When You Wish Upon A...Headless Statue (Viskyia)

[Reilly]

TS = late Kalendryas, Winter Era XV PF

Continued from here...

Once Viskyia and Reilly were both in the back room, the half-elf girl retrieved a note from the shelf. She pressed it into Viskyia's hands. The note read:

To Reilly, may this bring you luck and happiness. It is suppose to grant a wish or two. Well that's what the man who sold it to me said. But who knows, maybe it'll bring you great luck... Love Ruddock. I know the shoppe is fine and running well so I am not worried, not one bit. Vacation has been great... I've been working too hard and I think I'll never work another brightening again!

"I'm not really sure what to make of it," Reilly said when Viskyia had finished reading it. "I don't know whether to make anything of it at all. But if there are wishes to be granted, I think I'm all for it." A not-particularly-safe sort of dreamy look came over her face.

"It had better do something good," she finally said. "Because even though I like Ruddock, that thing's hideous. If it grants wishes, I'll overlook it, but otherwise, I'm just gonna mark it up like it's something amazing and sell it to the next sucker who walks through the front door."

[Viskyia Crow]

Viskyia was a bit... startled when Reilly dragged her over to examine the thing that seemed... well... less than perfect artwork. In a whole store filled with lovely statuary, there was then this piece. It marred the perfection of Reilly's little sculpture world and made Viskyia peer closer at it. The thing was big, hideous, and like nothing she'd ever seen before. "What I don't understand is why its lacking a head? Surely thats no way to ... communicate art. Traditionally women are beheaded for their faithlessness to their spouses or being the wrong religion. Did Ruddock say where he's been vacationing? That might help." Viskyia said softly, then stepped closer.

Glancing at Reilly for permission, she began a thorough search of the statue, examining every inch of it, even underneath for markings or clues as to where it came from... or what exactly it is. She didn't like the idea of it... not one bit... but she was also curious. "Did he say how it worked? I mean, do you just perhaps rub her stomach and make your wish or something?" Viskyia asked, herself wholly reluctant to partake of such things. Not only did it seem silly (though she'd never tell Reilly), but it also seemed dangerous. Wishes were never simple, and within her new life here, things were going far too well.

Once her examination was done, she stepped back thoughtfully. Then she glanced at Reilly. A slow smile spread across her lips. "Well, go on.... give it a try." The jeweler urged, some wicked part of her wondering if that was really the safe or even smart thing to do.

[Finnie]

Before Reilly could touch the statue, spit on it and rub it shiny, or make a wish on it, the headless thing shook slightly, glowing a faint lavender and humming. Then it became still and silent, as it was before, a plain ole headless statue that seemed to promise nothing. Warmth seeped from the inner core of the statue, radiating and reaching the two female's skin.

"Break me," a voice entered both Reilly and Viskyia's heads.

"I won't bite. Hard at least." And then a mischievous laugh filled the air inside Reilly's Shoppe.

[Reilly]

"Nrm..." Reilly grunted, looking around the empty back room. "Did you hear that, Viskyia? And no, I don't know where Ruddock is, nor did he say how it works. But I think we know now," the half-elf added with a wicked grin.

She took the statue in both hands, held it over the floor, and her smile grew even wider. "Shall I do it? Oh, I think I definitely should. A girl only lives once, you know. Besides, this statue is getting awfully heavy..."

Then she opened her heands and let the statue fall to the ground. It was a hard-surfaced floor, and if the laws of physics were still operational, the piece should shatter upon impact. That was precisely what Reilly was counting on.

She looked down to make sure that she had done her job, then glanced at Viskyia. Reilly had no idea what to expect now, and so she waited not-particularly-patiently for something to happen. Something good. Something wish-granting...

[Finnie]

How about something bad? Something curse granting? That was always a possibility with strange headless statues-- but Ruddock wouldn't play such a trick on poor little Reilly, would he? Aelyrian physics intact, the statue shattered upon impact with the solid floor, sending rock and wood chips flying a few inches off the ground. Out of the shattered rubble rolled out an olive turtle with an emerald shell. The turtle landed on its back and kicked all four of its plump legs in the air, rocking on it shell to roll back onto its feet.

"A little help please? I hate to be on my back. Feth."

A talking turtle. Better than a headless gnome.

"I really don't bite. Some people think turtles bite and carry all sorts of germs. Well I'm no ordinary turtle. Help me a bit then I'll grant you a wish. Heck I'll grant both of you a wish, one each. Promise!"

The turtle had a squeaky man's voice.

[Viskyia Crow]

OOCThanks for not waiting! I'm soo sorry I've been so busy lately. Reilly your a saint for waiting on me like you do.

Viskyia watched first the statue rock, then heard the voice in her head, and then as if in slow motion watched Reilly's actions. Immediately, she reached out to stop Reilly, but it was too late. Careless... the girl was flat out careless. In Viskyia's mind, breaking something was akin to triggering things... spells, series of bad events...

"Reilly, I don't think breaking it is a good idea...." The jeweler started to say.

Smash! Viskyia jumped back, gasped, then moved forward when she saw the creature. Her eyes widened, and she glanced up at Reilly... a turtle? Did they both believe that? Seeing was believing... sure enough. The jeweler knelt down and righted the turtle carefully by the edge of his shell (it sounded like a he after all....) and smiled slightly.

"This is Reilly, and I'm Viskyia. How did you manage to end up inside the ugliest statue either of us have ever seen?" She said with a laugh, slightly startled that he was still alive after being encased in stone. She hadn't seen any air vents after all... or had she?

Then Viskyia moved back so Reilly could fuss if she wanted too... after all, it was her statue and evidently her new pet talking turtle. "Do you have a name?" Strangely enough, this was the second talking animal she'd came across in Demios... so by now they weren't really that surprising.

[Reilly]

Pfft. If a headless statue told you to break it, why wouldn't you? Especially if it was an ugly statue to begin with. The statue probably knew more about its own care and handling than Reilly did -- not, admittedly, that that was particularly hard, but still, it was something to be acknowledged.

However, when the dust settled, it appeared that the awful statue had simply been a container in which was held...a turtle? Reilly looked at Viskyia with a doubtful expression of her own, but quickly bent down as her friend put the reptile back on its feet. "Yes, are you all right?" Reilly asked. "Did Ruddock send you?"

The whole situation didn't make much sense to Reilly. What she did notice, however, was that the turtle was mentioning wishes -- and that was precisely why she'd been going through this whole exercise in the first place. That dangerous-looking glint was back in the attractive half-elf's eyes.

"What sort of wishes?" Reilly knew she really ought to wait, but she was so excited that she couldn't really contain herself. Once again, it looked like Ruddock had come through for her. She was thrilled enough that she probably could have kissed her former boss if he had been there -- a fact that, if he had known it, surely would have been a source of bitter disappointment to him, given that there wasn't any way he could take advantage of it.

[Finnie]

"Miss Viskyia, Miss Reilly, at your service. The name is Oscar Mayerweina. Just call me Oscar." The turtle, winked and blinked, now flipped on its four feet-- or paws-- or whatever it was those damn turtle appendages were called. Oscar smiled-- yes a turtle could smile *my dog smiles btw* and it rubbed its turtle chin, studying the platinum blond female and the other blond female with a lewd sorta glint in his eyes-- yes he would be quite a lewd fella if he were a man. He was a man, a turtle man.

"Any sort of wishes my dear. Any sort of wishes. As for how I ended up in the statue-- well many eras ago, a wicked witch trapped me in it. If you've heard of those wish granting genies in storybooks, well you can say I'm one of them. In fact I wasn't a turtle all my life, I'm a wish spirit of some sort-- it's all arcana my ladies-- and the witch was angry I did not grant her wish-- she wanted world destruction. So you see there are limits to the wishes, but if you just tell me, Oscar Oscar, I wish for yaddy yaddy ya, I'll do my best to grant the wish, promise, now that you released me from that wretched smelly prison."

Oscar shook his dusty shell and winked again, waiting patiently for the ladies to tell him their wishes.

[Reilly]

Oh, that was enough and more than enough for Reilly. She was ready, and before Viskyia could say anything like "Maybe we should think about this, Reilly," or "Do you really think this is a good idea," the words were already tumbling out of the half-elf's mouth.

"All right then, Oscar. Let's see how this one goes. Oscar, Oscar, I wish to be a girl fantastically beautiful enough to be irresistible to cute boys. Is that one doable? If it is, I think that's gonna be my wish. Yes, that's definitely my wish." She tilted her head so that her one good eye was trained on the turtle and tried to judge his reaction.

She'd thought about wishing for a lifetime's supply of alcohol, but Reilly figured if she were irresistibly attractive, she probably wouldn't have to worry about finding someone to buy her a drink. The same went for asking for an unlimited supply of cute boys -- eliminating the part where she got to go look for them would take some of the fun out of it. Reilly was freed from having to do anything even moderately altruistic -- not that this was a likely occurence anyway -- by the fact that Viskyia got her own wish, and so she wasn't under any obligation to share. And since, aside from cute boys and alcohol, she didn't have much in the way of outside interests, that pretty well covered it.

Again, a certain thrill ran through her, and there was a look of complete, undisguised excitement and anticipation on her face as she glance over at her friend and then back at the turtle. It was all she could do to keep from rubbing her hands together in glee like a six-year-old child opening birthbrightening presents.

[Viskyia Crow]

Viskyia watched, fascinated... she had no idea if it was real though indeed Rameres the owl had been. She wanted to make a wish for herself too, but somehow it didn't seem right. This was Reilly's gift and her moment in the suns. After all, she had been the one to break the statue and free the turtle. Viskyia thought about things long and hard, knowing there were costs to wishes in all the stories she'd ever heard. She thought about all the the things the jeweler could wish for... her children to grow up happy, Alyssa to loose her anger, Faust to stay safe and remember her once in a while.... she even thought about a very selfish wish for her own being. Had this been a fairy tale, she'd have spoken the words Oscar Oscar I Wish to be able to take the shape of a Gryphon whenever I choose, because I've done it once and the flying was something I'll never forget. Flying... her true wish was for an ability to fly, like she'd been once gifted.

Then she heard Reilly's wish.

It stopped her blood cold and she turned to stare at the girl as if she was daft. Irresistible to men? She had to be kidding right? If she became that beautiful and that irresistible, they wouldn't be able to resist. They'd follow her home, haunt her, plague her, rape her... they'd even want to own her like a slave. So much for a sensible wish or a selfish one... this problem had to be fixed, because it was obvious Reilly didn't have any common sense.... though it was indeed too late for Viskyia to wish for that. The girl had already spoken foolishly, and Viskyia doubted there was arcana around powerful enough to grant that sort of thing to Reilly in the quantities she really needed.

"Oscar, Oscar... I wish that Reilly's wish be modified to only affect respectful sensible men, ones that will never take advantage of her, the type that when she says no, they will respect that so she always has a choice and always retains her freedom." Gods... it was a waste of a wish, but really Viskyia couldn't let Reilly go through with this insanity if there was a remote chance it was real. She'd have every devious bastard, pimp, gangster, thief... whomever, beating down her doorway and not giving her a choice to remain herself or not.

Viskyia sighed at the little turtle, then looked up at Reilly, wondering how she'd take the wish modification.... if she'd see the sense in it or if she'd already be worked into a rage.

[Finnie]

When Reilly finished wishing, Oscar Oscar had a glimmer in his reptilian *turtles are reptiles right? lol* eye and he winked. Within seconds, Reilly bosom ballooned to the size of double watermelons on her chest, but surprising airy and light like two balloons, with the illusion of ultimate softness and the ability to feed a small nation of milk-drinkers.

Then her hair became luscious and thick, long and blond like golden silk that fell to her thin and beautiful ankles. She smelled like lavender and honey and her eyes became larger, but equally blue and bright and her nose became a cute button, her waistline thinner, her legs longer, and her voice exquisite. So beautiful boys would bleed in the nose upon meeting her! She was now irresistible to all cute boys she would meet!

Of course Viskyia had to ruin the fun and a flash of displeasure lived on the turtle's wrinkly face. He rolled his eyes and nodded before he waved his paw and exploded into turtle dust.

"Your wish will last a month. Then you can choose whether or not you want it to last. You get one chance. Then it's back to what it was before your wish, or your wish fulfilled forever!"

Two men then came into Reilly's shoppe, one extremely cute boy, so cute any hormonal girl could faint just looking at his perfect feature, steely buns, and flat-abs, and cleft chin, and bright eyes, and dark dark hair... the other man a balding old fart with buck teeth, respectful, a small nobleman in fact, and he walked over to Reilly and bowed his head.

"You are the most beautiful creature I have ever beheld, I must say..." said the ugly but sensible and respectful man. The cute boy looked at Reilly and shook his head.

"She's much prettier," he said, winking at Viskyia.

[Reilly]

Reilly had something akin to exasperation in her face as Viskyia made her wish. Why did she have to be so...worried. After all, if Reilly had been in charge of making Viskyia's wish, she would have wished for her friend essentially what she had wished for herself, with only the possible caveat of "irresistible to any boys Reilly isn't interested in."

That was momentarily forgotten in the excitement of her transformation. It was certainly impressive enough, and Reilly squealed with glee. "Now that's what I'm talking about," she said to no one in particular. She was happy enough that she almost might have remembered to say thank you, had it not been for the fact that Oscar seemed to have vanished in a cloud of possibly-magical dust.

At this point, two men came into the shoppe. Reilly spun around, her eyes lighting up when she saw the attractive one. Here was going to be an immediate chance to put her wish into action, to see the results. She put her best smile on her newly-prettified face, and waited for the compliments...

...which came, but not from the proper source. What had Viskyia done? This was all her fault, and the look that she shot her friend would have been lethal to someone with a less stern constitution.

"Erm...thanks," Reilly said, more than a little flustered. "Can I interest you in any sculptures or charms?" Her lack of interest would be clear, and if the other part of Viskyia's wish-ruining was also true, at least she wouldn't have to be worried about any further advances. Again, she glanced at Viskyia. If she was going to have to watch that woman make out with the cute boy in front of her, Reilly was going to be much, much more than a little upset.

[Viskyia Crow]

Had Viskyia knew Reilly's thoughts, they would have set her off into fits of giggles. The girl... seriously worried Viskyia. When the two men slipped into the shop, Viskyia raised an eyebrow and decided a little harmless fun wouldn't hurt anyone. While cute boy number two was distracted, Viskyia gestured to ugly man number one and mouthed the words 'Filthy Rich' to Reilly and with a twinkle in her eyes made a universal gesture for ... uh... rather ... well... endowed. To the cute boy who seemed to give her all the attention, Viskyia smiled gently at him, leaned a hip against the counter and contemplate her next move. She certainly wasn't interested... her affections definitely ran elsewhere to darker skin and silvery hair.

She cleared her throat, smiled politely, and said... "So what about it Reilly... will you babysit my six darling children while I'm on vacation? Or shall I come back later while you don't have customers?" She grinned. A ring for her left hand... yes, it was about time for something like that, she decided.

[Finnie]

ooc: this spell lasts for five months, reilly. and here is the link to your new sof http://www.playbypost.com/forums/secret...ml#post1322353

le fin~