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Morgan opened her eyes, then bolted up, staring back and forth. The statues… were MOVING.

How hard had she hit her head? She felt automatically for a bump under her brown hair, but found none. Her glasses had been knocked off when she fainted, but she could make out blurry, moving figures all around her.

Had… had someone come in while she was unconscious, and was now stealing the statues?! Morgan felt her blood boil. This was her art (well, the museum’s, but still)! No one would steal it under her watch and get away without at least a black eye! She grabbed the nearest hoodlum.

“Hey! Moron! Where’s the art?!”

She immediately regretted it.

The person she had grabbed wasn’t a person at all, but some sort of monster! It had grey skin, cattish eyes, and long, sharp… Morgan gulped. Talons. She let him go immediately and took a step back before her brain registered what he looked like.

A gargoyle. The Gargoyle of Avon!

Fury coursed through her. She didn’t know or care how he was moving. This was all obviously a prank of some sort, a very cruel prank. Morgan wondered if maybe one of the bigwigs was behind it, but dismissed the notion. They only cared about money, not jokes… or the art itself, for that matter. They wouldn’t do this… but who?

Morgan cleared her throat imperiously. “OK, look, whoever it is that’s doing this, this isn’t funny, so please make the statues move back to where they belong and in their proper poses or else I’ll find you and stuff whatever fancy wires you’re using down your throat. Do I make myself clear?”

She looked at the gargoyle before her defiantly. “It’s not safe to move such priceless art around so callously.”

If you p***k us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?

A deep growl erupted from a four footed creature standing next to Bryson; just before breaking through his own stone enchantment. Three and a half feet of grumpy fury, the gargoyle dog barked a number of times while shaking off the remnants of stone from his body. Instantly, his puppy-like face was adorned with a trademark frown as a hypersensitive nose began sniffing the air.

This was certainly not the last place he remembered being…where was the meadow? The fighting and clamor of steel against steel?

Crimson eyes glancing about, Iain was pleased to see his pet—Bryson of Dal Riata—present and seemingly unharmed. Ah, and all those foreigners were about as well. Ensuring that the other two gargoyles were alive and well, Iain continued to sniff around, stretching his miniature wings while he surveyed the area. Although he was sure Bryson was attempting to show him some manner of affection, the charcoal skinned mutt would have none of it. He first had to verify if they were in safe surroundings, something he was sure his stupid, although well-meaning, pet had not done upon waking.

Silly bi-pedal creatures…how could they even hope to survive without canines?

- - - - -

“Artemis!” Bryson hollered with relief as the first of his brethren awoke, a wide grin spreading across his charming features, “An’ Oberon!” Stepping closer to the satyr, the towering gargoyle placed a clawed hand gently on his best friend’s shoulder, finding comfort in the small exchange. “I dinnae kens, Oberon. Did ye all suddenly ha’e the urge tae bena gargoyle?” Referring light-heartedly to fact that everyone was encased in stone, Bryson attempted to overlook the solemnity of the situation. Everyone was asking for the truth…and all he had was bits and pieces to the puzzle.

“Iain! C’mere ye dunderhied!” Bending slightly and reaching for the gargoyle canine, the redhead’s hand was evaded and ignored with a snort from the overweight dog. Releasing a childish whine, the leader of the clan straightened himself with an amused smirk, “Too gud fer me, are ye?”

Everyone was waking…Riina, Raizou, and Ariana…everyone was going to be okay.

Although something was going on in his peripheral vision—something with a woman’s voice and the clattering of a bottle—the Scottish creature was interrupted by the feeling of a hand on his arm. Blinking in surprise, the gargoyle turned to face his opponent, a frown etching onto his features as instinctive muscles began to tighten. His features must have been terrifying, with slightly bared fangs and his towering physique.

But oh…it was just that human lass; and she seemed as confused as he was.

“A piece o’ art am ah?” Bryson of Dal Riata began to chuckle, his amethyst eyes staring straight at the human, “Weel ye could at leas’ ask fer me name afore ye begin flirtin’ wi’ me.” Never let it be said that despite his appearance, Bryson was not full of himself. Seeing as this human did not seem to pose any threat to them, the Scottish gargoyle did not feel worried. She had no companions, as far as he could smell; and Iain, Bryson was sure, was already checking on any nearby enemies.

“Aye, lady.” The leader continued, his voice accenting hard on his vowel sounds as he agreed with Riina, “Why du ye keep callin’ my clan ‘art?' An’ where is this place ye’ve takin’ us?’”

And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

(( OOC: Sorry for the laziness to write in a Scottish accent in this post xD;;

I'm sure Bryson will feel more compelled to actually figure out what happened in the next post -w- ))

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Ariana watched the seemingly flighty Arab looking girl pounce on bryson. It was rather odd, considering Ariana hadn't the foggiest idea where the girl had come from. She looked around at the many others for some sign of her magical appearance. Soon enough, she spotted a jewel encrusted bottle clutched in the hands of a very confused and dazed looking Oberon. Ariana sidled over next to him to get a closer look at the bottle. It was very well crafted and beautiful, a perfect container for a Genie it would seem. Ariana was very intrigued by the item, and a bit jealous that Oberon had found it and not her.

She would like a wish or two. A wish to send her back through time to before this damned war. A wish to send her back to before the humans ever existed. The world in her mind would have been so much better off without their influence. She would be better off without their influence. Their god awful music and rituals, their need to destroy all they didn't and couldn't understand, they were just not worth the air they breathe. A wish to annihilate their presence from her memory would be great to add to the list.

"I don' mean to be rude," She whispered, trying to hide her Irish brogue. "But why'd you do a darned thing such as let the wee bit out of the bottle?"

She sneaked a peek back at the shenanigans going on between the genie and the gargoyle before looking back at Oberon for an answer, her black eyes fixed.

The saytr was strong, a good ally for a later day. He was smart, a genius even, she knew. He was also very brave. All good qualities, most she lacked. He would make a great ally indeed. She would need his talents for her own means, if it ever came to that. She liked the saytr, he worked well with her discomforts. She was very cunning, but not that brave. She was extremely smart, but not strong enough to see her plans through to fruition. She was shy and calculative and she knew it was her downfall, but she couldn't help that. For now she sat and watched.

Rai stared in aw at the genie as she locked lips with Bryson, slightly disturbed by the image. He felt as Riina's hand fell silently into his and with a sideways glance he knew why. Ariana had moved around a bit and that seemed to make Riina uneasy. The two had always had a bit of a conflict between them. Riina always wanted to make friends, Ariana always seemed to brush her aside.

Rai sauntered away from her proximity and over to the gargoyle dog seated near Bryson and stroked its furrowed brow. The creature obviously didn't like being near so many non-gargoyles. Rai thought his presents may ease the animal's tension.

"Hey Iain," He said with a soothing tone. "Too many of 'em huh?"

He smoothed his hands over the creature's rough hide and spoke to it while Riina glanced between the strange human girl and Ariana whispering to Oberon.

"I don't like this," She whispered to herself. "I don't like this at all."

RiinaNarome

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There was an absence of air. Dandak kept trying to breathe, but no air was coming into his nose. He started to hear cracking. Air was now present, and it was getting easier to breathe the louder the cracking sounds became. A beam of light hit his face. He squinted at its presence. It felt like it had been a while since he had seen any form of light. He glanced down to see that apart from his head, his body was encased in stone, crumbling stone that is. He whipped his tail side to side hitting harder and faster against the stone until there was none left around his tail. He had no choice but to wait until the stone around his upper body fell away.

It was then heard someone scream, “So unless the lot of you plan on turning back to stone when the sun comes up, I suggest you leave now. The world can’t handle this.” It appeared to be a human female. Oh how Dandak adored humans, though most were afraid of him. They would look at his half human, half snake body and normally flee in terror. He wasn’t really scary looking, its just that a good bit of humans are afraid of snakes. Alas, he couldn’t help it, he was a Naga and he couldn’t change that.

Then It occurred to him, ‘Wasn’t I in a battle? What happened to my pole arm? My Clan, where are..’ He stopped and looked around the woman. It was his clan, and some being he didn’t recognize, she looked human, but it seemed that she wasn’t. Could she be a genie? ‘Nah,’ he thought. It couldn’t be a genie, because no one in his clan had a genie, unless they had somehow obtained one. It was no use to think about it though, his memory was fuzzy. He figured that Bryce would know, or at least he should, he is their leader afterall. He hated being confused, and it looked like he was one of the last members to break out of stone. Hopefully others knew.

Dandak was tucked in a different part of the room from the others, so he slithered his way on over are was looking at the strange being, that could possibly be a genie.

“Hey Bryce, who is this, and who is that human? And why was I surrounded by stone, I ain’t a gargoyle.” He said. He was no longer finding the strange being interesting, so he slithered on over to the human.

“I’m Dandak,” He cheerfully spoke, “Who might you be? I just love humans, though most just run away from me! Heh, Oh and Clan, have you seen my polearm, how can I protect m’self without it?”