Welcome to Gaia! ::

*Jacob simply shrugged as he took a bite out of the interesting jelly-filled cake*

Jacob: "I guess I learn to work with my handicaps."

*At that point, Galantros flew up towards the ceiling, and made the large paper mache skull he hung up there earlier swing down*

GL: "Who wants to smash the pinata?"

*Jacob accepted the bites, and playfully pushed at Veni when the vampire smeared cake on his face.*

Pyro: "It's a chocolate gush cake, with cherry and strawberry jelly filling. Glad ya like it"

*Of course, it was GL that was slapped upside the head with the stick by Rosemary, though fortunately it didn't hurt TOO badly.*

GL: "Ack! Not my eye again! It's always the eye! Why the eye!?"

* A number of people tried smashing the pinata before it finally burst apart. Bithmar only managed to knick the thing, though his swings were powerful, they often missed and he ended up on his bottom when he finally gave up, laughing the entire time. Galantros tried, but found that his wings kept trying to cheat, grasping for the skull whenever he tried to swing at it...Tying the wings back helped, but then they began to move like liquid to get at the pinata. Even the soul guiders gave it a shot.*

*It was Yelix that finally broke the pinata, hopping up and smacking the thing, showering everyone in candy, snacks, and small toys. The skull was large enough, and full enough that everybody got more than their fair share in loot.*

*Jacob had finished putting away the left over cake and snacks from the party, and now he and Veni were leading Rosemary to their nature-covered room. She noticed right away that there were a number of stones placed against the walls of the room, each marked with a symbol and with a crystal embedded in them. Jacob advised that they first dress down to their nightwear in preparation for what they had prepared. Once they were ready, all three sat on the grass covered floor, and Jacob signalled Veni to speak the spell-casting word.*

"Vi'galis"

*The crystals in the symbol-etched stones began to glow, and invisible energies began to fill the room. It ran off their bodies in soothing and relaxing ways, and it began to become very easy to grow lost in the sensations.*

Jacob: "This is an ancient sort of cleansing ritual taught to me long ago, Rosemary. It clears the mind, and helps cleanse the body and soul. But there's something very special about the way it's created..."

*As the ritual continued on, there were two ghostly presences that filled the room. They seemed to flood Rosemary's senses with familiarity, and as she realized what they were, she perhaps became confused... the presence was of Veni and Jacob... yet it was seperate from the two who were sitting right next to her.*

Jacob: "The stones absorb the energies and presence of the ones who work to create the cleansing spell. It was often a custom of the race of beings who used this cleansing ritual to prepare it for loved ones."

*The warm emotions felt so simple and pure, that they became overwhelming... Even Jacob's voice seemed to have trembled a little, as if he were overcome. During a time when Rosemary had lost some situational awareness due to the potency of the ritual Jacob had snuck behind her, and began to fasten a necklace around her neck. It was made of small, beautiful black gems, and a decoratative spider hung from it, holding up a small bat that had one of the same crystals that was found in the stones around the room. Upon closer inspection, the bat and spider also had symbols drawn on them.*

Jacob: "Veni and I crafted a very special crystal for you, Rosemary, moreso than the ones in this room. You can summon a less potent version of this ritual anytime you like with it, and it can be recharged with any energy. We thought it would be valued if we were ever away from you, and you wish us to be with you."

*The necromancer kissed her neck as he finished placing the magical piece of jewerly on her.*

Jacob: "Happy Birthday"

Jacob: Don't worry, the clasp is also magical... it won't come off unless you want it to.

*Jacob kissed her again, giving a happy sigh at having the vampires so close to him, and with the cleansing ritual giving off such wonderful sensations. He stroked both Rosemary's back, and Veni's hair, and they stayed like that for a while until the rocks in the room wore off, the ritual fading away like a slipping good dream.


- - - - -

*As Sephiroth slept, he began to dream again, emotions, thoughts, and imagery forming from the dark nothingness of a void. There was a glowing light, hidden within a dark, foreboding cloud. Sephiroth found his hands trying to tear at this cloud, ignoring the burning pain it caused whenever he came in contact with it.*

Mine... Not yours, never yours. She is mine, and you are mine.

*As he dug deeper into the cloud, the light began to pulse more brightly... it started to trudge through the darkness, trying to reach Sephiroth.*

Nooo. Keep away! We'll kill her! We'll destroy her!

*Neither party paid attention to the demon voice's words, and the cloud around them began to grow reddish orange. The moment his hand managed to make contact with the sphere of light, there was a flash of light, and the cloud ignited around them, roaring in horrible tones as it burnt away into ash and nothingness.*

*It was silent for a while, floating in the blackness. Then the sensation of touch, hands holding Sephiroth's, caressing his face, running through his hair... holding him. For whatever reason, he suddenly became aware that he was wearing the blue holy gemstones in this dream, and they began to glow. And then, a dot of light blinked into existence. It twinkled, shining with possibilities...*

My child, after we talked... I discovered I was wrong...

*There was excitement and hope in Fal'Jenul's voice as she spoke for the first time in the vision, and directly to her son.*

It's possible... Once the demon is gone, it's possible...

*A powerful presence surrounded them, and it seemed to study the new star for a time under close scrutiny. After a time, it finally spoke.*

It is approved. It shall be.

*The voice was powerful, thunderous, angelic and majestic. It somehow it not only commanded, but earned respect. Where the demon voices were like a chorus of nightmares, somehow this deep and wondrous sound was it's total opposite, and made the horrendous sounds demons made nothing more than a fleeting thought. Sephiroth could guess as to what exact being this voice belonged to.*

*Suddenly, wonderful images began to fill Sephiroth's head. Water spilling out of plain dirt, quickly forming oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water. Hills and mountains alike shook out of the earth, green growth spreading rapidly across the plains, wildlife coming to life out of thin air. He was watching the small star become a living, breathing planet, right before his eyes, in a matter of seconds. The gemstones he wore grew brighter than ever, and suddenly they shot out streams of pure white light... the brilliance of the light was overwhelming, and once it had faded, the planet had suddenly become populated by souls... billions of souls. And as he saw them interact with the world around him, he realized...

...it was a paradise. A heaven created before his eyes.*

It's our promised land, Sephiroth. Our true promised land.

*Sephiroth turned to face Fal'Jenul, for her voice came from directly behind him. She was still bathed in a bright glowing light, but somehow he was able to make out more features of her... most notably, her long, flowing silver hair, and her light green eyes. She moved up to hug and hold Sephiroth to herself as they looked over the world that had been created. They stayed like that for the longest time, as she quietly began to hum some beautiful and calming song, full of loving emotion, up until he finally woke up...*

*Jacob slowly woke after a rather deep sleep, this time finding himself on one of the edges of the bed... Rosemary was in the middle, sandwiched between him and Veni. Yawning, he realized his strength was still coming back to him after last night, having been drained entirely of blood by both vampires. He simply laid there for a while, watching over Rosemary and Veni, almost swearing he could hear that spider statue of Rosemary's making clicking sounds.*

*Eventually, he carefully got out of bed and shuffled to his kitchen. He began to fix himself some hot tea, searching his kitchen for bread to make some toast with, and trying not to trip over the small fox that had wandered in...

...wait...

...he glanced down, wondered how the animal had gotten into his house, let alone his realm for a moment, before it finally clicked in his head. He reached down and scratched Black behind the ears.*

Jacob: "Good morning Black... do you want anything for breakfast? I have toast.. some muffins, oatmeal, tea..."

Jacob: "How do you like your eggs? Scrambled? Over easy?"

*As Jacob got stuff out for cooking, he managed to find some juice and drank a large glass of that. He still made tea the old fashioned way which took a while, so he figured something to drink would be nice in the meantime anyway.*

Jacob: "No, afraid I don't have any foxes in my forests here. Hmm, the last kitsune demon that lived in my realm was over.... a thousand years ago, I'd say. They were somewhat rare when I looked for them in Hell. Lucifer probably stopped their creation after a while. Can't say why... The majority I came across did want out..."

"I still keep in touch with a few... if you want, I could arrange some meetings."

*Jacob grunted in pain as one of his ribs cracked loudly, his breathing a bit ragged as he held his side... still, he managed to cook the eggs with little trouble, so the curse pain was probably wasn't as bad as it sounded.*

Jacob: "Well... maybe if some of them had kids then? Those are all possibilities within Hell as to what happened to them..."

*By the time he set down the plates of scrambled eggs, Jacob's tea kettle started to whistle. He turned off the stove, and poured both himself and Black a cup, making sure there was sugar on the table for her.*

Jacob: "My demon friends who decide to stay with me all live in a large system of cave and tunnels off in a large hill out by the lake... we've managed to give it all the basic utilities, plumbing, and got it well furnished. Often joke that it's more a hotel than a cave. I seriously doubt any of them will be jealous... though if anybody gives you any trouble over that, you let me know."

*The stamping of many feet could be heard far off in the distance by Black, and Jacob seemed to suddenly have remembered something. Not having locks for his kitchen doors, he mutted a mild swear and held his plate over his head, indicating for Black to quickly do the same.*

*Seconds later, Jacob's pet scythe goblins scampered into the kitchen, trying to get at the fresh food, hopping back and forth between their feet, long tongues hanging out while they begged.*

Jacob: "No! Down! Down, Fiber! Garbage, don't do that! Pillows, behave!"

*One of the scythe goblins, it's breath smelling oddly of wood chips and peppermint began slurping Black on the face, hoping it's kisses would convince her to give it some of her food.*

Jacob: "That's it! Bad goblins! GRRRGGSNNNRRRGGLSSSHHSSK!!!!

*As Jacob made the strange, phlegmy, gutteral throat sound, he stamped his foot several times... some of the goblins tapped their claws on the floor in response, and they all straightened up, whimpered, and rushed out the door. Their food safe for the moment, Jacob got Black a towel to clean off the goblin drool on her face from the 'kisses' she recieved.*