"I know that there's scary people out there," Edward said. He held William so tight to his chest that it looked like the teddy bear was about to be crushed by his grip. "But-but this isn't about that! They're m-monsters, and m-monsters aren't supposed to exist. None of this is supposed to be possible. And it-it's really creepy that we all suddenly ended up here without any idea of how it happened! You guys keep acting like everything's fine and normal, but it's not."
Engel shrugs. "Humans are supposed to be a lot of things they aren't, too. And this place is weird, but...I don't know where you came from, but for me, it couldn't get any worse. Coming here...however that was...probably saved my life."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Um, well, it's kind of scary I guess..." Damascus looked down and rubbed his arm. "To humans. At least, I think so... Engel is the only real human who's seen it, and he thought I was going to kill him."
He took a breath and looked up. "I'll only show everyone if no one will be scared- I really don't want to make anyone afraid of me. And Edward is having a hard time already, so I probably shouldn't."
With this, he looked over at Edward, where Engel was comforting him, and let out a sigh. He really wanted to do something to help, since he felt it was mostly his fault that the younger boy was so upset, but he knew it would only make things worse.
"O-oh!" James stuttered. He hadn't meant to make Damascus feel like he had to actually change forms right away. He bit his lip and looked down, holding of of his thumbs with the other hand. "No like, I didn't mean you have to change right now if you don't want to. I was just wondering if you could like... describe it. But if you do wanna change I don't think I'll be scared. I know it's just you!" he said, patting Damascus on the back.
Damascus studied James carefully. Oh. So he had just been curious. He broke into a smile at James' reassurance, and then quickly changed the subject with a sudden idea he had.
"Oh! James! I have an idea! Do you want me to practice my human forms with yours? I can try to imitate you!" He clapped in excitement. "That is, if you want."
Schadel, who had been trying her very best not to look in the terrified Edward's direction, perked up when she heard James and Damascus talking about forms "I bet he's going to try taking on your form!" Schadel eagerly said, rushing over to where the two were. "I could probably do it too, but I don't like doing small forms too much."
Edward, meanwhile, didn't say anything in response to Engel's comment. He just looked down and stared at the ground, hugging his teddy bear as tightly as he possibly could.
"Yes, wonderful!" Damascus smiled brightly at John-Watson. "We can both do it! And maybe you can give me tips, too, John-Watson, since you're probably better at doing humans than I am."
Clearing his throat, he turned his focus to James and concentrated so hard that his eyes nearly crossed. Slowly, his figure seemed to meld, and grew a few inches shorter. His facial features subtly changed and softened to fit James' likeness, and his hair grew, in a sense, but not any longer than it was. The shade faded slightly into a shade that closely matched James'.
"Ta-da!" Holding out his arms, he turned slowly so that the boy could survey his work. It was a somewhat crude likeness, but uncanny, nonetheless. Almost like a portrait done from a photograph rather than a model. And, of course, Damascus didn't bother with his eyes- he already knew that he wouldn't be able to change them.
Engel extended his hand to Edward. "Come on. I promise no one will hurt you. And we can be brothers, too!"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
It hurt - bad - but Schadel managed to replicate what James looked like. There were things she obviously couldn't know about him, but the visible parts of him were easy enough to copy. It was just a matter of getting used to how small he was in comparison to her. She bit her lip as she tried to ignore the pain, but she wasn't that good at ignoring it.
"There!" she said in James' voice, spinning around to show off her abilities. "Your form looks pretty good, too, Damascus!"
A short distance away, Edward was staring down at Engel's extended hand. He didn't like being as afraid as he was right now, but he also wasn't sure that he was ready to accept the craziness that was going on around him. He could see Watson and Damascus trying to copy James' appearance out of the corner of his eye, but hadn't addressed it yet. He didn't think he could handle that.
But then he thought about it.
Watson - or whoever she was - and Damascus weren't exactly scary. They were just kind of like him; they were kids, albeit really weird ones. Watson hadn't really taken his soul, apparently, and Damascus wasn't going to drag him down to Hell. Their abilities and their existence didn't make any sort of sense, but they were here and he was here, and there was nothing that he could do about it.
James's mouth upturned into a wide, awe-filled smile. It was really weird to see two duplicates of himself, but it was really cool in a way. He gawked with wide eyes.
"Woahhh!" he marveled. "That's crazy," he said, looking them both up and down. Then he laughed. "Wow! I have two twins!"
Damascus giggled a little in pride at both John's compliment and James' reaction. Deftly, he took John's hands and spun around a few times before coming to a stop again in front of James.
"Okay! Now guess who's who!" He tried to adopt a straight face, having way too much fun with this.
