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 Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:50 pm
"Quinn?" He looked up, and the other Godling wasn't there anymore.
His ears pricked up.
"Quinn?" he called, louder, and looked up and down the riverbank. "Not funny! At all! Come out!"
No Quinn in sight.
"Quinn!" he yelled, a little more worriedly, and crawled down from his rock.
The bad thing about the jungle was that it was hard to smell, listen, over longer distances. The other noises and smells covered everything, blended in together.
He prowled, up and down the riverbank. The idiot wouldn't seriously go into the jungle, would he? He looked unsuredly at the stand of trees.
Dammit. He left his jeans and shirt right where they were abandoned, taking a tentative step into the foliage and peering around, moving in deeper.
He didn't have any weapons on him, and Tezcatlipoca had expressly forbidden Valeriu from using his powers against the animals here. He could fight gods, yes, but animals? It'd have to be bare-handed.
Then again, he'd much rather run into a jaguar than a god at this point. Quetzalcoatl was strange to Valeriu. Too nice - darker things had to be lurking underneath, if he knew gods at all.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:04 am
Quinn strolled through the forest, fairly certain he was going the right direction.
Until he came to a clearing, and couldn't see the hill anywhere at all. Or the stairs. Or his clothes.
"Uh-oh." Quinn furrowed his brow, and spun around in a circle. No sign of the hill. He hissed out, to see if any bugs could tell him, but they didn't remember before the past thirty seconds of their life, so all he got was information about the leaves they were sitting on.
He needed to find a mammal. Or, really, even a reptile. Something that could tell him where he was.
Though, based on Vale's description, the animals would just instruct him to take a left, right, then dive straight into their stomachs.
He swallowed.
"Vale?" He yelled, "Vale? Are you around here somewhere?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:51 am
Oh man. Oh s**t, s**t, s**t.
This was not how he was planning to off Quinn. He scoured the fringe of the jungle, ducking back out to look back at the rock and hope Quinn was there - a false hope, but a hope nonetheless.
This was - this was not good. Valeriu had a pretty wide territory, one that the other jaguars chose to skirt around, but it ended a little ways into the jungle. If Quinn had gone any deeper...
"Goddammit!" he cursed, ducked back into the forest of trees, and began the slow process of tracking the ******** idiot. His nose was working overtime as he stayed close to the ground, eyes sharp and palms pressed to the dirt in a low crouch. Valeriu was not a good tracker, but with Quinn's mass and heavy feet, he should be able to catch up with him sooner or later. Here, a crushed leaf, there, a few broken branches---
Hopefully sooner than later.
**********************
No, Valeriu was not anywhere close at that point.
But someone else, something else, was. It started as a low cackle, circling around the trees of the clearing, hidden in the darkness beyond.
"You've made a fatal error, boy." The voice seemed to echo, languish, in the air. "Wandering away from the shepherd."
A crunch, a crack, and one thick tree branch met its end underneath a heavy weight. "Your god taught you no discipline. I think it's high-time you learn."
Oh, he wasn't allowed to kill. That would be cheating.
But in his realm, anything else was fair game.
He entered the clearing; first malevolent red eyes, followed by a huge and heavy body. A jaguar of larger proportions, giant for its kind, with a violent smile to his teeth. Prowling, circling leisurely, black as night with wicked looking claws.
"Valeriu faced me his first night here. No weapons, no powers. My marks remain on his back--" And wouldn't Valeriu be unhappy to know that the jaguar he'd first killed was none other than his tricksey god. "--and he had to survive those injuries for weeks after. You're only here for a day, but..."
The monstrous feline faced Quinn, head tilted in a playful way, even as his claws dug furrows into the ground.
"Let's see how well you fare."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:14 pm
Quinn frowned, and gave the Jaguar a dark look.
"I wanted to meet a jaguar to talk to it. A jaguar who can already talk is lame." He yawned, and looked around, as if he was trying to see what was behind Tezcatlipoca. "Besides, I really should be getting back. I have work tomorrow, and I don't know how time works here compared to there. Wait-- is it already tomorrow? Because that would suck." He frowned at the cat.
"You better not make me late for work." Quinn clenched and unclenched his fists.
"And, look, maybe Vale didn't use his powers, but I don't have to follow your rules." Lightning crackled around him, making him somewhat of a human live wire. Touching him would hurt.
"You know, this used to hurt. I used to feel the lightning when it zapped around, but I've gotten used to it. It's actually pretty nice. Powerful." He grinned.
"So, which way is the staircase again? I need to know where to go once I kick your a**."
**********************
Quetzalcoatl strolled casually through the forest, making his way, calmly, to where Valeriu was.
"Valeriu," he called, happily, "Boy, I wouldn't worry about Quinn. He's fine. However, I am worried about you." He caught up to the boy, and attempted to stop him.
"It has been a while since we last spoke, and I wanted to see if you were doing well. Has Tezcatlipoca been treating you like the unintelligent brute he is? "The man slipped both hands into his pockets, and leaned against a tree. His suit didn't seem to be any dirtier, he shoes any more scuffed, than when he first appeared in the realm. He was so perfectly clean. And no matter where he stood, no matter in what shadow, you could see him as if he was bathed in light from all directions.
"You know you can talk to Mr. Q," he grinned, "If you have anything you need to talk about."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:33 pm
Well, this was awkward. Quetzalcoatl, showing up, while Valeriu was almost flattened against the ground, trying hard to force his not-quite-animal senses into picking up Quinn's trail. He'd never really done this before, or not to this extent, and it was uncomfortable and not really working out so well.
He accidentally inhaled some dirt during this endeavor.
But Quetzalcoatl showed up - and that had him backtracking as fast as possible; he moved in reverse, putting several more feet of distance, and shifted back into a well-and-ready crouch. Ready to move, move, move, with wary eyes trained on the immaculate god. The difference was especially clear with the way Valeriu was smudged with dirt and had a curled leaf stuck in his hair, huddled like a wild boy straight out of the jungle. Like Mowgli - and before him was Kaa.
Well, this made him uneasy.
"That is okay," he declined, politely, and edged back towards the trail. "Thank you for the offer, but I could not in good conscience leave Quinn v'andering about, here."
**********************
Tezcatlipoca smiled at Quinn's attempts, and didn't bother with further conversation. Powerful jaws ripped a heavy branch right off of one of the smaller trees, gripped tightly between fanged teeth.
If he was dealing with a little bug-zapper, all he'd need was a big stick.
With that, he lunged forward, abnormally fast, and swatted that branch at Quinn like one would swat at a fly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:03 pm
Quinn attempted to jump over the branch, and failed. He managed to have the blow aimed at his legs more that his upper body, however, so he mostly tumbled over the branch in the opposite direction of the swing, with nothing broken.
His legs hurt like s**t, though.
He threw up a small star in front of the jaguar's eyes, followed by two shots of lightning arced towards Tezcatlipoca.
"Take that, you jerk!"
*****************************
Quetz chuckled. "No, I mean it, it's fine. He's just having a little chat with Tezcatlipoca." He smiled thinly at Vale.
"I'm not here to hurt you. That would be rude, and I am a guest." Quinn waved a hand, and a tree grew from the ground and sprouted cacao beans.
"Chocolate?" He laughed again. "Of course, this is about as dark as it gets. Pure Cacao." He arched an eyebrow at Vale.
"Do you like chocolate, Vale? I suggest that you do. It has been proven that small amounts of chocolate can lower your blood pressure, and anything that could lessen your chance of heart attack these days is worth it."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:24 pm
Oh, nervousness. Tezcatlipoca and Quinn should not mix.
Then again, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl didn't mix either. He couldn't fathom why Quetzalcoatl would leave Tezcatlipoca with Quinn, and vice versa. It didn't sound good, not at all.
"Sorry, sir." He definitely did not want to offend the god. Not at all. "I just know that you and my god do not get along," treading as neutrally as possible, "so--"
So Valeriu couldn't not expect Quetzalcoatl to attack him. He was Tezcatlipoca's child, more and more each day. The resemblance was bound to irritate the other.
His ears pricked up in surprise as the tree grew. Cacao beans?
Valeriu --- Valeriu did have a taste for bitter chocolate. He loved it.
And...and Quetzalcoatl wouldn't let Tezcatlipoca kill his godling. And vice versa. Right?
And he was hungry. In the normal way. And they looked heavenly---
He'd ambled over before he'd realized it, tentatively plucking a bean off and tasting it.
Ohhh, he had a happy now.
"This is really good!" said the fly to the spider.
**********************
Tezcatlipoca was not impressed by Quinn's tricks, his red glare squinting against the light with a growl. He sidestepped one bolt of lightning, and the other knocked against his shoulder, leaving a smoking wound and charred fur and flesh.
The jaguar growled, shook the injured shoulder, and straightened out.
Better try harder.
And the claws swiped out.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:34 pm
Quetzalcoatl nodded, still smiling.
"Indeed, it is good. Have some more!" He gestured at the tree, which still had several of the beans hanging off of it. "I am the one who brought it to mankind, you know. They called chocolate the food of the gods, at the time." He looked at Vale, and watched him for a few moments.
"Now," Quetzalcoatl began, "What if I told you the same poison that fills Quinn's fangs was inside the beans you just ate? What would you do, then?" He raised an eyebrow again at the man.
***************************
Seeing someone shake off your attacks really lowers your morale.
Quinn attempted to spin out of the way of the claws, but his hair was caught in them. He was dragged along by the claws to the end of the swipe, screaming in pain, until alot of the hair was cut. He reached up and felt his head.
It was gone. The hair was gone. He still had some hair, obviously, but so much of it had been torn off. As a kid, it grew back whenever it was cut, but-- it never grew back as long as it had been.
He glared at Tez, throwing himself up and backpedaling quickly.
I'm screwed.
He ran like hell.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:49 pm
Valeriu paused, a bean halfway to his mouth and another few already stuffed in. Slowly, he looked at the bean, and just as slowly, tried to place it back on the tree.
"Then I v'ould have to eat charcoal," he decided, soberly. "Since it's ingested. But it v'ould have to be very soon, or else I v'ould just be hoping for the best."
Charcoal was not fun. But he'd been poisoned before, here. He looked back to where his little fire pit waited, with its charcoal--and sighed.
The bitter taste had been worth it, he supposed. But it didn't do to trust gods - or anyone, really.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"I v'ill be right back," he muttered, and turned back towards the riverbank. Time to detox, again. Just like with those stupid mushrooms.
**********************
Tezcatlipoca was pleased. All that long, annoying hair - he'd shorn it off, and that brat knew a taste of pain. He shook one heavy paw free of the last strands, setting it back down smugly and spitting out the branch.
And then Quinn started running.
"Tsk, tsk. Where's your confident words now?" The god growled, and leapt after him, laughing darkly all the way even as the jungle changed around them.
"I'll teach you audacity, brat."
The jungle ended, abruptly - becoming a small cliff rolling straight down muddy banks to the marshes of a swampy lake.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:25 pm
Quetzalcoatl laughed, and jogged to catch up with him. "Do not worry, child, they were not poisoned. I just wished to see your reaction. You're sensible. Calm. Everything Quinton lacks." His smile was gone, replaced by a serious expression.
"Do not allow him to shift your personality. Do not allow him to make you less sensible, less calm." He grabbed ahold of Vale's shoulders with both hands.
"You owe him nothing. do not let him make you think you do." He let go of Vale's shoulders, and paused.
"Same goes for Tezcatlipoca."
*******************************
Quinn had a coyote moment, where he ran off the edge of the cliff, and it took him a moment to realize he was falling. He grasped furiously at the side of the cliff, and managed to attach himself to it after a minute.
"Uncle! Uncle!" He had nothing to do but fall, or climb. There was a jaguar in the way of climbing. There was a swamp if he fell.
He really hoped he didn't lose his grip.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:17 pm
He gave the strange god an affronted look, that quite plainly said, you are mean.
"That v'as an odd thing to do. And a v'aste of a bean," he added, a little bit forlornly.
He wanted more cacao beans. But now - now he couldn't bring himself to eat them without wondering. He also wondered - who the hell would name their child Quinton?
He jumped at the touch on his shoulders, shifting uncomfortably. Gods and their touching today. First Tezcatlipoca and his offensive rubbing, and now Quetzalcoatl's hands clasping his shoulders with an unexpectedly strong grip. And his hands were strangely warm in a way that had his own skin trying to shrink away; the chill in his veins melted, just for a minute, retreating back to the obsidian source. And then it was gone, and the cold rushed back in, leaving him confused for but a moment.
"Thank you for the advice, but..."
His puzzled stare spoke more words than he could say.
"V'hy do you care?" he meant it in the most honest way possible. Honestly curious, because here was an enemy god trying to counsel him.
**********************
Tezcatlipoca peered over the side of the cliff, tail tip flicking to and fro by his paws in satisfaction. The smile on his feline face said all.
"Only Sydni can call me that." He blithely reached a paw over and down, batting at the hanging godling with extended claws. "You wanted to go swimming so bad. Here is a perfectly fine lake."
Swipe!
"No piranhas there either." Bat! "But you'll have some interesting company nonetheless."
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:30 pm
"Because," Quetzalcoatl said, stiffly, "In the unlikely event Quinton loses, I would like the ruler of the next world to have a good head on his shoulders. And since I cannot usually counsel you personally, advice when I can give it should suffice." He tugged at his sleeves, and headed towards the hill.
"They've probably reached the swamp by now," he called behind him, "You can watch the alligator eat him if you want. I have things to do."
Quetzalcoatl turned his head around and smirked, fading away a bit more with each step as opposed to using the staircase himself. A star, left in his place, rocketed upwards.
*****************************
"That isn't what I meant, you dumbass deity." Quinn swung back and forth in an attempt to dodge the hits, but his movement was limited.
If he was gonna fall, he was taking one large cat with him.
He let go with one arm to grab onto the jaguar's wrist, then let go with the other arm to wrap completely around it, tugging downwards. If he aimed it right, he could probably get the cat under him when he hit the bottom, he reasoned.
Otherwise, the cat wouldn't fall, and he wouldn't be in the swamp.
Win-win.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:42 pm
He watched the god fade away with a look of incredulity on his face, standing, dirt-smudged and breath tasted of cacao. The star left, and Valeriu looked numbly at where the suited man had been.
That was weird. Very weird. In a nice sort of way, he supposed, but weird nonetheless. Better than getting his a** kicked and beaten to death (although if he was honest, that had been sort of fun).
The god's last words registered a half a beat later.
The swamp, he thought vaguely. The swamp.
....the swamp!
"Damnit!" And he was off again, racing towards where he remembered the swamp to be, arriving just in time to be witness to the strange sight that was the jaguar trying to shake Quinn off into the muddy waters below. He could see the damned crocodile waiting, watching, with grinning jaws opening wider.
But the jaguar. He thought he'd killed that monster cat the first night. Leave it to Tezcatlipoca to revive the beast, just for the occasion.
He growled, and leapt, launching onto the monster's back and digging his fingers into its throat while tightly holding onto its body with his knees. Biting and scratching at anything within reach - ears and eyes, but especially the neck, until the cat hissed and yowled and reeled back away from the ledge, tail whipping furiously.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:54 pm
Quinn, in the midst of the confusion, managed to get up on the ledge with Vale.
"Your ******** god," he muttered, "Cut off my ******** hair." He motioned at the jaguar.
"That isn't a cat. So I didn't get to talk to a cat like I wanted to. That's Tezcatlipoca." His electricity charged up, talking about it was getting him more and more infuriated. "He's a ******** b*****d, you know that? How do you put up with having that in your head?"
He was shaking, the lightning was jumping around him so much. It was intense. His eyes, normally black, had turned the electric blue color of the lightning, and the hair that he still had was standing on end. It hurt like ********>!" He yelled, dragged out, and all the lightning discharged straight up into the air in a huge bolt. It seemed to freeze, for a moment, in a ball, and then grow larger, until it was a rotating ball of energy. It slammed down on the Jaguar like a hammer, and Quinn's knees buckled at the exact same moment. He caught himself with his hands, then dropped to his elbows.
And then was just laying on the ********." he muttered, much more weakly. He looked frailer, suddenly, and didn't want to get up.
He wanted a nap.
And some chocolate.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:02 pm
Valeriu didn't exactly have the convenience of responding, except for the moment of horror when he realized that he was currently on his god's back, ripping out his larynx with hands and teeth -- but he didn't have the convenience of stopping either, with the blood washing over his face or with the god's claws reaching back to rip at his shoulders.
There was a short (but it seemed so very, very long) pause when Valeriu saw the bolt of lightning, the ball of energy, and then felt the corresponding curse that rocketed his body as fast as the lightning came down.
The god's enraged howl broke out over the trees, sending up flocks of birds, even as the lightning ripped through his body. Valeriu was sent flying off in a mixture of electric shock and bucking bronco, hitting the ground hard with a whimpered grunt as sparks coursed through him.
Oh, oh gods, it hurt, shitshitshit---and that was only a taste of it, locking up his limbs and leaving him spasming and paralyzed, unable to even scream. <********, ********, ********-- he'd never sworn this much in his entire life.
The jaguar's body fell, charred and dead, to the ground, before melting into shadows. He was almost positive Tezcatlipoca had withdrawn to his throne to nurse his wounds, and would complain bitterly for at least three days after.
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