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 Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:29 pm
"Oh, yes. Gluttony." He wondered what a gluttony demon looked like, and then, as an afterthought, how many fridges they owned. He bet they had the best snacks.
Calder reached over and pulled out a cracker from the sleeve, taking a bite. He liked the salt on it, but didn't care so much for the cracker. After one bite, he felt his stomach, though starving, dislike the weight of one cracker. Could he just lick the salt off?
"I heard some kelpies force themselves to get too hot and then start to ooze to flush out their skin. Good for the complexion I guess." He didn't think it was all that great. Inspecting one arm, he already noticed it was still damp. Soon it would start to seep and get it's own layer of slime again. For now, he was at least somewhat comfortable. He hugged the cushion again, chewing on his cracker.
"..but I like being less sticky. I already have enough trouble." His suction was getting to be a pain at times, and he felt that the reason he was not sticking to thinks as badly as he usually was was because his skin was too congested with slime to grip and force him to be glued to things.
He watched the screen a moment, and finished his cracker. "Can you make the thorns grow whenever you want?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:53 pm
So the oozing wasn't specifically because he was sick? It was...whenever he got too hot? Barth tried not to dwell on that particular piece of information.
As for the thorns...
"Yes, I suppose," Barth said. "They want to sprout up whenever I stay in one place for too long. You can...er, probably understand why that isn't practical."
His HP ran out, and the screen flashed red, before putting him back at the start of the level.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:00 pm
Calder watched the screen a moment longer, reaching over to take a cracker and start licking the salt off.
"Why not get some pots of dirt. Then you can practice making the thorns grow in them. If they want to grow, then let em." Calder looked around before looking at the floor. "Can you make on grow there?" He asked, pointing. How well could Barth control the thorns?
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:21 pm
"They don't need dirt, particularly. They're....mine, they're not regular plants." Barth looked embarrassed at the request, but paused the game.
"I don't know," he admitted. But this was what all this was about. Experimenting. He relaxed, then focused on the spot Calder had pointed to.
At first, nothing noticeable happened. Then, inch by inch, thorns seeped from inside the couch, around and near Barth, choking the pillows and curling over the arm rests. They paused, very hesitantly, before reaching Calder, then stopped short altogether. None of the thorns actually reached the floor, and certainly none of them touched the kelpie.
"...I can't," Barth said. It was worse because he was usually all about control. Concentrate, take it slow, allot the needed amount, not over or under. But the thorns worked on different principles than go here and take that.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:38 pm
Calder scooted up to sit, holding his cushion as he watched Barth set his controller aside and look more serious than before. Watching, he noticed that the thorns didn't just grow from the spot that Calder pointed, but had to work from where Barth was to where Calder was pointing. If he knew that, the kelpie would have picked some place closer. Still, it was fascinating to see the thorns just grow right out of the furniture and cushions and start to move, twisting and reaching out, crawling towards him.
Then, with a defeated 'I can't', the thorns and Barth stopped. Calder frowned for a moment, but then smiled. "But it's a start. You made them grow this much." They looked just like normal thorns, but bigger. Sort of like little horns.
Calder reached out and touched one.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:51 pm
Barth was still focused on the floor.
"It's not directing, they don't take direction, I just let them..." he swirled a claw miserably.
The thorns did not shrink away. Coloring aside, they were like regular thorns, with larger spines that were easier to avoid, if you were careful, and smaller prickly ones down the stems that were not. They were, predictably, sharp.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:35 pm
Calder looked up, pausing as he inspected a thicker thorn, to smile at Barth. "Be free?" He looked back down and touched the stem, jerking back and popping a finger in his mouth. Nasty buggers.
Sucking his finger, he looked back to the boil. "Do they come out more often when something happens or when you feel something?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:51 pm
"Free. I don't know how good of an idea- don't touch them!" Barth said, and immediately the thorns all withered back, wilting into nothing. He ignored Calder's questions.
"Why would you- are you alright? Are you bleeding?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:55 pm
Calder looked at the thorns retract and then up at Barth, finger still in his mouth as he looked at him. Popping the finger out of his mouth, he flashed the finger to him. "I'm fine. See. Just a little p***k." To which a bubble of blood was forming on the boil's finger. He popped it back into his mouth. "Nothing I wouldn't get from running in da trees." His words were mumbled by the digit in his mouth.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:22 am
Just a scratch. He was overreacting. Still, the thorns had been too close. It would have been easier for them to be closer. They were only at Day 1. Barth wasn't sure how much of this experimenting he could take, especially if something disastrous did happen.
"Be careful," Barth admonished, putting aside the controller. He felt queasy. He needed some time to himself. He hadn't gotten through the level of the game, but it could wait.
"I'm...going to use the bath. I'll probably be a while. Help yourself to anything."
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 5:48 pm
Calder nodded, still sucking his finger and not feeling at all bothered by the thorns. When Barth got up to take his own bath, Calder waited until the boy was gone before investigating where thorns went. When he looked around, he saw they were completley gone. No ashes. no wilted vines. Nothing. Even pressing on the cushions they had risen from showed not even a p***k of a thorn to be seen. It was rather disappointed. Calder had wanted to see if any parts were edible. He couldn't help it. He was really go for some select plants right about now. Something that could make him feel better though he guessed prickly vines wouldn't help. It was probably for the best.
Calder ate 2 more crackers, licked the salt off of 3, and then drank half of the large pitcher of water before curling up on the couch. He tried to play the game a moment but all the turning and spinning and noises made him sick in minutes. Setting it aside, he laid there for a good while, dozing off for a moment before noticing Barth wasn't coming back just yet.
After some time, Calder fell asleep again, and the day passed in a groggy blur of in and out naps. Before long, Calder was sluggishly moving back to the bed, flopping face down onto what was considered his spot. The slime had dried but Calder was now working up a new coat, and didn't mind that his old spot wasn't exactly pristine. In fact, it was rather comfortable now that he was only wearing an over-sized shirt.
"How can I be tired when I slept so much?" He asked, looking over to the demon.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 6:03 pm
Barth had taken a long bath, taken longer to get dressed, and gone out briefly for a class. When he returned, he was completely exhausted. Why were the Demon dorms on top of the largest hill on campus? He understood the idea of premium estate, but really.
Calder was still sick, and still here, which meant another night of growing his thorns. Barth wasn't sure if he was in the mood. He tried to relax, and spent some time reading and slowly adding to one of his schematics, before getting ready for bed. He was just as tired.
"Nothing wrong with that," Barth said, laying on his back and looking forlornly at the ceiling. Handsome hopped back up to the foot of the bed. Cheezbooger spent most nights out, and was nowhere to be seen. "Listen, this thorn thing, you're sure you're up for another night? I don't have to work on it."
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 6:30 pm
Calder shook his head. "No. I don't mind. Really." He didn't want Barth to go against trusting him with this secret, and he REALLY didn't want to not sleep in the bed. Why not make it a productive night if he wasn't doing anything else? Maybe if he helped Barth more, the demon wouldn't be upset to have him around.
"I don't mind your thorns, Barth. I really don't." He reached out and touched the boil's arm to place that degree of seriousness in his words before locking eyes with him. "You wanted to do this. Even Malcom said you should. I think you should, and if you are afraid of the thorns now with me, then who and when will you bother doing this?"
He removed his hand, leaving a damp mark on the boil's arm, before rolling a little more on his back as well. "What you are doing is natural for you, right? Never go against what's natural." His kind was all about it after all. "Just...let yourself go. Control with freedom. Freedom with control." He looked up at the ceiling.
"Your thorns remind me of dead rose bushes. You should see if you can make a canopy of thorns tonight. Like were were hiding in a cluster of thorn bushes, nice and safe." He liked that imagery. "Or maybe just a few vines on all the bedposts. I don't know how they work. You could just them them do their own thing. They seem to want to move about." He looked back up. "Maybe you should get one of those climbing vine ladders put right there." Calder pointed at the wall above the headboard. "Give them a place to roam."
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 7:12 pm
Calder, Barth noted, had a lot of imagination. It was a shame it wasn't inclined towards the mechanical. There were always applications for inventiveness, though.
He sighed, looking back at the ceiling too, and tried to remember how he had felt that morning. Protective, he conjured up. Safe. Secure. The thorns shouldn't about reaching out and destroying. Not now. He remembered Riley's speech, remembered that his door was always unlocked, thought that if anything was to break in during the night, with Calder too sick and himself...well, himself. What might happen. There were other things to fear besides his...natural ability overreaching its boundaries. He thought about their night at Dr. Fell's, and how different things might have gone if the room had been protected.
He tried not to think about some of the other things he had felt that morning, finding them distinctly unhelpful.
"Wake me up," he repeated, "if they get too close to you."
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 7:54 pm
Calder frowned, wishing he had gotten a better response. He thought he was being helpful and positive and putting the thorns in a much better light, but it didn't seem Barth wanted to hear it at all. If Calder had a bit more energy, he would have been more stubborn on the subject and continued to poke and prod the boil until he got a better reply, but he was far too exhausted at the moment to put up the good fight to helping Barth's thorn esteem go up. He had enough problems of his own, and he was already wary he was overstepping his boundaries and being too much of a pest. An annoyance. Unwanted.
He wanted to preserve that feeling of being needed, and so he closed his mouth.
"Okay." He said, more softly, and turned back on his side. He waited a moment, debating on saying one last word. "Good night, Barth." He said at last, and then, waiting a moment, closed his eyes.
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