was too good for him to deny. Ducking his head down and staring at the ground beneath his feet, he changed his guise back to the one he had been using earlier.

"I'm Maahes," he sorrowfully confirmed.

Siren hopped over to Maahes.

"You...you are Maa-hes?" she said, suspiciously.

She stood up close to him, and loudly 'hmmmmm'ed. She looked inside his right ear, then circled around behind him, and looked inside the left ear.
She circled him again, and then stared closely, unblinking into his eyes for longer than was appropriate.

Finally, she stood back. She squinted, and raised her chin.

"Are you suurrrrrrrre you're Maa-hes?" she said skeptically.

He looked up just a little bit; he only wanted to look high enough up so he could meet Siren's eyes. "Uh-huh," he said. "I'm Maahes." He ran his fingers through his hair - not to intentionally imitate Odris this time around, but because he was feeling a little nervous. "I changed my gui-uh, form back to how you saw it earlier."

It took Tamika a moment to piece together who exactly this boy was claiming to be, since she hadn't exactly had ample introductions before she had taken off. Finally, it came to her that this boy was the feather-stroker from earlier, which made since with the childish demeaner that both of them had in common.

"But- how can you do that?" She spoke up. "It's not just a simple disguise to be changed. You're- a completely different person."

She tilted her head and her eyebrows furrowed. "Are you... a shape-shifter? Or something like that?"

Siren looked down.

"Maa-hes said he was special." she said thoughtfully.

After a moment of thinking it through, she looked up again, burdened by the weight of arcane knowledge.

"Who are you? Did you eat Maa-hes, to steal his power? His face?" she said, in quiet accusation.

"Give him back. Give him back, right now." she whispered threateningly.