Preview of the Next Story Arc of Be Human · 9:31pm Dec 28th, 2012
Landing in front of the store, she went in, wading into a store that assaulted her senses with a dozen different distractions. Scents and aromas, various and unfamiliar, filled her nose; statues, bric-a-brac and various other items, many completely unfamiliar to her despite having lived in Japan since she was three. What she did not see, however, was the old woman who ran the store. “Hello? Kappabashi-san? I’m here from the Versailles Café. I’ve brought your order,” the pegasus called out, but no one was there.
After a few seconds of waiting, Tsubasa set down the pack, removing the tea kettle and cookies and set them down by the antiquated cash register. “Kappabashi-san? Are you here?” Now partly worried that something could have happened to the woman and half worried that something was about to happen to her, she walked into the back area of the store behind the counter, looking for the woman, passing through the bamboo blind that separated the front part of the store from the back.
A second later, Tsubasa regretted walking back there. There were dozens of shelves, all filled with traditional Chinese medicines – which was a polite way of saying there were some freaky things back there. Dried spiders and scorpions, frogs and snakes embalmed in some fluid, dozens of herbs and plants she’d never seen before – wait, is that a skull? Suddenly Tsubasa felt very afraid as a shiver of fear crawled up her back and her wings tamped down, caught in the natural fear method of her equine ancestry. It took her a few seconds to remember that she lived amongst humans, and humans were never afraid of just being in weird spaces.
Then again, I’m Japanese and living in the land of ghosts, she thought, remembering her father’s ghost tales now and then. Plus, summer wasn’t that far away, and tradition stated that’s when ghosts were closest to the mortal world….
And that’s when she heard it. The sound. It echoed like a bell in the middle of a windtunnel. There was something seductive, alluring about it. It was enough to make Tsubasa forget her fears and walk towards the back of the storage room, past several spiderweb-covered shelves filled with countless things that could be worse, until she stopped at the very back, looking at a single shelving unit, upon the middle shelf sat the object that sang to her.
Sitting in a glass case on a base of beautiful shimmering silk, was a near-perfect sphere of jade. It was “near-perfect” not because of the sphere itself, which was clearly a perfect orb, but the spikes of pure obsidian that jutted out from it at various intervals. The object glowed with a soft green hue, occasionally putting out a blast of soft energy that dissipated into the air; it was this last effect that caused the musical tone she was hearing.
Part of her wanted to touch it, and before she even realized what was going on, she began to extend her arm towards it, her right forehoof already shaping into the hand-like motions as her hoofspace did what came naturally.
“What are you doing here?” a crackling voice erupted from behind her and nature took its course: her wings rocketed out and pushed her upwards, so much so that she slammed headfirst into the ceiling, coming down painfully on the ground. Her vision swam and it took a few minutes for her to regain her footing…only to find herself staring straight at a monster.
New years dragon. Calling it now.
Oooo. A side story for Tsubasa? Very interesting...
What happened with the other preview (that one about human Twilight and Candance)?
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Story isn't quite jelling for me right now, so I'll get back to that later. It will come out (remember that Garble's and Millie's story came out much later than intended) but it's just not connecting for me at the moment.