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 Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:43 am
What a long, strange trip it's been...Part 1Sizzla  Though he'd been there before, Finn was feeling a bit wary as he walked up the overgrown pathway to the rickety old house. He'd attended a party in the jungle-like backyard mere weeks before, and it was good fun. He'd met some interesting people, and it had been a good excuse for him to be social. The house hadn't seemed so ominous then...
But today was different. Today the house looked darker. There was a definite lack of life, and the wind seemed to quiet as he ascended the front steps, his feet creaking the boards beneath them.
Today, he felt a strange pull toward the place, almost if he didn't have a choice. He'd brought his camera so that maybe he could take some artsy photographs of the place. Even in its downtrodden state, Finn could compose some good photographs. Eerie places always made for good pictures, he thought, finally at the front door.
Instead of just walking in, he knocked, wondering if anyone really lived there...Dark Fire Angel ((I join XD)) A sigh escaped the man's lips as he walked onward, his arms unusually occupied, holding a book, which he was making a habit of reading where ever he went since it's discovery; Now, Shinzu being a man of wide tastes, had come to find the book quite interesting indeed! Architecture, though not his forte, had always fascinated him from a distance.
However... he'd never quite had the chance to visit certain houses of his interest. The fact saddened the dragon slightly, and though his strange eyes finally left the pages of the old book in order to focus on where he was going, it did not help his nostalgia; the house that were now surrounding him as he walked down the lane were more than slightly appealing. One in particular, however, seemed strangely inviting, and there was nothing he could do to keep himself from pausing by it's gate, regarding it for long minutes.
It was only then, after several minutes of observing the dark, strangely inviting structure that the dragon finally noticed someone at the door, knocking; usually, Shinzu would've been someone smart enough to turn around and continue with his daily stroll, however, something compelled him to push the gate, walking into the un-kept garden, and finally nearing the other man,"Is the place yours?" the words were soft, a polite tone ringing to them as he offered Finn a smile, "I was kind of hoping to be let inside, the structure's oddly fascinating... I'd like to compare what my book says to the insides."Sizzla Finn swiveled around on his heel when he heard the quiet voice behind him. He had been startled, not expecting to see or hear anyone or anything besides someone answering the door.
"Oh, hi," he greeted the newcomer, running a hand through disheveled blonde locks. "No, this isn't my place...I have been here before though. I think some guy with green hair owns the place--at least that's what I remember from the party a few weeks ago."
He paused, taking in the man's features. He looked slightly draconic, but Finn couldn't be sure. "Sorry, I'm so rude. I'm Finn Keating. Nice to meet you. I was just thinking of taking some pictures of the place."
He noticed that the man was holding a book, and from his vantage point, he could see that the tome held diagrams and sketches. Must be an architecture book, he thought, pondering if the man was actually looking to build a house much like this one, or if he was just into old houses. Coronaviridae When you lived with one foot in and one foot out of consensus time, it's probably to be expected you'd miss a few parties by not knowing in which next week it was supposed to occur.
This was not typically a problem for Nexeu Preston, but in this case... His home life was disturbed, to say the least, and it made his tenuous grasp on time all the worse. Needless to say he'd figured pretty quick that the party at the House was not this next week, though that was sort of disappointing--but at least it got him out of his own house, currently packed to the point of overflowing with cranky children and a crankier younger brother. Ugh. Much better not to dwell on the eventual return to that place in favor of enjoying the present moment.
At the very least, the House in front of him was interesting even without a party going on, twisted up with strings--nay, veritable cables--of fate that writhed and coiled and redefined themselves in second sight. That warranted investigation, to his mind, especially given the way some of those same strings were... Reaching toward him.
Never the one to deny an ancient evil the opportunity to swallow him whole (so long as his curiosity was satisfied), Nexeu headed up the walk to where the other two men were talking--and stopped well behind Finn and Shinzu, tilting his head back and gazing up at the House curiously. After a moment, he cleared his throat, and greeted it: "Hello, House."
A pause. "And hello to you two, too. What are we standing around and waiting for?" Sizzla Before the man could get a reply in, there were footsteps behind them, and then a strange greeting. Finn turned again to see who was addressing the house of all things, and his turquoise eyes swept the front yard, falling upon the visage of yet another man, who seemed to be as interested in the house as the other two were.
It--the house--was inanimate after all. Well, at least that's what Finn thought. But perhaps his mind would be quickly changed. No one had come to the door yet, and he thought that was good enough reason not to just walk inside and make himself at home. The other man hadn't suggested just walking in either. Finn couldn't help but pride himself on his manners. He wasn't going to just prance into another's house uninvited...
"Hello," he greeted the newcomer, looking at him with a slightly quizzical expression on his face. "Well, I didn't think it was right to just walk on in the place. I think someone actually lives here. I came to a party here not long ago, and I saw the guy that owns the place." He paused and thought back for a second. "At least, I think it's the guy that owns the place. He was playing an excellent host if not..."
Finn looked back at the door, half-expecting the lime-haired man to be standing there staring at him with a goofy grin on his face. But no, he was faced with the intricately-carved front door once again, still no reply from the inside. "Do you think we should just walk in?" he asked, wondering what his new compatriots would suggest. Dark Fire Angel A pause was issued by the dragon as he was just about to answer, the voice of another whom seemed to be, amusingly enough, greeting the house, startling him slightly. A brow arched almost in silent question, an elegant gesture as Shinzu glanced down at the newcomer.
What was he waiting for? Well... for one, he was waiting for an invitation; after all, barging into a house that was not his, no matter how alluring the idea might've been at the moment, was simply rude, and being a holy dragon, his points of views and beliefs simply would not allow him to do as such. He did not bother to voice this however, and instead stood idly by Finn, regarding him pleasantly, "I was interrupted moments earlier; I was about to let you know that my name is Shinzu Hisuya, you may obviously call me Shinzu, and greetings to you too..." the later words were no doubt directed at the newcomer, his features developing a slight small to accompany them.
Swiftly he'd come to decide he quite liked Finn no sooner had he spoken, "Aye, I was hoping for an invitation; I would be quite alarmed if someone were to barge into my own house uninvited..." a pause as he directed his gaze towards the structure of the house a sigh escaping his lips, "On the other hand, however, I must admit I'm quite intrigued by the house myself... it seems to sport some sort of an alluring aura." Quinny-chan  Quinn made her way merrily down the sidewalk; enjoying the crisp, fall weather, the glorious colors of the changing leaves and the Honey Crisp apple she crunched as she walked. Her tail swished a jaunty cadence and she hummed and sang intermittently, happy to be out in the world. So great was her pleasure, that when she spotted a group of males on the steps of an old rickety building, she decided to share it with them. Smiling from one fox ear to the other, she skipped through the yard to the front stoop and waved as she shouted a congenial "HALLO!" Grin maintained, she took another giant bite from her apple; the sweet, spicy, tart flavor doing well to succeed candy in her culinary affections. Sizzla Suddenly, Finn felt like maybe there was yet another party going on at this house. People just kept showing up, as if they belonged there. But he could see no decorations in the backyard, or large billboards announcing any kind of gathering. There was no festive music playing and there was no man with lime-green hair waiting to greet them.
And though he thought it a bit odd that there were so many people just showing up, he brushed off the thought, now even more curious to get inside the place. Maybe they were meant to be there after all.
"A pleasure to meet you Shinzu," he said. "I'm not barging in their either," he nodded in agreement. "I've always been a polite kinda guy...I'm not one to just make myself at home. Though I do agree with you--this place gives off most interesting vibes."
It was then that he caught yet another bit of movement out of the corner of his eye. "And yet another one joins the ranks," he said, mostly talking to Shinzu. He waved at the fox-woman who was now approaching them, giving her a welcoming smile.
"Welcome! Looks like we've got ourselves a party over here, don't we?" He adjusted his glasses on his nose, eyes twinkling with an oncoming enthusiasm. Maybe they could all explore the place together--if the owner of the house ever answered the door... Inle-roo Inle-roo was not the worst driver at the best of times--close, but not quite--but it was only partly her fault; the rest of the blame could easily be placed on the ancient, crappy minibus she drove. It was on its last legs, so to speak, and tended to be very temperamental. It wasn't rare for the box-on-wheels to suddenly die in traffic (if it decided to start at all), and it was because of this that Inle was walking down a rather deserted-looking road in search of a gas station, kicking rocks and listening to the I-told-you-so's of the grunny that lived on her head. She had been wishing her fuzzy parasite away so fervently that she almost didn't notice the looming, dilapidated house she had come upon. She paused; it looked deserted, abandoned, and in dire need of a wrecking ball (or at least a fresh coat of paint). Certainly not the place one might expect to find help, though she thought absently that it'd be the perfect setting for a horror movie. Maybe something with zombies...heh. Zombies. Inle allowed a grin to slip through the irritation and started moving past it only to receive a sharp mental nudge and a tap to the head by a green hindpaw. "What, you want to go there? I doubt that place has any residents, let alone residents with a phone line." The grunny gave a mental shrug and urged her forwards once more. With a sigh and an eyeroll, Inle changed her course, heading towards the house. She knew the fuzzy green beastie wouldn't leave her alone otherwise. Of course, she had to endure another smug round of See-I-was-right's once she saw the small group of people congregated before the house. She approached them warily, torn between irritation and amusement--had Halloween come early? Surely all of these people couldn't be waiting for someone to answer the door! "Uh, let me guess... all of you had car trouble?" Coronaviridae Nexeu was too lost in contemplating the house to immediately realize he'd been greeted--and received an answer to his question--but he snapped back into reality rapidly enough as another person joined their group of three. "Nexeu Preston," he introduced himself, laying a hand against his chest.
Then he jumped off of the stairs, turning around to look back up at the house from this new vantage--and offering Quinny a wave and a cheery smile for his enthusiasm. "Don't mind us; we have no idea what's going on," he volunteered. Then, to Finn and Shinzu: "Talking to inanimate objects is completely normal; it's when they answer you should be worried."
He paused, thoughtfully, his smile fading to a shadow of its former self. "Although in this case, there might be reason to be worried. Does it seem hungry to you, too? We had--err." Again a pause, and he ground the heel of one hand against his eye, mentally straightening out his tenses. "We might need to go in, rude or not, absent of a host."
A flick of his free hand embellished this statement. "Or we might not get a choice to mind our manners."
And then another person (people) showed up, and the mage shook himself out of his melodrama and gave Inle a lopsided smile. "If you count 'don't drive, don't have a car' as troubles, maybe. I'm banking on the house wanting to eat us, personally, and we don't know any better. It'll be interesting either way--want to come along? Or have you already?"
...he wasn't on drugs, honestly. Just a little out of touch with reality. A smidge. Inle-roo "Not driving OR having a car is actually a lot of not troub--er, untrouble...lack of trouble? Whatever--point is, you're better off." Not a meeting of Bad Drivers Anonymous, then? Hmm...travelling salespeople, then? A very small circus troupe? Members of the newest, strangest religion ever? This was Gaia; Inle had long since learned that anything was possible. Hell, maybe they were a bunch of religious clowns peddling cream pies, seltzer bottles, and encyclopedias. "Eat us?" Inle echoed, giving the house another once-over; yep, it still looked close to falling apart around their ears. "Looks like the termites have gotten to it first. Better it than us though, right? And I guess I might as well join you guys. Better to be lost together, and all that happy crap." She frowned, belatedly realizing that if these people WERE religious circus refugees, she'd be stuck inside the house WITH them. Quinny-chan Grinning at the newcommer, Quinn took stock of the green rodent on her? head and decided that it's fangs were too far sunk into the Zombie's skull to do her any harm and she reached her free hand up to give the furball a scritch behind the ears. "I'm Quinn," she chirped at the others, ears practically quivering in delight. Inle-roo Inle was trying to decide whether to leave these could-be-might-be madmen to their in-front-of-the-house party or stick with them and see what would become of this whole sorry affair when she felt something between oddly pleased and touched by a live wire. Understandably, she jumped, swatting at the air around her head. "I'm disturbed," she replied to the bouncy fox-girl. "Do you often go around petting people's heads?" The grunny, meanwhile, wiggled its ears in greeting. Quinny-chan Taking a final bite of her apple before tossing the core to the wayside, Quinn munched and crunched and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Disturbed. And the fluffy ones, for sure!" She waggled her fingers in a return greeting to the grunny and raised her voice to be heard by the others. "Has anyone tried the doorknob?" Sizzla Noting the arrival of yet another newcomer, Finn chuckled and waved to the woman with the grunny on her head. Maybe there was a party after all, he thought, looking around the haphazard group of people that looked like they might never be friends or be in the same place normally. What had brought them together today of all days?
He'd heard the ominous words of some of them, wondering if the house was truly filled with troubles...Would it be a bad idea to even go in?
"I haven't turned the doorknob yet," he said with a semi-eyeroll. "I didn't just want to walk into someone's house. Do you know who lives here?" he asked Quinny, quirking an eyebrow. "Or do you just like breaking and entering?"
He gave her a grin and motioned her toward the door. "Maybe you should try turning the knob," he suggested teasingly. Coronaviridae Nexeu watched this interplay and at length laughed at it, quietly. "And while we're being jittery and hoping not to get caught, why don't we get some eggs and toilet paper, too." He edged his way through the group of other adults, reached for the doorknob, and twisted.
Hey, somebody had to do it. Sizzla Before Quinny could do anything about opening the door, Finn watched Nexeu step forward quickly and open the door.
He was braver than Finn, that was certain. "Eggs and toilet paper aren't a bad idea...It might spruce the place up a little." He chuckled and turned his attention to the door that was now swinging open in front of him. "Do we enter?" He looked over to Nexeu for approval, or at least waiting for him to make the first move. Finn wasn't really all about home invasions...
Now though, Finn could feel a strange pull on him, wanting him to go into the house. It was odd, and unexpected. Perhaps his counterparts were right...maybe the house was more ominous than he originally thought. But instead of thinking of his gut feeling, he poked his head through the doorway, looking up and down the front entry way. Inle-roo Inle opened her mouth to correct this head-groper before thinking better of it, settling for a sigh and an irritated frown. "You mean you guys have been here...well, for as long as you have, and you haven't tried the door? What, were you hoping it'd open all by itself? I doubt anyone's around to care that a bunch of random strangers wandered inside." She shook her head, edging closer to the door. "It'd take a lot more than eggs and toilet paper to "spruce the place up," she muttered. "Maybe some gasoline and a cigarette." Even standing on tiptoe Inle wasn't quite tall enough to peer over Indecisive Man's shoulder; the grunny got an okay look, though. Dusty, it told her, but not overly. Maybe someone lived here after all? Coronaviridae "Manners," Nexeu said to Inle. "On the principle of 'how would you feel if someone just walked into your dusty, abandoned, sorely in need of a torching house?'" He offered the grunny a wink and pushed the door open further, before taking a step inside and drawing in a deep breath of the air--to taste it.
Whatever he could sense, it didn't keep him from continuing on into the house after a moment, chuckling softly to himself. "It doesn't look due to fall down any time soon, so come on! What are you waiting for?" Sizzla Finn was feeling the others behind him become more impatient--since no one had answered the door, he talked himself into thinking that the house had been abandoned--at least since the last party.
"I don't think fire is a good idea," Finn said to the grunny woman. He hadn't caught her name, but from her looks, he wondered if the grunny was controlling her mind. He'd never met a zombie before...and a zombie with a grunny attached to her head was even more far-fetched.
Stepping into the entryway, he walked further in following the man in front of him. He'd finally gotten up the balls to go into the house, but he felt good about someone going in first. It sounded like people would start making fun of him for not being more adventurous, so he got himself in the door, and looked back to see who else would follow.
The entryway had a high ceiling, and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, as if it hadn't been touched in years. Finn immediately grabbed the camera hanging around his neck, and began to look for an interesting subject... Inle-roo "I wouldn't, on the principle of if I'd abandoned it, it was probably for something not quite in need of a torching." The grunny seemed to smile with its eyes up at the one it and its host had determined was Slightly-Crazy-but-Seemingly-Harmless Guy. My, but this bunch was interesting! Inle followed behind the pair, boots thumping in an entirely unstealthy way on the wooden floor. She dodged around them, curious to see if the house was in as bad shape on the inside as it seemed to be on the outside. It didn't seem to be--so far, that was--other than a thick coat of dust, the place seemed to be almost liveable. "You don't think so? Are you sure about that?" she asked in an absently sardonic tone, too busy with inspecting these new surroundings to give much of a thought to congeniality. Dark Fire Angel After regarding the growing amount of people that seemed to to have been lured to the spot, and the fact he was swiftly being outnumbered in his decision to stay outside the house and wait for a host, Shinzu allowed himself a mental shrug.
The eggs and toilet paper were pushing it though, at least with the dragon and thus he uttered a small scoff at the words, "Tell truth, I rather much eat those eggs than toss them at a house, alas, to each their own," this said, he quickly came to a determination; if they went it, so would him. After all, someone needed to be the morals and brains of the party, since by looking around, he wasn't exactly too sure if most of them had any; they were a clearly interesting lot, however, and the smile he tried to keep restraining simply would not vnish and kept showing, even if lightly.
Specially the grunny woman; the fact the small green furry clinged to her head made the dragon feel the stupid need to pet it. He kept his hands to himself, however, he allowed himself a chuckle at the fire comment, finally stepping inside, closing his book and placing it neatly at the crook of his arm, "Now, even if it's old, fire would so it no good; ever tried to think about it in the sense that perhaps all it needs is a good cleaning?" it was clearly by his words alone that he was used to old buildings. Or perhaps he himself was old, even if quite difficult to tell, for his body showed no signs of age. Quite the contrary he looked around mid thirties and seemed to be quite healthy.
Unlike the house.
"However, on the other hand, perhaps fire would've allowed the poor thing out of it's misery," he'd stopped a few steps within the house, standing near the others, his purple eyes roaming the walls, his long blue tail lashing behind him anxiously, amusingly enough, sweeping the dust that lay at his feet in it's restless moving here and there. Quinny-chan Quinn followed everyone else into the dusty foyer of the delapidated mansion. With a shriek of delight, she tossed herself to the hardwood floor, flipping to her back, arms and legs akimbo. Flapping them up and down in the thick dust of the floor, she giggled and exclaimed, "Dust angels!" quietsnooze The House does the equivelent of a snort - that is, it seems to have woken up from a deep sleep. Victims. Lots of tasty victims..A man in a bright yellow raincoat bursts into the House with bewilderment all over his face. "Wha- whoa, are this place ever crowded!" he shouts, shaking himself off of rain [though what rain is a different story, as the sky doesn't host any rainclouds this afternoon..] "Y'all taking shelter from the storm, too?" he inquires, shaking and running his fingers through his hair after shutting the door. He stops dead in his tracks as the staircase folds in on itself in a deafening crack, collapsing into something of a slide. Similarly, the right and left hallways shut off, barricaded by previously unseen planks of wood. The sound of crunching and creaking fills the air now, the floor quickly becoming instable.. as if the House isn't even bothering to hide the fact that it's changing right before their eyes. Getting sloppy, lazy? No.. getting more arrogant. Getting stronger. Quinny-chan Quinn smiled as the man in the yellow raincoat entered, always one to try and make people comfortable. "Yessir. Terrible storm. We're using dust to dry off with... they're not very good at it," she indicated her commrades. Picking herself up and shaking off as much dust as she could in a rather canine manner that ended in a flick of her fluffy tail, Quinn watched as the house began to change. Eyes widening and face splitting in yet another grin, Quinn scampered over to the now slide and clapped. She grabbed a tapestry from a nearby wall, tossed it to the ground and jumped on. "Last one down's a rotten potato," she hollered, pushing herself over the brink. Dark Fire Angel While watching the scene before his eyes, Shinzu found he failed to decide which of these ... people was the most insane of them all; the girl that was deftly making 'dust angels' was high on his mental list, however, the man that erupted into the house, looking quite soaked was quite high up too.
He was in fact, about to make a comment on such thoughts when the house suddenly began to shift about them, creaking and moving; instantly the dragon decided that perhaps coming into the house had not been a good idea after all. Finding himself at a lack of words, he could merely stare on as the staircase beyond transformed itself into a slide; his mouth hung open for mere seconds till Quinny rushed forward, forcing a gasp from his lips, for tell truth, going down that slide was high on his 'we-should-not-do-this' list.
Insane. She was utterly insane, "Oi!" it was the only word he could utter before the girl vanished; tell truth, the fact the hallways were henceforth barricaded and the fact the floor was moving under his feet was not making the dragon feel any safer. Thus he rushed to the start of the slide, figuring someone had to go after the girl; make sure she was alright! With that thought in mind, he pushed himself off the edge, following Quinny, while making mental note to never EVER enter a house uninvited again.
No one had told him this particular one was haunted when he'd walked by it!
What never occurred to him was that perhaps... it was not haunted, but rather, very much alive in it's own strange way. Sizzla Finn giggled at Quinny, who was now laying flat on the floor. After all, he didn't see many adults willing to get themselves dusty all in the name of dirtangels every day.
His amusment didn't last long however, as the door burst open and a raincoated man walked into the front entryway, looking as if he'd just stepped out of a squall. But Finn could see behind the man--and it wasn't raining outside.
"Storm?" he asked the man in confusion, wondering if he'd walked under a sprinkler or something. "It's a lovely day outsid--"
He was interrupted as the house began to creak and crack, and as he avoided falling, Finn watched in horror as the doorways began to close off. I knew it wasn't a good idea to just walk in...
It wasn't until the hyper fox-woman threw down the tapestry that his spirits brightened slightly. He chuckled. "You're kidding, right? You want to slide down into this mess??"
Before he could get an answer, she'd pushed herself over the edge, seemingly not even thinking about the potential mess she could be getting herself into.
Finn looked over the brink. It was dark, and there was no sign of Quinny to be found. It was then that Shinzu got the bright idea to go in after her. "Hey man, be careful! I'm not sure it's such a good idea to go after her...You never know what you'll find down there," he warned, hoping the man would take it to heart. Before he knew it though, Shinzu had disappeared into the darkness as well.
Finn sighed unhappily. Great, now two people had disappeared. He'd have to get out of there before he was next. As he turned to move back to the front door and make an escape before things got worse, his foot caught on a plank and he tripped, falling, and unfortunately, rolling right down the 'slide'.
s**t. Just my luck! With that, the blackness surrounded him, and he began to slide. Coronaviridae Shinzu would rather eat the eggs than-- Nexeu snorted at this thought, giving a rapid shake of his head. "'A little disorder in the dress, kindles in clothes a wantoness--', though I suppose houses don't have clothes. I don't think this one would mind if we redecorated a little, but it was only a suggestion..." He trailed off as Quinny threw herself to the floor and began making dust angels. "...I like you. Are you married?" Here was a woman after his own heart!
He was distracted from following that question up with a proposal, though, by--something. Notably, he turned around several seconds before the man in the raincoat walked in, muttering quietly to himself about guests--and smiling a predatory smile at the latest arrival. Did he have any idea who or what this thing was? No. But that didn't keep him from being his usual, and erratic, self. "Storm. Want to come along with the rest of us and we can discuss when we--" He turned and gestured in the direction of the sudden hole in the floor. "--get to the bottom of this?"
Naturally, though, he didn't wait for a response from the man (thing) in yellow, instead turning around and leaping after Quinny, Shinzu, and Finn. "No fair! You got a head start!" Actually sliding would have been beneath his dignity--leastways, sliding on his a**. Kicking a nearby endtable over and using it to surf down the slope was another matter entirely. From the laughter that followed him down into the dark, he was having the time of his life. Quinny-chan Quinn was glad she had grabbed the tapestry. The shifting had done little for the wood of the stair and the tapestry protected her rump from the worst of the splintering. Giggling and shrieking at once, she held on to the tassles of the tapestry as though they were reigns as she rode into the darkness; crouching down to maintain her airodynamics and her lead. Inle-roo Dust angels? Men in raincoats? Suddenly-shifting houses? Clearly she wasn't in Kansas anymore. She watched the whole of their merry and motley crew slide down the staircase (or was it the slidecase now?), resisting the grunny-induced urge to follow them. It liked them--though that wasn't saying much, it liked everyone--and was curious as to where they all went, and it quietly reminded Inle that it wasn't like they could get out of the house now, so they might as well follow. Right? Right. "I knew we should have just waited to find a gas station," she muttered as she sat herself at the edge of the slide and pushed off. Sizzla Finn tumbled down, banging most of his body parts--elbows, knees, shoulders, hips--on the way. Splinters and shards of wood caught up in his clothing and threatened to stab him, and he felt a bit ill from all of the rolling downward. He recalled a memory from his childhood of rolling down a grassy knoll like this.
But in his memories, he was enjoying himself, standing up and laughing at the bottom of the hill, barely able to stand from being so dizzy.
This wasn't nearly what he remembered.
This was unpleasant.
He suddenly wished he would have ridden down on the tapestry with Quinny. Now, it seemed much safer... quietsnooze The man in the yellow raincoat swallows hard, but follows suit, against his better judgement. He screams as the slide goes cold under him. The House continues to change, this time swifter and cleaner. The slide changes within seconds into a polished sheet of ice, one that quickly thins out up ahead. All around the slide-turned-ice are jagged ice boulders dripping and oozing off a crimson goop that can easily be mistaken as blood. The roof opens up into a sky, blasted away in one final, if not dramatic, crunch, followed by the screech of an animal of flight. ".. We're all gonna DIIIE," wails the raincoat man, latching onto the person closest to him and flailing desperately. Sizzla Finn heard a man scream, and almost immediately afterward, he felt the slide turn cold. No longer was he being pierced by random slivers of wood--that was good. But now, it seemed that the slide had become icy. He had come unprepared for cold weather, now shivering in his short-sleeved shirt. He gasped as the chill got him and he saw that up ahead, there were icy boulders covered in a strange red liquid. He tilted his body to avoid hitting any of them, and just as he was about to avoid yet another boulder, the top of the house seemed to rip away, revealing a sky.
"What the ******** is going on!?" He yelled, finally at his wit's end with the crazy things that were happening. He didn't like to curse normally, but sometimes these things found ways to slip out.
The raincoat man didn't seem to have any good suggestions either, too busy worrying about how they were going to die. Dark Fire Angel While still slidding down, quite ungracefully at that, Shinzu was well aware that the slide in question had turned cold to the touch, the feeling penetrating even through his clothes, forcing him to shudder. A closer inspection at he slipped on seemed to indicate he was in fact, now sliding down an ice slide, the sides of the 'fun ride' swarming with jagged ice boulder covered in something aken blood. The dragon's sense of smell failed him; unable to determine the reddish liquid, he tsked and focused his gaze up ahead; this was anything but good.
The roof opening up along with the animalistic screech that resounded around him forced the dragon to hiss instinctively, his purple eyes, now narrowed seemingly searching the sky as his tail did it's best to keep him in the middle of the slide, away from the ragged edges. He'd done it this time. He'd gone and set himself up for trouble that he'd not been seeking.
What's more, Shinzu was silently sure that this was all a punishment dished out to them for not doing the correct thing; aka, wait for the owner of the house to let them into it, instead of charging in so mindlessly. By now he'd also come to terms with the fact the house was... probably not haunted, but something else altogether. What it was though, he could not quite phantom as of yet, nor did he wish to, for some odd reason, "And here I only wanted to take a look at it's structure," the words slipped out of his lips almost bitterly, whispered as he slipped along, the wail of the rain-coated man far behind reaching his ears, making him frown unconsciously. Coronaviridae Being near the back of the pack, Nexeu was the most convenient target for the flailing man in the raincoat to latch onto, thus making graceful sliding of any sort a practical impossibility. There was a yelp of surprised dismay (or dismayed surprise) as the mage was grabbed, and then both men went a**-over-teakettle in a tumble of limbs. The poor abused end-table that had served as an impromptu sled squirted off in another direction entirely, crashed into one gore-streaked boulder, and exploded in a hail of fragments.
It took Nexeu a moment to reorient himself (ice? they were sliding on ICE now? and they were OUTSIDE? "What are we, penguins?" he muttered); once he had, he struck out with an arm, fingers curled into talons meant to grab onto the surface of the ice...despite the physical impossibility of that...and at least slow their reckless tumble somewhat. Or perhaps--it wasn't so impossible, for despite the fact the mage's hands looked perfectly ordinary, they nevertheless dug rents in the ice that were more suited to a dragon's talons.
While this didn't stop their forward momentum, it at least slowed them down somewhat--enough that Nexeu could focus on kicking the man in the raincoat off of him. "We're not ALL going to die," he growled. "But I can guarantee someone is when we get to the bottom of this..." Quinny-chan Quinn squeeled as the slide turned to ice -- "All the better for sliding on," she thought to herself. The jagged ice boulders and the goopy red stuff were a little troublesome, but instead of worrying about them, she steered her tapestry towards a nearby boulder and stuck her hand out to sample some of the goop. Catching a bit on the end of her fingers, she touched it to her tongue, hoping to discern its nature. Sizzla The slide took a sharp left turn, and Finn quickly slid across the ice, his momentum sending him flying in the same direction he had been going. He was no louger after all! He shrieked for a half a second as his lanky body rammed into the opposing wall. Oh, he'd have more bruises tomorrow.
Surely the slide would end soon...surely.
But the real question was, where would they land?
It was anyone's guess. quietsnooze Down, down, down.. past what could fit in a museum as an exhibit for the ice age. The temperature of the slide rises, making the ride even swifter as the ice beneath their backsides melts into a sleek sheen. A mist of darkness eats away at the bottom of the slide, sliding fingers of smoke curling daintily up the ridges of ice, not more than a hundred feet away from the victims. The raincoat man releases his grip and instead tries desperately to claw at the sides of the slide, ignoring the red ooze - for the most point. He claws at the sides, whimpering to himself, and whining about all the things he never got to do in life. The undersides of his hands scrape until they're raw, and even then he doesn't give up trying to latch onto anything, failing miserably in his doing so; if anything, his increasingly panicked movements propel him down faster. Sizzla Suddenly, there was no more slide up ahead--only darkness.
Oh crap.
Finn noticed the slide becoming more slippery, its temperature warming slightly. There was now water atop the layer of ice, and he was sure that there was a giant wet spot on his a** as he felt wetness creep slowly through the worn denim fabric of his jeans.
Finn heard Raincoat Man slide off to the side and grope desperately for something to grab onto, and he himself thought maybe, just maybe, he should try the same thing. But Raincoat Man looked as if he wasn't actually making any progress, so Finn just resigned himself to fate.
Though usually logical, when faced with extreme circumstances, Finn left things to fate. He preferred to think that there was a plan for him somewhere...And with that, he fell into inky blackness, hoping that he'd come out somewhere, alive and well. Coronaviridae Hmm. Dark down there.
Once he'd gotten oriented, Nexeu pulled himself up as far as he could--taking a leaf from Quinny's book, maybe, and using his ever-present cloak as a sled to avoid the direct chill of ice on skin. "This is going to be interesting," he said to no one in particular, then scowled at both Finn and the man in the raincoat.
"Quit panicking! We're all dead anyway if we're going to die, might as well enjoy it!" Quinny-chan Pulling the tassles of the tapestry on a hard right, Quinn sent herself into a thrilling corkscrew. She yelled back at the others, words comming out with each turn, "I'm... still .... winning!" As she slipped throught the veil of darkness, she vaguely wondered where this arctic excusion was going to take them and what they would find when they got there. Inle-roo Ice, okay, sure, she could deal with that for awhile. Boulders and strange red dripping ooze, alright, that's cool. At least things were stable, right? Well, they HAD been, right up until that abrupt change of scenery. She wondered if she should be worried, what with the strange darkness and spazzing Indecisive Guy--although his girly scream WAS kind of funny--and the slide leading to who-knows-where. As annoying as it was to be in this ridiculous situation in the first place, it was also sort of...fun. "I'm already dead, I don't have anything to worry about!" she called up to the unfortunate guy the stranger in the raincoat had latched onto. Dark Fire Angel This was bad. This was very bad. This was VERY VERY bad. There was no way for him to stop by now, as he'd come to terms with the fact the slide was all too slippery and there was no where to hang on to; not only that, but he'd also come to terms with the fact... this was not going to end well. Why had he even followed that girl here? Didn't he have better things to do today? What had pushed him to visit the house anyhow?
Idly, Shinzu marked off his 'appeal' to houses off his mind; he was never ever visiting an old house again. That is, if he ever managed to survive this whole ride, came a tiny voice at the back of his mind. Letting out a sigh, the dragon brushed the voice off, attempting to remain optimistic, however... as the darkness curled up ahead and he plunged into it after Quinny, his mind was anything but. Quinny-chan Placing a foot to either side of her tapestry-come-sled, Quinn managed to slow herself down a bit and to stop her twirling. She could tell that she was the only one having any sort of fun at all... well, unless the others' idea of fun was incessant blood-curdling screams and a book's worth of swears. It wasn't like this was so bad; free carnivale ride, goopy red stuff that tasted like the outside of candy apples... this was the best haunted house she'd ever been to. And it was FREE! quietsnooze The fingers of darkness squeeze the victims, capturing them in a dusty soot-like substance that burns and itches horribly on contact with skin. On dark hair, it leaves a green-ish residue, while on fairer shades of hair the hue it turns said hair is more of an aquamarine. The slide itself breaks off in haphazardous shards of ice, shattering even more under the weight of every victim passing over it. The raincoat man inhales heavily and ducks his head, but the fingers of darkness tickle his brow and chin, urging him to let them in. It does the same with the other victims, sliding against all exposed elements of their bodies, all the while ripping at the flesh in an unbearable manner. It acts much like the touch of a woman, one so malicious and sensual to enjoy such a putrid act. A freefall is never a good sign, especially when what's below isn't visible to the naked eye. And even though the fingers of darkness brush up and down the victims's forms and slow them, the effect is minimal. Eventually, there will be a bottom.. some sort of impact.. Sizzla He was falling--falling into nothing but inky blackness that began to suffocate him as it squeezed his lean frame. His skin began to itch and burn as if he had some odd skin condition--or some kind of VD that crept throughout his entire body. It felt oddly natural-not like a chemical burn at all, and he rubbed his arm with his hand, trying to get the sooty mess off of him. It had tinged his skin and hair a lovely blue-green color, but he had barely time to notice it before the darkness began to lift its tendrils toward his face.
It wanted to go inside him.
Closing his mouth and nose as best he could, he hoped the dust wouldn't get into his lungs. It would probably be horribly painful, he thought, exhaling and then reclogging his nose again by squinching it in like he'd learned to do during swimming lessons as a child.
He was hoping to land soon so he could run away from the inky tendrils, but he was feeling a bit unsure about what exactly he'd land on. This funhouse ceased to be fun... Coronaviridae Into the dark--
The faceless were, by any ordinary definition, creatures of the dark. The human mind imagined best when it couldn't put pictures to things, and in the world Nexeu came from, imagination was enough to breed things out of the darkness. So most would think he should have been at home even in this pawing, invasive dark--but he and his brother weren't strictly faceless; they had been made to live like humans, unsubstantiated and surviving on their own belief, not that of others. They were meant to walk in the twilight if nothing else, not this.
There was a flash of light and wings (pure white, shaped like a dragon's) that was more imagined than strictly seen, as the mage curled in on himself and drew his cloak around him to block out the pawing dark. It was accompanied by a noise of strangled dismay, stifled before it got much past a brief snort of breath and a squeak.
The color took very well to his white hair, staining it a shade of almost eye-searing cyan. Quinny-chan At least she had the where-with-all to keep a hold of the tapestry. It had kept most of the ice shards from her fleshy bits and was currently serving as an impromptu parachute. She tried to tell herself that she was A-OK, hunky dorey, just what she always wanted -- but she felt like she had fleas and she was pretty sure that no matter how fluffy her tail was, it wouldn't make a soft place to land. At least she could laugh at the others as they fell; its always best to have someone to join you in your misery. Dark Fire Angel
The darkness licked up against Shinzu's side, causing the dragon to seethe slightly, the hair around the back of his neck standing on edge as it further consumed him. It was soon after that it fully engulfed him, no light passing through the miasma of darkness that surrounded his body. Despite everything, and despite the feel of the long finger like shadows he no longer saw but still felt, he knew well enough that he was falling...
Falling down and down, it seemed, into and endless pit. nothing but the screams of the others, behind and up ahead to warrant he was still accompanied (if minimally). What good were others when there was nothing they could do to help? Nothing they could do to break his fall?
The feeling of the darkness around him was alluring, much like the touch of a woman; fleeting, teasing, there and yet not quite. Though such a touch was something the dragon was not used to, within his mind's eye, he knew what it must feel like and thus the comparison. The feel of it was intoxicating and yet a nagging voice clawed it's way to the front of his thoughts; He was falling, and all what fell had to at some point hit ground.
Well, s**t. Today was obviously not his day, was it? Gritting his teeth together, the dragon merely seemed to accept such a fate and awaited for it, if grimly. How he wihed he had wings right now.
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Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:13 am
What a long, strange trip it's been...Part 2Quinny-chan Her make-shift parachute has caused her to slow somewhat and the others in their free-falls were catching up to her. She tried waving with her pinky finger, but that seemed precarious, so she flapped about with her tail instead; squirming as the itching blackness accosted her. Inle-roo Amusement melted quickly back into annoyance as the dark tendrils latched onto Inle, creating a sensation not unlike that of pins and needles. She brushes at her arms frantically as the darkness creeps ever higher, the grunny (which bears a series of blueish stripes) quietly freaking out in her head. Quite the opposite of what she needs right now, between the burning and the falling and the darkness is trying to get in. She's thankful, not for the first time, that she no longer has to breathe; this way she can dedicate one hand to covering her nose, preventing the darkness' entry that way, and the other to beating it off of herself. This leaves her ears vulnerable, however, and as she begins to fall it feels like her mind's on fire and she and the grunny share the same silent scream. Sizzla Though he managed to keep much of the dust out of his mouth, his nose was not airtight, and bits of dust flew into the back of Finn's nose, causing him to sneeze aloud. He certainly didn't think about how the dust would get in his mouth as he opened it for his body's reaction to the tickling, and then burning sensation at the back of his nasal cavity.
As soon as it saw an opening, the sooty blackness entered his mouth, causing Finn to instantly choke. He coughed and got a few breaths of air immediately after the exhale, but as soon as he closed his mouth to hold his breath, the dust prodded at the slit in his lips, wanting inside...
Finn closed his eyes, trying to ignore the prickling feeling on his skin and the itching of his lungs, where bits of dust still stayed.
God, I hope we land soon! he thought to himself, adjusting his body so that he wouldn't land on his feet, but rather, on his backside. He'd try to roll when he landed. They were falling fast, and he hoped he wouldn't break anything in the impact... quietsnooze It seems, at least initially, that prayers are answered when, finally, there is an end to the freefall. Initially. The victims one by one find snow, the top layer fluffy enough to cushion their fall, but the second layer almost completely solid, causing mixed feelings about the landing. Nevertheless, no one's dead, which one would think would result from a fall of that height. Up above is nothing but a black sky, untouched by any sort of star or moon. The only light radiates from deep beneath the snow itself, and even that is dull. The raincoat man sinks through the snow with an "OOF!", spitting out snow the next minute. "Augh, bleugh," he groans, lifting himself up out of the foot of soft snow, shaking his head to free his brown hair of clumps of snow. "This has to be the worst prank ever," he complains loudly, looking up at the oblivion they just fell from. "Y'hear? You're NOT. FUNNY." Sizzla Finn landed in the snow with an Oof!, just like Raincoat Man. The wind was knocked out of him as he landed, and though the first layer of the snow was soft, he felt rocks underneath. The landing was painful, but much less than the itching, burning feeling from the blackness that now lay above the group.
He looked around to see how the others faired, trying to pull himself up off of the ground. His face and hair were streaked with blue-green dust, and now the color was running as the snow melted on his clothing. He shivered. Again, he had not come prepared for weather like this--jeans, a button up short-sleeved shirt and flip-flops weren't good for winter weather.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked, checking on each of them to be sure everyone was still alive. "Where the hell are we now?" Coronaviridae ...well...if everyone else was having the same sort of problem...
No. Nexeu was quite adamant on keeping out of the way of the crawling darkness, at least--until they fell into the snow.
He disappeared immediately into it, popping back up a moment later with the hood of his cloak down around his shoulders. Apparently, he'd forgotten the promise to kill the man in the raincoat, though he did look sidelong at the apparition as if trying to remember something.
Then he laughed, and gave himself a thorough shake. "All right--now where to?" Quinny-chan Landing made softer by her parachute tapestry; Quinn was soon dusting snow from her rump, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the strange half-light. Wrapping the tapestry around her for warmth and readjusting her scarf, she took stock of her surroundings, ear flicking snow away. Peering into the darkness, she tried to ascertain some notion of where they were; find some landmark they could use to track their way. In response to the questions hanging in the air, "I don't know... but I think we should stay together." Inle-roo Inle, still stunned, barely registered the landing and subsequent cloud of snow her landing brought up. Awareness quickly returned with the disappearance of the strange darkness. What brought her fully back to the present was the realization that she was sitting on something not-at-all soft, and why was she down here again? With a comforting pat to the still-spazzing grunny's head, she stood, wobbling on her feet for a moment before brushing herself off. "Yeah, that was a whole ton of not-fun," Inle muttered in agreement with the Raincoat Man. "I don't know," seemed to be a good blanket response for all of the asked questions. "Pick a direction and start walking?" quietsnooze Rubbing his temples out of annoyance, the raincoat man raises onto his feet, stumbling slightly in the snow but catching his footing. "HELLOOO.." he shouts, flailing his arms like a maniac. "Your rollercoaster is malfunctional, man behind the curtain! You flung us all the way to the tundra! Turn on the lights and get- us - outofhere!" He stomps out the last few words, getting red in the face. He opens his mouth to continue his rant when an arrow cuts through the air and pierces his chest. Spluttering suddenly, the raincoat man falls forward, spitting out blood into the slightly glowy snow. A pair of arrows catch him in the back, and with a cry he crumples over entirely, bleeding out and darkening the snow. Sizzla "Staying together seems like a good idea," Finn replied to Quinny as she stood up and tried to dust as much snow off of his clothing as he could. "Anyone got a coat?" he chuckled, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.
He looked around, and all directions seemed to look mostly the same. "How about that way?" he suggested, pointing to a downhill slope off to his left. He could see a dim glow coming from beneath the snow, but he wasn't sure if it was worth exploring. But maybe if they went downhill, they could find a brighter glow? Just--maybe?
He shrugged his shoulders, wondering if anyone else had a better idea.
It was then that Raincoat Man began to yell and scream, jumping up and down like a madman. "Whoa budd--" It was then that the arrows came whizzing by, embedding themselves in Raincoat Man's back. "Oh my god!"
Finn tried to hold himself back. He wanted to go see if the man was still alive, but he couldn't bring himself to move forward, afraid of being shot himself. He could see the blood spreading throughout the snow, his blood now giving him a glowing crimson aura as he lay facedown in the snow. "s**t." Finn ducked down and flung himself into the snow so that he was prone. He didn't want to risk getting shot at. Quinny-chan Opening her wrap to let Finn in on the warmth it provided, Quinn didn't notice the arrows flying through the air at first. When she finally recognized the danger they presented, she bent down and began shoveling snow behind her, flinging it between her back legs like a dog. "QUICK! Hide behind this!" Taking her own advice, she dove behind the snow bank she had created, crouching under the tapestry. Coronaviridae "Told you so," Nexeu said softly, as the man in the raincoat toppled over into the snow.
He didn't move immediately, instead turning a full circle in plain sight and looking for the source of the arrows. Foolhardy, maybe, but no one ever said he'd used his intelligence to be smart about this kind of thing.
But he could take an arrow or two; he'd done it before, and more might not be forthcoming. There was a distressing lack of concern in him for the dead man, completely ignored--beyond that initial comment. quietsnooze They come out of the snow, previously camoflagued by it. They appear to be primative, as they wear nothing but animal skins draped over their green skin. Enormous protrusions burst out of their bodies and seven limbs. But despite all this, they seem to be more curious and suspicious as opposed to raving murderers. " Ej huael ouimkal," one rasps, clutching a crude bow tightly. " .. Ael? Twuief? Ael.. twuief..?" He looks to each victim individually with narrowed eyes, waiting for an answer. Sizzla Finn had managed to crawl across the snow to Quinny's bunker by the time the green men came up out of the snow. He huddled next to her, afraid to look at who it was that was shooting at them.
When he heard their voices, he poked his head around the side of the snowmound, and gazed upon creatures like none he had ever seen before. They were BIG, and green. And they had more limbs than he could count without coming all the way out of hiding.
He could see that they looked suspicious, and from behind the bunker, he did something he probably shouldn't have done. He waved.
He hoped they'd see it as peaceful behavior. He didn't know what else to do. This adventure was getting more ridiculous every second. quietsnooze The men flinch instinctively at the movement, and many of them draw their weapons, misunderstanding the waving to be provocation. Coronaviridae So that's who was doing the shooting.
Nexeu regarded the monstrous things without a symptom of fear, equally as curious as they were--though perhaps not at all that suspicious. Their language wasn't something he'd heard before, nor could he readily puzzle it out...but he did give a slight shake of his head as they got to him, as if to say no, he wasn't the one they were looking for.
Even if he was, which was a subject he was somewhat unsure about. Either way he expected to eventually catch an arrow, which while not fatal, would be somewhat irritating--and so he reached behind him slowly to gesture toward the others, bring them forward to talk to their hosts, such as they were. Inle-roo Screaming at nothing wasn't going to get them anywhere. With an exasperated eyeroll, Inle turned away to see if there was any kind of path, any kind of ANYthing, that would lead them out of there. It wasn't until she heard the man cry out that she turned back to see him dead. Huh. Amused at the outbursts of some of her companions, she moved away from the fox-girl's makeshift fort--because really, what did she have to fear? Death?--and stopped as the snow seemed to move. The green-skinned creatures seemed to rise up and up and up, and though their appearances were monstrous, Inle seemed more interested in the weapons they carried. Well, at least now they knew who shot Raincoat Man. "Hey, thanks!" she said, smiling up at them. Sizzla Oh no! He'd almost provoked them!
Finn pulled his hand back behind the bunker, and turned to Quinny. "Got any good ideas? They didn't seem to like me much..." he mumbled unhappily.
It was then that he saw Nexeu wave him over. He hoped it was safe. Why else would the man motion for him to come forward? Slowly, he began to stand up, and he moved from behind the bunker, toward Nex, looking at his new hosts. He kept his hands to his side, but turned his palms so that the men could see he was empty-handed.
Inle was smiling at them, so surely they looked like an innocent-enough group. quietsnooze The biggest, presumably the leader, immitates Nexeu's action, followed closely by the rest of the natives, and soon all of them are shaking their head furiously. Snorting to get the attention of the others, one of the natives plunges their sword, really a slab of ragged metal, into the snow. " Queik ouimkal twui-fu sael.. oup oup!" " OUP OUP!" agree a half dozen others, whooping the cry loudly. A small native, just barely larger than Finn, barrels down and swoops said victim into his many arms, slobbering on him affectionately. Following suit, other children-natives take their pick of the new playthings; two even fight over Quinny, one shoving the other in order to get to her first. Sizzla Finn was rather shocked, not expecting one of the creatures to run toward him furiously and scoop him up, tossing him into the air as if he weighed nothing. And then, came the slobbering.
"Gross--Oh, hey! How are you Mr. Monster-guy?" he asked the green thing in his most 'friendly' voice, putting a hand to his face to clean off some of the slobber. He looked around, and the others in his group were being treated the same way, as if they were dolls. He was a bit taken aback, and he wasn't sure how he should act. So instead, he just smiled at the monster like a goofball, hoping he'd be pleased with his expression. "Hello!" Quinny-chan Despite her obvious fear of what was occuring, Quinn couldn't help but be curious at the newcommers. And a huge smile broadened across her formerly serious features at the fight that was occuring over her. She felt svelt! Standing, she smoothed her rumpled clothes, fluffed her disheveled tail, put on her best coy expression and waited for the green men to come to some conclusion. With the victor decided, she seated herself quite comfortably in his many arms, laughing as she chastised him, "Now, now, love. Don't get handsy. It's only our first date!" Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Dark Fire Angel The fall was not what scared the dragon into quite literally 'eeping' out loud, but rather, what scared him was watching the yellow clad man fall and bleed out on the snow. His eyes were not able to tear themselves away from the sight; he kept on watching and watching, regardless of the fact he was getting quite dizzy and quite pale. It was some sort of morbid fascination that kept him going, still sitting awkwardly on the place he'd landed, his clothes barely serving for protection against the cold snow. Death was not something that easily registered into the mind of a creature that if left alone, could easily outlive generations upon generations. Blood was... strangely fascinating, if not primal in nature; it called upon his instincts.
No movement came from Shinzu as the green men slowly came out of hiding, and tell truth, since the dragon's gaze was still fixed on the bleeding man, it took quite a long time to register that they were in fact surrounded.
Amusingly enough, it wasn't till a child practically knocked him over to the ground, embracing him and... slobbering him that the dragon finally broke out of his silent trance, gasping loudly. Losing his balance (which was no doubt little, in such an awkward position), Shinzu was pushed back, his expression somewhere between bewilderment and amusement, "Come again?" the word was squeaked out as he leveled himself, staring at the strange creature that was now gripping him before turning to face the other; his tail swished lazily over the snow, relaxed in a way, for his instincts were telling him that there seemed to be no imminent danger towards his person.
Thank god for that... Quinny-chan Quinn, riding high in the arms of her alien friend, looked about at the others, wondering if they were fairing as well. Wrapping an arm around her new keeper's -- who she had decided to call Chauncey -- neck, she petted the far side of his? face gently and beaconed to Finn, who was traveling a little less comfortably to her right. "What's yours called, dear? I've named mine Chauncey. They're really quite nice, if you show them who's boss." Sizzla Finn stared up at the very green, very large creature who was now carrying him off somewhere, walking along next to Quinny and her very green, very large creature.
"Well, we haven't been officially introduced of course," he chuckled. Quinny had a way of brightening his mood. She was so excited about life, and so...not worried. Shouldn't he not worry too? Of course, he couldn't help it, but he thought he could at least look at this in the best light possible for as long as possible. "Chauncey is a great name. He looks like a Chauncey," he grinned, nodding his head. "I think I shall call mine...George."
It was a humble name> He thought it was appropriate somehow.
Now, the real question was, where were they going? Quinny-chan "Hey George!" Quinn chirped, waving her free hand at the green monster, snuzzling her nose into "Chauncey's" cheek. She looked about her, taking in the endless snowy surroundings. "I wonder how they know where we're going... I guess it cold be worse. At least they're warm, right!" Sizzla "That is true," Finn nodded in complete agreement. Now that he'd thought about it, he wasn't at all cold anymore. All of the arms holding him seemed to help keep his body heat in, even with his thin layer of clothing. "I feel much warmer already!"
He looked up at George, who seemed to have a dumbfounded look on his face as he tromped forward, seemingly oblivous to what Finn was saying. "Yeah, who knows where they're taking us. They seem friendly enough though, so maybe they can help us find our way back at some point." Quinny-chan "Um... I dont' think I caught your name earlier. I'm Quinn. What brought you to this pleasure cruise this fine fall afternoon?" Sizzla "I'm Finn," he introduced himself with a smile and a nod. "Finn Keating. And well, I'm not sure why I'm here exactly. I came to a party at this house--well, the house we started this little adventure in--a few weeks ago. I just happened to be walking by the place on my way home today, and for whatever reason, I felt like taking some pictures of it. I had been out shooting pictures of people around town, and when I walked by, I thought, 'Gee, I should really go take some nice architectural pictures.' "
He paused and looked at her. "And what brought you here?" Quinny-chan "Finn... Quinn..." she grinned at that, "We rhyme!" Her almost ever-present grin stayed with her as she recounted her arrival, "I was just walking along, enjoying the Fall atmosphere when I saw this gaggle of guys on the front porch. I just wandered up to see what was going on and kinda got sucked in, so to speak. "I will add, however, that if it was nice architectural pictures you were looking for, this... that house was not the place to start!" She stuck her tongue out a bit between her teeth and wrinkled her nose in mischief. Sizzla He chuckled, and something got the better of him as he sang a quick little verse. Their names had inspired him. "Finn and Quinn are riding in, the arms of big, green creeeeeeeatures!"
She was still smiling as she began to recount her experience coming to this odd place. "Yeah, you sure were sucked in! We all were! The house seemed totally normal when I was there last."
He remembered the house again, in its most wretched state and he sighed. "Even old houses can make for interesting pictures," he said, waggling a finger at her. "You just have to take them from the right angle." He gave her a wink. "You never know what you'll find in something old." Quinny-chan "Apparently a frozen tundra occupied by... well, I guess we're the strangers here." Her smiled faltered as she peered around them again. Her ears were stiff in an effort to catch any rogue noise; her nose to the air in case a scent fell to the wind. "I'm getting hungry." She filtered through the items in her pouch and pockets, pulling out a pair of chocolate bars -- the kind with toffee and almonds. "Want one?" she asked, proffering one of the bars to Finn. Sizzla "I guess so! I hadn't expected this, that's for sure. He also scanned the horizon as she did, wondering when they'd arrive at their destination. They'd trekked some way, at least Finn thought it had been a goodly long way.
"Wow, you're a hero! I can't tell you just how good chocolate sounds right now," he said, taking the bar from her by stretching a bit and reaching out toward her from George's arms. He unwrapped it quickly and took a bit, savoring the flavor of the chocolate and toffee and almonds. Chocolate was Finn's favorite food. "Thanks. This tastes great! You're always prepared, aren't you? Like a Boy Scout or something." He chuckled. Quinny-chan Taking a similar bite of her bar, she replied, "I don't know about always prepared, but I always have candy on me. Life's too short to eat broccoli." Folding the rest of the chocolate in the wrapper, she put it back in her pocket to save for later. Quinn hunkered down in the tapestry; the combined warmth of it and Chauncey doing a fine job of making her sleepy. She leaned against the creature, cuddling her face into its shoulder, yawning. Coronaviridae "H--you know, as long as this doesn't end with me naked and dismembered, I think I can play along."
Being drooled on, hoisted up, and presumably hauled off to parts unknown to serve as a glorified toy didn't seem to bother Nexeu so much once he'd given it a bit of thought. Sure, he'd just seen these kids'(?) parents kill a man for shouting at the House they were in, but New York drivers would run you down for less. Besides, this was preferable to slogging through the snow in some self-chosen direction, if only because he didn't have to get his feet wet.
He just hoped that his "ride" didn't mind that he'd moved from being carried under an arm to settled on a shoulder. "You two sound like you're getting along famously," he directed at Finn and Quinn. Maybe he should have been jealous! Quinny-chan "Are we that well known already?! I guess when there's only a few people about, a few are bound to rise to the top quickly." She turned her head back toward Finn, "You hear that, dear? We're FAMOUS!" She wagged her tail excitedly and winked at Nexeu. Coronaviridae The wink was returned, and the mage kicked his feet absently. "It's a royal welcome we're getting; we might as well be famous. Although I could complain about the accomodations." He looked ahead, then patted his "mount" on the head absently.
"At least it beats walking." Quinny-chan Quinn indicated Nexeu's mount, "What are you calling yours? Mine's Chauncey and Finn's is George." She gave the green creature holding Nexeu an appraising look, "I think yours looks like a Wisteria... or maybe a Mabel." Coronaviridae "Plant names, huh?" Nexeu looked over at Quinny, face a thoughtful mask. "Spinach. It's an underappreciated word, I think." Sizzla Famous! He wished. He could only giggle at Quinny's enthusiasm. "Yes, we seem famous to these guys. I mean, not every day do you get carried wherever you need to go. Though, we don't know where we need to go at all. Hopefully they aren't taking us back somewhere to eat us."
Finn frowned and furrowed his brow at the thought. The way things were going so far, he wouldn't be surprised if one of the creatures tried to eat him.
"Spinach is an excellent name I think," Finn nodded to Nex. "Matches his skin color perfectly!" quietsnooze The leader mutters something sharply under his breath, and five or six underlings kick snow over the raincoat man's body. Blood seeps through the mound when they're done, turning him into a hill of pink snow. The leader clears his throat and is about to speak when one of the children cries out in pain. Frantically, the entire group looks left and right for the injured child, and find what they had feared: the darkness has taken hold of him. The child is dangling just off the ground by his neck, at which he claws frantically, gasping for air and no longer able to scream. A thick arm of darkness is wrapped like a too-tight scarf around his neck, and it relentlessly tightens on its own. " Ougahki! Duran, duran!" screams the leader, waving his many arms in the opposite direction. The children who either still hold their new toys or are quietly admiring them are helped by adults, presumably parents, to lift and carry the victims off in a hurry, whether they consent or not to such treatment. Sizzla Finn gasped as he heard the shout from the child now dangling just under the black hole from which they had fallen. His fun banter with Quinny and Nex was now ruined. Ah well, that was the way of things in this place, he thought.
As the others were carried off, away from the blackness, Finn looked over George's shoulder to make sure all of his comrades were behind him. It seemed the creatures were running away from the scene. He hoped they'd all get away before the blackness got any more of them---and he couldn't help but wonder why the same fate hadn't befallen any of his own party. They had fallen through the blackness after all--for quite some time. Coronaviridae The darkness was doing what now?
Nexeu Preston wouldn't describe himself as a very moral person--it wasn't in his make-up--but there were a few things that got to him. Like kids being killed by nameless horrors. Whether or not they'd try to stop him and carry him off with the rest of their party, he did his level best to wrench free of them and charge back the way they came. Like Finn, he was well aware that the darkness hadn't done anything but grab at them when they fell through it--
Unlike Finn, he had the stupid, crazy idea that this somehow made him invincible. "--let me GO!" He was a lot stronger than the human he looked, and quite adamant about going back there and pulling the strangling child out of the darkness's grasp. Once more, he was surrounded by a flickering illusion of a dragon's wings--quite solid, they'd be, if he were given the freedom and opportunity to use them.
"Damn it! I'll buy you trying to kill us, but not a kid! Put him down!" As if screaming at the darkness would do something about it. quietsnooze The adult in charge of Nexeu screams something inaudible over the growing buzz of the wind. The child crumples onto the ground lifelessly, not far from the pink mound of snow underneath which lies the raincoat man. Meanwhile, the leader concentrates on getting everyone into the pit of a shelter that requires fifteen natives just to hold the lid up on it. The strength of the natives, especially with the advantage of so many arms, isn't to be dismissed; one by one the four victims are tossed into yet another pit of darkness, this one friendlier than the one nipping at their heels. The adult catches up to Nexeu and clasps his shoulder gruffly. " Rji tomki!" she says in a quivering, but commanding, tone, that of a mother used to hearding her children away from danger. "Rji tomki," she repeats, a little more fearfully as the darkness wisps back into itself and changes course towards them. " To-tojqou dai!!" Quinny-chan Chauncey placed Quinn firmly but gently into the pit. She reached back, grasping one of its many hands and giving is a bit of a kiss in gratitude for the gentle handling and for saving her and the others. Doing her best to exude a motherly stance and tone, she beackoned all of the unlikely companions to her, "It will be alright, dears. Come now. All will be well." A smile, far more mature and nurturing that the ones she had exhibited thus far, graced her face; welcoming the others into the unknown. Sizzla Finn watched in horror as the black tendrils dropped the child to the ground, his limp body sliding out of its grasp. "Oh man..."
The comforting arms holding him safe suddenly become gruff, and Finn looked ahead again instead of backward, finding that he was heading toward a shelter of sorts. The creatures were holding the 'lid' of the shelter up, and soon, Finn was flying through the air toward the pit, tossed like a ball into the air.
Great. Another dark hole...Just what we need.
He landed with a thud inside the shelter, all of the other victims at his side--well, everyone but Nexeu. Why had he run off like that? He must have thought he could make a difference. Finn had felt helpless as he watched the poor boy struggle with the blackness. Finn couldn't help but think that it was honorable of Nexeu to even try to go get the child.
It was then that he saw the blackness coming toward Nex and the creature who had spoken to him. "RUN MAN, RUN!" Coronaviridae Oh damn it. So much for that. Nexeu knew death when he saw it, and staggered to a somewhat defeated stop by the kid's limp body. He didn't protest all that much as he was grabbed and hauled back, either, waving at the adult's injunction. Even if he didn't know their language, he recognized the tone.
"All right. All right, I'm coming; nothing more can hurt the dead, yeah?" He looked up at the darkness, staring--glaring at it, before reversing course and moving back from it, toward the shelter.
He still figured it couldn't hurt him. But it demonstrably could hurt the natives and trying to kill it (at this point) would only make them increasingly frantic.
"Discretion is the better part of valor," he mumbled to himself, and picked up his pace to a jog. Quinny-chan Crouching at Finn's side, Quinn scooped him to her bosom, whispering reassurances and petting his hair gently. Her smiled faded as the tendrils reached out for Nexeu, a pained expression creasing her brow. Still, she kept her worries to herself, not wanting the others to have more cause for their own worries. quietsnooze They manage to reach the pit in time, at least when it came to the victims. The lid on the bunker slams down and obliderates the dull light that radiated from the snow, taking with it every native from their sight. And the chorus of screams, chokes, and cries that come next really help to bridge the gap as far as what they're prevented from seeing. A pungent smell leaks up through the ground and leeches down through the bunker's roof. It smells like death, only as soon as it is sensed [in whatever sense of the word] it knocks the victim out cold.
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Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:14 am
What a long, strange trip it's been...Part 3Sizzla Finn blushed as Quinny pulled him toward her, suddenly feeling shy. Though he definitely felt comforted--it was probably not because he felt her motherly, but because he was feeling something else pressed up against the back of his head.
But that feeling was soon quelled as the lid to the pit dropped down around them, putting them into pitch blackness once again. Clinging to Quinny, he began to hear noises above him--the noises of death. And then, there was a smell he'd never experienced before.
The blackness began to take on color, and it began to spin around him, mixing the colors together like spin-art. He latched onto Quinny's hand with his own before the spinning stopped and the blackness took him over.
Sleep. Aaah.
It was so peaceful. Quinny-chan Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the blackness; canine abilities becomming both a help and hindrance as the screams began to filter down from above. Ears lying flat against her head, a silent tear traced its lonely way down her cold-blushed cheek and she whispered a prayer for the fallen; for Chauncey with his gentle hands. She raised her hand to wipe away the tear, but instead, it moved to cover her nose; the odor of death making her feel heady. Falling to her rump next to Finn, her eyes blurred and she squeezed his hand, a slurred, "All will be well..." before she succumbed to the poison, slumping against Finn. Coronaviridae Out of the frying pan, into the...what?
Nexeu's first reflex was to cover his mouth and nose with a sleeve, which didn't save him at all. It just gave him a little more time to stagger away from anyone--thus managing not to flatten them when he inevitably crumpled.
It wasn't without a degree of helpless frustration, but he fell asleep all the same. Quinny-chan The first thing she noticed was a weight on her chest and a warmth she didn't remember. Her eyes fluttered open, squinting to adjust to the dimness. She was slumped against what seemed like an endless row of bookshelves, Finn drooling on her chest. Rubbing her hands over her eyes, she peered around the room, seeing nothing of note but books and dust. "Finn? Finn? You ok?" Quinn jostled the man, looking from him to the room with concern. At least she wasn't cold anymore, though the sounds of the sweet savages' screams still echoed in her ears. Sizzla Finn dreamed of cute little foxes as he relished the darkness of dead sleep. They scampered around a grassy field, looking adorable and smiling at him as they ran.
He smiled in his unconscious state and then twitched. The foxes stopped scampering and playing, and they all turned to stare at him, wide-eyed. It was then that they began to fade away, the brightness of the scene becoming even brighter so that he was unable to see anything around him. After a few seconds of bright white, the light dimmed again, and Finn's eyes fluttered under heavy lids. He thought he heard someone shouting at him, but it was faint...
His eyes opened slowly, his vision blurry. His glasses had fallen off his face, and were laying next to him on the floor where they had fallen from his face. He saw them in front of his nose, and reached up to grab the spectacles, unfolding them and placing them on his nose. It was then that he could see his surroundings. The light was dim and it seemed like it was flickering candlelight. He was layng on something soft and slightly squishy, and that something was urging him awake.
"Quinn? Is that you?" he looked up at her and saw that there was a drool puddle on her shirt. Oops. "Sorry," he apologized, blushing profusely and scooting away from her, slighly embarassed. He didn't know what happened while he was sleeping! He couldn't help it.
He sat up further, and saw they were sitting on a rug that topped an old hardwood floor. As he examined it, he saw it was a Persian rug. And it was not only him laying there, but Quinny and the other members of his original group. There were no large green creatures with many arms, and there was no inky blackness. "Guys! Anybody else awake?" he asked, hoping to rouse an answer from the other people who seemed to be passed out still.
As he scanned the room, again, he made an assumption. It was a library.
There were walls lined with inset shelves, filled with books. The shelves went from floor to ceiling, rolling ladders placed strategically here and there so that one could access the highest shelves. Not an empty shelf was in sight. The place looked very old, and judging by the books on the shelves, many of them were rare and antique.
It was Finn's paradise.
He worked in a bookstore that had a special room reserved for ancient tomes and rare books, and he loved the smell of old paper and glue. There was nothing like it. Old knowledge was important for the future, he knew, and his eyes seemed to glitter as he looked about the candlelit room.
It was cozy and Finn felt more comfortable here than he had the entire time he'd been on this crazy adventure. Coronaviridae From the vague mumble of, "Five more minutes, mom," that came from Nexeu's general direction, the mage was sort of awake. Coming fully back to his senses would take a little longer, and it was something he did only grudgingly--giving a quiet groan of dismay and rolling over to tuck his cloak around him.
"It has to be a library. We're in a library, aren't we?" This time the noise of dismay was a sigh, and he unfolded enough to sit up and stare at the rows upon rows of shelves all about them. "I was trying to work up a really decent hatred for this place, too, and then it drops us in a library. What's a guy supposed to do?"
Apparently, in Nexeu's case, get up off the floor and wander over to investigate the bookshelves. Finn wasn't the only one in nerd heaven. Quinny-chan Quinn was happy to see Nexeu and Finn were alright, but worried by the others still lying prostrate on the dusty floor. Instead of following Nexeu or Finn in their exploration of the library they now found themselves in, she rose and lit a few candles that were on the massive table they had all awoken by. She wanted the others to see a friendly face when they awoke and to not be frightened by the dimness even she was having a hard time seeing in. Idley, she traced the gold-flecked scrollwork of an old, heavy volume present on the table. She liked books and there was something strangely attractive about this particular one. Sizzla Finn scanned the shelves, looking for nothing in particular. He just liked the feel of old books. They were full of knowledge and history of things long past. It was exciting for him to be in such a place, and he climbed one of the ladders on the right-hand side of the Library, wanting to get a better glimpse of some of the tomes that were higher up on the shelves.
"Well this is an awfully peaceful place," he said, turning around to address everyone who was awake. "I wonder how long it'll be before we find ourselves in yet another dark or icy wilderness?"
He turned back to the shelf, and pulled out a leather-bound tome that had no title printed on its over. It was blank, except for an embossed snake--or something that looked much like a snake--in the center of it's cover. Dark Fire Angel Darkness.
What was with this darkness? Where was he? Why was it.... slightly cold? And why did he feel like he'd just been trampled over by a whole herd of elephants?
Shinzu's brain pulled itself out of the dreamy fog unconsciousness had created, and idly poked it's body awake, for after all; there was no way it was going to gain the answer to such questions if his eyes did not open. aka, if he did not wake up. Thus so, with a groan, much resembling a growl, the dragon pulled himself off the floor, a hand raising to grip his head, as if not doing so would send him spiraling down into confusion again. Where was he? Violet eyes opened in order to answer the question and frowning, the dragon found himself having to rub them, for he simply could not believe the information they were sending back to his brain.
Books.
A lot of books.
It was book heaven; dusty, decrypt in a way, and mostly unkept, however, it was still book heaven.
Soon enough, the drowsiness passed, and Shinzu pushed himself back to his feet, taking his time to rest against a certain book shelf, as if he hadn't quite regained his full balance, "A library?" had it all been a dream? Finn's voice, talking something about an icy wilderness swiftly convinced him that no, it had not all been a dream, and therefore, his recollection of the past was quite correct; oh dear indeed, "A library..." it was now a statement, not a question as he groaned again, pushing himself off the shelf to look at the different tomes that were aligned against each other, here, there and everywhere.
Idly, he noted he could not make out the titles under all the dust that covered the tomes; but then again, they didn't attract his attention enough till he reached a certain book. It seemed to stand out against the others, and his hand reached out to grab it. Inle-roo Inle had hoped, upon waking, that she would find that the past few hours had just been a strange dream brought on by stress or insanity or not sleeping for a year. She found herself quite dismayed, then, when she awoke in what appeared to be a library. A library? All that--the slide and the annoying Raincoat Man and the big green monsters--all to be brought to a library, of all places? Was this just some elaborate campaign to promote reading? Inle rose and wandered closer to the shelves, glancing down the rows and rows of books. Coronaviridae Ooo, what was that? Catching sight of something fascinated, Nexeu drifted away from Quinny and Finn, collecting another interesting book from the shelves as he happened to pass it. "Peaceful gets you killed," he muttered, though he seemed amused to all outward appearances. "But I suppose getting bored to death is preferable to the alternatives."
Finding that the initial object of his attention was larger than he'd first thought, the mage laid his first "catch" aside to pull down the bigger book and leaf through it, humming to himself under his breath. When Inle verged into the corner of his vision, he looked sidelong--and gave her a lopsided smile. "You know, I don't remember the Reading Rainbow episode with the green snow-monsters and darkness that ate people." quietsnooze As each victim awakens on the floor of the Library, to the dim light of candles and the musty smell of ancient books, the atmosphere itself seems to calm in their presence. The flames flicker, licking up eagerly around the victims, but not overpoweringly so. And a smell even stronger than that of delicate old pages rises, smelling different to every individual but playing directly on the one smell that would make them feel most at home. And then the books.. the books next play up their appeal to each victim. Nexeu.. his book is a solid hardcover, dark blue in colour with deep grooves all across its front cover. Its texture is rough, but the pages are crisp, if not a little brown from age. Inle.. her book is similarly dark and only a dozen books over from Nexeu's. It, however, has a flower etched into the front, whereas the rest of its hard cover is sleek and laminated. Its pages are also crisp in quality and a brighter white. Quinny.. her book looks like a teenage girl's diary. Its covered in pastel coloured feathers and has a place for a lock, though none is currently latching it closed. It is grossely oversized and sticks out like a sore thumb on its shelf. Shinzu.. his book is thin and dark green, its cover text in an unreadable script of golden cursive. It is easily passed over, though the attraction it holds is in the golden shimmer of its pages. Finn.. his book is grotesquely thick, like an encyclopedia, and its sleeve is a loosely stretched fabric that at one time might have been red. Its pages are terribly thin and the poor book threatens to disintegrate if held improperly. Dark Fire Angel The book Shinzu now holds, despite being thin, and altogether... much too small than what he's used to reading, seems to captivate his attention. The dragon flips it this way and that, looking at the dark green covers as he walks slowly down the shelves; the golden cursive is... not in a language he recognizes, and yet despite this, he can not help but open it, the golden glimmer of the book's pages almost silently demanding he do so.
Taking care not to harm the book, the dragon flips it's pages till he lands on a certain one, round the beginning, yet not quite at the start, his eyes falling on the glimmering golden paper before him. Sizzla Finn slid the leatherbound book back onto the shelf, suddenly attracted to another book right next to it. It was very large--almost epic in its length, and Finn was suddenly reminded of reading Atlas Shrugged as he pulled it from it's slot on the shelf.
The cover threatened to give way as he held it in his hands, and he backed down the ladder, moving toward a table so that he could get a better look. Though he wasn't certain what had attracted him to the thick tome, he ran a hand over the cloth sleeve that protected it and smiled. The covering was faded enough not to be able to read any text that might have been there at some point, and Finn gazed at the pinkish cloth sleeve lovingly before he opened the book.
He split the pages about halfway through, and it lay open on the table before him, tiny text filling thin pages. It was there than he began to read, slowly flipping through the pages, careful not to damage them. Coronaviridae Admittedly, a part of the strong attraction this new book held for Nexeu was the material of the cover. The mage moved slowly away from the shelves as he turned the book over and over in his hands, exploring the texture of it almost reverentially. At length he drifted over to a table not far from Finn, settling against it slant-hipped and finally opening the book itself--pondering over the stuff of the overleaf before turning to the first page and starting to read.
He looked up, once, before he got fully sucked into the book (and hopefully not literally--but who knew, with this House?) to see what the others were doing, and smiled another lopsided smile on seeing them all finding books and settling in with them. "How cozy," he murmured. Quinny-chan Order restored, to a point, now that everyone was awake; Quinn let her attention wander, scanning the endless shelves as everyone else had taken the time to do. With a squak and a gafaw, she pulled a massive pink volume from a shelf of otherwise dull grey books, sneezing as the pastel feathers tickled her nose. "I think someone mis-shelved this one!" She held up the eyesore for the others to laugh at, before returning to the table with it; hoping to get a good laugh at the teenage angst it was sure to hold. Inle-roo Inle ran her fingers over the spines of the books as she ambled down the aisles as a child might run a stick across a chain-link fence. The books on the shelves seemed to be as strange and varied as the members of their happy little band, if not dustier. Nexeu's comment earned him a chuckle, and she paused her perusal of the contents of the bookcase. "Really? It's a classic. I think the theme was something like "what not to do when faced with a creepy old house." As she moved her hand, fingers covered in dust from wandering across the old books, they caught on the spine of a volume that was sticking out a few inches, as if it hadn't been properly returned. It clattered to the floor as she accidentally knocked it off its perch, and she winced instinctively at the sound, almost expecting some librarian to pop out of the woodwork to tell her to be quiet in the loudest of whispers--or worse, because that would be normal in a situation that had proven to be anything but. She knelt down to retrieve it, muttering an "I didn't do it." The book felt almost warm as she touched it, the delicate-looking flower etched into it completely at odds with the rest of the dark, blank cover. Curious, she opened it. The pages seemed new, the bright white contrasting with the dark cover to make it appear almost standoffish, if a book could. quietsnooze There's a piercing whistle and a "1-2, 1-2!" shout that shatters the silence and serenity of the library setting. A man with lime green hair leaps out from behind a row of shelves and blows his obnoxious whistle again. "HUP twothreefour.. atten~tion!" he bellows with an enormous grin around the group. As he notices that there are three.. four.. five people, his grin becomes more and more forced, especially when his eyes land on each of the books that the victims are holding. Rubbing the back of his neck furiously, he tries to straighten up and continue grinning. "Well, looks like I've gotten here.. just.. in time..!" he says through gritted teeth. Sizzla Finn jumped as he heard the whistle, his head snapping up to see who the hell was breaking their pleasant quiet time now. Was there another green monster?
He was relieved to see that no, it was not a monster. But he was green--at least his hair was. The man jumped out from behind a bookshelf, shouted some boot-camp commands and blew his obnxoious whistle again, much to Finn's chagrin. It was then that Finn realized who the man was...
"Hey, aren't you the guy that threw the party here? Do you own this crazy place? And are we even still at that house?" He had a semi-irritated look on his face, and then....
"Just in time for what?" Dark Fire Angel Startled, Shinzu snaps the book he had previously been holding shut, blinking out of a self induced dazed as he gazes towards the origin of the piercing sound. A man stood not too far away, his lime green hair amusingly enough, making the dragon arch a brow. Holding the book against his chest with one hand, he advances a mere two steps, looking slightly confused, "In time... for what? Dare I ask..."
Something, a thought, a sentiment at the back of his head, told him he really did not want to know. Yet however, it'd been clearly established that he was curious by nature (After all, this little adventure would've not happened had he not been curious enough to go into the strange house) and he could not help but idly wonder just what the man meant.
Never once did it occur to him that perhaps it might have something to do with the book he was still firmly holding. Coronaviridae Quinny's find and declaration prompted a distracted chuckle from Nexeu, though the mage already seemed well-lost in his book. Despite that he didn't seem terribly surprised at the sound of a whistle, nor the sudden appearance of yet a SIXTH person in the library.
He did neatly mark his place and look up, though. "Right on time, mhm--give or take a minute or two; did you stop on your way down here?" A pause, and he thumbed the book closed, marking his place with a finger. "And what's about to happen, anyway? I don't know if everyone kne--er, has any idea." Grip on consensual time--weakening... quietsnooze Pippin opens his mouth slightly in concentration and counts off on his hand. "Yes, yes, yes, and I'm about to tell you!" He smiles more genuinely than before, clasping his hands together. "Ahwells, what's done is done, so if you'll all just follow my lead, I can get you outta here in time for your favourite prime time show~!" He gestures to the lopsided table, one leg shorter than the other, but all together a magnificent piece of furniture. "Please place your books on that table; they're yours now, but y'can't take them yet," he explains with a twinkle in his eye, leaning in to Shinzu's face and winking exaggeratedly. "Not like that, anyway.." Quinny-chan Ears standing erect in suprise, before laying back on her head in pain and a bit of aprehension, Quinn eyed the green-haired man with slight trepidation. Was he destined to the same fate as the Raincoated man or Chauncey and his many armed friends? He seemed familiar with the place, but his behavior was erratic and put her on edge. The pink feathered tome flopped open and her head turned to follow the man, questioning with her eyes and body-language what Finn had asked aloud. Standing slowly, Quinn moved to place the book on the requested table, still not sure of exactly what was occuring or if she wanted the gaudy journal. Sizzla What's done is done? Finn couldn't help but think that that statement seemed ominous. He stepped forward and put the thick book he was holding on the table, wondering what the man would do with it. It was his now?
He'd been slightly interested in it, but hadn't gotten far enough to really know what was happening in the story. He'd have to start from the beginning when he was able to take it home for his own.
"So, um, yeah, getting out of here seems like a great idea," he said with a nod as he leaned back against another table, keeping his eyes on the green-haired man. She stifled a giggle as he saw Quinny with her book--a tacky book for a wacky (but quite pleasant and nice) woman. Dark Fire Angel "Excuse me, come again?" as soon as Pippin leaned forward, the dragon leaned back, making for an odd position where Pippin practically towered over Shinzu, "Ours...?" despite the questions that clouded his mind, he did as told, leaving his small book on the table, all the while frowning at the lime green headed man, as if by doing so he could unveil whatever mystery he guarded so tightly (Or not so tightly).
Taking a second glance at his book, as if not willing to leave it behind, yet resigned to do so, Shinzu lets out a small sigh and follows after the other man; after all, inside this freak of a place, he'd come to notice it was best to do as told. He just hoped whatever Pippin had to show or tell them did not involve any slides of doom. Coronaviridae ...oh dear.
Nexeu had a slim advantage (very slim) on the others in that he'd heard a story about a particular book in another place entirely that had a habit of landing people with new children. Although he wasn't sure that was precisely consonant to the present moment, though he did look dubiously at the book in his hand. "It's nice enough," he muttered to himself, before leaning over to add his book to the collection already on the table.
"Feathers," he opined of Quinny's. "That's kind of cute." Inle-roo It seemed the librarian Inle had not-really-expected had arrived after all, military orders and screaming green hair and enigmatic statements merely an addition that seemed almost normal after everything they had been through. She frowned at his instruction but got up from her comfortable position on the uncomfortable floor, picking up the book and snapping it shut as she made her way to the others. "Out? Out is good." With a free book, to boot! She placed the book upon the table, not thinking on the lime-haired man's riddles too much--getting out of this madhouse seemed just a little more important. Quinny-chan Quinn scoffed at Nexeu, "Cute if your a bird." Coronaviridae "Chirp," Nexeu said, very dourly. Quinny-chan Quinn reached into her pouch and pulled out a gummy worm, dangling it before Nexeu's face. Coronaviridae Nexeu squinted at the proferred treat, before leeeeaning over and taking a very delicate bite of it.
Mmmm gummiworm. Quinny-chan Smirking in amusement, Quinn patted Nexeu with her free hand, cajoling, "Good birdy. Birdy have a treat." Sizzla Okay, Finn knew that Quinny was a bit odd. But this bird business with the gummy worm really was too much. He broke out in hysterical laughter, unable to help himself. Nexeu looked absolutely ridiculous.
"Hahahahahahahaha!!" For a second, he almost forgot his situation. quietsnooze Pippin clicks his tongue and motions at them as if directing traffic. "This way, this way!" he calls out, walking backwards down the aisle between the bookshelves, eventually leading them away from and out of the sight of the open entrance. He hums under his breath a muddled mess of cheerful radio tunes. A skip returns to his step as he navigates the Library, walking them in circles, squares, triangles and zig-zags, effectively losing track himself of where they are, but not phased one bit by it. All he needs to do is buy time! Coronaviridae Squint. "I'm going to bite your fingers off next. They look tasty."
Fortunately, he was distracted from doing just that by Pippin suddenly taking off. He glanced back at the book, before shrugging and following the lime-haired man into the library. Dark Fire Angel It soon becomes clear they are.... not really heading anywhere, however, Shinzu, for once, decides to not state the obvious and instead merely walks on, sparring Quinny and Nexeu a glance. Personally he thought they were oddly refreshing, taking into account the situation, however, he refrains from commenting.
It'd be out of his league anyways. Quinny-chan In light of their little adventure, Quinn smiled and grabed at both Nexeu's and Finn's hands, "Everybody needs a buddy, so let's partner up! Next stop, Science Fiction." Inle-roo Inle chuckled at the pair's antics, dutifully following their strange tour guide. "Hey," she muttered to the group, "think we should tell him about the dead guy?" Sizzla Finn followed the line obediently, hand-in-hand with Quinny and then, Nexeu, wondering where it was they were going exactly. After a few minutes of tromping around, Finn realized it was all a ploy. "Hey, where are we doing? I thought it was time to go!" he shouted to the lime-haired man with the whistle. quietsnooze "Hmm?" Pippin turns on his heel and cocks his head to the side exaggeratedly; in fact, everything about his seems rather exaggerated. ".. Oh! Right! My office!" Grinning wildly, he backtracks a few steps and opens a door to a reading room-turned-office, one they'd already passed twice. Grinning wildly, he holds open the door and ushers everyone inside, urging them to take a seat wherever they can manage. The place is covered in magazines and junk food; there's a baby carriage in the corner that has been used to house a travel TV, and a desk that is equally as useless as far as its intended purpose goes. There's a single chair, a stiff backed wooden one on wheels. Coronaviridae "Mmm. The more important question is, would he care if we told him about the dead guy?" Nexeu didn't seem to mind being hauled along by the hand, and managed not to look in the least annoyed as they were ushered into the office...they'd already passed...more than a couple of times.
...Whatever floated Pippin's boat, he supposed. Quinny-chan Taking a seat on the floor, crossed legs covered by her overly fluffy tail, the fox-woman reached over and picked up a half-eaten bag of Cheetos Puffs, popping one of the cheese-covered corn puffs into her ample mouth. Half-heartedly, she tilted the bag towards the others, secretly hoping she wouldn't have to share. Inle-roo "On the off chance that he would, in fact, care a lot about the dead guy...yeah, we should just not tell him. Just in case." It would also serve the green guy right, dragging them around and around the library when they could be out already. Inle took up a post near the door, leaning against the wall next to it and waving Quinny's offer off. Sizzla "Um, the dead guy...Well, I suppose we could tell him, but do you think he'd care?" He chuckled and was ushered into the office, squeezed in the small, cluttered room with the others.
Finn shook his head at the offer of Cheetos. They were probably really old.
He looked around the room for a chair to sit on, but a crate would have to suffice as he plopped down on it. Dark Fire Angel Letting out his probably fourth sigh in the past 5 minutes, Shinzu enters the study, leaning back against a random wall, rather than trying to find a seat. Tell truth, he's much too nervous and edgy to truly sit down; his tail is testimony enough of this, for it twitches from side to side swiftly as he watches Pippin, "What exactly are we doing? If I didn't know any better I'd say you're buying time for someone..." of course, the idea soon made him shudder, his features darkening.
He didn't want to think about whom this man could be buying time for. Idly he hoped he was simply being paranoid. Coronaviridae Nexeu, too, waved off the offer of the Cheetos--and took up a station beside Inle, in the doorway. "Something," he offered, to Shinzu's comment. Then, deciding that was a little oblique, even for him, he explained: "Buying time for something. We might be the only people in here--provided that he's real." A nod to Pippin at this. quietsnooze Pippin closes the door and grabs a handful of the Cheetos, popping them in his mouth one by one with a dazed look on his face. Patting his hands together to wipe off the cheese crumbs, he then straightens up and resumes the role of authority, fingering the whistle that hangs from his neck with a certain pride. "So!" He begins to recount the story of the first time he'd been to the Library himself, beefing it up quite obviously, but the core of the story stays the same. He explains quickly about the children that replace the books that are opened, and their animal companions who they seem to be linked to "BY THE SOOOOUL~". He goes on to explain rather abruptly that they're now parents, if they weren't already, and that for some reason each person's only able to open a book once. Even if someone wanted to inject a comment or question, he really doesn't leave them the chance and keeps talking regardless. He leans back against the door frame, exhaling loudly. He suddenly looks serious, which, for such a silly man, comes off as strange in itself. "We don't know why they exist," he says quietly, in a tone unlike his normal cheerful one. "But it has something to do with the story they were born from, and the paper left behind. You'll find it with your child; please safeguard it. Besides The Book That Writes Itself, we have no other insights into the why and how of their existence." Pippin clasps his hands together, instantly back to normal. "Well, we'd best go back!" he suggests, sidestepping out of the way of the door. "No doubt there'll be a lot of diapers needing changing, eheheh.." Inle-roo Inle had been on Gaia for quite awhile, and she had seen many, many things. Unfortunately, a lot of these things had resulted in children of sort, so she had become kind of a recluse for awhile in the hopes that if she didn't go anywhere, she wouldn't run into anyone or anything that would result in her bringing home another messy, crying child. It seemed she hadn't been a recluse long enough. The blood would have drained from her face if it could've; instead, Inle frowned. A lot. "No," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not--I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna and, and you can't make me," she continued rather petulantly. Dark Fire Angel Throughout the explanation, Shinzu was merely able to blink and gape, much like a fish out of water. Baby? Book? PARENT?! Excuse him? How did opening a book make him a father?
Yet another sigh escapes his lips as he rubs his temple, feeling slightly dizzy due to the sudden intake of information and it's not till Pippin mentions diapers that the dragon pops out of his reverie. Diapers? Oh dear... it really was true; curiosity did kill the cat, or in this case, the dragon. Such were his thoughts as he reluctantly followed the lime haired man. Again. Sizzla Finn couldn't have been more unhappy at that very moment. He would be a parent? He wasn't ready for a kid! Finn didn't have a kid-friendly life. He wanted to interject, but the man wouldn't allow it, talking as quickly as he could, probably to avoid questions.
Finn's mouth dropped open as the man explained the children and their pet--things, and how they were connected, and how no one knows why these kids come about, and blah blah blah...
But his ears perked as the man took a more serious tone and mentioned the paper that would be left behind with the child. He'd have to take care of it--whatever it said. He'd have to archive that paper so it'd last for years. Horace would know how to take care of paper--he'd have to ask him about it when he went back to work.
Finn got off on a totally different tangent, practically forgetting about the child that would be entering his life.
And then, as quickly as they had been pushed into the office, they were pushed out. It was time to go back to the Library. Quinny-chan A flood of emotions overcame Quinn as she sat amidst the mess on the office floor. Her smile faded and her expression became guarded, her thoughts hidden behind stoic eyes. As the story continued, her hands meandered down to rest on her womb and her thoughts turned to the child she wished to have one day. It appeared "one day" was today. The reality of the situation sinking in, Quinn's smile began to creep back in around the edges and she turned that smile to Pippin, "All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well." She clasped his shoulder, not feeling familiar enough with him to offer a hug, and followed him to her destiny. Coronaviridae Ever get that sinking feeling that you knew you should've said something about a hunch when you first got it, but then you didn't, and now the thing you were worried about happened anyway? Nexeu had that feeling after Pippin had finished with his blitzkrieg explanation of why they were here and why those books had felt so familiar and why--even earlier--the House had been, well, reaching for them. He didn't attempt to interrupt, well-familiar at this point with the behavior of people who would keep talking until they were done talking; just shifted his weight a little and adjusted the fall of the cloak around his shoulders.
"I'm never opening a book again," he finally said, giving a rueful shake of his head. "This is twice now, with the children."
A pause, and he glanced over at Inle, before tsking. "Look at it this way: If you didn't, and our new friend here ended up sueing for child support, how the hell would you ever be able to look at the headlines with a straight face again? Do they even HAVE maternity suits?"
He looked over at the others, bustling out after Pippin, before resting a hand on the grombie's shoulder, almost consolingly. "Come on. If it looks tasty enough, I promise you I'll take yours home and eat it. Without salt." That said, he made to follow the rest of the group out. quietsnooze Pippin's face goes blank at the reactions. He'd seen many, many reactions, but taking in five at once is just.. overwhelming? Hilarious? He doesn't know whether to laugh or be fearful. Instead he shrugs, and this time leads the way back properly [which actually takes no more than five minutes if you go straight there]. Inle-roo Inle very nearly grinned despite herself. "I don't think so, but if he did sue me I'd have to come back here and hit him in the face or something, and I'd probably get in trouble for that...are you serious? About the baby thing? I hear they taste like pork. You'll have to tell me." She trailed behind, dragging her feet only a little bit--the promise of baby-eating lifted her spirits just a bit. "I really hope this one doesn't molt..." Quinny-chan Following Pippin, Quinn reached into her pouch once more and for a change, didn't pull out candy. Instead, she fingered a stack of small cards, much like business cards, but with personal information on them instead. She handed one to each of her four companions with a resolute, "Should you need anything..." Coronaviridae "Thank you. I'll be sure to send you a fruit basket," Nexeu said, earnestly.
Well, as earnestly as he could get while grinning slyly. He tucked the card away, turning his attention back to Inle. "Depends on how young they are and what they've been eating. The little ones who're still on the teat? More like veal," he continued, with the air of an accomplished cannibal.
Then, a blink. "You have one that molts, too?" Inle-roo Inle glanced at the card before pocketing it. "Yeah, next time I find an old abandoned house, I'll be sure to call you. Safety in numbers and all." She looked up at Nexeu questioningly--carefully, too, as her living hat didn't take well to jostling. "Veal? Really? I'll keep that in mind." Couldn't hurt, after all. "Yeah," she replied to his question. "There was this store and this book and some room and then there was a bird, and there's still a bird and he molts. The feathers are pretty, but it's kind of gross." Sizzla "My, my, you've got everything in that pouch there, don't you?" Finn commented with a grin, taking the card from the fox-woman. "I'll be sure to let you know if I need anything." He gave her a wink, and continued on ahead toward the Library. Soon he would be a dad.
He didn't want to think about it, but it was enevitable--and his destiny. Iris (his roommate) wasn't going to be happy about this... Coronaviridae "...Huh. Happened to my brother, too. Except his hasn't gone through a full molt yet. That will probably be spectacular."
Nexeu paused, considered. "Damn books. I'd swear we were back at home except for the--ambiance this place has." He gestured vaguely around them, probably meaning "all of Gaia" rather than "this House" by "place". Quinny-chan Unintentionally and perhaps instinctually, Quinn's rear shot out a bit and her tail rose into the air. The grin she shot at Finn was so full of mischief and promise it could have filled a pool. "I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will." Inle-roo "Really? Wow, small world. Well, tell him to keep a broom and dustpan handy. And some tissues. And maybe some candy. And...oh, and nothing sharp. His kid doesn't have violent tendencies, does it?" Inle considered, for a moment, that not every child was as angry as her own, but it was always best to keep everything in mind, just in case. "What, the "hey-I'm-just-a-harmless-house-but-not-really" vibe?" quietsnooze He sits with pursed lips, curled up at the edges into a smile. Unlike any sort of usual baby, he waits patiently to be given attention from his new guardian, one he instantly comes to recognize. Poised at his side is Simplicity, who makes a small noise and doubles back over top the excerpt, a scrap of aged paper now being treated to the bottom of the daemon's foot.  "Fire-child, star-child, what is Kel?
Sword-bearers, song-weavers, that is Kel. They played without words, with only the rhythm of their hands and the weapons, flesh and steel. The rhythm was as old as time and as familiar as childhood. The game had more meaning than the act, more than the simplicity of the words. The Game of the People, it was called.Dawn-child, earth-child, what is Sen?
Rune-makers, home-leaders, that is Sen. A kel'en who flinched, whose eye failed or whose wits wandered, had no value in the House." With a charming gurgle, this Forgotten child tries to take in all of his surroundings. A flower is held tightly in his fist. With a certain level of comfort, he leans back against Sorry without putting his weight on her too drastically. A piece of paper is neatly folded in the left pocket of his pinstripe dress pants, noticable in its bright contrast to the navy blue material.  " "Yes," said Mr. World. "I know. When this is all done with, I guess I'll sharpen a stick of mistletoe and go down to the ash tree, and ram it through his eye. Now. My stick, please."
"Why do you want it?"
"It's a souvenir of this whole sorry mess," said Mr. World. "Don't worry, it's not mistletoe." He flashed a grin. "It symbolizes a spear, and in this sorry world, the symbol is the thing."
The noises from outside grew louder.
"Which side are you on?" she asked.
"It's not about sides," he told her. "But since you asked, I'm on the winning side. Always." " Sneezing gently, this female Forgotten squirms in her place in the middle of the overflowing table. She pulls her knee against her chest shyly and gazes around with wondering eyes, fluttering one set of wings upon her back, there being three sets of them in total. Atop her head is a male mouse daemon, who moves freely and energetically without straying from his Forgotten's thick hair. A slip of paper, still adorning the fluff from an artificial pink feather, peeks out of the child's right sock.  " The ball rose and brushed her forehead. Sensations swept through her, too fast to process. The dizzy delight of a toddler being swung in circles at arm's length, her own grinning seven-year-old face at the center of the spinning world. Warm weight against her back in the dark while her own read Grimm's Fairy Tales in hushed tones. The scents of chicken stir-fry. The shaky refuge of an embrace while parental shouts raged downstairs. The window-garden they'd planted during the first spring of their independance. Love, courage, regret. And above all, an exquisite sense of release. The prison bars had vanished, the pain wracked body no longer held what so desperately wished to be free." Someone apathetically, this Forgotten boy ignores the bustle of the appearance of the adults and instead pays attention to the daemon in his lap. She stretches up and sniffs the air, tiny whiskers twitching, her ears alert and catching all sounds. He raises a hand and brushes his fingers surpringly gently through her fur, still refusing to acknowledge anyone but her. His excerpt just barely pokes out from the ribbon of the Forgotten's hat.  Lastly, having to kneel in the remaining space on the table, this Forgotten girl shoots a scornful glance over her shoulder at the sudden increase of noise all around her. In her hand coils her daemon companion, though for the most part she ignores his presence and concentrates on her best face of disapproval directed at the adults. Her excerpt, on a thin enough piece of paper already, is dangerously pinned beneath her left knee.  " It was almost a mystical experience. I do not know how else to put it. My mind outran time as he neared, and it was as though I had an eternity to ponder the approach of this man who was my brother. His garments were filthy, his face blackened, teh stump of his right arm raised, gesturing anywhere. The great beast that he rode was striped, black and red, with a red mane and tail. But it really was a horse, and its eyes rolled and there was foam at its mouth and its breathing was painful to hear. I saw then that he wore his blade slung across his back, for its haft protruded high above his right shoulder. Still slowing, eyes fixed upon me, he departed the road, bearing slightly toward my left, jerked the reins once and released them, keeping control of the horse with his knees. His left hand went up in a salute-like movement that passed above his head and seized the hilt of of his weapon. It came free without a sound, describing a beautiful arc above him and coming to rest in a lethal position out from his left shoulder and slanting back, like a single wing of dull steel with a minuscule line of edge that gleamed like a filament of mirror. The picture he presented was burned into my mind with a kind of magnificence, a certain splendor that was strangely moving. The blade was a long scythe-like affair that I had seen him use before. Only then we had stood as allies agains a mutual foe I had begun to believe unbeatable...Now that I saw it raised against me I was overwhelmed with a sense of my own mortality, which I had never experienced before in this fashion. It was as though a layer had been stripped from the world and I had a sudden, full understanding of death itself." Sizzla As Finn reentered the Library, his eyes locked instantly with those of a little girl. A girl who looked remarkably like him. It was odd almost, and he couldn't help but stare as she looked at him with annoyance in her eyes.
There was no way that was his kid.
But the way she looked at him was more than creepy. Somehow they belonged together.
The snake-worm-thing--the girl's animal companion, as the green haired-man had told them--that coiled around her arm looked up at him as well, his emerald eyes twinkling. It seemed as if it was sizing him up.
Finn just stood there, straight-faced. It was then that he pulled his eyes off of the girl who could be his real child, and saw the other four children, sitting there, expectantly waiting for their new parents.
"Wow, we really didn't know what we were getting into," he said, carefully approaching the girl he'd be bringing home with him. "Now, to get that piece of paper..."Maya sat there, staring at the man. She knew him already somehow, and she wasn't sure if she liked him. So far, he'd only stared her down--and he really wasn't all that intimidating. She smirked at him, and as if he knew what she was thinking, the golden worm lifted his head to regard the new guardian.
The daemon chuckled. Oh, this'll be just dandy... His tone was mostly sarcastic, but there was a hint of amusement in there somewhere.
Maya turned her head from her new guardian, refusing to look at him. At this very moment, she wished these people had never come into the room.Finn saw the piece of paper folded behind the girl's knee, and he knew he had to extract it somehow. But he hesitated. She didn't seem very happy to see him. "Well, kid, we should probably get going. I've had about enough for the day," he said with a nod, smiling at her as genuinely as he could. "Let's go home."
He held a hand out to her, hoping to help her up from the table, but as soon as he approached her, she leaned away from him, avoiding his touch. She wasn't comfortable with him yet, that was for sure. Instead, she swiveled on the table and dangled her legs over the side. Then, she dropped down on her own, landing easily on her feet. She was a toddler, but had more walking skills than Finn could have imagined. In fact, she acted a lot like a miniature adult.
"Okay then, easy enough," he shrugged, letting her do for herself. He came up behind her and quickly grabbed the piece of paper that was pinned to her dress, barely escaping a swatting by the little girl's hand. The paper tore a bit as he pulled it away, but most of the writing on it remained unscathed.
Finn quickly read the excerpt, his eyes growing wide as he did. It was quite a story in such a short bit of writing...But what could it mean? Inle-roo There were KIDS on the table. And animals. Enough of each to start an orphanage and a zoo, respectively (or maybe not). They all looked somewhat creepy to her, too much knowledge for too-young bodies, but wasn't in the nature of children to look weird anyway? Or maybe it was just her. Which one was hers, anyway? Indecisive Man seemed to find his easily enough. "Eenie meenie minie mo," she muttered, frowning at each of them in turn. The little boy using the otter for a pillow, meanwhile, looked rather amused at the influx of all the big people. Oh, except that one--that one looked strange, different, and what was that thing on her head? No, no, that one couldn't be his. Why was it here? It should go away. Now, yeah? He made shooing motions with his hands, accidentally throwing his flower at her in the process. Oops! He frowned as the lady-thing caught it, making grabby-motions at it while trying to stay upright; it was hard, what with his daemon squirming behind him. "Is that right?" Inle asked the little boy, holding his flower carefully. "You shouldn't throw things you want to keep, you know?" In the meantime, the otter managed to wiggle free, causing her Forgotten to fall backwards where he blinked confusedly, then disgruntedly, up at the ceiling. The otter scuttled atop him, leaning off the edge of the table and extending a paw towards Inle. Well. Guess that solved the mystery of who she belonged to. "You did say without salt, right?" she asked Nexeu. Coronaviridae While Pippin's little speech had perhaps prepared him for the thought they'd all come back and find new children waiting for them, on the other hand it--hadn't, really. Not at all. Nexeu was just turning to say something witty (and odd, and possibly antisocial) to Inle when they rounded the corner and found themselves back at the table they'd so-lately left their books on. And then he didn't have much to say at all, taken with the spectacle of five (ten?) children sitting on the table, all of them so very different even down to the ways they held themselves. He did reach up on reflex to touch the back of one hand to his mouth, the faint smile concealing something that...wasn't...precisely happiness, but touched all the same.
Predictably, it was Inle's comment that brought him back around. (He was pretty certain which of the kids was his, not in the least because said child was watching him with an unchildlike patience. So he didn't really need to contemplate that so much as what he was going to name the kid, whether he needed a name for the aardvark--jackal--Typhonic beast? ...and where he was going to put another bed.) "Without salt," he repeated. "I'm not sure about the otter, though."
The chimerical daemon wasn't nearly as patient as her Forgotten, not with their guardian-to-be in sight. She made another soft noise, barely a hough of breath through her teeth, before bending down to pull the paper from between her toes. Though it hadn't dawned on any of them yet, it was to be the one piece of paper that could stand to be in her presence without disintegrating. She gummed it speculatively, then dropped it, then picked it up again--and stopped her fussing when her Forgotten reached a slim hand back to pat her once, twice, a little awkwardly on the back and then the head. Sighing again, she settled onto her haunches, offering the little bit of paper mutely to the black-clad child, before settling in to stare at Nexeu intently.
The mage didn't leave them waiting long; once his audience--so to speak--was distracted by her own anomalous child tossing a flower her way, he moved toward the table himself. Moved and reached out, unerringly, too, to the golden-skinned boy--though Nexeu did spare a glance for Quinny and her feathery bundle, along with a murmur of, "Another one that molts."--only to find the kid reaching back for him.
They settled like that for a moment, not quite touching, each staring at the other with a mix of emotions that was primarily curiosity. "I'm pretty sure," the mage finally said, "this is the point where I ask if you're mine. At the same time, I'm also sure you are."
Forgotten and man mused over this for a moment, before the former nodded, sagely. The daemon gave out a great whuff of relief and inched over to the edge of the table, butting at Nexeu's hand insistently in the universal wordless language of small four-legged creatures demanding scratches behind the ears--and laughingly, he was happy to assent.
He could probably figure out names for them later, anyway. Quinny-chan Big ears were good for many things. In this case, Quinn's big ears had allowed her to overhear Nexeu's and Inle's conversation about molting. So, when she saw her child -- and after the book she had been forced to keep, how could the girl be anyone elses -- a wash of nausea traversed over her. Two wings sounded like a nightmare, according to her companions, but six? SIX! She was going to need a better vaccuum. And a leash. It was then she spotted the mouse. That rodent was going to create its, or she supposed, his, own problems, if her resident rodent catcher, an old fersnickity owl, had anything to say about it. At least her part time job at the baby boutique would finally pay off. As would her remedial skills with the sewing machine. All the child's clothes would need alterations to accommodate the wings. She tried to maintain her airy disposition, but a weight had settled deep in the pit of her stomach; one that would not easily be shaken.
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Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:15 am
The Irritation of Maya Keating
It had been one day. One. Day. And really, even less than that, as 24 hours had not yet passed since Finn left the library with the little girl, who remained stoic, even after a good night's sleep. He didn't have anywhere to put her, and so, he layed her down in bed with him, making as much room for her as possible. With the way she greeted him in the Library, he was certain she'd rather have him as far away from her as possible.
She slept through the whole night, her golden worm curled up next to her on the bed. Finn, on the other hand, got very little sleep. He would drift off, but wake up soon after, to make sure that the child hadn't suffocated in her sleep, or rolled off the bed and hit her head on something. He'd never been a father before, and his meager apartment was nowhere near child-safe. Soon, he thought, he'd have to do some shopping. She'd need all kinds of things he didn't have. The only relieving thing he could think about was Iris. She was a girl. She'd know how to take care of a baby, he was sure of it.
When the sun rose, he got up and put on a pot of coffee, wondering when the girl would get up. She'd slept almost seven hours already, and even Finn knew that was odd for an infant. As soon as he'd poured milk into the steaming liquid, he heard a whimpering noise from the bedroom. It was time...time to be a daddy.
Finn rushed into the bedroom, hoping nothing too horrible had happened. He'd only left her alone for a few minutes...but even then, something bad could happen in a very short amount of time. As his eyes fell on the bed, he saw her there, sitting cross-legged as best as she could, her dress stretched between her knees. The golden worm was sitting on the stretched part of the dress, slithering its way upward into empty space. It seemed he was trying to amuse the little girl.
Which was funny, because she looked downright angry. Her eyes were squinted slightly, and her cheeks were flushed. A scowl was plastered onto her face, and she swiveled her head quickly to look at Finn, eyes dark and angry. As soon as she saw his face, her mouth opened wide and a most horrible noise erupted from the baby's small lungs. An ear-wrenching wail filled the apartment, and that's when the crying began...
Finn moved toward the bed and in an attempt to be fatherly, tried to pick her up and cradle her, hoping it'd make her feel better. As his hands neared her armpits where he would lift her, she pushed backward on the bed. She didn't want him to touch her! He had gotten far too close!
Sobbing harder, Maya let out a high-pitched shriek, followed by what Finn would eventually deem 'The Wail'--the most pathetic noise that he'd ever heard. It began low and guttural, transforming over a matter of seconds into a horrible scream that could last anywhere from a few seconds to almost a minute. On this first day, the girl would show him who was boss. She would cry for over 20 minutes straight without needing to stop and rest.
Finn meanwhile, had figured he was the worst father EVER. He didn't know what to do to stop it. He tried holding her, but she wouldn't him come anywhere near her. He tried distracting her by making funny faces. He tried reading her a philosophy book, hoping she'd fall asleep. But notthing seemed to work. So, in typical Finn fashion, he just let things go. He let her cry. Maybe she needed to get it all out. That's what he was hoping anyway. He realized that transitioning into a new house with a new parent was going to be difficult for her, but wow, this tantrum really took the cake!
Eventually though, she did break. Finn assumed her throat and lungs were pained from the screaming, but she gave no clue that she was hurting. She simply quit screaming and yelling. There was still a glint of anger in her eyes though--she wouldn't be over this so quickly. As Finn was preparing to pick her up and see if she'd come and eat some breakfast, he saw a flash of gold and green from beneath the girl's sleeve.
He'd been seen! The golden worm gave up easily though, slipping his head out from under the silk material to examine the person standing in front of he and his Forgotten. Thank you for stopping with the crying business, he directed to his Forgotten. It was getting really, really annoying. He gave the girl a smirk and then looked toward Finn, wishing there was a way to talk to him. Your new guardian is a bit clueless, so just give him a break for a little while. It's not going to be easy raising you.
The aqua-eyed infant's head snapped around to give the worm the evil eye, and her look said only one thing: I could kill you right now, but you're half of me, so unfortunately, I can't! She crossed her arms over her chest, and promptly closed her eyes and stuck her nose in the air. If she had to play nice, she'd play nice. But she'd be sure to pout about it the entire time.
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:51 pm
Maya the Mean
Iris wasn't ready for what greeted her when she got home from work that day. She'd left the house in the morning with things in their right place--nothing was strange or unusual about the apartment, and she didn't think twice about what Finn would do that day. She went to work and had a rather long shift--10 hours, and when she walked into the front door, she was ready to sit down in the peace and quiet of her loft apartment.
Unfortunately, when she returned, things were not quite as she expected them to be. It was as if a tornado had blown through, scattering things around the floor and misplacing books and trinkets from the mantel. Instantly, Iris thought they'd been robbed, and she pulled her cell phone from her bag, searching for the number of the police--calling 911 wasn't necessary. She hadn't found anyone hurt--yet.
"Finn!?" she shouted, her eyes scanning the room for any movement or sign of life. It was then that she spotted it--the crack of light underneath her roommate's (and now, lover's) door. He was[ home after all. Maybe he'd seen the robber! If so, why weren't the police already here?
Decidedly irritated at the way her apartment looked, Iris stalked over to Finn's door, and was about to knock and walk straight in. But before she lifted a fist to pound on the door, she heard a most awful noise come from the bowels of his bedroom.
"Wwwahhhhhhhhhhhh!" It was a shriek that could have been heard around the world. It was loud. And whatever it was, it was VERY unhappy.
What the ******** is that? she asked herself.
Sounds like a baby to me. I didn't know there was a child living here...
There's not supposed to be... Iris shot back, her hand quickly settling on the doorknob and turning it. When she pushed the door open, there was a sight she never thought she'd see.
Sitting in the middle of the floor was Finn, holding and attempting to bounce a screaming infant on his knee. She was a little girl in a green dress, with unkempt strawberry-blonde hair and mischievious turquoise eyes, and a bellowing voice that made Iris cringe. Finn was also feeling the same way, and as he heard Iris walk into the room, his eyes showed everything she needed to know.
Desperation. Exhaustion. And then, relief.
"Um, Iris...Do you know how to take care of a baby?" He gave her a half-hearted smile, despite the sadness in his eyes. "Because I'm finding out that I have NO idea."
"Finn, where did she come from?"
"A library I guess. From a book. In a library...in a house. A crazy, crazy house that likes to play tricks on me." He shrugged his shoulders and tried to play it off like it was nothing.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, giving him a skeptical look and then, a sigh. "There's no such thing. You didn't pick her up off the street, did you?" she asked, hoping she wasn't infected with something--much like a stray dog. "Are you planning on taking care of her?" she asked, finding that a headache was springing up.
"I guess so. I mean, how can I not take care of her?" He was tempted to throw a hand over the kid's mouth, just to get her to shut up for a second while he talked to Iris. He didn't want to give her a horrible impression on the very first day!
Unfortunately, it was too late for all that. "Well great. So much for coming home to a quiet house," Iris sighed, putting a hand to her temple and going to sit next to Finn on the floor. She had to get this kid to shut up--before she went crazy. "She's just a baby, so you should try rocking her or something...Here, let me try."
She took the infant from Finn's hands, and scooped her up in her own arms, reclining the baby and letting her lay down. Though she instantly seemed more comfortable, the baby still continued to howl, compounding the headache that was building in Iris' brain. She would kick and scream, seemingly trying to struggle from Iris' arms, but Iris held on tightly, knowing that she could defeat the little monster at her own game soon enough.
Just when Iris thought she was about to win the game of "Who Can Fight Hardest?", the infant twisted her head around and bit down on Iris' arm with her gums and little bits of teeth that were just growing in, actually puncturing the cloth on her sleeve and making it to Iris' flesh.
Fuming, Iris wanted to get rid of the kid, and fast! "Take her! I can't deal with this. She's mean!" she shouted, pushing the baby back at Finn. "She's all yours baby. Enjoy." Rubbing her bitten arm, Iris stood up in the middle of the room and finally addressed the baby herself. "My, you're quite the little b***h, aren't you? But you know what? You're not the boss around here. So don't get to thinking that you'll get whatever you want, whenever you want, okay? You're not getting away with everything little missy." She shook her finger at the baby, who was now quieting down in Finn's arms. At least she seemed to like him better than Iris. She didn't want to have to put up with that kind of behavior anyway.
"Good luck with that one. I expect you'll clean up the living room too, right?" Iris wasn't feeling particularly loving that day, even to her best friend. "This place is a disaster area."
Finn sighed. She hadn't had much luck with the kid either, unfortunately. "Yeah, I'll pick up as soon as she goes to bed. She's been crawling around, demolishing things all day long..."
As he watched her walk out the door, he called after her. "Sorry Iris. Really. I...I just couldn't say no..." He'd yet to mention the other people he'd met at the house--and especially Quinny. That'd be something to tell her on a later occasion. He hoped it wouldn't break her heart either...
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:52 pm
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:56 pm
The Playground Next to the Dump/What Eats Metal?(Compilation thanks to Kel, and promptly stolen from Ice. whee )Althalus & Stealth/Walter & Oblivion/Maya & MortalityDecember 29th There was a playground next to the local dump, and Ice often brought Walter and Oblivion there while she went scrounging for metal to feed Oblivion. Kisa was playing guard--er, babysitter this time, sitting on the nearest bench, reading a book as Walter and Oblivion played on the entirely plastic playsets. They had once been metal, but Oblivion had changed that quickly enough.
Walter sat on the slide, looking a bit bored as he and Oblivion chatted. "No, she would win." Walter said seriously. "She's got that big... metal thing--,"
'The tasty looking one.' Oblivion agreed. 'But she's slow.'
"No she's not. You're just thinkin of the slow moment."Finn had tried his best to convince Maya that going to the playground would be fun. She was hard enough to get out the door--after throwing a hissy-fit because she didn't want to wear long pants, she had begged him to feed her, with little result. She was having a hard time communicating with her new--father. He didn't seem to do what she wanted him to, and it irritated her to no end. He was new at being a dad, and her old soul could tell, even at such a young age.
"C'mon Maya, it won't be so bad!" he said, hoisting her up further in his arms as he carried the little girl to the playground. "There'll be swings, and a slide probably."
If Maya would have been able to get out coherent words, she would have scowled at her father and proceeded to curse at him in a most foul way. She wasn't sure she wanted to swing and slide. She wasn't good at dealing with the unfamiliar.
Looking around, the little girl noticed they were walking by the dump. She pinched her nose shut with two small fingers and waved in front of her face with the other hand. "Ewwwwww!" she squealed unhappily.
"Hey, this is the only place we've got around here. Sorry if I don't live in the best neighborhood...We still had to bike quite a ways to get here." He sighed. She was always difficult. Always. Even when he wanted to show her something fun!
Mortality, on the other hand, was looking forward to getting outside for awhile. Maya liked the indoors, but he always craved adventure. She snaked up Maya's arm and to the top of her shirt, resting on the collar and looking around with glittering green eyes.Althalus crept along the fence by the playground edge, looking over his shoulder. He'd managed to give Daniel the slip... hadn't he? He must have.
Sure we have, said Stealth confidently, scrabbling to come and sit on his shoulder, tail latching firmly around the boy's neck. He tugged at the maroon jumper and shivered slightly; it was kinda cold to be out, but that didn't matter. At least it was away from them....
He peered around the fence, and suddenly blinked. Wait, he knew that sense, didn't he? Grinning unconsciously the thief Forgotten fixed dark eyes on the boy and daemon by the slide, and tried to overhear their conversation without being seen. As he pressed himself back against the rickety railing, his gaze darted to the newcomers, and also decided to try and remain unseen by them. A game!
Another like us, though, Stealth said softly, and the boy's attention was diverted a little more thoroughly suddenly. Another one? "But the best fighter..." Walter said seriously, "has got to be Conan the Barbarian."
'Oh really.' Oblivion drawled. 'Ice told you not to stay up all night watching that movie.'
"You were right there with me! Silva laughed and flew off before it got good, though." Walter complained, completely oblivious to the people heading towards them, or the boy and daemon spying on them. "He had a cool outfit."
'Hulk.' Oblivion said, as if that summed it up.
"Oooh... fergot about him..."Maya spotted the boy crawling down on the ground by the fence as they rounded the corner and headed for the entrance to the playground. She couldn't imagine why he wanted to roll around in the dirt, and a sour look came to her face. For some reason though, she couldn't keep her eyes off the rough-and-tumble boy that seemed to be lurking around the playground.
Finn, on the other hand, hadn't seen Althalus at all. He was pretty oblivious most of the time, just making sure that one foot was set down in front of the other. He just wanted to make it to the playground before Maya threw another fit.
He pulled the gate to the playground open and slipped inside, one arm holding Maya tightly.
Mortality seemed to see them all, and he felt something strange inside him as they approached the children. Maya, they're like us..., we warned her. Perhaps you can make some friends, eh?
Maya just stuck her tongue out at the worm, and then went back to staring. It wasn't long before her eyes shifted to a boy and some kind of metal creature perched on the slide. There were more people around? The little girl sighed. She'd have to interact. Great.Maaaaaaaan... she sees us!
Althalus scowled and got to his feet, brushing mud carelessly from his knees and bouncing over to the centre of the playground, voice loud and cheerful. If he couldn't use... well, stealth, then he'd be just himself.
"Waaaalter! It's you, right?" He ran a couple of steps up a ladder and balanced there precariously, darkringed eyes bright and laughing as he smiled across at the other boy, seemingly ignoring the man carrying the little girl for now.
"What are you dooooing?" He tilted his head with an annoying whine in his tone on purpose as he looked at the blonde boy. However, Stealth on his shoulder had her glittering eyes fixed silently on the other Forgotten babe.Walter blinked at the whine, but grinned anyways. "We're talking fighters while Ma' gets Oblivion's dinner for the week." He said, pointing at the dump. "'Blivion's hopin' for a car this week."
'A van.' Oblivion said. 'More metal in a van.'
"Er, a van." Walter corrected. Finn jumped out of his skin for a second as he saw the other young boy jump up from the ground and greet the boy on the slide. They looked as if they knew each other, and Finn grinned as he watched them say hello to one another. It had been ahwile since he'd been a boy...Those were the days.
Carrying Maya over to the swings, he sat her down inside the swing made for babies. She kicked her legs back and forth unhappily, not sure whether she still wanted to be agreeable or not. Could this swinging nonsense possibly be fun?
Aqua eyes scanned the playground again, and she watched the boys as well, wondering if they were interesting at all.
Mortality eyed Stealth, who seemed to be half-hiding on her Forgotten's shoulder. Hello, he said to her. We're new around here.Althalus blinked, looping one arm from the ladder and hanging from the side slightly. 'Fighters? Like in films?" He looked slightly amused, bandana tipped at a rakish angle on his scruffy head. "The best one has to be the guy from Princess Bride. Y'seen it?" His glance darted to the side again as Stealth watched the little girl, but his expression remained easy.
New, is that so? Stealth's tone mirrorred her partners, and she snorted slightly, though a slight mental smile was apparent. I couldn't have guessed. From the Library, like us?Oblivion's eyes followed Stealth's, gleaming slightly red for a second as she recognized a newcomer. 'I try not to remember the library, myself.' She commented darkly. She had never been too fond of Patrick. Then she sniffed. 'You smell metallic.'
"No eating other daemons." Oblivion told her seriously before turning back to Althalus. "The one with the mask on? Or the big, big guy?" He asked, holding his arms out and slightly rounded.Before Maya could scream, Finn pushed her high into the air, letting her swing back and forth rapidly as he giggled to himself. He was certain she wouldn't enjoy this too long...She seemed to be fickle that way. But it was almost amusing to watch her squirm. What a great father he was turning out to be, he thought to himself, laughing.
It was the first drop that did it. Maya's stomach seemed to leap into her throat as she came down rapidly from the top of her swing. She was breathless as she swung backward, and for a second, there was a crack in the pained expression on her face. Was it a grin??
Mortality didn't feel the swinging much, but was more distracted by the other Daemons. Yes, we're new. You two seem to smell familiar at least. As if we came from the same place. I guess it was a library. He paused to consider the place from where they had come. I would have to agree with you there, he replied to Oblivion. It was not a pleasant place to be...and yes, I am metallic, as are you it seems. The name's Mortality."The guy in black of course! He beat the big guy. And anyone who's that big couldn't move fast anyways," and there was a slight hint of scornfullness in his tone as he dangled himself a little more sideways on the ladder, though he did turn his head slightly towards where Stealth's gaze was directed. He grinned over at Walter.
"Hey, maybe we should go and say hello or something," he suggested.
I'm Stealth, and this scruffbag is my Althalus. I'm -not- metallic, and the lizard-daemon closed her eyes with a slight huff."Yeah!" Walter said, hopping to his feet and heading for the swinging little girl. "I'm Walter." He said, stabbing his thumb at his chest. "This is Oblivion. She eats metal." Which was his usual greeting to strangers.
'That makes you special, right?' Oblivion asked Stealth with a hint of amusement.As the swinging slowed, the smile slipped back off of her face, and she looked questioningly over at the boys and their Daemons. Was Mort talking to them? She sighed and looked down to the worm, whose eyes were fixed on the group of older Forgotten.
Mort! Nooo! Why you...need know...others? She managed to get it out in small bits. She was still unhappy not being able to communicate well with anyone, even her own Daemon. Forming words was harder than she thought it would be.
Nice to meet you Stealth, Althalus. And you as well Walter and Oblivion-though I hope to stay away from you--I would hate to get eaten in my first months here! The worm gave a chuckle and a gracious nod of the head to the boys before looking back to Maya, who seemed displeased. Finn continued to push the swing lightly so that she could still interact with the other Forgotten if she wanted to. This is Maya, and she's displeased. I hate to go into why, but she's kind of rotten sometimes, Mort said with perfect honesty.
Maya just scowled at the Daemon, unhappy that he was spilling all of her secrets without her permission.Althalus pattered over to the swing, and dipped his face to look solemnly at the little girl, blanking the adult completely.
"Maya? Okay. Wanna see a trick?" He looked sideways over at Walter too, and winked cheerily. "Make you less displeased." Stealth sniggered slightlym, opening her mouth in a silent hiss of amusement as the skinny boy produced a silver coin from his bulging pockets with a flourish.
"Oblivion, no touching this metal, see? This is verrrrry important metal. Called money," he grinned.'Money tastes good too.' Oblivion commented, her tail twitching as her eyes focused on the coin. Walter snorted, but didn't say anything, watching the trick with a little grin pulling at his lips. This would be interesting, he figured. He hadn't seen a coin trick since Otium had given him the gold coin he still kept in his hat.
Then again he couldn't remember if it had been a trick or he just hadn't been paying attention...Maya hadn't been expecting anyone to address her--for any reason really. But she was curious about this stealthy boy, and her eyes flickered to the coin as Althalus pulled it out of his pocket. A trick? What kind of trick would he know? What kind of talents would he have?
She nodded, managing to put a half-smile on her face, hoping that would be enough positive reaction for him to continue with his 'trick'. If he wanted to try to make her happy, why not oblige? She rather liked it when people payed attention and did things for her.
Money tastes good? Mort asked, curious what kind of taste metal had. Money is very dirty. You really shouldn't put it in your mouth...lots of germs. The worm chuckled and couldn't help but add: Though I suppose it doesn't matter to us mechanical creatures...
Finn, who was absentmindedly pushing Maya, turned his attention to Althalus when he addressed his daughter. He was curious about the coin trick too. "Do you know much magic?" he asked the scrawny boy. Finn was always skeptical of magic and tricks. He knew there was little actual magic behind it.Stealth huffed slightly. Regardless of dirtiness, money is not for eating! You can buy things with it, idiots.
Althalus shrugged, and winked again, tone reasonable. "Could be magic, couldn' it? See what Miss Maya thinks...." He flourished the coin again between his hands, the movements seeming effortless. After all, he'd practised this same one how many times? With an astonished expression, he dusted his empty hands, and then reached over to Maya's head. "Look, the coin disappeared! But maybe.. it's here?"
The silver flashed between his fingers, and the coin reappeared again in front of Maya's half-grin. "Would y'look at that?"
Walter clapped, easily impressed. He didn't know about the little one, but it had looked cool to him!
'Can you buy more metal with it?' Oblivion asked, looking thoughtful. A little slight of hand went a long way. Finn looked amused, and gave the boy light applause, examining his actions, trying to see how he managed the trick.
Maya was more than a little pleased as the coin flashed in front of her face. When Althalus reached over her head, she looked up at his hand, wondering what he was pulling from up there. But when she looked back down, there was the coin, taunting her from his fingers.
Cracking a smile and letting out an "Eeep!", Maya reached out for the coin, wanting to examine it further.
Yes, yes, I know you can buy things with it. Like metal, for example, Mortality said, nodding his head I was just saying...it is dirty.It wouldn't take much working out to see how the trick worked, but Althalus was proud nevertheless, and he bowed with a flourish. An audience always made it so much better. He hesitated however before handing over the coin to the chubby baby fingers; it wasn't like he wouldn't be able to get it back from her. He turned slightly to Walter, and grinned a little more happily for the applause. "Good, eh?"
Are you kidding? The gold coins could buy tons and tons of cheaper metal, Stealth replied airily, clearly exaggerating. And dirtiness doesn't affect the price. She scrabbled up from her perch on the scruffy boy's shoulder, him barely noticing as she clawed at his ear lightly in her way up to perch high on the bandana, raising her tiny stature slightly to look down at the others. Money is a very precious thing, she went on solemnly. Never forget that.'A gold coin, eh?' Oblivion asked, her eyes flickering to Walter's hat. But he turned, looking at her.
"Ma's getting you metal right now." He told the daemon. "That's mine."
Oblivion snorted, looking irritated but didn't say anything.
"I don't know any tricks." Walter said, turning back to the other forgotten. "'Cept how to break out of places."Snatching the shiny coin from his fingers, Maya turned it over in her own hands, looking for any irregularities. Though she was still small, she knew something strange was going on, and she wanted to know where he'd pulled it from. She wanted to pull things from out of the air too!
She squealed a bit and wriggled in her swing, the coin clenched in her fist as she waved it toward Althalus. Now that she'd examined it, she could give it back to him.
Tons and tons of cheap metal... Mortality mused. No, I know it doesn't affect the price. I was just looking out for everyone's health and well-being, the Daemon said. But you must remember Stealh, money is not everything...Though it may be important, it isn't everything. His eyes twinkled as he squirmed down Maya's arm and to her wrist where he could see the others better.
It was then that Maya's attention turned to Walter. Breaking out of places? This could lead to an interesting conversation. She stopped squealing, just in time to listen. She wanted to hear more about the other boy's talents.You don't need to lecture me, replied Stealth slightly snippily, fading her skin instantly to become nighon invisible.
Althalus retrieved the coin with a swipe of a hand, the gleam of silver disappearing swiftly into a pocket and a curious grin on his face. "Yeah? I like doing that too. Got any hints and tips?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and stood casually, dark-ringed eyes bright."If you eat the lock first people don't notice you going." Walter said seriously. "But eating the gate always gets too much attention. Door knobs are good to eat, too, right 'Blivion?"
'It's much easier now that I'm bigger.' Oblivion agreed.It's no lecture, just advice, Mortality finished, turing his head up from Stealth, who had disappeared, seemingly unhappy with Mort's thoughts on material things.
Eating locks and gates? Maya's aqua eyes twinkled as she turned to Walter and Oblivion. Sure, that was a way to break and enter, but it was highly unusual. It wasn't something Mort would want to do, she was sure of it. Then again, he didn't have such an easy time digesting metal.
"You guys are regular thieves and misfits, aren't you?" Finn said with a chuckle, thinking that if he were a boy again, he'd love to join them on their adventures. "Do you two hang out much? Seems like you'd make quite a pair."Althalus blinked at Walter, and then at the adult, and suddenly burst out into loud infectious laughter.
"Eat the lock! That's a good one. Wish I could. I gotta settle for unlocking it!" Still giggling, he reached over to flick the brim of Walter's hat with one finger, to push it down over his face slightly. "Any other words of wisdom, Mr Walter?"
Sobering up suddenly he blinked again, before looking up at Finn. "Not much, I guess, but we're from the Library too, you know, just like your Maya and Mortality there. So it's easier to talk." The smile broke back out again, and he looked sideways at Walter.Walter grinned. "And another way to get out of things is to open your eyes real wide and say 'I didn't mean tooooo.' He said in a baby sweet voice before grinning wickedly, proud of himself for that one. "We're like family, in a way." He added to Finn. "And she's one of us, right?"
'We've never worried about what's on what we eat.' Oblivion told the metallic snake. 'We're just happy to eat at all.' "Well, you could probably learn how to pick locks pretty easily," Finn suggested to Althalus. "It could be a good skill to learn. But don't tell your mom. I don't think she'd like that very much." He gave the boys a finger waggle and smiled.
"You guys are from that crazy Library too!?" Finn's eyes went wide as he looked at the boys with new eyes. "I went on quite an adventure before I actually got to the Library itself...and then, there were a bunch of kids and animals that just seemed to appear on top of this table! Did you guys arrive that way too?"
He'd never seen any other Forgotten outside of that first time in the Library. He'd not met with any of the other new guardians since then. This meeting could prove to be interesting. Turning around to check on Maya, he could see she was paying fierce attention, trying to understand what they were discussing.
Finn laughed aloud as Walter gave him the baby face. "Hey, that's really effective!"
I'm sure you are, Mortality said with a chuckle. Can you eat real food, or does it hurt you? He couldn't help but ask.Althalus' face flickered to a slightly guarded expression for a moment before being replaced swiftly with the easy smile again. "'A bunch of kids and animals' is what you call Forgotten Documents, I guess. And that's us, a child and a daemon and an excerpt from our book." He reached up to stroke one finger lightly across the top of the slowly reapearing Stealth, who still seemed to be sulking. "And my first memory is of that Library.... you, Walter?"
He'd noticed Oblivion's comment about 'happy to eat at all', and carefully filed it away for future reference. He was very curious about this other boy, and what tales he might have to tell.
And like he'd tell this stranger he was already halfway to mastering how to pick those darned locks..."I remember..." Walter said, his face paling slightly for a second before he smiled cheerfully and lied through his teeth. "The same thing!"
'I've never ate real food.' Oblivion said, turning guarded. She didn't feel like talking of their past suddeny, despite the fact that it wasn't anything she felt bad about. She hadn't liked it, sure, but that didn't mean much. 'It doesn't look tasty.'"Forgotten Documents..." Finn said in a hushed voice as if whispering a secret. "So Mortality is a Daemon? mmmm...I guess Maya did have a piece of paper clipped to her when I found her. It had a really eerie passage typed on it..." He thought back to when he found Maya. He had to struggle a bit with her to grab the thin sheet of paper that had been pinned to the back of her leg.
I guess real food just isn't your thing. But that's no big deal...it's probably healthier for you to eat metal...Hah. If Walter was telling the truth, then he, Althalus, was a toasted lemming. He'd slapped on enough fake smiles to notice that at least. But no way was he going to ask more. Some other time, perhaps....
"Don't lose that passage, okay?" The skinny child said firmly to Finn before turning away slightly, focussing on the other conversation that was going on in the back of his head.
"Stealth eats what I do sometimes. Or insects," He volunteered with a grin, trying to steer the subject back to food. "If you eat at all, sweetheart," and he plucked her from his bandana, Stealth putting up token resistance in her sulk and flailing slightly, though her tail wrapped instinctively aroud his wrist."Does he eat metal?" Walter asked, pointing at Mortality and looking at Oblivion. She would understand the answer, he figured.
'I have no idea. If he does, he's not getting mine. He'll have to send their guardian in to get his own.' She replied grouchily at the idea of her food being taken.Before the boy could turn away, Finn tried to get an important question in. "What happens if I lose the passage? What does it mean anyway?"
Maya's eyes shot over to Finn and an embarrassed look came over her face. He should know, shouldn't he? She scowled at him yet again and then turned back to the boys and Mortality.
No, I don't eat metal...I don't eat much of anything really...I require very little nourishment. Just a little energy from Maya here and there...Althalus grinned again, turning his hand the right way up so Stealth could rest neatly in his palm. "I remember meeting this one girl called Nisha, her daemon was thiiiis big!" He gestured widely with both arms. "Bet he ate a lot. Maybe we're lucky, Maya," and he turned back slightly, still smiling, though his tone took on a slightly edge of hardness.
"And as for the paper, just... don't lose it, mister. Not even we know what it is yet, but... it means a lot. Maya'll thank you one day I bet."
Suddenly both scruffy-haired boy and tiny daemon stiffened, heads turning to the side, dark eyes fixed on the park entrance.
"Aw maaaan....."Walter looked up, following Althalus's eyes, but Oblivion looked in the opposite direction, watching as Ice came out of the dump with a wagon full of car parts. She was groaning a bit, since the pile was much taller than she was, but she didn't look to be having that much trouble. Oblivion was almost positive she was trying to make her feel guilty for eating so much. But Oblivion didn't at all.
"I had to dismantle an old junker." Ice said as Kisa walked over to help her. "And I only realized that Oblivion had eaten my half inch socket wrench when I needed it the most." She looked up as she realized Walter had made friends, grinning sheepishly. "Hi." She said, waving a hand.Maya nodded to Althalus, her grin returning for a second or two. She was glad Mort didn't eat a lot. She'd have to feed him all the time if so!
"Alright, well, I'll do my best to keep that piece of paper safe. Perhaps one day all the Forgotten will know what it is for..." he said, turning to see who was coming into the park.
He saw a pair of women with a wagon of metal car parts and couldn't help but laugh. He was sure they were for Oblivion. "Hello," he greeted Ice with a wave. She must be Walter's guardian.Althalus's frame was tense, but nevertheless he still smiled brightly.
"Well, it was nice seeing you guys," he said swiftly, bowing again at Maya and nodding to Walter. "But I really should be going now! Say hi to your ma from me, Walter," and he started backing away from where he had been looking earlier, a sunny expression on his face.
Idiot! He's going to catch us again, we stayed here to long!
But I like talking to people. So do you.
Well, his mother turned up. Excuse.
Let's go!
Still trying to avoid Daniel, Althalus waved, and then turned and set off at the run, giggling under his breath and disappearing quickly. At the other park entrance, a man passed by, blinked... and then walked on.Walter waved, but didn't call out as Althalus left, knowing the run-away schtick better than most. "Oblivion's hungry." He said, turning to Ice and Kisa.
"Right, right... um..." She looked at Finn, then dug a card out of her pocket. "That's a forgotten, isn't she? I try to make sure Walter keeps in touch with as many of them as we can find, so here's my card." She said, handing it to him even as Oblivion headed for the pile of steel. "Call us sometime! The two can play together!"
Walter grinned at Maya, waving to her. "And she should meet Annie. They're the same age!" He added cheerfully. Just then a loud CHOMP came from the wagon.
"We should get going now, or else I'll have to come back tomorrow." Ice said, tugging the wagon again before Oblivion could get another bite.Maya waved at Althalus before he ran off. He had been nice enough, she thought. And he knew how to pull things out of thin air, which was also a bonus in her book.
Nice to meet you Stealth, Oblivion. Perhaps we shall meet again some day, Mort said, curling around Maya's wrist more tightly, ready for action.
"Bye Althalus," Finn said, waving at him before he disappeared to the other end of the playground.
Maya waved at Walter too, giving him a grin. The boys had made her day a bit better, so that gave them an A+ in her book.
He then turned to Ice, who was pulling a card out of her pocket. "Thanks, we'll call. It's good to know that there's a lot of kids like Maya. I had no idea. Have a good evening," he said, watching as they walked off with the wagon in tow.
"Ready to go home Miss Maya?" he asked her, watching as she shook her head rapidly. She was tired of sitting in the uncomfortable swing.
Finn picked her up and cradled her against his chest. He saw her yawn, and smiled. "Alright, let's go." With that, he turned and walked back out the way he came, back to the small apartment that they called home.
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:00 pm
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:01 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:25 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:27 pm
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