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 Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 12:21 pm
((What's happening when we're not looking))
*The Feien Universe*
Silva... was, strangely enough, taking a nap. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, thinking about... well... things, and he was curled up on the windowsill enjoying the dark rainy day outside. Ice was playing on the computer, working on one of her stories, another AU about that damn comic of hers.
Needless to say, they were'nt expecting the knock on the door. On the closet door, that is. Ice blinked, not sure if she should open it in front of Silva or not, then shrugged as she realized he was still sleeping. She stood, heading for the door and unlocking it, only to have it opened for her by an irritated looking... well... her.
"I need Io back, luv. I know she's only been here for a day or so--"
"Two months."
"Huh? Oh, guess time works differently here." M. Ice paused, relaxing slightly. "Well that means she's had a good rest. Where is she?"
"In her room, actually. She's been playing her guitar for the past couple of days. Do you know how much of a pain it is getting her tutor to come here? He HATES Earth, you know!"
"Yeah, yeah... that way, right?"
"Yeah." Ice sat back, watching the other female head out the door and down the hall. She moved to close and lock it, only to blink as yet another Ice popped her head through. This one was different, wearing a large trenchcoat and a slight smile. She was carrying a little girl with big green eyes and green hair.
"I'm ho-ome!!" The Tarot Ice said, snickering as the little girl mimicked her.
"I'm hoo-oome!!" Jade said happily, looking completely comfortable with two mothers in one place. "Where's da peanutbutter?"
"In the kitchen." T. Ice said, letting the little girl down. Jade went running, leaving Ice staring at her counterpart.
"No."
"Just for a little while? She'll be good! I promise!" T. Ice pleaded. "She likes cartoons, but keep her away from the violent ones, she has nightmares. And she has the bad habit of speaking to strangers, so keep an eye on--"
"I said No, Ice!!" Ice almost wailed. She blinked as someone tugged on her hand and looked down at the girl in question. "What's up, shortstuff?"
"I gotta go potttty!!" Jade mumbled, doing a little dance. T. Ice took advantage, stepping back through the door and waving.
"Be good for Mommy, Jade!" T. Ice called, disappearing before Ice could complain again. She groaned, picking up the little girl and heading for the bathroom. She passed M. Ice in the hall, not surprised that the other woman was locked out of her daughter's room.
"Would you be reasonable, Io? I need you there! All of the masques seem to be showing up right about now. They're KIDS! They can't protect--"
No!
"But... He's back. Silva's back, luv, and he could have killed Ashy the other night."
The door opened slowly, making Ice jerk as she realized Jade was doing her potty dance even faster then earlier. She sighed, taking the little girl into the bathroom and leaving the door opened so she could hear.
Is... is she...
"Just unconscious. But she's been around longer, luv... Who knows what he would do to one of the new masques? Look, I know you don't want to deal with some things, but you're going to have to. The safety of my-OUR colony means more then your emotional problems."
Ice winced at that... Masquerade Ice always was a little more... callous then the others. She sighed as she heard Io speak.
I... you're right. I've been acting like a child. But--
"No, look, I understand. How do you think I felt after I calmed down last time? Loki did the right thing by rifting Silva and the others... but I can't go back and change what I did. All I can do is keep everyone safe NOW. And I need your help to do it. So get your things and c'mon."
Io nodded, heading back into her room to pack. "All done!" Jade called, standing and pulling up her shorts.
"Good job!" Ice replied, pasting on a grin. It seemed that Masquerade was a hard place to live... It was surprising that Io was... well... she stopped that thought, shrugging it off. Maybe the girl had just needed some time alone.
"Um... Ice?" She asked, something occuring to her. "Did anybody shut the rift door?"
"Not me. I thought you did."
"... s**t." She muttered, picking up Jade and racing into the room.
"s**t!" Jade repeated happily, making Ice groan. Then she really felt like cussing. The door was still open... and Silva was nowhere to be seen. "s**t! Shitshitshit!!" Jade sang happily.
"You said it, sister." Ice muttered, rubbing her temple wearily.
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Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 12:21 pm
*Masquerade*
So... He had a girl back home, things he needed to take care of... but he had taken the opportunity that had presented itself. It was the only thing he could have done, right? And this had been bothering him for a while.
So now he was on the other side... and he had no idea where he was. It looked like a forest of some sorts, trees that were miles taller then any he had seen back at home, and he could have sworn he saw a snake crawing one a few feet back.
The weather was humid, making him sweat slightly, and there was a feel to the place that made his hair stand on the back of his neck... had he had any hair there, that was. He was flying, the ground was too covered with roots and vines and moving things for him to want to deal with walking. Which was strange, because usually he enjoyed running into moving things.
But normally the moving things weren't larger than Ice...
He coughed, smelling some sort of smoke, then looked around. If there was a fire-- He blinked as he caught sight of a man leaning back against a tree, smoking a cigarette. The man was huge, a good foot taller than Ice, and wearing a long, sinister looking red trench coat. He had long jean-clad legs that ended in a pair of cowboy boots with sharpened spurs. On his hip he wore a pair of Katana, a pistol on the other side. His shirt was plain black, and torn slightly, his face...
His face was an older version of Silva's own. But the eyes were cold, vicious... and looking the fairy over with amusement. "Well, well, well... What do we have here?" The man stood straight slowly, pushing himself away from the tree and heading towards the small fairy. He took a drag off of his cigarette, blowing the smoke directly into Silva's face.
Silva refused to cough, glaring up at the human and crossing his arms over his chest. "What the hell do you THINK we have here? Short guy, wings, no clothes? I'm thinking faerie, but hell, you might not be smart enough to be."
The man blinked, then snorted, taking another drag. "I was waiting for Ice. I didn't know she was stupid enough to send a... faerie... to do a man's job." He shrugged. "But hell, I can kill you before I kill her. Shouldn't take to long." He paused, examining the fairy briefly. "You don't come from this place, do you?"
"Why the hell should I tell you?"
"Don't have to. Doesn't matter to me where you come from. But I thought you would want to drag this out for a while. Figure out a way to escape."
"Who are you?" Silva asked, feeling a strange mix of hatred and respect welling up. This man... was dangerous. And he smelt like... blood. The sickening sweet smell that comes from a large amount. Silva looked around, blinking at the sight of a gigantic cat carcass in the background, the skin hanging from a wire. The cat was as big as a house... a two story house, almost. It made the man look small. And it made Silva look like a toy. He scowled.
"Me? Just a poacher. You, though... who do you belong to?"
"What? I don't belong to--"
"You're housebroken, kid. You can see it in your eyes. Makes killing you seem like a waste of time." The man said, snorting and turning his back on the fairy. Silva growled, rushing in to attack only to get swatted away like a fly. The man hadn't even bothered to look. "Besides. You'll die soon enough. You look bite-sized to me."
"I'm NOT going to die." Silva replied. "Now tell me who you are!"
"Why waste my name on a kid that won't live long enough to remember it?" The man asked philosophically. "Now get lost. I've got a Rade to package for shipment."
Silva scowled, falling silent as rage poured through his veins. He hated that man. And he would make him suffer for being such an a*****e.
Somehow.
***************************
TBC....
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Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 8:42 pm
"Are you sure he came to THIS dimension?" M. Ice asked as she led the way through the masquerade forest. Her broadsword was cutting through the treebrances with an easy rythym, making Ice wonder how long she had been practicing that move.
"This was where the door was set to. And unlike the Tarot Ice, he doesn't have the ability to reroute the rift. I left it on this dimension so Io could visit home when she wanted to..."
"Yeah..." M. Ice said nothing after that single word for a second. Then she spoke again. "Icy... Masquerade isn't like your backyard. I don't--"
"Don't say it. Don't even THINK it, Ice. My fairy is alive. He's a survivor. And he will live until I can hunt him down and kill him for giving me a heart attack." Ice hissed. She was carrying Jade on her hip, having had no one to babysit on such a short notice... that she had thought of. She probably could have asked TB, but--
"I'm just saying that--" M. Ice stopped, shrugging. "Forget it. We'll find what we can find."
They walked on, Io silently guarding the rear, her bow and arrow attained from M. Ice and slung over her shoulder. She wasn't saying anything... it could well be possible that the little s**t was dead. And she almost felt guilty because of that fact.
Jade was quietly toying with Ice's shirt, buttoning and unbuttoning the top button as she tried to fight the sad feeling she got from her new mommy. She didn't know who the fairy they were looking for was, she didn't really care. All she knew was that she wanted people to be happy again. But she didn't know how to cheer them up.
"Look... I would know if he was dead. He's bonded to me, right? His lifethread is connected to mine. And it feels fine. So he's okay." For now. But no one said the words that were in everyone's minds. For now he was okay... until something came along and thought he looked tasty. Until-- Ice scowled, cursing herself for even thinking such things.
"Maybe... maybe he's found someone that can keep him from being killed." She finally ventured, grasping at any small hint of hope she could. "Maybe he's with someone safe..."
The only person that roams these woods-- Io started out, stopping and flushing through her mask as she realized that they had heard her.
"Is who, Io? Tell me." Ice said, turning, hope warring with worry.
"Is Silva." M. Ice replied briskly. "He could keep the kid safe. If he didn't kill him, himself, that is."
****************************
Silva scowled, sitting on a low tree branch and watching the stranger light a fire. He didn't really feel like exploring with the approaching night. It would test his darkvision, true, but even with darkvision you couldn't see something attacking from behind. Maybe if he knew the place as well as he knew his backyard... but not tonight.
"You still here, huh?" The man's voice made him jerk, wondering how he could see him through the shadows. "You might want to move before the python in the limb above you gets hungry."
"..." He was about to call the man's bluff when he heard the sickeningly quiet hiss of a snake about to attack. He jumped, diving out of the way just in time, the large snake jaw clamping onto the branch where he had been sitting.
The man at the fire smirked, turning his roasting meat over the fire and waiting for the fairy to speak. He was bored. The kid from earlier had irritated him, but this one... this one was mildly amusing. There was a hint of fear under that bravado, an emotion he had lost long ago. Right along with hope.
"You could have mentioned that earlier." Silva finally said, scowling as the man snorted. "How did you kill that... thing, anyways?" He asked, one of the questions that had been bugging him coming out of his mouth before he could think.
"Slit her throat. Clean cut, didn't hurt the coat too much." The man replied absently as he pulled the meat off the fire. "Why'd you come here, kid? You suicidal?" The question was emotionless save for a hint of morbid curiosity.
"I'm not going to die, dammit. I've already told you that."
"You would have died just a few minutes ago." The man replied as he started to eat. "You owe me, kid."
Silva stayed silent, blinking as what he had always thought was put so bluntly. A life debt. Just like the one he owed the feien Julius. And the one he owed Ice.
But something told him this guy was the type to collect...
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Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 7:25 am
If he was home right now, Silva thought, staring at the stars through the thick layer of tree limbs, he would be hunting in the backyard... or snogging with Ruya. He scowled, not really comfortable with using the stranger's things for a bed, but the man hadn't complained. He was sitting on the other side of the fire caving something out of wood.
They had fallen into an uneasy silence... uneasy on Silva's side, the man couldn't seem to care less. He jerked as the man finally spoke.
"You got a girl back home, kid?"
"..." Silva scowled, not really wanting to answer. "What's it to you?"
"Nothing. But you remind me of someone, kid..." He carved as he spoke, not looking up. "You think your girl will remember you after I kill you?"
Silva scowled, turning his back to the other man.
"Hell, she probably has a replacement all lined up, doesn't she?" There was cold amusement in the voice, and it was pissing him off.
"He's NOTHING compared to me, old man. He wouldn't--"
"But there IS someone, isn't there." A cold, mocking laugh filled the air, making Silva cringe slightly. "There always is. You're not the type to stick around for too long."
"..."
"Females, kid, of any species. They aren't as dumb as you think they are. And they aren't faithful to men like u-you."
"You were going to say something else, old man." Silva muttered, turning to stare at the man across the fire. "You were going to say men like us. But I'm not like you."
"Not yet." The man replied, looking at the piece of wood critically for a few minutes. Then he tossed it into the fire, sending sparks flaring brightly into the night sky. "Hell, you might not survive long enough to become like me."
They went silent again, the man lighting up another cigarette and turning away from the fire. Silva went back to staring at the sky, his words echoing in his head. Hell, he could be right. Ruya could be snogging Neruo even as he sat there in hell.
The image came into his head, the two of them curled up together-- He stopped, scowling and chewing on his toothpick. He hated this man... but for the first time in his short life he had finally met someone that he understood.
And it was more terrifying then he had ever dreamed.
The man across the fire smirked slightly, taking a long draw off his cigarette and waiting for the kid to start getting paranoid. He had come out of the same rift that Ice had gone into somehow. That meant he had some sort of connection with her. Maybe. If he didn't he might be useful in other ways.
He looked to be a magical creature. And while the man didn't hold much with magic, he didn't deny that it seemed to have its uses. But if he planned on using the kid as a lacky he would have to get rid of any desire to go back to where he had come from. Females were useful in that way... and a few others, he admitted, his smirk widening slightly.
But in other ways they were a pain in the a**.
"How do you know she won't be faithful?" The voice made him turn slightly. He had been expecting that question, waiting for the hint of doubt.
"Because they never are, kid. Trust me, I've tried." He tapped off his cigarette and made himself comfortable. He would get what sleep he could, it was his training. But the kid... there would be no sleep for him. He decided to put a little salt in that wound, drawling out his next sentence.
"Get some sleep, kid. It might be your last."
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Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:45 am
"Silll-va!!! Silva where are you?!" The voice made the stranger jerk awake, shocked at the sound of Ice actually calling for him. That was just... stupid. It told him exactly where she was-- Wait... WHY would she be looking for him? If she really wanted to find him--
"s**t. She found me." The fairy's voice made him turn, hiding his reaction quickly as everything clicked into place. He finally knew the kid's name. Too bad it was the same as his own.
"You... belong to Ice." The man said, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Now isn't that convenient?"
"Wh-what? What in the hell does that have to do with--"
"I want you to go home, kid. Go back to Ice and say that nothing happened. You never met me, got it?"
"Trust me, I'm not planning on telling. I'd just as well forget--"
"Oh no, you won't forget. You owe me a life debt. I plan on collecting on it. Just not right now." The man stood, stretching and fingering the hilt of his sword. "I always collect my debts, kid. No matter where I have to go to get it." The fire had died down and somehow he managed to remove all traces of his being there in seconds, leaving Silva fluttering there with a blank look on his face.
"And remember, tell no one." The voice seemed to wrap around the small fairy, leaving him with a cold feeling in his gut as the man disappeared. He was still there when Ice and the others trudged through the brush. One of the Ices stopped, her broadsword jerking to a halt right before it cut off his head.
"Huh... Think I found him, Icy." She called, examining the life thread of the fairy closely. She scowled, noting a new connection, but said nothing. It wasn't her story to tell.
"Oh thank God!" The voice made him turn, blinking as he was grabbed and pulled into a hug.
"Can't... breathe." He muttered, not really fighting the embrace. She let him go, glaring at him.
"What in the hell do you think you were doing, mister? You could have been killed! Or eaten! Or-Or worse!"
"Amazon fairies could have kidnapped me and forced me to become their love slave, yeah yeah, I get it already." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked around, scowling as he caught sight of Io carrying a little girl. "Who's the twerp?"
"That's Jade. We're going to be babysitting for a little while." Ice replied, grinning in relief. She blinked as he turned. "Where are you going?"
"I think I'd rather risk the giant cats." He replied, only to be grabbed by a laughing Ice.
"Nope. Not this time. So... Ice." She turned looking at the female with the broadsword. "Thank you."
"I owed you." The female replied, shrugging. "You took care of Io." She turned, looking at the girl in question with a crooked grin. "And as annoying as she can be, she's still my daughter."
ME annoying? You're one to talk!
"I am, aren't I?" M Ice replied, looking smug. "Now tell everybody goodbye, we might as well head for homebase while we're here."
Silva blinked, strangely surprised that Io wasn't coming back with them. Then he shrugged. "Alright. Let's go. I'm sick of the smell here." He jerked as a finger dropped on his head, rubbing his crewcut.
Seeya, jerk. Io said, then handed the little girl to his Ice and walked away with the Masquerade Ice.
"Yeah... let's go home." Ice replied, smiling slightly as she watched the others walk away. Then she did something he had never seen her do before, lifting a hand and pulling it slowly through the air, creating a rift like the door he had come in through. They headed through, finding themselves standing in her bedroom once again.
It would have been nice, actually. Had the words of the stranger not been stuck in his mind.
I always collect my debts, kid. No matter where I have to go to get it.
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