Topic: Friends and Foes

VikiChylde

Date: 2007-04-11 00:52 EST
Delusional
I believe I can cure it all for you, dear
Coax or trick or drive or
drag the demons from you
Make it right for you sleeping beauty
- A Perfect Circle

Everett Ogden?s Room
The Day After This One

The number twenty had served as a shield for the night prior, with the Ancient curled about her sleeping figure, the Gunslinger armed to the teeth and aimed at the window, and the dear Youth, to whom the room belonged, brushing sleep from his eyes and the ruffles from his clothing, only happy to receive the onslaught of company at such a monstrous hour. Turn to the following day, or night rather. Viki still lay appropriately in place, multicolored layers mingling with the grays of the Inn's d?cor, slumbering as if her mind were at rest and not at odds with reality. No sign of the Angel, nor the Lawyer, and perhaps they were content in leaving her alone. After all, she was well protected - twenty-odd people gathered downstairs, most wielding swords and laser-blasters, and Mish'Cael had gotten pieces of her attacker in his flight. He wouldn't be back. Not that one, to say the least.

?Ye know Viki.?
?Ahh.. the delightfully colorful little woman.. a gifted seer she is..?

Her ears, they rang, yet the girl did not stir. Everett's room was quite comfortable, with its many books singing from their spines, stories springing off pages and weaving into her dreams.

?Stay away from the Seer!?
?Ahh.. is that what ye want? But she is mine........?
?She is not yours.?
?I donnae take kindly to being told what to do with the things I possess.. I find it..... rude....?

The Black Wizard raged his own war downstairs, but still, she slept. Summer rains and sweet wines wafted through the crack in the door. Just one story up, all swaddled in covers that were not her own, her scent marking them nonetheless, happily oblivious to chaos' reigning beneath. She found safety in this sanctuary. Sanctuary was a room with a bookworm's view.

Time lapsed. With a murmur of sound, invisible to ears south of room twenty, the seer finally stirred. Perhaps it was the commotion, though the girl would gladly trade one fiend for another, all things being equal and the measures of evil accurate.

Name-Like-Bells, the Black Wizard, or Snakeskin?

What day was it? Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? Noonday? She yawned, then turned over on the foreign mattress, pressing her face to the pillow. Lathered in lullabies, a merry tide of moonlight spilling through the lone window, the seer curled into her comfort zone, somewhere in the space between pillow and wall. Heat had a tendency to rise, but the wards within blocked the unnatural climate changes, facilitated by the Black Wizard and his hellfire.

VikiChylde

Date: 2007-04-11 01:12 EST
Hey there sleepy smile,
I see you've brought your bedroom eyes.
Not assuming you wanna keep em,
I'm assuming you reckon you won't.
- Alkaline Trio

Suddenly, a voice. ?Hello-bright-person!? It was so quick, so small, it barely registered. She half wondered the source was in the Real.

He is not one of ours. He was here last night, when they took you to keep you safe.

The girl shifted the layers of covers and turned around, sleep clinging to the corners of those very tired eyes. Lips were parched for water, cracked and devoid of paint. She had slept a full day and night. ?Brightness, nau. Naut now,? she whispered

He was a blur to the window, then back to the bed. He was an imp, surely, or some similar sprite (the seer was very fond of sprites, having borrowed a body once upon a time). ?The-moon-is-only-bright-because-of-the-sun-an-emp ty-vessel-a-retractor-of-light. Moon!? He zipped to the window and back again. ?Refractor??

?Name-like-bells, gone? Factor out the fire?? The questions thrown to the creature were all but the obvious choices, like, say for instance, what the hell are you? She paused and pondered that bit on the moon, his motions to quick for even her eyes to follow, large and bright as they were. ?Sun lost its sister. Moon is a filler.?

He only zipped back over to her, then took his place on her stomach, standing on her looking down, much like the cat, but with big floppy ears. He leaned over. ?You-need-to-get-up-now-or-soon-you-will-fade.?

?Always two, you know, little-thing in my-room-naut.? She continued to say of stars. Putting some distance between her head and the pillow, she began to sit up, though fell over all too soon, the bedding claiming her body, and weakness the rascal cause. ?I will naut.? She blinked.

?Up!-Up!? He demanded, zipping around the room again. How he even got in there, Viki couldn?t say. ?Fade-like-this..? Coming to a stop again, he was still for a moment, then invisible.

Her laughter was raspy and weak but not unlike a girl's. It might have mirrored Mish'Cael's if she had a taste for the daily dozen packs of cigarettes. ?Ahh.. But you are here.? A tsk from the seer, and a lazy roll to her side. She saw through that one too easily.

?But-you-you-are-not-me.?

?Nau, and naut fading neither..? There was a weak element of singsong there. She grew more of herself with each passing second.

?The-blue-hair-burns.? The creature tried to explain, pausing, coming to a stop for a moment. ?I-think-it-is-my-fault-seems-touching-hair-bad.?


?Blue?? A flash of concern, and in that momentary pause she reached out, an attempt to spray a set of fingers across his little forehead. ?Burns??

He nodded with flopping ears. ?Burns.?

Fingertips were granted touch, and she stroke the space between his ears, a casual calm before her face darkened and her eyes were granted a bit of truth - a knowledge of the ongoing turmoil just downstairs, beyond her feet. ?Empress??

?Up!Up!? He exclaimed, bouncing around.

?AHh!? Her squeak was a tad too high - classify it squeak, for now. She gripped the headboard and pulled herself back, into a somewhat sitting position, though her legs wore some semblance of jello ? not that the seer could really tell you what jello was. She gave the creature a helpless glance, before off-blues dipped south. ?Here. Black Wizard.?

He frowned, his ears drooping to the side as he tapped his foot.

?You are a colored chaos.. All over everywhere.? Viki drew the blankets to the top of her chin, as if that would make a difference. Thoughts of wards were orphaned once the childhood claim of hiding beneath covers was given the cranial forefront.

The creature?s ears perked and the smile returned. ?You-safe-now-bright-one-I-am-here-fast-and-invisi ble-so-you-sleep-I-watch-tonight.? Then, the mysterious little thing raced off to end of the bed, to stand and face the door. Slowly, he went still, and then faded from sight.

Viki blinked back obvious surprise and stared at the spaces he left over, once the stillness had passed. The little guardian was no fixture of amusement. The seer took his motives as genuine, for they tasted of truth, as for what she could tell of him. All the bouncing and the whirling made it hard for her to focus, but then again, he was very small.

As night stretched itself thin, the seer felt stronger, and moved to foreground, leaving the headboard behind. ?Mm, cannaut go down.?

?Blue-hair-gone-no-reason-anymore-stay-warm-and-sa fe-there-is-always-tomorrow,? said the same quick little voice from the spaces between. He felt closer than the door, but then all was silent and still, and he did not stir from his quiet cocoon.

The ball of color shifted, upsidedown upon the mattress, feet where her head should be and vice-versa. The seer was never one for rules. She sighed, an echo of sound into the grey blankets. Another attempt to peel herself from the bed. Another failure. Drained and down, off-blues found the window, picking a patch of outside to focus on.

VikiChylde

Date: 2007-04-11 01:21 EST
And then last night I had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded
For treating others as they like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in November
Don't wake me I plan on sleeping
- The Postal Service

Enter the Occupant. Everett looked near exhausted from work, but the curiosity in his bed never inquired about his occupation. She only showered him with half apologies and riddles meant to allude to explanations for the night prior.

?Ah...? The poet stood, and carried his boots to the closet, and set them there. Everett leaned against the wall then, a slightly bemused grin to the lady across the room. ?You were in need, and I know better than to refuse determined women and very tall, very armed, very blue men.? Even in his relatively green state in this place, he was up to speed. ?I would certainly do it again, Viki.? How fondly he thought of the poor little thing. ?Are you thirsty, or hungry? I have little here, but I could go down to the kitchen.?

Oh how her heart might?ve burst at that instant! Blues collided with greens, marveling at innocence like never before. And how she was loathe to ask him of anything else, for surely she could?ve left, by then. A twitch. The girl regarded the floorboards. Maybe not? Patchwork shifted, a war of color waging over Everett's bed.

She whispered: ?Ahh, the Blue One.. was here..? More statement than question, for the taint of his cigarettes still hung in the air, even if that window was open to expel the odor. She sighed, then crumbled, awash in covers that reeked of summer rain and sweeter wines. ?Water, but do naut go far for it.?

Everett gave a nod and he spoke the name. ?Mish'Cael. Indeed he was here.? Her request would be easily met. Within a moment, he had plucked a glass bottle from the shelf in the closet and pulled a clean glass down with it. ?You are in luck, Mistress Viki. We serve water here.? He moved to the table and poured some for her, then walked over, glass in hand. He extended it to the lady with a smile. ?I hope you like it at room temperature.?

?Ahh, you know.. Rooms, they warm.? There was a sizzle of self, too, as she reached for the glass, a dainty grip on the middle before she took the offering to her mouth. Drink. Drank. Done. She peered at him all the while, draining the contents with open eyes, posing questions that held no love for language, and then, at last.. ?He called me Mistress..? Light giggle to a bit of empty space. Yes, she was herself again.

Again, time lapsed, and the poet retired to his bed, but before he went, he allowed her to savor his words, his hidden secrets strung in sonnets. She found one with enough rhyme, and it soon became her favorite. She crawled beneath his writing desk, makeshift fort and tent in one, reading something wild, perhaps finding bits of herself in Everett?s Written Word.

There was a knock at the door. It was nearly four in the morning. Everett stirred and murmured something small, so the seer lifted herself and allowed the visitor entrance.

VikiChylde

Date: 2007-04-11 01:29 EST
Snuck inside the sound of sleep
Snuck inside the sound of sleep
Lazarus threw the party
Lazarus threw the fight
Cloak a dagger plot
Her sovereign majesty
Pacifier pacifies, yeah it pacifies
Bullet ridden with vermin
Be it the peasant stark frenzy
- At The Drive In

Mish?Cael. In all his blue-blazed glory. He was definitely checking in, taking stock of the room and its benign occupants, looking for signs of intruders, or any menace beyond the window.

The two spoke softly while the poet slept.

?Clover-kill.? The foreign shot of words were claimed as her own, and like always, Viki tangled them together. Off-blues climbed north, reaching the killer's face, alive with questions.

?Who else yer wantin' ta snuff.? His head tipped down, watching her steadily.

Chestnut brows lifted at once. Thoughts weighed heavy on her small shoulders, and, as if to illustrate, she raised a hand from its former place on the book and settled it to the back of her neck. A crack rang free, til she turned to him. ?Many. You.. require a list??

He gave her a shrug, a shake of his head. ?Nope. Jes' curious.?

?To follow, for some, I have secrets, for others, to use.? Another twirl of her finger, to paint a timeline over the air. She didn't need to elaborate. Lashes dipped, a curious diversion from onyx eyes. She caught his hand in hers, thumb rounding the tops of his knuckles, the other spray of digits pressing to his palm. Handshake, or so she thought. Customary, or so she thought.

He tilted his head to the side, watching her in earnest. His hand was loose, gentle as he molded it like clay - weather-beaten and covered in scars, knuckles and finger pads calloused from their various chores: punching and pulling triggers, building and destroying.

There is a flash, an electric surge, lightning coursing and racing and contorting. Something frozen in his insides seer. Something cold beats.

A stark contrast was her own dainty hand, skin smooth but sizzling. Fingertips charted courses over scars and other little marks, roadmap of a life, no doubt. She had her own wounds. She gave him a shake, sweet and comical all at once, her free appendage still linked to a book.

It was a book full of poems. Sonnets. A book written by the man sleeping ten feet away.

Mish?Cael gave her the smallest, tiniest smirk ever seen. He watched her trace his scars, and black eyes drug up over her body.

He is fantasizing and undressing you. Laying you down on a soft, comfortable bed, and feeling your skin sizzle underneath his own cool, blue flesh. He wants to lay in the warmth of you, and stoke his desire throughout many nights, and feel the redhot trace of your hands all over.

Viki withdrew with some hesitation, breaking from his gaze to fix on her own hand, as if words had penetrated already, and emotion, though unsounded, were clear as day. Flushed, but not for her usual fever, she made eyes at the sleeping lad not ten paces away.

?Teacher,? she whispered. The title reinstated something she only half believed.

Mish didn't say a word, watching.

He pines. He will never have you. Makes him want you even more.

?En't yer teacher. 'Ll teach yer...but I en't thet. Teachers...get ta have some sort'a...? He groped for the word, like he groped for the right avenue to approach her on.

?Ahh..? A loss for words, wonder of wonders, catching what lay hidden in the undertones of his speech. Viki drew her arms around Everett's words, clinging to rhymes of the romantic, ever watchful for waking eyes. ?Salary?? She asked with a flash of a smile, shyness settled near to the corners of her mouth.

He gave her a hollow sort of snort and a shake of his head. ?En't tryin' ta roundabout take yer money, nope. Get ta have, some sort'a.. morals.

We do not see any there.