And above all, no wishing for more wishes

[consultmybooks]

Characters: Rupert Giles and YOU!
Open? Oh, yes.
Where: All around Schwanheim and the surrounding farmland
When: All day 2nd of Rebirth's Decline
What: Giles is stuck in a bottle. Giles would very much like to let out of the bottle. Giles will grant you a wish should you let him out of the bottle. And if you don't want a messed up poltergeist throwing furniture around, you should probably take him up on that.
Warnings: PG - Mayhem and chaos, but probably nothing much worse.
A bottle catches your eye, as you go about your business

It might be sitting on the dresser of your room, on a windowsill as you walk down the street, or just laying in the grass as though carelessly discarded. It seems, in all aspects, to be a perfectly ordinary bottle...except, well, you probably know by now that it's never a perfectly ordinary anything. For one thing, it seems to contain something, a swirling white mist that seems to move throughout the bottle like a living thing, trapped and testing the walls of its prisons. For another, well, for those who can sense it there's an undeniable spark of power about the bottle, a sense of magic, something that just makes it stand out. And for a third, it's just quite a nice bottle.

Maybe it was left here just for you to find. How else can you explain how it wound up here, just where you happened to look at this very instant, sitting just where it needed to catch your eye?

Go on, pick it up. It will fit nicely in your pocket (even if you don't currently have any pockets) and a bottle is a useful sort of thing to have around, isn't it?

Well, once it's empty. Maybe you should uncork it and shoo that strange mist out, first. Can't tell what it might do to whatever you put inside, otherwise.

Comments

[shiromadoushi]

Huh. Well this was strange. Bakura was pretty sure that bottle hadn't been there last he had looked...

He peered at it suspiciously. There were far too many stories and myths about this sort of thing for him to just go with the impulse to open it and let out whatever was in there...

[demonsintheoven]

There was something soothing about being blind. That calm darkness that seemed to make everything else so sharp and clear. Snow wasn't quite sure how the bottle got into her hand, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. It was light... far too light to have anything good in it.

She toyed with the cork idly, finger running around the edge of it. But there was something, wasn't there? Tap tap. Tap tap. How many taps to open? One for the front door, two for the back... there was a rhyme like that, wasn't there?

Worn fingertips traced the outside, searching for any design, raised lettering. She could just open it and have a sniff, but what would be the fun of that? Yet she probably would, if she couldn't tell what it was by feel.

[consultmybooks]

It certainly doesn't seem threatening. It barely seems aware of him, instead apparently being intently occupied swirling around and around and around the bottle in increasingly dizzying spirals. It's certainly agitated, though, and perhaps even rather distressed. If swirling mist could be distressed, which it seems that it can be.

But, twist and turn as it might, the bottle doesn't budge. It's pretty well trapped.

So it can't hurt to just pick it up for a better look, can it?

[consultmybooks]

The glass of the bottle is completely smooth, its shape curved into something between an hourglass and something a glass blower made after one too many hiccups. There's a short length of rope tied around the lip of it, just beneath the rough, worn surface of what is probably unmistakably a cork.

[shiromadoushi]

Some sort of spirit, maybe?

Bakura carefully picked it up, gently tapping on the side. "Ne, you... Can you hear me?" he called, watching closely for any sign of acknowledgment.

[demonsintheoven]

Tap tap. Tap tap. Her fingernail clinks gently against the glass as she hums inaudibly to herself. Nothing inside, yet closed so tight... so strange. She toys with the rope, fingers curling around it before she starts to swing the bottle back and forth by it in an idle motion.

[folklorist]

Helios was not expecting such a thing on his dresser when he awoke this morning. It's a very odd little bottle, despite its ordinary appearance. If it's one thing he doesn't do it's trust things like this that appear out of nowhere. Helios will tilt his head a little as he sits up in bed.

He'll lean over to pick it up shaking it slightly to test if anything is in it first.

[consultmybooks]

Whatever is in there clearly doesn't take kindly to being shaken, even slightly. If mist could dislike something, which this clearly seems to. The substance inside twists itself even more tightly, until it seems to form a small little funnel cloud, almost as though it's trying to avoid getting knocked against the sides of the glass and failing.

[consultmybooks]

A possible sign of acknowledgement comes in the fact that the strange substance inside seems to settle, somewhat, at the sound of Bakura's voice. It stops thrashing quite so visibly against the bottle and instead settles into something more like the mindless mist it seems to be.

But it isn't mindless. Something is definitely paying attention to Bakura now. It's the same sensation as feeling someone staring fixedly at you from behind your back.

[shiromadoushi]

Huh. Well that was interesting. Though Bakura rather did not like that feeling... it was far to similar to another feeling that he was not going to think about right now.

Well. This wouldn't be good to deal with in his room at the very least. Pulling his wizard hat, he heads out of his room, keeping an eye on the bottle as he walks.

"Can you speak?"

[folklorist]

"Oh!" Well. That's quite interesting. Helios will tap on the glass then, frowning a little as he does so.

"Rather interesting. I don't know what's inside you or who even put you here but it doesn't look like there's anything too dangerous in you." His eyes will glow again and a small spark will emanate from Helios' finger tips and hit against the bottle. His brow will furrow in consternation at the fact that he can't get a decent read on the bottle or its contents. A hex detecting spell should have worked and yet all it's turned up is something vague. Still whatever was inside this bottle wasn't too dangerous that much he knew for certain. With a small sigh he'll lightly grip the cork and proceed to pull it out, stopping at the halfway point between the top and bottom part of the opening.

"Perhaps there's some sort of pixie or genie inside it." A light chuckle as he finishes uncorking the bottle finally. Helios will get up and place it in the middle of the room so that whatever entity residing within it could be seen from all corners of the room.

[consultmybooks]

Just in time - almost the instant the open bottle is placed on the floor, a flash of light will fill Helios' immediate vision, blotting out the world for several seconds. When it clears, the room is as he left it, apart from two changes. The first is that bottle is obviously empty. And the second is that Giles is standing just beside it, his head in his hands, looking and sounding rather dizzied and weak.

He doesn't speak, apparently having all his concentration focused on getting his breath back. But, while they're standing there, suddenly a loud "crack" will echo throughout the room, the sound of shattering glass. A quick glance will be enough to confirm that Helios' bedside mirror has just cracked in three places.

[folklorist]

Helios will wince at that flash and then blink a hand going above his eyes as he looks at the source of said light. He was not expecting that, not at all. An initial jump and a slight shake at that cracking glass.

"G-Giles?!" His voice is surprised, slightly jumpy and shaky too. Helios is standing in apparent bewilderment looking at the other with pity and apology. Definitely not the genie or pixie he was initially thinking of.

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Hey! A bottle in the grass! Faolan flopped down next to it, breathing a bit heavy from running after squirrel. He picked up the bottle, turning it over to look at it from all angles.

[consultmybooks]

Giles looks up with a start, eyes wide and confused and lost. "Helios?" he stammers. Then, the moment seems to pass. Giles casts a look around the room, and sighs in frustration as he realizes where he is. "Oh, good lord. It just would to be you, wouldn't it?"

He casts a distasteful glance down at the bottle that was so recently his prison, before looking back up at Helios with evident annoyance on his face. Giles is coming more and more back to himself by the minute, and it's clear that he doesn't really like the situation he's found himself in.

"Just so I'm clear. All the magical research of an academy at your disposal...and you shake something you can't identify?"

[consultmybooks]

A bottle in the grass! A bottle in the grass filled with mist, of all things. Who would do a silly thing like filling a bottle with mist? That's a waste of a bottle.

As Faolan turns over the bottle, examining it, he might slowly become aware of a sensation, a feeling as though he's being watched intently.

That's not all, though. As he keeps a hold of the bottle, Faolan might begin to get the sense that here is a valuable thing he has found, something that could make him very happy indeed if he'll only make use of it.

[consultmybooks]

There's no reply, which could, of course, possibly be interpreted as a "no". Whatever it is that's inside the bottle just continues to watch him.

Bakura might get a feeling, however, as though whatever is inside is attempting to reach out to him all the same. As though, if it could talk, it would seeking for ways to bargain for its release, promising great rewards if only he'll just undo the cork...

[consultmybooks]

A feeling might start to steal over Snow as she does this. It's easily identified as not her own feelings, if only for how suddenly it seems to steal over her, but definitely a feeling nonetheless.

It's a feeling of distress, and frustration, and a bit of fear. Only a small part of which is because the thing feeling it is in a bottle that's being swung idly back and forth.

*tense slides all over the dang place*

[shiromadoushi]

Down the stairs, a sight frown on his face as he thinks on this. There's a very strong learned aversion to anything sealed in anything that wants to grant him a wish on a condition, however...

Once outside, he sets the bottle down, closing his eyes in consecration a long moment, a slight glow starting to build up around him. With a careful motion, he reaches out, making a circular motion with his hand around the bottle, an almost invisible shield forming around it. With a soft exhale he opens his eyes again, nodding to himself before crouching down to carefully undo the stopper.

Whatever was inside should be kept inside the shield... he hoped.

[demonsintheoven]

Snow stills, looking almost like a marionette who's strings have gone slack. "No... no more of that... I'm wearing it, don't get back into my head now..."

[folklorist]

Helios flinches a little at that hardened gaze directed towards him. "I-I didn't know...I was just...c-curious. And it, it didn't seem to be dangerous so I just..."

He'll stop his stammered reply and shake his head, sighing. "Who did this to you, Giles?" He looks so very unhappy at the moment all that excite due to his undying and damning curiosity lost completely at the sight of his best friend tethered to some bottle like a prisoner.

[consultmybooks]

It will all stop if she just opens the bottle. Not swinging it would be a good start, of course, but really Snow will just feel so much better if she opens the bottle.

The feelings continuing to press against her aren't quite so definite, of course. But they are a good deal more insistent, and the thought is trying to make its way into Snow's head that the bottle is the answer to all her problems...

[demonsintheoven]

"Quiet... quiet quiet quiet, nothing should be in my head, stop it...." It's a very intense whisper as she hunches her shoulders in.

It's from the bottle, isn't it? The bottle's making it happen again? With a shaking hand she grabs the neck. If she smashes it, it'll stop, right...?

[greatsquirrelhunter]

Well, he's to used to being watched by a bottle. He puts it carefully in the grass and lays down to watch it in turn. It's obviously a special bottle, since he feels like it can give him things. But what to do with it?

[noblehealer]

Estelle didn't know who would lose such a bottle in the first place, but she knew one thing for sure, she needed to find it's owner as soon as possible.

With this new task in mind, adding to that the usual going to the thorns as soon as possible, she wondered in maybe she could try and do both, that way it's easier and she's helping everyone at the same time.

Her mind was set and she was ready to go, picking up the bottle and holding it within her grasp.