|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:37 am
Jillette's smile had left her as soon as Becky had left the premise. In truth, the girl was as equally a pouty child was her brother was, but it shone only when her mother was out of sight and taking care of other business. Still, she didn't much like having others notice when she was this way, so she shied away briefly from Anita to stare elsewhere at the strawberries.
Her curiosity was getting the better of her, though, as Jillette's sourness made the strawberries look very unsatisfying, and she knew for sure that something Anita had chosen must have been very beautiful. She rocked herself by her ankle and toes back and forth for a while, her hands bashfully behind her back, until she glanced past her little pink hat for a second to notice Anita's flower staring right at her, like a magician's wand! She giggled, if a little relentfully, then beamed at Anita with a toothy grin. It was difficult to stay so unexcited-- the garden was her favorite place, after all.
She tipped head at the sight of the strawberry; it was beautiful, but she was a keen girl. Even though the question was probably aimed at Uncle Clarke, she piped up, "But Miss Anita! But Uncle Clarke is looking for a soul for his bottle, right? I know flowers have souls because fairies are made of them but do fruits have souls, too? We can't eat things with souls!"
---
Like Jerri, it didn't take Becky long to walk through the meticulous stretch of road before the gazebo was in sight. She sighed in quiet relief when she noticed her son facing the shadow-patched gazebo, standing still in idle wake as he often did, his scratchy straw hat gripped loosely in one hand.
Becky walked calmly forward, as to not startle him, "Jerri," she said, in a tone softer than she'd used indoors. "Honey, it scares me when you run off like that. Are you okay? Are you angry about what happened at the kitchen?"
Her eyes were locked to her son, who remained unchanged, like usual. Becky gently put a hand to his shoulder and turned him towards her, only to catch a glimpse of strange face in the shadow of the gazebo, whose stiff body was rattling on the floor with a gusto that rose in volume like a drum in her conscience.
With a sharp gasp, Becky startled back from fear-- pulling her son with her all the while. She inhaled,
"s**t! Who's-- Oh my god.
"Mordekai?! MORDEKAI!"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:38 am
Anita's lingering smile grew the longer she distracted herself by examining the strawberries; they were all plump, each of them, and very bright. Actually, looking at the soul bottle, maybe the color wasn't a perfect match but Jilette beat her to second guessing aloud. Anita had to double take at the question, first looking surprised then confused, then between the flower and the strawberries. From what she had learned at Lab, even if it wasn't a spiritual soul as most humans knew it, everything -- even non-living natural bodies -- held energy like a soul, but perhaps that was too much for Jilette to be told. For all she knew it could have gone against their beliefs and she didn't want to overstep any bounds there.
"Ah..." the sound came out before she could stop it. Anita glanced to the vanilla fairy perched on her shoulder as if it would have some answers. It just blinked at her. A short nervous laugh left her and she looked back to Jilette with an embarrassed smile. "I didn't think of it that way. You're right. Guess it's back to flowers, huh?" She glanced back to Duncan, brows upturned as she sought his approval on the matter.
---
Cruz was several yards behind Rebecca, keeping his distance to not spook her or steer her off her mission. Occasionally he slowed, enamored with the scenery, the smells, sometimes more fairies -- and a small few chose to follow him through the gates but also kept their distance. Once he was close enough to see Becky take Jerri's shoulder, they stopped following entirely and hid themselves. His eyes and the boy's met very briefly until he heard all of the fairy sounds behind him cease. Cruz paused, turning to watch them with confusion as they took shelter among the greenery and refused to move any closer.
"Mordekai?! MORDEKAI!"
The frei whirled around, eyes wide and arms out defensively. He floated to Becky and Jerri's side as quickly as he could, small wings offering little assistance. Cruz looked them over wordlessly, neither seeming hurt, but both now attentively staring into the shadowed structure of the gazebo. It was difficult to see but whatever the shape was, moving, it seemed low to the ground and he lowered himself enough that his ribbon dragged. His teeth and claws were bared anxiously and he entered slowly, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darkness.
His arms dropped to his sides, nails clicking quietly against the gazebo's floor. He had never seen anything like this -- it looked painful.
---
Becky's voice traveled far. The name had been garbled but her distress was clear. Anita stopped dead, dropping the flower after being startled. She stared at Duncan with wild eyes that quickly darted to the gates, heart hammering with sudden fear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 2:57 am
Duncan took momentary reprieve in picking a few strawberries himself from the garden, and looked quite content at what he'd chosen. He looked up at Jillette when she piped up, though, and chuckled when Anita looked over at him with some level of confusion on the matter. The politeness was certainly received well, and Duncan agreed mutually at the subject of souls was a rather sticky one, and nodded in response to Anita's question.
"Jillette has a point, certainly! I guess it was just my own darn excuse to show you the fruits and vegetables," he chuckled and walked over to where Anita and Jillette were, then patted his niece on the head, "But let's wait for Becky and Jerri to come back, okay?"
"Mordekai?! MORDEKAI!"
Just as Duncan finished his question, Becky's shrill voice ripped through the garden. It took Anita much less time to comprehend the situation, and it was only when she had already burst through the gates that Duncan ran as quickly as he could after all. Jillette, in her shock, stood there perfectly still, only to have Duncan come back to her and tell her quickly: "Go back in side, Jillette, okay?"
Duncan turned around to catch up with Anita. He did so so quickly that he didn't notice that Jillette remained where she was, nervously gripping the basket in her hands. She hadn't heard what he'd told her, and she was awfully scared.
---
The table was rattling by the time Cruz entered the gazebo. Inside was a coffee table piled with magazines and books obstructing most of Mordekai's body, and his seizing head looked momentarily detached from where the Frei was. The man looked ghastly with his rosy pupils rolled back, revealing a frail white wrapped in veiny red. Tears were streaking drown his cheeks, and the rapid spasms of his body emerged the gazebo with an eerily discordant beating south. Splotches of sunlight from the veil of the gazebo windows displayed brillantly the shards of glass and pools of a deep crimson surrounding Mordekai's head. It seeped through the boards and into his hair, and the air around him smelled tangy and strangely sweet.
Mordekai gagged once, something roiling from deep inside his stomach.
Becky blinked dumbly at the Raevan without scarcely a notion of who he was, her short-term memory temporarily flicking in and out of consciousness until she was able to spell out his name. She took a bold step forward, now gripping at Jerri's shoulders so protectively that she could feel her son's clavicles. "C-- Cruz, GET OUT OF THERE! Oh my god," she dug one of her shaking hands into her pant's pocket, reaching for a cellphone, "s**t, s**t--"
"Becky!"
Duncan ran as quickly as he could behind Anita, though he was quickly running out of breath. Panting, he managed to grab ahold of one of Becky's shoulders and surveyed the sight of the gazebo and the Raevan in front of it-- the entrance to it was so small and obscured by the couch and table that he hardly had time to register anything else.
Shaking, Becky flipped open her phone and dialed erratically. "Someone's in there, I think it's--" she gulped and pressed the cell-phone into her ear, "I think it's Mordekai--"
Eyes wide, Duncan quickly removed himself from Becky's side to go over to the Raevan, "Cruz, what's--"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:22 pm
It took as much time for Becky to remember who the Frei was as it did for Cruz to register his name on her lips. It was only after she shouted that he flinched and was brought back to the present, stunned as Jerri had been. He didn't turn to look at her but he was aware of Duncan's distant shout and two sets of footsteps approaching.
"Cruz?" Anita called as she arrived some paces before Duncan, not seeing her Raevan charge until her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the gazebo. She heard Becky's frantic explanation but it took a few seconds to click, following Duncan to the frei's side. As they approached, Cruz floated closer to the figure on the floor and things came into focus.
Anita's stomach dropped. "s**t."
Cruz lowered himself so he was practically against the floor near Mordekai's face, inspecting. His brows knit with worried confusion, eyes wide beneath them and a stiff pout hanging on his features. He reached a hand out gently and rested his palm experimentally against Mordekai's forehead, feeling his tremors. The man gagged again and Cruz leaned away but did not cease contact.
His guardian shifted immediately, heart and mind running a mile a minute, and she ducked into the gazebo. She could see it in his convulsions, something else was happening, and being on his back for it was dangerous. Anita knelt beside him and pulled at his arm, shoving with just enough force to push Mordekai on his side and hold him in place. If he was going to vomit mid-seizure, being on his back during it was the worst thing to allow. As she adjusted him, the nearby table kept rubbing up against her or his shuddering body and the constant rattle became an annoying drone. Without releasing Mordekai, she lifted one leg and kicked the side of the picnic table with the flat of her shoe, toppling it to the floor.
Cruz recoiled from the sudden movement, pulling away and flinching when the table fell. Gazing at Anita questioningly, he managed to speak. "He is hurting?"
"Yes," she answered shakily, grimacing while watching Mordekai's face. Anita had no training with this, formal or otherwise, and was running purely on instinct. Becky seemed to have the phone covered, if she could manage to dial three damn numbers, and surely Duncan would be able to help if she was doing something wrong. It crossed her mind that this sort of thing might not be common for Mordekai, a gut feeling that he wasn't epileptic or prone to seizures, but it wasn't a thought she could put to words and now certainly wasn't the time to ask.
Cruz watched nervously but with surprising clarity in thought. Slowly backed himself out of the gazebo, giving a worried glance to Duncan. His attentions drifted to Jerri, whom he floated down beside so that his ribbon touched the ground. He didn't ask with words but when he caught the boy's eye there was a look of concern. Cruz noted, as well, that there was no sign of his sister with them and he craned his neck looking around the immediate area in case she merely lagged behind.
"Jerri," he said quietly, offering his hand with a single glance to Becky for approval, "Let's go back to the garden." Jillette must have lingered there, for whatever reason, and perhaps it was for the better. He didn't understand what was happening but he knew it was bad and uncomfortable and maybe it would be better if they stayed out of the way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:44 pm
Duncan rushed over to Anita's side and dropped his basket haphazardly in front of the man's face. The basket itself tipped, and the soul and fel bottles rolled carelessly into the sticky puddle of juice framing the top of Mordekai's head like a messy halo. Duncan took note of the two bottles but cared little as he dropped to his knees and stooped next to Anita, careful to study every gagging movement-- Anita had made the right move in pushing him up to his side.
Duncan pressed Anita's shoulder gently and moved backwards, away from Mordekai, and kicked the already toppled picnic table even farther out of the gazebo. "Give him some space," Duncan shouted the command by sheer force of will, though it was much louder than intended; he stared at the wristwatch on his arm. "Becky, how long was he here for?!"
Becky already had her ears pressed desperately to the cellphone by the time Duncan addressed her; she raised her hands up to him and blurted to the other line with a shrill voice. "H-hello? Y-yes, I'm-- this is Rebecca Petit, s-someone is having a-- my brother-in-law is having a seizure, please come quickly!"
She squeezed the cellphone tightly. "--We're in uh, D-durem and Barton-- in between there-- right out in the field, past the house-- um, 780 Pine Street-- oh my god," though Becky was visibly calmer, she was staring straight at Mordekai; despite Duncan's instructions, she edged closer to the man while he heaved, shook, and puked. "I don't know how much longer he can make it, God, please come quickly-- God, thank you!"
Becky dropped the phone and nearly fainted when Jerri nodded towards the Raevan-- whom she didn't noticed coming towards her in the first place-- and left her. She spun around towards where they were leaving in pure desperation, and trailed behind them until Duncan rushed over to her side and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to a stop. The two watched Cruz and Jerri return defeatedly to the garden in their own silence.
Thankfully for them, the Gaian ambulance was writhe with non-humans. As soon as the emergency line had dropped, several drow appeared at the far countryside of the gazebo and rushed their way over. Their arrival was morbidly silent, but Duncan quietly instructed Anita and Becky to back away farther while Mordekai was tended to; while seizing, his body was moved too vioently and rapidly. The evacs were shouting at them to stay back, then disappeared completely, leaving the three to stare at the silence of the gazebo.
Duncan turned on his heel and walked briskly back to the garden. "We have to go."
- - -
By the time Jerri took ahold of Cruz's hand, he had already wet himself. He walked back with him to the garden in shock and shame, and noticed Jillette standing complacently at the foot of the fruit and vegetable garden, framed by the bushes and crawling plants that surrounded the gate. She was pulling her shirt down with her hands out of nervousness, or maybe loneliness. She was able to register Cruz, then Jerri to the Raevan's side. The two of them looked like ghosts in their own right, now, and the shadows of her mother, her uncle, and Anita were close in sight.
The girl grimaced. "Are we leaving?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
