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 Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:21 am
on this page caught
girls
start with the smallest
talk to the hands
first snow
christmas
rahk & ro's excellent adventure
bye bye, forty-five
trapped
willen and dexter
varis
cap'n crunch
there are no maps in hell
cue the ominous music
ursa major
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:27 am
caught
november 21, 2009 The interior of the music shop was dimly lit which was the only reason Ro was allowed out of the bag, if only partially. Astan's backpack was zipped up around Ro's torso and it rested, elbows hooked over his shoulder, watching him sift through countless racks of indie rock CDs, looking for the more interesting ones. This was no giant superchain where one could sample any track they wanted. No, if you emerged from this store with decent music, it was probably due to luck or advance preparation. Astan was proud to say he didn't need either. He could glean an album's worth from the strength of its cover art.
"This one's Maidenbeard's second live offering," he murmured. He felt Ro's body move as it nodded. "This guy over here - he's called the SeaBeast - see how he's curled around the axe... guitar... this thing?" Ro nodded again. "And the girls over here are all, like, no, no Maidenbeard SeaBeast, don't play the chord of virility that will render us virgins no more!" Ro laughed, and for once Astan was glad that only a puff of air ghosted over his cheek as evidence of the act. It seemed his voice had gotten progressively louder over the course of his last explanation and there was no need to further draw attention with loud guffaws. "Yeah, this album was great when I was fifteen," he whispered, pushing it back onto the rack. "Still is." He turned a bit. "How's Rahk?"
Ro nodded again to indicate its sibling was all right. Intent on restoring operation to the clock it had broken, the talkative proto had spent the morning returning copies of the abilities it had stolen to the machine, unbeknownst to its guardian. Rahk was sleeping now and would continue to do so for the next few hours.
Astan slid his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose. Between the glasses and the fact that he appeared to be talking to himself, he figured no one would bother them. He was wrong.
"This one. What's it like? You look like you would know." Astan froze. His attention focused sharply on the girl who had addressed him, not only because he was the only one she could be talking to, but also because the entire situation seemed very familiar. He squinted at the CD she held. It wasn't his band's album and this woman wasn't Timka. She was tall, dark and curvy, and she looked like she'd had an accident in a jellybean factory. She also appeared to have very good eyesight. "What're you and your friend up to?"
Ro gasped and ducked behind Astan's back.
"What is that?" The woman sidestepped closer and Astan turned to face her as she moved, obstructing her view of the Essentic.
"Nothing."
She narrowed her eyes but kept her mouth shut. A moment passed. Out of the corner of his eye, Astan saw an orange and white shape dart across the floor nearby, disappearing around the shelf at the end of the aisle. "Ro?" He panicked, moving toward the creature and turning his back on the woman just long enough for her to glimpse the proto cowering in his hair.
"That!" she said. "Is it a doll?" She reached for Ro, but before she could touch the proto a thin thread of shining aqua light flowed from her fingertips toward the Essentic, swirling around its antennae before disappearing completely.
"Uh..." Astan stopped moving again for a second, forgetting even to breathe. What the hell? "We... I've got to..." He pulled the backpack around to the front of his body and nudged a stunned Ro inside, not caring any longer what this woman saw. If she made a scene... well, Astan didn't know what he would do.
"I... I've got to go." And with that, he hurried from the shop.
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:31 am
girls
november 26, 2009 He had been told that some people celebrated on this day long ago, but it seemed hardly anyone did nowadays. Astan liked doing so, however. His parents had made a big deal of it when he was younger, and he grew to enjoy having a holiday between Halloween and Christmas, just a lazy day that served as an excuse to sit around and eat. He had taken the night off from work and his boss had made it clear that it was his last vacation day of the year. The turkey Astan prepared was pretty good, considering the fact that he had never made one before. There were no sides, though. The likelihood that he would burn down the building was much higher with side dishes involved. Actually, there was one side, but it hadn't needed to be cooked.
"This is... cranberry sauce?"
Astan nodded.
"But that's sauce too?" It pointed at the measuring cup Astan had poured a can of gravy into.
He shook his head while he finished chewing. "Gravy. Sauce usually looks like that though. Runnier."
Rahk rolled its eyes slightly before picking a bit of the red goop off of the plate it shared with Ro. "Things should be more... definite. All the time. No sauces that are not sauces."
Astan smirked. "I guess so. You don't really think about it after a while."
It was Rahk's turn to shake its head. "Wouldn't it be simpler if this was turkey sauce and that was cranberry gel?"
"Maybe? Does it matter? You guys haven't picked what you are, right? Girls or boys? You don't have deliciousness to make people forget how annoying you are to be around and I haven't seen anyone caring about that."
Rahk truly rolled its eyes now and added a sigh for good measure. "That is a stupid example and makes no sense at all. People can still call us 'it' if they choose and our gender has nothing to do with whether or not we are pleasing to others or easy to categorize. Anyway, your information is out of date."
Astan's fork remained poised in midair as he replied, his voice low. "What?"
"We are female."
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:31 am
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:32 am
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:08 pm
first snow
december 19, 2009 He had wanted to teach Rahk how to sing Christmas carols, but all she had been interested in was crafting creepy warbling counterpoint to his own booming bass. That, paired with the energetic "fireworks" display that Ro was inspired to put on whenever her sister sang had forced Astan to quickly give up on vocal lessons. Still, he hummed tonight as he strolled home from work through the park. Silent Night. It was a silent night. Well past midnight, the park was desolate and almost creepy. Astan's pace quickened then slowed suddenly. There was something about right...
"...here," Rahk said, her voice muffled by the backpack as always. "Here is where you found us."
Astan looked around. So it was. "How did you know?" he asked. Did Essentics really have such vivid memories of their time as sparks?
"I don't know. Maybe it rubbed off when you bonded with us." Astan could almost see her small shoulders shrug.
He took a seat on a bench nearby, any apprehension surrounding the fact that it was three in the morning in a creepy park temporarily drowned out by nostalgia. It had only been two months since he had found Rahk and Ro. Well, nearly. Why was it that he couldn't imagine life without them?
Astan might have stayed like that all night, sitting on a park bench in the cold that he didn't feel, had it not been for the snow. It began to fall, softly at first, but soon fat flakes drifted through his field of vision and he looked up into the darkened sky.
"Rahk, Ro, look," he said, pulling open the backpack's zipper. The twins had nodded off, but the sudden sound woke them both. They yawned, stretched and peered out of the open pack nearly simultaneously, eyes wide and double sets of pupils darting about in awe.
what is it
The pale words appeared several feet in front of Astan. Ro had yet to really master the use of punctuation, especially just after awakening from a nap.
"It's snow, Ro." Astan grinned at his unintentional rhyme.
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Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:26 pm
christmas
december 25, 2009 "So, you don't have any friends, then?"
"What?"
"I don't see any packages from others under our... tree, and you haven't purchased any for anyone but Ro and I. Or have you?"
Rahk knew very well that Astan had a severe lack of close human friends at the moment. She smiled.
"No. Isn't getting presents for you two enough?"
Ro, silent as always, looked up from where she had been examining their gifts. Her words appeared on the skin of Astan's bass drum.
he takes care of us
he has no friends
no time
"Ouch," Astan chuckled, clutching his chest as if he had been shot. "Brutally honest, much?"
The silent proto looked up, a smirk on her lips.
didn't mean to be mean
Her smile grew wider. Ro liked it when the same word meant two different things.
"So?"
"What?"
"Aren't you going to open them?"
Rahk didn't need to be asked twice. She reached for a box that was larger than she was tall.
"Um... how 'bout this one first?" He carefully lifted a colorfully wrapped package half the size of the first. It seemed to slosh with some momentum of its own as he placed it in front of the protos. Within moments, it was unwrapped.
Astan looked between them, his expression an equal mix of amusement and awe. "All right. Guess his name is Pip."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:11 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: bye bye, forty-five
january 1, 2010, 2:10am The second time Astan saw the girl, he didn't remember her right away. It might have seemed an impossible feat to forget the multicolored woman, but he had been thoroughly distracted that day in the music store, so he supposed it was understandable in hindsight. She certainly seemed to have no trouble remembering him.
He hadn't been employed at Forty-Five the year before, but he knew from personal experience as a customer that New Year's Eve was one of its busiest nights. Still, she wove through the writhing bodies and moved toward him with such speed that he might as well have been wearing leopard print instead of bouncer black.
"Hey, baby," she said, standing on tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. "We've got to go." Her hand found his and she tangled their fingers together.
What. The. ******** style="text-align: center">*** She hoped the apprehension twisting her stomach in knots didn't show on her face. It wasn't the best feeling in the world, involving an innocent person in all of this, but she had no intention of dying today. Hopefully no one else would have to either. If he found her behavior out of the ordinary, he didn't show it. Carting around questionably legal living toys must do wonders for one's ability to cover things up. "All right," he said. There it was, in his voice. The skepticism. He thought she was insane. Understandable, but hardly problematic. As long as he followed her outside... *** As soon as the club's back door shut behind them, Astan dropped her hand. He was willing to help her out if she was in trouble, but he had Rahk and Ro to tend to first. He couldn't leave them alone, but rushing back inside immediately was sure to make him an obvious target for whoever was following her. "Why'd you do that?" "There're some guys..." "Yeah. I got that. There are always some guys. In movies. That doesn't happen in real life. Some guys are never after you in real life." He wasn't sure when he had began to pace, but he forced himself to stop before he spoke again. "Can I go back in at least? Once you've gone? Are you... safe now?" She looked down at the alley's cracked pavement. "I'm so sorry." "What? Wait, what?!" He took a step toward the door then hung back. "There are... things in there I need to get. And my job? I can't go in at all?" She shook her head. "Maybe you can come back in a few days. We have to go." "Why did you drag me into this!" She wished her decision had more reasoning behind it. The truth was, she had known that he would help her. She had... felt something. But she couldn't tell him that. It sounded crazy. "Because I recognized you. I had hoped you would play along," she said instead. "I don't know my way around and I need someone to help me hide." She felt a flush creep up her face and was suddenly thankful that the alley was fairly dark. What if he asked how she had found him? "Well..." Muffled angry shouts rang out on the other side of the door, forcing Astan to be silent or get caught. Good. No more questions. She grabbed his hand again and pulled him along as she began to run. When they were a couple of blocks away, the club exploded. "s**t," he heard her mutter into the biting wind. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:12 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: trapped
january 1, 2010, 2:17am help
Rahk could barely see the word against the ash-covered desk, but she didn't need to. She could feel her sister's shock and fright and was, understandably, drawn to it.
"Coming!" she said, not caring who heard. All the humans were likely too trapped under giant pieces of ceiling to worry about capturing and experimenting on a couple of protos.
It took some time and some careful maneuvering, but Rahk eventually made her way from the ventilation shaft to the top of the desk. The Essentic had been hiding in the vents, listening to and watching the humans interact in the main rooms of the club. They were like television, only better. Human behavior intrigued her, and Rahk often wondered if one day she might be indistinguishable from the pushy, smelly, loud giants she spied on every day.
Ro had been practicing her letters. As usual.
"Where are you?" Rahk asked the open air. The large marble desk that Ro spent most of her time at the club lounging on was covered with chunks of plaster, and presumably so was Ro. Rahk could see her sister's pen, its smooth plastic barrel lying lifeless and shattered.
here
"Ah!" A dark hand twitched amidst the rubble. Rahk hurried over, her strange feet leaving little monkey prints in the dust. Ro's arm was caught under a large piece of the stained glass light fixture that had once hung overhead. A shame they weren't bigger, really. It probably would have been no weight at all for a human to lift. "Lessee..."
With a bit of grunting and Ro's help, Rahk was soon lifting the sharp bits off of her sister. A jagged cut ran the length of Ro's forearm, but unlike the time that Astan had grazed his thumb with the blade of a knife, the proto's cut didn't leak red liquid. The wound looked more like cracked pottery.
"Does it hurt?"
Ro shook her head and shrugged.
"'Kay. We should go."
where
"Home? I'm not sure. I think we can make it?"
yes. i know the way
"We should look for Astan."
Ro nodded, grabbing Rahk's arm with her wounded one, the irregular fissure that marred it no longer of immediate concern. She was still afraid, but the pair had more important things to worry about right now. They had to be brave. They had to make it home. But first, they had to find Astan.
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:14 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: willen and dexter
january 1, 2010, 3:26am They ran, hand-in-hand, across the park where Astan had found the twins. He had taken the lead shortly after Forty-Five's shattered walls had disappeared from their rear view, but she was keeping up admirably for now. He should have been angry, part of his rational mind knew that, but a strange fluttering in his gut told him the protos were safe. Scared, yes, but safe. He would find them. But not while strange men were chasing him and the girl.
The girl...
He didn't quite know what to make of her. She was attractive, sure, he had come to that conclusion weeks ago in the music store. But something about the fact that she had come to him, of all people, when she was in trouble, that she had been able to find him at all... it felt right. And that perplexed him most of all. He supposed he could deal with exploding clubs and determined killers, he seemed to be doing just fine, but this woman had a definite tendency toward behavior that was out of the ordinary. Strange behavior threw Astan off, perhaps even more so than it would an average person. He had learned that when he had met Rahk and Ro.
He slowed to a stop outside his apartment building, the girl following suit, and they peered up at his windows, checking for light or movement. There was none. Why would there be? The men were still tailing them as far as Astan could tell. He shook her hand lightly and jutted his chin toward the front door. She nodded. They made their way upstairs without incident. None of the elderly people living here had any need to stick their heads out and scold noisy New Year's couples because the halls were eerily silent. Where were all the revelers?
Astan unlocked his door and they moved quickly inside.
"Don't turn on the light," she said, sliding the door shut behind them.
"Nothing's been messed with."
"They wouldn't have gotten here before us." Her voice was almost a whisper. "They're probably on their way though. I'm sure we've left tracks."
"Why did you let me bring you here if we weren't going to try to hide?"
"To make sure we can't be followed anywhere else. To grab the stuff you can't live without. To leave a note for... you know." Her ragged breathing forced her sentences apart. It was almost as if Astan was speaking to a robot.
"Oh." He glanced around at the clutter that decorated his apartment. All his worldly possessions stuffed into two tiny rooms... kind of sad, really.
It took several minutes of rummaging through his closet before he found a large orange envelope containing all of his financial business and any pictures or papers he had felt the need to keep over the years: the faded ATM receipt that remained after he deposited his share of the money from The Tawdry Roadhogs' first gig; a coaster from Massey's, the bar where he'd bought his first legal beer; a matchbook from Forty-Five.
He reentered the living room, envelope tucked under his elbow. What else? He retrieved his old drumsticks from the window ledge, stuffing them into his back pocket, then took Pip's fishbowl for good measure.
"All right. Let's go."
She nodded. "D'you..."
Astan's free hand chopped through the air, and the girl fell silent. Someone was coming. "Fire escape," he whispered.
They hurried toward the bedroom window, the girl holding Astan's possessions while he yanked the glass open and propped up the window frame.
"Wait." Astan grabbed a Sharpie off of his nightstand and ducked back into the living room. When he returned, his companion was already outside, folder and fishbowl in hand. He didn't have time to do more than smirk before the front door swung open with a deafening crack. It was a tight fit, but Astan managed to make it out of the window with only a single curious backward glance. The men's faces were emotionless masks and in their hands they carried a pair of the most comically large guns he had ever seen. He hoped none of his neighbors were feeling heroic tonight.
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:15 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: varis
january 1, 2010, 8:49pm They were both out of breath when Astan knocked at Varis' door. He thought it would be a near-miracle if anyone was home at all, but it wasn't long before they heard shuffling coming from inside the apartment and an irritated voice muttering softly. The shuffling got louder, then a clear word.
"What?"
"Varis." There was no warmth in Astan's tone. As much as he might have secretly missed his friend, he saw no reason to go back to the way things had been, not even when he was being chased by crazy people with explosives and guns. "I need your help." The girl stood off to his side, out of the range of the peephole. He had roughly positioned her there right before rapping his knuckles on the metal door.
Astan couldn't actually hear Varis sigh, but the dramatic gust of breath he imagined Varis exhaling suited the man and his attitude. The door opened a crack after a chorus of clicking locks and Astan took that opportunity to wedge his foot into that crack.
"Hey!"
The girl stepped into view.
"Heyyyy."
"Varis," Astan said, a note of warning in his voice. Don't ogle the pretty girl. "This is..."
It was at that moment that he realized he didn't know her name.
"Kenna," she supplied. "My name is Kenna."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:16 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: cap'n crunch
january 3, 2010, 11:52pm i don't think he's coming back Ro said, her mouth filled with cereal.
Rahk shrugged. Her mouth was full as well. As it happened, the twins had found they didn't need food in the traditional 'alleviating hunger' sense, but that didn't mean they hadn't missed eating. Especially cereal.
how long has it been?
Bright tendrils of orange light flickered between Rahk's antennae as she finished chewing. "Two days. Kind of."
The protos considered themselves very lucky that the door had been open when they had arrived at the apartment. Things were jostled around a bit, but certainly not enough to worry the pair. The makeshift stairs that led to the countertop were still intact, and the twins' box of Cap'n Crunch was still on the counter. What could go wrong in their own home?
The light snapped on and their attention turned from food to the man now standing in the doorway. It might have struck a human as a bad idea to leave the front door open after entering, but the protos obviously had no such feelings of trepidation.
"Hello," Rahk said. "How did you get out?"
The man's pale brows arched in mild confusion. "I'm sorry?" he said. His voice was deep and friendly, like Santa.
"How did you get out of the box?" She turned the cereal to face the strange man. "You're Cap'n Crunch, right?"
The man chuckled. "My name is Avery. Is Astan Moore home?"
Ro sat up straighter at the mention of Astan's name. were waiting for him. do you know where he's gone? The words appeared over Cap'n Crunch's face - the fictional version, not the man standing in front of them.
"No, I can't say that I do. If you're looking for him as well, my dear, perhaps we can search together?"
"I don't know..."
Ro waved at her sister urgently, rising to her feet and motioning for Rahk to get closer. They huddled together with their backs facing Avery and Ro held out a palm.
we can take him if he tries anything. a human will help us get around faster. and if he's looking for astan too
"I guess..." The twins turned back around. "All right, Cap'n. Where're we going?"
"First thing's first. Do you have a scrap of paper I could borrow? Wouldn't want Astan to come back and wonder where we'd gone."
sure Ro climbed off of the counter and made for her writing stash, retrieving a piece of paper and a pen for the man. While he penned a note for Astan, she rolled her papers into a thin bundle and slung them across her back with a rubber band.
"Ready to go?" Avery asked. The Essentics nodded.
In all the hubbub and excitement associated with meeting a new person, neither proto actually bothered to read the note Avery had written, nor did they notice the hastily scrawled words on the baseboard near the door.
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:17 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: there are no maps in hell
january 4, 2010, 10:41am It had been less than three days since they had sought shelter with Varis, but to Kenna it felt like an eternity. In spite of her urging against it, Astan had been back to his apartment twice, or at least somewhere nearby, but he said there had been no sign of the protos.
Forty-Five was a pile of rubble. Reporters on the eleven o'clock news hadn't mentioned any strange lifeforms (not that they would have even if they had found some), but two people had been reported dead on that first morning. Astan blamed himself. Kenna found that fairly idiotic, but she said nothing. She would have argued with a friend, but despite the connection she felt, she really knew nothing of the man. At the very least she thought he should have been happy that 84 people managed to emerge unscathed, or at least with only minor injuries. He wasn't.
Astan had also been to the bank. His savings were now located in an envelope he had shoved under a corner of the fish bowl. Varis had made eyes at the money when Astan had brought it home, but Kenna made a point of keeping close to Pip ever since. Varis wasn't getting his hands on Astan's money on her watch.
She heard voices. He was back. Kenna leaned forward on the bed, straining to eavesdrop through the bedroom door.
"Yeah, man," Varis was saying. "I understand."
"Can I leave the fish with you?"
There was a pause. "Nick can feed it."
"No, I, um... Can you not tell Nick that I was here? Or Pig? I don't know if I'm coming back and..."
More silence, though Varis must have nodded because she could hear them both begin to shuffle around again.
"I could've gotten a fish, you know."
Astan chuckled. "I guess."
She managed to look fairly casual by the time he opened the door. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't bother to ask if she'd been listening in.
"D'you have anywhere you need to go before we leave?"
Kenna shrugged. The first place the two strange men had trashed was her apartment and she was scared to go back, not to mention it was too far to bother visiting again. She had nowhere to go but with him. She only hoped they weren't walking into a trap. "Are we leaving the city?" she asked.
He nodded. "We're going into the Wasteland."
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:18 am
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: cue the ominous music
january 4, 2010, 2:24pm In some sort of unconscious attempt to stir up his own guilt, Astan brought Kenna to the same sporting goods store where he had bought the twins' backpack. That same backpack was now strapped to Kenna's back, filled with dried meats and fruit, as well as several bottles of water. Astan assumed there was water to be had in the Wasteland, but he really had no idea. He was carrying the rest of their supplies, which included a tent, more water, matches, bug spray, sunscreen and a bar of soap. And sunglasses, of course.
"Ready?"
"Let me get a sip of water." Like Astan, Kenna was city born and bred and was understandably a bit nervous to be heading out onto the desolate plain.
As she lowered her pack to the ground and began rummaging around, Astan pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket and glared at it.Quote: Astan, Your tiny wards are leaving with me. Don't worry, I have no intention of harming them. They are far too interesting to break. That doesn't mean they won't accidentally find themselves on their own in the Wasteland if I have to wait very long for what I seek. Bring the girl to the edge of the west side of the city. My men will guide you from there. When you reach me, we can come to an agreement. Do not tell her of this, or there will be no trade. Regards, Avery McGovern
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:21 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: ursa major
january 28, 2010, 10:13pm Avery's... men had showed up less than an hour after Astan and Kenna arrived, just as the mysterious man's threatening note had promised. Passing themselves off as wandering guides, the strangers had been decent, if creepy, company for several weeks. Astan had felt a certain unexplainable but hesitant connection to them, but that didn't make the pair any less unsettling. He suspected they were cut from the same cloth as the men who had broken into his apartment, but Kenna didn't have any reason to think so. She felt safer around them, so they stayed.
The first man was whip-thin with pale skin, glowing green eyes and sharp teeth. He only spoke when trouble was near and then simply to order them all to duck behind rocks or hide in patches of brush. The dangers of the Wasteland appeared to revolve more around wild animals than supernatural occurrences, and for that Astan was grateful.
The second man was another story altogether. Most importantly, perhaps, was the fact that he was not a man at all. If circumstances had been a tad different he might have been considered a dangerous Wasteland animal himself. He had been the first to admit that he was not actually a horse-sized dog, sharing his story around one of their rare nighttime fires. It was not the whole story.
Every night during that first week, Astan had forced himself to stay awake for as long as he could, silently fuming until he could no longer hold his eyes open. He wanted no part in this mess. Whatever Avery had planned for Kenna didn't concern him. Astan repeated this mantra hundreds of times and every time he said it, he believed it a little less.
The dog wasn't the only one who told tales around the fire. Kenna spoke of her past, her parents, her father in particular. Avery McGovern. He had killed her mother and tormented Kenna herself, and now Astan was leading her straight back to him. As the weeks wore on, he began to lose less sleep to anger and more to guilt.
"Here," he said, nearly shoving her to the cave's floor. He hadn't meant to push her so hard, but there was no time for apologies now. He would apologize when this was all over, when they had found Rahk and Ro and when Avery was dead.
Astan had never killed a man. He was surprised to find he wouldn't hesitate to now.
They had been milling around their chosen campsite in the crimson light of dusk when it had happened. There was a palpable change in the air, as sharp and uncomfortable as a dislocated shoulder snapping back into its socket, and then Astan was ducking away from the dog's sharp jaws in response to Kenna's warning shout. The beast leaped and snapped again, wailing laughter pouring from its muzzle as it gave chase. The man with the glowing eyes came at them from the opposite direction, wielding two long, deadly-looking swords that Astan had never even seen him carrying. He and Kenna had ran from the camp as fast as they were able and had barely stopped moving since.
Even though the coast seemed clear at the moment, Astan knew from experience that it wouldn't stay that way. The only difference was, in the past he still had a feeling things would be all right. This time he wasn't sure they would get away. They had been running for so long and one of them was bound to slip up if they kept up this pace. Something in him broke, as suddenly as their guides had turned on them.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice gruff. Maybe he would start apologizing now after all.
"What? Why? I'm fine." Kenna's words weren't much clearer, with the way she was struggling for breath. It was wise to stick to single syllables.
"This is my fault."
"I don't--"
"I brought you out here because I thought I could get Rahk and Ro back. Your father... he has them. He left a note in my apartment that I found the last time I was there. He said he would trade you for them if we went with the men he sent." His collar felt prickly and warm. He scratched.
She was silent for a long time, long enough for both of them to catch their breath. The cave was dark, but Astan thought he might have heard a sniffle.
"Kenna?"
"If we're still here in the morning, I'm going to go. Don't come looking for me. I never want to see you again."
"Don't do that." Melodrama was really not what he needed at the moment.
"You were willing to kill me for those... those things?!"
"Well... yeah! They meant a hell of a lot more to me than you did!" He moved in the direction of her voice, sliding away from the light of the cave entrance in an awkward seated shuffle. "I didn't know if you were a criminal or if Avery wanted to tell you you were the heir to some ******** ginormous fortune or give you a plane or a lollipop or what. Okay, I guess I knew whatever he wanted you for probably wasn't good... but... I said I was sorry! I had no idea what was going on! I still don't! And I definitely didn't know he was your father." Astan scratched furiously at his forearm. He hadn't cut his nails since well before they left the city and he had managed to tear four shallow gouges across his tattoos without really noticing.
Kenna didn't say anything.
"All right, go! I know you can take care of yourself ju--"
"Shhh!"
Astan stopped talking, stopped moving, stopped everything. He strained to discern what was going on outside the cave but all he could hear was the patter of newly-fallen rain and the rush of his own blood in his ears.
The longer he crouched in silence and the more he thought about the fact that his life would probably soon be ended by a crazy dog-thing and a katana-wielding psychopath, the angrier he got. By the time their former guides slid into view, their silhouettes splintering the moonlight shining into the cave, Astan was angrier than he had ever been in his life.
He shot to his feet, holding his fists out in front of him like he had any idea what stance to take when planning on beating the crap out of a dog.
"Come on, motherfu--"
Astan's hands began to shake. His breathing quickened and he stared at the scrapes on his arm, transfixed. It felt like they were filling with ants. No one moved.
"s**t," he gasped before falling back to his knees. Bone shifted, fabric ripped, thick, coarse hair grew from, well, everywhere. When he tried to speak again, it came out as a dull roar.
He looked up. How long had all of that taken? Why was everyone just standing there? The dog somehow managed to smirk. Astan growled then lunged, heart racing as he felt his teeth sink into the creature's flank. It yelped, then broke free and ran. Astan gave chase, but not for long. It was difficult to move in this body, difficult to see, difficult to think. He forced his breathing to slow again and pictured his human hands, peering at his strange black paws until they shifted back into brown flesh.
Astan stared off into the trees, in the direction his pursuers had ran. "What in the hell was that?" he muttered to himself.
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