|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 10:42 pm
What's rude is taking the giant egg of an innocent bird.
Rabbit wanted to say as much but he only thought it, squinting at the man as his shirt fell away from his face. He coughed again, louder this time, his reaction to the flames and the smoke calling up memories of his first cigarette.
He swallowed. "I came for the egg. Someone's looking for it and I said I'd help them." He'd barely known the bird at all, and it had been a bird for christ's sake, but he definitely didn't trust this guy if he was the alternative.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 11:04 pm
"This egg," asked the burning man, holding it up between them. The egg was a warm black, dark and veined with white. The heat of the flames probably wasn't doing much for it. "Of course. I can give you this one and tell you where the other is, but I should warn you. You may not like what you find." It smiled. Somehow its teeth seemed perfectly whole in that peeling mouth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 11:18 pm
"I don't..." I don't like you. Why was this guy giving up so easily? Rabbit would only ever have expected a fight from a man with that voice in this place who was on fire, but here he was giving him exactly what he wanted.
"Yeah. Do that." He held out his hands for the egg, squeezing his eyes shut for a second to blink away the tears that weren't helping his inability to see. "I'll decide if I like it or not." The smile almost made him shudder, despite the heat.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 11:32 pm
The burning man placed the egg into Rabbit's hands. It wasn't even hot: it was cool, even, like a stone that had been sitting in the shade. "There's a locked door back the way you came," said the burning man. "You should go now. They get hungry, and those eggs are all that will sate them." The pits that were his eyes tightened a bit at the corners, for just a moment, and he seemed to glance at Rabbit. "Go on now."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 11:59 pm
Rabbit went. He couldn't move fast enough, backing out of the room until he was almost at the door. It was then that he recalled the tendrils and finally turned his back to the man to avoid them, the comparatively dim light of the main hall forcing him to stop long enough to allow his eyes to adjust.
The egg was a comfort, a solid prize to clutch to his chest. He found himself staring at the spot where the bird had been consumed when he could see again, and Rabbit's brow furrowed at the very recent memory. The burning guy had been using reverse psychology on him or something. The eggs were what Sleepyhead had wanted to save, and the bird had only been trying to keep him from the face-taker. He did shudder now, belatedly. Was that what had happened to that guy? Obviously he had more to worry about than a missing face, but maybe that's where it had all began.
With a small shake of his head, Rabbit briefly gripped the egg one-handed and turned the key in the lock, swinging the door open.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 12:20 am
In the room behind the locked door, there was a desk. On that desk was a neatly-constructed golden nest. In that nest sat a twin to the egg in Rabbit's hand. On the wall behind the desk were portraits, a wall of them, of statesmanlike figures. The pictures didn't move: boring. A bust sat near an antique globe, neither item particularly interesting. Beneath Rabbit's feet was a plush carpet, probably handmade in some European country in the 1600s. There was a white-haired woman sitting behind the desk. She looked... kind. "Hello," she said. "How are you?" Outside the windows, rain continues to fall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:48 am
The first thing he did was close the door behind him, hopping forward as he bumped himself with it on the way. He looked around at the portraits, the bust, the globe, trying to commit them all to memory, but the only thing he really saw was the egg, and to some extent the woman beyond it.
"I'm... okay. A little aaa, you know." He splayed his fingers around the egg he held as well as he could, in an attempt to convey 'harrowed anxiety'. "I'm looking for eggs. For a friend."
The bird was his friend now. That all it took to reach that lofty status was paying him a little attention and needing him for something might have struck Rabbit as sad had he thought about it for too long. Luckily, he had other things on his mind. "Are you using that one?" He paused, then added, "And how are you?" If the guy on fire could be accommodating, the kindly woman might turn on him at any moment. Better to be polite.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 1:40 pm
"I'm doing well," said the woman. She smiled, a warm and maternal expression. "I'm not using it for anything in particular, but are you sure you want to take it?" Her hand was so small as to barely cover the egg when she picked it up. "You don't even know what it will become."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 2:07 pm
"Yeah." Fire guy had implied there was something weird going on too, but Rabbit was sure that him saying as much was the main reason why he did want to take them. At the very least, that first egg had needed rescuing.
"I guess I'm not sure? Is what's in here really that bad? Maybe I can just take one. Or leave them both with you." But that guy was only one room away. If Rabbit didn't take the eggs, it would be like walking back over there and shoving them right into his burning hands.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 1:38 am
The woman looked down at the egg in her hand, and then held it out for Rabbit to take. "I suppose it's not," she said. "But you'll be responsible for whatever you find, Rabbit. On your head be it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 7:27 am
He let his eyes stay closed a second longer than they needed to on the blink after she said his name. She shouldn't have known it, but maybe if he gave it a second, it would seem a little less creepy...
Nope.
"Okay. On my head. Sure thing." He reached out and gingerly liberated the egg from her grasp, carefully placing it next to the first and making sure they didn't touch. "Thanks." And since that didn't seem serious enough, he added, "I am ready to take responsibility."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:09 pm
"Then they are yours to care for," said the woman. "Keep them warm." She looked down at her hands. "There is a way out through that portrait. You should hurry." Smerdle Rabbit has now acquired x2 mysterious eggs! They love you, Rabbit. They need you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:19 pm
He had been hurrying ever since he'd woken up here. He was tired. Even so, Rabbit did as he was told, pushing at the indicated portrait skeptically.
"Thanks." He looked back at her with a hasty, but hopefully comforting, smile. "And don't worry."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:23 pm
The portrait swung aside, revealing a door back into Rabbit's bedroom in the real world. She returned the smile, and closed the portrait door behind him: Rabbit's bedroom door shut with a soft click.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
