((Apologies for disappearance, see thread in Absence/Return forum for reasons, and further apology.))


His eyes bored into hers intently, the silence drawing taut for a long moment, then breaking as he laughed merrily and spun about, hooves thumping softly on the floor as he broke into a mini dance, twirling slowly. With a final chuckle he rotated down to his haunches, sitting a few feet in front of her and looking at her expectantly, hands on his fuzzy thighs.

"Then please, play what you wish. I dare say anything you coax from your instrument will be as enchanting as your previous piece. Lets just hope its enough to lure my little cousin back out, eh?" he winked at her conspiratorily, his previous intensity and hinting vanished like fog in the wind. His mouth broke into a patient smile as he watched her, unmoving, waiting for her to gather herself now that he wasn't so close and looming. He really did wish to hear her play again, before he began to play with her...

A soft sigh of relief escaped Cael's soft pink lips as the creature twirled and moved gracefully away from her, his intense all cosuming eyes finally off of her and giving her the ability to move and think freely again. Pushing off from the wall, the small girl rose to her feet slowly as she moved, honestly she was still a bit off balance from her last panic attack. Her bear slippers heads bobbed as she padded across the floor, taking spot next to her bed where she had laid her flute.

Her small almost alabaster hands wrap carefully around the well cared for instrument as she sits fully upon the floor, bringing the instrument to her lips. Taking a steadying breath, Cael closes her eyes as she begins to play once more. Softly at first her song begins, growing stronger and a bit bolder with each note played. Like the song before her new haunting melody fills the room, her small form slightly swaying with the music as it draws her in. Her fright and nerves calming as the song continues to dance about the air, the moon lit night again from where she was sitting seeming to give her skin a glow.

His golden eyes followed her across the room, drawn to the bobbing bear heads atop her delightful little feet. Mmm, I wonder if they taste like real bears? It was a tribute to her playing that his mind actually wandered that far, the tune haunting, yes, but relaxing to a creature like Thaddeus. Infinitely better than the endless howling and screeching of mad gods at the very least.

Being drawn further into the music, his mind turned from mayhem and ravage, to more mischievous pursuits, though the end would likely be the same. Humming softly along with her song, he sketched a sigil in the air before him, opening his extra-dimensional storage space and reaching inside it. Glancing to make sure she was still swaying, eyes closed in the grip of her performance, he pulled a strange, snail shell like object out of the rift in space. Setting the shell down, he banished the rift, then traced a bright rune inlaid into the item. Now, all he had to do was wait for her to finish her song...

She was a bit nervous as she played, though it didn't effect the quality of her performance but it was the first time she had ever played for anyone else. As quiet as the song had begun Cael brough it to a soft close, the last echo's of the haunting melody fading from the room. Taking a small breath, Cael opened her eyes and looked around her shoulders dropping slightly as no sign of the small little goat was seen. Wrinkling her nose slightly, Cael turns to look at the large goatman, "I...guess the baby goat isn't here." Her voice was quiet, barely above that of a whisper. Her mind was still trying to come to grips with this creature, all her life she'd heard things like this didn't exist and yet here one was. Had she hit her head when she backed into the wall? Was she dreaming? It certainly seemed like she wasn't, way to vivid.

Cael turned and looked away from the goatman, her head lowered and her eyes looking to the floor.

Thaddeus smiled brightly at her as she opened her eyes, one finger tracing the rune back into darkness on the shell, before he began clapping softly. At her words, his bushy eyebrows rose.

"It certainly seems so. Perhaps your lovely melody lured him into slumber? Why, he could be anywhere? Under your bed, behind your dresser...hmm. Why don't we try a different approach?" So saying, he sprang nimbly to his feet, stretching his long, apelike arms to the sides before shaking himself all over, like a great, furry dog. Grinning again, he gamboled over to her, hunching down so as not to loom. Reaching out slowly, he brushed her hair back from her face with the tips of his leathery fingers, trying to turn her chin up and toward him.

"Now now, none of this. Those eyes are far too pretty to dwell on the intricacies of rayon carpet, however fascinating it may appear. Instead, why not help me set a trap for the little troublemaker, mmm?" Winking, he nodded toward the shell on the floor, the blue rune softly pulsing atop it.

Cael gulped lightly as the large furry beastman gently pushed her pure white hair from her face and pulled her gaze towards him. In spite of her own fears the creatures calm and even playful words caused the corners of her slightly pouty lips to curl ever so slightly at the beginning of a smile. His charm and care-free nature seemed almost infectious as joked with her, before turning her attention to the strange shell like object sitting on her floor.

"What is that?" Cael asked curiously, her eyes shifting back to the large beastman. Had she known anything about the island or the school should would have known she needed to start running awhile ago, but instead do to her isolated and sheltered upbringing as well as having been a social outcast all her life, the beasts kind words and playful demenaor lured her into a false senes of security.

"I don't want to hurt him though..." Cael added, making sure the trap wouldn't cause any harm to the small little goatling, she had a very soft spot for all things cute. The baby goatling was no exception.

His bushy brows wiggled slightly in mirth as he caught a glimpse of a smile on her lips. Ahh, he still had that old charm! Good to know it still worked, even if the girl in question seemed a bit...alright, extremely...naive. Brushing his thoughts aside, he tweaked her earlobe gently then turned and bent down to the shell, picking it up and holding it out to her to examine. About the size of a human fist, it feels lighter than it looks, and the surface is slightly hot, and seemingly damp. Aside from the pulsing blue rune, it is otherwise a pale mauve and rippled in texture.

"Now why would I do anything to hurt my cousin, mm? No no, my trap is benign, more like bait really. And that right there, is part of it. Why don't you trace that rune there with your finger? You may enjoy the soundshell's little trick." He grinned playfully, expression completely innocent, as the shell actually was just a toy of sorts.

Hoping her attention was fixed on the shell now, he shifted slightly around her, sidling around to stand almost behind her, looking down over her shoulder as if staring at the shell as well. In fact, he would not be gazing at the object, no no, his attention would be fixed instead upon her, slowly descending from the pale expanse of her hair, to the milky curve of her neck, and lower, lasciviously tracing the curves of her body, his smile becoming less and less innocent the further his eyes traveled.

Cael's smile widened just a bit more, "So...what does it do?" Though she didn't really wait for a response as she took the shell into her hands. She wondered what sort of type this shell could hold, or what it would even do. Could it be magic? Cael's attention did shift to the small odd shell before her, looking it over in intense curiousity and amazement. Biting down on her bottom lip, her bright pink eyes came to rest upon the glowing rune. Thinking the trap was to lure the little goatling and unaware of the beasts true intentions from behind her tiny frame is its hungry eyes began to take in her slim and fit body, Cael pressed her fingertip to the rune as she began to follow the mark, tracing it and doubtlessly falling completely into the monsters trap.

The large goatman chuckled dryly, eyes narrowing as she rather foolishly obeyed his request. The first sign of activation from the shell would be a faint warming, and a pink glow pulsing from the depths of the shell. Shortly, there would follow an echoing strain of music, almost immediately recognizable as the very song she had just played on her flute.

"The song-shell, is actually a living creature. The rune is merely a sort of rudimentary leash, if you will, to control its natural urges. Now what you are hearing now, is the song-shell's ability to record and reproduce any sound, which it uses to lure curious creatures closer to itself. As you can see, it appears empty...however once the song has lured prey in, it usually learns how wrong that presumption is." His tone stayed polite and gentle, up until the last sentence, as his voice took on a mocking cadence. At the same time, the pale girl would feel thick, sticky tendrils wrapping around her fingers, hands and wrist, binding them together and forcing her to hold the shell tightly. In the pulsing pink light, she could now see the creature more clearly, a transparent jelly like being, with a single pulsing eye, which provided the glow. Thaddeus laughed cruelly as the tendrils wrapped ever further up the young woman's wrists, gripping her by the shoulders to keep her from pulling away.

Cael listened to her own song as it played back from the shell, she was completely amazed and enthralled at the small, warming item held lightly in both of her hands. "But how is this going to trap..." Cael's words cut themselves off as her eyes widened in terror as the she felt then saw the shell spring to life as thick tendrils slipped out from within and begun to bind her.

"WHA...LEMME GO!! WHAT IS THIS?!" Cael's voice was raised as panic and fear gripped her as tightly as the bindings trapping her body. Her smal frame tightened and struggled desperately trying to pull herself free from the shell. Her head turned to look back over her shoulder as if believing the creature would help her, pink eyes watery. She didn't yet realize that everything up right to this very moment had been the trap and she had been the prize. Then she heard his laugh, his cruel, malicious laugh. Staggering backwards as she turned to regard the goat man she slipped and fell backwards onto her rear, her feet pushing at the carpet to try and put more distance between the two of them.

"Le..leave me ...alone..." Cael stuttered out, her tears slipping free and down her pale cheeks.