|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:30 am
Disappointment, sudden and deeply unexpected, hit Julian like a punch to the gut.
"Oh...okay."
He paused and coughed, wondering briefly what it would feel like to leak out his soul. Not that it could be worse than having it ripped out and hollowed by fire repeatedly.
"A necromancer?" he supplied absently as Malachi struggled with the word. "Huh. Guess that explains it, then..."
Not that it explained anything - he just couldn't think of anything intelligent to say. Stepping onto the sandy and snowy shore of the lack, he crouched down to touch the slushy water that lapped at the very edge of the beach. A small lick of flame, white as the snow, jumped from his fingertip as though in protest, drying the skin he'd gotten wet.
Julian frowned at his hand as he stood again,and stuffed it back into his pocket, biting at his lower lip in thought.
"Gonna have to work on controlling that," he said mildly, more to himself than to anyone else.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:40 am
"Yuh. Necra-mincer. Sorry," Ike apologized for being a jerk and clung to Julian tighter as he bent over, "Woooooah...doitagain..."
Rabid's face distorted into an expression of something like confusion and surprise.
"Yeah...that'd be good," she laughed nervously, "White fire of doom isn't a good thing to be leaping from your skin. I mean, if you were touching someone and...eurgh. I'm lucky I can heal, eh?" She hadn't the slightest idea of what she could have been implying.
Ike suddenly dropped off of Julian's back and grabbed up a handful of slush.
"MUAHA!"
*SPLAT*
Rabid recieved a blob of frigid water in the chest.
"AUUURGH! LITTLE ONE! YOU DIE NOW!" she started doing the 'ohshitohshitohsit' dance and shoving her hand down her shirt, attempting to remove the bits of wet snow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:46 am
Bursting out laughing and hard pressed not to point, Julian shook his head and tried to cover his mouth with one hand.
"M'sorry, didn't mean to laugh-" he said with difficulty, promptly starting again anyway. It was a good feeling to laugh again, despite the fact it was at Rabid's expense.
Another lick of flame, tinged faintly red like normal fire, sparked off his fingers as he struggled to quit laughing. It sobered him a little, though not too much.
"Jeez, Ike, way to be evil," he said mildly, grinning and crossing his arms warily over is chest in case of a slushball onslaught.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:57 am
"Muaha," Ike said yet again and skittered behind Julian to hide. Mummy didn't like it when she got wet and cold, and he'd learned that in the most amusing way possible.
"No, it's okay! AUUUGH!" Rabid grabbed a chunk of snow and threw it at the ground, "Ooooh, Gods, my boobs are cold. Could I borrow some of that evil fire of doom?!" She didn't actually feel the sensation 'cold', but she felt the goosebumps and kept shuddering.
Wait...what the Hell did I just say...?
She started laughing rather hard at herself, attempting to speak.
"We...I...tour...keep going, come."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:03 am
Choking and snorting, Julian could only nod as he followed her.
Dude. What the hell did she just say? Is it a signal? Do vampires send signals? Well, women send signals, and obviously she's a - dammit, I'm too jacked up on painkillers to get it!
Despite the howling confusion of his thoughts, Julian kept grinning. Turning to Malachi, he gave a discreet thumbs-up, biting back another laugh.
"Right. Tour. Yes." he said, unable to string words together properly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:09 am
Ike gave a kind of Tarzan-like war cry as he leaped back onto Julian's back. He rested his head on the man's shoulder and whispered as quietly as possible.
"Mummy likes you. A lot."
Rabid didn't hear that part, thankfully. She just lead the group to an outer wall of the maze, making a futile attempt to calm herself down.
"Maze. Big maze. Fun to get lost in. Heh."
She hadn't realized how insanely fun this could all be. Sure, the random bursts of flame were a bit disheartening along with the accidental innuendo, but she hadn't laughed in so long!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:06 pm
Blushing with sudden ferocity, Julian gave Malachi a half-frantic shushing noise and hunched his shoulders, hoping Rabid wouldn't notice.
"Uh. Yeah - mazes are good. Nice, big...yeah. Wanna go in? I mean, we're already here, so..."
Good gods, but I have no poise around girls. I'm yammering like a freakin' parrot jacked up on caffeine - full sentences, you idiot, use full sentences!
Taking a calming breath that exhaled as a nervous laugh, Julian unhunched his shoulders and pointed at the maze entrance.
"D'you- d'you wanna go in for a little bit? Just to look around?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:12 pm
Rabid wiped a tear or two from her eye and slowly calmed down. She gave the hulking shrubs a wary look, but then shrugged and smiled. They were just bushes. They weren't going to hurt her.
"Yeah, sure," she said and motioned for Julian to follow before disappearing into the maze.
Ike giggled and leaped off Julian's back, beginning to walk normally.
"'S not like Mummy dun'n't know," he said and giggled again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 7:05 pm
Following her into the maze, one hand trailing against the leafless walls of the bushes, Julian shushed Ike again jokingly.
"C'mon, kiddo, let me preserve at least a bit of my dignity," he said mildly in an undertone, smiling in slight exasperation. They both knew, yeah - how else could things be so pleasant and yet so awkward at the same time?
"So," he said, breaking the silence that grew between them as they went further into the maze, "....uh."
Why can't I think of anything to say? Of all the other times I yammer about anything at all, the one time I need to I can't think of anything to say. Figures.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:52 am
"Digni-whaaa?" Ike said slightly as he walked along, occasionally bending down and looking for the hole he'd travelled through before. He picked up one of Reid's sticks that had remained and began clumsily twirling it between his fingers.
"Sooo..." Rabid repeated, "Wall! Turn around. Soooo...err..."
Damn, this is awkward...
She desperately wanted to ask him about his experinces in the big black palace of doom, but she felt that that should wait at least a month. Maybe.
"Aha!" she exclaimed as she finally stumbled upon a vague topic, "Has Crow been rabidly fussing over her poor, poor NahERK!Julian?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:46 pm
Julian quirked an eyebrow and smiled faintly as Rabid seemed to choke on his name.
"It's okay, you can call me Nahalthes. Doesn't have the same ring as Julian, though."
Breaking off a twig and stripping the bark off it with a claw absently, he watched in bemusement as another flicker of flame escaped. It made the exposed wood crackle and blacken, though the flame itself carried no heat. Discarding the twig and stowing his hands in his pockets, he craned his head up to look at the pale sky, bordered by the outreaching branches of the maze wall.
"She didn't sleep or anything - stayed by me the whole time. I'm pretty sure she thought it was just a dream that I came back. She was afraid to go to sleep, in case I disappeared when she woke up."
He sighed, watching his breath rise in a cloud quietly, thinking.
"It seems so long ago already. Being...being there. I'm not in pain anymore - it's gonna take some getting used to. I...I guess."
Unaware of how somber his mood had turned, Julian gave another sigh, watching his breath rise again.
"Everything keeps changing."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:56 pm
"Well, it's kinda carved into my floor. Gets stuck in your head after a while," she peered back at Julian, having a thousand responses swimming in her mind. Only one made it to her voice.
"Well, you have a lot of people behind you. Yanno...to help you get used to things? What do you mean by...'everything keeps changing', though?"
Poor, poor Julian...
Ike chose to be ignorant to Mummy and Julian were talking about. Grown up things were pretty depressing sometimes. Especially when it came to those two. He swished his tail absentmindedly, getting many prickly things stuck in it. Not that he mided. He continued twirling his twig and walked around quietly, trying to find the exit. Or the treasure. Of even the monster!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:08 pm
"Oh, yeah...well. A rug could always cover that," he offered a little lamely, grinning.
Pausing and leaning against the prickly maze wall, Julian shrugged and removed his one hand from a pocket to look at it. His nails were cruelly hooked and serrated, capable of rending flesh with a careless touch. The grin faded slowly as he looked at them, flexing his fingers in morbid fascination.
"I mean me. Everything I am keeps changing - I've been a physician, a slave, and now...I don't even know what the hell what now."
He took a deep breath, wishing he hadn't brought such a delicate subject up.
"I caught a glance of myself in the bathroom mirror this morning - just a glance. I can't bring myself to look at my reflection yet. But what I saw in that one second..." he shuddered and swallowed convulsively.
"It wasn't me. I know I look different now - but, that thing... there wasn't a whole lot that looked very human about it."
Remembering with chagrin that only moments before they'd been laughing, Julian plowed on resolutely.
"Crow gave a piece of herself to me to bring me back here. That's why my eyes and these-" he held up his hands, splaying his fingers, "-look like they do. But that reflection..."
Chewing on his lip in thought, he looked up at Rabid with intensity.
"Did Crow ever tell you why she has those tattoos?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 11:42 am
Rabid stopped abruptly and sighed. Maybe it was a bit early to talk about this kind of thing.
"I've had the whole re-you-ing story relayed to me," she said, "and I could hazard a guess as to what's up with Crow. Not that I care."
Liam had made a few fairly unnerving comments about Crow after they'd left. It wasn't that demonic posessions and such scared her...it was more the way they were talked about.
Ike grumbled angrily, suddenly frustrated with the grown ups. They always had to ruin all the fun...or...Julian did anyway. Yes! That as it! Even the first time they'd met, he'd screwed things up. The boy made a mental note to try and keep Mummy away from Evil Julian.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 11:49 am
'No, don't get me wrong, I don't care either, it's just..." Julian sighed and shook his head, running both hands through his hair in frustration.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to make things so uncomfortable. Just forget I mentioned it."
Trudging through the snow a little further up, he glanced at Malachi.
"Sorry, kiddo." he said, trying to relieve the tension he'd made. "So, how big is the maze, really? Is there anything special about it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
