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 Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:44 pm
With the new freedoms given to him, awarded to him for not drowning a single person for all this time, Calder was free to finally enjoy the things he was punished for nearing. His room was back to having fresh water, the pond filled along with his bathtub. He had visited the rivers over and over again, unable to get enough swimming since the shadow was lifted from his skull pin. He even got to go wherever he wanted. At long last, his little friends were able to come home.
Calder hadn't seen Malodore for almost the entirety of the island trip and hadn't really been too crazy over the idea. He had hoped that Riley had mentioned nothing about the lake, and hoped that the Plague Doctor had not murdered all his leeches out of revenge or was waiting with a club if he should show up. Only showing up would tell him if the doctor knew anything about....that incident.
Arriving before the undead ...it's door, Calder knocked. Fester cheerfully nibbled on Calder's ear, excited to have all his friends back.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:57 pm
Bark! Bark! Barkbarkbarkbark!! Luce flung herself at the door, barking excitedly, paws scrabbling at the wood. Malodore, who was reading a book in its favorite chair, tilted its head. Who could this be? Luce never barked at Riley anymore, so it probably wasn't the mindflayer...
Luce shot out into the hallway as soon as Malodore opened the door; she whirled on Calder and begged up on the kelpie's legs for pettings. The plague doctor's head poked around the door a moment later. "Ah! Calder... I am glad to see you well. Have you come to see the little ones?"
It meant what it said, too, about being glad. It had been worried about the kelpie, especially after that strange animosity between him and Riley.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:06 pm
Calder froze when he heard Luce, and watched as the little mutt jumped about his legs. While he was just barely getting used to Christof's scareon, Luce was also a pet he was trying to tolerate. It...was still a process. Hesitantly and looking more awkward than comfortable, he gave the pup three stiff pants on it's head before looking up at the Undead boil and freezing a bit more. No clubs, sharp knives, or jars of corrosive acid. Just a simple hello and welcome. It seemed....that he might be in the clear. While he was in no way going to thank Riley for keeping her trap shut, he at least was glad that there wasn't any need for her to share that little moment with anyone, especially the mate she was messing around with.
"Actually, pickup. I'm here as promised." He said, grinning. He was very proud of himself and hadn't had much of a chance to tell anyone of his accomplishment. "I'm not in trouble anymore. Punishment lifted!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:15 pm
Luce didn't seem to notice Calder's discomfiture; she accepted the pats and then bounced away to flop on her pillow, wrestling what looked like a femur into her jaws and chewing on it energetically.
"Ah, is that so? Splendid!" Malodore opened the door to allow Calder in. "I'm sure they've missed you terribly. Though I will miss them a bit myself. Perhaps I might come and visit them from time to time?" It opened its beak in a grin.
"I, ah... I am relieved to see you are well, after everything," it added, ducking its head to one side, a little awkwardly. "I feared for you, on the island. What we faced was truly horrific... I cannot imagine any of the other pathways held better fates..."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:30 pm
Bringing up the island caused Calder to go straight back to being uncomfortable, and he stepped in, rubbing an arm as he looked around. "I don't like remembering it. So many bad things happened there, and I was alone for a long time. Then, all the way in the end....I got chopped up." He shivered, just thinking about it made him feel all types of uncomfortable. "If falling to pieces like that is how the undead feel, I'm glad I'm not one." He looked over at Malodore. "No offense."
He moved over, heading to where the leeches were kept. At this point, half were hiding around Malodore's room, not ones to be kept in organized jars and most often poking around here and there, napping, and just being generally interested in what the Plague doctor was up to. Two, in fact, were looking at the book that the undead had set down. Calder picked these two up, nuzzles against them as they squeaked and eeped at their owner. "I bet it was pretty bad for you....right?" He looked over, not sure exactly what could scare a undead or someone as level-headed, cool, and rational as Malodore.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:38 pm
Malodore winced in sympathy at the kelpie's description. "Yes... I don't much care to remember it either. The fog showed me some terrible lies... and then ran me through with a blade." It twitched, slightly, making its backblades chime against each other dissonantly. "It's... it's hard. Not so much to die oneself, but to consider that fate delivered upon those you care about... those you love..."
Its voice grew quieter, almost sad. "What I saw was bad enough. Imagining what I didn't see, what was visited upon those I could not see with my own eyes, was almost so."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:49 pm
Pocketing the two leeches, Calder moved to look about, then finally tapped his hoof, a command that said there better be leeches heading his way or someone was going to be in trouble. A few started to move, moving as if they were summersaulting from one tip to the other, long aches, as they headed his way. Kneeling down, he started to scoop them up and try to keep track of which leeches he had and which still needed to be found. "I'm just glad it's over. I don't want to remember that stuff. Before, I thought it was all real, and ...and thinking that just made living really bad. Not that I wanted to die in the end either. I just...didn't like to think that people I knew would run off without me or would hurt each other." He patted a few leeches as they passed, petting their slimy sides as they moved.
"But it wasn't real....I think. I don't know what parts were and weren't. I just know that I didn't like it and hope never to see that place again." He picked up three leeches, pocketing them. Looking up, he frowned. "It's hard to me to think of you afraid. You're not very....." What was the word? "...expressive? Maybe it's the mask. You always seem mellow."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:09 pm
"You were not there to see it," Malodore said, with a sigh. "But I believe we all act very differently when we are filled with true terror and touched by madness. The things the fog made us see... and then the things that truly happened.... were all so horrific. The people who died in front of us. I... the same blade that took me took Riley and Jericho as well. I am only glad that neither of them had to suffer the loss of the other two..."
It, too, was privately glad, in a twisted sort of way, that it hadn't been the one left standing either. It was better the way it had been.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:19 pm
"Owwwwww. I don't want to remember that parrrrrttt." Calder whined, grabbed his ears and pulling the tips down. He had died, but not before seeing Christof be chopped up too. He didn't like any memories from the island aside from probably the head pat Christof gave him and the hug in the laboratory, and he wasn't sure the head pat had even happened since it could have been the fog.
Wanting to stop all these bad, terrible thoughts, Calder waited for it to get quiet, no doubt stopping Malodore with his own wailing, before looking up and releasing his ears. "Tell me five things you are happy to have, right now. Happy thoughts. No bad things." It was an outright command.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:32 pm
Malodore tilted its head to one side, somewhat taken aback by the sudden topic change - but it couldn't pretend it wasn't grateful for it nevertheless. Talking about what had happened was important, but too much and it could almost imagine that fog at the windowpanes, and whispers creeping through the glass... and all in a way entirely different from the good, old-fashioned, Halloween-approved creeps.
Ugh.
"Ah... let's see. Mia cara Riley, Luce tresorina-" At the sound of her name, the pup thumped her tail against the pillow. "... my friends, people like you, Jericho, Christof, Gargantuan, and all the rest... that I am here and no longer in that terrible place..."
...
"... Science?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:42 pm
It was a drastic subject change only because he wanted a complete turn around on the conversation. While he could talk about grim topics at times, he wasn't in the mood now. He had been thinking some bad things lately, and he was trying to ignore them, push them back, and otherwise not address them at all - strange considering Calder usually was upfront about many things. Right now, he wanted to look at the positives to keep him from just sinking into a deep depression, and he wasn't about to have Malodore think bad things either. Not the boil who watched over his leeches all this time.
As Malodore listed the things he was happy for, Calder only stuck out his tongue once at the mention of Riley - yeah, he knew Malodore had the hots for her but that didn't mean Calder was waiting for a wedding invite any time soon - and perked up at the mention that he was Malodore's friend, and then got confused at the mention of science.
"I'm sure there is more than just 'science' to scrape up for a last happy thought. Sort of vague, ya know, but I'll take it. Happy thoughts are better now than bad ones. Everyone has had enough of those. Positives." He said, rising before poking Malodore's beak and moving to find more roaches.
"I'm glad that I'm not stuck on a rotten ship, that I won't be using a harpoon gun anytime soon, that the fog here is the fog I'm used to and reminds me of home and not crazy stuff that makes me sick, that I can swim whenever I want now, and that everyone is alive, safe, and sound here at school where I can see then whenever I want or they want to see me." It was easy for him to think of a long list of happy thoughts. He did it all the time to help him out of many funks. To keep his head above the dark waters.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:21 pm
Malodore sighed. "Ah, if only you knew the thrill of an experiment well-conceived and well-executed... truly, it is among life's greatest pleasures." It shook its head and opened its beak a little in a small smile.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:55 pm
Calder stepped over, stroking a few leeches who were hiding around some jars that Malodore was keeping on a shelf. "I guess now. I'm.........not that smart." His ears started to drop as he spoke more softly. "I've never done an experiment before. You don't really have sciency things in the woods. Don't hear about too many scientist kelpies either. Just herbalists and poisoner here and there." That was the extent of kelpie science. They tended to stay rather...rustic.
He picked up another leech, not looking over at the plague doctor. "Christof came over to Barth's place once when I was there. They were really a team. Making things. I couldn't even understand a word of it. Guess I'm not that bright." He swallowed hard. "..you guys....You, Barth, Christof...and Riley, all seem to get it. I guess that makes you guys all close."
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:57 pm
Malodore shrugged again, lifting one claw to an errant leech, allowing the little one to scoot onto its palm. "There are many varieties of intelligence. Among plague doctors, only one is accepted... but that does not prevent them from existing. One of my brood wished to be an artist. It would have been a brilliant one, I believe, had it been so permitted."
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:30 pm
He brushed it off, turning the conversation away from his own concerned and over to Malodore. Curiosity and learning new things suited Calder better than thinking about things he couldn't figure out or made him feel small. "Brood? Is that like...your herd? So...that plague doctor didn't get to be an artist?" He went over, setting a few leeches into his jar to crawl in and disappear before moving to take the one from the doctor. "Did you............ever want to do something else?"
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