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 Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:47 pm
on this page rahk & ro's excellent adventure
forgiven
shock the monkey
or are you just happy to see me
willen and dexter?
the confrontation
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Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:49 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: forgiven
february 5, 2010, 7:47pm It took Astan another day and a half before he figured out exactly what he was capable of turning into. Without the supplies they had been forced to leave behind or anyone to hunt for them, he was drawn to a nearby stream when his hunger became too distracting to ignore. He stared into the still pool created by a nearby beaver's dam and jumped at the sight of his fuzzy new grizzly bear face. He might have yelped. Just a little.
In the days that followed, Astan chose to remain in his new form most of the time, for several completely valid reasons.
1) Nudity. When he had first transformed, his clothing had been (understandably) ruined. He hadn't dared try to return to their former camp to retrieve a change of clothes, so clothingless he remained. Astan was more comfortable with his body than most, but even he drew the line at parading through a strange forest for days on end in the buff.
2) Food. Despite her earlier threat, Kenna remained with him. She refused to say a word for more than a week after they were left alone, and Astan couldn't speak properly as a bear. It simplified matters. During the day, they followed a stream they had discovered to the west. When the sun began to set, Kenna picked a cave and gathered firewood while Astan fished. Fishing seemed easy in this form, although 'easier than what' Astan didn't know, considering he had never fished before. His newfound skill was something he didn't question or even think about very often. He was simply happy they wouldn't starve.
3) Warmth. Protection. Forgiveness. Astan was rarely cold, even in his human skin, but Kenna had no such supernatural protection from the elements. On their ninth night alone, the threat they faced seemed far enough away to make camp outside. As the glow of their fire began to subside and Astan hovered in that groggy state between wakefulness and sleep, he felt her lift his arm and snuggle under it, close to his chest.
A short while later she shook with sobs and he tightened his grip around her, thankful that he couldn't really respond. It was easier to talk to a bear, he supposed.
"I'm so sorry," she said softly, her voice muffled by his fur. "I forgive you."
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Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:50 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: shock the monkey
february 5, 2010, 10:01pm It might have surprised Astan to see the twins that night. They weren't - as he imagined - locked in a cage without food or water, huddled together in a freezer somewhere. They were... laughing. It turned out their kidnapper was a pretty fun dude when he wasn't obsessively focused on murdering his daughter.
"Little more this time. Stronger, I mean."
Avery's brow furrowed slightly. "Are you certain, my dear? It will be more than what comes out of the wall." Or at least he thought it would be. The man gave the nearest outlet a glance. He didn't know much about how the electricity actually worked, but he didn't think it was healthy for a being so small to be bombarded with so much of it.
"Mmm hmm," she said, nodding. "It'll be fine, Cap'n!" Rahk smiled.
Once. The word appeared on a dark strip of tile near Avery's fingers. Although Ro was across the room supposedly being entertained by Juliette, one of Avery's assistants, her attention was all on her sister.
Avery shrugged. He turned the dial slightly higher on their makeshift defibrillator, then held the paddles out to the proto.
Rahk placed a hand on each paddle and closed her eyes. "Okay. Go."
The shock would have been imperceptible if it hadn't been for the brief stiffening of Rahk's small body. A moment later her eyes opened again and she grinned. Orange sparks flew from her antennae and Avery stepped back in alarm.
"Watch out!" Rahk warned, her smile widening as she held out a hand, sending a miniature bolt of forking lightning towards the ceiling. "It's like I can hold it in. I can hold it in. And shoot it! Do it again!"
No, Ro interjected.
Rahk scowled. "I can do it! You think I can't?" She hopped to her feet and stomped over to Avery's dial. The man held out his hands to stop the little Essentic, but she held up a hand of her own. Rahk turned the dial.
"Turn it on," she ordered.
Avery shrugged then complied, holding out the paddles again.
STOP IT
There were sparks and a faint smell akin to burning hair as Rahk touched the paddle, let out a shriek and fell back.
I TOLD YOU Ro's tiny face was livid. BRING HER TO ME
Their kidnapper stood stock still, a barrage of varying emotions passing over his wrinkled face. It took a tug on Juliette's sleeve from Ro and a finger jabbing urgently toward Rahk's unmoving form before the assistant lifted the silent Proto and delivered her to her sister's side. Juliette began to back away, but Avery grabbed her arm as Ro linked hands with her twin and began to glow faintly. A moment later, Rahk sat up, confusion evident on her face.
"Did--" Avery muttered.
Juliette looked apprehensive. "She asked me to show her my magic. I didn't think she would pick it up on her own."
Avery sighed. What was done was done, he supposed.
Ro had learned how to heal.
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Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:53 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: or are you just happy to see me
february 6, 2010, 6:57am Astan awoke to weak sunlight in his eyes, birdsong, and Kenna's smirking face inches from his own.
"Sleep well?"
He uttered a meaningless grunt in response and tried to prop himself up on an elbow. Kenna pushed him onto his back again.
"Maybe you didn't notice, but I'm a little naked here?"
"Yeah, why is that? Perv." She managed to keep a straight face as she said this, but there was laughter in her voice. The fact that she was still in his arms seemed to imply she didn't mind his state of dress all that much.
"I can't hold on to the... bear... thing if I sleep too deeply," he admitted. "I found that out the second night, but I haven't been getting a lot of sleep so you might not've seen. It's also hard to keep up when I'm not incredibly pissed off. Which I'm not. Anymore." His chuckle turned into a yawn and he raised a fist to stifle it.
Kenna resisted the urge to make a lewd comment, instead countering with the incredibly non-sequitur, "You said they meant more to you than I did." Her breath formed tiny clouds between them in the chill air.
"What?"
"When you talked about Rahk and Ro. You said they meant more to you than me. Past tense. Does that mean they don't now?" She stretched against him, reaching up to coil her arms around his neck.
"I'd say you're just about equal," he said, a small smile quirking his lips. "But really, seriously, they've still got a bunch of points on you just because of what they are." He grinned as she lightly smacked his chest. "Sorry? I mean, those girls are like my kids and my sisters and sometimes my parents too. I know they love me more than just about anything on this planet except maybe each other, and they showed up at a time in my life when I really needed that." He looked like he wanted to get away once he stopped babbling, or change the subject, but Kenna kept him pinned with her body and her eyes. Astan had never successfully guessed what Kenna was thinking after looking into those eyes and this time was no different. Perhaps, he mused, he should stop trying.
"Fair enough," Kenna said, smoothing a strand of Astan's hair behind his ear. "Tomorrow. We'll find them."
He snorted. "Like it's as easy as that? We're kind of lost. I mean, I've been trying to steer us toward where I think they are, and I know they're still safe, but I've got no clue really."
"Maybe it is that simple. Tomorrow morning I'll find some clearing around here and call Avery out. I'll do it every day until someone comes for us. If you stay looking like this during the day they won't think we're a threat at all. It's me he wants. When he shows up to get me, we'll ******** 'em up beyond recognition, or die trying." She smiled.
"Why do you keep going on about tomorrow? We just got up. You got some big plans for today or something?"
"Actually, I do."
The majority of the thoughts that ran through Astan's head as Kenna lowered her lips to his revolved around fish and bear breath, but somehow she managed to negate all that by smelling of mint. A few minutes later, he couldn't bring himself to care what anyone smelled like.
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Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:54 pm
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: willen and dexter?
february 11, 2010, 1:48pm It was lunchtime when they were found. As Kenna had suggested, Astan remained human while they traveled, so they would seem like less of a threat. She made him a makeshift loin cloth out of the tail end of her skirt, and for a while the garment got shorter and shorter every time he forgot to remove it before transforming. Every day at midday, when happy conversation was interrupted by growling stomachs, Astan turned just long enough to catch some food.
He had been pawing at the stream, all of his attention on the wiggling animals just below its surface, when a pale human foot stepped into his line of sight. He sat back on his haunches and might have looked surprised if he could have managed it.
"Fluffy bear," the green-eyed man singsonged.
When Astan tried to stand up, the man pulled out one of his hidden blades. "She and he will be here soon to talk. Stay." His voice sounded like woodpeckers tapping at dead trees. Astan wondered if he would be permitted to change back and, to his surprise, he was met with a stiff nod. "Human mouth better for talking." The man chirruped with laughter.
Minutes passed. Astan heard Kenna before he saw her. She hurled epithets into the empty forest and the occasional rock at the giant dog that had confronted them before. "We're going to kill you turn you into you... you..." She was nervous, masking her desire to cry with babble.
"Willen," the dog said. "I call myself Willen. And he is Dexter. We are the ones who chased you from your home. We are sorry."
Astan nodded. He knew who they were. "It's... all right." There was little else he could say when there was a knife inches away from his face. Normally, he would have at least made an attempt to fight back, but he had seen what these two could do.
"We would like to explain. Avery hired..."
"Avery?" Kenna's expression was incredulous. "We know you're working with him. If you're going to kill us, just do it! Do it!"
Dexter continued smiling, but Willen's brow furrowed. It was, perhaps, as embarrassed as he could manage to look.
"We do not want to hurt you," he continued. "We meant to drive you away, but you are very stubborn children." He pawed at the ground for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Please. Let us explain." He nodded at the grinning man and Dexter lowered his knife.
Recognizing that she was out of immediate danger, Kenna rushed forward, holding out Astan's poor excuse for clothing and shielding him from their captors as he dressed. He took her arm. "We should sit," he said. She scowled but nodded a few moments later.
Willen took a seat as well, tucking his massive paws close to his chest. "I am going to ask you to wait until I have told you everything I feel you need to know before you ask anything of me. I think that what I have to say will answer many of the questions you have, but you will let me know if you have any others I'm sure. All right?"
Astan and Kenna nodded. Now that it seemed they weren't in danger, the two were reluctantly intrigued.
"Your parents," Willen began, "They are not conventional humans." He paused. "Of course, Kenna, you know that your father is magically skilled, as are you, but he possesses other qualities that make him more than any of the four of us gathered here." He paused again, then let out a bit of a sigh. "I will begin at the beginning."
"Long ago, when the first men gained the self-awareness to perceive the world as you do today, they began to seek basic betterment. They created entities to symbolize the traits they wished to improve. We are those entities... well, two of them anyway. Together, we were the Six. The pillars that form humanity. Over the years, humans grew to worship us, much as they worshipped the gods they created, if not so obviously. We enjoyed many years of bounty, and had we known they would come to an end, we might have more greatly appreciated them. Pure humanity wanes. We have become obsolete. Now Drente teems with dragon-humans, plant-humans, cat-humans, all who walk on two legs and proclaim themselves human. But they are not. We are not the building blocks of these non-humans and they do not need us as the humans did. We are not worshipped. We are dying."
"When we were everlasting, none of us even thought to wonder what mortality felt like. But faced with our own version of it, some of us became fixated on it. Surrounded by humanity for so long, some of us began to crave it for ourselves."
"Your parents were the first, Astan. Strien and Contara had never possessed the calm, thoughtful qualities that myself or Cuunia did. It was not in their natures. Strien isolated himself from us. Truthfully, we could not have foreseen what he would do even if he had stayed with us. He lured a young bear changeling from his tribe, stealing the man's mind and inhabiting his body. I suppose it was not difficult, but I have never tried myself. Strien had been an angry being, but he softened after taking his new form. He begged Contara to follow, insisting that his newly pilfered soul was at peace. Despite her domineering and intimidating ways, the form your mother chose to steal was meek and simpering, and her strength was forced inward instead of being present for everyone to see. They had weakened."
"Maghur was next. He had always thought himself the best of us, and could not tolerate the fact that Strien and Contara had obtained their forms before he had. Even so, it took him several years to find a man he deemed suitable, a nameless hermit residing in the Wasteland. By that time, Contara, or Abigail as she was now known, had given birth to a baby boy, a child that shared the good qualities of his parents but exhibited none of the bad ones, at least in their eyes." Willen's lips turned upward in a small smile. "I am sorry we awakened the changeling in you, Astan. I fear it will bring out your parents' baser natures. But I suppose it could not be helped. Better it was done now when we are here to guide you then when you were not equipped to handle it."
"Cuunia was the last of us to seek out a human body. For all her intelligence, Cuu had one weakness, and that weakness was Maghur. I knew that once he had taken a form, she would be soon to follow. They declared themselves Avery and Diana and moved to the center of Vargash, embracing their humanity with everything they were. Even when Cuunia began to see through Maghur's charming facade, she stayed with him, only thinking enough to send you, Kenna, away to stay with your aunt. You see, Maghur had a theory, one that proved to be true. It might have marked the end of us all had Cuunia not warned me."
"We had always been separate, the Six, but Maghur had deduced that he might imbue himself with our strengths, now that the majority of us were human. It was a simple spell, he claimed. I would not have found it so, perhaps because I regard my brethren with a fondness Maghur does not feel. He systematically... murdered your parents, including his own wife, and he did it without remorse or pain. I knew then that I would never take a definite form, even if I had wanted one. Maghur hides here in the Wasteland, looking for a way to kill Deksan and I. He wishes to kill Kenna as well. Since you refuse to save yourselves and leave, we have decided we will help you retrieve your strange living dolls. Will you have us? We will follow either way."
"You know you're not supposed to tell us you're going to follow us if you want it to be a secret," Astan said, a wry smile on his lips even after all he had just heard. He supposed some part of him had always known he was different, he just hadn't realized quite how different he was.
"It was not supposed to be a secret. It is merely a fact." Willen stood, stretching out long legs and yawning. "Questions?"
"Did you love her very much?" Kenna asked softly. She was quite still, as motionless as Astan had ever seen her.
"Your mother?" Willen asked. He chuckled. "Yes. I still do. I believe she cared for me a great deal in return, but Maghur was a flashy creature. He shared a bit of his magic with a person when he paid them attention, and he coveted Cuu's intelligence. He kept her closer than all of us, but had no difficulty squeezing the life out of her."
Kenna was silent then, her brows canted slightly upwards. Astan had a question of his own, but he waited several minutes to ask it, not wanting to seem too eager. "My grandparents? Who were they?"
"They were the true parents of your father's host. From what I understand, we retain some of the memories of the person's life we steal, so although Strien loved them, they did not care for him in return. Strien was never a very subtle being, and I'm afraid that his host's parents knew early on that he was no longer their son. He told me once that they cared for you because they knew you had no part in their son's death and they could see their boy in you, but I suppose you will never know for certain until you ask them yourself."
Astan nodded curtly. His mind was made up. "I would be grateful if you would come with us. We're going to need all the help we can get, and we'd all be better off if Avery was gone. You're kind of like our uncles anyway, right?"
"Uncle Dexter!" Dex trilled. He rolled backward, then sat up again, like a man-shaped rocking chair. For the first time since Willen had began his story, Kenna smiled. It was faint, but its mere presence suggested that everything was going to be all right.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:31 am
rahk and ro's excellent adventure: one
february 13, 2010, 10:34pm It took several more days for Dexter to lead them to the cave, during which time Kenna and Willen spent a lot of time in hushed conversation. Astan might have been more curious or even jealous, but he had a whole host of other special circumstances to deal with. Dex was teaching him how to take command of his bear form by - much to Astan's astonishment - turning into a bear himself.
"I told you we were the men who chased you from your apartment," Willen explained. "We have forms we prefer, but we can be anything we choose."
"Why did you do that in the first place?" Astan asked, once they had stopped for lunch. Willen and Dexter didn't eat, but sometimes they seemed to understand the needs of mortals far more keenly than Astan or Kenna did. Other times, their otherworldliness overwhelmed anything normal about them and the human pair was happy to get a sip of water, let alone a break. "Chase us, I mean. Were you working for Avery then? What made you change your mind?"
"Yes. We were working for Maghur. We had our reasons." No matter how much Astan pried, Willen refused to elaborate on that point or even acknowledge his other questions. The man was relieved when he spied a dark spot in the trees ahead and Dex ran forward, his ursine muzzle pulled back in a frightening grin.
They had been traversing the dark caves they had found for nearly ten minutes, following the light of Willen's softly glowing fur, when the guards found them.
At least the dog had the decency to look apologetic as he and Dexter disappeared in faint puffs of ash while Astan and Kenna were dragged off. As a bear, Astan put up quite a fight, but it quickly became evident that even bears can be overwhelmed if you throw enough guys at them.
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