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 Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:45 am
.How Kilah Met Lilly. Part Two
Akilah had a lot of bad habbits. Recently, she had developed a new one. Talking to herself. She liked Cricket, but Cricket was a Cait and they couldn't speak. Desiring converstional company was a bit contradicting for someone who snapped at any member of her family that got within hearing range, and who brushed off any attempt anyone at the bar may have, including the few sober ones. Even Yufa she spoke with only when nesscary, and only because she had the unfortunate desire to not be kicked out of the place. If she lost her temper and killed the lady, the bar would undoubtedly close, and again, that would take away her oddly chosen sanctuary.
It wasn't that she didn't want to talk. She was loud and just full of opinions. Of course she did. The catch was, she only wanted to speak to a certain, chosen few. She would admit that Pukio was tolerable, but there was the constant reminder looming over her head that Pukio was Noyama's friend first and hers second. So, she generally had lost the will to approach her. She hadn't ever found Lyrus and she hadn't heard from Mignon in an even longer span of time. It was why she began talking to herself. Because there was no one else.
Gizmo was the one who had known the way to both locations, and with him dead, she was... well, screwed, as far as any plans to barge into their houses and demand why the hell they hadn't taken time out of their apparently oh-so-important lives to spend on her. Even if Gizmo was living and breathing, it probably wouldn't have mattered. Lyrus had moved, last she'd been told, and she didn't know where. It was likely Mignon had as well.
Maybe they were both dead, rotting somewhere. Kilah didn't wish any harm to her two best friends, but she also didn't feel guilty for hoping that rang true, and it wasn't that they just didn't care enough to come and see her.
Only after Kilah was half way back home did she realize she hadn't established any meet-up location with the mysterious man. It didn't seem likely if he was dashing about, trying to find all the people he could willing to hunt down and slaughter some woman, he would return to the same bar repeatedly in the hopes only one of those many 'hired' people returned. One he was convinced couldn't fufill the job at that.
"What do I care?" Kilah complained to the air infront of her. "The guy sounded like a quack. He's probably just looking for some moron to run off and slaughter his ex-wife or something..." Cricket mewed, but knew well her owner wasn't speaking to her. Approaching the front door to the large building the two of them called home, Cricket pushed it open (with minor struggle) and then wobbled off to the kitchen, Kilah still tagging behind her.
The kitchen was next to the livingroom, and in passing, Kilah heard two voices she recognized and one she didn't. Noyama, Harper, and some woman probably in her 20s. If Noyama's breathing hadn't sounded so flustered, Kilah would've broke away from her 'eye-Cait' and went to her room. Add that along with Harper's presence, and a foreign adult, there was a good chance the little b***h was in trouble (for once), and no way Kilah would pass up a chance to listen in on that.
"M'glad. I don't want no dragon belongin' to some lass who's afraid of 'em," the unknown voice was saying. Whoever this person was, their voice, laced with accent, didn't sound anything but completely comfortable and casual. Despite her words, it didn't seem as though her sister was in any sort of trouble at that weird school of hers, and Kilah sneered.
"I assure you I'm comfortable with Alexander now," Harper offered, and that slight edge in her voice only Kilah caught meant she was lying. She wasn't fooling the Sin'aeis any. "But thank you for your concern, Ms.Ghardian."
Ghardian...
"Lilly Ghardian?!" Three sets of eyes (well, two and a half), gazed at Kilah. Noyama's were wide, Harper's were narrowed warningly, and Lilly's one was gleaming with curiousity.
"Aye," the former teacher responded. "Ya know me, lass? Then yer sisters been talkin' bout me 'round this place." She grinned at Harper. "Good things, I hope," she added. Not seriously, because no doubt anything Harper said about her in the comfort of home was negative. After all, she had terrorized the kid. But who wouldn't? She was a bookwork, vegetarian hawk who couldn't fly!
"No," Kilah said, and now Lilly looked surprised as Noyama did. "Someone else." Abandoning the kitchen for the livingroom, she felt her way to the couch and plopped down. Harper got up and left, annoyed with the unwelcomed presence. Feeling uneasy, Noyama followed suit. It saved Kilah the trouble of telling them both to 'piss off'. "A man did."
"Hm." Still grinning, Lilly stretched her arms across of the back of the chair. "M'quite popular with the men, so, s'not all that surprising they be goin' on about me and all. I--"
"It wasn't like that," Kilah cut-in. This woman was annoying. In a different way than ones like Harper and Noyama, but annoying just the same. "He wanted me to kill you."
"Kill me?" echoed the pink-haired woman, taken aback. Oookay... Suddenly serious, she glanced down at the floor, staring at the carpet intensely. "Did he give you his name?"
"Dilanda."
"Aye, he used his real one... Surprising." Scratching the back of her head, she observed the teenager infront of her. Blindfold. Big boobs. Redhead. Didn't look like any random do-gooder. "Why are ya tellin' me this?"
"Because I learned from experience trusting strangers who offer you shiny objects is dangerous," Kilah responded without the slightest pause. Memories of Momoro flooded her mind, but she pushed them back behind the dam that had been built for them quickly enough. "He offered me money, but I don't trust him."
"That be a wise choice ya made there. Still, it dun seem to be enough of a reason to rat on him to me."
"I'm going to be honest with you," Kilah began, taunting the voice of the man almost exactly. Lilly smirked. This strange girl had definately had a run-in with Dilanda. "I'm just bored. He wouldn't tell me what the reason was you shoved a stick up his a**, so I wanna know. You owe me, don't you?"
"Suppose I do, if yer going by that code societys set up," the woman agreed. "Lucky for me, I dun give a s**t about things like that. I don't owe ya nothin' for alerting me of that assholes presence just cause yer lookin' for something to pass the time for ya." Kilah frowned.
"How about you tell me or I'll go and tell him where you are. Aren't you a teacher at that stupid school? Shouldn't be hard to track you, should it?"
"I quit D-Corp." Lilly mirrored the other females expression. But if he had found out she'd been there, he could probably still find her somehow. "What cha wanna know? Why's he after me? S'because he used to be me commander way back when. I was in a war a long a** time ago. Found out why he'd started it to begin with and had some...issues with it."
"So you ran off," Kilah observed. Lilly nodded absently.
"Aye, I did."
"I have no idea where he is right now."
"Huh?"
"Dilanda. I have no idea where he is. Maybe still at the bar, maybe not." She wasn't sure when it had started, but Kilah was beginning to become a lot better at lying. Maybe it was because she hadn't seen Mignon in so long, who could tell the difference between truth and lying, and it was worth trying the later again. As the woman across from her and Noyama had both been before, Kilah sat, surprised, as the ex-teacher burst into laughter.
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Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:08 pm
.How Kilah Met Lilly. Part Three
"Why are you laughing?" Was this woman laughing at her? Kilah grinded her teeth together. There was no way somebody could get away with that, much less in her own house! Lilly spoke before she pounced, waving a hand in a dismissive way. A pointless gesture since the crazed teenager couldn't see. Both hands fell into her lap and she took in a shuttering breath, by the sounds of it very close to losing herself in another fit of amusement again.
"S'not you," she stated, as if reading the others mind. "Just dun believe I let that one slip past me without even noticin'. Used to be 'lot sharper." Kilah stuck her nose up and turned away. What an annoying person... "Yer smart to not trust Dilanda," Lilly continued, suddenly serious. "Even if ya had managed to take me out--" That almost made her laugh again. "--he'd have just killed ya next time he saw ya, not paid ya a dime. Not even for yer funeral."
Kilah clutched the fabric of the couch. "I figured."
"What would ya say 'bout helping me take the guy out?" It didn't surprise Lilly that Kilah had startled at the offer, given the situation.
"And how do I know you aren't going to try and kill me?"
"Do ya think I could kill ya if I wanted?"
Kilah surprised herself by not answering 'yes' without hesitation, and Lilly, too, even if she couldn't see it. Perhaps she was becoming less arrogant? Not likely. Maybe she was just wary of this woman's presence. "Asking a question doesn't answer my question," she finally spoke up.
"Aye, guess not." Running a hand through her hair--a habbit of Lilly's--she mused it over. "I need ya to be a sorta spy for Dilanda for me. M'thinkin' since he be showin' up at a place like this he already knows m'here somewhere."
"It did sound like it," agreed Kilah absently. "But again, why should I trust you?"
"Can't think of no reason, to be honest with ya," admitted Lilly. "Just tryin' to save me own a**, plain and simple." The woman stood and brushed her skirt off, adjusted her eyepatch, and flashed a grin toward the teenager reguardless of if she would realize it or not. "I quit D-Corp, but I dun plan on moving from me house now. Yer sister knows where to find me if ya change yer mind."
"I don't see why I would." But Lilly was already at the door, leaving Kilah to ponder in silence. --For about four seconds. "What?" Someone sat across from Kilah, the same place Lilly had been, and blue eyes stared her down, warning and serious.
"I don't want any trouble," Noharu firmly told her. "Not in this house. You're only here because of Karoko, remember that." Kilah snorted.
As if she ever forgot.
--------
The following day, the normal cycle repeated again. Kilah told herself it was nothing other than the boredem that plauged her that made her think the entire situation from the previous day earlier. Yufa had questioned her briefly about the whole thing, but after seeing the Sin'aeis was in a particularly sour mood, she let it go and continued with her bartending duties. There was plenty enough to keep her busy tonight, what with the sudden onslaught of people that entered.
So many that Kilah was unphased when sensing someone sit down beside her. There probably wasn't anywhere else. But then, the voice spoke. A voice that would send chills down the spine of a coward with ease, and almost did so for someone who wasn't one. "That's how it is, hm?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," was Kilah's response. Not that she really cared.
"Lilly Ghardian is here," Dilanda spoke, half to himself. "And you know her?" He smirked in satisfaction when the young woman's hand clutched her sword handle so tightly her knucles turned white.
"What's it to you?!" How did he know? Had he been spying on them somehow? No, he couldn't be. If he had been there, she would have sensed him!
"Do calm down." His voice remained the same tone, never shaking or pausing. "However... I feel as though you lied to me yesterday, Ms.Akilah."
"I didn't lie about s**t to you," the Sin'aeis hissed. "I just met her yesterday." Why was she defending herself to this guy, anyway?
"I don't believe that. Reguardless, if you speak to her again, I'll have to have you terminated as well. Being a companion in her crime is not to be tolerated."
"Threatening me..." Kilah said slowly. The words were not a question.
"I'm promising you," Dilanda confirmed. The words were not to be questioned.
--------
Three hours later, a very aggravated, red-faced Harper was staring at a familar wooden house. "This is it," she told Kilah. "What do you need to talk to her for?"
And that was it. Kilah entered the home--or more like barged in. Lilly wasn't phased by the sudden entrace. It was one she'd very much been expecting. "Threatened ya, did he?" Though Kilah never answered, the look on her face was enough.
"I'll help you. I want him dead. That's my reason."
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:20 pm
Noyama Temporarily moving out of the household shared by their two families (and Noharu's) did not free Akilah and Ryker from each other. Although it would be more appropriate to say it simply didn't free him from her, because most of the observing family reasoned Ryker would run far, far away from the crazed teenager if he could.
But he couldn't.
And that was the problem.
'He isn't walking well enough,' was Akilah's only excuse for snatching that big, stupid teddy bear he kept drooling on and dragging him (ironicly DRESSED as a big, stupid teddy bear) and the stuffed animal out the door and to the Sin'aeis mansion (using Cricket as her 'guide Cait').
At his age, she was walking much better. Hell, she had already run away at this point! Sure, she had Gizmo to help, but that wasn't the point.
"Okay," she began, and carelessly dropped the toddler on the floor in one of the hallways, still clutching the bear with her left hand. "If you're a good student I'll give this back. If not, I'm going to cut it's head off." Pukio Meanwhile, Ryker had a death grip on that teddy bear, letting Akilah drag him wherever she wanted on his stomach, so long as he could hold onto the thing. His toes skimmed along the floor, arms wrapped around the stuffed animal's midsection like a life preserver.
He screamed when she ripped it out of his hands.
Really.
Really.
Loudly.
"'IIILAAAAAAAAAAH, BEARBEARBEARBEARBEARBEARBEARBEAR--" so forth and so on, an enraged litany on the part of a toddler who wanted his bear back, dammit! Noyama Children were SO damn annoying. She remembered being much...cooler as a toddler. Lyrus, too. And a few others. Why couldn't Ryker be? It was because he had been brain washed with teddy bears.
Damn teddy bears.
"SHUT UP!" Kilah hissed, and smacked the poor boy over the head with the animal-shaped bundle of stuffing. "If you keep screaming I'll just rip the entire thing apart right now!"
She leaned a hand against the wall and her eyebrows narrowed together. The wall lifted, forming a door into the next room. Kilah tossed the bear into the created opening, then snatched up the toddler, drug him to the other end of the hall, and hurriedly marched back.
"Okay, come and get it." Pukio Ryker stared at her - or, more specifically, he stared at the bear with a kind of single minded determination as she opened up a door out of the wall, chucked his toy through and then bodily dragged him backward the entire length of the hallway. He set his jaw stubbornly, considering for a brief moment the pros and cons of more screaming.
He waited until she had made her way aaaaall the way back to the door at the veeeery end of the hallway.
And then he rolled forward from a sitting position onto his hands and knees and began crawling the entire length of the hall right back after her and that teddy bear, with a sort of self serving air about the way he moved that might have manifested in a s**t eating grin written all over his face if he wasn't so angry about having his bear STOLEN. Noyama Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
As a baby, Akilah had learned how to tell what things were just by footsteps. Younger people or simply smaller ones trudged lighter, for example. Also, things like Cait, regular cats, dogs, all of them had two extra feet to move. Sin'aeis did not.
Thus it was easily determined that little brat was crawling on his hands and knees. Simply yelling at him, Kilah reasoned (with Kilah logic), would not teach him anything. She would instead wait.
Wait until he had juuust about reached the bear, and then place her hand on the wall and make the door she'd created close. Hopefully, the little brat had run into the bricks.
Carefully angling her foot, she pushed him away. The created 'door' opened again, and a second later the bear was held in her grasp again. --At least, the bear's head was, the body thumping to the floor.
"And what did you learn today?" Pukio Crawl, crawl, crawl, almoooooost to that door. Ryker reached out for the bear and -- THUD. He cracked his forehead soundly against the plaster wall. He blinked, sitting back with a shocked expression on his face. Absently, he began to rub his forehead, watching with thoughtless interest as Kilah grabbed the bear and--
The bottom half of the stuffed down landed in his lap.
Ryker's mouth slowly fell open, forming a perfect 'o' of absolute horror.
"'ILAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH," he shrieked, bursting into tears. Rather morbidly, he immediately began digging through the stuffing spilling out of the bear's severed neck, doing his best to stuff it back inside. Noyama Kilah cringed slightly from the piercing noise, but otherwise didn't outwardly appear effected. There was no reason to admit his damn screaming was killing her head. "You'll thank me for this one day," she told him loudly, dropping the decapitated remains of the bear she'd still held. "If you don't do things properly important things of yours will be destroyed. Consider it a life lesson."
If it had been a movie, there would have been a hidden meaning behind the words. The incident all together would have been some sort of test, which would mold and shape Ryker into some sort of hero, and allow him to reach a goal later in life he would've failed at otherwise.
Since it wasn't a movie, the reason was simple that he had pissed Kilah off by not doing what she told him to. If he was still crawling as a child she'd just stone him to death and be done with it. "Stop crawling like a baby." Pukio And Ryker, like any normal child would do given their favorite stuffed animal was just ripped IN HALF, just continued to screech and wail and fruitlessly attempt to put the bear back together, snatching the head of the bear once Akilah had dropped it and trying to stuff it back onto the bear's body. It flopped over miserably, rolling across the floor bleeding stuffing as it went, which, naturally, only made Ryker screech more angrily. At length, he took the bear's body in both hands and did the one thing he could do.
He swung it back, swung forward, and landing an almighty stuffed cotton wallop straight to Akilah's shins. "WHORE," he screeched.
Momma had once said that over the dinner table. Some girl Uncle Tovar had brought over. Noyama No.
He.
Didn't.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Kilah screamed. It's not like getting hit in the knee with cotton had hurt any, but of all the names to call her! That was reserved for use on Noharu only! "Look, you little b***h, you should be ******** thrilled Noyama is dumb enough to think you can run an island with me when you're older!" --If he lived that long.
Because Kilah had no shame, she lifted her hands to her--ahem--chest and squeezed, uh, meaningfully. "You see? You are one lucky little b*****d! I have COUSINS that want to do me just for these alone! You ********! Damn little brat!" She should've crushed him with that rock way back when.
It was decided.
Ryker had to die.
But just as her hand reached her sword, somebody had snatched it and twisted it behind her back.
"Aye now!" the familar voice scolded. "Yer not gonna be killin' no children while yer with me! I'm in enough trouble meself, ya hear?" Pukio Ryker covered his ears in a clear attempt to block out her protest, still screeching and screaming right up until the situation was rather hastily intervened by a woman with an eye patch and pink hair. He blinked suddenly, attention flicking quickly to the path and associating it immediately with -- "Momma," he chirped miserably, holding up the beheaded bear and beginning to warble with the dulcet tones of absolute misery.
Behind Lilly, a man with creases at the corners of his eyes and on his forehead, his curly hair kept short and his shoulders broad, features thick, chuckled. "Thinks your his ma," he remarked, amused, as he bypassed his comrade to squat beside Ryker and take account of the bear's, uh... unfortunate state. Ryker, meanwhile, devolved into a miserable sniffling pile of toddler, immediately flopping backwards and banging the back of his head against the floor, wiggling around in a half-hearted tantrum as he bemoaned the beheading of his bear.
Al picked the stuffed animal's body up, turning it around in his hands. He was missing two fingers on his right hand, the look of it mangled and wrong. He picked at the bear's stuffing. "I bet I could fix this."
Ryker heard none of it and continued to wail on the ground. Noyama "I think yer an a*****e," Lilly responded to Al, hurrying backwards as Kilah broke free of her hold and swung at her sloppily. "Yer not gonna hit anyone like that."
"What the hell are you DOING here?" Kilah spat. "And what's he doing here?" Al, wasn't it? Lilly had told her if any men missing some fingers showed up at the door to slam it on their faces. Then, after remembering Kilah couldn't see to determine that, she said to just not let anybody in and feel free to swing a sword at any men who approached the household.
"I went to see yer mum, she told me ya came here. M'glad I showed up now. Ya gotta remember not to kill children no matter how much they deserve it." Not if you were going to get caught, and this girl wasn't bright enough to get away with murder.
She didn't look at him, not daring to take her eyes off Kilah, but said to Al, "Ya can't sew a damn thing missin' half of one of yer hands. Keep quiet." She insepcted Ryker warily.
Kilah's hatred for children was very bias. Lilly hated them all no matter what.
"Aye, can you make this kid stop wailing?" Pukio Al looked askance at Lilly, eyes narrowed slightly. "I can sew just damn fine, you know. Don't need a full pair for stitching s**t up." Besides, it wasn't like he was suturing a head wound back together or nothing - not a real one leastways. Even so, he set the beheaded bear corpse aside and turned his attention to the flailing and shrieking kid.
With a matter-of-fact air about him, Al took Ryker by the shoulders and peeled him off the floor, manhandling the toddler until he'd propped him up on his feet. "There you go kiddo."
Ryker's knees wobbled and he threatened to go flopping back to the ground, kicking and screaming. At least he wasn't yelling anymore though. For the time behind. Al kept his hands on the kid's shoulders, mostly to keep him steady. Noyama Lilly glared at him warningly. "Ya ain't got a full pair of nothin, a**." It wasn't like she'd wanted to bring him. He had a tendancy to just... Show up. At the worst times. She observed him lift Ryker up, Ryker continue to kick and scream, and gave her former war-buddy a dull look, as if to say, 'You suck at that'.
Hell, she was Lilly Ghardian, why not say it out loud? "Ya suck at that." But no matter. Bigger fish to fry. "Kee-lah, m'actually not here to be playin' the role of Child Services. I came to talk to ya 'bout that island of yers."
"The island?" the Sin'aeis repeated. "What about it?"
"What would ya say bout keeping some dragons there once ya take over, mm?" Kilah was Harper's sister, something Lilly had not known until they had walked into the house and met Noyama, who had told them so. She'd also told them an hours worth of other things, including the engagement to Ryker, the island, how you weren't suppose to put non-food things in the oven. Pukio Al shot her a glare, square features with war and weather beaten skin wrinkling marvelously. He held Ryker up, his hands up the kids arm's, holding the toddler at arms length like he was going to get a disease or, worse, that Ryker might slobber his tears and snot all over his shirt. He liked this shirt - it had snaps instead of buttons, was a lot easier to put on with one and a half hands than most of the other things he still owned.
And he looked like he wanted to say something so bad. 'Don't do it; they'll kill everything.' 'Don't do it, you don't know what they are; not really.' 'Don't do it. How do you know it won't be the same thing all over again, you selfish b***h.' Instead Al ducked his head, looking back to the dark haired boy he was holding up.
"Hey kiddo, you shouldn't be upset. It's just a bear, yeah? Nothin' to go crying all over about. Besides, I'll be good money your momma'll know how to fix it." Maybe. He didn't really know the kid's mom, so...
Ryker sniffled and warbled miserably, not exactly crying anymore but not exactly quiet either. He floundered around and flopped like a fish between the grip of Al's hands. "Bearbearbear," he squealed, a little half heartedly.
Al fixed his mouth into a thin line. Noyama It wasn't very often Kilah thought something over, she was far too brash for it usually. When she did, everyone knew it by the way her face scrunched up. They also knew the time when her features relaxed was when she had decided.
"Put whatever you want on that piece of crap land," Kilah said finally. "When I take things over, I'm going to kill all those people, anyway, so there'll be plenty of room for other things." Finished with Ryker for now (let these jackasses take care of him if they were so worried), she began down the hall.
Lilly watched, her single eye wide. Holy hell, this girl was psycho. For reasons unknown, she glanced at Al. Pukio And maybe it was just Kilah heading to leave, but Ryker finally became a little less boneless, shuffling to his feet and sighing heavily, sniffling here and there but not wailing after the fate of his bear. Al looked after the older Sin'aeis as she moved purposefully down the hall.
He shot a look to Lilly over his shoulder, straight faced. "And you want to put dragons in her hands? Christ." Making a faint noise, he rocked up, straightening his back and hauling Ryker up with him. Al unceremoniously shoved the kid into Lilly's arms.
"I'm going home," he announced - and when you get yourself killed, I'm sure as hell not burying you - before turning away and back tracking the way they'd come.
Meanwhile, Ryker hung loosely in the rather awkward hold, his legs dangling down, all of gravity pulling on his shoulders and arms where Lilly's arms had been so shoved by the older man. "Lemme down; bearbear," he muttered, squirming. Noyama Ewewew. Small child germs.
Lilly cringed. She was thinking, more and more, boarding this Sin-whateverthehell wasn't going to be worth it in the long run, even with the land that she'd just been given permission to throw multiple dragons onto.
"Shut up, brat," she hissed at Ryker, tucking him under one arm. It was a miracle she didn't drop him as she ran to catch up with Akilah. "Aye, birdy! AYE!"
Kilah had reached the front lawn by that point, but she stopped now, saying nothing. So, Lilly took the liberty. "M'not tryin' to pass judgement on ya or anything like that, I been in a bunch o' wars meself and all, but... Yer not really about to just take out all those people? I mean, yer mom is from there--"
"Yes, she is," Kilah interupted, voice bitter. "Ryker is the tool," she added suddenly. "I realized it as a child."
"But, Noyama-" Lilly pressed.
"Will die to," finished the Sin'aeis curtly. "Excuse me." And her footsteps continued. Lilly heavily sighed, ran her free hand through her hair, and gazed down at Ryker.
"Well...best be gettin' you back home, I guess."
Not worth it at all.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:21 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:22 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:23 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:56 am
Pukio He wasn't even supposed to be up this early. Heck, he was pretty sure the san had barely risen. If people were expecting him to make executive decision making at this early in the morning, they were crazy. He wasn't making any choices until someone gave him some kind of breakfast beyond 'crappy berry juice.'
Ryker squirmed around in the place he'd been given to sit at Akilah's side, chewing on the inside of his cheek boredly and letting his attention wander about the room. It was nice outside; he could be playing around right now, doing interesting things - or at the very least telling that new servant kid to clean his room; Ryker could go for something like that. He wondered, briefly, if the other kid would do stuff like serve him breakfast in bed or do his schoolwork for him...
His attention sapped back to the table as Noharu poured the juice, squinting at the thick, nasty looking juice. "Eww." Noyama Akilah's threats were never empty ones, and the following had a particularly high amount of verbal venom, "Just drink it, damn it, or else." Being angry constantly, it wasn't much of a change from the norm. Today she really, honestly, had a pretty good reason to be this pissed off.
She'd thought killing Momoro, and actually making sure she'd killed him (she'd stabbed him, what, five times?) would have done the job, but somehow, that son of a b***h had found a way to haunt her even from beyond the grave.
To be expected from someone who's exsistance was just to take her out, she supposed. He'd have probably gone after Ryker, too, if they'd been alive at the same time.
"Alright, so, what? What is it she wants?" Given the situation, Akilah didn't sound as interested as she should. She snatched the cup infront of her and gulped the nasty liquid down. Gross.
"Why don't you ask her?" grumbled Noharu, but just the same turned toward the other female almost identical to herself. "What is it you're demanding?" A fist slammed on the table between them.
"I demand revenge! If you killed my fiance, I want yours dead, too!" Ansala's face twisted at Kilah's sudden laughter.
"Kill Ryker? THAT'S the demand?" Pukio Ryker pulled the cup of juice to him, eyeing it warily and sniffing the contents of the cup. Gross. He made a valiant effort anyway, hooking his mouth on the lip of the cup and sipping experimentally.
It tasted just as bad as promised and while he managed to choke a few sips down he really just held the cup to his mouth so it looked like he was doing his job which was, apparently, just sitting here listen to a bunch of girls argue and talk in some language he didn't know in the slightest.
And, you know, apparently spew that nasty berry juice all over the table two seconds later, spluttering and choking. "--KILL ME?!" Noyama Through her laughter Kilah managed to get the words out, just barely, "Relax, I'm not going to let them kill you." Not in the comforting way, more of the because-I-want-to-myself-eventually way. The chuckling (she'd managed to dim her amusement down to that) wasn't helping. It still surprised Noharu even to spark surprise in her eyes and perk her ears up. "No deal, you psycho," the Sin'aeis grinned. For the first time, she was thankful Ryker barely spoke a word of this. "I still need this brat for stuff. If you want, you can have him when I'm done."
"Kilah!" Noharu cried, mouth hanging open. She was ignored as before.
"Chill, Ryker, the big bad psycho girl isn't going to get you." Kilah made a choking noise. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. Don't---
"Are you so sure?" Ansala spoke up, her English as clear as any of theirs. After that, Kilah wasn't so entertained anymore. Pukio He put the cup down, drips of condensation on the glass sliding down the outside of the cup and leaving a ring at the bottom, soaking into the table. Ryker looked between the three women, shifted uncomfortably.
Crazy. And three of them were crazy, but who was the most off their nut...-- Ryker looked at Kilah, eyes wide, hands gripping the edge of the table. He glanced briefly back to the stranger, the islander, Ansala.
The boy shoved away from the table, scrambling to his feet. "I'm going home," he said, tripping over his own feet on the way to the door. "You guys do...do whatever. I'm going home."
No way in h-e-double-l was he sticking around here. Not on his life. "I'm uh. Gonna go see what that other kid is up to. You know. Go do stuff." He glanced desperately to Noharu, got the sinking feeling she was the most sane of the lot. "Okay, bye."
Just a few more steps to the door. Just a few more. Noyama Noharu didn't look at Ryker. Her gaze seemed fixated on Kilah--or more, the hand that Kilah had near her left shoe. No doubt she had a weapon there, the question was if she intended to attack Ryker for not 'cooperating' or Ansala for being a liar.
"I'd suggest you stay here." Unlike Noharu, Ansala did look at Ryker. Glared at him even. Glared very, very spitefully, but her lips tugged upwards. It was a strange expression all together. "You'll die even if you leave." Reaching forward toward the table, she raised her empty glass as if the group was about to cheer for something. "There aren't any berries on that island, none this color, but our supply of poison is quite a large one, if you have the right connections." Pukio Ryker stared at the islander. Stared for about two seconds before he was grasping at his throat with both hands, as if that would do something to stop the poison from getting into his system, eating away at his insides or whatever the heck poison did.
And just as quickly he'd suddenly turned and launched himself back across the room with an unholy squawk of rage, lunging toward Ansala with one hand open and the other closed around a knife.
The knife he kept in his pocket, shoved at the bottom, flipped closed in most circumstances, but there. Waiting.
He hadn't really intended to stab anyone with it, but these were kind of extenuating circumstances and, really, who was going to object in this scenario? Noyama Jumping up and dashing toward Noharu, her attempts to knock the kid over (not graceful, sure, but) resulted in a cut on her side. Hissing fiercely, her ears pinned back. "Ryker, stop it! Put that down! If she dies--"
"If she dies, we won't know how to antidote it," Kilah finished for her, voice as even as it had been when they first arrived. 'Put that down' meant Ryker was at least smart enough to have some sort of sharp object on him, and for just a second she found herself mildly proud of the 'little b*****d'.
But he had no idea what he was doing with those sorts of things as far as she knew, where as Kilah knew exactly how to handle the rusty but still effective dagger cletched in her left hand. She stood, strolled over to Ansala, and sat down where Noharu had been beside her. "So, how do we fix it?"
"As if I would tell you, but like you said, if you killed me--"
"There are other ways," Kilah interupted. It was quickly becoming her favorite thing to say, second to 'piss off', of course. The weapon shot out and dragged across the islanders throat. Ansala thudded to the ground and made a deadly gurgling noise.
"See, now, this is why I didn't want to do this at home." Pukio Knocked off course, staggering, Ryker wheeled around and tripped, managing not to cut himself with his own knife as he reached out and steadied himself with a hand against the wall. He turned back in time to see Kilah cross the room to Ansala. He kept the knife out, flipped open, no matter what Noharu said.
Just in case--
And then the islander's blood came bubbling out of her throat, sliding down her front and pooling in her lap before she could keel over to gurgle on the floor. Ryker stared, fingers loose around the hilt of the knife. He let his shoulders bang back against the wall, his free hand groping along the plaster as if looking for something else to hold on to.
"H-holy s-- Kilah!" Noyama And any pride Kilah had for just that short amount of time was thrown to the ground, stomped on, burned, stomped on more, and then blew away in the wind. "What? You were going to try it yourself, weren't you?" Not that she was a big fashion nerd, especially considering...you know...lack of eyesight, but the Sin'aeis was annoyed her shoes--new shoes, she'd stolen them fair and square--were getting blood on them when she shoved the unclean blade back between the the left one and her sock.
Once again, she stood, stepping over the body and greatful Chaco didn't appear anywhere close enough to come in and start wailing about it. He was such a cry baby. "Noharu, find a phone in this place and get Harper and Karoko here, then take care of this. Ryker, come with me, we're going to another room."
Her hand flailed around a bit, eventually locating Ryker's arm, grasping it tightly and dragging him out of the room. How the hell was she suppose to deal with this? And had she been poisoned, too? The only thing she could think of was to shove him on a bed, because that's where sick people belonged, wasn't it? "If you see a bed, tell me."
Back in the room they had abandoned, Noharu frowned deeply and nudged the corpse with her foot. She sighed heavily and cracked her neck, obviously annoyed. More so than before.
It was so hard to find good help these days... Pukio Gaping, Ryker allowed himself to be blindly led away, Kilah's grip on his arm almost painful, the knife still held in his other hand. He looked back at the corpse, the blood stretching across the floor like a spilled drink from the islander's beck, looked until Kilah pulled him completely from the room and around the corner of the doorway, hastening down the hallway.
"O-okay," he managed, quickening his pace so he wasn't been dragged along, though he continued to shoot glances back over his shoulder toward the room they'd just left. The room with some dead woman with her throat slashed to the bone.
Holy s**t, holy s**t.
"Am I gonna die?" Ryker asked suddenly, a little breathlessly - maybe from being dragged, maybe from watching Kilah kill Ansala, maybe from the poison. Noyama "Probably," Kilah grumbled. This was just great. She was like a ******** Black Widow or something. Momoro had already died, and now Ryker was going to? How many damn times did she have to replace these people? "Just shut up, will you?" Karoko was always watching those sappy a** movies, ones that made Kilah wish she was deaf along with being blind. There was always that, 'Don't speak, save your strength.' line. Maybe there was something to it. Did people really die slower if they spoke less?
Eventually, she nudged a door open and tugged Ryker inside, completely unsure of what room it was, but it had to be better than just wandering around the hall like an idiot. Since Ryker sounded ready to fall over, and she felt fine aside from being very, very angry, the 'mafia' leader concluded she hadn't been poisoned. A part of her wished she had, because being dead might be better than being thisinsanelyangry.
"Sit down or something."
"I called them." At some point, Noharu had caught up with them.
"And that body?"
"What the hell do you want me to do with it, Kilah? But I did figure out the antidote." Pukio The room wasn't a bedroom or, really, anywhere that Ryker would normally choose to hang out. It looked like some kind of unused study, with a loveseat and a over stuffed chair and a couple of books, but whatever. Wandering over to the sofa, the rook flopped down onto the cushions and hooked his chin on the arm rest, half dangling off the piece of furniture as he looked back at Kilah near the door and, as she caught up with them, Noharu.
Ryker picked absently at his fingernails and jiggled his knee nervously, looking between the two women. "Where's my Ma? One of you should call her. I'm dyin' here you know." Well, except for the part where Noharu had found the andidote, but who knew if the woman actually had it on her.
"I really think she'd like to be here rather than asleep while I kick the bucket." Noyama "Karoko said she hadn't seen your...mother." Even now, Kilah couldn't avoid hearing the bitter way Noharu spoke of Pukio if she wanted to. They'd boarded up in the same house for a while, went to some very weird 'group' about eyeballs or...something, but all of that and more had failed to lessen the strong (strong in the hateful way), mutual feelings.
"Back to that antiodite, now, will you?" Kilah pressed. Noharu nodded, acting awkwardly obedient for the moment.
"About that... Ansala gave it to you." Too bad it had been Ryker who had spit some of his 'juice' out, and not Kilah. Pukio Ryker blinked, shifting around uneasily and looking between the two of them. "W-wait, what? What do you mean she gave it to me? Then why'm I still feeling all..." he shrugged, not particularly sure how to formulate or describe exactly how he was feeling. It was sort of a heaviness in his limbs, a leaden feeling in his legs and a difficulty about holding his head up or, really, doing much of anything.
Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he shifted on the couch and slowly drew his legs up onto the cushion. "What's goin' on then?" Noyama Noharu cleared her throat eagerly. "Not you, she gave it to Akilah. It's in her blood now, I assume." The fox-eared young woman rocked back and forth on her heels, a rare display of distress.
"So, I go emo and cut myself a little, make Ryker go vampire, and everythings fine," Kilah rambled, but Noharu shook her head.
"Not quite. See, the thing is, in order to get enough of it we'd need an amount of blood that would probably, er, kill you."
"Oh." Kilah's nose drew back.
Crap. Pukio Okay, seriously, what the hell was he supposed to say in response to that. Ryker stared, probably looking totally dumbstruck to either Akilah or Noharu. "What?" he asked, barely a squeak. It wasn't like...seriously, the options here weren't looking too good. Kill Kilah, drink her blood like some freaky ghost story, Kilah lives and he's pushing up daisies.
And why didn't he think that Kilah was just going to say 'Okay, well, guess that's it then! Time to pass the torch! Here's my life blood Ryker, oh and make sure Noyama buries my body somewhere good.'
Yeah, fat freaking chance. Noyama s**t, s**t, s**t. Why did her life always have to suck? All Kilah wanted to do was use Ryker for revenge, then he could go on his merry little way. Hell, she'd even have let him live, broke their ties together, so that he could run off with some whore (probably a male one with the types of females he'd associated with so far) and live happily, and most importantly leave her alone.
But... Ugh. s**t.
"I know someone," Kilah said in a whisper, more saying things than thinking them over. "I can get Remedy." That crazy a** mermaid had that name for a reason. "She would have more of whatever the hell fixes this." The problem would be locating her again... "What about that annoying kid that she brought with her? Would he know anything?"
"I have no idea," responded Noharu. "But since Ryker didn't drink all of it, I'd assume he'll just waste away for a week or so, not die too quickly. The poisons Ansala would have access to might be in heavy supply, but they're not very powerful ones unless they're ingested in bulk." Pukio Ryker flopped out on the sofa, looking miserable. Waste away for a freakin' week? "You know, you could have let me play outside this morning," he harped at Kilah, frowning. "I'm gonna die and be miserable the whole time going and I didn't even get the swing on a swing or nothin'! - You better find me something, because this whole crud isn't my fault. It's not my fault you went and killed people!" Ryker looked at Noharu, shifted a little uneasily and then turned away, pressing his face into the back cushions of the couch.
"Where my Ma?" Ryker muttered, though most of the meaning of the question was lost, garbled into the sofa.
This wasn't fair; none of it was fair. He was pretty dang sure he was way too young to die, okay? Noyama Kilah appeared to be unphased by the outburst, and nobody's eyes widened that she just out-right ignored it. There was probably nothing in it for her even if she did backhand Ryker for going on like that. He was dying anyway, apparently.
"I tried to find her, I'm sorry," a squeaky voice responded. Karoko shuffled into the room, looking progressively more depressed than Harper who followed behind her. The bat-winged of the two girls gave a very sympathetic look to Ryker, and then, "I don't know what we can do. I'm a mechanic, not a doctor."
"I figured you'd have picked something up after reading all that s**t you two do," Kilah answered. "But it doesn't matter, I know a way to fix it. A week is long enough. Noharu, come out in the hall." The door slammed behind them, leaving Karoko and Harper--well, Karoko, anyway--to fuss over the poors current state.
"Oh, poor Ryker! You just learned how to walk not too long ago! You poor thing!" Pukio Ryker lifted his head, looking at Karoko and Harper. He set his mouth into a vaugely determined (or, you know, distraught - one of the two) line and huffed. There wasn't really another word for it: just a long, desperate exhale that made his shoulder shake and then he glanced away, staring hard at the corner of the room. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered, half into the couch cushions.
The little boy was sulking, but really what else was he supposed to do given his lifespan had just been, apparently, rather dramatically shortened. "Where the heck is Ma?"
Seriously, where the crap was she? She was supposed to be here, not just be...wandering off somewhere. Noyama "I'm sorry, Ryker, I don't know. We looked for her," Karoko repeated desperately. "We really did." It's not like Pukio knew her son was in this state. Although... It wasn't that Karoko didn't love her cousin, but only somebody like Pukio would leave there children with Kilah like she constantly was doing.
"All around the house and outside," Harper confirmed, much more dettached than her appointed best friend. "Even had my dragon look, and he didn't find anything." But he did get away from her for a while, and that was nice. "We could try phoning the house again...?"
Outside the door, Noharu frowned at the dagger pointed her way. "Put that thing down. What are you doing?"
"You're a traitor," Kilah hissed. "Momoro never had any other fiances. You hired that b***h, and probably that little brat, too, and all of this is your fault. You never really changed at all, did you?" Her aunt gave her a warning, and not patient, look.
"Put it down, Akilah, you're talking crazy because you're distressed."
"I'm not distressed over anything," the Sin'aeis snapped, trying hard not to scream. "I can replace Ryker if he does drop, it's the fact I almost started trusting you." Pukio Ryker worked his jaw, clenching and unclenching his teeth in turn. Finally, he pressed his forehead against his crossed forearms and turned his face into the space between his arms and his chest, glaring hard down at the couch's upholstery. "It's okay," he finally croaked out into the sofa's arm rest. "She'll--"
Whatever he was intending to say stuck in his throat, choking him. Ryker breathed out heavily, sounding more like a gurgly, tear-filled half-sob than anything like a normal heavy exhale. He sucked his lower lip into his mouth and bit down hard, clenching his jaw like he could put a stopper on getting all teary eyed and crap.
Unfairunfairunfair. Noyama If he hadn't been sick (poisoned, whatever), Harper would've considered slapping Ryker for what he just started. His cries triggered the chain reaction in Karoko, which meant hysterical crying on her end. Honestly, she was far too empathetic by nature, not to mention the fact she'd been raised by Noharu... "Karoko--"
"You poor thing! You need your Mom, don't you? Oh my--Harper, you've gotta try and call again! We gotta find her!"
"Are you serious? Who knows where she is!" But the hawks eyes fell on Ryker, and the sigh that came was a defeated one. A bit rough around the edges, Harper, but she wasn't Kilah. "Alright, alright, I'll go and call. Where's the phone in this place?"
"Mom should know," Karoko answered. "She was the one who called us."
"You got it." She strolled meaningfully across the room and creeped the door open, merely blinking at the intense atmosphere that had settled itself behind the chunk of wood. What the--?
"Even if that were true, if you slaughter one of your people, you're going to lose your title, Kilah," Noharu was saying, and the two of them tilted their heads toward the door as it slammed shut.
Karoko was now worried for Ryker and Harper. "What's wrong...?"
"Nothing," Harper responded breathlessly. What did that mean...? Slaughter Noharu? Kilah wouldn't do that, would she?! Not even Kilah--! "Um, I'm going to go call now." Karoko watched her open the door and actually leave. Hm...
"Don't worry, Ryker, we're going to fix this! No matter what. Just don't give up, okay?" Pukio If he hadn't been sick and, you know, probably dying, Ryker probably would have taken more note of what was going on outside in the hall, especially given the sounds of argument that came in when Harper opened the door, hesitating before leaving and closing it behind her. As it was, not a whole lot beyond 'I'm going to die,' and 'Where the heck is Pukio' was doing very well with registering in his mind, much less sticking long enough for him to sit up and take notice. In the face of inevitable death-by-poision, curiosity about stuff didn't seem to be very high on the rook's personal adgenda just yet.
So instead he just kept croaking miserably into the arm of the couch, breathing heavily and making short, abrupt sob noises but not actually crying. Not much anyway; and if he was, he sure as heck wasn't gonna wail at Karoko who was already doing more than enough of that for the both of them. Instead he grit his teeth, scrubbed his cheeks against his arms and waited for Harper to get back.
Please pick up the phone, Ma. Noyama Riiinngggg.
Riiinngggg.
Riiinnggg.
Harper found telephones very annoying. To be expected from someone in her social circle--or lack there of. But at times like these, she was glad they'd had to move in with Noharu before she'd even been born--er, created--since Karoko had told her Noyama didn't have a phone, a stove, or anything that required being plugged in in her house. Out of fear, she was told. How pathetic. That was Noyama for you. Why couldn't she have been given to Noharu...?
Her sharp, yellow eyes cast a glance at the mentioned individual standing motionlessly beside her. Why would Kilah want to kill Noharu? They didn't get along all that great, but enough to threaten death? Wasn't Noharu important to that island...?
"Hello?" she said when the other end picked up. "Is this Pukio?" Not very smooth, but again, she didn't like telephones to begin with.
With Noharu gone, Kilah slipped back into the room, breathing deeply. She must have come to like Karoko to an extent without realizing it, because this was difficult to say. "Karoko, Noharu's a traitor. That crazy b***h had to have been working for her when she poisoned Ryker. I have to kill her." Pukio And christ if that didn't start the waterworks. Noharu wasn't even someone Ryker particularly liked - no, scratch that, he was pretty sure he didn't really like Noharu at all, but killing her? Traitor? All this, and now... - Ryker was only one little boy, one young, apparently going to be very sick, had just seen someone get their throat slashed, little boy. He needed his mom, dammit, and really all this talk about killing people and traitors wasn't helping.
So Ryker burst out crying. He wasn't as loud as Karoko could be, but given the level of 'what the hell?!' going on in the room, he did a fairly impressive job about expressing his general attitude about the whole situation via his lung capacity.
Meanwhile, Pukio leaned back in the armchair, toeing off her boots and sighing heavily. It was a good day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, her favorite show was on television this evening and she had fully been intending to enjoy herself.
Which is why she let Erick pick up the phone. Cradling the reciever between his shoulder and ear, the masked teen cleared his throat, accutely aware of the fact that he'd been cracking up and down the vocal register for the past two days. "Hello?" he harped out, sounding distinctally like some kind of dying bird. "No, this is Erick. Pukio is..." he looked over his shoulder toward his guardian, raising his eyebrows at the woman.
Pukion shook her head, making a 'I'M NOT HERE!' motion with her arms.
"She's not available right now; did you want me to take a message?" Noyama Kilah's palm made contact with her forehead. Son of a b***h. Now he chose to start crying? Was everyone suddenly Noharu's best friend or--? The Sin'aeis resisted slamming her head into the wall at the 'thud' noise, which, she could tell somehow was caused by Karoko. Karoko fainting.
People seriously fainted like that? And Ryker was crying, and just... Just... UGH! She could've smashed him with a rock and this wouldn't be an issue! "Stop crying," she spat, just a hint of uncertainty in her voice. It was definitely a time of complication if Kilah was feeling uncomfortable. "It's fine, stop crying."
Harper's expression could be described as dull. A 'Uh huh, yeah, right', sort of look. It wasn't like she hadn't lived with Pukio long enough to know about her 'messages'. Messages that probably never even reached the woman Harper felt was nothing above or below crazed.
"Uh.. Right." She cleared her throat. "Well, I think she is there, and if she is, it's really important. We tried to find her earlier and couldn't, but like I said, it's important. Ryker's in a bit of trouble and he really wants her to come to..." Her eyes looked around, at Noharu, who shrugged. "Well, I don't know the address, but--that mansion. The one where he's from, and Akilah's from. He's here. He really needs to see her right away." Pukio Erick looked sideways at Pukio, lounging in her arm chair. He pursed his lips, frowning slightly before he finally opened is mouth again. "Oh look, she just walked in the door. Isn't that conveniant."
From her arm chair, Pukio flapped her arms and looked generally affronted that Erick and blown her cover. Freakin' kids, you couldn't trust them with anything. Erick held the phone out to her expectantly and, grumbling, she peeled herself off the chair and snatched the phone out of his hands, sending him off with a death glare before shoving the receiver against her ear. "Whassit? What d'you want?"
Meanwhile, Ryker was still slumped over on the couch. He lifted his head, features twisted in an absolutely miserable expression, snot running from his nose and tears tracking up his cheeks. He scrubbed his nose with his sleeves, wiped off his face with his hands. "Yer gonna kill her?!" he squawked, floundering like he wasn't sure whether Kilah killing Noharu was a good or bad thing, just that it didn't really make any of this better; not really. Noyama Damn it. Harper was hoping that would have been enough, and that the events that would unfold after that would be similar to the ones in the movies Karoko watched. (What, you didn't think only Kilah had to suffer those?) Pukio would come running without question, and...yeah. Too bad.
"Uh, it's Harper," she began, shifting to the left, then the right. "Ryker's sick. Poisoned, actually. He really wants you here, so, uh--" That'd be enough, right?
"I have to," was Kilah's response. "For one thing, she's a traitor. Second, a long time ago, before you were born, I learned that they shove antidotes and potions and stuff down the mouth of island babies as soon as they start breathing. It's why Noharu or Noyama haven't ever gotten sick. I think if I kill her, you can use her blood instead." It was just a theory. More than that it was an excuse to slaughter her aside from the traitor thing, which she knew already not everyone within the twisted, bound together family was going to believe. Pukio "Oh, Jesus Christ."
The phone clicked off.
Ryker ground the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. "You had an idea before though," he said stubbornly, fighting the urge to kick his feet around the couch. "Before you knew. What about that idea!"
Sniffling, Ryker looked toward the hallway, wrinkling his nose and wiping his face repetitively with his sleeves. "Sides, I don't think she's just gonna stick around and wait fer you to slit her throat." The rook made an absent hand motion, drawing his flattened hand horizontally across his own throat, making a gurgly 'skreeeeish!' sound effect to go with it before he degenerated back into sniffles and gasping sobs. Noyama If Pukio was on her way by now, Kilah had to wonder what her reaction would be to finding her 'son' with a dagger in his back. She should've felt sorry for him, probably even guilty, most people would have. Instead, she was just angry. More and more angry. This kid was driving her batshit insane, and she didn't care what his reason for it was. "I found a better idea, okay?! And no s**t, she's Noharu, you can't get rid of her easy like that. She's a damn cockroach. But I can take care of her fine." Looking forward to it.
Hmph. This would teach her an important lesson on the 'forgive and forget' rule, now wouldn't it?
"Pukio's coming," Harper confirmed as she re-entered the room. "What the hell?! Karoko?!" Dashing to her friend, she reached out and shook her shoulders. "Hey.. HEY!" Kilah was getting a headache of her own.
"She's fine, she just got freaked about Ryker being so sick. --Where's Noharu?"
"Uh, she said she was going home." Pukio Sucking up all his bravery (and, let's face it, a lot of snot and tears too), Ryker looked to Harper and opened his mouth, sounding thick and mucus-y and emotional - but no one was going to blame him for that - when he spoke. "She's a liar. She's going to kill Karoko's mom."
Ryker looked back to Akilah, his dark eyes flashing stubbornly. "You should go tell Noyama," Ryker wheezed, flopping back into the sofa and looking like he wished he could sink into the couch cushions and hide there until Kilah beat the stuffing out of someone else. Noyama "WHAT?! --KILAH!" Harper had barely had time to grasp what the boy had just told her when she was forced to scream at her sister, who had snatched his collar (or his sleeve or something, she couldn't see to tell), and pulled him toward her.
"You're going to live through this, because I'm going to kill you myself," Kilah promised. Harper was easily knocked off to the side (so pathetic for a bird, she should be ashamed), and the older Sin'aeis stormed off.
"Oh, no," Harper groaned, face in her hands. This was just awful beyond words! "Just... Just wait for your mom to get here, Ryker," she instructed, tugging Karoko up the second she showed signs of consciousness. "We have to go. Now."
"Kilah, she--" Karoko wailed.
"I know, don't worry, let's go. Ryker, just wait here. Pukio should be here soon, okay?" Harper left, and drug Karoko behind her.
Great... Pukio Jerked to his feet my Kilah's grip on his shirt, Ryker sagged a little and struggled to get his feet under him, groping for the knife he'd folded and put back in his pocket. Just in case, just in case... -- But then Kilah let him go and he floundered back to the sofa, watching Harper and Karoko book it from the room.
"O-okay," he said, voice a gravelly from crying and panic as a little boy's voice could get. But at least Pukio was on her way...
Soon afterwards - as fast as she could run - Pukio stormed down the hall, her voice rising toward the top of the register. "RYKER, you little b*****d, where the hell are you?!" Mansions. This was the trouble with mansions. Too ******** big; way too ******** big.
Stumbling across the open door, she just managed to catch sight of the little boy waiting for her on the sofa, jerking back before she oculd pass and hurrying inside the room. "RYKER! There you are you little snot! What the hell's happening? Where is everyone?" Noyama Footsteps. Soon, she entered. "You sure pick interesting mates for your children," Noharu commented, along side a sneer. "Kids been poisoned. Some crazy girl showed up at the house, screeching she was Momoro's fiance, then she poisoned Ryker here. Kilah killed her--" And Noharu had to take care of that little detail first, if she even did plan to go home anytime in the near future like Harper had claimed. "--but she seems to have gone pretty crazy from all the stress. Making a lot of accusations and she's almost attacked a few of us. She ran off a little while ago. Anyway, you should really take him home." Pukio Pukio didn't turn until she'd crossed the room, just five long strides, and snatched Ryker off the sofa, hauling him up to her hip like he was an infant more than a child. A moment later, she'd sat back down on the couch, not really capable of holding the boy for very long with just her arms. Nonetheless, she gathered the rook safely into her lap, stroking his hair absently as he threw his arms around her neck and buried his face against her shoulder. Pukio looked to the doorway at Noharu, her single eye flashing dangerously.
"Why the ******** didn't either of you call me? You shouldn't have just taken him here without telling me. I can't ********'- Christ. What kind of poison?"
Ryker bawled something into his mother's shoulder, but she didn't look down - kept eye contact with the islander. "Is there an andidote? Does Noya know about any of this?" Noyama "Hey, you knew he was going to have to do this kind of stuff when you shoved him into the role he's stuck in now. His age is old enough to be working with Kilah now, according to the rules of his island. He's not her doll anymore." Maybe 'doll' wasn't the right word, but she couldn't think of another that was suitable. Kilah did dress Ryker up daily as toddler, and she still 'labeled' him now. "Besides, Harper and Karoko looked for you. You weren't anywhere. And we called you as soon as we could, so step off."
Noharu leered at her, but it was weary. This situation was taking it's toll on everyone. "It's called 'Ansala Poison'." Oh, the irony. "It's made mostly of poisonous plants. Not very harmful unless added with a few other things, which is what happened here. Luckily, your boy didn't chug the whole thing, so he's got roughly a week for us to fix this."
At the mention of her sister, she almost burst into laughter. When did Noyama ever know anything? "No, as of now I can say she doesn't. The antidote isn't too hard to come by, Kilah had said she found a way before she left." Pukio "I didn't know people were going to be poisoning him," Pukio snarled over Ryker's head at Noharu. She also hadn't known what a psycopath Kilah would shape up to be, apparently. Looking down at Ryker, the young woman fixed her expression into a severely blank one the muscle in her cheek working stubbornly. "He's only a child, Noharu. Damn you, you and Kilah both."
Struggling to her feet, hauling Ryker awkwardly over onto her hip, Pukio looked Noharu over critically before staggering (dammit, he was heavy) past the islander into the hall. "You better home, for the good of all of you, that she finds that antidote."
In the meantime, she didn't intend to just sit around and wait for someone else to do it for her. She had some phone calls to make... Noyama Noharu said nothing, watched Pukio leave. As her footsteps faded, she grinned and laughed, shaking her head, but in an amused way. Oh, Pukio could trust her, Ryker would definitely get his pretty little antidote...
She walked out shortly after Pukio had. She was going home.
Just not the home Harper had thought of when she quoted her...
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:17 pm
.Noyama's Depature.
"She's absolutely insane! Totally crazy! I warned you about this! She's finally snapped! It's her fault! This is her fault!" Between Harper's ranting and Karoko's loud sobs, impossible to ignore, Noyama was at a lost. She had been contently prodding the microwave, which she was still terrified of, trying to overcome her fear when the two girls had barged through the door.
Harper had immediately began her tangent, yelling how Akilah was going to kill Noharu, accusing her of things she had no reason to accuse her of, how upset Karoko had been because of all it. Karoko had looked fine entering, and it appeared to Noyama it was Harper, more than anything, that had her bawling within seconds. Noyama being Noyama, she hardly listened to the screeches of the hawk, more concerned with the onslaught of tears.
"Hey, are you listening?!" squawked Harper.
"Akilah and Noharu fight, yes yes."
"This isn't something to be brushed off! Didn't you hear me?! She wants to kill her! She's accusing her of treason! I don't know--or want to know--all the things about that island some of you do, but I know for a fact Noharu hasn't done anything!"
Noyama pursed her lips together. This was more than just one of their average fights? Noharu was a traitor? Shortly after the group had left, the boy who had arrived with Ansala had vanished. Ansala hadn't come back, but neither had Noharu or Akilah. This was the root of Harper's fits.
"We have to find them! Noharu said she was going home!"
"H-Home?!" Karoko's unsteady voice came as shrill squeak. It sounded like some horrifying evidence had just been placed before her. "She's going to the island?!"
"Huh? No! I said home!"
"That IS what she considers home!" It was the last thing Karoko managed to get out before her body shook with more, endless sobs.
"True." Noyama's purple-covered head bobbed up and down a few times. "Noharu says 'this house' for house and 'home' for island."
"The island...? Do you think Akilah could know? Could she be following her there?" The silence that answered Harper (save for the cries of her cousin) was unwelcomed, yet informative. "Oh no... We have to do something! We can't just let them maul each other!"
"I will go," Noyama said sternly. It was the first thing Harper had ever seen her be determined about, and for just a second she thought of Noyama as more than just some idiot who called herself her mother. Her newly formed opinion could have easily been tainted, had she had the knowledge Noyama still wasn't taking all this too seriously.
Noharu and Akilah fought constantly, this was probably just another one. As far as going to the island, they probably had business to finish there was Ansala. No need to be up in arms over it. Harper swallowed. "What about Ryker?"
"I will go," repeated the emerald-eyed teenager. "Get medicine for Ryker while I'm there."
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:09 pm
Noharu VS. Akilah
(Note: ICly takes place April 13th)
The purple and white pegasus shuffled around impatiently. Since Momoro had died, it had been Karoko who had fed and cared for him. He'd probably be dead otherwise, since Akilah had forgotten about him up until she needed him to haul her to these lands. Still, he was surprised he stood breathing. Akilah was angry at Momoro again, he knew that much by her vicious whispers the entire trip. Momoro himself was dead. Long dead. He expected Akilah to lash out and beat him as a replacement.
The Sin'aeis had considered it, but she still needed him to take her back. Not just her, but Noharu's head, which she was going to chop off and carry around like a trophy for all the world to see, and ******** Harper and Karoko and whatever they or anyone else thought or had to say about it. She'd take care of them, too, if she had to.
The various reactions she'd gain from causing such a death kept her mind busy as she slid off the back of the winged horse, feeling the sand crunch beneath her feet. "Stay here..." What had Momoro named him? "--You."
It was strange, how she had only trudged through the island environment a few times, yet she knew the layout of it as well as her old house, and better than her new one. Maybe it had something to do with your mind remembering tragedy better than anything else? There had never been a time she'd come here that had lacked that spice.
Until now.
Today would be no tragedy, not for her. She should have known. For a while, she did know. Where had she gone wrong? Was it Karoko or Noyama who had started talking her into trusting Noharu, even a little, without her even realizing it?
The sand below her began to lessen, soon completely grass. This was where she needed to go, not toward the village. Noharu wouldn't be there, she knew that much. Even if the island didn't like Akilah any, they wouldn't let Noharu take over if she killed her, especially given she was still accused of killing the 'King' before Momoro. A large leaf that dangled in her way was pushed aside.
Akilah nearly fell over twisting to the side so quickly. The thudding noise of a blade meeting the trunk of a tree sounded behind her, and a monotone voice said, "I was wondering if you were all talk or not."
"You'll find out soon, won't you." It wasn't a question. Noharu said nothing in response to it. Akilah's sword was slowly drawn, held out in front of her, but unmoving. "I do plan to do some talking, though--"
"Honestly, Akilah, you want to monologue the situation? I thought you were less cliche than that."
"It's the villian who's mostly cliche, and that's you according to the rules." The laughter Akilah heard after those words didn't seem to effect her much. That was cliche of a villian, too.
"Using labels, are we? If that's the case, I think you and I are birds of a feather. Don't act like you're so torn apart that I poisoned Ryker. As if he means anything to you. You were just using him, we both know that." The grip Akilah had on the weapons handle tightened visibly.
"What I know," the redhead began, "is that you want to take this place over, and I'm not any push-over like Ryker. You're not taking me out."
"Take you out? Kill you? Akilah, I don't want to kill you." Okay, now, that wasn't something she'd expected. The Sin'aeis stepped back absently, lips tightenings. Her voice hissed through her teeth, vicious and warning.
"Liar."
"Well, yes," agreed Noharu. "But again, that goes for the both of us. This time I'm being honest. I'll even admit it, Ansala was working for me. I told her I'd let her be my heir once you and Ryker were taken care off. I expected you to kill her soon, though I admit not that fast, and not that...publicly. You angrier about us hurting him than you're letting on?"
"You were stupid to make her say things like that. Momoro was just created to take out me and any other outsiders who were a threat to this place, you said so yourself, I know he couldn't have gone around building relationships at the same time, especially not one like that." Akilah chose not to feed into Noharu's sudden interest in her opinion on the Ryker situation. Wasn't it obvious it had irritated her? "What about the boy?"
"He's a hostage, albeit an unaware one. As far as he knows, Ansala and Momoro were involved, and he was just following his sisters orders. But he's not really important. What's important is us."
For the first time in a long time, Akilah agreed with her. "You're right. I'm going to enjoy this one." Not like last time. The fight with Momoro hadn't been any barrel of laughs.
"Akilah, weren't you listening? I don't want to kill you. I want you to work with me."
It the time it took Noharu to say seven words, Akilah had become very, very lost. Her stance became unsteady, briefly, and she nearly dropped her sword. "W-What?!"
"It's true," Noharu confirmed, unwavering. "I told you I knew you would take care of Ansala. I never planned on her being involved, but you, I did. Why do you think I would only have her poison Ryker? Besides, you're my daughter--"
"Then why give me the antidote?!" Akilah screamed, her knuckles turning white. Before Noharu could answer, the Sin'aeis charged forward. She felt the other young woman jump back, and her sword sliced the grass where she had been.
"It was a test, Akilah!" Noharu yelled over her angry growls. "Even if you're my daughter, I didn't want anyone weak enough to be swayed so easily with me. But you... You really are my daughter. At least, your soul is. Forget about being anything else, you've beaten the one who had that fate. Just work with me. We can rule over this island together. Just give it a few days, and Ryker won't be any worry."
"How can I trust you now?"
"Think about it," instructed the older female slowly. "If I wanted you dead, I'd have poisoned you, too, like I said--"
"And what if I had done that for Ryker? Bled myself dry to cure him?"
"You still both would've died." Noharu chuckled, observing the stunned reaction. It made her disappointed Akilah didn't have any eyes, because she would have liked to see them wide, see the stunned spark in them. Her mouth hanging open would have to do. "There isn't any antidote. You would've killed yourself and he still would've died."
Now it was Akilah's turn to laugh. "After admitting you lied about almost this entire thing, you still think I would suddenly trust you? I gave you credit for at least being sly, but you're an idiot."
"I can get you anything, Akilah," the firm words made her pause. "If we own this place, we can rebel against Yeliel. We can get anything we want from her, you know she could do it. You want your sight back, don't you? You want to be able to see things like the rest of them? We could find a way, she could do it."
A silence stretched on, and on and on. Noharu's mouth opened, about to call out the name, but it closed again. Akilah was walking toward her. "I don't believe you." And she attacked again. This time, her target was hit. Noharu stumbled back and clutched her bleeding shoulder, hissing, sharp teeth bared. Her ears pinned back.
"You're going to regret this." An odd thing to say before taking off, Akilah noted. For Noharu. It wasn't uncommon for people to run in fights if they thought they were going to lose, but Noharu had never been that way with her. It was strange. Strange, but it didn't matter. She was going to take care of here and now.
"You're not going to outrun me!" the Sin'aeis screeched at her, following the sounds of the footsteps. She stumbled over some tree roots, rocks, but she never fell. If she fell, Noharu would definitely get away, and then it would be over. Should she get away here, Akilah wouldn't find her again, and there was something in the atmosphere telling her Noharu knew that as well.
The footsteps stopped. Akilah stopped. She would've thanked her given ability for helping her sense the multiple, almost countless, presences suddenly around, but she was becoming too afraid.
"Well, I am faster than you," scolded Noharu tauntingly. "But it was never my goal. This is around where you think Gizmo died, isn't it?"
Akilah snarled. She caught the 'you think' just before various, loud screeches ran out. Feet--no, not feet, something else--stomped against the ground. Akilah's head turned left, right, and back again. What the hell?! Just as quickly, it quieted, aside from a few, and hauntingly familiar, chirp and cluck noises.
Noharu was grinning. It was over. "He did, but I couldn't just let his death be in vain. I snatched some of his blood."
"What are you talking about?!" Akilah was frantic now--no, she was more than that. She was panicked. More than she'd ever been, even here. This wasn't going to end as she'd plotted out, it seemed.
"You think you're the only one Karoko does favors for?" Noharu questioned. "Be serious. She likes you, hell, she likes everyone. But me? I've always been the everything for her, the make or break. If you had ever managed to get rid of me, she'd probably kill herself. All I had to do was ask her to make clones. No matter how many I wanted. All I had to do was tell her I wanted the island you were going to rule full of gryphons--frankly, we really could use some wildlife--and she did whatever I said. Not that it's anything new."
"You're insane!" Akilah screamed.
"You're sure keen on listing things we have in common. I really am disappointed, and ashamed, you aren't going to take me up on this." The single, functioning blue eye glanced her over. "One more chance..."
After a deep breath, Akilah slowly spoke. "Piss off."
The fox-eared of the two snorted. "I figured." Her arms, which had been crossed for some time now, dropped to her side. "Alright then." Her left hand lifted. It was a signal. The gryphons around them immediately began squawking, screeching, stomping and making any noise they possibly could. Akilah stepped back, lifting her weapon.
"I hope you can appreciate the irony of this." While Noharu knew she couldn't hear her voice over all the sounds (that was the entire point), it didn't keep her from saying it. Oh, woe was the blind warrior surrounded by noise. "It's the death of one of the things you actually gave a damn about that's causing yours. At least I can free you from your guilt. You must be feeling it by now."
Akilah swung her sword off to the right. It made a 'whoosh' sound. A second later, a fist made contact with her jaw and nose. Gravity forced her to stumble. One of her hands shot up, clutching the damaged part of her face. Both felt broken, but her mind didn't linger on the thought long.
There was a crunch of sticks and leaves behind her. She span around, swinging the weapon toward the sound, and again hitting nothing. Damn! She couldn't pinpoint anything with all this ******** noise! How could--
"s**t!" Pride only went so far, and even Akilah didn't have enough of it to keep from crying out at the sudden and sharp pain in her shoulder. The same place she'd injured Noharu, almost. The sword thudded to the ground simply because of reflex. She scrambled to pick it up, but hadn't gotten near it when a swift kick slammed into her jaw, and back she fell.
On the ground, Akilah lay, breathing heavily. She didn't bother to move. Noharu didn't bother to move quickly. She kneel down next to the fallen form, leaning forward and in her ear whispering, "You're finally going to die this time, aren't you? No more close calls."
With an angry, desperate cry, Akilah reached down and snatched the dagger hidden in her shoe, swinging it upward. Noharu grabbed her hand, forcing it downward, grasping it tightly until Akilah dropped the blade.
"It's almost too much. Taking you down with copies of your best friend, and now I'm going to kill you with your own weapon." Akilah knew she was standing now, because her voice was drowned out again. And, feet were standing on her arms, the bones making an unpleasant crack. Her painful screeches did nothing to remedy it. As she rose, Noharu's hand had lifted the dagger with her.
"You're not my daughter..."
The pain came fast, lasting for what seemed like forever, becoming more forceful, and then slowly fading. Noharu knew, and so did she. Akilah was dying. Her hands lifted, having intent to clutch the wound at her stomach, but fell back to her sides.
She had tasted her own blood before, but never had it been so vile. Streams of red flowed from her mouth and down the side of her face, tainting the green grass. The Sin'aeis coughed and sputtered, silently begging for the strength to turn over and spit out the remaining blood that was choking her. Her body denied her such a request.
It was over.
"I'm so sorry," Akilah whispered. Sorry to the other Akilah, for taking her over? Sorry to Gizmo, for letting him perish? Sorry to Ryker, for not curing him? Sorry to all of them? Sorry to more than that?
Noharu could only wonder as she unsteadily wobbled farther and farther away from the corpse, which Noyama found hours later.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:54 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:07 pm
.The Other Akilah.
They're not even going to notice...
She hadn't actually known what that meant until after Chaco had revived her. There wasn't enough time to think between her other half dying and her dying.
Her friends is what she was talking about, she knew that now. Last she was conscious, that included Lyrus and Mignon (and that gryphon thing before it had died). They'd finally got fed up with her, had they? That's what it had sounded like, and she didn't feel guilty about mentally praising them for it.
The last thought had been about 'her'. They wouldn't know it was her. Who 'her' was, she also didn't know. Not even until long after she'd come back. It wasn't until she'd gotten home (which apparently was with this crazed Lilly woman now) she could piece it together.
'Her' was whoever had killed the two of them. Nobody would know it was that person.
"So ya don't remember?" On top of being crazy, this woman was also really pushy and not very good at minding her own business.
"No, I don't," answered Akilah. "I woke up was she was dying, then I died. Then, I woke up because Chaco brought me back. That's all I remember."
"Where'd the other one go?"
"I don't know." Far away, hopefully.
"Mm..." Lilly leaned on the back of the couch, peering at the teenager with a single and calculating eye. This Kilah was... a lot different from the other one. Not just the fact she was whiny, kept going on about some lost boyfriend (that's what Lilly had come to hink), and said 'like' and 'totally' way too many times, but also little things. The way she sat, moved, even breathed.
Small details only ones raised like Lilly would notice, most likely, but since she did notice them, they irritated her on top of everything else. "Don't suppose yer interested in killin' anyone?"
"No way!"
Yeah, she'd thought so. So much for that big scheme.
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