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 Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:12 pm
Liam, a hand clamped hard over Rabid's mouth, went after the surface himself. At Least he could breathe.
Good gills. Good boys.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:18 pm
"I remember distinctly that there was a hell of a lot less water involved," Crow said tightly to her brother, spitting out a mouthful of saltwater. Julian thrashed, cursing, and ducked his head beneath the wavelets to shout a good deal of obscene words. He resurfaced as Jeddeth bobbed up, coughing.
"Jeddeth," Julian said, voice so calm it only belied how furious he was. "Why are we in the ocean."
"You'll get angry with me if I tell you."
"Not any more angry then I already am."
Jeddeth hunched its shoulders, sinking slightly.
"I think the medallion had a crack in it," it said feebly.
"And?"
"It's not...working."
"And you knew this beforehand?"
"No. But now we do, so now we know not to use it again."
"Jeddeth?"
"Yes?"
"I'm going to strangle you. Right here."
"You said you wouldn't get angry!"
"I LIED!"
Jeddeth gave a yelp as Julian grabbed for it's scrawny neck, flailing. The iron medallion was tangled up in its fingers and hit Julian squarely in the eye.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:19 pm
Liam, being the idiot he was, spit out a strem of water and smacked Julian upside the head.
"Stoppit."
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:22 pm
Julian, a hand cupped over his eye, relented only when Jeddeth's flailing legs caught him in the stomach.
"Alright," he wheezed, ignoring Jeddeth as it cowered behind Rabid. "Alright. Shore. Now."
Crow looked around, squinting in the dark. The moon was little more than a sliver but the night sky was vivid with stars, and a strip of gray a thankfully short distance away was visible.
"Thattaway," she said, doing a clumsy breast stroke. "C'mon, kids."
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:25 pm
Rabid turned and gave Jeddeth a comforting pat on the head.
"S'okay. We won't let him beat you. Much." And she started toward shore. Liam, however, simply dove back down and headed off, leaving most everyone else in the dist, so to speak.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:30 pm
"You're a very nice lady and I am very glad I didn't eat you," Jeddeth mumbled, cringing. By the time they'd all slogged onto the pebbly shore, Crow was cursing a blue streak.
"I hate this goddamn miserable place I hate it so much Jeddeth I swear I'll strangle you m'self-" she said, pushing her sodden hair out of her eyes. She turned to glare at the creature but saw only the horizon edged with the sea, and her complaints died on her lips. Julian beside her was worried for the sudden lack of noise and looked back, and rocked back a step.
"That's a galaxy," he said, voice faint. Crow nodded dumbly.
The sky was drowning in stars. Any hints of black were few and far in-between. The thin green sliver of moon was outshone by the branching arms of the galaxy, perfectly visible. Crow made an odd gulping kind of sound, head craned back.
"Holy..."
Jeddeth, inattentive, picked seaweed out of its teeth.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:32 pm
Rabid stared in amazement, pupils tiny pinpricks.
"...woah."
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:42 pm
Crow, tearing her eyes from the sky, looked around. Her grip on Julian's arm was suddenly very tight.
"Look," she said. "Look."
Julian looked. In the ocean that perfectly reflected that vivid sky long necked creatures with luminous white eyes were staring at them. One opened its needle-point jaw and snapped at low flying birds - at least, Crow thought they were birds - blinking slowly before sinking below the surface again.
"Holy s**t. Holy mother blessed-" Crow sputtered. She backed up and tripped, falling onto the pebble-strewn shore. She rolled over and looked out at the silent landscape, eyes very wide. "Okay. I was expecting brimstone, dead bodies'n mummy people."
"So was I," Julian said.
"Why didn't you tell me it was like this?"
Julian, still looking at the sky, shook his head slowly.
"I didn't know," he said, voice a thread.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:44 pm
Rabid clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming and skittered backward to Julian. Liam, however, moved closer to the water.
"I want one."
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:50 pm
"I do too," Crow said with a note of longing in her voice. A long deep sound that vibrated deep in her chest scared the living daylights out of her before she realized it was coming from the blank-eyed creatures. "Dude! Alien-whales!"
Jeddeth, stringing the useless medallion around its neck again, gave the creatures a glance.
"Irkaizi," it said, naming them for their benefit. "Follow me. We're very far off course."
Julian snapped out of the slack-jawed awe their surroundings had sent him into, rounding on Jeddeth.
"How far off course?"
Jeddeth mumbled something that sounded distinctly like 'many miles'.
"And you know how to get us on track again...right?"
Another mumble, assenting this time.
"Is there a problem?"
A mumble that contained the words 'old clan lands', 'short cut', 'permanent fog' and 'small chance of getting lost until we starve'.
"....great."
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:53 pm
"I hate you, Gaping Maw of Horror."
And so Rabid smacked Liam.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:57 pm
"It's not my fault the medallion broke," Jeddeth said delicately, avoiding looking at everyone as it dropped to all fours and set off. "We'll be halfway there in...no time."
"I'm filled with confidence," Julian said dryly. Jeddeth turned and looked at him.
"Would you rather swim?" it asked. Julian glanced back at the irkaizi. They all looked back.
"You've proved your point," he said, falling into stride beside Rabid and looking away.
"Chuh."
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:10 pm
__Part 38
Lenore's nature at its most basic was protective. It was what she knew best, what she had been made for. She'd detected the same purpose in the terrifying creature that hovered over Julian, its leathery red skin and head-splitting mouth bearing a horrible kind of beauty. It was like her. So she followed Jeddeth's example, and hovered over Ethan. He slept mostly, but there were times when he was awake that she was sure he was still dreaming. It was like his memories would flicker, waver, and reset at different times. She watched him sleep restlessly, wondering if when next he woke it would be the Nahenna who was in control, or Ethan.
But even then, she'd realized there was someone else inside. Who he'd been before Ethan.
"Kristof," Len said quietly, watching the sleeping boy's face shift.
The teenage Earther boy that Ethan had long since outgrown had woken up to find her looking at him, not four hours past. He'd been terrified of her strange appearance, speaking only in Slovak and clutching at his rosary, staring at her as though she were a demon. She supposed it had been luck that he'd fallen asleep again, only to wake up fifteen minutes later asking Lenore worriedly why she looked so upset.
"You've been gettin' the short-end treatment since the minute you came to this place, Ethan," she told him a little sadly, brushing a sweat-dampened thatch of hair from his face. "I swear, I dunno how you bear it sometimes."
The touch had made Ethan shudder, and now his face was twisted, mouth working. Lenore drew back, worried she'd frighten him again. He turned restlessly, a low sound escaping. His face contorted as though in pain, then smoothed again.
Len made a quiet sound of dismay, sliding off the couch.
"Ethan, wake up," she said urgently.
Ethan's head thrashed to one side, eyelids flickering. His eyes had rolled into his head, and his mouth worked, half-shaping words.
"Ethan...?"
All of a sudden Ethan arched up, eyes flying open with a terrified gasp. The lights gave a sharp series of flickers that made Lenore flinch and cringe, and she felt a bizarre sensation of static electricity wash over her as the lights made seething popping sounds before steadying themselves again. The popping and crackling ceased as Ethan's eyes closed again and he sagged, a long tired sigh escaping.
Smoothing down her feathery hair, now fluffed and bits standing on end from the weird burst of static, Len tokked worriedly.
"Odd," she said.
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Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 7:50 pm
__Part 39
"I gotta say, there's some degree of hesitation going on right now."
The borderlands into Jeddeth's "shortcut" shouldn't have seemed so oppressive and weird in the dim light of day. But then again, a solid wall of fog that had no visible source that simply curled in on itself and rose upward as though it was hitting a wall just wasn't normal. Crow had manifested a stick and was attempting to poke it.
"Don't do that," Jeddeth said, looking sightlessly at the girl. She hesitated.
"Why, can it hurt me?"
"...no. You just look silly."
Julian snorted.
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Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 7:52 pm
"I want to touch it."
"Real mature."
"Look who's talking."
"Shut up. That branch most assuredly sounded like a gunshot."
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