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 Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:24 pm
All at once her voice cracked, her body lost feeling, her heart broke.
This was Julian?
"...What happened to the boy?" she whispered.
"The one that I used to know...?"
She reached out a hardened hand for his shoulder.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:30 pm
He winced at the contact, curling up into a little ball and covering his neck. His hair floated in the water around his face, little air bubbles coming up from where he was submerged.
His tail was bristling behind him.
What the hell had HAPPENED?
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:37 pm
Her hand retracted with a gasp at his sharp reaction. He hadn't had contact of any kind for... months.
Carefully, she rose on her knees, leaning over the tub. She would not try to touch him again just yet. But, if she could speak with him...
"Julian..." she stared, uncertain of what to say. "There was a time, when I would lift you up out of that water that you have submerged yourself in. But, now, I do not have the right to. I do not have the right to touch you, to speak with you; to be your friend.
All I am now is a shadow. I am the failure of a person to see what was right in front of her all the time, and to recognize that it was all my doing....
All I am now is Emerwyn. And Emerwyn was brought here. Because it seems there is one more thing left for Emerwyn to do, in Julian's story."
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:40 pm
One ear flicked as she spoke - and with an awkward sort of jerk, he lifted his face from the water. Slowly...slowly...he turned his head, fur dripping, and caught her gaze.
"...Emer...wyn...?" Tears welled in his deadened eyes. His voice dropped to a whisper.
"...Are you real?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:47 pm
The tears mirrored in her own eyes as she finally looked once again into the eyes of the friend whom she had abandoned.
"I am as real as you wish me to be." Emerwyn reached for his right hand, and placed it tenderly over her left cheek, hiding her scars.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:58 pm
Julian choked a sob as he felt her face beneath his paw.
"...You...you are real...."
He scooted a little bit closer, shaking from head to toe. "I th-thought you were another one of...them...."
His ears dipped low. "...They won't stop coming in."
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:04 pm
If Emerwyn thought Julian was in bad sorts before, he was now past the brink of what she could have conceived. What happened in this terrible, dark solace, where one would rather be completely alone than bear the presence of Julian's 'companions.'
Emerwyn nodded slowly, smiling a little, still holding Julian's hand to her cheek.
"I am here now. I may not have been before, but now, I am here."
She wanted to keep his mind off of 'them.' She removed her cowl, and wrapped it around over his shoulders, and offered to help him to his feet.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:07 pm
Whimpering slightly as the warm cowl was placed around him, he managed to wobble to his feet - the strain of his bones against his skin apparent in the places not covered by fur.
His foot-paws sloshed awkwardly in the tub, the claws scraping the bottom.
"...You...changed again....?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:10 pm
She nodded. "And so have you, I see."
Both of them had changed, in so many ways.
Carefully, Emerwyn helped Julian to step out of the tub.
"Careful, now. I've got you."
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:14 pm
He managed one step - but the second was awkward, and he fell against her. Alarmingly light.
It was as if he were teetering on the brink of his consciousness...barely clinging to what little control he had at the moment. He tried to straighten, but was having difficulty, ankles shaking and chest heaving.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:18 pm
Emerwyn held him close to her, letting him use her strength and her warmth.
His weight frightened her. What had he been eating all this time?
"Slowly... slowly," she whispered cajolingly to him as she helped him into the next room. "Just lean on me." She led him to the bed, and allowed him to sit.
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Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:52 pm
As soon as he reached the bed, he flopped onto it, crinkling papers every which way. He was shivering - with cold or with fear was anyone's guess - and still dripping a bit from the tub.
He darted a frightened glance around in the dark.
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Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:03 pm
Emerwyn kneeled beside him, on the floor, holding his hands.
She looked at him gently, not speaking.
The shiver that went through Julian's body went up her arms and down through her own spine. Her thimbs, the only soft part left on her hands, carressed the backs of his.
Still she didn't speak.
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Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:07 pm
After a long moment, he settled his eyes back on her...tears running down his cheeks.
"...Emerwyn...I...I'm...."
He swallowed hard, the corners of his lips twitching the faintest of smiles.
"...Why did you...come here? You're in danger here...they...I...."
The fur on his tail bristled suddenly - he yelped, his head snapping forward as if he were struck. But nothing had hit him...at least, nothing Emerwyn could see.
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Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:12 pm
Emerwyn didn't understand. She got up onto bed right beside him, her arm around his shoulder.
"I came because I had to. I came because..." because the Cheshire Cat told me to come. Why had he called on her? What did he want from her? But, she couldn't talk to Julian about that, not while he was in this state.
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