Ze Ditto Town Mansion

[Lady Arwen]

((Normal characters shouldn't be able to tell that Isra is a vampire. ))

Isra whirled around, almost...was she growling? Her face darkened as she looked at Roj.

"Do not...yell. Or make noise. And whatever you do, do not touch the little pests." Isra's words darted through the air like little daggers.

"You're not being to helpful, yourself," Treasa commented.

The woman was standing a ways away from the travelers, looking slightly eerie herself in the dusky light. Her hands were cupped before her face, and in them stood one of the lighted creatures. She appeared to be conversing with it, but through little clicks and other noises. After a moment, she tossed it back into the air, then walked back to the group.

"This is Kiev." she said. "He will be your guide."

[Sonny]

((OK, I modified my post. ))

At the mention of a blaster, Roj's eyes opened wide, but he recognized a comforting sound in Kari's voice. "Oh, OK, I'm sorry," he said, panting, as he let go of her arm, a bit embarrassed. "Uh, does everyone have weapons?" he whispered, trying to ignore Isra's hissing words. He felt in his pockets, trying to find something to defend himself with. He found a ball of twine he had been collecting, a piece of paper with a flour order written on it (which Roj realized with chagrin that he had forgotten to give to his father), and a pencil. I - uh - I could tie them with twine and poke out their eyes with the pencil, he thought.

He was brought back to the reality of the situation when he heard Theresa say, "He will be your guide."

He opened his mouth to ask, "That thing?" but saw Isra out of the corner of his eye, and closed his mouth again.

[narnianerd]

Matthew struggled to stifle a laugh at the kid's wild-eyed demeanor. No, rather he struggled not to laugh at the mirror resemblance he once shared with the boy. Back in the day when things were ‘Normal’ but then again, when was anything normal in Ditto Town? So scratch that thought Matthew said to himself, rolling his eyes.

Just about, kid. Matthew said using force telepathy to speak to Roj, and trust me, if you try to poke my eyes out I’ll cut your pencil in a half and crush it. Oh and hi. I’m Matthew. He thought, grinning.

[Captn. Peregrin]

"Weapons?" Cosmi laughed. "Everyone here has incredible supernatural powers." The Cat glanced at their new guide.

Tomas refrained from swatting a certain firefly-creature that had ventured a little too near his arm. He peered about at the company, suddenly wondering what the Ditto was up to. It will show itself eventually, he told himself. And yet...will it really just wait to be discovered, as before?

[Lady Arwen]

"If you have no other questions for us, then we will return to the city," Treasa said softly. Isra nodded violently.

"If you have any, hurry up and ask, or forever hold your peace," she grumped. "'Cause, I'm leaving pronto, and taking Treasa with me."

[Bookwyrm]

"Questions?" Desdemona asked. "I love questions. They float out of your mouth like big curious balloons and they fly to everyone's ears and whisper their little words in the holes. Oh, they whisper and they whisper. They tickle your brain and make it giggle."

"Is this monologue disturbing anyone else? Because I'm thinking we need to keep anything sharp and pointy away from Little Miss Mental Instability here," Sylvia commented.

"Sharp and pointy? Ooo, my favorite words!" Desdemona said happily and pulled an unsheathed dagger from the folds of her dress.

[Rising_Star]

Bobby inched away from the crazy people, not entirely sure what was going on because his author is absentminded lately.

Simon sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He stepped up to Desdemona and reached over to snatch the dagger from her.

"Ah, ah, ah. Not now, love. We have to play nice, remember? Just until we get out of this little funhouse." He glanced around. "However, if the ditto rears its head I promise you can play with it however you'd like." He patted her head gently and tucked the dagger away.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

[Bookwyrm]

"Ooooo, I would like that, Simon! I would use every single one of my knives on it and then my teeth. And we'll crunch on them and get the yummy juices free. Oh, Simon, I need some hot blood. I feel quite famished."

Sylvia idly made a wooden stake appear in midair and then, with a flick of her hand, set it alight, before making it vanish again.

[sweeetlilgurlie]

"I have one. What the heck is the lightning bug? And where is it taking us? And do you have anything else that you'd think we should ask and should know?" Kari thought that covered all of the basics, and was glad that Bobby was back from cloud 9 at last.

[Rising_Star]

"You'll get your feeding time soon, love. Don't worry your pretty little head about it," Simon said in a slightly bored tone as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Bobby stepped up to stand next to Kari since she seemed sane enough at the moment. Then again, she could be a ditto. He found himself studying her hard, wondering how he'd be able to tell if she was a ditto.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

[Lady Arwen]

"I am a Kiotaie, of the fire clan," a calm voice said from behind the mansionners. "And I will be guiding you through the rest of your search. Some of you are human, right?"

There, leaning against a tree was a tall thin man, with skin like ivory. His skin contrasted starkly with his dark hair and dark eyes. His eyes seemed to bear the reflection of the flames of a fire. Perhaps the oddest thing was, he nearly seemed to glow, as if he were a night-light--or, at least, as if he had swallowed a night-light. This man, who looked to be barely in his mid twenties, stared at the quietly. After a few awkward moments, he finally spoke again.

"I am Kiev."

[Sonny]

Roj had begun to feel uncomfortable. Who was the ditto? Would he even know if he was the ditto?

Roj turned when he heard the voice, and started at the man. "But... but... you were..." he stammered, then gestured to the other still-flying lights.

[Lady Arwen]

Kiev smiled lopsidedly.

"Of course. All on this planet have two modes. I suppose it comes from the days when things were as they should be--the Kiotaie Fire and Kiotaie Water were one clan, and each member was both Fire and Water. That has been lost, but we still have multiple forms."

Kiev's mouth twitched slightly.

"Besides, how would you know which Kiotaie to follow if you couldn't see me?" Kiev grinned.