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 Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:11 pm
The mansion walls seemed to shudder as Jabir finished speaking, a chill running through the deadly silent air. Yagadath, moaning in pain and horror, looked at his mutilated body and shivered.
"Common-bred? What have you done...what have you done..."
Turning to his daughter and holding out his hands pleadingly, Yagadath gave a dry sob.
"Sarah, my child... help your poor father."
Crow's lip curled in disgust. She took Jabir's hand again and leaned against him, turning her head away.
"Jabir, take me home."
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:39 pm
"No, what have YOU done is the proper question" he turned away and opened the portal back to the HQ, leaving the couple to face their punishment
As soon as it closed the doors unlocked and the windows opened, allowing the night breeze to clean the air
Back at Crow's room, Jabir's mood had completely shifted. He felt exausted and drained, barely able to keep on his feet
"I hope I wasn't too harsh" he sighed. "Are you alright?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:49 pm
Crow sank back onto the foot of her bed, staring down at the floor.
"They got what they deserved."
Looking up at Jabir, she gave a weak smile.
"No, I'm not. I don't think I will be for a while." She paused and gave a long sigh. "But thanks for asking."
Kicking off her boots and running a hand through her hair, she took a blanket off the unmade bed and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"I'm just gonna try to get some sleep. I'll see ya later, 'kay?"
Without another word, Crow curled into a ball on the bed and fell almost immediately into fitful sleep, covered in the ragged blanket.
Lenore, who'd been curled up herself on the camp bed next to Crow's crooked and lumpy bed, looked up at Jabir shyly.
"Mama misses her broth-er," she mumbled, stumbling over the words as she scooted next to Crow. Wrapping herself up in the tail of the blanket, she gave Jabir one last shy look before disappearing under the blanket, her doll Sadako clutched tightly in her hands.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 6:11 pm
He gave a long look at them before leaving the room without a noise
He though of what he had done at the mansion. He didn't had mentioned to Crow the curse would be broken if they managed to redeem themselfs, but she probably would be better off that way
But it would be a lot worse when he would have to mention her brother. The We-Who-Watch needed to be deal with
But that would have to wait. The curse he casted drained more than he had expected and he desperatly needed to sleepA small bottle on the table was waiting for Crow's waking up. Under it there was a note written
Quote: I know it's not much but this potion will help keeping nightmare's at bay. I wish I could do more to help Signed, Maggie
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:34 pm
__Part 36 (End of PoD1)
Sitting on her messy bed, staring out the window behind it out onto the lawns of HQ, Crow was entering her third day of going without sleep. The bottle Maggie had given her lay untouched on the bedside table. She didn't need it. She couldn't sleep.
"Finish what has been started, Nahalthes."
"...Yes, my lady."
Crow gave a gasping sob and shook her head violently. It hadn't been his fault. None of this was his fault.
My fault.
Lenore watched Crow out of the corner of her eye, playing with her Sprocket Ponies and Cheshire. Cole was hiding out under Crow's bed, smoke furling out from the bedskirt as Cole kept vigil over his mistress's distraught mother. Cheshire, leaving off from his mad frivolity to pester Lenore, cocked a knowing eye at her, leaving only his sharp-toothed smile as he flickered out of sight.
"Mama?"
Crow looked down at the cluttered floor, bleary eyes searching for the search of the sound.
"Yeah, Songbird?"
"Love you. Don' be sad. Ever'thing okee now."
Crow's lips quirked into a small smile.
"I know, darlin'. I...I'm just lonely without him. I guess I'll get used to it, though."
Lenore looked around the room aimlessly, watching Lock, Shock, and Barrel gallop around the impromptu obstacle course Len had set up with a few pairs of boots, a thermos, and a stack of comic books.
"Not coming back, is he?"
Crow gave a long, rattling sigh.
"No, Songbird, he isn't. I don't think he's ever gonna come back. He's.... he's too damn noble for his own good, that's what he is."
Cracking her neck to get rid of the crick in it, she pushed herself off her bed and stretched. There was a stacatto crackle of joints and bones rusty from disuse popping back into place, and Crow gave another sigh.
"He wouldn't want me acting like this. Might as well start gettin' back to normal, 'cause things aren't gonna be changin' like this again any time soon."
Kicking a path through the clutter, she gave the jade-plated skull on her bookshelf an affectionate pat before entering the bathroom. The skulls roving eyes wandered in different directions as it yammered in Nahuatl, laughing as a gigantic sapphire blue twin headed snake was forced bodily out of the bathroom. Widdershins gave a semi-offended hiss and slithered over near Lenore, coiling around her for warmth and shutting his four eyes.
Lenore gave a half smile as the many creatures and machines that had hidden themselves away since their return started to surface again. Sitting on the floor, caught in a pile of wrinkled clothes, she reached a hand up to her camp bed to retrieve Sadako for her game. She gave a confused murmur as her fingertips brushed something hard and icy cold. Struggling out from the pile of clothes and serpent coils, Lenore pulled back her blanket and gaped at what she found.
A pilot's helmet, scratched and worn with a bullet hole at its crown covered with aged medical tape, lay bottoms up on her bed. The thing was freezing to the touch, though it was slowly thawing. A black scrap of parchment was tucked inside, and Lenore removed it cautiously, unrolling it to slowly read its contents.
Take care of yourself.
-J.
Lenore gaped at the note for a minute before seizing the helmet and rushing into the bathroom, ignoring Crow's scandalized protests at the intrusion.
Maybe getting back to normal wouldn't take so long as she'd thought.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:46 am
__Part 37
Crow lounged on the couch, reading a book upside down and sipping at her usual mint tea she carried in her handy jumbo thermos. Lenore sat on the floor in front of her, deeply involved in a game with her doll Sadako and Crow's pilot helmet, which had been turned into a boat to sail the shaggy carpet ocean.
"Fwoooosh," Lenore said, trying to mimic the sound of ocean waves as the helmet-boat rocked around. Crow looked up from her book for a second to watch Lenore as she played, and then to see if anyone else was around for Lenore to play with.
As luck would have it, Chin peeked around the door a minute later to find it was occupied. Sabriel was suffering the indignity of being wheeled around the HQ, since he refused to be carried. Hearing the 'Fwooosh' he tried to lean out to see what was making the sound, giving an impatient little squirm and a meow when she didn't get the hint.
"Oh, hey." Chin said hesitantly, stepping into the room. Sabriel studied Lenore, tails twitching slightly. Was she the culprit? "D'you guys mind if we come in? We won't bother you." The way she said we made it very clear who we meant. She tried to smile.
Crow looked around at the source of the voice and smiled. She hadn't met any of the new guardians, or gotten out much at all lately. Meeting someone new was a treat.
"Oh, hey! C'mon in - me and Lenore are just hanging out." She budged over on the couch to make more room, peering at the new Mishap in interest.
"My name's Crow, by the way. Nice to meet you."
Lenore looked up from her game in mild interest as the meows reached her ears. A slight prickle of discomfort tickled her spine as she took in the new kid's feline features - she'd never been that comfortable around cats.
"Kitty."she said, pointing at the new kid and announcing clearly.
Briefly Chin bent to untie Sabriel. Her hands were kept carefully out of the way as she lifted him to the floor, remembering past injuries. Then she crossed over to the couch where Crow was sitting and squeezed in the opposite side in a sort of apologetic way, though her assurances they weren't being a bother helped. "Crow? I'm Chinchillie - s'nice to meet you too." Holding out a hand, she did smile this time. "And he's Sabriel."
Lenore must be the girl sitting on the floor. She was kinda...birdish. Cute birdish, though. Chin figured she must be another Mishap. "Have you guys been here long? Like, here in the agency?"
Sabriel looked at her warily, only confused by the "Kitty", which was apparently directed towards him - she had the name all wrong, though. Sabriel. Not Kit-ty. "Sah." he corrected, ears tilted back a little. It had been hard, learning all those funny sounds actually meant something, and he was proud of being able to say a few.
Besides being confusing, she was also kind of Zir-like, with those feathers and clawy feet and....well, something was similar. Putting a paw out, Sabriel took a wobbly step forward on all fours, intending to investigate closer.
Crow shook her hand and smiled, dog-earing the page of her book and tossing it down to the floor.
"Hi Sabriel," she said, waving. Turning back to Chinchillie, she counted off on her fingers before answering.
"I've been here 'bout three months. Lenore was one of the first babies out for adoption, I think, so we've been around pretty much since the whole business started. How 'bout you? I knew there were some new adoptions recently, but I haven't met anyone new..."
That was a bit of an understatement. Out of all the guardians, counting Chinchillie, she'd met four. Not exactly a social butterfly.
Taking Sadako out of Crow's helmet and hugging her close, Lenore watched Sah creep closer. His tail was immensely intriguing - pretty dangerous looking, too.
"My name's Lenore. Everybody calls me Len, though. This is Sadako. She my dolly."
Sadako's head slowly turned 360 degrees to face Sah, blank eyes creepily fixed on his face. Lenore giggled at her doll's spooky greeting.
"She nice once you get to know her."
Chin had to think about that. The answer was easy to get, however surprising. "About a month, I think - actually, almost exactly a month. Sabriel's a Halloween baby." Cripes. December already. "So Lenore's one of the older children? D'you know if there's anyone else that came around the same time as us? They'd probably be on our floor, but we haven't met anyone."
Though Crow made up for meeting a lot of people - she certaintly was interesting.
Settling more comfortably on the couch, she passed a curious glance over the book Crow had tossed to the floor. She always could use new things to read...they had those books like the Three Musketeers that Sabriel hadn't even read yet to tide over for a little bit.
At the sight of Sadako, Sabriel stopped in his tracks, a frightened hiss fizzing in his throat. Heads didn't do that. Maybe if he'd seen someone like Aladon...but he hadn't. This girl had one evil guardian.
He kept his eyes on it as he paced unsteadily onward. Plunking down a little bit away from the two, he curled his claws into the carpet, trying to resist the urge to pounce. Evil guardian. He had to remember that, even though she was just so Zir-ish.
"Len?" he repeated, looking at the doll. Sadako sounded too complicated for a name.
Nibbling at her lip as she thought, she glanced down at Sabriel. His whip tails were as fascinating to her as they were to Lenore.
"Hmm. Not actually sure - I hear there's a spider and bat baby floatin' around somewhere. Not sure who the new guardians are, though. I haven't been getting out and mingling much," she said, laughing a bit.
Noticing Chin's rather covetous look at her book, she leaned down and retrieved it, dusting off the cover and handing it to her.
"Check it out, just got it a couple days ago. It's pretty good."
The paperback cover was slightly damaged from its fall onto the floor. A woman with her face in shadow emblazoned the cover menacingly, the title in shadowed letters above her. "The Tommyknockers".
"I'm usually not one for King's stuff - more of a Lovecraft fan myself. How about you?"
Lenore felt her feathers flare in involuntary discomfort as Sah hissed.
"Nice kitty," she mumbled, scooting back a little. Sadako continued to stare at Sah, a hiss of her own rattling in her plushie throat.
"Be nice, 'Dako." Lenore scolded, smiling at Sah.
"Tha's right, my name Len. P'eased to meetcho." Sensing a bit of tension, she set Sadako back in the helmet and pushed it towards him.
"Wanna play wit' me?"
Chin looked embarassed. "To be honest, I haven't read a single book by either of them...though I've heard more about Lovecraft. Those books sound kind of strange." She paused. "VERY strange." Some books like that were okay. As long as it wasn't late at night - then it got a bit too much.
Stiffening slightly when the doll was pushed his way, Sabriel chose to play, curious as he was. He leaned forward, placing his paws on the rim of the helmet. Just to make sure, he poked at Sadako. He was not going to play if it kept on being creepy.
Crow gave a joking gasp.
"Good grief, but you've been denied a literary treat. Stephen's okay for beginner horror, but there's nothing like reading 'The Call of Cthulhu' at night with the lights off for some good wholesome entertainment. You can borrow that book if you want - I'm not getting into it too much myself."
Lenore watched carefully to make sure Sadako didn't try to snap at Sah's fingers, casting the doll a warning glance as she turned her head to look at her mistress.
"Sah's gon' play wit' us, Sadako."
The doll gave a rattling grumble in reply and suddenly went limp, her way of showing acceptance as a play thing. Lenore giggled and scooted closer (though not too close), beaming at Sah.
"So, Sah, how old're you? How come your tail's all split up like that? Can you take somebody's eye out wit' them?" she asked eagerly, forgetting that being a baby he probably couldn't answer her yammering questions.
"Sounds...um...great. Thanks."
Chin was already wondering how to get the book back in one piece. She ran her fingers thoughtfully over the cover. "So what's Len like?" she asked.
Sabriel gave the thing another poke when it went limp, relieved. Lenore suddenly fired off with a whole bunch of babble, causing him to look up at her - trying to understand it only made his head spin.
There were a few in there he got. "Tail. Whip." he said smugly, swishing it. Chin said that word a lot, and there was a tail/whip on their key. He pushed the helmet back at her, tilting his head at Len. She had a funny tail, too. In fact...
"Bird?" He put a lot of meaning into that question.
Crow looked down at her charge thoughtfully before replying.
"She's a handful - curious to a fault and determined to get her hands on everything. Likes to steal stuff, too - gonna have to work on breaking that habit sometime soon. But..." she trailed off as she watched the girl trying to engage conversation with Sabriel, smiling slightly. "She's a good kid. Tries to do the right thing, friendly, and one of th' sweetest kids I ever met."
She paused for a second, then laughed at herself.
" 'Course, I tend to see the good traits more than the bad since she's my kid."
Lenore nodded in approval as she watched the tails move.
"Neat. I got sharp feathers on my arms - they can cut through anything. Well, except rock, but I don't try to cut through that too often."
Tugging Sadako out of the helmet and setting to clumsily braiding her silky hair, Len gave an absent nod at Sah's question.
"Yup, I'm half-bird. I got tail feathers and my sharpy feathers are wings, and Mama says I can fly 'cause I got hollow bones. That's pretty neat - I wish I could see what they look like, if they is hollow. D'you have hollow bones?"
A loud snapping and breaking sound could heard coming from within the walls, ceilling and floor. The whole structure started to tremble and change, taking a new, bigger and more elaborate form
It didn't take long before it stoped, but nothing was in the same place anymore
The once 'small' green area had now turned into a huge place
To the north a huge sea-like lake covered most of the landscape, with a set of islands floating in the distance
To the east a higly ridged mountain rose from the ground, with a luxuriant forest growing at its feet. A small road was barely visible, going all the way up and then disapearing to the other side
To the west and south the once forbidden woods were now a large dark forest. And between it, the lake and the river stood a complex of buildings that were the newly formed farm
And the inside the HQ had also suffered a drastic change. It was now much bigger and taller than before, despite of the 2nd an3rd floor fusing together
On the first floor a whole new area had been added on the east side, dedicated to the instruction of the Mishaps
The older blue, red and yellow areas had also changed. New rooms were added and the older ones were wider than before
The Mishaps rooms were now placed in a new disposition, all of in one single floor now. They too had expanded, giving the guardians and their children a much wider space to live in
Also a new magic was given to them, allowing the rooms to be chaged directly by the guardians whenever they needed
And as for the 3rd floor, the attic had lowered and merged with it, while the minishop inflated its space. Also a semi-natural pond and luxuriant vegetation covered the rest of the now soil covered floor.
Chin smiled. "She is pretty cute - you can't deny that. Sabriel...he can be, but it's usually when he's trying too hard to be grumpy."
She suddenly jumped as the couch started to tremble underneath her. "What the...?" Lunging to grip the arm closest to her, she looked frantically at Crow, wondering if the building was coming apart. The butterflies in her stomach started to swarm as she stole a glance out the window...
Chin squeezed her eyes shut. "We're all gonna die." she mumbled, clinging to the couch like a liferaft.
Tailfezzuhs must be a name for Len's tail. That made sense. "Bird." Sabriel agreed. He followed the weaving of her fingers in and out of the doll's hair, curious, before coming back to his earlier thoughts - bird. Birdbirdbird. They liked to hop on the windowsill (which he avoided now) and taunt him because they knew they were safe. He didn't know it, but his tails had started twitching again.
His reaction to the changes was a small 'yow' of surprise, lost in the creaking and snapping of the building. Sabriel peered up and around curiously, ears flattened at the noise, and a little fur raising along his back, though he appeared (mostly) calm on the outside. "Len??"
Righting herself on the couch where she'd been nearly thrown off, Crow looked around cautiously as the room stopped moving. Giving a whistle as she inspected the newly-enlarged room, she gave Chin a puzzled look and shrugged.
"Well. That was peculiar."
Clutching Sadako with white-knuckled hands, Lenore peered around with wide eyes.
"Ishta," she said softly. Shaking her head at the annoyances of magical buildings, she finished braiding Sadako's hair and set her on the floor.
"We's okay, Sah. Stupid magi-call house just movin' 'round and being a jerk."
Sadako gave a raspy titter and scuttled back to the pilot's helmet, nestling inside it. Pulling at her tangled hair, she looked at Sabriel with crafty blank eyes.
"Cat." she said clearly, enjoying the fact that she made him uncomfortable.
Chin dared to open her eyes again, swallowing when she saw the state of the room. She slid from the couch so she could look out the window. Okay. That was different.
"Very peculiar. D'you remember having a farm?" Or a lake. Or a forest. The list went on and on.
His fur slowly smoothed down as the sounds rumbled to a halt. Len wasn't panicking, though she had looked a little surprised, so he refused to. The house was moving? ...weird...
Sabriel glared suspiciously at the doll as it started moving again...Sadako's dry rasp rubbed at his already on-edge nerves. Forgetting all the times Chin told him not to do something, to be nice, he pounced for the helmet.
Crow bounced off the couch and scooted next to Chin, pressing her nose against the glass.
"A farm..? Uh. Dude. Where'd the mountain come from?"
Lenore gave an involuntary screech and flew backwards as Sah pounced, flapping her arms hard enough to get herself on her feet. Jumping up onto the couch, she blinked and shook her head as her instincts released her.
"Whatchoo doin', Sah?" she asked in alarm, ready to glide out of harms way if the boy showed any inclination of doing anything.
Sadako gave a squeak and scuttled out of the helmet, racing for the television. Climbing up on top of it, she sat and laughed hoarsely in triumph at her escape.
"Slow," she said, shaking her head in amusement as her eyes focused on Sabriel's face.
"A m-mountain?" Oh geez. What on earth was going on here? Chin's eyes were wide as she took in the entire scene through the window. It was like the HQ had been suddenly popped into a completely new place, but she could see hints of the old place all over. This was too weird. She glanced at Crow, wondering what she was thinking.
"Maybe we should learn how to ski. I dunno what else to do with an entire mountain, do you?" she said, only half-joking.
Sabriel's momentum carried him on over the helmet. He was sent tumbling right under the couch with a surprised yowl, choked off by a cloud of dust. He sat back up, nearly banging his head on the bottom of the couch in the process. This hadn't been the best idea, had it?
Sneezing, he crawled out into the open. Len was right above him. He curled up a paw and rubbed his eyes with it, squinting so he could see her sitting up there.
...bird...
Lenore's worry was right. But when Sadako started laughing, thoughts of trying to clamber up there were driven right out of his head. He glared at the doll, tails thumping angrily on the carpet. The nerve! "Leeeen." he pleaded with the girl on the couch. She was taller, right? She could help teach the creepy thing a lesson, right?
Hopping of the couch and skirting around Sah, Lenore reached up on tip-toes to retrieve Sadako from her perch on the TV. The doll gave a rattling hiss insolently at Sah and writhed out of Len's grip, scuttling up the wall like a spider and disappearing through the rafters.
Lenore gave an awkward laugh and shuffled at the carpet uncomfortably.
"She usually ain't so silly," she said to Sah apologetically.
Taking in as much of the new view as she could, Crow considered how long she could remain upright on skis without fallin and rupturing a major organ.
"Huh. Maybe there're caves to go spelunking in - that seems a little bit safer." she said, face still pressed against the glass.
"I wonder what made everything change?"
Sabriel teetered over to the TV where Len stood, trying to look up into the rafters where Sadako had disappeared, but soon gave up, seeing only cobwebs up there. Wherever the evil thing was, it was really good at hiding.
"Dako stupid." he corrected Lenore, a little hotly. She'd let 'Dako escape, after all.
Chin ran a hand through her hair, trying to make sense of it all, and figure out an answer. She was just as clueless. "Maybe they moved everything?" she suggested. "Like, to Kenya or something. But then there'd be the people that don't live here...okay, bad idea." Leaning closer, though not as close as Crow was to the glass, she tried to find something that would make it all sensible.
"There's the playground and the greenhouse and stuff. Do you think anyone's out there?" Imagine standing out there while everything went topsy-turvy. They were lucky to be in here rather than out there.
"I...well. I have to say, I'm at a bit of a loss for words."
Stepping back and wiping off the nose-print from the glass, she glanced at Chin conspiratorially.
"Wanna go check it out?"
Lenore's face pinched into an annoyed expression.
" 'Dako ain't stupid, she's just acting like a jerk," she replied, glancing up a the rafters as she emphasized the word. "Mebbe she just scared a you 'cause you's a cat, Sah."
Picking up the helmet and jamming it on her head, she dragged the scratched old aviator goggles over her eyes and crossed her arms, her face fixed into a proud expression.
"But I ain't scared of you - you's a cat, an' Imma bird, but that doesn't mean I is scared of you."
"Why not?" As long as nothing else happened while they were out there, Chin looked forward to seeing the changes. A mountain, for heaven's sakes. It was mind-boggling. Then she hesitated. "Should we take those two with us? I could run up and get coats and stuff..."
Acting like that, Lenore reminded him...of Deimos, in the strangest sense. He felt almost threatened by it. Turning his head away without answering, Sabriel studied the view out the window, though he wasn't really paying attention to it at all. "Dako stupid." was all he could think of to say. It was repetitive, but it helped his injured dignity. Dako was still stupid, no matter what she said.
"She come down?" he asked abruptly. "Dako down soon?"
"Nope."
The doll's hoarse reply echoed down from the rafters, accompanied by a rather evil chitter.
Giving Sabriel a careful look through the scratched goggle lenses, she shook her head and waved a dismissive hand at the rafters.
"She ain't comin' down," Len said irritably.
Crow glanced over at Len and Sabriel. The two seemed to be getting along okay - well, at least they weren't trying to kill each other. Nodding eagerly at Chin, she buttoned up her frock coat and gave her a thumbs up.
"Let's go - maybe there's giant milipedes out there the kids can ride or something," she said, her excitement at the new HQ making her already haywire imagination go into hyper activity.
Lenore, still looking at Sah with a mix of fear and dignity, nodded as she listened to the big kids talking.
"Wanna go outside," she said clearly, her eyes leaving Sah for a moment to take in the glorious new places to wander through.
"Giant..." Chin stared at Crow, a little worried for her mind. Shaking her head, she picked up the book and tucked it under an arm so she could put it in their room, and made for the door. "I'll be right back!" she called to Sabriel before disappearing around it.
Barely even noticing she was gone, Sabriel glared up into the rafters, then snapped into attention as he heard Len. Outside? Were they gonna go outside? He wasn't sure he liked it out there so much, but it wasn't dark any more...
The door thudded open, and Chin came back in panting, barely visible underneath a pile of coats. She tugged a few things free, dumped the rest on the couch, and went over to Sabriel. He protested loudly as she stuffed him into a sweater - it was blue with a snowflake plastered on the front. She thought it was adorable. He hated it with a passion.
Pulling on her own coat, she finally returned the thumbs up. "Ready!"
Crow lead the gang outside, humming cheerfully. The grounds were huge, stretching in every direction farther than she could see.
"Wow..."
Lenore ran out in front of Crow, tugging her worn and trailing trenchcoat closed. Lifting the goggles off her eyes so she could look around better, wishing Sadako was with her, she gave an impressed whistle.
"Where we gonna go?"
Glancing at Chin, she shrugged.
"I dunno - more of a follower than a leader when it comes to exploring. You can pick, Chin."
Chin barely heard Crow's question. She was utterly floored - inside, it didn't look so big. But out here...shaking her head again, she blinked, recalling being asked something. "What? Oh...um..." No mountains. Not today. So what did that leave?
Sabriel wiggled free of her arms, clambering up on Chin's shoulders instead so he could see better, putting his paws on her hair for support as he looked out. Outside was just like he'd imagined it to be - big and majestic, full of trees and stuff like that. Somewhat disappointed, he sat back again.
"How about...over there, that patch of forest?" She squinted, swearing she could see shapes like bridges in the trees...but that didn't make any sense. Making sure the cat baby was secure on her shoulders, she waved them on and strode off in that direction herself, hoping it was a good choice.
Lenore nodded and took off like a shot in the direction of the woods, her lanky legs moving awkwardly on the grass.
"C'mon, c'mon, let's go!" she shouted, smiling as she drew closer to the playground of ropes and bridges.
"It's a treehouse town!"
Trudging behind them in silence, Crow looked around appreciatively. Whatever had caused the growth spurt had certainly done the job right. Watching Lenore as the girl eagerly started scrabbling up one of the ladders and gliding awkwardly to another tree, she laughed.
"Well, looks like it's gonna be an interesting afternoon after all."
Jogging to keep up with Lenore, Chin felt her awe grow as the entire town came into view - how on earth had this happened? It was so cool! "Very interesting." she agreed. "Look, Sabriel! Isn't this neat?"
Stopping at the foot of a bridge, she looked up. And up. And up. "D'you think it's safe?" she asked Crow.
Sabriel craned to see, astonished. The outdoors weren't so bad after all. He meowed, wanting down so he could get up there.
"Just a minute." she told him. He only complained louder, whipping his tails impatiently.
Crow shrugged, laying a hand on one of the thick tree trunks.
"I dunno - probably. I mean, they wouldn't build all this for the kids just to have them fall to their deaths, right?" she said mildly, totally unaware of how unpleasant it must of sounded.
Jump. Glide. Land.
Lenore repeated the pattern over and over, zooming between the giant trees and laughing madly.
"This is so freakin' COOL!" she screeched, gliding unsteadily towards a tree branch just beyond her reach. A little bit of her happiness died away as she began to lose altitude a little faster than she could fix.
"Uh oh."
She tumbled through the air, flapping her arms in a valiant effort to stay airborne. Grabbing onto a nearby tree trunk and biting into the bark with her clawed fingers and toes, she gave a sigh of relief as she saved herself from a nasty fall.
"Phew."
Waving over at the three, she laughed again.
"I almost gots killed!" she said happily, supremely pleased with the narrow brush with death.
(Not that she knew about the spells cast in the area to prevent such a nasty death, of course.)
"Um. Right." The images accompanying Crow's words weren't the most pleasant. Glad for the distraction, she turned and waved back, glad to see the girl was all right. What if it really was dangerous? "Good job, Len!" Lenore sounded so happy about it.
Sabriel took matters into his own paws, bored with waiting. Spying a bridge hanging a little ways above them, he scrambled on top of Chinny's head, and from there hooked his claws into the boards and hauled himself the last few inches up. He flopped on his side, spent but proud of himself.
"Ow..." Chin tenderly felt the scratches his hindclaws had left and looked resentfully up at him. "You could've asked, you know."
Ooh, it was even better up here! Not even listening, he got up and set off to explore, the bridge swinging gently under his weight.
Beaming at the praise from Chin, Lenore scrabbled along the trees and glided back towards the three. Landing on a branch a little over Sah's head, she perched like a bird and watched him with interest.
"Whatcha wanna do now, Sah?" she asked, all her previous feelings of fright and wary distrust forgotten.
Wincing in sympathy, remembering many an occasion when she'd nearly lost an eye to carelessly flapped razor feathers, Crow leaned against the tree and watched Lenore and Sabriel.
"She doesn't think the day is complete unless she's risked death or serious bodily injury," she said with dry humor to Chin, shaking her head in slight exasperation.
"She's a nut - I think the gliding's bringing out the adrenaline junkie in her."
TBC? :3
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:47 am
__Part 38
Crow lay on a blanket on the lawn, a book covering her face as she slept. Depression had spurred her out of her room, and the lack of sleep over the last few days had caught up with her at last. Cole lay next to her, letting Crow use his foreleg as a pillow in an amazing show of generousity. He watched Lenore run around with patience, ready to swoop down and protect her if need be.
Lenore ran around for sheer joy, jumping up once and awhile and gliding a few feet before landing hard on the grass again. After twenty minutes of running, gliding, and crashing, she sat down for a bit, laughing breathlessly and looking around to see if there was anyone to play with.
SHe'd finally convinced Deimos to come out, it was about time. She limped along, using only one of her crutches now, to keep wieght off of her sprained ankle. SHe needed fresh air though, badly. SHe looked up and spotting Crow, increased her pace. "Hey, Crow!" SHe called out, beaming. SHe hadn;t seen Crow in sucha long time.
Deimos was grumbling slightly. He didn't want to go outside in the winter chill. IT annoyed him. He refused to wear long sleeves so he drapped his claock around him for warmth. He looked up from the ground as his mother cried out, and his face broke intoa huge smile. "Len!!" He exclaimed, rushing to her. WHere had she been all this time?
Cole looked over at the new lady and grunted, shifting his leg so Crow's head hit the ground sharply. Waking up with a start and a gasp, she sat straight up and rubbed the back of her head ruefully. Looking around in confusion, she squinted blearily at the source of the cheerful greeting before giving a delighted screech.
"Jizzy!"
Jumping up and smiling, Lenore looked around, hardly daring to hope.
"DEI!"
Getting a running start, Lenore jumped up and glided to Deimos, crashing a few feet in front of him. Standing up and proudly dusting herself off, she examined her grass stained clothes in fascination before looking up and smiling at Deimos.
"You....grew."
Jizzy limped over to Crow cheerfully, having half a mind to just ditch the crutch and just walk, but she didn't, only flopping to the ground by Crow and leaving the crutch at her side. "SO how have you been? I haven't seen you in ages." SHe said.
"So did you. Last time I saw you, you were still in diapers." He said, purposefully, releasing his grip on hsi cloack, so that the tatoo on his arm showed. If he was going to show off, he'd do it properly.
The familiar twinge of pain shuddered through Crow briefly. She didn't know. The whole thing... no, it didn't make any difference. She wasn't about to dump anything on her friend right now.
"Ah, ya know...been here and there. How about you? How'd you get hurt?" she paused to examine the injury for a second. "Want me to beat someone up for ya?"
Goodness, Dei was different. He even sounded different.
"Yeah, Imma big girl now. Not too big, though - I get ta steal lotsa stuff an' no one even knows I do it 'cause I'm little." She gave a slightly wicked giggle, digging into the pocket of her skirt and showing Dei a pilfered bauble from her last time out into town.
"Stoled this right off a lady who was pinchin' my face 'cause she thought I was cute -isn't it pretty?"
The watch sparkled in the sunlight, its crystal face studded with little faux diamonds. Lenore regarded Dei carefully to see if he was impressed - she'd gotten so much better at stealing things, after all. As she looked him over, she noticed the tattoo.
"Pretty! Did your mumma draw it for you?"
"Oh.. uh this. Nah. I was ice skating and being the klutz that I am.. I kinda fell." SHe said. She'd been having loads of fun before the dumb skate crumpled under her. "I'm not the most coordianted person ever." She said with a non-chalant shrug. "Besides, Rico was right ready to knock the lights out of the guy at the skate kiosk, so I think he's been threatened enough."
Deimos was impressed. He was smirking and nodding in approval. "I don't steal much. Mother always catches me and makes me give it back. It's like she's.. phy.. uh she can read minds. But if you can steal, you'd make a good pirate. I'm a captain now, d'ya know?" He said, and his smirk grew wider as she noticed the tatoo.
"Nah, This I got from Jabir. I had a scar right here." He said, pointing to his forehead. "From a cross, and Jabir moved it over to my arm. It's permanent." He said, his chest puffing up slightly in pride.
Crow winced in sympathy.
"I feel your pain - at least you didn't walk headfirst into a sliding glass door. I've done that about ten times in the past few weeks." She laughed, relaxing and feeling happy for the first time in a long while. Looking slyly at Jizzy, she propped her chin on her hand and leaned in a bit closer.
" 'Rico'? Do my ears decieve me, or is there a boy in the picture now?"
The tattoo made Dei look really tough. Admiring its spiky shape, she pocketed the watch again and thought for a second.
"You a cap'tin? Tha's neat. I can be a piwa-no, a piira....pirate. Umph. I get to be one too?"
She smiled brightly for a second, but then her face fell.
"Umm...what's a pirate?"
Jizzy chuckled, and nodded, her cheeks going a tinge of pink. "Can't get anything past you, now can I.." She said, shifting, so her ankle was less of a bother. "Yah. He's Chao's twin, ya know her? She has a mishap too, so you might have seen her around." She said, smiling.
"SUre. You can be part of my crew, Len." He siad, nodding, but he made a small eye rolla nd a sigh as Lenore asked. "Pirates sail the seventeen seas and plunder and steal from town and ride in ships. Liek Jack Sparrow does, in the movie." He said, hoping she'd seen it.
Crow gave a sneaky smile.
"I'm perceptive that way, you know."
Chao, huh? Didn't ring any bells...
"I haven't really met anyone around. Just you, Azumi...and Rabid. Not really big on the social scene."
Lenore's eyes went huge as Dei explained. Oh, it sounded wonderful - to steal not just for fun? Now that was the life for her. She'd never been in a ship before but what the heck, there was a first time for everything!
"Woooow...sounds aw'some." Pausising to think for a second, she tried to remember where she'd heard that name before. It clicked after a few seconds.
"Oh, yes, yes! I know him - Mama's got lots of movies with him in it, but he doesn't call himself Jack in those ones. My favorite's From Hell - I think Mama likes it to 'cause he's got a nice accent in that one. She says she's got a squish - no, a...um...a CRUSH on him. I just like him 'cause it was a scary movie. People got killed in it!"
Lenore smiled and bounced on her heels, getting more excited by the second as she thought of her new title.
"Imma pirate now!"
]"Oh, well she's relatively new. I've been kinda stuck at HQ for a while so I've been with loads of people. I don't know any of the newest guardians though." She said, purposely steering away from the topic of Rico. "It's hard to keep up with it. Children seem to multiply like rabbits here."
Deimos beamed. Another recruit to his crew, and it was Len. Like torching two birds with one fireball. "Now you can pillage and plunder and get scuuuurvy." Whatever scurvy was. "And I'll have your back whenever we go plundering. I can torch anyone that gets in your way." He said, smirking. "Did you know? I can burn things now?" He said with pride, now this was soemthing he hoped would impress Len.
"Huh. I'll have to try to keep track of 'em better."
Stretching and cracking her knuckles contentedly, Crow rolled over onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows.
"Anything else happen while I was out of the social scene?"
Oooh. Scurvy. Sounded neat, in a pirate-y sort of way.
And Dei could burn things now? Dude, that was just cool.
"Can you show me how you do it?" Len asked innocently. She wanted to see Dei's special thing - then she could show him how well she could glide. It was almost like flying now that she'd gotten so much practice in.
Jizzy pondered a while and shrugged. 'Not much that I can say. Dei got a brother, went into the forest, got himself into a load of trouble, oh and yah. He can burn things now. I ahd to fireproof the entire house!" Jizzy made a large sweeping movement with her hadns. 'And still he manages to find ways to burn his homework."
Deimos beamed and nodded. He'd been waiting to show her. He set out his palm and focuses, openeing the door that kept his fire at bay. Sparks formed in his hand and then with a poof a fireball appeared in it, flickering and swayying with the wind. "Nice, ain't it?' He said.
Crow gave another sympathetic wince.
"Sheesh. Well...at least he hasn't set fire to you yet, right?" she asked half-jokingly.
"Wait...homework? Did you enroll Deimos at a school? Aren't the other kids a little...well, nervous around him?"
"Whoa."
Lenore watched the bright ball of flames in amazement. It was the most awesome thing she'd ever seen - to make fire just by willing it into being!
"Wish I could do that," she mumbled, flexing her long fingers and trying to imagine what it would feel like to conjure fire whenever she wanted. What could she do that was special, anyway?
Looking up suddenly and grinning slyly, she flared her razor feathers like a peacock.
"I can fly, yanno. D'you wanna see?"
]"I couldn;t enroll him yet. Not with the holidays so enar, not much point in having him start. I'm teaching him some basics for now and enrolling him once January rolls along. I expect I'll become fast friends with the school nurse." SHe said with a shudder. She dreaded the day she'd send Deimos off to school.
That's when he remebered it. "Right! Len, Jabir told me to tell you that laters, you and I can go learn to fly together!" He'd entirely forgotten abotu that. 'I can't fly at all, you gotta show me how you do it!" He said.
Crow gave a low whistle.
"Man. I can just imagine what gym class is gonna be like when they get to play dodgeball." A fleeting vision of Deimos laughing in victory on top of a pile of children with rubber ball-concussions flashed through her mind, and she had to stifle a laugh.
"Maybe once Len goes through another spurt, we can enroll 'em together. She and him get along so well."
Lenore puffed out her chest in pride and gave a knowing smile.
"It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it - I'm half a bird anyways, so it's real easy for me. C'mon, I'll show you how!"
Running off clumsily to the playground, she deftly climbed up the monkey bars and perched on the top. Smiling as a slight breeze ruffled her wild hair, she felt her body instinctively prepare itself for flight. Her tail of feathers spread and lowered, and her razor feathers rippled together as one to make solid sheet-metal wings.
"Watch!"
Throwing herself off the monkey bars, she plummeted to earth before arching her body into a U-shape. She swooped up and did a clumsy mid-air somersault before losing altitude and flopping onto the ground with a dull thud. Sitting up and blushing at the dud of a flight, she gave a silly giggle.
"Okay, so it's a lil' harder than I said. Still fun, though."
She looked Deimos over in curiosity. Jabir said they'd be able to fly together?
"Dei, how can you fly if you only gots those lil' wings on your head? I gots big wings and I still can't fly too good. Can your cape make you fly? Like....like...like a super-hero? Are you a super-hero pirate?"
Jizzy chuckled. "By gods they'll be the terror of the school. I can see the fire and destruction already." SHe joked around, well partially. She totally though the fire part would happen. "But I'm sure he'd enjoy having Len around, though."
Deimos beamed in approval. He wished he could fly like that, but he hadn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. "I dunno how I fly, Jabir just said I could. I guess I could be liek a super-hero, but I'm not sure." He said with a shrug. His tail swished around, her feather attached tightly to it. "I can try though!" He said and started up the monkey bars.
He reached the top in no time flat and perched himself carefully on the top. Takign a breath he leapt, and plummeted. Well that didn;t end out to well.
Crow did laugh this time.
"Jeezaloo. King and queen of mass destruction and doom. They'd have the toughest bully crying by lunch time."
"Uh-oh."
When Dei said he couldn't fly...man, he'd meant it.
"Dei? Are...are you 'kay?"
"He'd be lucky if he was just crying." SHe said, imagine the bnig bad bully handing over his lunch to Deimos. "WHat worries me is if he ever does chemistry...." SHe felt a chill voercome her at the damage costs.
Deimos moaned slightly as he stood up, wiping dirt from hsi shirt. His face sort of hurt and he didn't notice the blood trickling from his nose. "Urgh, well, yah. Told ya I wasn't to great.." He said pickign some leaves out of his hair.
"Well, if worse comes to worst, we could pack up and head to Mexico if they blow up the school," Crpw said mildly, imagining the look on Len's face as she egged Deimos on into adding just one more drop of vinegar and into a baking soda and lit cherrybomb-packed science fair model volcano.
Come to think of it, she'd like to see what would happen, too.
"I'll say. Grav'ty and you don't get along too good, huh?"
Clucking her tongue when she saw his bloody nose, she dug into another of her skirt pockets and produced a pilfered monogrammed handkerchief. Toddling over and offering the gold-threaded thing to Dei, she picked a leaf out of his hair with a giggle.
" S'okay, though. Once I get big, I'll teach ya how in no time. Then we can be flyin' super-pirates!"
"Oh yes Mexico! No winter. Just warmth. Let's go now." Jizzy said, exitedly. She was never one for cold weather. "Gaian winters are not my style. I knwo some nice beaches in Mexico, and by gods the food is great."
"Nah we don't really." He said taking the ketchief and placing it by his nose. He pulled it away. Blood. He was bleeding? Oh well. He said, placing the kerchief back on to stem the flow.
"I bet you'll get big soon. You gotta tell me as soon as you do, k. Well go out 'sploring." He said, still using his toddler term for exploring. Some things never changed.
Crow's eyes lit up. She'd only been joking, but if Jizzy did want to go...
"I've been meanin' to work on my sun tan anyway," she said, looking ruefully at her eternally pale skin. "When d'you wanna go? After they blow up the school, or after they hog-tie a bully and hoist him up on the flagpole?"
Lenore gave a serious nod. She wanted to grow soon. Dei wouldn't want to hang around with her if she stayed little like this for much longer - super-hero pirates with neat tattoos had lots of important things to do that little kids would just get in the way of.
Looking around a bit aimlessly, she twisted her skirt shyly in her hands.
"D'you wanna go 'sploring now?"
"Hmm.. The explosions me thinks. That will get us in mroe trouble than the hog tieing." She thought. 'But the hog-tieing may lead to laysuits. So I say Mexico after explosions and Aruba afte hog-tieing. We can go on "business". " SHe said, makign her fingers do the quotations, smirking.
"Sure, Len. Where though. The forest..." Well, Deimos shuffled. He wasn't ready to take on the forest yet, even with his fire. "The forest doesn't like me all to much. Last tiem I went in, a tree attacked me."
Crow nodded eagerly.
"And maybe Cuba or Haiti in case they decide to liberate the class gerbils and set 'em free in the cafeteria. The possibilities are endless!"
Lenore gave a profound shudder and a sniffle as an unwelcome memory rushed back to her. Shivering as though with cold, she gave the forest a long, sad look before pointing randomly towards the green house.
"I....I don't like the woods, either. Bad stuff happen in there. Let's go look in the glass place - maybe there's somethin' neat to steal in there."
]"Oh we'll be on vacation so much, we'll end up extra crispy." She said chuckling. "The problem with me and beaches is that I don't tan. I burn." SHe said, nodding slightly.
Deimos nodded in agreement and started off to the greenhouse, still keeping the stolen kerchief at his nose. The bleeding ahd stopped for the most part, but he'd rather keep it there for a while longer.
"I'll try to steal something for ya Len. Ok?" He said, glanicng at the building, wodnering what it would be that he could get her.
Stretching back down on the blanket, Crow gave a sigh.
"We'll get used to it - we might have to, since I have the most nagging feeling we'll be on the run for awhile..."
Cheering up a bit, Lenore skipped beside Dei as they wandered nearer to the glass-house thing.
"I like shiny stuff - do pirates steal lots of shiny things? Like jewl'ry and glasses and keys? I like keys - I got lots in my secret hidey-box under my bed. I gots a couple aminals I took, too! Well, more like lil' robots, but they're kinda alive, so I guess they're aminals too. What kinda stuff have you taked, Dei?" she asked, her rapid-fire questions signifying all was once again well.
Jabir walked to the garden looking for Crow. He had seen her and Len going there earlier
It only took him a few seconds to spot the two guardians talking, although he couldn't see Len anywhere nearby. Oh well...
"Hello Jizzy, Crow. I hope I'm not interrupting anything but I've got something here about Lenore" he handed Crow the note he had kept in one of his pocketsQuest Dear Crow, I?m sure you?ve noticed, or maybe not, that little things have been disappearing from the house, and other places, while others that you don?t ever remember buying are popping up here and there in your quarters... Well, it seems that our shiny lil raven girl has something to do with that. Turns out that Lenore has been "picking pockets" a little too much for her own safety. As legal guardian it's up to you to decide how to handle this matter and how to 'break the habit while it?s young' before your charge gets into some real trouble. Best of luck, The Mishap Staff
"Pirates steal loads of shiny things! The pirates taht have ships go to islands and bury big ol wodden boxes, like this big!" He made the indication of the large box with his hands. "They fill those up with gold and crowns and jewels and all sorts of stuff!" He said. "And as for me, I haven't taken much, not without getting caught. I stoled pirate sybol, and you pendant." He pointed to the blood pilled vial. "I stole the vial for that."
Crow gave Jabir a stunned look that quickly shifted to joy.
"All RIGHT! Looks like they'll be blowin' up stuff sooner than we thought!" Her joy died down a little as she read the note.
"Wait...she's been stealing stuff?"
Pushing the door open to the glass-thing, Lenore tried to imagine what kind of pretty things pirates stole all the time. Probably things like jewels and watches, and quarters. Lots and lots and lots of quarters.
"There's an island out on the pond! Did you bury lots of shiny stuff with the rest of your crew-thing?"
Toying with her blood-pendant, she stopped to admire the wintry sunlight that made the gently sloshing liquid within sparkle.
"I never take it off, ya know. It's my favorite thing in the whole world, 'cept for the bracelet Bah- no....Mawlakiiii...Mah-la-chi....oh, ya know, Rabid's kid. He gave me a pretty black bracelet." She stuck out her arm to show Dei the bracelet.
"Imma be a real good pirate - we'll steal somethin' from everyone in the whole world."
Jabir was a bit confused at the whole plan thing they kept mentioning, but he decided not to ask. It wasn't anything of his business
"Apparently she has. Raven insticts kicking in most likely" he replied at Crow's statement
Suddently realizing the time he said "I must go now. If you need any help do bother me or Maggie about it" he winked and left
Crow blushed a little too obviously and cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Instincts. Yeah. Uh, see ya later, Jabir. Say hi to Maggie for me."
Dude, I'm never stealing another thing in front of Len again, she thought to herself in embarrasment. Bad habits die hard, but she didn't think Len would pick up on Crow's dishonest skills so well...
Jizzy arched an eyebrow as she heard stealing things. "Well.. I'm sure you can find a way to cure her sticky fingers." She said,m trying to break the nervous air. "For Dei's quest, he had to face Erebus, a master demon thats currently taking residence inside Dei. It wasn't all to pleasant, I can assure you."
"Not yet. I have no ship,a nd I can't fly." He didnd't want to admit that he still didn't know how to swim, what kind of pirate couldn't swim. Certainly not a good one.
"I never take off you feather either." He said, bringing around his tail where the feather was strapped on tight. "And this too." He said, lifting up and inverted cross he wore across his neck. "Di gave me that, just kinda like Ike gave you that." He said peering aroudn the lush green house. Too many greens in here, nto enough shinies.
"We'lll be terrors of the seventeen seas!!"
Crow blinked in surprise.
"Jeez, he's got a demon in him? How're you supposed to get him out?
Looking around in the humid glass room, Lenore tried to see if there were any shiny things worth stealing. There were some nice flowers here and there, but nothing too shiny caught her eye...
"Yeah - we could have a whole army o' ships - maybe four or five, an' we could steal stuff from all over th' world and be famous and maybe we could be in a pirate movie too!"
Looking over at Dei's tail, she smiled as she saw the feather tied there.
"I could give ya one of my old sharpy feathers too - when I growed the las' time, they got all not sharp and safe. I give 'em as p'sents to my friends."
Pausing to sniff at an aromatic blue and purple flower that hung down from a thick vine, Lenore sneezed as the whitish pollen tickled her nose.
"Hmmm. Does your crew-thing have a name? It could be a good, scary name that ever'one be scared ta say - maybe like th'...th'....well, I dunno. What'd be a scary name?"
]"THat's the trouble. They're sort of, bound together. It's got something to do with Dei's spell. Supposedly it was supposed to banish Erebus, but from what I hear, all it did was lock him inside a new body. Dei's body." She said with a sigh. Ever since she'd learned this she'd grown increasingly worried about him and how Erebus was acting.
Deimos smiled at the prospect of being captain of more than one ship. "If you gave me another feather, I'd need to find something fo mine to give to you." He said, and he didn;t really knwo what else he could give Len without ripping out half his cloak.
His eyes scanned the floor for any signs of buried treasure, but found nothing. "I dunno what our name is yet. But it should be scary, like that Voldy dude from Harry Potter." He said, and set off to thinking. He'd have to really really really think about this. What would his crew be called? Dei's pirates, albiet awesome, didn't really isntill much fear.
"Boy oh boy, but I'm sure that's gonna lead to trouble."
Crow couldn't think of what could possibly happen, but the possibilities were, after all, limitless. Preferring not to think of the damage that Lenore would most likely be cheering on like some sort of deranged cheerleader, she shook her head looked at the scribbled quest note again.
"Huh. Maybe I should get her to return all the stuff she took and make a public apology," Crow said, more to herself than to Jizzy.
Picking a pretty black-petaled flower and sticking it in her hair, Lenore twirled and made her skirt flare out around her.
"You don't need ta give me nuthin', Dei. You's my friend an' friends give stuff 'cause it makes friends happy, not 'cause they wants somethin' back."
Hopping in a slightly bird-like fashion around the plant-crowded floor, she looked up through the glass ceiling and squinted out at the blue winter sky.
"Huh. What'd be a good scary name..." Mama had read her all the Harry Potter books, and she was rather partial to the fearsome title of Death Eater. But, it wouldn't have quite the same ring to it with a group of ragtag pirates who were, well....not homicidal dark wizards.
"It might be a lil' harder than I thought to make one up," she said toying with the stem of the black flower.
"I suppose. That thought might get her pretty pissed at you." Jizzy said matter-of-factly. She knew that Deimos got rather angry whenever he was made to do something he didn't want to, and he wasn't easy to persuade either. She didn't know if this was the case for Lenore as well.
Deimos, brushhed his hands across the floor as he spotted somethign shiny, but tossed the old bottlecap away in dismay. that was no treasure. "I'm sure we'll find a name 'ventually and when we do it'll be something great. Myabe it will be so good it'll scare our Mother's too." He said in exitement.
"Well, if she's become this bad a kleptomaniac, I'm not too concerned if she's gonna get mad at me." Crow replied, still frowning at the note.
"Jeez. This is gonna be tough..."
Picking up the bottlecap Dei had discarded, Lenore looked it over carefully before putting it in her pocket.
"Never know when it could come in handy," she said, toying with the bit of refuse in her already stuffed skirt pocket.
Venturing further into the mass of plants, she gave a squeak of surprise as one of the vines reached out and tried to wrap around her arm. As it tightened, the crisp stalk was split by her flared razor feathers. Somewhere in the depths of green, the grabbing plant gave a yelp and withdrew its injured vine, leaves rattling at Lenore in anger.
Lenore drew back a little, eyes wide. She bumped against a fluffy flowered potted plant behind her and tipped it, making the plant screech in annoyance as it pushed out its roots to right itself again.
Looking around and scooting back to Deimos, she wiped a bit of the grabbing plant's milky white sap off her razor feathers.
"Dang-erous plants in here," she said mildly, trying to get the sticky sap off her fingers.
Jizzy held on to the ground, eyes wide as the whole HQ began to change. She wtached the greenhouse be plled further and further from HQ and she cursed slightly. The rumbling stopped, the terrian foriegn to her. "Crow. I think Len and Dei are all the way over there now.." She whispered, pointing off into the greenhouse in the distance.
Deimos fought to keep his footing as the ground shook. What was going on? He looked ooutside the glass walls and saw the picnic blanket with thier mothers growing further and further away. "Damn." He cursed, instictively taking Lenore's hand. Ifthey were already seperated from thier mothers, he sure as hell didn't want to get seperated from Lenore. His eyes darted around for any killer plants or moving floors.
Crow squinted out into the distance, where the sudden surge of movement had dragged the greenhouse.
"Ah, shoot."
Lenore, having already felt the earth move beneath her feet during her encounter with Sabriel, gave an irritated sigh and held tight onto Deimos.
"Ever'thing's been changin' lately," she said calmly. "Ever'things gettin' bigger."
She gave the vine that was creeping over her shoulder a dirty look, and the bristly tendril withdrew hastily as she flared her razor feathers almost boredly.
"C'mon, Dei - lotsa new stuff tah look at, iffen whe're really far away from home."
Tugging at his hand impatiently, Lenore skittered towards the door, her pockets jangling with their stolen contents.
Jizzy cussed slightly as she tried to get to her feet, but her ankle retorted painfully and she flopped back down by Crow. "Ypou think they can find there way back?"
Deimos actually growled at the vine that came too close to Len. He snapped his fingers, flames dancing between them and shoved them towards the plants. They hissed and shrunk back as Deimos went along with Lenore through the greenhouse. "I hope the new stuff isn't as dumb as these plants." He said as a vine meeped and yelped as its leaves got singed by Deimos flame.
Crow stood and brushed herself off, shading her eyes with one hand and biting her nails with the other.
"Well, I hope so. We better start walkin', just in case something out there tries to eat them or something."
With the plants kept at bay with the combined threats of slashing and burning, Lenore lead Dei out of the suddenly much larger green house. Lookig around in fascination, she noted the new landscape with appreciation. Enormous fruits and vegetables grew in abundance in a sprawling patch near them - her stomach was growling to obviously to ignore.
"Hmm. Let's go git some lunch, Dei," she said cheerfully. Scuttling into the freakishly large garden, she helped herself to a softball-sized chunk of grape from one of the vines and ate it with gusto.
"Biiiig fruitses."
Jizzy nodded solemly and made another clumsy attempt to stand. With the aid of her crutches she was finally up and hobbling along beside Crow, heading towards the greenhouse. "I sure as hell hope thye haven't added more stairs to get to my room.. If they have, heads will rooolll!" She said. SHe hated hated HATED these crutches.
Deimos made a final hiss at the greenhouse plants before he extunguished the fire in his hand. He followed Lenore into the huge garden, lookign around in slight awe. "It's so huge! I bet if we eat these we'll get really big!" He said, spotting an apple the size of a beach ball and, with some difficulty, tore it off it's branch. He took a large bite out of the fruity green goliath and smiled. THis stujff was great.
Wandering deeper into the garden, feasting on her pilfered chunk of grape, Lenore looked at the plants with wide eyes. Everything was so big - and too tempting to resist. Abandoning her grape chunk in favor of a bit of a watermelon-sized cherry tomato, she sat in the shade of a towering cabbage and ate contentedly. She was about to attack a low-growing patch of blueberries when a cheerful singing caught her ear from behind the cabbage. It was too high-pitched, and a tad too cheerful, to belong to Dei.
Scrambling to climb the thick leaves, she perched on top of the cabbage to find the singer. She spied him quickly - a tiny creature with a whipping tail and a row of spikes growing from his spine, matching the cruelly hooked spikes sticking out of his nose and lips. Lenore watched him in fascination as he toiled to dig up an enormous carrot.
"Mortal blood and mortal bone.
spiky nasty sharp ol' stone,
to hunt for baby Night-y.
Rusty nails and ol' dogs tails,
cat o' nines and nightshade wine,
mortal hair and mortal flesh,
to feed the baby Night-y.
Nighty, Nighty, whot ye want?
Little girls eyes, or little boys tongues?
Feed th' baby Nighty whot it wants,
and burn th' hapless mor-tals!"
The little creature sang it hideous song in a musical, lilting voice, its verses punctuated by wicked laughter as it scrabbled for the carrot.
Lenore shuddered as she listened to the evil song, though she hummed along to it unknowingly. Flaring her razor feathers and howling a battle cry, she leapt off the cabbage and landed near the creature.
"Who are you, and why is you stealin' our carrotses?" she yelled at the thing angrily.
The creature jumped and turned, staring at Lenore curiously.
"Well met, well met! Does it wants a bit? I trade fer that pretty blood ye wear 'round your neck, little lady Raven-Born."
Deimos was very full and very content once he finished his large apple, leaving the core to lie in the shade of the tree. He looked around, searching for Len. Where'd she gone to? He stood slowly, his stomach heavily laden with fruity goodness and he set off in search for her. "Len!" He cried out, hoping to ehar a reply among the overgrown fruit.
Lenore grabbed at her vial pendant and clutched it tightly, eyeing the creature with suspicion.
"I isn't tradin' it," she said flatly. Looking him over, she crept a bit closer to the creature.
"What is you?"
The creature bowed with a flourish.
"Th' name's Dobql - duergarr extrodinaire, at ye service."
"What d'you want?"
Dobql jerked a thumb at the half-unearthed carrot.
"Gettin' dinna for meself, o'course. Why izzit that a noble kree-cher like yaself is in a little out o' the way veggie patch like this? Izzit your court's? Iffen it 'tis, I wasn't meanin' to do no harm-"
Lenore cut him off with a confused shake of her head.
"My court's? What d'you mean?"
Dobql leaned against the carrot and looked at Lenore as though she was talking madness.
"Pfft! Innit obvious? You's a Unseelie, through an' through, so obviously an Unseelie is livin' in their court's land! Ain't part-i-cularly bright, are ye, Raven-Born?"
Lenore stiffened.
Unseelie?
She'd heard the word a couple times before - once, from Julian, and once, from the white fire that had swallowed her a few weeks ago.
She was about to grab Dobql and shake more information from him when she heard Dei calling for her.
"DEI! CAP'TIN! Over here! Help!" she called out to him, seizing Dobql and glaring at him.
]Deimso was about to smile when he heard Lenore's voice. He'd found her. But as soon as the cry of help reached his ears, he bristled. His cloak fluttering slightly.
He began to run, not walk, to where he heard the voice and came to a sliding halt, fireball forming in his hand to torch whatever wa shurting Lenore. His eyes were ablaze as he gazed down at the small imp.
"You ok, Len?" He asked, looking at them both. Lenore seemd to have the creature under control, but still, he kept the fireball ablaze as he moved to her side. Erebus piped up in his mind, though it was distorted and muffled thanks to all the defenses Deimos had formed against him.
Holding Dobql by the collar of his shirt, Len picked him up and showed him to Dei.
"We got's us a thief," she said, angry for no reason she could think of.
Dobql writhed in Lenore's grip, trying to get loose.
"Wasn't doing no harm! Wasn't doing nuffink - jus' gettin' summat to eat! Lemme go, Alecto, lemme go!"
Lenore twitched and let Dobql go instinctively, confusion whirling in her mind.
"Alecto?"
Dobql rolled his eyes.
"Don't know nuffink at all anymore, does ya?" he asked sympathically before turning to run.
Snapping out of her confusion, she snatched Dobql back up again.
"Alrighty, tha's it. Start talkin', or me an th' Cap'tin start doing, uh, mean things." she said in as threatening a manner as she could, feeling a bit guilty as Dobql turned frightened eyes up to her.
"Pirates is mean and nasty to whoever get's 'em mad, right, Dei?" she said, twiggy finger firmly wrapped about Dobql's neck.
]Deimos' eyes were still flaring as he brough the flame in his hand near Dobql. "I wonder how long it will take him to burn, Len." He said, in a low, and slightly creepily exited voice. He glanced up at the creature. "I don't give him longer than ten minutes.. unless he tells Len what she wants to know.." He said softly, smirking. Oh how his pirate heart was content.
Dobql stared at Dei with huge eyes.
"Needn't threaten - you and I, we almost kin, er, Cap'tin."
Wincing as Lenore's grip on his neck tightened, he looked up at the girl dolefully.
"Whot izzit you wants?"
"What the bloody hell is an Unseelie, and why'd you just call me Alecto?" Lenore demanded, smiling at Dei craftily.
"I dunno, Dei, I think he'd burn much faster n' that. Mebbe if I slice him up a lil' bit first - he could burn REAL good then."
Dobql gave a squeal and looked at Deimos again.
"Ye wouldn't!"
color=darkred]"Kin, eh? You must be a friend of Erebus' then.." He said with a smirk. "I'm sure he won't mind you burning.." He said, pushing the flame so that the tips licked Dobql's legs.
"And I wouldn't hesitate. Once Len gave me the word, you could consider yoruself crispy." He said. THis.. this was fun.. It agve hima thrill, a sense of power.
Dobql gave a scandalized yelp as the licks of flame flickered under him.
"Alright, alright! You, ye nasty lil' bugger, are the magical mistake and meant-to-be slave-creature of that inept b***h of a witch Aubrey Tenbloom - An Unseelie orphan soul enslaved to do the dirty work of filthy mortals! I will say no more to ye, Alecto, ye dirty lil' outsider - go find the witch, and seek out the answers ye desire." he snapped sullenly, trying with all his might to prise himself free of Len's grasp.
Lenore gave Dobql a sound shake before grabbing his tail with her other hand and beginning to whirl him around in a wide arc.
"I'm NOT dirty, I'm NOT a mistake, and my name is LENORE!" she said angrily, heedless of Dobql's squeals as she whirled him 'round by his spiky tail. Releasing him so that he soared high into the air, she turned on Dei with furious tears in her eyes.
"Dei, LIGHT HIM!"
Deimos, for a split second, was slightly shocked. Noon ahd veer asked him to light anything before, ussually asking the opposite. But he saw Lenore's furious tearstained face, anger roared inside him. He spun to where Dobql was tossed, and tossed the raging fireball from his hand. He'd burn for making Len cry...
Dobql gave a shriek as the fireball struck him, setting the seat of his trousers ablaze.
"Ja'allak ma gralt!" he wailed as he soared through the air, landing hard on the lawn and bolting for the forest, frantically patting at his smoldering bottom.
Lenore gave an angry sniffle and wiped her tears away roughly.
"I'm NOT dirty," she shouted after Dobql.
And my name's Lenore. Stupid duergarr. Stupid Dobql. Stupid Unseelie-thing!
Leaning against the cabbage wearily, she looked at Deimos.
"Dun tell an'one 'bout this, 'kay? I gots tah figure its out on my own, if that stupid Dobql-thing wasn't jus' lying to gets outta trouble."
She hesitated.
"Iffen I go look fer that Aubrey lady, would you come with me?"
Crow watched a flaming, screeching thing fly out of the newly-made giant vegetable patch in mild fascination. Turning to Jizzy and pointing at the patch, she gave a half-amused sigh.
"There they are."
"Course I'd come, Len. A Captain's got to take care of his crew." He said, taking the slightly bloodstained hankerchief Lenore had givven him to stop his nosebleed and patting away a few stray tears before handing it to her. "And if you need me to set anyone else on fire, I'll do that too." He offer, smiling down at her.
Jizzy sighed as the flaming something flew over. Yup, they were there alright. SHe hobbled over to it, hoping that whatever it was that was a flame couldn't sue. "Deimos." SHe called out, stepping over the core of a fully eaten huge apple.
Lenore looked at Dei fondly and sniffled again, giving him a soldier's salute.
"Thanks, Cap'tin."
And once I finds that Tenbloom lady, Dei's gone have LOTS of stuff tah burn, she thought angrily. It was time to get this Unseelie-business sorted out once and for all.
"Len? Where are you?" Crow called, fighting her way through the giant vegetables, and tripping over the apple core Jizzy had so easily avoided.
"Ow."
Jizzy stopped as she heard Crow fall behind her. "Crow? You ok?" She said, toddling back over to her fallen friend.
Deimos could hear their voices now. "Mother's looking for us. We should go before they start freaking out." He said. He knew his own mother got a bit jittery whenever he was gone too long.
Crow gave a sigh as she pushed herself up, brushing loose soil off her face and laughing at herself.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just proving once again I have the same sense of balance as a toothpick."
Nodding and taking Dei's hand, she wandered out of their hidden bit of the patch and into plain view.
"Mama! We - you tripped again, din't you?" she said tolerantly, trying not to laugh at Crow.
Crow made a face at Len and straightened her twisted clothes, grinning.
"Ah, hush up, Songbird."
Deimos did chuckle at Crow though, and spotting his apple core at her feet, he laughed a bit more. "You tripped on that didn't ya?" He said, forcing himself not to break out laughing.
Jizzy went over to Deimos. "Yah, but Dei.. what was that flaming thing flying through the air just a minute ago?"
Deimos chuckling faded and his mind raced. Make something up, make something up.. "Grape.. Bad one too, tasted nasty.." He said hurriedly.
Jizzy could have sweatdroped. "Yah well, anyways, we should probbaly be heading home.." SHe said smiling and started back out. He'd set someone on fire.. again!
Deimos scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "Well, guess I'll see you later, Len. Remeber to tell me once you grow so we can go flying together." He cried out, waving at Len and Crow defore dashing off.
"Okay, Jizzy. See ya later." Crow said, picking Lenore up and giving Deimos a look halfway between amusement and irritation, rolling her eyes.
Lenore hugged Crow tightly, a secret smile on her face as she waved goodbye to Dei.
"See ya later, Cap'tin!"
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:15 pm
__Part 39
Growth Quest: part 1 of 3
Crow bemusedly watched Lenore dig around in her seed pearl-studded purse, pulling out trinket after trinket and stuffing them into her old carrying box. As the child cheerfully deposited out her ill-gotten baubles, Crow looked at the note Jabir had given her again.
This is gonna be tricky.
Waiting for the opportune time to speak, Crow could only shake her head in exasperation as Lenore emptied the purse and moved on to her over-stuffed pockets. Getting up off the couch and squatting beside Lenore, she tugged the overflowing box out of the child's grasp and shuffled through its contents.
"Hmm. Expensive-looking pocketwatch...mp3 player...set of false teeth...live hamster...engagement ring...all you're missing is the kitchen sink. Lenore, where did you get all these things?"
Lenore, who hadn't protested as Crow was rifling about through her things, looked around shiftily and steepled her fingers as she thought up a clever answer.
"Internet."
Good grief, I've created a monster, Crow thought.
"Uh-huh. Internet. Good one. How long have you been stealing things, Len?"
Lenore pouted and crossed her arms, looking away in sudden anger.
"A LONG time. Why d'you care? You steal stuff all th' time!"
Crow winced. It was extremely hypocritical to grill Lenore about her thievery when Crow herself stole at least three things a day.
"I care because it's a terrible habit, and you could get into a ton of trouble if you get caught."
Lenore gave a haughty sniff.
"Imma pirate, and pirates steal. An' I'm a good pirate - I don't get caught an' I take as much as I want. Take what ya can, give nothin' back!"
She was particularly proud of that last line in her argument - she'd gotten a hold of Crow's copy of Pirates of the Carribean and watched it three times in a row. Dei was her captain, for sure, but that Jack Sparrow was one to learn from.
"Oy gevault," Crow moaned, clapping a hand to her forehead. "Songbird, you're not a...ugh. Okay, Miss Pirate of Feathery Doom. You're the scourge of the seven kiddy pools, and the whole world knows it. But you can't just steal things because you want them- "
"Oh yeah? What about the clothes you stoled?"
"Well, uh - "
"And all those books you stoled th' other day?"
"Um, you see-"
"And what about that baby animal-car that's livin' on the island in the middle of the lake?"
"Okay, okay. I get the point." Pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off an oncoming headache, she tried to think of how she could fix this situation without being a total hypocrite.
"Do you know why I steal, Len?"
" 'Cause you wanna."
"Nope. 'Cause I don't have a job, and I steal - er, I usually take just what we need. So, I'm gonna make a deal with you. We're gonna go back to every place we can to give the stuff you took back, and then I'm gonna go look for a job. That way, you won't be in trouble, and I can start getting stuff the honest way. Deal?"
Lenore wrinkled her nose and curled her toes in displeasure.
"....Fine. But don't tell Dei - I don't want him tah know one of his pirates is givin' back what she stoled. He'll think I'm a wimp."
Crow gave her a very stern look.
"And you're gonna apologize for taking their stuff. And you're gonna mean it."
Lenore's face pinched up into an angry expression, furious tears welling in her eyes.
"Okay, okay, OKAY! Lee'me 'lone an' let's get this over with. Dei's gone think I'm th' worst pirate EVER. " she growled, standing and dumping out the rest of the contents of her pockets into the overstuffed box.
Crow gave a relieved sigh and scooped up the heavy box.
"Well, we got a lot of work to do. Get you coat and lets go."
---
The box was laden with plenty of things left unopened in their packaging, and Lenore grudgingly guided Crow to each store she had pilfered things from. The clerks and customers gave the pair deeply harrassed and annoyed looks as Crow replaced things on the shelves and racks, and as Lenore presented personal items she'd lifted from unawares customers back to them or to the Lost and Found.
"Sorry I tooked your stuff, I jus' thought it was pretty," she offered as an apology each time.
The box gradually grew lighter and lighter, until only a few loose items remained at the bottom. Lenore looked frustrated to the point of tears as she took the emerald encrusted ring out of the box and presented it to a shocked jeweler at The Gemstone Shoppe, a little jewelry store in Durem Crow had adored to lurk around in and gawk at.
"I'm sorry I tooked your pretty rock. I di'nt know I wasn't supposed to take it." she grumbled, looking down at the floor as she held the ring up.
The jeweler took it from her soundlessly, giving Crow an extremely dirty look and shooing them both out of his store with a muttered grumble. As they left the store, Lenore gave a very heavy sigh and looked up at Crow.
"Does I have any treasure left?"
Crow peered into the box. An empty candy bar wrapper and an old ballpoint pen lay squashed in the box's corners, alongside a few ancient cookie crumbs.
"Nope. All gone."
Lenore gave a forlorn moan and crossed her arms angrily, looking away from Crow.
"I gaves back ever'thing. No more treasure. I'm th' worst pirate in the hist'ry of forever - who ever heard of a pirate who gives stuff back?!"
Crow's lips quirked into a smile.
"Yeah, well, but they have heard of you."
It took Lenore a second to catch the joke. She uncrossed her arms and looked up at Crow with a tolerantly affectionate look on her face, rolling her eyes.
"What we's gonna do now?"
Crow glanced at her watch. It was nearly 9:30 at night - they'd spent the entire day returning Lenore's loot.
"Tonight we go home, and tomorrow I look for a way to become part of the corporate machine," she replied dryly. Picking Lenore up and starting the long trek home, she gave a sigh.
"A deal is a deal, after all."
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:32 am
__Part 40
Growth Quest: part 2 of 3
"And what exactly are your qualifications, Miss Adyamer?"
"Uh, it's pronounced Adyamaur, sir."
The pencil-necked man behind the desk sniffed indignantly at the correction as he looked up from Crow's resume. Crow muttered and apology awkwardly and made as though to get out of the chair, but Lenore clearing her throat loudly and obviously in the chair beside her kept her seated.
"You is gonna get a job, since you made me gives back all my treasure," Lenore said in a serious voice, crossing her arms and flaring her razor feathers in warning.
Crow made a face and turned back to the man, who was watching the exchange with weasel-like eyes.
"You know we have a strict policy against pets, Miss Adyamer?"
Lenore twitched, but kept the insult on the tip of her tongue to herself.
Crow choked back a laugh.
"Yes I do, sir."
The man nodded and continued to look over Crow's rather short resume.
"It says here you worked in Vehilii repair and breeding - what is a Vehilii, to be precise?" he asked, his tone clearly suggesting he thought she had made it up.
"They're biomechanical transports. I used to live in Rijan, and-"
"You're Rijani? Uh, Miss Adyamer, I don't think we'll be requiring your services." The man hastily gave her back her resume and stood, skittering to the door to open it for her. "Good day."
Crow blinked and shook her head slightly in confusion.
"Sir, what does my nationality have to do with anything?"
The man looked extremely uncomfortable as he tipped Lenore out of her chair and rather forcibly escorted her out, and motioning for Crow to follow the child.
"Considering how you people are around foreigners, I- uh, that is to say, uh-"
Crow scowled deeply and rose, exiting with wounded dignity.
"I see. Good afternoon."
Leading Lenore out of the fast food restaurant by the hand, Crow turned slightly and stared at the man, who was leaning against his office door beside the bathrooms.
"Unravel," she whispered. The man's clothing suddenly came apart at the seams, leaving him yelling and flailing in bunny-print boxer shorts. Lenore gave a shrieking laugh as Crow marched out of the restaurant, fuming.
---
"Well, that went as well as to be expected."
Crow and Lenore were sitting at a worn picnic table, eating lunch as Crow pored through the newspaper wanted ads. Lenore looked up from her ketchup-drowned french fries to smile at her mother encouragingly.
"Dun worry 'bout that jerkwad, Mama. He wears bunny undy-wear." she said kindly, giving a snort of laughter.
Crow gave a sigh and continued to look through the ads, one clawed finger absently shredding a splintery gash into the aged wooden table.
"Hey...this looks promising. C'mon, Len, let's go."
Seizing her plate of french fries and toddling after Crow, she paused and raised a sneaky, stealthy hand up towards the bulging pocket of one of the people waiting in line at the burger shack. She had nearly loosened the woman's wallet when Crow tapped her on the shoulder.
"Uh, I was just, uh, yanno, makin' sure it wasn't gone fall out of her pockets," Lenore said sheepishly as Crow dragged her away by the hand.
---
The building was a bit smaller than she'd expected it to be. A large sign blazed in neon lights over the buildings double door entrance: "Gladdol and Proctor BioTechnology"
Crow gulped and cracked her knuckles nervously and entered, Lenore trailing behind her. The lobby was gigantic, a complete disregard of normal reality seeing as it defied the tiny size of the building's outside. A cheerful-looking creature with a six arms and stalk eyes looked up from her computer at the receptionist's desk, waving Crow and Lenore in.
"Good afternoon, welcome to Gladdol and Proctor BioTechnology. How may I be of service?" she asked, smiling in a way that was slightly unnerving since she exhibited three rows of shark-like teeth as she spoke.
"Um. I'm here about the job-"
"Ah, yes. I'll warp you to Mr. Gladdol right away."
Crow blinked and grabbed Lenore's hand, having the feeling something particularly weird was about to happen.
"Uh, warp? What d'you-"
Floooooosh.
"Oof!"
The warp dropped Crow on her knees on plush carpeting in an entirely new place. Lenore stood and looked around warily, razor feathers flaring in defense.
"Ah, you must be the new applicant. Come, have a seat."
A genial looking man smoking a cigar and working at a computer looked over his desk at her, motioning for her to sit. Getting up off her knees and straightening her clothes in a rather harrassed manner, she settled into the chair and dug out her battered resume.
"The name's Gladdol. Victor Gladdol. Pleasure to meet you," he said, taking a puff on his cigar as he reached over the desk to shake her hand. Crow shook it nervously, trying to smooth out the wrinkled paper.
"Um, I read in the paper that you wanted a lab tech who had experience with biomechanical technology, and I was wondering-"
"Ah, yeah. That damn department's given me nothing but trouble - half the people I hired barely know an erythrocyte from a volvox." He shook his head despairingly and held his hand out for Crow's crumpled resume. "Let's see what you can offer."
Crow handed it over grudgingly and glanced at Lenore, who was watching a huge jellyfish-like creature shift colors ever few seconds in the enormours fishtank that stretched from one end of the office to the other. After a few uncomfortably silent minutes, Gladdol gave a grunt and regarded Crow curiously, chin supported on a fist.
"Tell me, Miss Adyamaur - if I was combining a protein cell with three point absorption rate into a radium-core nerve cell system, would I use four or six count sodium bionic nanites to convert the protein strain?" He asked, watching as Lenore pressed her face against the aquarium glass to better look at the color shifting creature within.
Crow started and shook her head in confusion.
"You wouldn't use three point protein for a radium-core system. You'd have to use iron-diffused yttrium to stabalize the metabolic cell rate, then use electric charger selenium one point nanites to charge cell growth and begin cellular respiration."
Gladdol laughed and nodded his head genially, tapping ash from his cigar into the overfull tray on his desk.
"Very impressive for someone who doesn't have a degree in this field, Miss Adyamaur. The last three master PhD.-toting eggheads I asked had no idea - last one in here suggested using duct tape." He shook his head and looked over the resume again.
"I've got associates in Rijan who work with the Vehilii - magnificent scientific triumphs, really. To create a biomechanical transport that has a natural mind and instincts, not just programmed self-teaching AI - anyway. Be here at ten o'clock sharp tomorrow for the entrance exam, and we'll see how things go from there." He rose from behind the desk and shook Crow's hand again, beaming at her as he chomped on his cigar.
"Welcome to the team," he whispered rather conspiratorally behind his hand, giving her a wink and a nod.
Crow opened and closed her mouth a couple times, trying to think of a reply. Lenore toddled back over, watching her mother gape like a fish. Tugging at Gladdol's pant leg inquisitively, she smiled innocently as he looked down.
"How come you gots no hair?" she asked, eyeing his shiny pate curiously.
Crow clapped a hand to her forehead and picked Lenore up hastily, exiting the office before Gladdol could reply.
"Uh, right, ten o'clock. Thanks okay BYE!"
Gladdol watched the two leave, shaking his head and running a hand over his scalp a bit self-conciously.
"Kids," he huffed, chewing the end of his cigar and rolling his eyes.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 2:26 pm
__Part 41
Growth Quest: part 3 of 3
The next evening, Crow looked over her new Gladdol and Proctor BioTechnology employee handbook with avid interest, twirling a lock of hair in her fingers. Lenore sat on the floor, dolefully regarding her empty treasure box and slowly packing it with her toys.
"Mama?"
Crow looked up with some effort from her reading.
"Yeah, Songbird?"
"I have somethin' for you."
Crow looked at Lenore in curiosity, setting the book down on the arm of the couch. Turning down the volume on the TV, she looked at the child expectantly.
"What is it, Len?"
Digging into her pocket somewhat guiltily, she clutched something tight in her hands and shuffled towards Crow.
"I sorta stoled somthin', and I din't give it back the other day."
Crow snapped the book shut and stared at Lenore angrily.
"After I told you stealing was bad, after we gave everything back, after you apologized to all those people, you stole again?"
Lenore flinched at Crow's suddenly scary voice, the twin tones echoing cold and unfamiliar to her ears.
"S'not what you think, Mama. I couldn't give it back 'cause he ain't here to give it back to," she said quickly, holding out her hand and showing Crow the hidden trinket.
Crow's anger dissapated instantly. A ring lay in Lenore's hand, silver band slightly tarnished and the embedded ruby chipped with wear. Picking it up gingerly, she looked on the band's inside to see if there was an inscription.
To J. - love, the secret sister
The secret sister.
That's what Julian had always called her when they were growing up. Taking a deep breath, surprised that her eyes remained dry, she looked at Lenore.
"How did you get this?"
Lenore shuffled at the carpet guiltily.
"I tooked it when he was sleepin' and tooked it off. I thought it was pretty. I'm sorry, Mama, I'm sorry." she said, face taut with guilt and worry.
Crow sighed and slipped the ring onto her index finger, twisting it absently.
"It's okay, Len. I know you're sorry. When he gets back, you can give it back to him."
Lenore brightened.
"So I isn't in trouble? I promise I won't steal no more."
Crow nodded and picked her book up again.
"You're not in trouble. And I'm glad to hear it - it'll be a lot easier to go shopping from now on when there isn't a security guard tailing our every move."
Lenore giggled, more out of relief than amusement, and began packing things into her treasure box again.
"An' that means th' deal's done - I won't steal, and since you gots a job, you won't steal either."
"Won't steal nothin'," she whispered to herself, nodding resolutely.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:27 pm
A familiar feeling started to build up inside of her. It was very much like the one she had when she grew into a toddler, but more 'subtle' than before
Once it was strong enough the energy spread down her spine and through her body like a strong gust of wind, forcing her body to stretch to its limit. Several feathers fell off, blown away from her
Once it stoped the differences were quite visible. Her wing blades had grown a third row, far longer than the previews ones and were lighter and easier to fold than before. Her fingers were even longer and thiner, looking like pre-historic bird claws
Her hair felt different too, falling down gently instead of sticking up everywhere like before. They felt really soft to the touch too, a bit feathery like
And her feet had also suffer a significant change, her finger about 2-3 times longer and able of a solid grip
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:28 pm
A small fox origami could be seen dashing around the corridor's floor at a furious speed, straight foward to Lenore's room. As it got close to the door it flatten itself and went under it without slowing down for a second As it reached its target, it started circling around the girl's feet. Once opened it read: Origami Note We are very pleased to know you reached the child stage. This will be a very important phase of your life as you will soon find out Please report to the infirmary for a check up and discover your elemental alignment Signed, - The Mishap Staff
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 1:30 pm
__Part 42
Crow and Lenore walked into the Infirmary warily, looking around to see if Jabir and Maggie were there yet. Crow held the little origami message in her hand, furling it around a finger and re-reading it for the twentieth time.
"Hello?"
Cradling Sadako, Lenore looked around the Infirmary with interest. She'd never been here before - well, since the HQ's little growth spurt, she hadn't been to a lot of places before. Looking around eagerly, she set the dulled razor feathers she'd put in her hair to ringing.
"Jabir? Miss Maggie?"
"Just a second," a voice came out from the closet. Maggie came out imediatly, holding some medical instruments and bottles. "I was just sorting things out. Jabir was too tired to do it after the house expasion, the poor dear." She put the stuff down on a nearby counter.
"I bet you're here for your check up." she asked as she turned to Lenore, smiling.
"Yup! Mum said that the note-thing said to come down here as soon as possible, so, um, here we are," Lenore said a bit nervously. She was quite shy around Maggie and Jabir - she couldn't think of a reason why, but she was.
Toying with Sadako's hair, she looked down at herself in concern.
"How come I need a check up? Am I sick with somethin'?"
"Just puberty, most likely," Crow joked in an undertone. Lenore turned and stuck her tongue out at the jibe good-naturedly.
"It's just to see if you're growing normally. All Mishaps get a check-up when they become kids."
"Shall we start then?" She motioned Lenore to sit in one of the beds, while she picked up a stesthoscope from the equipment she had put on the counter.
Shivering as the cold end of the stethoscope touched her skin, Lenore toyed with the bed's blanket with her impossibly long fingers.
"It said in the note that we're gonna find out what alignment I am - what does that mean?"
"You'll find out your magical element(s) and see which type you'll be most capable of casting... if you can cast, that is." After checking Len's internal organs, she moved on to her ears and eyes.
Trying not to fidget as Maggie poked and prodded her, she toyed with the coarse blanket she sat on.
"Oh. Does that mean I'll be able to reshape stuff or make things move with my mind, like Jabir and Mum?"
Crow cleared her throat a little uncomfortably and shook her head subtly.
Lenore bit her lip and chuckled hesitantly.
"Um, I mean like Jabir - Mum can't move stuff with her mind, that's just-"
"-Silly." Crow finished quickly, giving Len a chiding look at her slip of the tongue.
Maggie decided to ignore Crow's unconfortableness, pretending she didn't notice. "If you get the Space or Mind element is. But there are others besides those 2 and loads more of different types of magic you can use."
She was now checking the winged ams, testing the muscles and joints. She then moved on to the fingers, repeating the procedure
When she reached the feathres she muttered "The first two rows are a bit blunt. But this will probably increase the pressure difference."
Glad that her little slip seemed unnoticed, Len flared her razor feathers helpfully for Maggie.
"Is that a bad thing? I mean, I've been slicing stuff here and there once and a while, but nothing too much. When I was in Rijan, a couple fell out and grew back, 'cause they got dented and stuff."
She hesitated, looking at her feathers worriedly.
"I'll still be able to fly, right?"
"Actually is a very good thing. The bigger the pressure diference gets, the better you can fly"
Only then she realized Len was probably not understanding what she meant by pressure diference
"It works like this. The wing is thicker in this end" she pointed where her features sprout from her arm "When it hits the air in the horizontal position, the air splits up in 2 streams, one going over and the other under. The one above travels faster than the one below and when you go fast enough, the pressure of the higher stream gets low enough to lift the wing"
"But this is for airplane wings. Bird ones use flapping to create the same effect, since they don't use engines to push their bodies"
She wondered if she should explain the motion of the feathers during flight, that opened and closed their rows to either allowed the air to travel between them or traped it under the wings to create impulse, but it would be just rubbish for her. Her instincts should tell her what to do.
Lenore blinked as she tried to comprehend, and nodded her head uncertainly.
"Uh, okay. I'll go with that."
Fidgeting and curling her toes in boredom, she looked at Maggie imploringly.
"So when do we find out what my alignment is? How're we gonna find out? Do I have to take a test or something?" she asked eagerly, the words spilling out of each other.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll know what to do once you're in the air" she winked and proceeded with the inspetion. She was now checking Lenore's legs and feet
"As soon as I finish your check-up. Then I'll take you to the alignment room where the test will be taken"
She finished checking the tail feathers before she announced "Well you seem perfectly fine. Shall we go then?"
Lenore bounced off the bed and ran towards the door, jumping high and trying to glide the rest of the way. She crashed a few inches short of the door, and jumped up unperturbed, practically ready to explode with anticipation.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go, let's go!"
Crow rolled her eyes and shook her head, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Doesn't seem too excited, does she?" she remarked to Maggie dryly, smiling.
Maggie grinned and pointed the way to the alignment room, at the end of the corridor. The door was opened and Jabir was waiting for them inside. He seemed tired, but no one could tell by the tone on his voice.
"Hello Lenore, Crow. Hope everything is alright since the last time we saw each other."
Crow gave a half-smile and twisted the ring she wore on her index finger a bit sadly.
"It get's a little easier every day," she said, looking up at Jabir shyly.
Lenore ran into the room eagerly, the feathers in her hair tinkling as she sped by.
"Hi, Jabir! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Less talky, more walky!" she said quickly, darting around and unable to contain her excitement anymore.
Maybe I'll be able to make fire like Dei does, or maybe I can summon the dead! Yeah, summoning the the dead would be AWESOME, she thought to herself eagerly.
"That's good to hear"
Jabir smiled at Lenore's excitment "Alright, alright. Let me just give this to Crow before we start" he handed her a paper he had been holding "This explains all there is to know about the alignments. Ask me anything if you have questions"
"Now just step in center of the pentagram and focus" he pointed to circle in the middle of the room, surrounded by 10 pillars
Crow took the paper and read it carefully.
"Huh. Okay."
Restraining her excitement as best she could, Lenore stood stock-still in the center of the pentagram and concentrated.
What's gonna happen? she asked herself. I hope I get to try to blow something up with my mind - Dei would be so happy if one of his pirates could do that!
It took a while before 2 of the collumns light up "Air and Shadow. Please open you eyes and touch each of them. It will measure your your control over each of them."
Lenore approached the columns and touched them gingerly, glancing around nervously.
"What's gonna happen?"
Jabir didn't need to answer. The lights went off for a bit and on again, now in 2 different colours
The first one was red, coming from the base of the collumns and stopping around 3 feet above. The second one was sky blue, starting from where the other ended and reaching different heights
"Likely able to cast" he translated, indicating the point where the 2 colors merged "And Air seems to be dominant". The collumn he was now pointed was a foot taller than the other
The collumn lights dimmed, letting the ceilling ones to light the room again "Well it seems we're going to have someone haunting our shadows in the future."
Lenore removed her hands from the columns hastily, flexing her fingers experimentally.
"Neat," she said, a rather wicked smile playing on her lips.
Crow gave an only slightly dreading shake of her head, looking at Lenore with pride.
"So, when does she get to learn how to... y'know, cast things?"
"We're still trying to find teachers. But I'm more worried about how than when. The Shadow element isn't exactly my department" he gave a sheepish look
Mulling over the possibilities her newly-discovered alignment had opened up for her, Lenore scuttled back to Crow and hugged her about the waist.
"Did you see? Did you see? I got powers over shadows! How freakin' cool is THAT?!"
Crow patted the girl's head affectionately, nodding.
"And Air, too. That's very cool, Len. Maybe you'll be able to turn into shadows like Cole."
She glanced over at Maggie, giving an apologetic smile.
"I promise I won't let her make shadow-demon things of Doom and set 'em loose on the grounds."
"Unless she learns the how to use the Mind or Space element on the shadows, I'm not too worried" she winked and grinned.
Although this wasn't the case, many people mixed Shadow with Darkness. It did had a relation with the dark arts, but it needed the combination of other elements and the intentions to harm and hate others to actually be Darkness.
"As for the Air, I'd like you to come with Deimos for his flying practice. He needs an example of proper flying abilities."
Lenore gave a mock-disappointed huff.
"Aw, ya never let me have any fun," she said to Crow, smirking. Hearing Dei's name, she perked up again.
"When do we start? I'm gettin' pretty tired of crashing everytime I glide," she said.
Crow tapped a finger to her nose and nodded knowingly at Maggie.
"Gotcha. Well...are we all done here? Or does Len have to try to walk through walls or something?"
Len gave a snort.
"Why walk through 'em when I could just cut through 'em?" she asked, acting as though the idea was the most sensible in the world.
"Just tell to drop by in my office as soon as he can. I'll be waiting"
"She should start with simple things first, like conjuring a breeze . Air is an easier element for begginers"
"Or you could just go through there" he grinned as he made a hole open on the wall. But instead of leading to the corridor as expected, the 2nd floor fountain was in view
Lenore's eyes grew wide as she watched Jabir open a hole in the wall.
"Wow. Man, I can't wait to start learning how to do stuff like that!"
Crow nodded again, taking Lenore's hand and giving her a half-warning look.
"Dude. No cutting ginormous holes in walls, okay?"
Lenore gave a scoff, rolling her eyes.
"No sense of humor at all...I'll tell 'im Jabir, thanks!"
"It takes practice... loads of it" he made a motion of rolling eyes as well, although with his blank eyes it was hard to notice "And you're welcome" he winked and closed the portal slowly.
Ruffling Len's hair, Crow gave Maggie and Jabir a friendly wave as she and Len started back to their room.
"Well, we'll see you guys later. Thanks!"
Lenore skipped ahead of her mother, humming cheerfully as she waved goodbye.
"Bye!"
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 7:20 am
__Part 43
Reserved for the flying lesson RP ninja
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