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 Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:53 pm
~ Part Eighteen ~
Honestly, Björn hadn't been looking for what he'd found. Frankly, he would rather've stayed ignorant to the fact that Liam was hiding used phials of Alde'bran beneath the couch.
Really, he would.
Regardless, he found them. Two, to be precise. He showed Rabid, who asked what they were. When he explained, she'd broken down crying and begun to change again.
This time was not so glorious as the first two.
She shrank a good three inches and began to ooze clear slime from her hands and at-the-time bare feet. Her eyes went opalescent, and her hair ear-length and black with ugly red streaks at the roots.
What really tipped Björn off was the sudden appearence of gills.
Three hours later, the woman lay on Liam's couch, coughing blood and wheezing. She was 21, after all.
Vavvians barely ever made it that far.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:06 pm
~Part Nineteen~
Wandering usually wasn't Julian's thing, but the weather outside had been far too tempting. It was sunny, after all. He took extra care to be out as long as possible when ever the days were so clear. Walking beside the lake shore, considering wading in to see if he could bear the icy cold of the thawing water, he picked up a rock and threw it. It splashed into the lake with a hollow glugging sound.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:08 pm
Rabid jumped at the sound, pulling her blanket closer around her. Regardless of the current temperature, she was shivering.
"It's just Julian," Liam reassured her from his perch beside her on the shore.
"Oh, no...don't let him see me. Let's go home."
"You need fresh air."
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:11 pm
Throwing another rock, attention fixed on the rings spreading across the placid surface, Julian knelt down and submerged his fingers. It was icy, biting cold. He instantly disliked it and withdrew his already numbing fingers, stowing his hands in his jacket and resuming his walk. He didn't even notice the two others until he was nearly on top of them.
"Hmm? Oh...oh, hey, Liam," he said. "Oh! Hey," he added, nodding to his companion.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:13 pm
Rabid looked up and then covered her head with her blanket.
"Ah...Julie-boy..." Liam said, trying to break it to him as easily as possible, "This's...yer girlfriend."
Rabid gave a convulsive sob from beneath the quilt.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:15 pm
Bristling slightly at the uncalled-for nickname - dammit, it wasn't bad enough when people called him Julie by accident? - Julian gave Liam a look before glancing at the other person. His eyes widened briefly.
Oh.
He sidestepped around Liam, intent on seeing her closer, face etched with concern.
"Rabid? Hey, c'mon. Don't hide."
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:17 pm
Rabid sniffled and hugged the blanket closer around her, trying to obscure her entire being.
"I'm hideous," she said simply.
Liam bit his lower lip worriedly.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:18 pm
"Says who?" Julian countered, kneeling down beside her. One hand half-rose, resting on the blanket but not pulling it away. "Rabid, let me see."
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:19 pm
"Says me," Rabid nodded and let the blanket fall away, turning toward Julian but refusing to make eye contact. Her gills flared suddenly.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:21 pm
Julian looked at Rabid's face and gills, expression not changing a whit.
"You're not," he said. "I don't think so at all."
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:23 pm
"You're LYING!" Rabid shrieked suddenly, pushing Julian to the ground and standing, "Don't LIE to m--" Her verbal assault was broken off by a rather violent coughing fit.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:25 pm
Unprepared for it, Julian fell to his side, arm bent under him uncomfortably. He felt something pop and winced
"I've never lied to you," he said, standing up and cracking his arm back in place. "I'd never lie to you, it's the truth!"
He winced again, but only for her as he watched her coughing, the worry deepening.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:27 pm
Rabid looked down in horror at her hands as she pulled them away. Joining the terrible slime was undeniable swirld of emerald-green blood. Little strings of it fell from the corners of her mouth and, when she parted her teeth slightly, it ran in a river over her lips.
"s**t!" Liam cursed, rushing to her. He knew all too well what was happening.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:29 pm
Julian gave a strangled cry.
"Liam, what- is she- I need to-" he began, stumbling over his words in the sudden shock. He needed to help her. He'd set her off, hadn't he?
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:32 pm
"She's dying!" Liam yelped, and then added rather calmly and with a furrowed brow, "Of old age."
Rabid's eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and she crumpled to the ground, spasming and giving all signs of a seizure. The blood in her mouth foamed violently and then, possibly the most grotesque part of it all, green liquid welled up in the corners of her eyes and then began to slide down her cheeks.
Her eyes were leaking blood.
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