Division of Worlds

CH4--Thief in Plain view

Jocelyn rolled over, smacking her lips and fumbling to find her alarm clock as it sounded off that morning. Sighing contently, she rolled over and snuggled something warm. It purred underneath her ear, moaning slightly and stretching a little.

Then her eyes shot open. The curvy woman sat up immediately, looking around and frantically searching for her glasses. Shoving them on her face, she looked over to what she had been hugging. Ves lay there, undisturbed from Jocelyn's jostling movements.

"Christ…"Jocelyn said, whipping the blankets off of her legs and getting up. "Vespat, get up."

"Mmm…"Ves groaned, rolling over and pulling the blankets over his head. Jocelyn raised an eyebrow, walked over to a book shelf and found an encyclopedia. Hurling it towards the bed, it whacked the body underneath her covers.

Vespat shot up, jumping out of his skin. Groaning, he huffed a little and rubbed his shoulder. ~*"Crazy woman."~*He swore, hissing a bit as the book left a bruise. "I was going to get up!"

"Oye! No foreign jibber that I can't understand inside the apartment."Jocelyn said as she retrieved her encyclopedia and returned it back to it's proper place on the shelf. She stood at the foot of the bed, her hands on her hips. "And when I say up, I mean up."

The dimensional man stared at her, his eyebrows twitching. "I swear if I couldn't see right now I would show you a thing or two, woman."He seethed a little, his ears raising out of his sleep-mussed hair.

"I'd like to see you try…wait, what?"Jocelyn said as she sat on the bed, looking at him. "You can't see anything?"

"Blurrs…And 'tis not from just waking up. My eye sight has been deteriorating because of this dimension's distorted atmosphere."Ves explained, rubbing his deep maroon-colored eyes. Jocelyn stared at him, frowning and getting up.

"Well that's not good…Can't have you running into the doors…"Jocelyn said as she rose up, crossing her arms across her chest. Biting the inside of her lower lip, she paced a little before leaving the room and coming back with a plain black leather case. She popped the button on it that kept it closed, removing a spare pair of glasses and unfolding them.

"Here, try these."Jocelyn said as she slid them onto Vespat's face, the elf recoiling some but finding as his eyes adjusted, that he could see perfectly.

"That's…how…What?"Vespat said as he blinked, looking about the room with the clearest view he ever had since arriving. He stared at Jocelyn who just smiled…oddly sadly for someone who had just helped him.

"I keep extra pairs around just in case I lose my own…"She lied, getting up and crossing her arms defensively again. "You can have those."

"Um…Thank you.."Ves said as he got up, sliding out of bed and seeking out his shirt. The woman looked away, heading out of the bedroom to the kitchen. It was the weekend though she still had errands to run, Jocelyn always liked to do things early to give herself the afternoon and evenings off to do things.

Which was usually just a cup of tea and some heavy reading. In the kitchen, she filled up the tea pot and set it on the stove to heat up. Standing there, she stared at her fun-housed reflection in the metal of the pot, frowning.

As much as she didn't want to give Ves those glasses, she didn't want her home to get ruined…but maybe just a little bit of chaos would be nice. Her little world was just too quiet.

Vespat joined her in the kitchen, sitting at the table, scratching the back of his head. "I…don't know how your people repay others."He admitted, sitting back and crossing his arms. "How do they?"

Jocelyn ran her fingers through her limply-curled hair, leaning against the counter. "They don't do much really…just little things. Sometimes if a friend owes me something, they purchase something that I like…Wine, a book…something. You don't owe me anything."She said as she retrieved two cups from the cupboard beside her.

"I do."Vespat corrected.

"No, you don't. Besides, you're just a guest…and you needed some assistance."Jocelyn said as she waved him off.

"In my dimension, we do. My dimension is a reflection of yours in a wide variation…It's considered impolite and in-gratuitous not to. I'll probably find something, it seems you are very simple to please."The elf teased slyly, smirking some even though Jocelyn glared at him through her own frames, turning away when the kettle whistled enough to make him cringe like before.

"Good luck doing that here. No one can see you but me or can they?"She asked, pouring hot water into the cups.

"Those who have touched the Minatus can. It allows people to see what's beyond their own world among many of it's powers."Ves said, receiving a hot cup of tea and watched as the disgruntled woman sat across from him. "I can't wait to begin delving in it's mysteries at home…"

"Do you think I will be able to even go to your dimension?"Jocelyn asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It's possible. Again, the discus has that ability but the people in my world have already tapped into the ability to cross multiple dimensions. It's just more troublesome because there are limitations."Ves said as he sipped the tea, the flavor having a very brightening effect on him. "Such as being only able to travel during one day a month if you're traveling to a vast dimensional like this one…If I knew how to tap into the discus's power, I could be home already."

"Too bad."Jocelyn smirked, glancing away as she sipped her tea.


After a good breakfast, hot shower and some griping from the elf, Jocelyn walked with an armful of cotton-tote bags as she walked down to the market up the road for groceries. Vespat trailed behind her, looking about.

"Today isn't as wet as when I arrived."Vespat concluded.

"You came on a terrible day then. It was raining cats and dogs for three days straight."Jocelyn said lowly, knowing the elf and his 'dumbo-like' ears could hear her.

"Why on earth would the sky rain animals? That sounds like a plague."Ves said as he tailed behind her as the sliding doors began to close on him, looking back at them with some disdain. Even the doors, like Jocelyn, were impatient.

"It's a figure of speech…now be quiet."She hissed at him, grabbing a shopping cart and toting it around the store.

"Doctor Hembers?"A voice called, a young man trotting up to her. "It is you. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Hello Jon…You know I do see the outside world just like a normal human being."Jocelyn said, chuckling and shaking the young man's hand. The student smiled, sticking his hands back into his coat pocket.

"He he, I figured. How is the research coming along?"He asked her, walking along side the cart as she walked along.

"Not so good…I've come to a complete halt until I can…get ahold of some research material for it. I should be going to get it soon."She said as she pushed the cart along.

"That's good to hear at least. Would you mind if I impose on you and take a look at it? I've done some independent research for my thesis on some ancient texts. Maybe something I've found matches something you've got on that old piece of rock."Jon said with a cocky grin.

"He's not seriously coming back to your home is he?"Ves hissed into her ear, Jocelyn reaching a hand back and smacking him, though making the motion like she was brushing her hair back from her face.

"Of course you can."Jocelyn said. "The more help the better at this point. You can just follow me home from here, it's not far."

"Great!"Jon said as he shifted the bag on his arm a little.

"Woman, you can't be serious."Vespat swore, rubbing his eyes some. She was definitely desperate to keep the discus in her own dimension. When Jon was far enough away from them, Jocelyn whipped around to him, her eyes narrowing.

"He's a student. He knows better than to impede on any of the museum staff's research unless given permission and taking artifacts home is strictly forbidden to students. Just relax, shut up and stay by the cart."Jocelyn huffed, grabbing the handle of the cart and stomping down the aisle.

In one, she had difficulties deciding on which brand to buy, Vespat standing by with Jon rummaging along the opposite shelf just beside him. He didn't trust this 'student' at all. Something about him was off. As Jon edged closer, he would step aside though he received a swift stomp on his food, swearing loudly.

~*"FUUUUCCCCCKKK!"~*Ves said, hopping away a little and rubbing the toe of his boot.

~*"You know, if no one else could hear you right now, that would have made a big scene…"~*A voice said coyly.

~*"Who…"~*Ves said, wincing and looking around. Jon was still rummaging around on the shelf, Jocelyn looking down the aisle with an angry look on her face.

~*"Take a wild guess…"~*The voice spoke again, Jon turning around and holding two cans of beans, raising an odd eyebrow. His mouth hadn't moved to form those words. It didn't even sound like him.

Ves whipped his head around, looking everywhere and peeking through the shelves. No one. ~*"You're from another dimension…aren't you." ~*He hissed lowly, starting to walk towards Jocelyn's cart slowly.

~*"Correct…"~*It purred.

~*"You're speaking my native tongue…You followed me didn't you?!"~*Vespat said as he between where Jocelyn was and Jon.

~*"As another seeker of the Minatus… yes. I did…Though I have been in this dimension looking for it far longer than you can imagine…and coming across you was striking gold…"~*The voice said, Ves freezing a little as he felt a cold chill run up his spine. *"I'm so close to finding it…and you've been such a great help, Elfling…I hope you don't mind me borrowing Doctor Hember's pupil for a while, would you?"*

~*"You won't get it…that discus is mine…I was right not to trust that man…"~*Ves hissed, the voice chuckling deeply and fading off somewhere. Jocelyn marched over, grabbing his cloak and seemingly dragging him over to the cart with a growl.

"You are in serious trouble when we get back."Jocelyn said lowly, making him hold onto the cart like a child the rest of the trip to the market. After paying, Jocelyn and Jon headed back to the apartment with Vespat walking cautiously in tow. He couldn't lead whoever was talking to him to the discus.

He had to stall Jocelyn as long as he could so she wouldn't take the discus out of it's hiding place.

Back at the apartment, Jocelyn did her typical routine of making hot cups of tea for her guest, sitting down to chatter. An hour passed. Then two. Ves waited anxiously as Jocelyn and her 'student' talked endlessly on different topics. It was before the third hour that Jon stopped them.

"So…the rock?"Jon asked.

"Oh right of course. Let me go grab it and my computer a moment."She said, standing up. Ves, in a panic, grabbed her shoulders and made her sit down again. "Oof!"

"Doctor, are you okay?"Jon asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Yes, I'm fine. My leg just fell asleep."Jocelyn said, adjusting to try to give Vespat an elbow in the rib without being too conspicuous. "I'll get it in a moment. Why don't you go wash your hands?"

"My hands? Oh, so I don't contaminate anything! Of course. Where's your bathroom?"Jon asked, getting to his feet. He suddenly felt like two heavy hands were put on his shoulders, making him sit down again. "Ah! What the hell was that?!"

"Uuuuuuhhhh…Oh no…Gosh, I thought that the priest had gotten rid of it completely."Jocelyn bluffed, frowning and putting her hands to her mouth in some surprise.

"It?"Jon swallowed.

"Someone died in this apartment and they haven't left."Jocelyn sighed, putting her hands to her temples. ~*i~*And someone is about to die in a minute…~*/i~*

"Are you serious? Your apartment is haunted?"Jon said as he stood up again only to be slammed back down into his chair, Vespat holding him there firmly.

"You bet…It doesn't like men for some reason."Jocelyn said as she got up. "Hold on, let me go get my cross and holy water."

"Th-that's okay! I think I'm going to just sit here until it goes away."Jon swallowed, sweating a little. Jocelyn got up and started walking to the back hall, dragging Vespat by his ear to get him away from the college student and into her bedroom.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"She hissed at him, letting go of his ear. "You best have a good reason."

"There is one. Someone else from my dimension is here and they most likely are here right now. They followed us from the store hoping that I would lead them to the discus. You absolutely cannot take it out of it's hiding place!"Vespat said as he held her shoulders. "If they got a hold of it, they could use it for no good!"

"You've got to be pulling my leg, Vespat…but fine. I'll just tell Jon I'm sorry and throw him out. You, on the other hand, are still in serious shit."Jocelyn swore at him, leaving the room and coming out of the room smiling as she headed to the kitchen. "Sorry about that Jon…I have to call a lock smith for them to get it out and need to call that priest again to restock my supplies. I forgot the code to the lock from one of my stress headaches. Can you stand?"

"Y-yeah…I think it left…I'd be happy to just get out of here. I-I'll see you at work on monday, Dr. Hembers."Jon said as he quickly got up, grabbed his bags and left the apartment as fast as he could. Jocelyn smiled, waving him off at the door and slamming the front door shut.

"Ves!"Jocelyn called, the elf peeking his head out of the room. "Is it safe now?"

"I don't know. Go and check on the discus, I'll keep an eye out."Vespat said as he stood out in the hall, Jocelyn trotting to the back room. Ves stood watch, his ear twitching as he heard her pull things apart in the room, something metallic opening up.

Jocelyn sighed in relief seeing the discus in it's container, closing the lid and sliding it back into the safety box she kept in a closet, behind some blankets. Getting to her feet, she was about to close it when she felt something thick wrap around her, lifting her off of her feet.

Looking down, a pair of arms were wrapped around her, a long tendril of a tail slinking into the safety box and pulling out the discus' protective container. "No! Vespat!"She called, Ves coming barreling down the hall only to get a door in his face, running into it with a hard thud. "Ves!"

"Your caterwauling won't get him up any sooner."A voice purred in her ear, Jocelyn feeling a tight squeeze around her as whoever was holding her started to walk with ease to the one window in the room. "You're coming with me for a little while, I have to make sure that this is finished."

"Finished! VESPAT!"Jocelyn shouted, Vespat pounding on the door and shouting things incoherently. Her own heart was pounding so loudly in her own ears, she couldn't make out what he was saying. A frightfully cold breeze made her snap out of her stupor a moment, seeing that she was being made to go out on the fire escape, being dropped on the cold metal as she got a good look of what had grabbed her.

A man with desert-tan skin, pointed ears though shorter than Vespat's and a long, wispy tail behind him holding the discus's box…His face however, looked eerily familiar but she couldn't place her finger on it at the moment. She got up, looking around for some escape route and ending up trying to go down the fire escape's flight of stairs only to be grabbed again. "Leggo! And give me back my box!"She growled, kicking her legs out.

"No can do. You see, I can't let you live like the Elfling can. You have seen and known too much."The thief smirked as he started up the flight of stairs. "I want to play with him a little…it's been a while since I've had a little fun."

"I'm not your friggin' ball you freak! PUT ME DOWN!"Jocelyn howled, getting jostled as the thief bounded up the stairs easily, looking down to see Ves leaning out of the window, climbing out of it clumsily.

"Give me that box, beast!"He shouted, chasing behind them up the stairs before he went out of sight as the thief made it to the roof very quickly, putting Jocelyn down roughly on her feet. In anger, she tried to reach around and grab the box out the tail only to be shoved down onto the rough gravel of the roof.

"Are you trying to quicken your own death woman? Just sit and play victim quietly!"The thief said, promptly sweeping her off of her feet with his tail and stepping on her stomach with his boot. Jocelyn coughed, groaning and looking up, paling once she regained her vision as well as her head.

"J…Jon?"She breathed, trying to push off his boot with failed shoves.

"You could say that…Finding myself in this dimension proved interesting…"The thief grinned. "I never imagined that he actually WORKED for you of all the irony! It just made it so much easier."

"Where is he? What did you do to Jon!?"Jocelyn said as she thrashed around furiously, the beast-man stomping down to make her lose her wind again.

"You've been looking at him this entire time…"He smiled, showing a mouth of canines.

"BEAST!"Ves shouted as he pulled himself onto the roof, standing there with more than his usual pissed off look. He was outright furious!

"Oh look, the brave conqueror has appeared. I haven't had this much of an irritation from a female in a long time. How do you handle it Elfling?"The Jon-beast smiled.

"In stride. Now give me that box or I'll unleash hell upon you!"Ves said, pointing at him in agitation.

"How about we make this more interesting?"The thief grinned. Removing his boot, he gave Jocelyn a kick on the side to roll over over and stomped on her back. His tail deposited the box into one of his hands while it swerved around, the end of it and it's long hairs barely tickling the back of Jocelyn's neck.

Ves froze, lurching forward a bit. The beastman smiled, tucking the box under his armpit. "I see you know your anatomy…You know what we keep hidden in our tails don't you?"He said as slowly, a long bone-like blade withdrew from the end of his tail, curving slightly and lightly grazing along the skin of the woman's neck to make a fine line on her skin.

"How about we make a little bit of a children's game, hm? You have to pick one or the other…and you win a prize. You can either save her life or try to take the discus away from me…choose one, it may end up in her head ending up in the street below…"Jon purred, running the flat of of the blade of the tail along the back of Jocelyn's hair. Jocelyn's breathing quickened underneath the boot, the fright of being near something so dangerous and sharp encouraging her to move. Another stomp with his boot, she was down again.

"And you'll just kill either one of us either way."Ves said as he bent a little as his knees, reaching to the hilt of his knife and pulling it out with a quick draw.

"Smart…you still have yet to chose one."The beast said as he whipped his tail around, ramming the end of it into the roof top close to Jocelyn's shoulder. She screamed briefly, recoiling and trying not to squirm as she watched the blade from the corner of her eye pull out of the roof easily and caressed her skin again.

Ves watched, his hands trading the knife in his hand back and forth. He just watched him, the beast cockily holding the box now in his hand, waving it around. "Ooo, such a scary face. Come and get it."He teased.

The Elfling ran forward, leaping up and nearly getting a swipe from the tail as he tackled the beastman head on, trying to ram the knife into him but getting shoved off. Jocelyn scrambled to her feet, before feeling a whack on her back, sending her back down again. The thick tail wrapped around her leg, dragging her back. "Ves! Cut his tail!"She called.

"I'm already busy!"Vespat said as he was thrown off, landing back on his feet. Jon held his side, seeing that Ves had managed to bury the knife into him just once though not deeply enough to be fatal. Jocelyn rolled onto her back watching as she got closer again to his foot.

And she wasn't about to let him step on her again with those god-awful boots. Reaching forward, she pulled on his tail, taking it and promptly biting it.

"GRAH!"Jon howled, the tail withdrawing as he cradled it while barely missing another tackle from Vespat as Jocelyn scrambled back to her feet, running towards the fire escape where she could get out of the way. "Witch…"Jon seethed.

"Woman catch!"Ves shouted, Jon having been distracted enough that he could kick the box out of the beast's hand, the box going flying out of it and landing on the roof gravel. Jocelyn stopped running, turning around and grabbing the box.

"I've got it!"Jocelyn said as she saw Ves get hurled from where he had kicked over her in her direction, she jumped out of the way only to see him fall over the edge of the roof, disappearing from sight. "VESPAT!"She shouted, going to the edge of the roof. Ves was clinging onto the edging, dangling there. She was relieved but it still wasn't safe.

The beastman Jon came striding over, growling angrily and grabbing Jocelyn by the back of the sweater she wore, throwing her backwards onto the roof. "Screw playing around anymore…I'm just going to end it right here."He seethed, the tail raising up like a scorpion's tail, the end sticking straight up.

"Oye!"A voice called. ~*"In the sacred scrolls of seven heavens, I summon the power of the high ones and in their name shout the epitaphs! Grow in the burning earth: Lotus Flarea!"~*

Jocelyn could only stare. As the beastman began to lower the end of the tail in, the sight of a close death coming into her eyes, she saw a bright, hot blue fire come rushing over her head, Jon's body disappearing for a moment. When the fire ceased to billow hotly over head, the beastman howled and began to run for the edge of the roof on the opposite side, diving off and disappearing. Vespat ran to see if he had fallen to the ground but found that he had escaped through a portal back to the other dimension.

Panting and growling agitatedly, he fell backwards in exhaustion. "He got away…"He breathed, slamming his fist on the gravel. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Jocelyn hadn't moved from her lying position. "Woman?"

Ves got up, limping over and plopping down on the ground. Jocelyn was staring upwards at the sky. Examining her, he saw that she was only bleeding from the abrasions from being tossed around so much and the fine little cut on her neck. None were dangerous but she looked pale as a spirit.

"Wooooman?"He waved, trying to get her out of her frozen state. Goddess…what was her name? She had told him it before…"Jocelyn?"

Jocelyn looked over, her eyebrows furrowing. "W-what happened? Where's Jon?"She asked, beginning to tremble. Vespat swore. The woman was scared out of her wits.

"Back where he needs to be…"Vespat said as he looked down to the box she held in her hands to the point she was cutting her palms on the metal corners. Well…the discus was safe. However the caretaker…not so much. The Elfling sighed, bringing his hand to his face and dragging his hand down.

"What was that big flash?"Jocelyn said, lying there trying to make sense of things.

"A summons…Come…let's go back to the dwelling."Ves said as he put his arm underneath her, helping the trembling and most likely anxious woman back to her feet. It took a while to get back downstairs.

Ves got her inside and sitting down, managing to pry the box away so he could look at her. "Go clean yourself up…I'll make you tea okay?"He said as he encouraged her to stand, helping her to the bathroom and starting the shower. Honestly, he thought with her personality that she wouldn't have been so petrified.

After about an hour, she emerged from the bathroom shivering and going down the hall to her bedroom to change clothes. She put on a pair of shorts and a loose shirt, not bothering with undergarments as she went back out to the living room. Vespat had some bandaids he had found digging around the apartment, putting them on for her after a little help from her after she had snapped out of her daze.

Though it was early, Jocelyn went to bed early, Vespat sitting on the edge of the bed while he rubbed her shoulder a little until she was asleep.

Though, he would never admit it to anyone not even himself…he could only think that this was his fault.