~shaking <-=-> Waking^, Tag Zane

[Iris Boroen]

Rift jumping was not for the weak of heart. It had made little Iris so dizzy that she'd lost her senses and appeared here in a daze. It took her a while to come out of her stupor, the first thing she saw was her ever faithful mutant.

"Pooky. Heel," she mumbled, and the giant insect immediately obeyed. She used the reigns to pull herself up, looking around at where she found herself. There were too many things to see. She closed many eyes again quickly, still too dizzy to absorb her surroundings.

[Zane]

Zane was already up and moving. He was still in his werewolf form, for he didn't dare change out in an unfamiliar enviroment. It was safer for him, and he was stronger this way. He shook more dust from the falling school from his fur as he perked his ears to look around again. His ears twitched as he heard Iris speaking to the flying insect she had named Pooky. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

If that stupid girl hadn't been flying around the school at doomsday then he wouldn't have wound up here. Why couldn't he have been transported to somewhere Eteuso had actually dragged him before? But of course luck was never on the side of the grouchy werewolf. The sooner he managed to get somewhere familiar, the better.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris finally opened just her normal eyes and looked around. Stone walls rose up around her in every direction... and Zane! Iris jumped up and scurried over to him.

"Zane! You saved me!" she squeaked, crowding him happily. Pooky followed close behind, looking all around as well. It was very quiet...

[Zane]

As Iris stepped near, Zane's golden eyes narrowed and he stepped away. Personal space much? He snorted at her exclamations, his gaze trailed over the walls and the air, his nose scenting, and his ears listening. The phrase 'It's too quiet' rang in his head. "Iris...shut up will you?" he was trying to listen.

"Yes. I saved you, but only because you were too much of an idiot to realize that the school was coming down around you. Do realize I could have saved more students if you hadn't been so dumb and lingered as long as you did?" he growled at her. He knew that not every student had been lucky enough to make it out.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris's face fell and she looked at Zane like he'd just informed her that her best friend had just been eaten. Her look of despair soon mutated into a scowl.

"Well you didn't have to save me! I could have taken care of myself! I just finished my greatest work: PTD-621. He could have saved me, see?" she quickly demonstrated by swiping a rock off the ground and chucking it at the massive insect behind her. She didn't even look to see what happened, she just glared at the werewolf while the stone shattered upon impact with Pooky's hard shell.

"I've been working on him for 3 years and now I don't need anybody but him because he's strong, he's smart, he can fly, and he can hunt. He can protect me now and I don't need anybody, especially a dumb, stubborn werewolf!" she snapped.

[Zane]

Zane had to admit, he was a little taken aback by Iris' sudden change from peppy to anger, but all that she said and did just made him smirk. There wasn't much she could say to make him upset, he'd had so much worse before after all.

He perked a brow at the odd mutated wanna be insect horse...thing, or whatever she had called it. Some kind of code that he didn't care to remember. As she finished insulting him, he had stood up and stared at her coldly. "Oh, dumb, and stubborn? Is that the worst you've got human?" a growl rumbled in his throat.

"If you didn't need me then why were you so quick to sing praises just a moment before. If you don't need me and only need that insect...Then I'll take my leave." he turned and stalked off, the fur on the back of his neck bristled and his walk stiff, the wolf accumulation of anger.

[Yi'Jera]

Iris huffed and shouted at him. "You're going the wrong way, you crumb bum. Everybody knows you're supposed to find the middle of a maze. We have to go that way," she stabbed the air with her finger in a different direction.

"I'm not going to call you mean names or leave you here to get lost because I'm decent. I don't need you, but I was happy because you did something nice for me. You didn't have to do it but you did it anyway. It's something that people do, they do things that don't neccissarily benefit themselves to help others because it's the decent thing to do. Take a lesson and follow me," she snipped, patting Pooky, who immediately squated down. She straddled the mutant insect and he lifted up, beginning to trot off in the way Iris directed.

[Zane]

Zane turned about to face Iris, his fur still bristling with annoyance and anger. "The center? Oh really? And tell me, just where the hell is the exit in the center hmm?" he asked tilting his head. "The last time I checked with any maze, the exit and entrances are always on the edges." he huffed.

He watched her mount up on her mutant bug thing with disgust. "I knew I should have just left your ass to be crushed along with everything else. I could have found myself a portal that would have led me back to my homeworld and everything would have been better if I had taken my chances with the council." he growled. He heard the insect begin to trot off in some direction that he didn't care to notice. "If you think I'm going to be a good little puppy and follow you wherever you direct you can think again." he said turning back to walk off in his prior direction.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris kept going her way... for about 10 more seconds before tugging the reigns and coaxing her steed to follow the stupid werewolf. She trailed him stubbornly. She was simply too fond of him to let him go off and die in the maze.

"There's no edge..." she mumbled, clearly disgruntly, but she knew he'd hear it.

[Zane]

Zane continued walking, hearing the footsteps of the insect following after him once it abruptly. He frowned in faint annoyance, he was really hoping that she would continue off in her own direction, he was definitley interested to see just how well her little pet could take care of her, before it got eaten by a giant frog or something, but he had his own business to take care of...like to remember how in the hell to open up a portal to take him somewhere familiar.

He growled lowly at her statement about not having an exit or entrance. What was this a labrynth? After all those were the only maze like annoyances that lacked those. He frowned at the thought. Didn't labrynths also have nasty beasts running around them to attack maze goers? He stopped his tail swishing slowly and his ears and eyes alert. Monsters...great that would be just what he needed.

[Iris Boroen]

Fine. If he didn't want to listen, that was his problem. Iris really liked this place, there was so much to see, so much fun to be had. She didn't plan on leaving any time soon, she wanted to see more.

She also thought that maybe she should go to the middle first, but she couldn't leave a stupid werewolf alone. This labyrinth went on further than any of her eyes could see, if he got lost, it was probable that he could die in here.

Iris lay down on Pooky's back, looking bored. She watched the sides of the walls, noticed small things. Some of the rocks were funny colors... Hey, there was grass. She plucked some up and examined it while Pooky kept on following. It wasn't exactly like anything she was familiar with, but it was similar to a popular tall weed that grew around trees or swamps where a certain breed of moth liked to nest. She remembered when her parents brought her bayou water to play with in her chemistry set, and the pictures they took. Lots of this stuff... sorta...

Pooky stopped and cocked his head a few steps past Zane. This brought Iris back to Earth... or whatever it was. She sat up and nudged Pooky's sides to get him to keep going, but the mutant wouldn't move. She turned to look back at Zane, who looked equally disturbed.

"Is there something ahead? Why have we stopped?" she inquired quietly.

[Zane]

Zane tilted his head looking up towards the dusky sky. He had no idea if it was eternally dusk here or if it would get dark, after all it had been late afternoon when they had run through the portal to get here, and who knew how long both of them had been out for, after all, Zane didn't exactly wear a watch, neither human nor werewolf form. He'd never seen much use for one.

He stiffened from his thoughts as he thought he caught a faint sound, like wings. He strained his ears forwards, his eyes flashing about, as Iris spoke up he glanced back at her. "Shh..." he murmured cautiously. There it was again, the soft sound of wings moving the air, as well as a sharp metallic and woody tang to the air. The smell of something...Then the realization hit him, bugs. But this sounded...unnatural.

He turned to look at Iris. "Iris..." he said still looking around cautiously. "You seem to be an insect expert...what kind of bugs could live around here?" he asked, the fur on the back of his neck beginning to raise uneasily.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris smiled and examined the grass.

"Moths... big moths..." she carefully sniffed the long weed and scrunched up her nose, offering it to Pooky to smell. The mutant promptly spat on it, turning it a dull shade of blue. "Poisonous... very poisonous," she noted. She opened all of her eyes, searching the surrounding area. Certain gray areas were lit with red and she nodded calmly.

"Sooo... you wanna run? Or do you wanna stay and make friends, personally, I could go either way,"she offered calmly, leaning down on Pooky, petting his head to try and calm him down.

[Zane]

Zane scowled at Iris as she proceeded to grin. This really didn't seem like a matter to smile about to him. He sat down as Pooky decided to spit on the blade turning it blue. Moths...great...That explained the wings..."How big would you say?" he asked flicking an ear in the direction of another pair of wings.

Poisonous moths? Even better. He stood up and huffed looking around. "Any interest in giving me some coordinates on them?" he asked scowling at her. He shook out his coat, his fur dropping back to normal as he glanced around. "Oh yeah sure, let's go say hello, maybe have some tea." he snorted. Not like they had tea anyway. Of course they were going to run.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris shrugged at his first question, stretching her arms to the sides and reaching her fingers out as far as they could reach, just a guess on their wing span. She was still smiling though. She wanted to meet them.

"They're up around the next three corners give or take, I think..." she guess on the next question. It was much harder seeing through stone, the only eye that really could was the one on her forehead, and that eye only gave her vague, blobby pictures...

"Are you sure you don't want to stay? I'll bet they're really cool," she offered. There was no creepy crawlie she hadn't been able to tame in the past... well, teremites had bad habits that couldn't be cured, but at least they showed some restraint for Iris...

[Zane]

Zane pinned his ears to his skull and sighed. Just great, they were at least three corners away, plus they could fly, now he had no idea how well Iris could deal with bugs of any sort, and frankly he couldn't care less. However at her next question, he glanced at her with an unreadable expression.

"Why in the hell would we want to stay? I have no love of insects of any sort. Especially not those that have the capability to kill me with any form of poison." Yeah, dying via poison? Or better yet dying via bugs? Not on his to do list. He'd rather die half crazed after screwing up a hunt during the full moon.

[Iris Boroen]

"Fine, fine. No need to get your panties in a bunch. Do you want to lead the way, or did you want to get out of here and let me lead?" he inquired sarcastically. She had no idea why he wanted to go back anyway. The world she knew didn't like werewolves, and the world she thought he knew didn't like him anyway. She was already liking this place, it was all a big game to her.

[Zane]

Zane's hackles rose as he snarled faintly at Iris, being stuck out here with this brat just really wasn't suited to his style. He bit back a retort and let the low rumbling growl die in his throat. He would get nowhere fast if he decided it would be a good idea to sit and argue. Maybe he was finally learning to be rational and mature?

"Well seeing as we're both lost, and I can't see through walls, you go ahead..." he growled grudgingly. His anger was barely being held in check, maybe it was best to ignore that maturity mark for the time being. Another retort probably wasn't far away.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris turned her nose up, playing the part of the brat if that was what he wanted to see her as.

"I'm never lost. Up, Pooky," she commanded. The mutant bug's wings hummed loudly, and he slowly hovered up.

"Tell me if you want me to slow down Zane. Can't have you getting lost without me," she cooed, squeezing the sides of the insect with her heels and gripping the reigns. The insect took off like a blur in the opposite direction they'd come in. Iris's grid eye watched the ground and mapped their route out carefully. If they were going to run into trouble, Pooky would change her route for her when he smelled it.

The insect flew through the maze with practiced precision, following Iris's every sharp direction with ease. Even with his wide wingspan, he never once grazed the narrow walls or missed a turn. Iris glanced back to make sure Zane was keeping up.

[Zane]

Zane bristled even more at the snide comment of never being lost. Arrogance was almost defined by that moment right there. He stepped back from the wings and the aggravating humming noise they created as Pooky took off. He really didn't care for that bug.

Oh yeah, sure he'd tell her if she needed to slow down, just like he needed a hole in his head. He had too much pride to ever say whether or not he couldn't keep up, besides he doubted that damn bug could travel very fast anyway. As the bug took off, Zane blinked and had dashed off after it in a similar blur of grey and shadowy motion. Werewolves were definitley quite a bit faster than their ordinary wolven counterparts.

The wind buffeted his fur and his ears pinned against his head as he followed the flying insect move for move through the maze. This was child's play.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris grinned when she saw him keeping pace. She waved back at him cheerfully, appearing not to be paying attention to the road ahead... of course. She wasn't paying attention with her forward eyes, sure.

A few more turns, and lots of whipping around in the air, and they came to a sudden halt. His stop was immediate, no slow down, like he hit an invisible wall.

"Down Pooky," she ordered, and the insect gracefully landed on the grassy ground below. They'd come to a grassy clearing. There were trees and bushes and stone walls all around. And rifts... she could see the rifts... She turned to look smugly back at Zane, an 'I told ya so' grin on her face.

[Zane]

Zane blatantly ignored the smile and wave that Iris gave him when they were zipping through the maze at inhuman speeds. As they came to a halt in the clearing, Zane despite vain hopes, watched as when Pooky came to a dead halt, Iris didn't flip off the bug.

Zane trotted in and halted glancing around at the walls. He wasn't even winded, his breathing regular and his eyes disinterested. He didn't even look at Iris and her smug grin. The smug grin he really would have liked to wipe off with a good ripping of a limb. But he doubted even that would inspire any fear in the girl, not to mention her bug would probably do something about that.

He padded warily around the clearings, staying clear of rifts and glancing at each of them in turn, he could scent the locations that they went, some identifiable, others not...Was there....? He smirked faintly. Yes, there was a rift to his home. If he could just ditch the girl he'd be good, as long as she didn't follow him anyway, but he didn't really care if someone decided to eat her.

[Iris Boroen]

She watched him sniff around. She thought about how to figure out which rift she should take to get back home... then she remembered... what home? What did she have to go back to? Anything?... Her parents?... No, she'd been in denial for years, her parents didn't want her. They were afraid of her, she'd only ever caused them trouble and hardship...

Hey, she could follow Zane!

"Where are you going to go?" she inquired, wiping the smug grin off her face now that the game was over and it was time to clean up.

[Zane]

And there it was...his worst fear confirmed. She wanted to follow him. He snorted at the thought. He glanced back at her. "I'm going to see the council...With any luck I won't be killed for some idiotic reason." he growled lowly shaking his head.

The council didn't approve of Eteuso running around and chomping on humans to help restore the werewolve clans. Sure it did help some, but with children disappearing after being on the recieving end of "dog" bites as some called it, many people were suspicious, though of course Eteuso didn't strike the same place twice. To top it off, after a few years under his tutelage, he just dumped their butts off into the wild.

Zane really wasn't happy being the current source of the council's frustrations just for being the latest unfortunate that Eteuso had dragged into the magical world. "And don't even think about it Iris. That place isn't for you. You'd more likley than not be killed on site." he said fixing her with his piercing gaze. He'd been working on the whole paralyze thing and had now figured out how to turn it on and off, and currently, it was off.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris frowned. Oh boo on him. She got excited when he made eye contact with her.... but they weren't doing that thing they did before.... That disappointed her further.

"So why are you going back?" she wondered innocently, her big, brown, forward eyes trying to look at him just the right way so the thing that happened before would happen again...

[Zane]

His mouth quirked into a faint smirk as she stared long and hard at him. Try as she might she wouldn't get the same reaction as before out of him, these eyes were safely guarded from affecting anything else until he released the power, hell, maybe he'd even have to get her to miss which portal he went into.

"Because I have to kid." he muttered rolling his eyes as if it should have been obvious to anyone. "You don't defy the council, they've been wanting me back since they came to check in on me, and if I delay it any further, I'll just be another body in the cemetery's, get it?" he asked with a low rumble from his throat.

Of course if the council ever did try to kill him, they'd have to fight him until he went down, because of course he planned to go down swinging. None of that roll over and die crap that half of the suckers that were killed by the council pulled. Nah going down fighting seemed a pretty noble way to go in his opinion.

[Iris Boroen]

She squinted, trying to figure out the angle she needed to be at... never finding it. She didn't really flat out ignore what he'd said, she just didn't respond to it. She didn't want to have to say 'Yes, I understand that you have to go somewhere where you'll be with your own jerk kind being jerks to each other'. Not after all the trouble she'd gone through to try and help... She had finished Pooky to try and help Zane after all... He didn't want her help. He'd never wanted her help. He'd never wanted to be friends either, never even tried.

"Why... aren't your eyes doing the thing they did before?" she inquired, dropping the subject entirely. She didn't want to hear any more about how he was going to get get himself killed.

[Zane]

Had Iris bothered to say that, he probably would have snorted and walked off right then, in fact he was trying to do just that right now, but there was still the matter of making sure he wasn't followed, and that Iris just wouldn't stop asking questions. Sure he didn't care a bit about the girl, but he really didn't care to have her blood on his paws...er hands if she decided to follow him skipping happily behind him into the rift to his homeworld.

He smirked, knowing she'd probably ask about that sooner or later. "Control. This power isn't a permanent thing with no off switch, I've gotten the hang of turning it off and on so that no other little girls with eyes all over them stalk me around for a closer look at how it works. he chuckled, not a true laugh, but harsh and cold. Zane was losing patience, and when that happened he usually got mean.

[Iris Boroen]

"Oh..." she muttered, looking away. Stupid werewolf... she hadn't stalked him... Maybe she'd looked for him once or twice when she'd gotten lonesome. She'd bumped into him, what, 2? 3 times tops? That soooo didn't count as stalking.

Okay, so Zane knew what he was going to do, that didn't mean Iris had a plan. She was just a little girl, how was she supposed to know what to do? She dismounted and sat on the ground, looking up at him, ready to watch him walk out of her life forever and go get himself killed while she tried to figure out how she was going to survive now that she had nowhere to go...

[Zane]

No, Zane wasn't stupid, brash maybe. Uncaring maybe too. Depended on how he reacted to you. Cold may have been one of the best descriptions one could give the Were. He blinked glancing down at Iris as he moved towards another of the dimensional rifts. She had sat down by Pooky, looking as dejected as ever. A small pang of sympathy surfaced as he glanced at the girl before he stepped into the portal.

"Where are you going to go?" he asked her, tilting his head faintly. He could maybe spare a few more minutes, besides it would probably take that long to squash this stupid remorse for leaving her butt in a hopeless situation.

[Iris Boroen]

She shrugged.

"I was hoping you could tell me..." she mumbled. Iris's bravado was fading fast. Now that the thrill of invention was gone, she was starting to feel scared. She'd been isolated, but never truly alone... She had Pooky...

[Zane]

Zane glanced at the portal he was standing at. For the first time ever, Iris actually sounded different from the cheerful and enthusiatic little annoying energy ball she always was. Was that...fear? He frowned, his nose wrinkling. "You worry too much." he grumbled rolling his eyes, trying to put back on his old Zane the cranky furball facade.

He looked to each portal in turn, "That heads to Hell, best avoid, Heaven, you might get help there, not sure what they'll think of pooky, that one goes to somewhere you don't want to know about, that one goes back to L. Krieg, I'd suggest that. After all, you'd probably find the headmaster, or even students there milling around..." he shrugged faintly. If she was hoping he'd invite her to come with him she was sadly mistaken. It was like he'd said before, if she stepped foot in there, she'd be killed, his say or not.

[Iris Boroen]

She didn't want to endanger Pooky... She smiled a little and nodded, looking to the rift where the school was. Her smile fell. The middle was glowing red according to the eye on her forehead, it would be dangerous to go through.

"I'll go back to school when it's not dangerous... right now, there's something on the other side that I should avoid. Thanks, Zane," she squeaked, looking cheerful again. How long could the danger remain anywho?... Unless the rift opened way up high... or over sharp rubble that wouldn't be cleared away... Her powers helped her stay out of harm's way mostly...

[Zane]

Zane watched her smile fall as she looked at the Rift, his own eyes narrowed as he looked at it thoughtfully before back at Iris. "That would probably be a wise decision. You're probably not in any danger here, you seem to be able to make bugs of any sort obey you, and you've always got Pooky here if you need something I suppose..." Zane cast another glance at the rift to his home, not sure if he was eager to leave or not...

No use prolonging anything though. "No problem..." he murmured quietly. He decided since he probably wouldn't ever see this kid again, no matter if he died or not (seeing as the council would keep him stuck in the realm until they got an adequate explanation of some sort from him...), he would be nice this once. "Take care of yourself kid." he said smiling softly towards Iris, not a sarcastic smile, but a true one, even if it was on the face of a wolf. And with that he stepped through the rift and disappeared.

[Iris Boroen]

Iris was smiling as she watched him go.

"Good bye, Zane. Good luck..." he muttered after he was gone. She found herself all alone in a foreign world. She wondered how long it would take the rift to move to a safer place... She wondered how long she might end up being here... Being careful to avoid the rifts, she went to sit under the shade of a large tree... wierd tree, not exactly an oak tree... kinda like one... The bark was all damp.

"Pooky. Snack," she ordered. The bug disappeared back into the maze to find her something edible. Good bug...