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 Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:09 am
Return "All right." Han looked tense as he looked over his group. "Thanks to some inside Intel, we've managed to find the location of this place. Our plan's the same as the last time we broke Erishi out. Blitz in there, kill anything in your way, and get the hell out. Got it?" Suiki nodded, pulling her long black hair back. Adrian's eyes were dark as he belted his gun into place, while Dam added a few more supplies to his med kit. The red haired master was the only one grinning, wrapping his fists tighter. "Flowers." Erishi said dreamily, staring up at the ceiling. Pathos reached over to slap the back of her head, but Suiki intervened, giving him a glare. "Sure, Ree. Flowers." Suiki gently stroked Erishi's hair. The brightly haired girl beamed at her. "Come one, up we go-" Grabbing her by the hand, Suiki dragged Erishi to her feet. "Just keep up, okay?" "Okay." There was an innocent look in her eyes as she stared at her friend. "Okay." As Suiki pulled Erishi outside, Han pulled Pathos aside. "Watch her back." He warned. Pathos met his eyes for just a moment and gave one harsh laugh. Even though it seemed as if most of Erishi's higher functions had shut off, she was still able to follow. She stuck right behind Suiki, humming songs under her breath. "Two guards." Dam said, dropping is binoculars back into his pockets. "Fix!" Erishi said, enthusiastically. She charged the gate. "You know, maybe giving her a gun wasn't your brightest idea." Pathos ventured. The guards started to shoot, but both fell dead to the ground from Erishi's bullets. "You would think that, wouldn't you?" Han snorted. Erishi was still happily shooting the dead bodies. "Now, let's get to getting before we get caught. Erishi tilted her head to one side and looked at Han. A smile curled up on her face. "We're gonna have fun!" Loud noises. Shammi covered her ears and curled up in a ball, tail resting on her nose. There were loud noises, and big flashy lights. The chameleon girl watched the flashy lights with one eye before closing it. She was tired. Teit hadn't been around for a while. Shammi hoped that bad things had happened to him. He was mean. Two men burst into the room, breathing hard. Shammi slowly moved her tail away from her eye and looked at them. They were babbling quickly, but both stopped at the same time and turned, in unison, to look at her. Shammi slowly rose up onto the knuckles of her hands and feet and let out a hiss as they closed in on her. Erishi's head perked up, tilting from side to side. "Receiving transmissions." Her voice was dull. "What?" Han's eyes widened in horror as she said this. He shot Pathos a look, and the short man cocked his gun in preparation. ". . . Intruders in ward sixteen." Erishi's eyes were crossed and her voice droned. "Units seventeen and twenty six are on route to the destination. Intruders have been identified as Han Nobouki, Damon Walt, Suiki Takai, Ethos 192, and an unknown. Ethos 192 is to be captured. All others are disposable." "Great." Pathos chimed. "Estimated destination is the unknown subject in ward nineteen. Its immediate destruction has been or-" And here Erishi stopped, light clicking on in her eyes. Pathos didn't drop his gun. "Shammi. Erishi's Shammi. They want... Erishi's Shammi... To die." Her face twitched. Snap!"No!" Erishi screamed, tearing down the halls. "No!" "Damn it! Eri!" Suiki cried, lunging for her. Adrian grabbed her arm. "We've got to stick together. One of us has to save that kid." He said, not looking at her. "Damn it!" There was a big difference between the deployed units and Erishi. They had been genetically enhanced, wired head to toe with circuits to ensure their obedience. Erishi had neither. However, she had much more experience and, more important, she had a reason to fight. All she had to do was push down her feelings and focus on one directive: to retrieve Shamilade. Snarling, Erishi rounded a corner and tore into the unit in front of her. There were shouts and gunfire, bullets tore through her body. There was only one thought in her mind. Though her friends would have liked to come to her aid, they were engaged in battle with the other deployed unit. Pathos had quickly abandoned his gun in favor of hand-to-hand combat. He vaulted from man to man, snapping necks and busting heads. The battle was uphill, at best. "NO!" Shammi howled, smacking the men with her tail, scratching, biting. "Calm down, you stupid thing!" One growled, heavily smacking Shammi across the top of her head. She wailed, but didn't stop fighting. Something was more wrong than usual here. Shammi didn't know why, but things were just wrong! One of the men turned slightly, noticing a figure by the door. "Hey, give us a hand! The Director ordered this thing destroyed." The man limped into the room. Shammi's heart fell. Bodies lay broken and battered on the floor. The standing woman didn't look much better herself. She was, more or less, dragging herself down the hallway by sinking her metallic hand into the wall and pulling herself along. Breathing heavily she continued down the hall. No noise came from Ward 19. Erishi continued to pull herself along, but she could feel the strength ebbing from her body. She was running on reserves, and there wasn't much of that left! If Shammi wasn't in the room, Erishi knew she couldn't continue on. "Shammi?" She called, voice cracking. There was no response. She let out a noise akin to a wail before she entered. Two men lay on the floor, faces forever frozen in a look of horror. And, between them, lay curled a little girl, bruises mottling her green skin. "Shammi...." Once again, the girl didn't respond. Sinking to the floor, Erishi dragged herself over to the bodies and pulled Shammi into her arms. "Shammi... Erishi failed... She is sorry..." She held the small form tighter. "Wee." Shammi sighed, pulling herself closer to Erishi. "Shammi?" Erishi pulled the girl away, looking at her. The chameleon girl's eyes were slowly prying open, looking up There were no more words spoken. Erishi struggled to her feet and out the door. With her back turned, she didn't notice a long black feather, previously hidden by Shammi's prone form, lying on the floor. * * * "Sir!" The director sat at his desk, fingers tented in front of his face. "What?" "S-Sir, the two squads deployed haven't reported in. We also aren't getting any response from Ward 19." Pulling her notebook closer to her face, the young woman looked no less than terrified. "And 192?" "S-Sir?" "Is 192 within rage?" "Y-Yes, Sir." "Destroy it." * * * "There." Dam carefully finished stitching up a large gash on Pathos' forehead. "This team's all finished." "Think she's alive?" Pathos asked, standing and wincing at the thudding pain in his head. "She has to be. It's Erishi, after all." Suiki said, eyes closing. A dragging sound turned all their heads towards the rightmost corridor. Pathos pulled his hands again into fists, Han readied his gun. "You... You guys are slow." Erishi's voice called as she came into view. "Erishi... Finished her objective." "Just like you, Ree." There was a very slight smile on Pathos' lips as he lowered his fists. Erishi smiled, dragging herself back into her group. "Erishi is tired. Erishi is very tired." She carefully made her way to Han. "Shammi, go to Han friend. Go to Han." Shammi whimpered, but climbed into Han's outstretched arms. Pathos easily picked Erishi up, and they all started to sprint back the way they came. * * * "Sir!" "What now?" The director asked, scowling. The speaker, this time a man, looked no less scared than the young woman who had spoken before. "192's Cerebral Destruction sequence has been damaged. It's unusable." "Destroy anything you can. That creature can't be allowed to roam free!" The director bellowed, slamming his fist into the table. "Sir!" * * * Erishi started to whimper. Being that it was Pathos who was holding her, he didn't pay much attention. However, when she started spitting out random garbled words and shaking, even he took notice. "This normal?" He called over to Suiki. "Of course not!" She shouted. "Well, we can't exactly stop and check her out, now can we?" He yelled back. Erishi fell limp in his arms. "Never mind. She stopped." Suiki groaned, making a mental note to check Erishi out as soon as they got back to safety.
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:39 am
And things would be right again. "What do you mean there's nothing there?" Suiki cried. Han slowly leaned his head away from the woman. "I mean exactly what I said. Her hard drive's been wiped." "Hard drive?" Pathos blinked. "You do know that the hand's not all the cybernetic crap Erishi's got put in her, right?" Han started to explain. Pathos blinked once. "All right. In any case, she's probably only left with about fifty percent of her brain being organic. All the rest of it is... somewhat like you'd find in my computer. Remember when you smashed my computer?" "Yeah. That was amusing." Pathos smiled. Han glared. "In any case, there's no programing left. It's all been destroyed." "So, where does that leave her?" Suiki asked, pressing the knuckles of her fist into her lower lip. "I don't know." Han shook his head. "I could try re-writing the program, but without some sort of key, I don't know what it would do to her. The last time she was hacked she went out of control." Silence fell over the room. "So, what do we do?" Pathos asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "We wait. She might have enough of her organic brain left that she'll be able to function without the missing part. But the chance is slim." Han closed his eyes. * * * Ewwi was sleeping still. Shammi paitently waited by the side of her bed. Ewwi must be very tired! Shammi was tired, too, but she wanted to be awake when Ewwi woke up. Then they could paint, or laugh, or just hug. But Ewwi had been sleeping for a long long time. And Shammi was getting more and more tired. She toddled to Erishi's night stand and picked up the funny plushie that lay there and climbed up onto Erishi's bed, snuggling up beside her. There. That was better. Ewwi would wake her up when she woke up. And things would be right again. * * * "Until then, someone has to stay with her and Shammi." Suiki said. Pathos snorted, lit a cigarette, and crossed his arms. "Don't even look at me." He said. "I stay with her for the easy sex, not for the kid. If I wanted a kid, I'd go back to my wife." More silence. Then- "You're married?!" Suiki cried. "Of course I'm married! Seperated. Divorced, maybe. I haven't seen her in about.. uh, What, Fifteen years now? We had a few kids together, she got hit by a death spell, and generally turned very unatractive and angry." Pathos shrugged. "ANYway." Han coughed. "Dam and I can't stay here. He has a job, and I'm... not exactly the best around children." No one argued with him. "I can't either." Adrian chimed in. "I'm pretty busy with the parlement. And since Ethos is back, Suiki's going to be busy getting us some inside information." "What about that dragon kid?" Suiki asked. Pathos blinked once or twice. "Drake?" He asked. Suiki nodded. "He went back to wherever he lives. Jeannie. Why don't one of you call her?" "Why don't you call her?" Han challanged. Pathos looked away. "She knows where my wife lives." He scribbled a number down on paper and handed it to Suiki. "Here. Call her, tell her to send someone over, and I'll, uh, be leaving now." "She must be bad to get hiim to leave." Han snorted. Suiki dialed the number and waited a moment. "Hello? Is Jeannie there?" . . . "Could I speak with her, please?" . . . "Tell her I'm a friend of Erishi's". . . "I don't know for a fact, but she probably is the person who tried to turn your brother into a pair of shoes. Can I speak to Jeannie now?" The boy who answered the phone left, and was replaced by a very cheery sounding woman. "Hi, this is Suiki. I'm a friend of Erishi-" She blinked as Jeane interupted her. "Hi. Um, we've got a problem over here. Erishi's, uh, pretty sick, and we need someone to watch Shammi-" There was another break in the conversation. Suiki looked exasperated. "Draco! We wanted to know if Draco would come babysit until she's better!" Suiki finally shouted. After a few moments: "Fine. Thanks. Yes, someone will stay until he gets here. Yes. Fine. Okay. Bye!" Suiki slammed the phone down and glared at it. "He's coming?" "Yes." Suiki replied grouchily. Pathos poked his head in through the window. "And now you see why I don't talk to her. She's almost as bad as Erishi!" He laughed.
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:10 pm
Children at Play "Whatcha got there, Shammi?" Draco leaned down to look over Shammi's shoulder. She flattened herself on the ground and glared up at him. "Adadat!" She pointed wildly over his shoulder. When he turned away to look, she scrambled away. Draco turned around and shook his head. "I'm so not ready for children." He groaned. Holding Ziggy tightly to her chest with one hand and scampering with the other three limbs, Shammi quickly scooted into a good hiding spot. Draco walked past, calling for her. She waited until he was gone before she scurried out. "Good, Zig-Zig?" She asked, making Ziggy nod his head in agreement. "Yes! Good spot! Hee!" She transfered Ziggy to her tail and scampered around the apartment. "Okay. I'm Shammi, big strong fighter. You Zig-Zig, big strong doggy. Okay? You watch Shammi's back. Okay?" Shaking the plush with her tail so that he nodded again she continued on her way. "Look!" She gasped, pointing. Sure, what anyone else saw was only one of Draco's shoes. But Shammi, now Shammi knew better. She growled and charged the shoe, rolling around with it on her stomach. "Oh! Zig! Help!" Obligingly, Ziggy fell from her tail and landed on the boot. "Hurray! We fix him!" She threw the boot away and danced with Ziggy. The strong twosome continued on their way around the house, fighting monsters that exsisted in Shammi's mind, until they came to a door. Shammi quietly entered it and crawled up onto the bed to look at the prone figure. Erishi lay sleeping, face void of all emotion. "Big strong fighter save Ewwi." Shammi muttered, leaning down to kiss Erishi on the cheek. She stood back and waited. Nothing happened. Undaunted, Shammi made Ziggy kiss Erishi. Still nothing. Looking sad, Shammi curled up beside of Erishi and held Ziggy tight. "Not strong." She muttered, curling tighter. Maybe if she fought enough bad things tomorow, Erishi would come back.
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:20 pm
Morning It was quiet. Quiet wasn't something she was used to. Always with the other voices. Opening her eyes warily, Erishi propped herself up on one elbow and looked around. There wasn't anything else in her head. Nothing telling her what to do. For the first time in nearly fifteen years there wasn't anything else in her mind. She didn't know what to think. A expected response would be laughter. Erishi just stared around, face sober. She wanted pancakes. Draco was the first to awake to the sound of pots clattering. Lighting up a fireball in one hand as he jumped out of bed, the dragon boy snaked into the hallway and entered the kitchen with a scream. Erishi screamed back, dropping the pan in her hand and hid behind the counter. Draco extinguished the fireball in an instant. "Erishi!" There was a slight whimper from behind the counter. Slowly, brown eyes peeked over the counter, incredibly wide. "Didn't do nothin'." She muttered, staring. "It's okay, Erishi!" Grinning, Draco took a step towards her. Erishi squeaked and hid again. "It's Draco, remember? I took you to the circus? I live with Jeane?" The head didn't reappear. "You tried to make me into a pair of shoes when I was a baby, for Divine's sake! If anyone's scared in this relationship it should be me!" Erishi slowly poked her head up again, eyes focusing on him. She stood and looked at him, eyes clear. "Draco." She said. "Good. What're you doing?" He looked relaxed. Erishi suffled her feet. "Pancakes. They sounded good." Not looking at him, Erishi retreived the pan, washed it out, and set it on the stove. "Come on, Erishi. You know you can't play with the stove..." Draco rolled his eyes. Still not looking at him, Erishi greased the pan and poured the batter in it. "Erishi?" "What?" Her eyes flickered up to meet his. And there was something different in them. "Hey..." Erishi just went back to her duty of pouring batter into the pan. "I... I'm making extras. I think Shammi likes pancakes. Do you?" There was a nervousness about her that was unusual. Draco smiled slightly. "Yeah, Erishi. I love pancakes." She gave him a very small smile. "Go get her." Draco retreived the girl and her little dog plush. While she was unhappy at being woken up so early, she smelled the smell of pancakes and seemed happier. "Dako, 'cakes?" Shammi rubbed her belly happily. "Yup, pancakes." And then they entered the kitchen. Shammi gasped and forced herself out of Draco's arms and threw both arms around Erishi's legs. "Ewwi!" She smiled. "Breakfast's ready."
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:41 am
Remembrance Once upon a time, there was a very brave man. He worked hard every day to protect everyone. The brave man lived with his beautiful wife. They had three lovely children: two handsome sons and one little girl, daddy's little princess. She was his little porcelain doll, with large dark eyes and long dark hair against her pale skin. They were a very happy family.
But Daddy's little princess had a very bad secret.
Sometimes, Daddy would be very angry when he came home. Sometimes, he would yell at mommy and her brothers. And, sometimes, he would come into his little princess's room after the lights were off.
She didn't know that it was bad at first. Daddy would come in and lay in her bed, talking to her about scary things. Things he had to do at work that day, who he had killed. And then he would leave. But the more the fighting went on, the angrier Daddy got.
"I'm fighting to protect everyone." Daddy said one night, his voice angry. His clothes were rumpled and he smelled funny. Mommy had yelled at him, and called him a drunk. She didn't know what drunk was, but it must be bad, because after Mommy called Daddy the name, Daddy hit Mommy. He had yelled at her a lot. "You need to make me happy."
He pushed up her nightie, still talking soft to himself. She had been wearing panties with dollies on them, her favorite, but Daddy had ripped them off. Daddy was scaring her, so she tried to push him away. Daddy had grabbed her arms and shook her, hard. "I own you." Daddy told her as he shook her. "No one will care, because I own you." Holding her down with one hand, muffling her screams with the other, Daddy started to do something down between her legs that hurt. She tried to tell him to stop. She sobbed and tried to move away, but Daddy didn't stop for a while. When he did, he told her not to make a noise and moved her off her bed and got rid of her sheets. He picked her back up, put her on the bed, covered her up, and told her not to tell. Mommy would say she was a liar, and liars went to hell, he said. And he didn't want his little princess to go to hell.
The next day, Mommy wondered where her sheets were. Daddy told Mommy that she had wet the bed, and he had taken care of them. She didn't tell Mommy anything different.
"Why don't you play with us anymore?" Biggest brother asked. She couldn't answer him. She liked to play inside with her dollies. But, Daddy had told her that she was his, and he couldn't play with her brothers anymore.
Whenever Mommy and Daddy would fight, Daddy would come to see her at night. So, she tried to be as good as she could, trying anything she could to make Daddy happy, to make them not fight. But Daddy kept getting angrier and angrier. He hit Mommy a lot.
One night, when Daddy was in her room with her, the door opened. Mommy looked in at Daddy, her eyes wide and scared. Mommy would stop this, she thought. Mommy would have to stop this. Mommy raised her hand to her mouth and let out a funny sound, like she was crying, but her face wasn't wet.
And then Mommy turned around and left.
Even though life in her house was bad, life outside was worse. There were always loud noises and gun noises, and even her brothers couldn't go outside anymore. The house was quiet. Whenever Daddy came home, Mommy wouldn't stop crying. And the next day, after Daddy left, Mommy would scoop her up and hold her, crying. Her brothers would just watch them. They didn't understand. She was glad they didn't understand.
One day, the sounds got louder, and Daddy called Mommy. Mommy scooped her up and told her brothers to follow her. Outside, there were lots of fires and people lying on the ground still, with red stuff on them. Mommy kept running and running, talking on the phone with Daddy. Every time a loud noise happened Mommy would scream and her brothers would start crying harder.
"Elise!" Daddy's voiced called out. Mommy ran to him, and he wrapped his arms around his girls. And, even though Daddy was mean and angry, she felt safe. Daddy would protect her. "We have to leave. They're rebelling left and right. We can't keep the riots under control anymore!"
And then there was a loud noise, metal scraping metal, and a shadow fell over them. They all looked up to see a big metal man with one eye staring down at him. Mommy started to scream. She had never heard Mommy scream so loud. The metal man stood on one leg. Daddy grabbed her, twisting her from Mommy's arms and throwing her at her brothers.
"Run, Princess, run!" Daddy screamed. She wrapped her hands around her mouth and shook her head. All three children couldn't move. They were too scared. Biggest brother grabbed her, holding her shoulders tight.
"Don't look, Erin. Don't look!" But he couldn't turn away, and neither could she. Mommy and Daddy stared up at the metal man. They couldn't move either. The metal man made the scrapey noise again, and then his foot fell.
And Mommy and Daddy were gone.
"Oh, god, no!" Brother cried. He grabbed biggest brother and her and took off. Biggest brother grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder as he ran. The metal man clanked after them, shooting noisy things at them. Biggest brother shoved her at brother and ran off in a different direction. Brother hid with her behind some fallen stuff until the metal man clanked away.
He led her through the fires until there was a bridge. He sat her back under the bridge and pulled some stuff over her. "Wait here, Erin. I'll come back."
He never did.The very worst part of being herself again, Erishi decided, her head resting on the edge of the toilet seat, was that she had to remember everything that her mind had kept locked up for so long. The bathroom door opened slightly and a little green hand poked in. "Ewwi okie?" Shammi called in. Wiping her moth with the back of one hand, Eri stood and strode to the door. She scooped Shammi up and held her tight. "Just a bad dream, Sham."
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Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:57 pm
Björn and Emerald were sitting outside, the girl atop a fence and Björn crouched on the ground. The girl was barely dressed, wearing only a near-transparent flowy garment.
"So, what's your name?"
"Emmmmmeh..."
"Rrrr..."
"Emeh-roold!"
"Good, good!
Emerald giggled and clapped her hands. She liked being praised by the Big Man whose real name she couldn't say yet.
My. Björn attracted all kinds, didn't he? Eri gave a slight smile as she watched them. Hoping that he wouldn't mind a third wheel to his little lesson, Eri walked closer.
"Hey."
Not exactly eloquent, but it got the job done.
Björn looked up to the woman, gave her a mildly interested look and a twitch of the lip, and stood.
" 'Lo, dear."
"Who are thi'?"
"Erishi."
"Who? Eh--"
"Rr."
"Eh-REESHUH!"
"Close enough," Björn chuckled and crossed his arms.
"What's up?"
"Not too much." She gave a nod to the new person. "Yes, I'm Erishi. It's nice to meet you."
"Teaching, Björn? I wouldn't have expected that from you." She smiled slightly up at him, gently punching him in the arm. "Cute."
"Eeeeh," Björn 'said', brushing his arm off as if someone'd spit on it, "Not cute. Necessary. She's one of us now." He turned to the girl and she peered back, eager.
"What did Liam teach you?"
"Mmph," Björn said, turning back to Erishi with a brow arched.
"What's been up?"
"A very good word to know." Erishi grinned at the woman. "I can see why Liam isn't getting full tutoring duty. And what is your name, missy?"
"Not too much," She added to Björn. "Draco's watching Shammi, so I get some time to... Think."
"Ehm-roold!" The girl repeated and slid off from the fence, beginning to run hilly-nilly through the grass. She was a bizarre young lady, that was for sure.
Think? Well, come to think of it, Erishi was acting pretty sane...
"Is something wrong?"
"Cute girl." Eri nodded towards her.
"In a way." She carefully tapped her temple. "Since I've been alone in here, my programming let up. And I've been remembering things. I remembered who I was, before I was me. If that makes any sense at all."
"It does," Björn nodded, brow furrowing in concern, "Do you wanna talk about it?" He cracked his neck suddenly. Three straight hours of looking down was not good for the spine, let alone a lifetime.
"LALALAAAAAAAAAALA!"
When Björn cracked his neck Eri crawled up onto the fence that Emerald had been sitting on. That at least got her a little closer to him. "It would be hard. I didn't like remembering it too much the first time. I don't think... I'd be able to tell you. You wouldn't like me as well." She gave him a very slight smile.
Björn actually laughed and shook his head.
"There's not a goddamned thing you can tell me that would make me like you any less." He knew rapists, homophobes, psychopaths, and necrophiles. You couldn't get much worse than that.
When Björn laughed Erishi smiled herself. "Thank you. That means a lot to me. I think, out of all the men I've know, you're the one who's been the nicest to me."
Well. That's strange. Björn knew quite well he was a condescending a*****e.
He decided to not voice his opinion.
"...well?"
"Just... It's old things. Really old things. I think I was, like, four. My country was at war with itself, and my... Father was a solider working for the central government. Things were going well for our side at first, but the opposing forces started to cause more trouble. And the worse things got, the more my parents fought. One night, he hit her, and then came into my room." She shrugged slightly, not looking at him.
"I was to little to stop him. My brothers didn't understand why I got so quiet. One night, my Mom came into my room after Father had. She looked at us and left. Things just kept getting worse outside, and one day our block came under fire. Father deserted and came for us, but we were surprised by an enemy mech. And then my parents died. My oldest brother managed to throw the mech off our trail, but I never saw him again. And then my other brother left."
She had been looking at her hands while she spoke, rubbing her palms together. "But, I think what's worst is how I remember feeling. I remember that I was happy when my parents died. Because he hurt me, and she let it happen. So they deserved to be crushed."
Björn looked deeply disturbed and, oddly enough, maybe even a little sad. He fell into a squat and took Erishi's hands in his, looking up to her.
"Christ, I'm sorry. But don't say that. They may have deserved it after all."
There was a look of slight surprise as she looked down at him. "Thank you. Björn. You're very nice of you to say."
It took Björn a moment to realize something new.
She'd said her father "hurt" her. Not that he hit her, as she had said with her mother, nor any other form of the term. He knew people well enough to know what that meant. He propped himself up on one knee, feeling vaguely homicidal (and, god damn it, he'd kill that b*****d again if he could), and pulled Erishi to him, hugging her gently.
"I'm sorry any of that had to happen to you. If I had a choice, it wouldn't have."
"Oh-" When Bjòrn hugged her, something inside of her seemed to snap. You knew things really were bad when he offered comfort. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and, since she couldn't seem to help the tears that filled her eyes, tried very hard not to cry loud, at least.
Oh, jeez. Emotions. He hadn't dealt with his own or those of people he cared about in a very long time...
...and now he had a woman crying on his shoulder.
He gave a short moment of deliberation. Well, Eri knew him rather well. She clearly knew that hugging was a big thing. He wanted her to know he was here for her, after all. He gave a little sigh, leaned in, and kissed her lightly on the cheek.
"It'll be okay."
Oh, my. Blinking fast, she pulled slightly away so that she could wipe her eyes dry. "Thank you." She said again, scrubbing at her face with the palms of her hands.
"I'm sorry. That was weird." Eri wasn't trying to make eye contact with Björn. "I'm just not used to... All of this. I don't particularly like feeling very much."
"Don't worry about it," Björn shrugged awkwardly, already stuck back into his usual shut-down state, "Emotions suck, but we're stuck with 'em. Just gotta...keep going." He brushed himself off and stood again.
"I'm always here for a rant, if you need it."
Clearly, she hadn't reacted at all positively. Personal boundaries crossed, mental note added, personal bubble expanded.
Urk. Even in a somewhat sane form Erishi still failed at the whole 'interacting positively with people' game. She studied her hands. "I'm sorry." She apologized, rubbing her hands together again. "I... Appreciate you an awful, awful lot."
Corny as hell, but that's just how she was now. She would make sure not to bother him in the future, though. "S-So." She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "What've you been doing, besides teaching Emerald?"
Björn heaved a sigh and dropped to the ground.
"Let's see..." he trailed off, "Liam's blind, Rabid's genetics are going psychotic, and I've lost my everloving mind to emotion. Things could be better."
Well, there wasn't too much that could be said to that. "And here I am, bothering you with my little problems." Very carefully, she reached out and patted the top of his head. "You're strong." Eri's voice was laced with admiration.
"No problem is any more of less important than any other," Björn shrugged, "But thank you. And besides, it takes my mind offa my own s**t." He untied his hair then, allowing it to floof the way it tended to, before slicking it back again.
One could say he was a bit OCD about that.
". . . Your hair-" Now she really smiled, clapping her hands. "Your hair is so... fluffy." She visibly resisted the urge to pet him like a cat. "I think I'm jealous."
"Ugh," Björn voiced rather unattractively, "I hate it. They tortured me as a kid about it. 'Sides, it doesn't exactly fit the image...giant afro."
He gave his ponytail a little tug and sighed.
"I'd rather have your hair, regardless of natural colour."
"Unless you know of a way to swap scalps, I think we're both just destined to be disappointed. Ever tried chemically straightening it? I tried giving myself a perm once or twice, but it didn't stick. I don't have the right kind of hair, I guess." She picked up a strand and looked at it. It had finally grown out long enough to do so after her last botched shearing job.
"Nah, but I know someone who coul--HEY," Björn said, turning to face Erishi fully as a thought dawned upon him, "Straightening? Perms? What do you take me for?!" His tone was not so much angry as amused and surprised.
"OO! BUH-FLEE!"
"FLY!"
"BUH-FLEE-FLY!"
Björn rolled his eyes and turned back, waiting for his answer.
She blinked, surprised. "I... Take you for a very nice man who hates his floofy hair...?" Hopefully that was the answer he was looking for.
Björn snickered.
"Alright, that's acceptable, I guess. But I'm not one to maul my God-given appearence." Frankly, he was just tired of people ragging on him with stereotypes on his sexuality. Fussing over his hair would certainly count as one of those stereotypes.
Emerald suddenly appeared, holding out the pointer of her right hand with the left hand as if she was presenting a gift.
"Ow."
"What?"
"Buh-fleefly bite."
Björn inspected the small, bleeding pinprick in her finger. It was welling up, all white and sickly-looking.
"It was probably a wasp, hun. If it's black and yellow, then you're supposed to stay away."
"Blat? Yeloo?"
"Black," Björn said, pointing to his hair, "Yellow." He pointed to a mismatched fleck of paint then, yellow against the wooden fence.
"Oh. Dank you, Bid Man."
"No problem."
Emerald skipped off again, singing some absurd song she's probably just made up.
"Your god given appearance is a nice one. Mine makes me just another one of the crowd." She smiled at Emerald. "She's a cute kid."
"Standing out in Mei-Vaar gets you branded," Björn replied absent-mindedly, still peering after Emerald. When he turned back to Erishi, however, he seemed to have snapped to his senses and completely forgotten that he'd said anything at all.
"Yeah, she is. Kind of odd, though. Refuses to wear clothes, hates fans...you know. The usual alien stuff." Not that he'd ever refused to wear clothes on Gaia.
"Everyone has their own little weird things. I hate clowns, won't wear toe socks, and can't go near dumpsters. I bet you have your own weird things too." She picked at her fingernails before drumming out a beat on the fence.
Björn stared off into nothingness for a moment, thinking hard. Did he really? Huh. He guessed he did.
"Sure, I guess," he nodded, and went over said 'little weird things', trying to come up with what he'd be willing to say. Found Hemmingway uplifting? No. Listened to Beethoven? Nuh-uh.
"I loathe firearms," he said absently, "Which is odd, considering my profession." He then added: "And, you know, the whole girls-hitting-on-me thing. That could use a little work."
"Eh. People can hate lots of things about their job. I don't like blood or being hurt, but you gotta do what you gotta do." She shrugged slightly.
"It's your own fault, you know." Eri smiled at him. "You're too nice. And good looking. And strong. Add that up together, and you're just catnip for women."
A rare, genuine smile crossed Björn's face. He looked either touched or homicidal. It was sometimes hard to tell with him.
He was too kind to asked 'what the ******** is wrong with you, have you gone insane again?', and also too humble to ask 'really? why?'.
He stuck with a quiet, "Thank you."
He hadn't been complimented in a good four years...well...twenty-something, if you counted his days dead.
His reaction made Eri smile more. "It's true, too. I'm not that great at lying yet." She hadn't had the need for it before. "But, if you want girls to stop hitting on you, you should start calling them really bad names. It usually makes them back off."
"Trust me, I do," Björn chucked slightly, "The guys too. I don't need any of that s**t." He cleared his throat randomly then, as if to cover up...something. Even he wasn't entirely sure what.
"Good for you." Eri wasn't going to comment on the cough. "I think I might have to do that now. Guys can be very annoying." Especially certain red headed short men.
Björn smiled and nodded.
"I can see your point," he shrugged, "but they're not so bad all the time." He moved back and rested his elbows back on the fence rungs.
"Depends on the man." She shrugged, leaning over to look down at him. "You'll never be annoying. Too nice. And you've never hit me. Or hit on me."
"Why, thank you," Björn laughed, looking up to her, "but people will gladly argue. And, c'mon. You know quite well that gay guys hit on girls. It's like a game." He paused a moment.
"Hell, I was married."
"You were married?" She was surprised somewhat by that. "Hmm. Interesting."
And then something else seemed to click in. "I should have known. The best guys always are."
"Hnn-whaa--?" Björn voiced, suddenly confused. Oooh, so she hadn't known after all...
"Sorry, sweetheart. Doesn't mean I won't do whatever you tell me to. You've got me whipped."
"Don't worry. I wouldn't have you any other way than the way you are." Eri laughed at him, grinning. "Besides. My luck only has me around gay men or very abusive ones. I think I'll just say 'Ixnay' on romance for the future."
"Psh," Björn laughed, "I'll be your big gay boyfriend." He grinned to Erishi and patted her knee.
"Whee!" Eri clapped her hands together. "I'm the luckiest girl alive, then. All of the boyfriend with none of the painful side effects."
Björn cocked his head to one side.
"Pain...ful...?"
"You know, being yelled at or hit or violent sex. All the parts of a relationship that suck." Erishi tended to find winners in the personality department.
"Oh," Björn nodded, turning slightly pink. He'd always had issues with any mention of sexual...anything. Regardless of placement in the conversation.
"Well...you don't have to worry about any of that with me."
"Hehe." Eri attempted to cover the smile on her face with a hand. "Sorry. Didn't mean to embarrass you."
One corner of the Vavvian's mouth and nose crinkled up.
"No problem. I know someone used to do that to me all the time."
"It's good for you. Builds character." She hoped that was a good nose crinkle. "Besides. Red's a good skin tone for you. Looks cute."
"Rrrrgh," Björn half-growled and lunged forward, tipping Erishi off the back of the fence and catching her with his other hand.
"Meanie."
"Wa-!" Eri let out a half strangled sort of cry when he pushed her, but was replaced by a sigh of relief when she was caught. She couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Guess I'm just not that nice of a girl." Björn said meanie. Tee hee.
Björn smiled again and simply held Erishi where she was, looking her over. He seemed to be back to his comfortable, friendly state. The embarrassment and shock from his first attempt at physical affection seemed to have disappeared.
He propped the woman back up then, laughing slightly.
"You kind of remind me of someone."
"A good somebody, hopefully." She leaned over to look at him again, smiling. She made sure to have a decent grip on the fence, just in case Björn tried to tease her again.
"A wonderful somebody," Björn nodded and smiled up at Erishi, "Long dead, though." He gave a sad sigh and shrugged. People died in wars. It's what happened. Hell, they'd been promised death their first day in.
"I'm sorry you lost him." Carefully, Eri reached down to give his shoulder a squeeze. "He must have been very special."
"Way to jump to conclusions," Björn laughed, but didn't tug away from the touch as he generally would have (although saying he didn't twitch would be a lie).
"I could show yah iffin you wanna see." It was a simple offer that he didn't expect to be accepted. People didn't want to see old black-and-white pictures of friends any more than they wanted to see pictures of your ugly baby buck-naked in the bathtub.
"Of course I do." She scooted closer and leaned over his shoulder.
Björn looked to Erishi, brow furrowed. Was she serious, or just being kind? He couldn't judge very well from her facial expression, and instead reached out into thin air and brought out the same rubber-banded photographs he'd shown to Ethan.
The first he came upon was of a rather familiar face, if not long gone, frowning slightly and arching a brow at who ever the photographer was. This was clearly a younger Björn, scrawny and floofy and emanating smoke below the frame from what must have been a cigarette.
"Here. Laugh at me while I find it," he replied, holding the stack of photos with one hand and shoving a cigarette into his mouth with the other, lighting it quickly and making sure Erishi wasn't downwind.
He would need a smoke for this.
"Awww-" Eri cupped the picture in her hands and cooed at it. "Why would I laugh? Look at you, all little and cute and fluffy." She pulled her head back slightly and gave him a look. "You've been working out since these were taken."
"Mm," Björn nodded absently as he continued rifling through the photos. Some were rather inappropriate, as pictures taken among men often are, and so he simply skipped over them.
"I didn't start bulking up until they branded me. I had no reason to before then. I think I'm...three there. Far before the branding." He snorted with laughter at one of the pictures and quickly shuffled it away, hoping Erishi hadn't seen it.
She hadn't, but his laughing made her very curious. "Hmm. Interesting. Cute, in any case." She edged a little closer, trying to get a glimpse at the pictures.
Unluckily for poor Erishi, Björn had just found the picture he'd been looking for. A heavily-freckled your man, looking somewhere between seventeen and nineteen, giving his usual confused-looking smile. His hair nearly fell over his eyes in a way that could only be described as innocently adorable.
"That's him."
Björn took a deep drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke from his gills.
Perhaps it was for the best, after all. Once Björn had found the picture she gave a very predictable response: "Oh-" He was adorable. Someone you wanted to give hugs and cookies. Pair that up with Björn, and that made a very attractive couple.
"He looks very sweet." She chose her words carefully, hoping not to upset him.
Björn smiled at the reaction. Typical.
"I wish you could meet him," he said absently, "but, yenno, no more head on his shoulders." He shuddered and gave a trembling exhale. Ah, that day had sucked hardcore.
"I just don't have much luck in love, I guess."
Well, there wasn't much to say to that. Very, very carefully she leaned down and gave him a brief hug to the shoulders before sitting back up. "I'm sorry that I couldn't have met him. He must have been wonderful for you to love him so much."
Björn laughed slightly, smiling fondly as he took the photograph back and shuffled it into the pile.
"God, you have no idea," he said, voice catching slightly as he leaned back against Erishi's legs. He realized he may cry, and soon found he didn't care. He wanted affection, damnit. Twenty years of Hell and a year of war had passed since he'd last been shown any kind.
He cleared his throat, fending off tears as he put his cigarette out between two fingers and shoved it into his pocket.
There had always been a little bit of Eri that had been worried that Björn really didn't like her. She'd tried to be careful about touching him, so he wouldn't go away. But she could hear that he was in pain and decided, consequences be damned, she was going to attempt to comfort him.
"I'm sorry. I know it's not enough, but I am." She leaned down and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him from behind. Knowing that she probably couldn't hurt him she squeezed as hard as she could, as if the force of her hug could let him know that she cared.
Björn tensed up at the first moment in the hug. He wasn't used to such things, and especially not from women. He relaxed soon after, though, and reached an arm behind him, wrapping it 'round Erishi's back.
"Thank you," he said, voice oddly quiet and light. He gave a short sniffle, indicating that he was, in fact, crying. Whether it was because he was touched or forced to remember, who knew.
Björn crying in public. Jeezum. Must be a sign of the endtimes.
She would have given just about anything to make him not cry, but knew firsthand that there were just sometimes that you had to. "Anytime. If you ever need me, I'm here for you. Like you too much to let you hurt, if I could do anything to make it not hurt so much."
Something in Björn's chest twisted. Whether or not she already had, Erishi's most recent statement touched him deeply. Not even his own family had voiced such concern. Maybe they were afraid to.
He gave a final sniffle as the tears dissipated and turned in Erishi's grasp, lifting her chin with a finger.
"Means a lot to me, kid."
He wanted to say more, and yet somehow knew he'd never be able to bring himself to.
"I'm glad." She replied, very slightly smiling, her eyes soft. "Just remember that people care about you. Don't always try to keep everything on your own shoulders."
Björn laughed slightly.
"I don't think that can be helped, hun," he said honestly, "It's been too long. I just..." He trailed off.
"It's hard."
"I know. But try a little, okay? No one that cares about you wants to see you hurt. We like you too much." She hoped none of his other friends would want him to hurt, anyway.
Björn nodded but knew quite well nothing would change. While his friends and family didn't want to see him hurt, they also didn't care what was wrong. Aside from Erishi and Ethan, they'd all shown this fact at one point or another.
Emerald approached again, peering curiously at the two before her.
"Bid Man an' Eer-eh-ee-shee mates?"
Erishi gave a very surprised sort of snort. What could you say to that? "No, no, Emerald. We're just good friends. Like brother and sister." She was slightly red in the face, though. Cute kid, but kids did often ask funny and embarrassing things.
"Oh," Emerald said, plopping down next to Björn and laying her head on his shoulder.
"Ehm-eh-roold think should be. Ehm-eh-roold fin' Bid Man mate. Bid Man need make babies."
Björn had gone dramatically red in the face.
"Thanks for the thought, Emmy. It's very kind of you."
"Ehm-eh-roold know."
Carefully leaning around, Eri's suspicions were confirmed. The flush on his face made her start to laugh. "Isn't she just the sweetest thing? So concerned about you!"
"She barely understands English, and shes already desperate to get me laid," Björn snerked, ignoring the heat in his face, "Smart, smart little girl."
"Lay-eed?"
"I'll tell you when you're older."
"Em-eh-roold nine!"
"Nineteen."
"Hmph."
"Well, of course she's a smart girl. She's hanging out with you, isn't she? And besides..." Eri pulled back and gave him a very long look. "You would make a good baby daddy. Just look at your hair. You've got nice hair."
"Nnnngdh..." Björn mumbled, unable to for complete words (let alone sentences), "Tell that to my son. He hated my genetics."
"Well, of course he hated them. A boy couldn't appreciate your amazing hair. If I had been your daughter and had gotten that floof, I would have been amazed. Though, I probably would have gotten your jaw, too. And that would be very scary." She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Shut up, you," Björn said suddenly, the red in his cheeks disappearing, "My jaw looks perfectly fine on me, and that's all that matters." As if to check his own statement, he ran his figners down his jawbone.
"Of course it looks fine on you. You look dashing. Masculine. A gift to all who see you." She rolled her eyes at him. "But on a girl it would be ratter unflattering."
"HEY!" Björn cried out, lunging at Erishi all of a sudden with a grace and speed unnatural for someone of his size and apparent age. He successfully knocked her from the fence and fell to the other side, catching her in one arm and keeping them both from hitting the ground with the other.
"I don't appreciate your sarcasm, young lady."
For the second time that day she was off the fence, but still kept safe from the hard ground. For a few seconds there was a look of surprise and a dash of fear on her face, but it quickly let up. She didn't think he'd let her get hurt.
"I... I think you need to lighten up." She said, breathing a bit hard from the surprise. "...Old man."
Björn half-smiled and laughed slightly, feeling Emerald's frightened eyes peering over the fence at him.
"I think you have to get used to surprise," he said simply, "if you plan on sticking around." He didn't move from his position, a kind of lopsided one-armed pushup, and simply looked Erishi's face over a moment. He didn't realize he was doing it at the time.
Even if the person looking at her wasn't into girls, having someone looking at her from that close still made a blush rise up on her cheeks. "Guess you'll just have to surprise me more to make me used to it. 'Cause I think I'll be stickin' 'round."
Björn smiled, wishing that he did have some kind of attraction to this woman. She was sweet.
"Good," was all he said before propping her up once more, "I think I want you to."
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:08 pm
Fear
"Okay, Erishi. I'm taking Shammi to the park. Can you do the dishes while we're out?" Draco asked, holding the toddler on his hip. "Hmmm." Eri tugged the blanket over her head and snuggled deeper into the couch. "Dish, Ewwi!" Shammi called in a very Draco-ish tone. Erishi poked her head out of the blanket and gave the babe a smile. "Yes, Sham. Dishes." Shammi waved at Erishi before Draco shut the door. Feh. Dishes could wait. First, there was a nap to be finished. She pulled the blanket back over her head and fell asleep to the sound of daytime TV. "Hey. Wakey wakey. Get your a** up." There was a very rough push to her lower back and she sprawled onto the ground, tangled in blankets. Oh god, oh god, please no, not him-"I thought I said to get your a** up, brat." There was an all too smug note in Pathos's voice as he pushed her out of her blanket cocoon. "What's the matter? Aren't you glad to see me?" "I-I-I thought you couldn't come here anymore-" Eri peered up at him, an obviously scared look on her face. Pathos smiled even more at the fear, crouching down to stroke her face. "Jeane's dead, dear. I don't have anything to fear anymore." Pathos laughed. "And I think we have some business to attend to."
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:18 pm
After Pathos' return, Eri had taken up wandering from home in earnest. And long sleeved shirts.
Arms crossed and head down, Eri shuffled about, apparently not caring for her destination. She looked to be in though, which was surprising enough, but she also looked worried.
It kinda sucked that once you found a nice place to belong, some a*****e decided to screw with it.
Björn was in no more of a hurry to get home than Erishi, although certainly not for the same reasons. He just couldn't seem to stand being around people who didn't give a damn.
At least outside he'd have a chance to run into Ethan or Erishi.
He was reflecting on this thought as he crushed a cigarette butt into the ground with the heel of his boot, and then looked up.
Sad Erishi?
Catching movement from the corner of her eye the woman skittered slightly to the side, away from Björn. Keeping her eyes to the ground, she muttered a sort of apology, crossing her arms even tighter across her chest. She was so wrapped up inside of herself that it would have been surprising if she had even realized that the person she skittered from was a friend.
Not cool.
"Erishi," Björn said, standing and looking to the woman, "What's wrong?" He made no move to touch her, knowing full well how she may react.
"Huh?!" She jumped into the air, turning slightly. It took about a minute of starting before she apparently snapped out of her mental state enough to recognize him.
"O-Oh! I-I'm sorry, Björn. I... I didn't see you, there." She finally let her arms loose to twine her fingers together and to smile up at him. "S-Sorry. I was just... Thinking."
"I noticed," Björn said, brow arched. Something was very not-right. First off, Erishi was not meant to be a sad Erishi. Secondly...well, Hell. He knew he didn't have the friendliest-sounding voice ever, but she'd freaked...
"What happened?"
"W-What would give you the idea something happened?" She tried to make her grin bigger. "Nothing happened! Everything is normal."
To prove her point, she practically tore her hands from each other and flapped her arms. While she probably intended this to make her look like her normal, strange self, it showed what she was trying to hide. One of the sleeves on her shirt tugged up to show a large, nearly black bruise on her forearm. It wrapped all the way around her arm, and was perhaps a little larger than her own hand.
Huh. Thought so.
Björn reached out and caught Erishi's arm, holding it firmly and somehow lightly. Well, sonnuvabitch.
"You're gonna lie to me about something like this? Huh?"
If he sounded angry, he was. Just not at her.
"Who the ******** did it?"
"I-I'm sorry!" She tried to twist away, attempting to push the sleeve back into place. Eri was incredibley glad that she'd worn long sleeves, because if that one bruise had made him so mad, what the rest of her looked like would only make him more angry.
"N-No one! I... I was clumsy. I... Ran into a door?"
"Sweetheart, I know what abuse is," Björn said simply, "Now either you tell me who did this, or I'm doing my own kind of investigation."
People could assume that this would involve explosives.
"I...." Letting her head fall down to rest on her chest, she gave a sort of laugh.
"Pathos came back. And, well, I never have been good at telling people 'no'."
Pathos...Pathos...AH! Short guy at the circus thing. Right.
"Did he beat you because you said 'no'," Björn asked carefully, "or did you say 'no' to a beating?"
"He... Just likes to hit me, I guess." That's just how he was. He probably got off on it. "I don't want to think about what he'd do if I did tell him no."
Because that scared her.
"I'm going to ******** kill him."
End of discussion.
His statement had a very surprising effect on her. "No! Please don't!" She grabbed onto his arm with one hand. "Please, don't."
"You're... You're a very good person. But, please don't. I... I don't want you to do bad things for me. I'd never forgive myself."
Björn laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound at all, but moreso the sound effect that played after the hero in a film died.
"I'm a horrible person," he said simply, "and I woldn't be doing it for you. If I was doin' it for you, I'd call the cops. This is all for me."
He was already speaking in future tense. This was probably not a good sign.
Visibly cringing at his laugh, Erishi dropped her hand from his arm and hugged her chest. "E-Even if it is for you, I told you, so it's my fault. I-I'd know, and, and please don't! He'll just get tired of me in a few weeks and leave. He always does."
"And then he'll come back," Björn said simply, already walking toward the HQ, "He always does."
"But...!" Chasing after him, Eri grabbed onto the back of his shirt, mind racing for any way to stop him.
It wasn't Pathos she was worried about, of course. But the just the thought of being indirectly responsible for more blood on Björns big hands made her feel ill inside.
"Please, just... Just not right now! Shammi is there, and she shouldn't have to see! She's too little! I'm... I'm supposed to protect her from seeing things like that!"
Björn continued walking, completely unaffected by the frantic woman.
"Then you and her can go hide out for a while. It won't take long. She'll never know the difference. Hell, she might like it."
"But... But...!" She stammered out, still trying to hold him in place. And then, she let go, arms falling to her sides.
"Okay." Eri said, staring at the back of Björns feet. "Okay."
"You'll thank me tomorrow," Björn said simply. In the door, up the stairs...that was all. He stood before Erishi's door, looking to the woman for a moment.
"You wanna go and get the kids out?"
"Yes." He would KNOW that something was up. But, she didn't care. She was tired. "Please.. Please don't come in until they're out."
"What's up with you?" Draco asked when she stepped in. He was seated in a chair facing Pathos, tail twitching.
"Please get Shammi for me." He was watching her. She could practically feel his eyes on her. "Take her out to play."
"Uh, Okay..." The dragon boy raised his eyebrows and picked up the girl. He shot a look over his shoulder at her before walking out. He raised both eyebrows at Björn and decided, very smartly, that he really didn't care to know what was going to happen. "Let's go outside right quick, Shammi."
"Bj?" Shammi peered over Draco's shoulder at him, watching the large man until Draco high tailed it down the stairs.
"So..." Pathos smirked very slightly, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Just what do you have planned?"
"Pathos." Erishi whispered, looking at her feet.
"What?"
Slowly, she raised her head to look at him. There was a smile on her face. "No."
"You dirty whore-!" Pathos was on his feet in an instant, lunging at her.
As Shammi passed, Björn gave a little smile and a wave. The kid wasn't supposed to see her mother get hit. Even more incentive.
At the sudden sound of new feet hitting the floor, however, he lunged into the room and once more gave that hideous laugh. He approached Pathos easily and plucked him from the ground by the back of his shirt.
Pathos took being plucked into the air very well. Swearing heavily, he twisted his shoulders and attempted to disengage Björn. "Sonofabitch, put me down you ******** f*****t!" The small man snarled, twisting his body in every imaginable way.
"You never have been very PC." Eri observed.
Something in Björn's head snapped. Somewhere in his subconscious, he remembered being held to the ground with a scalding metal brand pressed into his flesh. His nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed, and he slammed Pathos back against the wall with excessive force.
He could say nothing. He was far, far beyond words.
"Fu-" The small redhead managed to get out before things in his chest just started to snap. One lung was gone, right off. The other didn't seem to be in the best of shape. It was to be certain, he wasn't going to be walking this off.
"J-Jesus Christ, is that all you've got, you ******** puss?" Pathos forced, smirking again, his lips colored by frothy blood.
Björn cocked his head slightly to one side, an eerie half-smile creeping up onto his face. If at all possible, his voice had deepened and lowered.
"No."
He paused before speaking again.
"But it was enough to kill you, wasn't it?"
He raised his free hand and placed it against Pathos' chest, pressing all his weight into it.
No time for any more profanity, or taunts. Something of that weight pressing down on already splintering bones didn't bode well. His spine splintered, his ribs cracked and punctured the remaining lung and his heart.
Pathos gave a very surprised sort of blink as the last bit of bloodied air was forced from his lungs. His lips pulled into that infuriating smirk for the last time, seemingly mocking the world from his death.
And if Pathos knew what was coming next, even he would have taken a bit more care with his words.
Well, that was that. The guy's chest was purple and flat as a pancake. He was most definitely gone.
Björn gave an unusually happy sigh, as if something had suddenly been lifted off his chest. He removed his hand from the body's ribcage, laughing slightly at the imprint it had made, and holding it up as if it were a dead cat.
"What do I do with 'im?"
"Umm..." Eri blinked at him once or twice before shuffling into the kitchen and bending down behind a counter. She rustled around for a few moments before ripping off a garbage bag and trotting back to Björn. Eri shook the bag open and held it out.
Björn gave a short snort of laughter, folded the poor sod in half (all the while ignoring the disgusting crunching and rolling of shattered bone), and dropped him into the trash bag.
"A little word of advice: don't drop him off in front of the HQ. Go frame some hobos or something."
He grimaced and looked toward the floor then. Bodily fluids were never a fun thing.
"Get me another one uh those and I'll clean this up for ye. Some bleach would be good too."
"I could always ask Draco to help me with some target practice. He's always looking for an excuse to set something on fire." She flinched at the crunchy noises and held the bag very gingerly. She sat the bag by the door, tying it very securely before going to find cleaning supplies.
"Okay. If I rip my hand off, though, you have to help me put it back on, okay? That's the only thing he was good for." Eri said as she returned from the bathroom with a bottle of bleach and a scrub brush, and then going to the kitchen for another garbage bag.
"Yeah, no problem. May hafa have Liam do it, though. My fingers aren't excactly the most nimble."
He started cleaning the floor then, glad that all muscles hadn't relaxed before they'd shoved him in a garbage bag.
...granted, that bag was starting to smell a little funky.
After all was said and done, Björn stood, sighed, and nodded.
"I don't think it'll leave a mark," he said simply, and then added, "Do you mind if I commandeer your shower?"
"Commandeer all you want. I won't even spy on you." Eri said a bit faintly before walking back to the bag. "... Shouldda double bagged him." She muttered before picking the bag back up and making her way out.
She couldn't exactly remember how high of a tempeature it took to burn bones, but knew that if he was given the chance, Draco would willingly try. She dumped the bag off in the woods before going to find him.
"Drake. I need you to burn something in the woods."
Draco looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
". . . Pathos."
"Oh. Right then. I'll be back in a bit." Draco grinned and waved at her.
"Am I the only one who had any reservations about him dying?" Erishi sighed, letting her head fall down to her chest.
"Yes." The dragon said simply. "Gareth told me a lot about him. You probably would have been dead soon, and he really wouldn't have cared." Draco gave Shammi a pat on the head before walking off in the dirction Eri had came from, whistling something that sounded suspiciously like the Andy Griffith song.
Eri sighed and scooped Shammi up, placing a kiss between her two horns and returned to her room. Shammi's nose crinkled as soon as they entered.
"Bweach? Ewwi hurt hersewf again?" She asked, giving Erishi a very dark look.
By the time the two women got back to the room, Björn was already half-dressed and partially damp.
"Shirt's got blood on it," he said simply, "Didn't want it to soak in." Into his flesh, that.
"Hi, Shammi."
"S'okay." Eri nodded at him. "I don't mind. Sorry I don't have anything that'll come near fitting you.
"Hai, Bj!" Shammi waved happily, curling her tail around Eri's arm. Then, she looked around. Someone was missing. Looking at Björn with a small frown, she asked: "Meen man go 'way?"
"I don't expect that anyone does," Björn snickered, and then turned back to the chameleon girl, "Yep! The mean man went away. I scared him off."
A bit of an understatement, but hey. The kid didn't need to know he was a murderer too.
...now if she'd just stop calling him "BJ"...
Shammi clapped her hands together. "Good! I not wike him." Shammi nodded very seriously. "He make Ewwi sad."
Very carefully, Eri reached out and grabbed Björn's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you, Björn." She said very quietly.
"Mm. I didn't like him either."
A slight, sincere smile suddenly appeared across Björn's lips. He placed his other hand over Erishi's for a moment and nodded.
"No problem."
"I suppose... That if you don't mind having a little more blood on your hands, I won't mind that I help put it there." She looked up at his face and gave a somewhat sad, but relaxed smile. It was going to be nice, at least, to not have to worry about randomly being hit.
Shammi gave a somewhat confused burble, giving them both weird looks. Adults were strange things.
Björn smiled lightly and wrapped an arm 'round Erishi's waist, heaving a sigh. Sure he cared. He never liked killing people.
But, hey, that guy was an a*****e.
"Good."
Eri responded by hugging him with her free arm, leaning forward to rest her head on him.
"Thank you."
Björn heaved another sigh, chest rising and falling dramatically. Words danced at the tip of his tongue, very nearly making his brain begin to bleed. No, he couldn't. It wasn't right. She'd know what he meant by it, but still, it just wasn't r--
"I love you, ******** style="color: indigo">That was nice! Wait... What? Oh, s**t. What could you say to that?
"Well... I... I guess I'll have to choose who I hang out with more carefully in the future, so I don't leave you, then." She patted his back once, still leaning against him. "I love you too. You're too good not to."
Well, that was a bit of a shock. Suddenly, Björn's cheeks started to hurt.
It took him a monent to realize that he was grinning. Ah, and what a nice grin it was, too. Not at all frightening as it was generally made out to be. He could think of no proper reaction. Nobody'd told him they loved him in...
...
...three years.
"Thanks."
Just from his tone of voice, Eri could tell that something was up. She looked up at him and caught that smile. Seeing him smile made the last of her worry disappear. She smiled back up at him.
"See? I keep telling you you're good. That smile proves it."
Björn tried to stop and found he couldn't. Ah, hell, who cared? The damage had been done.
"How does a smile make me good? I'm sure Ted Bundy could smile."
"Probably." Eri smiled up, eyes going over his face like she was trying to memorize his smile. "But your smile makes me feel like things are right. And you make things right. So, your smile matches you."
"You're too sweet," Björn said matter-of-factly and reached up, running his hand briefly though Erishi's hair. He was suddenly noticing that he was in fact, bare-chested and she was, in fact, leaning against him.
He blushed slightly.
"Mostly just to you." Which wasn't entirely true, but she did have a special brand of sweet just for him.
And then he started to blush. Which just made her grin grow. Now that was an image she was going to sear into her mind. "Awww."
Björn looked away suddenly, and then down to the floor as he shoved his hands in his pockets and laughed slightly. Ah, nothing got much more embarassing than this.
And then he blushed harder.
"GOD DAMNIT."
He turned away.
Even though she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't help but giggle more at him. "Sorry." She covered her hand with her mouth. "You're just... Too cute, you know?"
Björn took control over himself once more, removing most of the smile with quick tongue-prods to the cheek and a few deep breaths. WHen he turned back around, however, he was still smirking lightly.
"No, I don't," he answered honestly, "This only happens around you. And don't let it go to your head."
"You must just be lucky, then. Most people don't tend to get red faced around me." Eri rested her free hand on her other hip, opposite a very confused looking Shammi.
"I won't let anything go to my head. I know I'm lucky you're my friend."
Björn nodded slightly and stooped, leaning over to Shammi's height.
"You look very, very conufused, little one."
Shammi gave him a look, then her a look, and then back to Björn. Finally, she seemed to know what she wanted to say. "You all weed." She proclaimed, giving both adults a very strange look.
"Weird?" Björn asked, "How so?"
"Weed." Shammi insisted, shaking her head.
The door opened, and Draco burst in, grinning heavily and looking only slightly charred. "That was so totally awesome! He was all: FOOSH! Fire everywhere! If you need cleanup ever again, you totally call me!" He started stripping off his jacket and walked towards the bathroom, still giggling.
"Okie. Ewwyone weed." Shammi decided.
"Ergh," Björn grimaced, "Charred flesh. And I didn't get to see it." He straightened out and stretched, figuring he wasn't going to get any better answer out of the toddler.
Giggling could still be heard from the bathroom. Eri shook her head at it. "I wind up with other people's weird kids. And, apparently, if you want off anyone else we've got someone to help clean up."
"Off?" Shammi blinked.
"Er, make them run away."
Björn wondered idly at what age it would hit Shammi that, hey, the big guy killed the little guy.
"Well...I guess I should be going."
It would probably be some time. Eri was going to shelter the girl as long as she could.
"Okay." Very carefully, Erishi dropped Shammi onto the couch. She turned back to Björn and picked up one of his hands. Erishi looked at it for a few moments before placing a kiss on the back of his hand. "Travel safe, okay?"
Björn laughed slightly.
"I'm going down the hall," he said, "but thank you." After a moment's thought he leaned down and kissed Erishi on the temple.
"See you."
And he was gone.
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:26 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:52 pm
"Have you seen the walk in?" A very well made up woman asked of another. The second woman looked out into the lobby.
A young girl sat there, black hair slightly obscuring her face. She was sitting Indian style in a chair, several empty seats between her and her nearest neighbor. The girl looked very out of place in her faded denim overalls and white tank top.
But what probably kept the other customers from getting close was the copy of 'Guns and Ammo' she was avidly reading.
"Perhaps someone should suggest to her something less... Expensive?" The first woman said with a snort. The two stylist bickered for a moment, then decided to call the shabbily dressed woman up.
"Miss, you do realize that this isn't a very good place to go if you're on a budget-" The first started. The woman blinked her eyes at her before handing a shiny new credit card over.
"I think I have enough for whatever the charges will be." She said.
"Well, then! Why don't you come over here, Miss Shea!" And the woman was all charm. She swept the girl into a seat, chatting cheerily. "And what can we do for you today?"
The girl dug in one pocket and took out an old, creased picture. She pointed to a younger version of herself and said: "I want that color."
"We'll have to strip the black out. You won't be able to do anything else to it for a while." And the stylist watched the girl's face turn white. There was a struggle going on in her head for a few minutes, and she took a very deep breath.
"Please go ahead." She looked somewhat like one who had just resigned herself to the electric chair.
The stylist chatted on and on as she stripped the old dye out and reconditioned the hair. It certainly looked better than before, like what would grow out of Miss Shea's head if she let it go.
"So, how do you like it?"
And the poor stylist had never seen someone cry so hard.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:55 pm
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 6:20 pm
"So, exactly HOW did that happen?" Draco said, eying the woman laying on the couch.
"No clue." Eri snuggled deeper into the pillow. "You want details?"
"No. But can you take another shower? I can still smell you."
"Yeah. Like I'm moving anytime soon."
"Fair enough." Draco slid off the side of the couch, patting her on the head. "You do so many weird things that make me shudder, you know?"
"It's just one of the many services I offer." Eri gave him a grin. Draco groaned loudly, rolling his eyes and throwing a blanket over her.
"God. Just go to sleep and shut up!"
"He's a nice boy." A deep voice from somewhere in her mind said.
Yes. He was a nice boy. Ever since she'd came to Gaia, she'd found a lot of nice people.
"In fact, I don't think he'll be like those people who claim to be your friends. There with you when you're smiling, but as soon as you're not they turn on you. Don't you remember?"
Eri's eyebrows crinkled and she opened her eyes. Now, what was going on in here?
"They just left you there, battered and broken, covered in bodies. Wasn't it nice to see what those so called friends really thought of you?"
Oh, damn. She was receiving.
"And look at what they're doing to our home. What they're doing in the sake of progress? Have you ever taken a look at it? Worthless. All of it.
And from that attitude, he was of Ethos. Goddamn. Very quietly, she replied. "What do you want?"
"I want you to come back to where you belong, Erin. With me. The man's voice was attempting to be pleading and earnest, but was failing. Eri growled, rolling over onto her stomach with a yelp and jamming a pillow over her head.
"Shut up, or so help me, I'll start digging things out of my head with a spoon!" She said, words muffled by the couch. There was a pause before the man replied.
"I'm sorry you feel that way. Don't worry, Erin. I'll chat with you later. I'm sure that you'll realize that I know what's best for you."
And then there was blessed silence again. Eri gave a sigh, rolling back over to her back.
"You sure all that moving is smart?" A second voice chimed in. "I'm pretty sure you have some internal damages from that little coupling."
The young woman sat straight up, ignoring the screeching protest her body gave her. "What?!" She cried, forgetting to be quiet.
"Hmmm? Oh, I was on duty during that little escapade. Good thing, too. He'd try and guilt trip you about it. What with you begging for 'Harder, please'!" The second voice took on a very mocking tone, clearly enjoying the teasing.
Her face was burning again. She flopped backwards again, covering her face with the pillow and giving an inarticulate mumble.
"Oh, did that embarrass you? I'm sorry!" And the man actually laughed. He didn't sound particularly malicious, but when you had people talking into your head that shouldn't, they weren't usually the best of people.
"What do you want?"
"Me? Just to see how you're doing." And now his voice turned serious. "That man, Björn? Is he good to you?"
"He's gay?"
"Yeah, I caught that. Is he good to you?"
"Er, yeah? He's a very good person?" Now she was just confused as hell.
"Good. Now," And the voice was back to being all business. "I know you won't trust me. But I'm just telling you that I'm a lot more of a friend than the other one who'll be talking to you. He wants nothing more than for you to come and work for him."
"And what do you want?"
"I told you. I just want to see how you're doing." The man seemed amused again. "Don't worry. I'll just be chatting back here. I have to be, to keep up appearances. They want you back pretty bad, Eri dear. And they want someone talking in your skull twenty four hours a day, to drive you mad if that's what it takes."
"Oh, goddamn." Eri mumbled, rubbing her stomach.
"But since I'm such a nice guy, I think I'll turn the microphone down so you can get some sleep. I know your poor muscles need it to recuperate." The voice was silent for just a moment before breaking into laughter. "I do think you win some sort of award. Not many girls can say they've gotten gay giants to help them break the brains of poor short men."
"Aargh." Eri burbled. The second man gave a laugh before going silent.
Well. This didn't bode well.
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