Young Writers Society

Dante paused her pounding to comprehend the robot's words, and why it wasn't attaching her. Runi?? So the robot was Runi, and she was talking to Magic, the one who was stuck in the ship.

"D- Darunia?" She hiccuped and turned to the robot, her voice small, wiping her face with a small palm. "It was you the whole time? Why didn't you say anything? Gods, I've been terrified!"

She scowled, but couldn't seem to stay mad. With a long moment of hesitation, her body moved forward on its own accord, and she found herself embracing Runi tightly around the middle.

She sniffed and flicked an ear disdainfully. "Gods, you really are a cat, aren't you? And not in a good way, Mark."

If he could've rolled his eyes, he would've, but as it stood, he found himself a mixture of embarrassed and annoyed at the comment. Apparently, she was still going to hound him for lying about his name the first time they met. He hung his head low and sat down, looking away.

As he turned his gaze, he happened to watch the moment as a lion dramatically came striding into the library with a young girl riding atop it. If he had to guess, they were probably two of the others turned into unfortunate not-versions of themselves. It did look peculiar though, with a lion and a child peacefully interacting with one another - nevermind with it riding one.

With a closer look at the child's clothing, it looked like the child had to have been Sune, since the clothing hadn't changed, and hung baggily over the girl's shoulders.

He had to admit though - he did feel the least bit threatened by the lion. Apparently, he had to be turned into the smallest, least threatening animal present. He could only hope the lion wouldn't decide to chase any of them as Tasha had.

Tasha jumped to her feet and stood over James, hackles going up all the way down her back and her ears flattening. She pulled her lips back in a snarl to revea the long, slender fangs housed in a large, strong jaw - a jaw designed to take down the largest and most dangerous of game. She crouched, ready to pounce, and kept herself between the lion and James the cat.

Runi stared down at the little girl that had suddenly decided to hug her, then awkwardly went to return the gesture. She couldn't really feel Dante's arms wrapping around her metallic waist, but she had been hugged enough times in her life to understand what it was supposed to feel like. "I'm sorry for terrifying you," she apologized. She wished her voice wasn't so monotone; she wanted it to be warm and comforting. "I got distracted when talking to Magic, and neither one of us realized that you wouldn't be able to hear their part of the conversation."

After a moment of hesitation, she started to rub Dante's back. That was what she had done for Honerva years ago when she was upset, and sometimes even Zarkon would be subject to it.


The first thing that Maahes did when he noticed the lion burst into the room with the little girl on its back was perk up; it might have been thousands of years since he was truly considered a god, but lions were his sacred animal and he had taken on the guise of one more than once. As long as he showed something like a lion what he looked like on the other planes, it never really bothered him - probably because cats, no matter the size, were some of the smartest creatures when it came to checking out the other planes.

But when he went to do it out of habit, he suddenly remembered that he was stuck as James right now.

Which meant not only was he unable to change his form on the different planes, but he was also entirely a human and fully susceptible to getting mauled to death by a lion. He paled considerably, and took a couple steps back in alarm as a snarl left the giant dog that James apparently knew.

(Were they a person, too?)

(He was already starting to suspect the puppy was Ari. The amount of energy both had was nearly identical, and it would explain why he was so eager to see James. But there hadn't been anyone else checking the library, so who could they possibly be?)

And that was right around when he remembered the lion wasn't the only newcomer; there was the little girl riding on its back, which set off about twenty different alarm bells. Her clothes were too large and dragging, so maybe she was one of the others in the ship, and had undergone the same change that they had? But he was far too distracted by how oddly familiar her face looked to really recognize the clothing, even though they would have quickly given him an answer to who the little girl was.

The little girl looked around the library on top of the lion, lip beginning to quiver and tears beginning to form in her oddly familiar eyes. (Why did she look so familiar!?) She slipped off the back of the lion and began to peer down the shelves, clothes trailing behind her as she started to cry. She was frantically trying to wipe away her tears, but then she tripped and went flying right into his legs.

He stared down at her, and she stared up at him from her spot on the ground.

After a moment of hesitation, he leaned down and picked her up. His limbs screamed out in protest - James apparently didn't have the same sort of strength he did - and the little girl squirmed, but he felt like it was the best way to get her out of whatever fight was about to break out between the lion and the dog.

"Let me go," the little girl said, squirming a bit harder than before. Her too-large pants fell to the ground because of how he was holding her, and she frantically tried to reach for them, but she was too high up to even touch them with the tips of her barefoot toes.

"It's okay," he reassured her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She squirmed a little more, little ponytails bouncing, then gave up and stared right up into his face. Her lips quivered even more than before, and the tears began to well up even faster. Now she made no effort to wipe them away, instead just sobbing in his arms. "Please Jam-ey, let me down. I gotta find Maahes." Maahes stiffened and stared down at her. Who was this girl...? Her pudgy little fingers grabbed onto the fabric of his shirt, squeezing it tightly. "Where's Maahes, Jam-ey?"

Maahes nearly dropped the child in his arms when he realized why the clothes look so familiar.

"Sune?" he managed to get out. The little girl stopped crying and shaking her lip, instead watching him with confusion as she likely started to realize that she couldn't find Maahes because he was the one holding her. "Is that...is that you?"

The little girl hesitated, then gave a nod. "Maahes?" Sune asked, looking him over. Maahes nodded right back. "Are you okay? Taber and I heard screaming coming from the room, and I think it was yours-Maahes, why are you staring at me?"

"You're not acting like a little kid anymore," Maahes slowly said. "You're acting like you normally do." Which meant two things: Sune was just as aware of what was going on as he usually was, and the little "Jam-ey" part had just been him acting. Maahes honestly should have expected it, since Arin and Sune used to break out of Wraith cells on a weekly basis by one of them pretending to be a wraith and letting the other one out - the two were great at acting.

"I'm still me," Sune confirmed. "Could you put me down?"

Maahes hesitantly did as requested, and Sune immediately made a beeline for his pants. It was only when Maahes put his hand on his shoulder that Sune stopped. "You might want to avoid putting those back on," he commented. "Then you won't trip on them again."

Sune frowned, but from the way he turned his attention back to the lion, he seemed to get the point. "Maahes, why do you suddenly a cat and two dogs?" he asked, tugging on the bottom of Maahes's shirt. It was so weird hearing that little girl's voice coming out of a child's body and knowing that it was Sune, and that he wasn't just using a different guise.

"The cat is James," Maahes explained. "I think the puppy is Ari, and I'm not sure who the big dog is. The commotion you heard earlier was, uh, me trying to run away from the big dog..."

Sune nodded. Then, knowing the growing tension, shot forward and darted over to the lion's side. Maahes gave a startled cry of alarm, but quickly realized that Sune wasn't really in any danger. "Taber, it's okay," Sune reassured the lion, and Maahes nearly choked on his spit. "I'm not sure if you just heard, but Maahes just scared by the big dog."

James was alarmed when Tasha suddenly towered over him and started snarling, but all that he ended up doing was sighing. Or whatever the cat equivalent of a cat sigh was.

Just a moment ago, she was chasing him because he was a cat, and now she was protecting him - now that she knew who he was, of course. It was... a very passionate gesture for something seemingly so small, though he knew she had no way of knowing that the lion wasn’t actually a wild lion. He would’ve understood being generally apprehensive, but for her immediate response to be to shield him...

If he were a human, his face would’ve flushed. Had he really been so dense? He wished he could explain it away as simply as saying it was just a strong bond of friendship, but as he played back their history of interactions in his head, it actually began to come together.

She ... liked him?

Gods, he wished he wasn’t a cat of all things.

As he came to the realization, he’d shrunk down to the floor, making himself as flat as possible, though without really realizing it. He’d also missed a large portion of the words exchanged between Sune and Maahes, but heard enough to confirm that the lion was Taber and the situation was being diffused, if Tasha was paying attention, unlike himself.

And there was Tasha again, at the forefront of his mind, along with the warmth in his face and his chest. His tail curled up around him, as if hugging himself. He was really glad no one was paying much attention to him, and hoped he was hard to read in his cat form. Because he was currently busy trying to bury feelings.

Dante simply nodded, not knowing what to say as her tears slowed. Her face was severely flushed, and though the hug was comforting, she had to admit, she squirmed all the same. It had been years since she'd embraced anyone, much less someone she hardly knew who happened to be stuck as a robot.

Finally, when her crippling lack of physical contact had had enough, she pulled away and gathered her thoughts.

"S- so..." she coughed and exhaled. "Should we go find the others? I believe most of them have transformed as well, if Jaron and Denebola were anything to go off of."

Ari came bounding over to the new comers, hopping and barking at the lion in a way that would've been ferocious were he not a small puppy. Tasha rolled her eye and plopped down on her hindquarters as she recognized that the lion wasn't a danger.

"Small dog, leave it alone," she grunted at the puppy, who continued to bork obnoxiously. Giving up on this and having an understanding that she knew no one but James and Maahes, an only liked one of them, she laid down and sighed. May as well wait this d*** form out so she could talk again. She put her chin on her forepaws and laid next to James, her floofy tail curled over her paws.

James didn’t think he could want to disappear any more than he did in this moment. The moment Tasha laid beside him he flocked his eyes over to her, all too aware of her nearness as she still towered over his as a giant dog. With his heart still fast-beating with nerves and his face still hot he forced himself to sit up straight beside her and called over to Ari.

“It’s just Taber and Sune,” he said, adding a gentle explanation to Tasha’s scold.

That was one large dog. Still, Sune said Maahes had just been frightened of it (which Taber didn't get - it looked scary, especially with the one eye and raised hackles, but it wasn't nearly the most dangerous or largest dog he'd ever seen). It also seemed pretty friendly now, since it had just stopped growling at him.

Taber lowered himself to the ground and yawned yet again. With nothing else going on, it looked like his job as a ride was just about over, and the ground was looking awfully cozy.

Ari perked up the minute James said that and stopped making a ruckus, running over to the lion and wagging his tail. "HI I'M SORRY I BARKED AT YOU I DIDN'T REALIZE WHO YOU WERE I'M SO SORRY!"

Tasha sighed. He was so bouncy.

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Runi agreed, grabbing her blaster and hopping back onto her feet. She rested the gun on her shoulder. "Although we might want to avoid Denebola, since Magic says she can be a little irritated."

More like a lot, Magic helpfully corrected.

"Correct: a lot irritated." Runi shifted the weight of her gun as she waited for Dante to get to her feet as well. The wall suddenly raised behind her, causing her to jump in surprise and nearly fall flat on her face.

You'll want to head to the library, Magic said. There's a whole group gathered there, though most of them are animals. Annd there's a new person too. Her name's Tasha, I think, but don't hold me on that one. She appeared just before all of this, so I didn't get a good opportunity to figure out if I recognized her or not.

Runi nodded, then realized that Dante was left in the dark. "Magic says that we should head to the library. I can lead the way, if you want - Magic's been telling me which way to go."


Maahes looked on as the group held a conversation he couldn't understand, then decided the best option was to turn his attention back to Sune. His student and friend was looking on with a confused expression on his face. "I can't understand them," he said. He absentmindedly stuck a finger in his ear and tried clearing it out, like that would suddenly change things. "I think...I think I can get snippets, but it's nothing more than that."

"That's more than I can get. I only get barks and meows," Maahes admitted. He gestured at his own ear. "James is just a normal human. But you're not, I'm guessing?"

He nodded, pigtails jumping up and down. "This is what Arin looked like when she was younger. She's still terrible at it now, but she was even more horrible at doing spirit things when she little."

Sune turned away from the conversing group and walked over to where Maahes. After a moment of hesitation, the older djinni plopped down on the ground beside the younger. "I don't like being stuck like this," Maahes commented. He stared down at his hand, wiggling its fingers as he tried to get a better sense of his current form.

"I feel so helpless and weak," Sune agreed. "I...I started crying when I first saw Taber. I'm so small, and he just looked so big and terrifying and I didn't have anything to defend myself with. Even if you're stuck as a human, at least you get to be an adult."

Maahes rubbed the back of his neck. It was usually Arin who had a bitter tone to her voice out of his two students, but being stuck as her childhood self was a good enough reason for Sune to be bitter. "I guess you're right - it could be worse."

James caught wind of Maahes and Sune's conversation.

Even though Maahes couldn't understand him, he suddenly felt drawn to retreat to where Maahes was sitting. He was aware that his restlessness had to do with Tasha, but decided not to think on it as he got up and started walking over to Maahes.

"Yeah, it could be worse," James meowed, though he knew Maahes wouldn't understand. "You could be a cat. And hell, how do you think I feel all the time?"

In situations like this - when he was transported into whatever bizarre situation - he was always the normal one. He didn't have any magic, or powers, or abilities. He wasn't immortal, and he hadn't lived for years and years. He didn't have exceptional health or hearing or sight. He was just normal.

He glanced back at Tasha as he stood in front of Maahes, and his tail flicked nervously. He hoped she wouldn't be upset about him... wandering off. With a little shake of his head he dismissed the thought and sat beside Maahes. Or himself.

It was still weird as hell to be interacting with himself, even though he knew it was Maahes.

Maahes heard James give a meow as he approached, and he was overcome by the sneaking suspicion that it had been a response to what he had just said. He ducked his gaze down. He knew he was lucky compared to James right now, but it still didn't make being stuck as his friend any better. Being stuck as anything other than a spirit would have been bad.

"I'm sorry," he apologized to both Sune and James. He drew his legs up and pulled them close to his chest. It was only when Sune reached a little hand out and grabbed onto his arm that he realized he had let the scratch marks show.

"Maahes, what happened?" Sune asked.

Maahes abruptly leaned back, trying his best to hide the scratch marks again by putting his arms behind him in the guise of trying to lounge. "What do you mean?" he nonchalantly asked, staring when he noticed the look Sune was now giving him. Whether intentional or not, his student was pouting at him, and it looked absolutely adorable.

"You got hurt," Sune said, folding his arms.

"I just bumped into one of the shelves," Maahes replied, but the moment he waited before speaking definitely didn't help his case. "That's all."

Sune stared at him, then over at James. "They looked like scratches."

"They, uh, weren't-"

"Maahes," Sune said, scooting over to him and grabbing onto his arm. Maahes winced when he felt the pressure being added to the cuts, "Arin tries hiding her injuries all the time. I know a scratch when I see one-is that blood?"

He gave a very unsteady and hesitant shrug.

"Yes please." Dante let out a sigh of relief and picked herself up from the floor. She toyed with the ribbon on her wrist, comforted by the distant familiarity of it.