NOW you see me...

Now I'm not what you saw.

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The smell of wet grass fills your senses as you take your usual evening stroll through the forest. The sycamores tower above you, their massive trunks as majestic as anything that could exist on this planet. The sky is very close to the color of pitch black, but it still carries a subtle tinge of purple where the sun did not quite set yet. Crickets could be heard chirruping lightly, their mellow songs stirring in your ears and echoing through the air.

Just as you thought you were completely alone, and were thinking about sitting down to take in the beauty of the era, a sharp stone falls onto the ground right before your eyes! Your heart skips a beat as you observe that the stone was indeed sharp enough to have pierced through your head. You quickly look up to find the source of the stone.

But nothing could be seen in the dark branches. . .

You looking for me, sweetie?" A male voice asks wryly. It has a strong german accent.

Your head spins to stare at the location right beside you where the voice originated from, but nobody was there again.

Are you stupid? Over here."

You spin around again to your other side, expecting the elusive voice to be gone again. But instead, you find yourself staring straight into the golden eyes of the most peculiar creature you have ever seen. His body was lithe and smooth like that of a ordinary hissi, yet he had arms, legs, and even furred ears! And if he was indeed a hissi, his wings were gone too. The most bizarre thing was that his limbs and ears had bright, blue bands that connected them to his core body.

Guten abend, madam. Or are you a mann?" The creature blinks, and then laughs aloud. His laughter holds the essence of broken bells tolling on a dry day, yet it was honest laughter. Not fraud. You're not here to take back my limbs are you? Are they yours?" He shakes his left leg.

The creature narrows his eyes, slowly turning his head away—all the while keeping his steady gaze on your face. Nah, you have all your body parts. Well, that's good. . . That means I didn't steal them from you seven years ago," he laughs again.

You wanna' know about me. I know you do.
Start walkin' in that way direction north. You'll find me in a mile or two."

You look to your side. He is gone again.
But out of pure curiosity, you heed his instruction, and begin your walk.

The Shapeshifter

Nah, I'm not a shapeshifter. Das ist unklug. I like to call myself more of a. . . Master of Disguise. I know the way the body works. I know what illusions will prove to be true to the eyes of common living things. I will look strange, but believable. People will doubt my figure, yet they won't. There's confusion in their eyes as they stare at my limbs, yet they think that they are the ones that are wrong. To give these kinds of illusions. . . I think my body is the true master of disguise.

And do you know! As I mentioned, these limbs aren't even mine. I can easily detach them and show you my true form. I can tell you more about that later. I worked for a chieftain of a warring tribe of hissis, before, mhm? But I'm retired. No, I'm not old, unkluger mensch. I just don't agree with the tribe's ethics anymore. And so I bought all of my belongings, which mostly consists of unusual arms, legs, ears, noses, hair, and even faces! But they don't look too scary. You will get used to it after staring at them for a few . . . months. I can show them to you later, if you want to. I even have a few masks with me at all time, here on my tail. Those are for theatre.

Yesss, my job was indeed to disguise myself as a member of the enemy, and come into their favors. Then after either a few months or a few years, the final conclusion is usually to poison their leader in secret, or anyone else important. Haha! It was so fun, ernsthaft! You wouldn't believe the thrill of successful disguise! But of course, I soon realized that my career wasn't moral. That's too bad, but then, here I am today. With you. . .

Care to have a drink? I made it just for you. No, there's no poison in this one, dummer mensch. Didn't I just tell you that I was retired?

Head North

Looks like our sweet time is over, ma cherie. I know you don't want to leave me . . .
Care to have another drink?

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Counter started August 20, 2010