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 Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:45 pm
The water was black.
He couldn't see a thing. He couldn't even see the outline of the hand in front of him as one arm moved out to wiggle his fingers, testing the darkness.
Only... there weren't any fingers to wiggle.
Oh God, not again.
There was no escape. He knew this by now - it was always like this. The darkness wouldn't go away and neither would that thing that was lurking in the darkness. He couldn't hear it, he couldn't see it, but it was there. The presence was felt - heavy, foreboding. It always came, without fail.
He swam as fast as he could, praying that he could get away from it. He still couldn't see a thing, which made the struggle even more difficult, even more terrifying. Swimming in the chill of darkness, the presence refusing to leave him. In fact, it seemed to be drawing nearer, the feeling of dread growing stronger with every passing moment.
It was going to get him. There was no stopping it this time, no way of running away. It approached, coming closer and closer until....
Akio Yoshida woke up with a jolt. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears, the sweat dripping down his forehead as he attempted to calm his breathing.
The dream had returned. It was becoming weekly now, the inescapable darkness he was swimming in. As hard as he tried to fight it, the dream wouldn't go away. It never seemed to go away.
Dark eyes opened and one hand lifted to wipe at his brow. His forehead was met with the cold slap of a fin, which immediately had his heart racing once again.
Oh God...
Panicking, he swiveled around in attempts to look at the mirror across the room. Lacking hips to twist, his entire body ended up jerking around, sending the poor boy sailing over the side of the bunk bed, smacking against the ground.
Letting out a small moan, he writhed for a moment, mentally checking himself over. Nothing more than a sore back - well, and the fact he no longer had any feet. His fall had apparently been awkwardly cushioned by fat.
Ugh, this was embarrassing.
Tilting his head up, one flipper slapped loudly against his side, eyes tossing a forlorn look towards the bottom bunk. His mouth opened slightly, whimpering a small cry for help.
He stared up at the bed from his upside down view, his head resting on the carpet. No reaction.
The crying grew louder. No reaction.
Frowning at the lack of assistance he was receiving, the small harp seal began to rock itself back and forth, attempting to turn itself over. It took several tries but finally he flipped over.
Beady black eyes shot an annoyed glare at the sleeping teenager who was clearly not waking up...until an idea slowly began to form in his clever little mind. Wiggling forward, he nosed the comforter and managed to hoist himself up to the side of the bed. A bit more wiggling and determination had him squirming underneath the covers, the chubby white seal slowly making his way from the foot of the bed towards the pillow.
A small head poked its way out of the blankets and, leaning in close, whiskers began to tickle the young boy's cheek as a little black nose drew closer towards his ear. Opening his mouth, he trumpeted:
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORK."
The teenager awoke in an instant, shooting upright - only to end up smacking his face directly into an open and waiting flipper.
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:45 am
He had been sleeping peacefully.
Kazuo Saito had quite the rough time since coming to Destiny City. Having a good night of sleep was something he looked forward to. It healed his poor fried nerves from all the changes he had to adjust to. He already wasn't someone that handled change all that well...and then he moved clear across the world to go to school in some strange place.
With him of all people. Sigh.
Unfortunately for Kaz, his sleep was about to come to quite the obnoxious end. The loud cry right in his ear woke the teen straight out of a sound sleep and right into the waiting flipper.
Flipper.
There was a seal attached to that flipper. A seal. A seal in his bed. If this was anyone but him he'd pinch himself and see if he was still dreaming.
Instead Kaz gave the very rational answer of
"Akio get OUT of my bed!!"
Before attempting to shove the tiny seal back onto the floor where it had come from.
"It happened AGAIN didn't it?"
Only Kazuo Saito would have the privilege of having an adorably annoying seal end up in his bed on more than one occasion.
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 9:00 am
The small harp seal squeaked as it was forcibly tossed out from the bed, tiny fins flailing as it soared through the air and onto the bedroom carpet.
It began to yelp and squeak louder, rolling around on its back from side to side. One might have thought the innocent looking animal had suffered an injury from the fall, but soon enough flippers turned into arms and his tail fin split in two.
The transformation took all of ten seconds, the tiny adorable creature morphing into a sandy-blonde teenage boy. The attire was as it always seemed to be - odd blues and silvers, which matched his icy blue eyes perfectly.
Akio continued to roll around, yelps having turned into roars of laughter. "You should've seen your face, Kizzy!"
He was so humored with his own stunt that he could hardly breathe. It would take several more minutes for his laughter to subside and (finally) once Kaz's question absorbed itself in his mind, Akio's expression sobered completely.
As he rose to a sitting position, hands moved forward to lock themselves around his knees. He didn't say anything at first, forcing a smile onto his face as he spoke.
"Yeah - I had the dream again."
The smile was halfassed, at best, even the infamous has-been finding it hard to fake it, his anxiety showing itself in his words. "I dunno what's causing it... well, any more than this."
Hands unlocked themselves as he motioned towards his entire body. The transformation had been frightening at first, but it grew easier and easier with time. Which, all in all, was even a more frightening notion.
Hopping up completely, he spun around to take a seat on the edge of the bottom bunk-bed, not awaiting an invitation. Elbows rested on knees, his head falling down into his hands as fingers ran through his abnormal hair color.
Muffled through his palms, his words were barely coherent.
"I dunno what we're gonna do, Kaz."
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:11 pm
Kaz did not seem so pleased. While the other boy rolled around in his laughter Kaz was heaving a huge sigh and pulling the blankets back over himself. It was tempting to just roll over and try to go back to sleep. So tempting. Unfortunately he knew if he even tried Akio would be back in his bed bugging him until he exploded in anger. Kaz really did not like exploding in anger, it was so....barbaric. Ugh.
He also felt the usual twinge of guilt as Akio slipped from joy into a noticeably more depressed mood at the mention of the dreams. Yes, the other was doing his best to smile through it and act like it didn't bother him. Kaz had been around his 'friend' long enough to know it did though, no fake smile was going to tell him otherwise.
Besides, Akio might have driven him crazy on a daily basis but he still felt sort of responsible for the other. No matter how much he may have wished he wasn't. With Akio sitting on the edge of his bed, Kaz moved to pull himself out from under the covers and slip over to sit next to the taller boy.
"We're going to figure out what's going on Akio, that's what."
The transformations were odd. Normal people didn't turn into seals. Normal people also didn't turn into quails which was the problem that plagued Kazuo Saito. The first time had the poor boy flailing all over the room in his tiny quail form and freaking out about it for a few good hours afterwards. It got easier each time, but it still unnerved him.
"And once we do, we'll find a use for them. There has to be some reason we can do the things we do, right? So clearly there must be a purpose to them..."
Or it was one elaborate trick played by their brains and they were really people in great neat of a mental hospital. Kaz had to hope that wasn't the case.
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:28 pm
Lifting his head out from his hands, the taller boy glanced over at his roommate. They hadn't known each other before coming to America - the student exchange program had conveniently assigned them both to the same elderly couple in need of children to pamper. In fact, Akio hadn't wanted a roommate at first, but after the events of the Coma Plague...
Well, it was more than convenient now.
"I wonder if there's anyone else out there like us."
The musing was one that had been shared many times. Both boys had awoken from the Destiny City Plague....changed. It hadn't been noticeable, at first, not until the dreams started happening. It was after a particular unsettling evening that they both stumbled across the other in their newer state and it was only after that that the two boys had bonded as they had. Nothing on the news said anything about people having changed forms - both of them knew better than to tell, however, so who was to say there weren't more like them out there, keeping themselves a secret as well?
After removing his gloves, one finger jutted out and poked the shorter boy on the arm, a tingling chill sent across his bare skin. Akio knew he looked different in this form - he couldn't even recognize his magnificent self when he looked in a mirror. But with this form came some pretty nifty tricks - most of which were discovered when goofing around.
With another attempt at a grin, Akio moved his hand to ruffle his roommate's hair, his hand still sending cold chills through the younger boy. "If anything but to bug you with them, Kizzy darling."
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:50 pm
Before, Kaz would have agreed. He didn't want a roommate either, didn't particularly enjoy the other's poking and prodding and insisting on him acting anything but himself. He enjoyed being quiet and observant, thank you very much. Besides, trying to teach Sho not to be such an obnoxious little thing was enough of a pet project without having to worry about taking care of Akio too.
Mysterious comas had a funny way of changing people. Many had found their lives in Destiny City changed after the comas, heck some never even woke up. Every day Kaz counted his lucky stars that both himself and his roommate woke up. After all, he might not have liked him very much before but Akio was an exchange student like himself and it felt nice having at least that one tiny fact to comfort him. Without Akio, he'd really be alone in this big city and he wasn't so sure he'd like that.
The cold jab to the arm brought him right out of his musing. There wasn't even time to utter a complaint before the same hand was ruffling his hair and sending chills down his spine. ARGH. That was -it-.
"I don't think using them against -me- is the intended purpose..."
Two could play at this game. Kaz shut his eyes to concentrate and change over to whatever that was that Akio was currently in. He didn't have powers to chill to the bone but he was sure there was something he could do.
Rather than a shift of clothes though, the small boy began to shrink even further. Skin shifted to feathers, hair morphed together into a single black head bob, and it was only halfway through this process that Kaz finally realized the mistake.
There was no going back though.
So it was but a few seconds later that Akio found himself seated next to a small California Quail, who was currently peeping in distress and flapping it's wings experimentally. Even in that tiny bird stare there was a look that said "you are so going to pay for this Akio."
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:06 pm
He watched the concentration on his roommate's face and braced for a blast of wind....which never came.
Opening his eyes, his half-smile turned whole as he grinned at the sight before him. The small bird simply glared and the taller boy chirped back, mocking an imitation back at him. "That's some payback there."
Two fingers moved out to ruffle the top of the quail's head, mindful to keep them away from the sharp little beak that would no doubt be used against him. While Akio had been miserable to receive a seal for a transformation (really - couldn't he have been something more graceful? Like a tiger?), he could appreciate his animal form in comparison to the shrimpy little quail standing (sitting?) before him.
Moving his hand onto the mattress, he faced his palm upwards, sliding it closer to the little bird. His head nodded to the hand, gesturing towards the free ride.
"Since we're up already, what say you and I invade the 'fridge?"
An olive branch...of sorts.
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:48 pm
For a moment it didn't look like the tiny quail was going to oblige Akio's request. Instead the bird was giving the angriest bird stare at the hand possible. Being a tiny adorable quail this was quite the hard feat to pull off. Still, beady little eyes narrowed in frustration at the open hand while he pondered what to do.
To peck the hell out of Akio or not. Decisions, decisions...
Luckily for Akio (not that a quail was much of a threat anyway) Kaz's much more patient nature won out over the temporary anger and he eventually hopped up onto the open hand. It'd be at least a few minutes before he could try and change back into a more human form, and a ride to the kitchen wasn't so bad.
Besides, he could go for a bit of a midnight snack.
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 8:38 am
The little bird was quickly hoisted up, the teenager mindful not to chill his little feathered companion (he did value his fingers, after all). As he strode out of the bedroom, the odd costume began to shift and change, reluctantly returning to his former pajama set. The quail remained indifferent through the change, the shift happening so naturally, Akio had to wonder how he'd ever had trouble with morphing from the start. It was scary, how natural all of this was becoming. Terrifying, really.
Shaking his head, bare feet began to pad down the stairs, the old house creaking with every step. There was no worry over waking their host family - the elderly couple could sleep through anything, it seemed. Thank God for hearing aids.
Once in the kitchen, the tiny quail was gently abandoned onto the kitchen counter as Akio made a beeline for the refrigerator. Swinging the door open, he surveyed their options.
For some highly suspicious reason, the pouch of tuna seemed rather tempting. Which was frustrating, because Akio had never liked tuna before.... which only meant.... sigh.
Pulling out the pouch for himself, it was only then that he turned back around and picked the quail back up, leading him to the open fridge.
"Anything catch your eye?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 9:03 pm
The quail seemed appeased by the effort not to chill him to the bone, and so Akio got to keep his fingers. For now.
His time spent on the counter was mostly spent hopping around a bit and preening his feathers. A quail had to look good, after all! Soon enough though he was back in Akio's hand, now presented with a full fridge to pick through.
Hrm.
Not possessing the vocal cords to vocalize his choice the quail fluttered into the chilly fridge and perched on top of a tub of strawberries. Before, Kaz had rarely eaten meat besides in small quantities, as any meal containing mostly meat made him feel rather ill. That still held true, and he had added quite a bit of berry eating to his previous diet. The strawberries would do nicely for tonight.
It was only when his choice was clear that the quail fluttered back out of the fridge and made a short and rather awkward flight (partially a flight, mostly a fall) back to the counter.
A moment later and it was Kaz (thankfully in pajamas and not the weird clothes that came with that other form) that stared back at Akio from his now seated position on the counter.
"Strawberries. Please."
He had to be sure the message had gotten through, of course.
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