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 Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:33 am
gaia_diamond
Please do not post unless your name is Harxlily or Ixtaek, thanks
gaia_diamond
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:35 am
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:48 am
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:39 am
Music for this post:
x
x“Land, ho!”
Vesper was jerked out of her slumber immediately. This journey had made her a very light sleeper...which may have been the only good thing that had come out of it so far.
It took her only a second to remember where she was. Waves slapped against the wood of the small boat, as it rocked on the sea. The muted colors of dawn began to creep over the horizon – the sky was lightening, but a few obstinate stars were still visible. A rough blanket was covering everything but her head. Her bag was slumped at her side, heavy with items and the weight of the journey. She vaguely noticed that in sleep, her head had nodded off and was resting on the shoulder of the boy laying next to her. She sat up.
It was cold.
In her groggy, post-dreamy state, her mind wandered to her home in the desert of Ajian. The blazing sun on her skin, the scorching sands on her soles, the warm wind through her hair....Where she could wear long, flowy robes in decadent and shimmery colors... not the constricting, thick-clothed, nondescript pants and tunics she had traded them for. Ajian, her home, where she could be with her family and sister every day. It was paradise.
Much better than waking up, freezing to death, on a rickety raft in the middle of the ocean, presumably heading straight towards her doom, crowded in with the three most unexpected companions she could think of: a crazy pirate, a snarky centaur, and a painfully awkward shut-in and his toys.
Although... her cheeks warmed slightly. This group of people was definitely the only thing keeping her together at this point.
The pirate, even though he was a huge pervert, and made jokes that she didn't think were funny, and was kind of obnoxious...and loud....and always messing things up... She stopped. Even though he had so many flaws, and was probably the least likely person she ever would have thought she'd talk to...He was the one who had helped her from the very beginning. He had helped her find the rest of these oddballs. And, despite his goofy looks, and doofy personality....he knew what he was doing. He was a skilled water magician, and without him, the Vase of Aquarius wouldn't be tucked safely in her bag with the other Relics. Without him, the entire quest would not have ever begun. And for that, she was thankful.
The centaur, while Vesper had been intimidated by her the first time she saw her, had also won a place in her heart. As clinical, as worrisome, as serious, and as wickedly smart as Fae was, she was equally caring, confident, and amusing. She had saved Vesper's skin more times than she could count- once even literally when the Scorpio Guardian had stung her arm with his acidic poison. The only reason Vesper was even alive right now was because of the centaur's resourcefulness, fast acting, and general brilliance.
And then...the odd little Cancer fellow with his odd little clockwork creations. In the beginning, she had felt-- even more oddly-- drawn to him;; even though he looked more like a broken down doll than a person. But...what he lacked in chattiness and social ability, Mirab and Troi made it up for him. The creatures were forever inquisitive, getting into things they shouldn't, and lover meeting people. Even though they were the complete opposite of their creator, they were still as much a part of him as his arm. They did what he wished he could do, or what he was too shy to do.
Nevertheless, over the course of their travels, Vesper had grown fond of the strange fellow and his intriguing reservations. In fact...even though she pretty much owed her life to Fae and Biq..she owed her sister's life to Brett...and that was much more valuable to her.
“LAAANNNDD HOOOOOO!~”
The pirate bellowed gleefully. He was beside himself. They had found it!
They were quickly approaching the tiny, distant strip of land.
Vesper was fully awake now, looking around at her companions---no--her friends-- and felt and incredible rush of gratitude.
Even after everything, after all they'd been through....after all SHE put them through..After all those who had abandoned them..After all those who they had lost..
They were all that was left.
For the first time since they had begun their journey – so many years ago in the city of Mirr – Vesper felt a tear fall down her cheek.
So much had happened. They had fought for their lives so many times – and seen so many of their friends lose.
But now, they were here. So close to the ancient city of Millenia.
So close to the end.
Bringing the blanket to her face, Vesper harshly scrubbed away the lone tear.
“I'll take it from here.” She said simply, standing up and folding the blanket back over the Cancer. “Thanks, Biq. You can sleep now. We're still a few hours away, and you've been keeping guard all night.”
Vesper was no longer the awkward, blushing, bumbling child she had been, but now a fierce leader.
And she was ready for whatever may come.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:45 pm
Fae hadn't really slept.
Even though she had been raised on an island, she'd never liked boats. Especially the little, rickety, fall-apart-in-the-slightest-current type they were on. It didn't help that her greater weight meant her end of the boat was always riding a little lower in the water than the other.
Still, Biq had declared it sea-worthy, and she hadn't the knowledge to refute him.
She had been watching him on and off all night, in between short dreams where they sank. The moon really did wonders for anyone. In the moon you weren't rich or poor, smart or stupid, a pirate or a centaur... in the moonlight you were just people, small and huge and insignificant and onmipotent. Even someone as pragmatic as her felt like magic, the deep, unknowable kind, might exist when the moon was as big as it had been last night. Especially when she watched it with his silhouette cutting a perfect dark relief across the speckled lunar surface.
But the moon set, and she had to go back to being the stern, tough cookie who everyone appreciated but, she was fairly sure, no one liked. As the sun came up Biq saw land, and his whooping could have woken the dead. Satisfied they were close enough to land that sinking probably wouldn't kill them, Fae drifted back into an uneasy sleep.
She dreamed of all the struggles they'd gone through thus far, getting eleven of the twelve relics. Some had been easy; the timid Brett had been carrying the clock all along, unknowing. Other had come at a cost, a great cost... Her mind flickered to the other centaur who had been with them, but she banished the memories back to the furthest reaches of her mind. Couldn't waste even dream thoughts on what she couldn't save. The Veil of Virgo was in her saddle bag, and if wishing were real... she'd wish them back. or, at least, she told herself that. Part of her wondered if she wanted to wish for something more... more selfish.
The raft rocked with waves as the shore grew closer, but the answer was still just out of her reach. One more relic. One more and then she'd know what to wish. Until then, she would enjoy this silent reprieve and secretly watch the boys sleep, and Vesper's face as the dawn's rosy light filtered down to mark a new adventure.
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:45 pm
Was she crazy??? He couldn't sleep! Not now! Not when they were so close...but, he reluctantly moved aside to let Vesper take the helm. Err. The....watch? They didn't exactly HAVE a helm, per se.
Biq settled down into a small cranny of the boat, wedged in between Fae and the still-sleeping Brett.
He closed his eyes.
…
Nothing.
He willed himself to sleep, but nothing came. He visualized a fence, then imagined beautiful girls jumping over it as he kept count... but it didn't work. Maybe he could try to drink some warm milk? Or, what was it that Vesper was always trying to get him to drink? Herbal tea? Biq stuck out his tongue. He was definitely not a milk or tea person. Also, they were on a boat, so they didn't even have any of either. That was pointless. I wonder what this island is. I wonder if there will be dragons. Will we even make it out alive? Maybe. Hopefully. Probably. Fae would keep them alive, even if they were on the brink of death. She always did. And even if they lost a limb or something terrible like that, Brett could probably fashion a new one for them. A WOODEN LEG! YEAH! I'd be so awesome. Argh.
For a moment, Biq's mind entertained thoughts of swaggering around on a ship deck dressed in looted fineries and wobbling on a pegleg. Maybe he'd have a parrot. Yeah! Awesomeeee. Pirates. Dragons. Relics. Wishes. Aries. The final showdown. Counting sheep jumping over a fence. Counting pretty girls. Counting Faes. What? No.
AGH.
He couldn't SLEEP. He was just too hyped up on the adrenaline of finally sighting land after seeing nothing but ocean for weeks. Also, he may have stolen one of Vesper's own HIGH ENERGY SKUFU BERRY POTIONS! May have.
Casually, he dropped an empty bottle over the side of the craft. Hopefully, she wouldn't notice.
He still couldn't sleep. His eyes roved over to the centaur beside him. Was she asleep? Biq couldn't tell. Oh well.
“Pssssssssssst.....” He fished a candle out of his pocket and poked Fae in the side with it. Because when would you ever NOT need a candle?
“Faaaeeeee.... FAAAEEEE.....” His whisper was about as quiet as a stampeding herd of wildebeests. When he was finally sure she was awake, he adopted a look of complete angelic innocence.
“Whatcha thinkkkinnn about?” He batted his eyelashes at her, but it was about as adorable as a freshly baptized cat. 
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:21 pm
If the ocean had opened up right then and swallowed the raft, its doubtful Brett would have woken up. The sand-haired Cancer was nestled as close to the mast as he could be, curled in a tight ball, as deeply asleep as a man could be without snoring too loudly. That he trusted the other three on the raft was a moot point; he'd never really thought of them as the back-stabbing, pushing-the-sleeping-guy-off-the-raft types. True, every danger they'd faced had made a little part of him want to turn around, walk back to his basement, and never, EVER come out. But something had pushed him to keep going, keep seeking new adventures and new confidence in himself and others.
That something was now perched on his knee, keeping their own watch.
Mirab had certainly taken the journey harder. Her insatiable curiosity had led her into several very sticky situations, and Brett's repair jobs had oft suffered from lack of supplies. In places her gold-colored plating was dented and scarred with soldering lines, making her appear like a true mythical dragon covered in battle scars and the blood of ancients (though that blood may have just as easily been a few sneaked licks of one of Vesper's leaky potions). Troi was still in very good condition, spending most of his time around Brett's neck instead of flying into enemies' faces. Still, he too had an impressive scar three-quarters of the way down his body, where he had stopped a blade from reaching his master's softer and less fixable neck. The two toys turned pets turned allies were both looking at the horizon with a singular fixation. They could tell whatever lay ahead was going to be the toughest battle yet.
Brett murmured in his sleep and relaxed his uncomfortable position slightly. Mirab chattered as his knee moved under her, then looked at Troi with what could only be a concerned face. Though Brett still lovingly repaired them and cared for them, they sometimes suspected his dreams were no longer as clockwork as they had once been. The faint ticking of his heart had begun to sound strange to their ears, and at times they had wondered if the man even understood them anymore when they spoke. His abilities remained strong, he could build almost anything now... But his heart just wasn't in it. Whether it was weariness from the long journey or something else, the two could not tell. Mirab clambered down from her maker's knee and crawled up to his chest, curling up like a house cat.
No matter what, they wouldn't leave him alone.
The raft rocked gently, like a cradle. The wind swirled about, whispering incoherently, as the water swelled, swelled, rose...
And burst.
A giant scaly head, easily twice the raft's meager size, lifted from the water and looked down upon the boat with its slotted purple eyes. Or, eye, for one was squeezed shut painfully. Mirab jumped up and chittered alarm, though anyone missing the appearance of a monster that size had to be blind, stupid... Or still very deeply asleep. Brett's face scrunched but he did not wake up. Mirab squalled and jumped on his scalp, poking him with her sharp claws through his hat. At the same time Troi had wrapped around Brett's mechanical right hand, poking him in the arm with his tail as he struggled to unclasp the knife in the back of the palm. The human didnt budge. Mirab growled and climbed down onto the hats floppy brim, swaying as she bent her head down and chomped, hard, on the Master's tender earlobe.
"Whaaaashfckfndic!" Brett jumped up with a start, nearly upsetting the raft. After a few confused moments of disentangling Mirab from his hat and lifting the brim, he turned ghostly white at the sight of the sea serpent.
"Ok... Please say this is a dream... A really, really bad dream."
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