We did not plan for this.
That's my first thought seeing the gun. We had thought of a hundred different spells Wasp could use, but we hadn't realised he could have a gun.
How did we not realise he could have a gun? He had a gun in the dream too.
"Give me the elemental," he says to Cecil with victory in his voice. I don't think he's noticed me and Rachel on the top of the stairs yet with Flame.
Cecil point his wand at us over his shoulder, without looking back. First I don't realise what he's doing, but then Wasp looks at us. Or rather, he looks straight through us. Cecil has made us invisible. As long as we stay out of Wasps way and don't make noise, we're good. Or any kind of noise, for that matter. Which is easier said than done with an angry elemental in our hands.
Wasp blinks in confusion at the spot Cecil pointed at, meaning us, and turns his eyes back to Leea and Cecil.
"Where is the elemental?" Wasp says, now with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He's getting impatient, coming here waving a gun and only getting the reaction of Cecil pointing at nothing.
"We," Cecil says slowly but loudly, "Will never give you the elemental. The NALMC squad is on it's way here right now to arrest you. You've lost. You're going to jail. You blew it. You blew it bad. Do you really want to add shooting us to your charges?"
The gun goes off. Leea waves her wand, putting up a protection spell. She's too late. The bullet hits Cecil in the right shoulder and he falls. I let out a gasp. A too loud gasp.
Wasp looks up the stairs, at the point we're standing at. A look of realisation washes over his face. He knows we're here.
"Well, that just means I have to do this faster that I was planning," Wasp says, with a small smile on his face and takes a step in through the door. We take a step back as silently as we can, ready to run.
Then a football appears out of nowhere at the spot Wasp's head was a half a second earlier. Wasp falls and loses a hold of the gun. Leea rushes for the gun and grabs it from the floor.
The football that knocked Wasp out rolls gently into the kitchen door and stops. Tony appears in the what used to be a doorway.
"What the hell?" he asks, "I come home after a good weekend of games, and what I find is that the door has been blown up and there's a guy standing at it's place, shooting the people inside."'
Leea just stares at him, unable to answer.
"My ball did knock him unconscious, right?" Tony realises and looks down at Wasp, who really does seem unconscious.
I rush down the stairs with a huge noise that gets Tony to look up. And see nothing. Dammit, invisibility.
"It's me," I say, "I'm invisible. Don't freak out. Leea, do you know how to turn be back?"
Cecil moans on the floor, holding his shoulder.
"Ok, Leea, never mind. Call an ambulance. I can deal being invisible for a little longer."
Leea digs out her phone and dials the emergency number.
The squad from the NALMC arrives before the ambulance. They take Wasp away, and turn me, Rachel and Flame back visible. They work together with the soon after that arrived ambulance crew to get Cecil to the hospital.
Mom comes home a couple of hours after that, when I'm still explaining everything to the NALMC people and Tony with the help of Leea and Rachel. She's shocked of course. After all, our house doesn't have a door any more and there's quite a lot of blood on the hall carpet. We explain everything to her too, and after freaking out she calms down a little once the NALMC agrees to pay the repairs for the damage Wasp has caused.
The NALMC people also insists on taking Flame with them. That's when I start to cry a little again, and so does Leea. It's partly because they're raking Flame away, and partly just simple exhaustion. It gets a little better when Rachel promises to go back to Dublin with them and make sure that Flame gets back home to us as soon as possible. And anyway, some of the people are going to stay in town almost until Christmas in the hope to find some more elementals with Flame's help, just like we tried to. So we might still see them around before they go.
And then I really need to go sleep. Leea's too tired to go home, so she joins me in my wide bed.
We fall asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.
~x~
It's the day of our big choir Christmas show. We're standing in the front of the hall at the music center of the town.
Everything is shiny and red and green and silver and gold. It smells like spruces and cinnamon and gingerbread. We're wearing ridiculous Christmas-themed clothes, but that's ok. We have the same kind every year. It's a part of Christmas for me, just as much as a decorated tree and presents.
We've saved our new Carol for the last, as a climax. The other songs are just normal, old, classic Christmas carols.
Just as the first notes sound of our own song, I spot Cecil in the crowd. His shoulder and arm are wrapped and held up with a cloth, but other than that he looks to be ok. I feel a pang on guilt I haven't been able to find the time to go see him in the hospital. Not that I didn't try
He looks at me with a happy smile on his face and nods.
I burst into carol.
_____________________________________________________________
~matu
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Carol, Part 23 - Green
"Where is she?" is the first thing that comes from Cecil's mouth. I show him to the living room where Rachel is laying on the couch. She stirs a bit when Cecil kneels beside the couch.
"Heeey, brotha," she rasps out. "Took you a while."
"Sorry I'm late, I had preparations to take care of," Cecil says, smiling weakly. "Do you know what happened to you?"
Rachel blinks and drifts off again. She hasn't been conscious much of the night. Cecil shakes her shoulder slightly and she opens her eyes.
"Sorry," she says and frowns, trying to focus. "He used a spell on me. I think it could've been a sleepy spell because I am very sleepy. But I don't wanna be sleepy anymore. Can you make me not be sleepy?"
"I can try," Cecil says and pets her shoulder a few times. Then he turns to me and asks, "Could you make some coffee? Rachel's going to need it, and I think we could all use a little extra boost."
I nod and go to the kitchen as he turns back to Rachel, pulling out a book from the bag he has with him. Leea follows me soon after, giving Cecil and Rachel some room. Neither of us say anything.
Fifteen minutes later Cecil comes into the kitchen.
"I found the counter curse," he says quietly and takes the green mug full of coffee I offer him. "She's out cold for a few minutes and then she should be fine."
"Good," I manage, but my voice breaks. I lean back on the kitchen counter for balance and take a deep breath. And another. And another. There's a tight pressure in my throat.
Cecil's hand lands on my back and I break down crying.
~x~
"We can't stay here," Rachel tells us once she's up and has finished her fourth cup of coffee. "Wasp knows who you are now, he could easily find us any minute."
"But," Leea says, exchanging a look with me, "we've been here for 16 hours and we haven't seen him yet." Rachel looks surprised.
"I put a concealing spell on the house yesterday morning," Cecil says. "Only people who have already been here or are explicitly invited in can find the house."
"Huh, that's pretty smart," Rachel says and pats him on the back. "Good thinking."
"But it does last for 24 hours only. Which means we have," he checks his watch, "some two hours before it can be found again."
"But two hours is a good amount of time, right?" I say. "We have time to make a plan. I mean, we should have a plan, right? How do we stop Wasp?"
"We don't," Cecil says.
"What?" Leea shouts. "What do you mean we do nothing? I can't believe this! After all this time, you're just going to let Wasp come here and take Flame?"
"Of course not!" Cecil shouts back. I don't think I've heard him raise his voice before. I suppress a shudder. He corrects his glasses and continues with a much calmer voice, "I called Dublin, explained the situation. They're dispatching a few men who will take Wasp into custody."
"Why didn't we do this before?" I ask. "If arresting him for trying to kidnap an elemental is a possibility, why didn't we call for backup earlier?"
"We didn't have proof," Rachel says.
"I looked into his background after he first insinuated that we could get good money for something as rare as a white elemental, and it turns out that there have been complaints about his "unprofessionalism" in the past," Cecil explains. "He's been suggesting poaching for other NALMC members as well but because no one has had proof he's never been charged. But now we have proof." Cecil turns to me and grins. "We have a witness."
"That's right," I say, the events from the forest rushing back to my mind. "He said he wanted the elemental and when you said it's illegal to kidnap elementals he said he didn't care."
"He also hit me with an illegal sleeping curse," Rachel points out.
"That is also true," Cecil says, rubbing his hands together. "So, all we have to do is wait for backup and this nightmare will be all over."
"Question," Leea says and we all turn to her. "When did you get in touch with Dublin?"
"Well, there wasn't actually anyone at the office when I called, but I left them several messages and I know the HQ secretary, she always checks the messages first thing when she comes in."
"Which is when, exactly?"
"Well, it's Sunday, so..." Cecil's eyes widen. "Ten o'clock, fuck."
"Add to that the time it takes her to alert personnel and for them to get to the Dublin transportation center, transport to the local transportation center and get from there to aaaalllll the way here it will be way over 11 and Wasp will be through that door the second in appears in front of him."
A small feeling of dread is nagging in my chest. I look at Cecil, who is rubbing the lenses of his glasses, frowning. Then he puts them back on and pushes them along his perfectly straight nose.
"Okay, looks like we will have to be on the defensive for a while," he says, surprisingly calm. "Do either of you know combat magic?"
"I do," Leea says. I raise my eyebrows, although I can't say I'm too surprised. "I was in a dueling club in my second year of secondary school. I got kicked out because apparently I "played too dirty"..."
"Well that's a good thing now, because combat is far less refined than dueling. So... play dirty," Cecil says and then turns to me.
"I don't know magic, sorry," I say. "I mean, not any magic that would be useful anyway."
"That's okay. You and Rachel can take care of Flame, while Leea and I hold off Wasp." I nod and Cecil sighs. "Hopefully the NALMC realises the direness of the situation, sending someone over asap. We just need to make sure Wasp doesn't get Flame until then."
"Seems simple enough," Leea says. "How good is Wasp in magic anyway?" Cecil adjusts his glasses.
"...very."
"Brilliant," I mutter.
Flame, who has so far been curled on Rachel's lap where she's sitting on the kitchen island, gets up and stretches. Then she jumps onto me, climbing on my shoulder and letting out a high pitched sound. Her flames burst slightly bigger until returning to their normal size and she grins, bearing her pointy teeth. She looks ready to finish this.
The next few hours go by practicing spells and planning escape routes, arranging rendezvous places and making back-up plans. We go through every possible scenario we can think of and by eleven we couldn't be more ready.
At eleven o'clock there is a loud bang and a green flash as the front door slams open. Wasp is standing in the doorway.
He has a gun in his hand.
__________________________________________________________________
I don't even care anymore. I was gonna write the whole finale scene and leave you with just the aftermath but fuck that I'm tired and I'm gonna sleep for a few hours now mmkay? Mmkay. Good night.
Your topic is.... Ball. Bye.
Pie out.
"Heeey, brotha," she rasps out. "Took you a while."
"Sorry I'm late, I had preparations to take care of," Cecil says, smiling weakly. "Do you know what happened to you?"
Rachel blinks and drifts off again. She hasn't been conscious much of the night. Cecil shakes her shoulder slightly and she opens her eyes.
"Sorry," she says and frowns, trying to focus. "He used a spell on me. I think it could've been a sleepy spell because I am very sleepy. But I don't wanna be sleepy anymore. Can you make me not be sleepy?"
"I can try," Cecil says and pets her shoulder a few times. Then he turns to me and asks, "Could you make some coffee? Rachel's going to need it, and I think we could all use a little extra boost."
I nod and go to the kitchen as he turns back to Rachel, pulling out a book from the bag he has with him. Leea follows me soon after, giving Cecil and Rachel some room. Neither of us say anything.
Fifteen minutes later Cecil comes into the kitchen.
"I found the counter curse," he says quietly and takes the green mug full of coffee I offer him. "She's out cold for a few minutes and then she should be fine."
"Good," I manage, but my voice breaks. I lean back on the kitchen counter for balance and take a deep breath. And another. And another. There's a tight pressure in my throat.
Cecil's hand lands on my back and I break down crying.
~x~
"We can't stay here," Rachel tells us once she's up and has finished her fourth cup of coffee. "Wasp knows who you are now, he could easily find us any minute."
"But," Leea says, exchanging a look with me, "we've been here for 16 hours and we haven't seen him yet." Rachel looks surprised.
"I put a concealing spell on the house yesterday morning," Cecil says. "Only people who have already been here or are explicitly invited in can find the house."
"Huh, that's pretty smart," Rachel says and pats him on the back. "Good thinking."
"But it does last for 24 hours only. Which means we have," he checks his watch, "some two hours before it can be found again."
"But two hours is a good amount of time, right?" I say. "We have time to make a plan. I mean, we should have a plan, right? How do we stop Wasp?"
"We don't," Cecil says.
"What?" Leea shouts. "What do you mean we do nothing? I can't believe this! After all this time, you're just going to let Wasp come here and take Flame?"
"Of course not!" Cecil shouts back. I don't think I've heard him raise his voice before. I suppress a shudder. He corrects his glasses and continues with a much calmer voice, "I called Dublin, explained the situation. They're dispatching a few men who will take Wasp into custody."
"Why didn't we do this before?" I ask. "If arresting him for trying to kidnap an elemental is a possibility, why didn't we call for backup earlier?"
"We didn't have proof," Rachel says.
"I looked into his background after he first insinuated that we could get good money for something as rare as a white elemental, and it turns out that there have been complaints about his "unprofessionalism" in the past," Cecil explains. "He's been suggesting poaching for other NALMC members as well but because no one has had proof he's never been charged. But now we have proof." Cecil turns to me and grins. "We have a witness."
"That's right," I say, the events from the forest rushing back to my mind. "He said he wanted the elemental and when you said it's illegal to kidnap elementals he said he didn't care."
"He also hit me with an illegal sleeping curse," Rachel points out.
"That is also true," Cecil says, rubbing his hands together. "So, all we have to do is wait for backup and this nightmare will be all over."
"Question," Leea says and we all turn to her. "When did you get in touch with Dublin?"
"Well, there wasn't actually anyone at the office when I called, but I left them several messages and I know the HQ secretary, she always checks the messages first thing when she comes in."
"Which is when, exactly?"
"Well, it's Sunday, so..." Cecil's eyes widen. "Ten o'clock, fuck."
"Add to that the time it takes her to alert personnel and for them to get to the Dublin transportation center, transport to the local transportation center and get from there to aaaalllll the way here it will be way over 11 and Wasp will be through that door the second in appears in front of him."
A small feeling of dread is nagging in my chest. I look at Cecil, who is rubbing the lenses of his glasses, frowning. Then he puts them back on and pushes them along his perfectly straight nose.
"Okay, looks like we will have to be on the defensive for a while," he says, surprisingly calm. "Do either of you know combat magic?"
"I do," Leea says. I raise my eyebrows, although I can't say I'm too surprised. "I was in a dueling club in my second year of secondary school. I got kicked out because apparently I "played too dirty"..."
"Well that's a good thing now, because combat is far less refined than dueling. So... play dirty," Cecil says and then turns to me.
"I don't know magic, sorry," I say. "I mean, not any magic that would be useful anyway."
"That's okay. You and Rachel can take care of Flame, while Leea and I hold off Wasp." I nod and Cecil sighs. "Hopefully the NALMC realises the direness of the situation, sending someone over asap. We just need to make sure Wasp doesn't get Flame until then."
"Seems simple enough," Leea says. "How good is Wasp in magic anyway?" Cecil adjusts his glasses.
"...very."
"Brilliant," I mutter.
Flame, who has so far been curled on Rachel's lap where she's sitting on the kitchen island, gets up and stretches. Then she jumps onto me, climbing on my shoulder and letting out a high pitched sound. Her flames burst slightly bigger until returning to their normal size and she grins, bearing her pointy teeth. She looks ready to finish this.
The next few hours go by practicing spells and planning escape routes, arranging rendezvous places and making back-up plans. We go through every possible scenario we can think of and by eleven we couldn't be more ready.
At eleven o'clock there is a loud bang and a green flash as the front door slams open. Wasp is standing in the doorway.
He has a gun in his hand.
__________________________________________________________________
I don't even care anymore. I was gonna write the whole finale scene and leave you with just the aftermath but fuck that I'm tired and I'm gonna sleep for a few hours now mmkay? Mmkay. Good night.
Your topic is.... Ball. Bye.
Pie out.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Carol, Part 22 - Twilight
"Hey, what's..." Leea begins when I get to the library. She has gotten there faster than me.
"No time," I simply say and pull her after me in through the doors.
"Hi," I say to the girl at the borrowing desk, "Have you seen a girl, looks a few years older than me and has a scar on her face? And a huge scary looking guy with her?"
"Hmm.... I think I saw some people like that back at the ancient creatures section," the girl says and points us to the right direction.
"Thank you," I say and rush towards the end of the huge room filled with shelves.
"A girl with a scar and a huge man?" Leea whispers as she hurries after me, "That's..."
"Rachel and Wasp, yes," I say, "Although Wasp's not here any more. We ran into him in the woods."
"We?"
"Me and Cecil and Flame. I'll explain later."
"Wait... Does that mean Wasp knows about Flame?"
"Yes. Like I said, no time now. I'll explain it all once we find Rachel."
"Rachel's still here?"
"I don't know. Wasp apparently attacked him. No. Time."
Leea finally understands and shuts up.
We reach the ancient creatures section at the very back of the hall. There's no one there. I curse loudly in my mind. Leea checks the rows between the shelves and shakes her head. Nothing.
"Where is she?" I'm mostly thinking out loud, but Leea as an answer either way.
"Isn't there a rarely used hallway or a janitor's closet or something behind that door," she points at a door in the corner, "Or at least I haven't seen anyone ever go through there. So why is it open?"
She's right. The door isn't exactly open, but it's not properly closed. Like someone had left in a hurry. I nod and we move to the door carefully. Leea pulls it slowly more open, so she can see through the crack. She pulls the door full open and hurries in. I go in after her.
Rachel is on the floor, unconscious. She's tied from the ankles and wrists (why did Wasp have rope with him in a library?). Leea is already kneeling next to her.
"She's breathing," she says, "So that's good, at least. I'll try to wake her up."
She's shaking her gently and slapping her on the face carefully to see if that would wake her up.
"I have to call Cecil and tell him we found her," I say and dig my phone from my pocket. I dial Cecil's number and wait. The beeping sounds have never sounded as scary. By every beep it becomes less likely he'll pick up.
I almost get scared out of my pants when something moves in my side. Then I realise it's Flame, pushing her way out of my bag and jumping to Rachel's stomach. She's worried too.
I hear Cecil's voice from the phone and my heart leaps to my throat.
It's voice mail. I hang up and almost throw my phone to the wall in frustration. Instead I take a breath. Then I write a text to Cecil.
Found her. She's...
I'm interrupted by Rachel's moan from behind me. I twist around. Leea's helping Rachel sit up.
She's ok.
I'm thinking of adding something, but I figure Cecil's busy enough as it is. That's all that will be relevant at the moment. I hit send and kneel down to the girls.
"Are you ok?" I ask Rachel. She moans. I look at Leea. She shrugs, then nods.
"We need to get her out of here," she says. I look around me.
"We can't go out through the front door. The girl at the desk is going to call the police and an ambulance and then we'll be stuck with official business until way too late," I say, "do you think we could get out through these stairs?"
"I'll go see," Leea says and gets up. I take her place beside Rachel as she heads down the stairs.
"I'm okay," Rachel whispers, "I'm okay. Just get me away from here somewhere. Leea's already untied her, so I try to help her sit up properly against the wall. Leea comes back in a minute.
"We can get out through here," Leea says, kneeling back next to us, "You think you can walk?"
"I... don't know," Rachel says weakly, "Maybe in a bit."
"How are we going to get out of here anyway?" I ask, suddenly realising it, "We can go to our place, mom and Tony are gone and won't be back until tomorrow evening, so there's no one there, but how are we going to get there with a person who can barely walk?"
Leea thinks about this for a moment.
"My sister," she says, "She'll come pick us up. She won't tell anyone. Not if I'll ask her not to."
I nod and Leea pulls her phone out.
"Hey, I need a favour," Leea begins into the phone after a moment, "And you can't ask what's going on. And you can't tell anyone. Could you do that. Please? Come pick me and some friends up at the library. From the back door. Oh, great. I'll see you in a few minutes. She'll be here," Leea turns to us as she tucks the phone back away, "She's at a friends place near here, she said she can come now from there. Now let's get Rachel down from here."
We pulls Rachel to her feet and start half walking half carrying her down the stairs. We wait inside the outdoor until Leea waves us out and into her sister's car.
We sit in the car as Leea's sister rides us home. I'm scared. I'm more scared than I've been in my whole life. I'm scared for myself and I'm scared for Flame and I'm scared for my friends. I have a feeling Wasp will suddenly appear out of nowhere and stop thee car, and beat us all up and take Flame.
It's dark before we're in front of our house. Though at this time of the year it's always dark. I hop out and together we help Rachel into the house. I almost drop my keys trying to fumble for the right one because my hands are shaking so much. Leea goes to say something to her sister, and she waves to us, with a little smile, and drives away. Leea walks back to us and helps me get Rachel to the couch in the living room.
Once we're in, doors locked and drapes drawn shut I dare to let Flame out of the bag. She immediately jumps to Rachel, who scratches the elemental weakly on the head. Flame lets out a happy purr. I can't help but think it doesn't realise how bad things are.
Rachel's hand goes limp and slides off Flame's head.
Me and Leea panic. Rachel's breaths are too shallow. But at least she's breathing. We try to figure out what's wrong with her. We fail. I explain Leea everything that has happened during the last twenty-four hours. We get hungry and have to eat something. Flame gets restless. I try to call Cecil. He doesn't pick up. He hasn't answered the text. I send him another one, telling him where we are.
I start at every noise I hear outside. I'm sure it's Wasp, coming for us. It never is. Or at least he doesn't get in. We're camping out in the living room with only a small light on, so it looks like no one is home.
We browse the Internet, trying to find out a spell that Wasp might have used on Rachel.
We fail.
I'm sure I'm going insane. Flame gets increasingly restless. I get increasingly sure Wasp is stalking us outside, trying to find a way to sneak into the house.
Leea keeps her calm. Her presence helps me keep myself together.
And then, after a night that lasts for an eternity, Cecil returns in the twilight of dawn.
_______________________________________________________________
So that turned out to be long.
But that's ok.
We're going to be in a hurry with finishing this up, though.
But you seem to have a solid plan.
So we'll probably be all right.
Your topic for tomorrow is Green.
~matu
"No time," I simply say and pull her after me in through the doors.
"Hi," I say to the girl at the borrowing desk, "Have you seen a girl, looks a few years older than me and has a scar on her face? And a huge scary looking guy with her?"
"Hmm.... I think I saw some people like that back at the ancient creatures section," the girl says and points us to the right direction.
"Thank you," I say and rush towards the end of the huge room filled with shelves.
"A girl with a scar and a huge man?" Leea whispers as she hurries after me, "That's..."
"Rachel and Wasp, yes," I say, "Although Wasp's not here any more. We ran into him in the woods."
"We?"
"Me and Cecil and Flame. I'll explain later."
"Wait... Does that mean Wasp knows about Flame?"
"Yes. Like I said, no time now. I'll explain it all once we find Rachel."
"Rachel's still here?"
"I don't know. Wasp apparently attacked him. No. Time."
Leea finally understands and shuts up.
We reach the ancient creatures section at the very back of the hall. There's no one there. I curse loudly in my mind. Leea checks the rows between the shelves and shakes her head. Nothing.
"Where is she?" I'm mostly thinking out loud, but Leea as an answer either way.
"Isn't there a rarely used hallway or a janitor's closet or something behind that door," she points at a door in the corner, "Or at least I haven't seen anyone ever go through there. So why is it open?"
She's right. The door isn't exactly open, but it's not properly closed. Like someone had left in a hurry. I nod and we move to the door carefully. Leea pulls it slowly more open, so she can see through the crack. She pulls the door full open and hurries in. I go in after her.
Rachel is on the floor, unconscious. She's tied from the ankles and wrists (why did Wasp have rope with him in a library?). Leea is already kneeling next to her.
"She's breathing," she says, "So that's good, at least. I'll try to wake her up."
She's shaking her gently and slapping her on the face carefully to see if that would wake her up.
"I have to call Cecil and tell him we found her," I say and dig my phone from my pocket. I dial Cecil's number and wait. The beeping sounds have never sounded as scary. By every beep it becomes less likely he'll pick up.
I almost get scared out of my pants when something moves in my side. Then I realise it's Flame, pushing her way out of my bag and jumping to Rachel's stomach. She's worried too.
I hear Cecil's voice from the phone and my heart leaps to my throat.
It's voice mail. I hang up and almost throw my phone to the wall in frustration. Instead I take a breath. Then I write a text to Cecil.
Found her. She's...
I'm interrupted by Rachel's moan from behind me. I twist around. Leea's helping Rachel sit up.
She's ok.
I'm thinking of adding something, but I figure Cecil's busy enough as it is. That's all that will be relevant at the moment. I hit send and kneel down to the girls.
"Are you ok?" I ask Rachel. She moans. I look at Leea. She shrugs, then nods.
"We need to get her out of here," she says. I look around me.
"We can't go out through the front door. The girl at the desk is going to call the police and an ambulance and then we'll be stuck with official business until way too late," I say, "do you think we could get out through these stairs?"
"I'll go see," Leea says and gets up. I take her place beside Rachel as she heads down the stairs.
"I'm okay," Rachel whispers, "I'm okay. Just get me away from here somewhere. Leea's already untied her, so I try to help her sit up properly against the wall. Leea comes back in a minute.
"We can get out through here," Leea says, kneeling back next to us, "You think you can walk?"
"I... don't know," Rachel says weakly, "Maybe in a bit."
"How are we going to get out of here anyway?" I ask, suddenly realising it, "We can go to our place, mom and Tony are gone and won't be back until tomorrow evening, so there's no one there, but how are we going to get there with a person who can barely walk?"
Leea thinks about this for a moment.
"My sister," she says, "She'll come pick us up. She won't tell anyone. Not if I'll ask her not to."
I nod and Leea pulls her phone out.
"Hey, I need a favour," Leea begins into the phone after a moment, "And you can't ask what's going on. And you can't tell anyone. Could you do that. Please? Come pick me and some friends up at the library. From the back door. Oh, great. I'll see you in a few minutes. She'll be here," Leea turns to us as she tucks the phone back away, "She's at a friends place near here, she said she can come now from there. Now let's get Rachel down from here."
We pulls Rachel to her feet and start half walking half carrying her down the stairs. We wait inside the outdoor until Leea waves us out and into her sister's car.
We sit in the car as Leea's sister rides us home. I'm scared. I'm more scared than I've been in my whole life. I'm scared for myself and I'm scared for Flame and I'm scared for my friends. I have a feeling Wasp will suddenly appear out of nowhere and stop thee car, and beat us all up and take Flame.
It's dark before we're in front of our house. Though at this time of the year it's always dark. I hop out and together we help Rachel into the house. I almost drop my keys trying to fumble for the right one because my hands are shaking so much. Leea goes to say something to her sister, and she waves to us, with a little smile, and drives away. Leea walks back to us and helps me get Rachel to the couch in the living room.
Once we're in, doors locked and drapes drawn shut I dare to let Flame out of the bag. She immediately jumps to Rachel, who scratches the elemental weakly on the head. Flame lets out a happy purr. I can't help but think it doesn't realise how bad things are.
Rachel's hand goes limp and slides off Flame's head.
Me and Leea panic. Rachel's breaths are too shallow. But at least she's breathing. We try to figure out what's wrong with her. We fail. I explain Leea everything that has happened during the last twenty-four hours. We get hungry and have to eat something. Flame gets restless. I try to call Cecil. He doesn't pick up. He hasn't answered the text. I send him another one, telling him where we are.
I start at every noise I hear outside. I'm sure it's Wasp, coming for us. It never is. Or at least he doesn't get in. We're camping out in the living room with only a small light on, so it looks like no one is home.
We browse the Internet, trying to find out a spell that Wasp might have used on Rachel.
We fail.
I'm sure I'm going insane. Flame gets increasingly restless. I get increasingly sure Wasp is stalking us outside, trying to find a way to sneak into the house.
Leea keeps her calm. Her presence helps me keep myself together.
And then, after a night that lasts for an eternity, Cecil returns in the twilight of dawn.
_______________________________________________________________
So that turned out to be long.
But that's ok.
We're going to be in a hurry with finishing this up, though.
But you seem to have a solid plan.
So we'll probably be all right.
Your topic for tomorrow is Green.
~matu
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Carol, Part 21 - Trust
The rest of the week goes by without much change. Leea and I still have a few days of school, so we can't help Cecil and Rachel look for more elementals, but they use most of their time scouring the woods around the town or distracting Wasp. I think they told him there were files or something in the library that would help them find the elementals, and so far he's believed them, at least according to the tracking spell Cecil cast on him after I had the dream. Leea did see it as well one later that night and both My and Nick said they did too after a few days, which would imply that the theory about Wasp bluffing was probably right.
Leea, My, Nick, and I have spent all our spare time practicing the carol we finally finished. My suggested we make a dance choreograph to go with it but she was promptly ruled down due to the massive amount of other work we have to finish as well. I can't wait until next week when school finally ends.
It's Saturday morning just after 11 when someone knocks on my door. Flame jumps to my knitting basket, already used to getting out of view whenever someone comes to my room, and I go to the door. It's Tony. He has a weird look on his face.
"What?" I ask, almost cautious.
"There's a guy at the door," he says slowly and narrows his eyes. "He wants to see you."
I give him a questioning look and push past him, closing the door of my room behind me, making sure it clicks shut. Tony stands at the top of the stairs as I walk down and pull open the front door.
"Oh," I say.
"Hello," says Cecil. He gives me a goofy grin. "I hate to bother, but I do require your assistance in something."
I motion for him to come in and he does, taking off his white beanie and ridiculously large purple scarf and unbuttoning his coat. His hair is all mussed up and I resist the urge to comb my fingers through it. Instead I give him a coat hanger and show him upstairs.
Tony is still standing at the top and he raises his eyebrows as I lead Cecil behind me. I roll my eyes.
"Cecil, this is Tony, my big brother," I say. "Tony this is Cecil. He's my friend."
"Friend, huh?" Tony says as he looks Cecil up and down before sticking out his hand. Cecil takes it with a charming smile. Thankfully Tony doesn't say anything more and we retreat into my room, closing the door behind us.
"So, uh," I start, suddenly feeling very self-conscious as Cecil looks around my room curiously. Flame's ears perk up from the basket and soon she jumps out in a flurry of red flames. Cecil lets out a delighted laugh.
"Well hello lovely," he says to her and scratches her. "Aren't you beautiful! You know, it's one thing to hold her in the dream space but a whole nother thing awake. Oh, she's so warm."
I watch them for a while, a small smile creeping on my face until I realise I still don't know why Cecil's here.
"You, uh, said you needed my help?" I ask and sit down on my bed. Cecil looks up as if just now remembering he needed something else in life other than holding Flame.
"Ah, right," he says. "Well, I don't need as much your help as I need Flame's help, but I would not object at all if you were to accompany us as well. I think I found a way to make finding the other elemental easier." Flame lets out a happy sound and jumps on his shoulder.
"Okay, what do you need?" I ask.
"Now, while I'm not a hundred percent sure that the elementals instinctively know where others like them are, we do know that they possess a small amount of telepathic powers, which would explain how the other elemental could hone in on Flame's mind in the dream. So, I want to take Flame outside with me, to see if she could help us find her missing kin!" Cecil's face is beaming as he talks and it pains me to have to ask but I have to.
"What about Wasp?"
"Don't worry about Wasp," Cecil says, a bit too dismissively. "Rachel has him tied up at the library and she will tell me if something happens." And then, almost as an afterthought, "I don't mean literally tied up, we don't want him to know we don't like him and tying him up would be kind of counterproductive. Unless he's into that kind of thing, I wouldn't know. Although I did try to suggest to Rachel she could try and charm him, because he does seem to fancy her, but she made it abundantly clear that she was not interested in any part of him. I tried to tell her to take one for the team, but she said that I could go-"
"Cecil," I say. Cecil's mouth falls closed and he looks at me. "I really don't need to hear this and we are losing daylight. If you wanna do it, then let's go."
"Right," he says. "Sorry."
I pack Flame in a bag and we leave my room. We don't run into Tony on our way out (thank god), but mom calls me from the kitchen before we leave. There's a short introduction, the reminder that my aunt is coming over tomorrow evening and it would be desirable I was home for that, and then I'm pushing Cecil out the door before mom can get into prying mode.
~x~
"And the teacher never showed up?" Cecil asks. We're walking around the lake and since there aren't many people around these parts, we've let Flame out of the bag. She won't step on the ground though, and instead is curled up in a ball in Cecil's arms.
"He never showed up!" I say with a grin. "And so this one student just stands up all "my time has come" and goes up to the front of the class and starts talking about all these fan theories on the island in Lost. Like, he had graphs and everything! And everyone just went with it, raising their hands like he was the teacher!"
Cecil laughs and I laugh and even Flame lets out a noise that could be interpreted as laughter. I sigh and we fall into a companionable silence, the snow crunching beneath our feet. Occasionally Flame lets out a high note, as if she's calling to someone. Maybe she is, I think. Maybe we're getting close to the other elemental.
There's a sound from somewhere. A screeching sound. We freeze.
"What was that?" I whisper.
"I don't know," Cecil whispers back. Flame makes a whimper and curls tighter around herself. That is not a good sign.
A tree falls down in front of us.
"Holy crap!" I yell. Flame shouts in terror and jumps into my bag. Cecil grabs my arm and yanks me back just as another tree falls on where I was just standing.
"Buongiorno, Cecil!" comes a voice. "Did you really think I wouldn't figure out you were hiding something? Did you really think your sorella could hold me at the library forever?"
A large figure steps up from behind a tree. Wasp. Cecil grits his teeth.
"What did you do to Rachel?" he asks, voice dripping with venom.
"Don't worry, mio amico, she is fine. She is just, ah... sleeping." Wasp smiles humourlessly and then turns to me. "And now to the matter at hand. The elemental, if you would."
"This is illegal, Wasp," Cecil says, shifting himself to stand slightly in front of me. "You have no right to kidnap and sell these creatures."
"Ah, but see, I do not care."
"We won't let you," I hear myself say. I feel very disconnected from my body, like I'm moving on autopilot. The first and last time I was face to face with this man he shot me and Cecil and I am terrified. "You won't get Flame and you won't get away with this."
Wasp laughs at that.
"You named it Flame? How simply adorable," he says, holding a hand to his chest. Then his face falls. "Enough chit chat. Give it to me, or I will take it."
What happens next is very fast.
Wasp launches towards me and I can't move, I'm frozen in place just like in the dream, my heart throbbing in my chest. Flame hisses from the bag, looking ready to physically fight Wasp if it comes to it. Cecil pulls out a wand and shouts a spell, a flash of blue light erupting from the tip of the wand and Wasp stops for a moment, deflects it. Then Cecil is grabbing my hand and yelling "RUN!" and so we run.
~x~
We're halfway through the town when we finally stop to breathe, collapsing onto a park bench. Our breaths come out in white puffs as we gasp for air.
"What... did you... do to him?" I pant.
"A stunning spell," Cecil wheezes back. "Unfortunately not a very powerful one, and it looked like he countered it anyway. I'm not very good with combat spells." He takes a deep breath.
"So, what now?" I ask. "If he countered the spell he could catch up with us any minute."
"I know... I need you to go to the library, Rachel has to be found. You should also tell Leea, I have a feeling we'll need her too," Cecil says, rubbing his face and then adjusting his glasses. I'm already halfway through the text to Leea to meet me at the library when his words sink in properly.
"Wait, what about you? Aren't you coming with me?"
"There's something I need to take care of," Cecil says, face dark. "And someone has to find Rachel. I don't even want to imagine what he did to her."
A wave of sympathy washes through me and I place my hand on his shoulder. He gives me a halfhearted smile.
"I could come with you?" I suggest. "Tell Leea to find Rachel..."
"No," he says sternly. "I have to take care of this alone."
"But-"
"Please." A plea, a simple word that makes everything stop. It almost hurts me to see him like this, so small and desperate. His usually bubbly voice is quiet and his eyes scared and worried, worried about his sister, worried about Flame, worried about... me?
"Please," he says again, louder this time. "I need you to trust me."
I'm silent for a beat.
"Yeah ok."
He goes to the opposite direction as I head towards the library.
____________________________________________________________________
No I didn't spend four hours writing this. I had some problems. I had no idea what was going to happen ahhhhhhh. Sleepy time now?
Your topic umhhhhh... Twilight.
Pie out.
PS, the Italian things Wasp says are "hello", "sister", and "my friend".
PPS, 20.12. the sun set at 15:53 in London. Just for context.
Leea, My, Nick, and I have spent all our spare time practicing the carol we finally finished. My suggested we make a dance choreograph to go with it but she was promptly ruled down due to the massive amount of other work we have to finish as well. I can't wait until next week when school finally ends.
It's Saturday morning just after 11 when someone knocks on my door. Flame jumps to my knitting basket, already used to getting out of view whenever someone comes to my room, and I go to the door. It's Tony. He has a weird look on his face.
"What?" I ask, almost cautious.
"There's a guy at the door," he says slowly and narrows his eyes. "He wants to see you."
I give him a questioning look and push past him, closing the door of my room behind me, making sure it clicks shut. Tony stands at the top of the stairs as I walk down and pull open the front door.
"Oh," I say.
"Hello," says Cecil. He gives me a goofy grin. "I hate to bother, but I do require your assistance in something."
I motion for him to come in and he does, taking off his white beanie and ridiculously large purple scarf and unbuttoning his coat. His hair is all mussed up and I resist the urge to comb my fingers through it. Instead I give him a coat hanger and show him upstairs.
Tony is still standing at the top and he raises his eyebrows as I lead Cecil behind me. I roll my eyes.
"Cecil, this is Tony, my big brother," I say. "Tony this is Cecil. He's my friend."
"Friend, huh?" Tony says as he looks Cecil up and down before sticking out his hand. Cecil takes it with a charming smile. Thankfully Tony doesn't say anything more and we retreat into my room, closing the door behind us.
"So, uh," I start, suddenly feeling very self-conscious as Cecil looks around my room curiously. Flame's ears perk up from the basket and soon she jumps out in a flurry of red flames. Cecil lets out a delighted laugh.
"Well hello lovely," he says to her and scratches her. "Aren't you beautiful! You know, it's one thing to hold her in the dream space but a whole nother thing awake. Oh, she's so warm."
I watch them for a while, a small smile creeping on my face until I realise I still don't know why Cecil's here.
"You, uh, said you needed my help?" I ask and sit down on my bed. Cecil looks up as if just now remembering he needed something else in life other than holding Flame.
"Ah, right," he says. "Well, I don't need as much your help as I need Flame's help, but I would not object at all if you were to accompany us as well. I think I found a way to make finding the other elemental easier." Flame lets out a happy sound and jumps on his shoulder.
"Okay, what do you need?" I ask.
"Now, while I'm not a hundred percent sure that the elementals instinctively know where others like them are, we do know that they possess a small amount of telepathic powers, which would explain how the other elemental could hone in on Flame's mind in the dream. So, I want to take Flame outside with me, to see if she could help us find her missing kin!" Cecil's face is beaming as he talks and it pains me to have to ask but I have to.
"What about Wasp?"
"Don't worry about Wasp," Cecil says, a bit too dismissively. "Rachel has him tied up at the library and she will tell me if something happens." And then, almost as an afterthought, "I don't mean literally tied up, we don't want him to know we don't like him and tying him up would be kind of counterproductive. Unless he's into that kind of thing, I wouldn't know. Although I did try to suggest to Rachel she could try and charm him, because he does seem to fancy her, but she made it abundantly clear that she was not interested in any part of him. I tried to tell her to take one for the team, but she said that I could go-"
"Cecil," I say. Cecil's mouth falls closed and he looks at me. "I really don't need to hear this and we are losing daylight. If you wanna do it, then let's go."
"Right," he says. "Sorry."
I pack Flame in a bag and we leave my room. We don't run into Tony on our way out (thank god), but mom calls me from the kitchen before we leave. There's a short introduction, the reminder that my aunt is coming over tomorrow evening and it would be desirable I was home for that, and then I'm pushing Cecil out the door before mom can get into prying mode.
~x~
"And the teacher never showed up?" Cecil asks. We're walking around the lake and since there aren't many people around these parts, we've let Flame out of the bag. She won't step on the ground though, and instead is curled up in a ball in Cecil's arms.
"He never showed up!" I say with a grin. "And so this one student just stands up all "my time has come" and goes up to the front of the class and starts talking about all these fan theories on the island in Lost. Like, he had graphs and everything! And everyone just went with it, raising their hands like he was the teacher!"
Cecil laughs and I laugh and even Flame lets out a noise that could be interpreted as laughter. I sigh and we fall into a companionable silence, the snow crunching beneath our feet. Occasionally Flame lets out a high note, as if she's calling to someone. Maybe she is, I think. Maybe we're getting close to the other elemental.
There's a sound from somewhere. A screeching sound. We freeze.
"What was that?" I whisper.
"I don't know," Cecil whispers back. Flame makes a whimper and curls tighter around herself. That is not a good sign.
A tree falls down in front of us.
"Holy crap!" I yell. Flame shouts in terror and jumps into my bag. Cecil grabs my arm and yanks me back just as another tree falls on where I was just standing.
"Buongiorno, Cecil!" comes a voice. "Did you really think I wouldn't figure out you were hiding something? Did you really think your sorella could hold me at the library forever?"
A large figure steps up from behind a tree. Wasp. Cecil grits his teeth.
"What did you do to Rachel?" he asks, voice dripping with venom.
"Don't worry, mio amico, she is fine. She is just, ah... sleeping." Wasp smiles humourlessly and then turns to me. "And now to the matter at hand. The elemental, if you would."
"This is illegal, Wasp," Cecil says, shifting himself to stand slightly in front of me. "You have no right to kidnap and sell these creatures."
"Ah, but see, I do not care."
"We won't let you," I hear myself say. I feel very disconnected from my body, like I'm moving on autopilot. The first and last time I was face to face with this man he shot me and Cecil and I am terrified. "You won't get Flame and you won't get away with this."
Wasp laughs at that.
"You named it Flame? How simply adorable," he says, holding a hand to his chest. Then his face falls. "Enough chit chat. Give it to me, or I will take it."
What happens next is very fast.
Wasp launches towards me and I can't move, I'm frozen in place just like in the dream, my heart throbbing in my chest. Flame hisses from the bag, looking ready to physically fight Wasp if it comes to it. Cecil pulls out a wand and shouts a spell, a flash of blue light erupting from the tip of the wand and Wasp stops for a moment, deflects it. Then Cecil is grabbing my hand and yelling "RUN!" and so we run.
~x~
We're halfway through the town when we finally stop to breathe, collapsing onto a park bench. Our breaths come out in white puffs as we gasp for air.
"What... did you... do to him?" I pant.
"A stunning spell," Cecil wheezes back. "Unfortunately not a very powerful one, and it looked like he countered it anyway. I'm not very good with combat spells." He takes a deep breath.
"So, what now?" I ask. "If he countered the spell he could catch up with us any minute."
"I know... I need you to go to the library, Rachel has to be found. You should also tell Leea, I have a feeling we'll need her too," Cecil says, rubbing his face and then adjusting his glasses. I'm already halfway through the text to Leea to meet me at the library when his words sink in properly.
"Wait, what about you? Aren't you coming with me?"
"There's something I need to take care of," Cecil says, face dark. "And someone has to find Rachel. I don't even want to imagine what he did to her."
A wave of sympathy washes through me and I place my hand on his shoulder. He gives me a halfhearted smile.
"I could come with you?" I suggest. "Tell Leea to find Rachel..."
"No," he says sternly. "I have to take care of this alone."
"But-"
"Please." A plea, a simple word that makes everything stop. It almost hurts me to see him like this, so small and desperate. His usually bubbly voice is quiet and his eyes scared and worried, worried about his sister, worried about Flame, worried about... me?
"Please," he says again, louder this time. "I need you to trust me."
I'm silent for a beat.
"Yeah ok."
He goes to the opposite direction as I head towards the library.
____________________________________________________________________
No I didn't spend four hours writing this. I had some problems. I had no idea what was going to happen ahhhhhhh. Sleepy time now?
Your topic umhhhhh... Twilight.
Pie out.
PS, the Italian things Wasp says are "hello", "sister", and "my friend".
PPS, 20.12. the sun set at 15:53 in London. Just for context.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Carol, Part 20 - Bond
We're sitting in the dreamworld again with Leea and Flame, waiting for Rachel and Cecil.
"We can't tell them," Leea says.
"We have to," I say. We've had this conversation already, but we still haven't agreed on what to do, "They've been honest with us."
"Not in the beginning they weren't," she interrupts.
"But they were later. And they did tell us everything," I protest.
"As far as we know," Leea points out.
"Do you really think they left something important out?"
She just looks at me for a moment.
"No," she finally says, "But we can't tell Cecil and Rachel."
"You can't tell us what?" comes Cecil's voice from across the room. We both startle at his voice. I look down, feeling guilty. Cecil and Rachel walk to us. He looks at us with a raised eyebrow. Flame purrs and jumps at him.
"We told our friends about the elemental," Leea says. Apparently she changed her mind in the last twenty seconds. Or just realised we're caught any way.
"Well, not so much told as Flame somehow sneaked out of my room when they were there, and they found out on their own. Since they weren't stupid enough to miss a singing elemental running around the room," I say.
"I know we weren't supposed to tell anyone," Leea says, "But we couldn't exactly help it."
"And no one else found out," I add, "It's just My and Nick, and they're our best friends and good people, and they will definitely keep our secret."
"They promised," Leea says.
Cecil stares at us for a minute, clearly trying to decide something, scratching Flame on the back of her head. Then he sighs.
"Well, I guess there's nothing we can do about it now," he says, "We'll just have to hope they won't blabber around and cause problems."
"They won't," Leea and I say simultaneously.
He nods, still thoughtful.
"So," he says after a moment, and his face softens, "How's the carol coming along?"
"Oh, we're almost done with it," Leea says, smiling now, "We just have to finish perfecting the lyrics, there are still a few weird lines there."
"You want to hear it?" I've been wanting to sing our song to someone outside the choir, for feedback. And at the same time fearing the first time we have to do it. My heart is hammering in my chest now.
"We would love to," Cecil smiles. Rachel nods.
Me and Leea look at each other and begin singing. A few seconds after Flame joins us. We sing, and we do a little dance, and smile and have fun. It is our carol, and it is pretty great. Even if I say so myself. Cecil and Rachel smile and clap the rythm.
The carol ends and we quiet. Flame is still jumping up and down, excited.
"That was great!" Cecil begins, but Flame interrupts him by excitedly bolting off towards the other end of the room. Cecil and Rachel turn, confused, and me and Leea reach to look around them.
There's another elemental, another white elemental, running towards Flame. They meet a quarter away from the other end of the room, and then it's just a furl of flames and tails and paws. We just stand there, frozen on our spots. No one of us knows what to do. Finally the fireball stops and is basically a lump of flames on the floor. It's impossible to know where one elemental begins and the other begins.
"What..." I say.
"Where did that come from?" Cecil asks, turning to us.
"You think we know?" Leea asks him, clearly as surprised as he is.
We stare at the two elementals curled together on the floor for a moment longer.
"It must have come after Flame," Cecil finally says.
"Wait..." I say, "They know where the others are?"
"I think so yes," Cecil says, his confusion slowly turning into excitement, "Of course we can't really know, since it's been so long since the last time the elementals were seen, and they were never seen alone. But some of the professors at NALMC think all the white elementals could share some kind of... bond. So they always know which way to go to come together. If it's true it's actually surprising none of them has found Flame yet. I suppose she's been around people so much it's affected the bond and they're ability to find each other."
"How are they in the dream," Leea asks.
"We don't know how Flame gets into our shared dreams," Cecil says, "But she does, somehow. And she clearly knows this new elemental."
"But..." I begin my thought, "If there's more, then does it mean there could be a lot more? I mean, could there soon be a whole bunch of elementals around here?"
"Yes," Cecil says, his eyes glistening with excitement now, "The more there are elementals in one place, the stronger they feel the bond pulling them towards that place. We could soon have a whole choir of singing elementals in our little town."
"Uh..." Leea says, "Haven't you just gotten Wasp convinced there are no white elementals here? We can hide one from him, but he'd have to be blind not to notice a dozen singing elementals."
The excitement in Cecil's eyes turns to worry.
____________________________________________________________________
Four more bits to go. We'll need to start pulling this thing towards a conclusion.
Your topic for tomorrow is Trust.
~matu
"We can't tell them," Leea says.
"We have to," I say. We've had this conversation already, but we still haven't agreed on what to do, "They've been honest with us."
"Not in the beginning they weren't," she interrupts.
"But they were later. And they did tell us everything," I protest.
"As far as we know," Leea points out.
"Do you really think they left something important out?"
She just looks at me for a moment.
"No," she finally says, "But we can't tell Cecil and Rachel."
"You can't tell us what?" comes Cecil's voice from across the room. We both startle at his voice. I look down, feeling guilty. Cecil and Rachel walk to us. He looks at us with a raised eyebrow. Flame purrs and jumps at him.
"We told our friends about the elemental," Leea says. Apparently she changed her mind in the last twenty seconds. Or just realised we're caught any way.
"Well, not so much told as Flame somehow sneaked out of my room when they were there, and they found out on their own. Since they weren't stupid enough to miss a singing elemental running around the room," I say.
"I know we weren't supposed to tell anyone," Leea says, "But we couldn't exactly help it."
"And no one else found out," I add, "It's just My and Nick, and they're our best friends and good people, and they will definitely keep our secret."
"They promised," Leea says.
Cecil stares at us for a minute, clearly trying to decide something, scratching Flame on the back of her head. Then he sighs.
"Well, I guess there's nothing we can do about it now," he says, "We'll just have to hope they won't blabber around and cause problems."
"They won't," Leea and I say simultaneously.
He nods, still thoughtful.
"So," he says after a moment, and his face softens, "How's the carol coming along?"
"Oh, we're almost done with it," Leea says, smiling now, "We just have to finish perfecting the lyrics, there are still a few weird lines there."
"You want to hear it?" I've been wanting to sing our song to someone outside the choir, for feedback. And at the same time fearing the first time we have to do it. My heart is hammering in my chest now.
"We would love to," Cecil smiles. Rachel nods.
Me and Leea look at each other and begin singing. A few seconds after Flame joins us. We sing, and we do a little dance, and smile and have fun. It is our carol, and it is pretty great. Even if I say so myself. Cecil and Rachel smile and clap the rythm.
The carol ends and we quiet. Flame is still jumping up and down, excited.
"That was great!" Cecil begins, but Flame interrupts him by excitedly bolting off towards the other end of the room. Cecil and Rachel turn, confused, and me and Leea reach to look around them.
There's another elemental, another white elemental, running towards Flame. They meet a quarter away from the other end of the room, and then it's just a furl of flames and tails and paws. We just stand there, frozen on our spots. No one of us knows what to do. Finally the fireball stops and is basically a lump of flames on the floor. It's impossible to know where one elemental begins and the other begins.
"What..." I say.
"Where did that come from?" Cecil asks, turning to us.
"You think we know?" Leea asks him, clearly as surprised as he is.
We stare at the two elementals curled together on the floor for a moment longer.
"It must have come after Flame," Cecil finally says.
"Wait..." I say, "They know where the others are?"
"I think so yes," Cecil says, his confusion slowly turning into excitement, "Of course we can't really know, since it's been so long since the last time the elementals were seen, and they were never seen alone. But some of the professors at NALMC think all the white elementals could share some kind of... bond. So they always know which way to go to come together. If it's true it's actually surprising none of them has found Flame yet. I suppose she's been around people so much it's affected the bond and they're ability to find each other."
"How are they in the dream," Leea asks.
"We don't know how Flame gets into our shared dreams," Cecil says, "But she does, somehow. And she clearly knows this new elemental."
"But..." I begin my thought, "If there's more, then does it mean there could be a lot more? I mean, could there soon be a whole bunch of elementals around here?"
"Yes," Cecil says, his eyes glistening with excitement now, "The more there are elementals in one place, the stronger they feel the bond pulling them towards that place. We could soon have a whole choir of singing elementals in our little town."
"Uh..." Leea says, "Haven't you just gotten Wasp convinced there are no white elementals here? We can hide one from him, but he'd have to be blind not to notice a dozen singing elementals."
The excitement in Cecil's eyes turns to worry.
____________________________________________________________________
Four more bits to go. We'll need to start pulling this thing towards a conclusion.
Your topic for tomorrow is Trust.
~matu
Friday, December 19, 2014
Carol, Part 19 - Secrets
"These lyrics are amazing," Leea says after reading the last line of my lyrics.
"She's right," My says from reading over her shoulder. "Although I have to admit, I liked Nick's rhyming better."
"Thanks," Nick says with a smile. "These go really well with the overall theme, I think. I mean, most of the verses are kinda modern, but this brings a nice old time-y feeling without it sounding weird."
"And it is the first draft, so we can work on the rhymes... Should we see how it fits with the music?" I ask, walking over to the piano. The others nod in agreement and I sit down, flexing my fingers and running a few scales before I start with the melody.
There's a loud thump from my room halfway through the introduction and I come to a halting stop.
"What was that?" My asks, craning her neck as if she could see around the stairs and into my room. There is a heart clenching second where I wonder if I closed the door properly.
"My books probably fell over," I say, face emotionless. "The pile was getting kinda wobbly."
My makes a 'hmmm' sound but after a few seconds of silence I sigh and turn back to the piano. When I get to the first verse someone starts to sing. It takes me an embarrassingly long time to realize who. My fingers falter and I freeze. Everyone is silent except Flame who keeps singing.
"Oh," says Leea.
"What is that?" says Nick.
"Shit," say I.
We're all staring at Flame, who finally quiets, tilts her head and grins. Leea's hand is on her mouth but she instinctively catches Flame when she jumps onto her lap.
"Okay, seriously, what is that?" Nick says again. Everyone turns to me.
"It.. uh.. I, uh..." I open and close my mouth a few times.
"Why do you have a fire elemental in your house?" My asks cautiously. "Any why didn't you tell us?"
"Well, you see..." I pause for a second, trying to think how I should explain this. "Okay, here's the deal. Apparently this is a very special elemental and there's this guy, Wasp, who's trying to capture it and sell it to some black market people and then there's this other guy and his sister who work with Wasp but want to protect the elemental and they've helped us keep her hidden from him because whatever happens Was can't find her. And it's really dangerous and secret so we couldn't tell you guys, I'm sorry."
"Wait, "we"?" My asks. My eyes flicker to Leea, who is looking at me with her best "bitch I will cut you" face, and My looks over at her. "Did you know about this?"
Leea opens her mouth and then closes it. "...maybe?"
"I can't believe this!" My throws her hands in the air. "Why would you ever keep this a secret? We could've helped you! Also, why would you keep such a cool adventure from us?"
"It's not cool," I say. "It's exhausting! We can't tell anyone, not even our families and any second now a flipping mafia dude could bust through my door and shoot everyone to get Flame!"
"Wait, the mafia?" My says, at the same time as Nick says: "You named it Flame?"
"Leea named her, and I don't know if he's actually mafia. He's Italian, he might as well be," I sigh, rubbing my eyes.
"We were told to keep this under wraps," Leea says gently. "We did want to tell you, but we couldn't risk it. The fewer people know about Flame until we get rid of this Wasp problem, the better."
My seems to consider this. She reaches out her hand and Flame sniffs it a few times before poking her index finger with her own and then grabbing a hold of it and shaking it. My lets out a soft laugh. It's like clear bells on Christmas morning.
"What's so special about our little Flame here?" she asks as Flame jumps to her. "Besides being the most adorable elemental I've ever seen."
"She's one of the mystical elementals, who are very rare and super powerful I guess," Leea says with a smile. "They have a magical singing voice. Figuratively, I mean. Although it might also be literally..." She rubs her chin with a thoughtful expression.
"Actually our carol is based on one of the old elemental carols," I say. "They used to go around in choirs and sing songs around Christmas, apparently."
"That's pretty cool," Nick says. He still has a kinda dazed expression. "Maybe we could get Flame to sing at the ball with us?"
"What part of "no one can know" did you not understand?" Leea asks dryly. Nick shrugs.
"You got anymore secrets to tell us, now that we've started?" My asks. "Who're the other guy and his sister?"
"Cecil and Rachel," I say. "They work at the tattoo parlour at the mall, but they're also a part of this organization that study magical creatures."
"Hey, I know Cecil!" My says. My eyes widen just a bit. "Yeah, my sister got a tattoo there. Did you know that he can actually make moving tattoos? That's super complicated magic!"
"Oh," I say. "That's pretty cool. You know I've thought about getting a tattoo sometimes. It'd be pretty cool if he can make it move."
"I thought you had to be eighteen to get one?" Nick says, looking up from where he's scratching Flame behind the ear. She seems to like it very much.
"I didn't mean I'd go get one now, I just meant it'd be cool and all," I scoff. "Besides, I'm turning eighteen in a couple of months anyway, so..."
"So now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag," Leea says, "how about we go back to task at hand? We still have to finish up the lyrics."
Everyone mutters in agreement and we turn back to our hard task, which is made slightly more bearable with Flame sitting on the living room table and happily singing with us.
______________________________________________________________
Fuck lyrics. I ain't gonna try and come up with them, and I don't think you need to either. Unless tou want to ofc. But yeah, it's late again, I'm sorry. Why am I always the most inspired in the middle of the night???
Your topic isssssssss..... Bond. (James Bond. Just kidding. Although you can write about James Bond if you want to.)
Pie out.
"She's right," My says from reading over her shoulder. "Although I have to admit, I liked Nick's rhyming better."
"Thanks," Nick says with a smile. "These go really well with the overall theme, I think. I mean, most of the verses are kinda modern, but this brings a nice old time-y feeling without it sounding weird."
"And it is the first draft, so we can work on the rhymes... Should we see how it fits with the music?" I ask, walking over to the piano. The others nod in agreement and I sit down, flexing my fingers and running a few scales before I start with the melody.
There's a loud thump from my room halfway through the introduction and I come to a halting stop.
"What was that?" My asks, craning her neck as if she could see around the stairs and into my room. There is a heart clenching second where I wonder if I closed the door properly.
"My books probably fell over," I say, face emotionless. "The pile was getting kinda wobbly."
My makes a 'hmmm' sound but after a few seconds of silence I sigh and turn back to the piano. When I get to the first verse someone starts to sing. It takes me an embarrassingly long time to realize who. My fingers falter and I freeze. Everyone is silent except Flame who keeps singing.
"Oh," says Leea.
"What is that?" says Nick.
"Shit," say I.
We're all staring at Flame, who finally quiets, tilts her head and grins. Leea's hand is on her mouth but she instinctively catches Flame when she jumps onto her lap.
"Okay, seriously, what is that?" Nick says again. Everyone turns to me.
"It.. uh.. I, uh..." I open and close my mouth a few times.
"Why do you have a fire elemental in your house?" My asks cautiously. "Any why didn't you tell us?"
"Well, you see..." I pause for a second, trying to think how I should explain this. "Okay, here's the deal. Apparently this is a very special elemental and there's this guy, Wasp, who's trying to capture it and sell it to some black market people and then there's this other guy and his sister who work with Wasp but want to protect the elemental and they've helped us keep her hidden from him because whatever happens Was can't find her. And it's really dangerous and secret so we couldn't tell you guys, I'm sorry."
"Wait, "we"?" My asks. My eyes flicker to Leea, who is looking at me with her best "bitch I will cut you" face, and My looks over at her. "Did you know about this?"
Leea opens her mouth and then closes it. "...maybe?"
"I can't believe this!" My throws her hands in the air. "Why would you ever keep this a secret? We could've helped you! Also, why would you keep such a cool adventure from us?"
"It's not cool," I say. "It's exhausting! We can't tell anyone, not even our families and any second now a flipping mafia dude could bust through my door and shoot everyone to get Flame!"
"Wait, the mafia?" My says, at the same time as Nick says: "You named it Flame?"
"Leea named her, and I don't know if he's actually mafia. He's Italian, he might as well be," I sigh, rubbing my eyes.
"We were told to keep this under wraps," Leea says gently. "We did want to tell you, but we couldn't risk it. The fewer people know about Flame until we get rid of this Wasp problem, the better."
My seems to consider this. She reaches out her hand and Flame sniffs it a few times before poking her index finger with her own and then grabbing a hold of it and shaking it. My lets out a soft laugh. It's like clear bells on Christmas morning.
"What's so special about our little Flame here?" she asks as Flame jumps to her. "Besides being the most adorable elemental I've ever seen."
"She's one of the mystical elementals, who are very rare and super powerful I guess," Leea says with a smile. "They have a magical singing voice. Figuratively, I mean. Although it might also be literally..." She rubs her chin with a thoughtful expression.
"Actually our carol is based on one of the old elemental carols," I say. "They used to go around in choirs and sing songs around Christmas, apparently."
"That's pretty cool," Nick says. He still has a kinda dazed expression. "Maybe we could get Flame to sing at the ball with us?"
"What part of "no one can know" did you not understand?" Leea asks dryly. Nick shrugs.
"You got anymore secrets to tell us, now that we've started?" My asks. "Who're the other guy and his sister?"
"Cecil and Rachel," I say. "They work at the tattoo parlour at the mall, but they're also a part of this organization that study magical creatures."
"Hey, I know Cecil!" My says. My eyes widen just a bit. "Yeah, my sister got a tattoo there. Did you know that he can actually make moving tattoos? That's super complicated magic!"
"Oh," I say. "That's pretty cool. You know I've thought about getting a tattoo sometimes. It'd be pretty cool if he can make it move."
"I thought you had to be eighteen to get one?" Nick says, looking up from where he's scratching Flame behind the ear. She seems to like it very much.
"I didn't mean I'd go get one now, I just meant it'd be cool and all," I scoff. "Besides, I'm turning eighteen in a couple of months anyway, so..."
"So now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag," Leea says, "how about we go back to task at hand? We still have to finish up the lyrics."
Everyone mutters in agreement and we turn back to our hard task, which is made slightly more bearable with Flame sitting on the living room table and happily singing with us.
______________________________________________________________
Fuck lyrics. I ain't gonna try and come up with them, and I don't think you need to either. Unless tou want to ofc. But yeah, it's late again, I'm sorry. Why am I always the most inspired in the middle of the night???
Your topic isssssssss..... Bond. (James Bond. Just kidding. Although you can write about James Bond if you want to.)
Pie out.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Carol, Part 18 - Games
"Dammit!"
It's another few days later, and we're having a boardgame evening with My and Nick. My's small reach couldn't get her right hand on green and she fell on her knees on the Twister carpet.
"I'm not playing this game any more," she says and slips off the carpet, poking Nick on her way. He almost loses his balance, being in quite an impressive knot.
"Oh, come on," Leea says from under Nick's arm, "You were doing great."
"I'm short," My makes a face, "That's kind of a disadvantage in this game."
"Left foot yellow," I say.
"I'm short too," Leea says while trying to figure out how to move her foot without falling, "And I'm not complaining. We're also light. Less weight to be held in weird positions."
Nick crashes to the ground behind her with a loud thump. He rubs his elbow and gets up while Leea straightens.
"I agree," he says, "With My, I mean. Let's play something else next."
"Trivial Pursuit?"
"Nah."
"Pictionary?"
"I'm terrible at drawing."
"Doesn't matter."
"Carcassonne?"
"Takes too long, I don't have another couple of hours before I need to leave."
We're all silent for a moment.
"Let's make a game out of making lyrics to the carol?" I ask.
We've all been working on the lyrics for some time already, but they're still not quite done yet. We'd like to have one more verse that hasn't been even started.
"We'll take a half an hour and see who's gotten the best lyrics for that last verse," I suggest.
"You can't make a whole verseworth of good lyrics in a half an hour," Nick says.
"Of course you can't," I say, "But after that we'd have something to start working from to try to make it better. And we'll get a good competition out of it."
"Oooh, I like it," My gets excited, "What does the winner get?"
I look around in the house, trying to think of something we could give the winner.
"I think there's some dough in the freezer," I say, "We could make plum tarts later and the winner gets more than the others."
"Good enough for me," Nick says. My's excitement is contagious. Leea looks already like she's about to sprint off to a lone corner to work on her verse. I can almost hear her brain working on the lyrics.
"Ok, so we can go and sit in different places so we don't bother each other. And we'll come back here in a half an hour. Right now it's.... Five to seven. So we'll be back here at half past?"
Everyone nods.
"Ok."
And we scatter around the house. I climb up the stairs to my room and close the door. Flame jumps out of the knitting basket, where it had been hiding under all the thread and half-finished bigger projects. I throw myself on the bed with a pen and a notebook I always have with me and been using to write down lyrics to anything when they come to me.
Flame jumps to the bed next to me and I scratch it behind the ear, thinking and staring at the empty page in front of me.
Why did I suggest this? I am lousy at writing lyrics when I have to instead of when I have an inspiration for it. I'm going to lose so bad. I look at Flame.
"Could you help me?" I ask it quietly, "You're an expert on amazingly beautiful songs. You could put the lyrics in my head."
Flame yawns and makes a small peeping sound. I frown at in, thinking hard. It turns it head sideways, looking at me curiously.
"You really could help me. I've been keeping you safe for weeks now," I mutter and turn back to the paper.
I feel Flame moving closer to my head. Then there's a soft sound right next to my ear. It's sniffing at my ear. I wave my hand at it to make it go away. It touches my earlobe with a moist nose. I wave at it again.
And then the inspiration comes.
A half an hour later I return downstairs to my friends.
______________________________________________________________
And then I would have to write perfect Christmas carol lyrics if I wanted to continue.
As we learned from last year, it is a very, very bad idea.
So I won't. I'll stop here.
Your topic for tomorrow is Secrets.
~matu
It's another few days later, and we're having a boardgame evening with My and Nick. My's small reach couldn't get her right hand on green and she fell on her knees on the Twister carpet.
"I'm not playing this game any more," she says and slips off the carpet, poking Nick on her way. He almost loses his balance, being in quite an impressive knot.
"Oh, come on," Leea says from under Nick's arm, "You were doing great."
"I'm short," My makes a face, "That's kind of a disadvantage in this game."
"Left foot yellow," I say.
"I'm short too," Leea says while trying to figure out how to move her foot without falling, "And I'm not complaining. We're also light. Less weight to be held in weird positions."
Nick crashes to the ground behind her with a loud thump. He rubs his elbow and gets up while Leea straightens.
"I agree," he says, "With My, I mean. Let's play something else next."
"Trivial Pursuit?"
"Nah."
"Pictionary?"
"I'm terrible at drawing."
"Doesn't matter."
"Carcassonne?"
"Takes too long, I don't have another couple of hours before I need to leave."
We're all silent for a moment.
"Let's make a game out of making lyrics to the carol?" I ask.
We've all been working on the lyrics for some time already, but they're still not quite done yet. We'd like to have one more verse that hasn't been even started.
"We'll take a half an hour and see who's gotten the best lyrics for that last verse," I suggest.
"You can't make a whole verseworth of good lyrics in a half an hour," Nick says.
"Of course you can't," I say, "But after that we'd have something to start working from to try to make it better. And we'll get a good competition out of it."
"Oooh, I like it," My gets excited, "What does the winner get?"
I look around in the house, trying to think of something we could give the winner.
"I think there's some dough in the freezer," I say, "We could make plum tarts later and the winner gets more than the others."
"Good enough for me," Nick says. My's excitement is contagious. Leea looks already like she's about to sprint off to a lone corner to work on her verse. I can almost hear her brain working on the lyrics.
"Ok, so we can go and sit in different places so we don't bother each other. And we'll come back here in a half an hour. Right now it's.... Five to seven. So we'll be back here at half past?"
Everyone nods.
"Ok."
And we scatter around the house. I climb up the stairs to my room and close the door. Flame jumps out of the knitting basket, where it had been hiding under all the thread and half-finished bigger projects. I throw myself on the bed with a pen and a notebook I always have with me and been using to write down lyrics to anything when they come to me.
Flame jumps to the bed next to me and I scratch it behind the ear, thinking and staring at the empty page in front of me.
Why did I suggest this? I am lousy at writing lyrics when I have to instead of when I have an inspiration for it. I'm going to lose so bad. I look at Flame.
"Could you help me?" I ask it quietly, "You're an expert on amazingly beautiful songs. You could put the lyrics in my head."
Flame yawns and makes a small peeping sound. I frown at in, thinking hard. It turns it head sideways, looking at me curiously.
"You really could help me. I've been keeping you safe for weeks now," I mutter and turn back to the paper.
I feel Flame moving closer to my head. Then there's a soft sound right next to my ear. It's sniffing at my ear. I wave my hand at it to make it go away. It touches my earlobe with a moist nose. I wave at it again.
And then the inspiration comes.
A half an hour later I return downstairs to my friends.
______________________________________________________________
And then I would have to write perfect Christmas carol lyrics if I wanted to continue.
As we learned from last year, it is a very, very bad idea.
So I won't. I'll stop here.
Your topic for tomorrow is Secrets.
~matu
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Carol, Part 17 - Warmth
Suddenly Cecil is kneeling in front of me, his warm hands on my
shoulders, turning me to look at him. He looks very serious.
"What happened?" he asks. "I need to know exactly."
"He... I.." I try, but my voice is still broken. Leea shoves Cecil's shoulder a bit.
"Stop that crowding, jeez! Come on," she says to me, extending her hand. "You think you can stand up?"
I let Leea pull me up, and she leads me to the other side of the room and sits me down on a couch. I don't think it was here before. She keeps holding onto my hands even when we sit down. Rachel comes over as well, sitting on the armrest on Leea's other side. Cecil is still standing.
"Thank you," I whisper to Leea and then pause. Flame's body is warm on my lap and I focus on that, the warmth and it grounds me after the darkness of the dream. "It was another dream, I think. Everything went dark suddenly, and all I could hear was someone eating a... an apple. I tried to run, but I couldn't and then I fell. He told me he knew, th-that he knew I had the elemental and he knew I've had help hiding it. That he knew everything. He-" I look up at Cecil, and swallow hardly. "He can't know. Can he?"
"It is hard to believe he could," Cecil says, pushing up his glasses. "I didn't think it would be possible, but..."
"No way he knows," Rachel says sternly and crosses her arms. "Just this morning he was complaining to me how he had combed over half the town and had no leads left."
"Unless," Cecil says quietly and then continues, louder, "Unless that's the whole point? Maybe he's bluffing. He has no leads and is starting to get desperate, so he decids to amp up the game, sending threatening dreams to people he thinks could be hiding the elemental in the hopes of getting some kind of reaction to give him clues for where to look. You two would be the first on the list, because he saw you at my shop and he knows you've seen the elemental."
"Does that mean I'm gonna get a weird dream like that too?" Leea asks.
"That would make sense, if he's gauging for reactions," Cecil agrees. Then he turns to me again. "Now, is there anything else you remember, any details?" I shake my head and look down. "Every detail is important, try to remember."
Leea huffs in annoyance.
"Okay, now you listen here," she says and we all turn to her in surprise. "I think you need to start giving us some details about what the eff is really going on here, because we're risking our physical and apparently mental health to make sure this buddy of yours doesn't know a thing and we deserve to know. So no more funny business, no vague stories, no more bull shit. You tell us everything."
Cecil blinks a few times, looking baffled, and then he looks at the floor, a pink flush spreading from under his collar and on the tops of his ears. Rachel just stares at Leea, grinning madly.
"Okay then," Cecil says with a sigh, and sits down next to me, his leg brushing against mine. "You want the whole story? I'll tell you.
"For me it all began when I got into university. I was majoring in Myths and Legendary Creatures, and apparently I caught the eye of one of the professors. She seemed very impressed with my work and asked me to take a look at some old documents she had found about the Arthurian times. I, of course, agreed, and afterwards she introduced me to some of her colleagues. They worked for the NALMC."
"I've heard of that," Leea chimes in. "It's the... National archive of legends and......"
"Magical creatures, yes," Cecil says. "Their headquarters are in Dublin, and I must say, if you ever go there, you must visit their library, it is stunning. They have whole sections just for-"
Rachel clears her throat loudly and Cecil stops mid-sentence.
"Right, so," he says and fixes his glasses again. "I go to Dublin to get to know this organization. Rachel comes along, God knows why, because she is not particularly interested in these things."
"Well I couldn't go and leave you to fend for yourself in the big bad world, now could I?" Rachel all but purrs. "You were barely 18. Who knows what they would've done to you."
"Yes, because at 21 you had so much more life experience."
"So how exactly do you two know each other?" I finally ask. It's actually been bothering me for a while now, though I'm not sure why.
"She's my sister," Cecil says.
"Big sister," Rachel says.
"Oh," I say. I had not expected that, although now that they mention it, they do share some facial features and have the same silvery eye colour.
"But what happened in Dublin?" Leea asks.
"In Dublin we become official members of the NALMC. The first few months were just desk jobs, archive work and all that, but then we got to go to the field. And it was brilliant, all the creatures we found and stories we heard. It was great, to say the least. We did that for three years, until we were stationed here last May, because of the tattoo parlour."
"It belonged to our aunt," Rachel explains "She could do wicked cool tattoos, but her eyesight started to go rapidly worse a year back and now she can't see well enough to run the place anymore. She left it to Cecil, who used to work there as a kid, and being the obedient little child he is, he decided we'd have to stay put. For the most of the time, anyway. Though I guess it's cool to have headquarters or whatever."
"So a few months back we receive word from Dublin that they are detecting growing amounts of energy from around here," Cecil continues. "Fire energy. They think it's white elementals. I am excited, of course, because no one has seen one in over a century and even then they were very rare. And then HQ sends over this goon, Rafael Vargas. Wasp. I have no idea why he insists on calling himself that, but once he saw my butterfly tattoos, he's insisting on us all having weird bug-related code names. I think he's seen too many spy movies as a kid...
"Anyway, it's all going ok, until one night he comes in, possibly drunk, and asks me if I knew we could get good money off rare creatures on the black market. He asks if it would be interesting to capture the elemental and sell it, to see how much we could get. I tell him no and he drops it, but I know he's still planning on doing that. Only now he knows I know of his plans and he thinks I might try to sabotage them somehow. That's why he came into the dream, because he thought I was warning you to stay away from him if you found the elemental. Of course I was, but he doesn't actually know that.
"See, after Wasp shot me out of the dream, he started yelling at me, asking what the flip I was doing, trying to sabotage the mission and scaring off useful people. I told him that I wasn't doing that, I was just trying to contact the choir so they would come talk to us if they found the elemental. He did eventually believe me, thank heavens, even if it was after following me around 24/7 for two days."
"Wait, I'm confused," I say. "What did he believe?" Cecil shifts, his whole thigh against mine now. It is very warm.
"OK,here's the deal," Rachel says. "Wasp wants to sell the elemental for a lot of money. Cecil wants to study it because he's a nerd." Cecil makes a protesting noise at that, but Rachel ignores him. "Wasp tells Cecil his plan, because he wants an accomplice, but Cecil doesn't like the plan. So now Cecil knows the plan, and Wasp believes Cecil knows the plan and will try to sabotage it. Cecil does try to sabotage the plan and Wasp stops him, but Cecil convinces Wasp that he was trying to advance the plan and so Wasp thinks he screwed up. And right now Cecil knows about the plan, but Wasp thinks that he doesn't. ...as far as we know."
"That... didn't really help," I mutter. This is all very confusing. All I wanted was to write a spectacular Christmas carol and now I'm stuck in this mess of conspiracies and counter conspiracies, and mythical creatures and legends and archives, and scary black market goons and cute nerdy tattoo artists and way. too. much. warmth.
I draw in a shaky breath. Flame seems to sense my discomfort, jumping into Leea's lap instead. She finally lets go of my hands and I tug them through my hair. Cecil is still radiating warmth against my side, but without a fire elemental in my lap it is much easier to handle. And when I think back to the darkness and coldness of the dream I just had, I am suddenly very grateful that Cecil is there. I look up at him and smile, and he smiles back, although somewhat confusedly. Something occurs to me.
"In the dream Wasp said you were his employers," I say. "I thought you all worked for the NALMC? If you're his employers, couldn't you just fire him and he couldn't do jack squat?"
Cecil looks at me with his mouth slightly agape, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Then he starts to laugh.
"Ahh, no no," he says between bouts of laughter. "See, he doesn't speak English too well. He's originally Italian, and he's been living in the UK for only two years so far. I think he meant "land lord", it's the same word."
"We're leasing him a room in our apartment," Rachel says, while Cecil tries to stop giggling.
"Weird choice of words," Leea mutters, but then shakes her head, seemingly dismissing the thought and smiling widely at me.
I smile as well and lean back on the couch, the warmth filling me on the inside as well.
________________________________________________________________
Wow, Cecil is a dick to people who are learning a new language and mix up words.
I'm not late, you're late. HA, you can't actually know when I posted this, because it says 23:58 regardless. Unless you were just sitting in the dark, refreshing the page over and over. Or heard me when I went to the bathroom shortly after posting this. BUT OTHER THAN THAT............... what was I talking about? I really don't know.
I'm sorry these are so late, but I have zero motivation to write in the day. It's weird, really, because more often than not I know what I want to happen, I just suck at trying to get myself to write for whatever reason. Also there's a lot of distractions in the living room. Maybe I should stop trying to write there, hmmmm....
I feel very accomplished now. I should probably go to bed though, we have gigantti in the morning............. nnggh.
Your topic is Game(s). Byeeeeee~
Pie out.
"What happened?" he asks. "I need to know exactly."
"He... I.." I try, but my voice is still broken. Leea shoves Cecil's shoulder a bit.
"Stop that crowding, jeez! Come on," she says to me, extending her hand. "You think you can stand up?"
I let Leea pull me up, and she leads me to the other side of the room and sits me down on a couch. I don't think it was here before. She keeps holding onto my hands even when we sit down. Rachel comes over as well, sitting on the armrest on Leea's other side. Cecil is still standing.
"Thank you," I whisper to Leea and then pause. Flame's body is warm on my lap and I focus on that, the warmth and it grounds me after the darkness of the dream. "It was another dream, I think. Everything went dark suddenly, and all I could hear was someone eating a... an apple. I tried to run, but I couldn't and then I fell. He told me he knew, th-that he knew I had the elemental and he knew I've had help hiding it. That he knew everything. He-" I look up at Cecil, and swallow hardly. "He can't know. Can he?"
"It is hard to believe he could," Cecil says, pushing up his glasses. "I didn't think it would be possible, but..."
"No way he knows," Rachel says sternly and crosses her arms. "Just this morning he was complaining to me how he had combed over half the town and had no leads left."
"Unless," Cecil says quietly and then continues, louder, "Unless that's the whole point? Maybe he's bluffing. He has no leads and is starting to get desperate, so he decids to amp up the game, sending threatening dreams to people he thinks could be hiding the elemental in the hopes of getting some kind of reaction to give him clues for where to look. You two would be the first on the list, because he saw you at my shop and he knows you've seen the elemental."
"Does that mean I'm gonna get a weird dream like that too?" Leea asks.
"That would make sense, if he's gauging for reactions," Cecil agrees. Then he turns to me again. "Now, is there anything else you remember, any details?" I shake my head and look down. "Every detail is important, try to remember."
Leea huffs in annoyance.
"Okay, now you listen here," she says and we all turn to her in surprise. "I think you need to start giving us some details about what the eff is really going on here, because we're risking our physical and apparently mental health to make sure this buddy of yours doesn't know a thing and we deserve to know. So no more funny business, no vague stories, no more bull shit. You tell us everything."
Cecil blinks a few times, looking baffled, and then he looks at the floor, a pink flush spreading from under his collar and on the tops of his ears. Rachel just stares at Leea, grinning madly.
"Okay then," Cecil says with a sigh, and sits down next to me, his leg brushing against mine. "You want the whole story? I'll tell you.
"For me it all began when I got into university. I was majoring in Myths and Legendary Creatures, and apparently I caught the eye of one of the professors. She seemed very impressed with my work and asked me to take a look at some old documents she had found about the Arthurian times. I, of course, agreed, and afterwards she introduced me to some of her colleagues. They worked for the NALMC."
"I've heard of that," Leea chimes in. "It's the... National archive of legends and......"
"Magical creatures, yes," Cecil says. "Their headquarters are in Dublin, and I must say, if you ever go there, you must visit their library, it is stunning. They have whole sections just for-"
Rachel clears her throat loudly and Cecil stops mid-sentence.
"Right, so," he says and fixes his glasses again. "I go to Dublin to get to know this organization. Rachel comes along, God knows why, because she is not particularly interested in these things."
"Well I couldn't go and leave you to fend for yourself in the big bad world, now could I?" Rachel all but purrs. "You were barely 18. Who knows what they would've done to you."
"Yes, because at 21 you had so much more life experience."
"So how exactly do you two know each other?" I finally ask. It's actually been bothering me for a while now, though I'm not sure why.
"She's my sister," Cecil says.
"Big sister," Rachel says.
"Oh," I say. I had not expected that, although now that they mention it, they do share some facial features and have the same silvery eye colour.
"But what happened in Dublin?" Leea asks.
"In Dublin we become official members of the NALMC. The first few months were just desk jobs, archive work and all that, but then we got to go to the field. And it was brilliant, all the creatures we found and stories we heard. It was great, to say the least. We did that for three years, until we were stationed here last May, because of the tattoo parlour."
"It belonged to our aunt," Rachel explains "She could do wicked cool tattoos, but her eyesight started to go rapidly worse a year back and now she can't see well enough to run the place anymore. She left it to Cecil, who used to work there as a kid, and being the obedient little child he is, he decided we'd have to stay put. For the most of the time, anyway. Though I guess it's cool to have headquarters or whatever."
"So a few months back we receive word from Dublin that they are detecting growing amounts of energy from around here," Cecil continues. "Fire energy. They think it's white elementals. I am excited, of course, because no one has seen one in over a century and even then they were very rare. And then HQ sends over this goon, Rafael Vargas. Wasp. I have no idea why he insists on calling himself that, but once he saw my butterfly tattoos, he's insisting on us all having weird bug-related code names. I think he's seen too many spy movies as a kid...
"Anyway, it's all going ok, until one night he comes in, possibly drunk, and asks me if I knew we could get good money off rare creatures on the black market. He asks if it would be interesting to capture the elemental and sell it, to see how much we could get. I tell him no and he drops it, but I know he's still planning on doing that. Only now he knows I know of his plans and he thinks I might try to sabotage them somehow. That's why he came into the dream, because he thought I was warning you to stay away from him if you found the elemental. Of course I was, but he doesn't actually know that.
"See, after Wasp shot me out of the dream, he started yelling at me, asking what the flip I was doing, trying to sabotage the mission and scaring off useful people. I told him that I wasn't doing that, I was just trying to contact the choir so they would come talk to us if they found the elemental. He did eventually believe me, thank heavens, even if it was after following me around 24/7 for two days."
"Wait, I'm confused," I say. "What did he believe?" Cecil shifts, his whole thigh against mine now. It is very warm.
"OK,here's the deal," Rachel says. "Wasp wants to sell the elemental for a lot of money. Cecil wants to study it because he's a nerd." Cecil makes a protesting noise at that, but Rachel ignores him. "Wasp tells Cecil his plan, because he wants an accomplice, but Cecil doesn't like the plan. So now Cecil knows the plan, and Wasp believes Cecil knows the plan and will try to sabotage it. Cecil does try to sabotage the plan and Wasp stops him, but Cecil convinces Wasp that he was trying to advance the plan and so Wasp thinks he screwed up. And right now Cecil knows about the plan, but Wasp thinks that he doesn't. ...as far as we know."
"That... didn't really help," I mutter. This is all very confusing. All I wanted was to write a spectacular Christmas carol and now I'm stuck in this mess of conspiracies and counter conspiracies, and mythical creatures and legends and archives, and scary black market goons and cute nerdy tattoo artists and way. too. much. warmth.
I draw in a shaky breath. Flame seems to sense my discomfort, jumping into Leea's lap instead. She finally lets go of my hands and I tug them through my hair. Cecil is still radiating warmth against my side, but without a fire elemental in my lap it is much easier to handle. And when I think back to the darkness and coldness of the dream I just had, I am suddenly very grateful that Cecil is there. I look up at him and smile, and he smiles back, although somewhat confusedly. Something occurs to me.
"In the dream Wasp said you were his employers," I say. "I thought you all worked for the NALMC? If you're his employers, couldn't you just fire him and he couldn't do jack squat?"
Cecil looks at me with his mouth slightly agape, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Then he starts to laugh.
"Ahh, no no," he says between bouts of laughter. "See, he doesn't speak English too well. He's originally Italian, and he's been living in the UK for only two years so far. I think he meant "land lord", it's the same word."
"We're leasing him a room in our apartment," Rachel says, while Cecil tries to stop giggling.
"Weird choice of words," Leea mutters, but then shakes her head, seemingly dismissing the thought and smiling widely at me.
I smile as well and lean back on the couch, the warmth filling me on the inside as well.
________________________________________________________________
Wow, Cecil is a dick to people who are learning a new language and mix up words.
I'm not late, you're late. HA, you can't actually know when I posted this, because it says 23:58 regardless. Unless you were just sitting in the dark, refreshing the page over and over. Or heard me when I went to the bathroom shortly after posting this. BUT OTHER THAN THAT............... what was I talking about? I really don't know.
I'm sorry these are so late, but I have zero motivation to write in the day. It's weird, really, because more often than not I know what I want to happen, I just suck at trying to get myself to write for whatever reason. Also there's a lot of distractions in the living room. Maybe I should stop trying to write there, hmmmm....
I feel very accomplished now. I should probably go to bed though, we have gigantti in the morning............. nnggh.
Your topic is Game(s). Byeeeeee~
Pie out.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Carol, Part 16 - Apple
Something happens.
First I don't know what it is, but then I realise everything has gone dark. I can't see anything, and Cecil, Rachel and Leea have disappeared from around me. I can't see even Flame anywhere. I wave my hand in front of my face. Nothing.
It's cold. I turn around. There isn't anything more to see. What ever this place is, it's making me very uncomfortable.
I hear a sound behind me and I flip around. I'm still staring into complete darkness. I hear the sound again. It's like someone eating something. Biting into... an apple? Someone is munching an apple. I can't decide whether to run away from the sound or towards it. I don't know who it is.
I don't know what it is. There's no way for me to know if it is someone breaking into my dream or just another weird dream.
I try to wake up and fail.
I can't wake up. I shiver and wrap my arms around myself.
Where am I? The munching is getting louder.
I fall.
I fall like in the way you do in dreams, waking up when you hit what ever it is you hit in dreams when you die.
I don't wake up. I just hit what ever it was I was falling towards. It's impossible to tell whether it's soft or hard. I'm on my knees, breathing hard and shivering in the deepening cold. I can't feel my fingers. I don't know if I have toes to feel any more.
I try to get up, but I'm heavy. So very, very heavy.
Finally I find balance on my feet and try to catch my breath. The sound comes from somewhere in the dark again. I turn and start running away from where it's maybe coming from.
I'm not moving anywhere and I keep running, and I'm staying in place. I don't now how it's possible to know if I'm moving or not, since there's nothing around me I would see myself going past anyway. But I just know I'm not moving.
I can feel something is after me it's reaching me every second I'm not moving. It can almost feel it touching me from behind.
Something flies through the air and hits me in the head from behind and I fall.
I scramble on the ground and try to get back up. A voice sounds from behind me.
"I know."
I turn to face where I think the voice is coming from and back away. My hand lands on something round on the ground, the size of a tennis ball. I close my fingers around it.
An apple. I throw it at the direction of the sound.
"I know you have the elemental."
I try to get up but my legs won't carry my weight.
I...
I sink in the ground. I can't move.
"I know you have the elemental, and I know you have had help hiding it."
No. No.
This isn't happening.
It's just a nightmare. It's nothing. I've been fearing this. My brain is messing with me. It's showing me what I'm afraid of.
"I know you have had help from my employers."
It's just a dream.
"I know everything."
It's just a bad dream. This...
I...
No...
No.
I'm blinded by light. I can't see any more than I did in the dark.
"Hey!"
"Are you ok?"
I recognise those voices.
I'm lying on the floor. There are people around me. I see Leea's face above mine. Cecil and Rachel are a little further away, looking worried. Something is in my ear. It's Flame, sniffing and tickling. I can't breath.
I try to pull one single breath and succeed.
"What happened?"
"He..." I breath, with a lot of effort, "He knows... Everything..."
The others stare at me, questioningly. Cecil's face is twisting.
"Wasp."
____________________________________________________________________
Yeah, ok.
I'm late with this. But, you know.
Gingerbread house.
Your topic for tomorrow is Warmth.
~matu
First I don't know what it is, but then I realise everything has gone dark. I can't see anything, and Cecil, Rachel and Leea have disappeared from around me. I can't see even Flame anywhere. I wave my hand in front of my face. Nothing.
It's cold. I turn around. There isn't anything more to see. What ever this place is, it's making me very uncomfortable.
I hear a sound behind me and I flip around. I'm still staring into complete darkness. I hear the sound again. It's like someone eating something. Biting into... an apple? Someone is munching an apple. I can't decide whether to run away from the sound or towards it. I don't know who it is.
I don't know what it is. There's no way for me to know if it is someone breaking into my dream or just another weird dream.
I try to wake up and fail.
I can't wake up. I shiver and wrap my arms around myself.
Where am I? The munching is getting louder.
I fall.
I fall like in the way you do in dreams, waking up when you hit what ever it is you hit in dreams when you die.
I don't wake up. I just hit what ever it was I was falling towards. It's impossible to tell whether it's soft or hard. I'm on my knees, breathing hard and shivering in the deepening cold. I can't feel my fingers. I don't know if I have toes to feel any more.
I try to get up, but I'm heavy. So very, very heavy.
Finally I find balance on my feet and try to catch my breath. The sound comes from somewhere in the dark again. I turn and start running away from where it's maybe coming from.
I'm not moving anywhere and I keep running, and I'm staying in place. I don't now how it's possible to know if I'm moving or not, since there's nothing around me I would see myself going past anyway. But I just know I'm not moving.
I can feel something is after me it's reaching me every second I'm not moving. It can almost feel it touching me from behind.
Something flies through the air and hits me in the head from behind and I fall.
I scramble on the ground and try to get back up. A voice sounds from behind me.
"I know."
I turn to face where I think the voice is coming from and back away. My hand lands on something round on the ground, the size of a tennis ball. I close my fingers around it.
An apple. I throw it at the direction of the sound.
"I know you have the elemental."
I try to get up but my legs won't carry my weight.
I...
I sink in the ground. I can't move.
"I know you have the elemental, and I know you have had help hiding it."
No. No.
This isn't happening.
It's just a nightmare. It's nothing. I've been fearing this. My brain is messing with me. It's showing me what I'm afraid of.
"I know you have had help from my employers."
It's just a dream.
"I know everything."
It's just a bad dream. This...
I...
No...
No.
I'm blinded by light. I can't see any more than I did in the dark.
"Hey!"
"Are you ok?"
I recognise those voices.
I'm lying on the floor. There are people around me. I see Leea's face above mine. Cecil and Rachel are a little further away, looking worried. Something is in my ear. It's Flame, sniffing and tickling. I can't breath.
I try to pull one single breath and succeed.
"What happened?"
"He..." I breath, with a lot of effort, "He knows... Everything..."
The others stare at me, questioningly. Cecil's face is twisting.
"Wasp."
____________________________________________________________________
Yeah, ok.
I'm late with this. But, you know.
Gingerbread house.
Your topic for tomorrow is Warmth.
~matu
Monday, December 15, 2014
Carol, Part 15 - Ring
The final key falls of the piano and the whole room feels almost too quiet. I turn to look at my friends.
"That was," Nick says, opening and closing his mouth for a while, looking for the words. "That was perfect!"
"It was," My says, with perhaps a hint of skepticism in her voice. "Almost too perfect, really. It was just like what was stuck in my head. How did you do that?"
"Actually," I say, glancing at Leea and smiling sheepishly, "We kinda recognized the tune as well and after transliterating your humming, we went to the library to see if it we could find something about it. And we did."
"It's a really old song, dating back several centuries!" Leea sounds excited and My makes a soft 'ooh' sound. "We managed to find... some kind of lyrics to it as well, but they're in really, really old English and I don't even know what they talk about. So I was thinking we'd make our own lyrics."
"Sounds fun, but we only have eleven days before the Christmas ball," Nick reminds us. "So if we're gonna write stuff in addition to learning how to sing the song, we're gonna need to work on this the whole weekend."
"I can't today, I have a Spanish essay I need to finish for tonight," My says and rubs her eyes. "But I don't have anything tomorrow or Sunday before six."
"I'm free the whole weekend," Leea says with a shrug.
"I have dentist tomorrow morning, but other than that I think I'm good. Where should we meet?" I ask.
"We could first meet at the library and then go to someone's place for the night?" My suggest.
"Not ours, my mom has some old college friends over or something," Leea says.
"I live in an apartment, so not there. The neighbours are already complaining about my violin practice..." Nick says.
"And we can't all fit here," My says and everyone turns to look at me. "Soooo....?"
"I guess it's okay," I say. "I'll have to check with mom, though. But we'll meet at the library, yeah? I should get there by noon, but you guys can go ahead without me."
I play the song several times more and we talk about what themes everyone wants in the lyrics, until it's half past seven and My throws us out to finish her essay. I walk with Leea (Nick lives in the opposite direction, so he left as soon as we walked out) for a while, until she turns to another road.
"See me in your dreams!" she says with a wink and skips away, leaving me to walk home alone.
~x~
We're trying to think of a good rhyme for mistletoe when the door opens. I don't even have to look up from the paper; Flame's happy reaction is all I need to know who it is. Rachel plops down next to Leea and peers at the paper we're writing line ideas on.
"So, what did you tell your friends about the origin of the notes, eh?" she asks, nudging Leea's shoulder lightly.
"We told them we found them at the library," Leea says. Rachel grins.
"Told ya you can't make them believe you made such perfect notes from listening to someone hum," she says. "So, how's the lyrics coming on?"
"We're working on love," I say, tapping the pen on the paper. "But Leea is insisting on adding these verses on skating."
"I like skating," Leea says, crossing her arms. "And I happen to think that it's a very romantic thing to do with someone you love. Y'know, skating hand in hand, doing pirouettes, then going back inside and snuggling in front of the TV, marathoning the extended edition Lord of the Rings...."
"I thought it was supposed to be a fire place?" Rachel asks with a grin. Leea shrugs.
"I never did get the whole ring thing," Cecil finally chimes in. "If the Ring had a mind of it own, which it clearly did, how was Isildur ever able to cut it off Sauron's finger? Did it deem him unworthy or something? And why did it finally decide it was time to resurface after like, centuries?"
"Are we seriously going to have this conversation? Right now?" I ask. "I mean, I'm all up for some lotr speculation, but we do have some more pressing matters at hand here."
Cecil finally sits down next to us, Flame curled around his shoulders. "You're right, sorry. So, themes? If you're working with a romantic love theme, you could have a verse about finding the perfect gift?"
"Yeah, we could work with that," Leea says and scribbles something down. "What would you get to the person you really love?" Rachel shrugs and then grins.
"Rings are nice."
________________________________________________________________
Lord of the Rings. I don't even. I'm going to bed now, screw this.
Your topic issssssss. Apple(s).
Pie out.
"That was," Nick says, opening and closing his mouth for a while, looking for the words. "That was perfect!"
"It was," My says, with perhaps a hint of skepticism in her voice. "Almost too perfect, really. It was just like what was stuck in my head. How did you do that?"
"Actually," I say, glancing at Leea and smiling sheepishly, "We kinda recognized the tune as well and after transliterating your humming, we went to the library to see if it we could find something about it. And we did."
"It's a really old song, dating back several centuries!" Leea sounds excited and My makes a soft 'ooh' sound. "We managed to find... some kind of lyrics to it as well, but they're in really, really old English and I don't even know what they talk about. So I was thinking we'd make our own lyrics."
"Sounds fun, but we only have eleven days before the Christmas ball," Nick reminds us. "So if we're gonna write stuff in addition to learning how to sing the song, we're gonna need to work on this the whole weekend."
"I can't today, I have a Spanish essay I need to finish for tonight," My says and rubs her eyes. "But I don't have anything tomorrow or Sunday before six."
"I'm free the whole weekend," Leea says with a shrug.
"I have dentist tomorrow morning, but other than that I think I'm good. Where should we meet?" I ask.
"We could first meet at the library and then go to someone's place for the night?" My suggest.
"Not ours, my mom has some old college friends over or something," Leea says.
"I live in an apartment, so not there. The neighbours are already complaining about my violin practice..." Nick says.
"And we can't all fit here," My says and everyone turns to look at me. "Soooo....?"
"I guess it's okay," I say. "I'll have to check with mom, though. But we'll meet at the library, yeah? I should get there by noon, but you guys can go ahead without me."
I play the song several times more and we talk about what themes everyone wants in the lyrics, until it's half past seven and My throws us out to finish her essay. I walk with Leea (Nick lives in the opposite direction, so he left as soon as we walked out) for a while, until she turns to another road.
"See me in your dreams!" she says with a wink and skips away, leaving me to walk home alone.
~x~
We're trying to think of a good rhyme for mistletoe when the door opens. I don't even have to look up from the paper; Flame's happy reaction is all I need to know who it is. Rachel plops down next to Leea and peers at the paper we're writing line ideas on.
"So, what did you tell your friends about the origin of the notes, eh?" she asks, nudging Leea's shoulder lightly.
"We told them we found them at the library," Leea says. Rachel grins.
"Told ya you can't make them believe you made such perfect notes from listening to someone hum," she says. "So, how's the lyrics coming on?"
"We're working on love," I say, tapping the pen on the paper. "But Leea is insisting on adding these verses on skating."
"I like skating," Leea says, crossing her arms. "And I happen to think that it's a very romantic thing to do with someone you love. Y'know, skating hand in hand, doing pirouettes, then going back inside and snuggling in front of the TV, marathoning the extended edition Lord of the Rings...."
"I thought it was supposed to be a fire place?" Rachel asks with a grin. Leea shrugs.
"I never did get the whole ring thing," Cecil finally chimes in. "If the Ring had a mind of it own, which it clearly did, how was Isildur ever able to cut it off Sauron's finger? Did it deem him unworthy or something? And why did it finally decide it was time to resurface after like, centuries?"
"Are we seriously going to have this conversation? Right now?" I ask. "I mean, I'm all up for some lotr speculation, but we do have some more pressing matters at hand here."
Cecil finally sits down next to us, Flame curled around his shoulders. "You're right, sorry. So, themes? If you're working with a romantic love theme, you could have a verse about finding the perfect gift?"
"Yeah, we could work with that," Leea says and scribbles something down. "What would you get to the person you really love?" Rachel shrugs and then grins.
"Rings are nice."
________________________________________________________________
Lord of the Rings. I don't even. I'm going to bed now, screw this.
Your topic issssssss. Apple(s).
Pie out.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Carol, Part 14 - Ball gown
"Ok, here we go."
I rest my fingers on the keys and begin slowly playing the sheet music I copied from Cecil. Leea stands behind me, listening silently.
Something thumps onto my shoulder and I almost lose the beat. It's Flame. I can feel it staring at my hands while I play confused. I suppose it recognises the tune. I sink back into the music and it sucks me in.
The sheets end and I stop playing, savouring the last long note. It's not until then I notice Flame is singing. My eyes widen and I try to turn to look at Flame, bit since it's sitting on my shoulder, it turns out to be quite close to impossible. Instead I look at Leea. She's staring at Flame with her eyes wide open and hers lips slightly parted.
It's beautiful. It is the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It's also weird. It's unlike anything I've ever heard before. It's even more... more. Than the voice Flame used to talk to us when we first found her.
I think I understand the lyrics, even though I don't understand a single word. I don't even know where a word ends and the next begins. I don't even know, if there are words. Something in me just understands what the small creature wants to say.
It takes both me and Leea a while to realise Flame has fallen silent. Neither of us still knows what to say.
A sound comes from somewhere. Somewhere close. It's a harsh sound.
Leea's phone. Wait... have the sounds of phones sounded so rough before? Leea already has the phone in her hand.
"It's My," Leea says, reading the message she'd just gotten. She looks like she got over the shock faster than I did. "She wants me to go help her buy a dress for the school Christmas ball.
"What kind of girl doesn't have a dress for that yet?" I try to joke, but my voice sounds empty in my ears. Leea glances at me with a raised eyebrow. I shake my head.
"Anyway...." Leea says and gets up, "I gotta go. I'll see you later?"
I nod. Flame jumps from my shoulder to the arm chair next to me. Leea scratches her behind the ear.
"I'll see you later, too," she says to Flame. She then heads to the door and waves at me before disappearing behind the corner.
I turn back tot he piano in front of me. I'm wondering if I should try to play the song again. Mom and Tony will be home in twenty minutes or so, and I don't want to accidentally be out here playing the piano with a magical singing creature because I didn't pay attention to the passing of time being lost in the music. I look at the sheets of notes for a while and then sigh. I can't risk it. I'll play more later.
I grab my notes and Flame and walk to my room. I throw the papers onto my desk and collapse onto my bed. Flame jumps off of me just in time to not get squished under me.
Before realising I've even fallen asleep in the dark room I start dreaming about singing, and some choir practise, and the first concert I ever went to. I have a dream where I'm driving a car along and empty, dark road, but I don't feel alone, or scared or lost, even though I have no idea where I am.
My phone buzzes and I wake up with a startle. I try to find my phone and fail. It buzzes again. It's under my stomach.
"Yeah?"
"Were you just sleeping?" asks Leea's voice on the other end of the line.
"Uh. Yes. I think so," I say, sitting up.
"Ok, anyway," Leea says, "We found the dress and agreed with Nick we'll meet at My's place in a half an hour to talk about the carol. Again. Since I said we maybe have something."
"Yeah, ok, I can do that," I say. I walk to the door and switch on the lights. I rub my face, trying to get the sleep out of me.
"Great. See you soon. Bye now," she hangs up and I stuff the phone into my pocket.
What do I need? At least the sheet music to the song, I suppose.
I start walking around the room, grabbing things I have to take with me. In ten minutes I'm rushing down stairs. Mom and Tony are back home, and from the smell of it they're cooking something.
"Oh, you're home," mom says when she sees me, "I thought you're out somewhere with your friends."
"Yeah, I apparently fell asleep," I say, "But now I am going out. To My's. To talk about the carol. It's going to be great."
I grab a banana from the counter and start munching on it.
"Well, okay. Do you need a ride?"
I look at my watch.
"Nah, I think I'll walk. It'll wake me up enough to not be still half asleep when we start to work on the carol."
"Ok," mom says and turns back to the chicken frying in the pan.
I stuff the last of the banana into my mouth and go get dressed. Another few minutes later I'm walking down the street and humming to myself, my breath steaming in the cold air.
~x~
"Oh, hey!" Leea comes to open the door at My's place and lets me in, "My is trying on the dress."
"She didn't try it on in the shop?" I say and begin to undress.
"Of course she did," Leea says and disappears into the living room.
I hang my coat on the coat rack, pick up my bag and follow her. Nick's already there and My is spinning in her new red dress, showing it to him.
"That is pretty beautiful," I say and sit down.
"Thank you," My smiles at me, "I think I'll go change out of it now."
A few minutes later she comes back wearing jeans and a t-shirt, pulling her hair back to tie it out of the way.
"You said you had some idea for the new carol?" she asks. Me and Leea glance at each other.
"Yeah, we have some sheet music written down that might work for the tune. We took what you were humming the last time and worked on that for a bit," Leea explains.
"Ok, well, let's hear it!"
I move to the piano and take out my sheets. I arrange the papers in the holder and begin playing.
____________________________________________________________________
Ok, so there.
Your topic for tomorrow is Ring.
~matu
I rest my fingers on the keys and begin slowly playing the sheet music I copied from Cecil. Leea stands behind me, listening silently.
Something thumps onto my shoulder and I almost lose the beat. It's Flame. I can feel it staring at my hands while I play confused. I suppose it recognises the tune. I sink back into the music and it sucks me in.
The sheets end and I stop playing, savouring the last long note. It's not until then I notice Flame is singing. My eyes widen and I try to turn to look at Flame, bit since it's sitting on my shoulder, it turns out to be quite close to impossible. Instead I look at Leea. She's staring at Flame with her eyes wide open and hers lips slightly parted.
It's beautiful. It is the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It's also weird. It's unlike anything I've ever heard before. It's even more... more. Than the voice Flame used to talk to us when we first found her.
I think I understand the lyrics, even though I don't understand a single word. I don't even know where a word ends and the next begins. I don't even know, if there are words. Something in me just understands what the small creature wants to say.
It takes both me and Leea a while to realise Flame has fallen silent. Neither of us still knows what to say.
A sound comes from somewhere. Somewhere close. It's a harsh sound.
Leea's phone. Wait... have the sounds of phones sounded so rough before? Leea already has the phone in her hand.
"It's My," Leea says, reading the message she'd just gotten. She looks like she got over the shock faster than I did. "She wants me to go help her buy a dress for the school Christmas ball.
"What kind of girl doesn't have a dress for that yet?" I try to joke, but my voice sounds empty in my ears. Leea glances at me with a raised eyebrow. I shake my head.
"Anyway...." Leea says and gets up, "I gotta go. I'll see you later?"
I nod. Flame jumps from my shoulder to the arm chair next to me. Leea scratches her behind the ear.
"I'll see you later, too," she says to Flame. She then heads to the door and waves at me before disappearing behind the corner.
I turn back tot he piano in front of me. I'm wondering if I should try to play the song again. Mom and Tony will be home in twenty minutes or so, and I don't want to accidentally be out here playing the piano with a magical singing creature because I didn't pay attention to the passing of time being lost in the music. I look at the sheets of notes for a while and then sigh. I can't risk it. I'll play more later.
I grab my notes and Flame and walk to my room. I throw the papers onto my desk and collapse onto my bed. Flame jumps off of me just in time to not get squished under me.
Before realising I've even fallen asleep in the dark room I start dreaming about singing, and some choir practise, and the first concert I ever went to. I have a dream where I'm driving a car along and empty, dark road, but I don't feel alone, or scared or lost, even though I have no idea where I am.
My phone buzzes and I wake up with a startle. I try to find my phone and fail. It buzzes again. It's under my stomach.
"Yeah?"
"Were you just sleeping?" asks Leea's voice on the other end of the line.
"Uh. Yes. I think so," I say, sitting up.
"Ok, anyway," Leea says, "We found the dress and agreed with Nick we'll meet at My's place in a half an hour to talk about the carol. Again. Since I said we maybe have something."
"Yeah, ok, I can do that," I say. I walk to the door and switch on the lights. I rub my face, trying to get the sleep out of me.
"Great. See you soon. Bye now," she hangs up and I stuff the phone into my pocket.
What do I need? At least the sheet music to the song, I suppose.
I start walking around the room, grabbing things I have to take with me. In ten minutes I'm rushing down stairs. Mom and Tony are back home, and from the smell of it they're cooking something.
"Oh, you're home," mom says when she sees me, "I thought you're out somewhere with your friends."
"Yeah, I apparently fell asleep," I say, "But now I am going out. To My's. To talk about the carol. It's going to be great."
I grab a banana from the counter and start munching on it.
"Well, okay. Do you need a ride?"
I look at my watch.
"Nah, I think I'll walk. It'll wake me up enough to not be still half asleep when we start to work on the carol."
"Ok," mom says and turns back to the chicken frying in the pan.
I stuff the last of the banana into my mouth and go get dressed. Another few minutes later I'm walking down the street and humming to myself, my breath steaming in the cold air.
~x~
"Oh, hey!" Leea comes to open the door at My's place and lets me in, "My is trying on the dress."
"She didn't try it on in the shop?" I say and begin to undress.
"Of course she did," Leea says and disappears into the living room.
I hang my coat on the coat rack, pick up my bag and follow her. Nick's already there and My is spinning in her new red dress, showing it to him.
"That is pretty beautiful," I say and sit down.
"Thank you," My smiles at me, "I think I'll go change out of it now."
A few minutes later she comes back wearing jeans and a t-shirt, pulling her hair back to tie it out of the way.
"You said you had some idea for the new carol?" she asks. Me and Leea glance at each other.
"Yeah, we have some sheet music written down that might work for the tune. We took what you were humming the last time and worked on that for a bit," Leea explains.
"Ok, well, let's hear it!"
I move to the piano and take out my sheets. I arrange the papers in the holder and begin playing.
____________________________________________________________________
Ok, so there.
Your topic for tomorrow is Ring.
~matu
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Carol, Part 13 - Cones
That night Leea and I are sitting outside the starbucks at the mall. It has a good line of sight to Cecil's tattoo parlour, and we've been hoping him or Rachel would come out so we could get them the message without having to go in and risking accidentally running into Wasp, but so far no luck. It is closing time soon, and we should get going, but so should they.
Leea is playing with her braid and I'm knitting absently. I keep staring at the letter on the table. I just hope they understand what it means.
There's a tingle of a bell and we both look up abruptly. Rachel exits the shop, saying something to someone inside. The door jingles again as it closes and her eyes fall on us when she turns around. She looks surprised at first, but it melts into happiness. She grins. I picks up my to-go cup and Leea picks up the letter, in a way I hope is obvious. She glances down at her hand and then back up again. She keeps walking like nothing happened, and we start walking towards her, to the other side of the mall and the exit. We pass Rachel and in one slightly lingering movement the letter exchanges hands. None of us slow down or acknowledge each other in any way.
I glance at the glass door of the shop, my eyes lingering momentarily on the red logo of the tattoo parlour and the opening hours, before looking through it. Cecil is standing in behind the counter again. His eyes widen slightly as we pass the door, and then he looks to his right, where I notice a large man standing, with his back to the door. That must be Wasp. I nudge at Leea and we quicken our pace just slightly. I pull out my phone and call mom to pick us up.
We get Tony instead.
~x~
We're sitting in the choir room again. It seems like the most logical place to be. It's been a while since we fell asleep, but Leea said that in dreams time goes faster, so it's not too late yet. And it was only 10:45 when we went to bed, and it could take some time for them to get away from Wasp.
Leea pulls a box from under the teacher's desk and opens it. I peer over her shoulder to see what's inside and snort in amusement.
"Pinecones, Leea? Why?" I ask and she just smiles.
"I'm bored," she simply says and tosses one in the air. Flame jumps up and catches it in its mouth. It's ears spark when it crunches. I laugh and toss one as well. Flame catches that as well, producing more sparks. We continue to throw cones at it for a while, until I get bored of that. Leea doesn't though, and she begins to throw them further and further.
"I wish I had my knittings here," I say as Flame catches a particularly high thrown cone.
"You have, just dream them," Leea says and chucks another one. "You can dream whatever you want to."
I blink. She's right. I imagine my knitting basket in the corner of the room. It's there when I look over.
"It's a shame I can't bring these back though," I say as I pick out a bright green yarn and some needles. "But I guess I can practice some different kinds of patterns."
"Hmm," says Leea, and then, "D'you recon your mom thinks we're dating?"
I drop the yarn. "What? Why?" I ask. Leea shrugs.
"Well, I've spent more time at your place in the last two weeks than the previous two years I've known you," she says, and frowns. "And your brother seems to think so, if his excessive hinting is anything to go by."
"That's just basic Tony," I mutter. "He's like that with anyone I bring over. I think he's projecting his lack of romantic partners into me." Leea giggles lightly at that. I smile as well and pick up the yarn again.
Truth be told, I've never thought of Leea like that. Sure, she's pretty, and smart, and funny, and has an amazing voice, but she is a bit too... scary for me. A brilliant friend, but not girlfriend. Not for me, anyway.
The door opens and Cecil walks in, Rachel on his heel. Flame lets out an excited noise and jumps on him again, and he laughs. Rachel just rolls her eyes and goes to sit next to Leea, who scoots over on the table she's sitting on.
"You had something to ask me?" Cecil asks, taking a seat as well. He looks curiously at my knitting.
"Yeah, we wanted to ask about that song we were singing in the dream," Leea says. "See, we're making this show for our choir's Christmas performance and we're trying to write a whole new Christmas carol. And we thought that song would be really good to work with."
"Yes, let's see," Cecil says and pushes up his glasses. "It went something like this, yes?" He starts humming the tune. Flame seems delighted about it, and purrs softly.
"Yep, that's it," I say.
"That is actually one of the only ever recorded songs of the White elementals," Cecil says. "I transliterated it to the best of my ability into common music notes once. I could... send the sheet to you as an e-mail if you want?"
"That would be great!" I say and Cecil smiles widely.
"By the way, how's it going with Wasp?" Leea asks.
"Eh," Rahel shrugs. "I mean, he still hasn't sodded off, but I think he's starting to believe the elementals really aren't here. I'd give it a few more days until he gets sick of the lack of booze at Cecil's and the lack of fucks I give about his existence. Seriously, he's tried to hit on me and got turned down so many times I'm starting to wonder if he has Alzheimer's."
"Where is he now?" Leea asks.
"Don't worry about it," Cecil says. "He was out cold before we came under."
"I may have spiked his drink," Rachel says with a grin. Cecil gives her a disappointed look. "What? It's just a little sleeping draught, he's not gonna die of it."
"That means you have time here... right?" I ask.
"Well, yes," Cecil says, looking at me. "Why?"
"I was just thinking, maybe you'd want to teach me things about the elementals?"
Cecil's whole face lights up like a Christmas tree.
"Absolutely."
________________________________________________________________
I'm sorry, I suck at being on schedule. But here it is~ enjoy! Your topic isssssss............ Ball Gown.
Pie out
Leea is playing with her braid and I'm knitting absently. I keep staring at the letter on the table. I just hope they understand what it means.
There's a tingle of a bell and we both look up abruptly. Rachel exits the shop, saying something to someone inside. The door jingles again as it closes and her eyes fall on us when she turns around. She looks surprised at first, but it melts into happiness. She grins. I picks up my to-go cup and Leea picks up the letter, in a way I hope is obvious. She glances down at her hand and then back up again. She keeps walking like nothing happened, and we start walking towards her, to the other side of the mall and the exit. We pass Rachel and in one slightly lingering movement the letter exchanges hands. None of us slow down or acknowledge each other in any way.
I glance at the glass door of the shop, my eyes lingering momentarily on the red logo of the tattoo parlour and the opening hours, before looking through it. Cecil is standing in behind the counter again. His eyes widen slightly as we pass the door, and then he looks to his right, where I notice a large man standing, with his back to the door. That must be Wasp. I nudge at Leea and we quicken our pace just slightly. I pull out my phone and call mom to pick us up.
We get Tony instead.
~x~
We're sitting in the choir room again. It seems like the most logical place to be. It's been a while since we fell asleep, but Leea said that in dreams time goes faster, so it's not too late yet. And it was only 10:45 when we went to bed, and it could take some time for them to get away from Wasp.
Leea pulls a box from under the teacher's desk and opens it. I peer over her shoulder to see what's inside and snort in amusement.
"Pinecones, Leea? Why?" I ask and she just smiles.
"I'm bored," she simply says and tosses one in the air. Flame jumps up and catches it in its mouth. It's ears spark when it crunches. I laugh and toss one as well. Flame catches that as well, producing more sparks. We continue to throw cones at it for a while, until I get bored of that. Leea doesn't though, and she begins to throw them further and further.
"I wish I had my knittings here," I say as Flame catches a particularly high thrown cone.
"You have, just dream them," Leea says and chucks another one. "You can dream whatever you want to."
I blink. She's right. I imagine my knitting basket in the corner of the room. It's there when I look over.
"It's a shame I can't bring these back though," I say as I pick out a bright green yarn and some needles. "But I guess I can practice some different kinds of patterns."
"Hmm," says Leea, and then, "D'you recon your mom thinks we're dating?"
I drop the yarn. "What? Why?" I ask. Leea shrugs.
"Well, I've spent more time at your place in the last two weeks than the previous two years I've known you," she says, and frowns. "And your brother seems to think so, if his excessive hinting is anything to go by."
"That's just basic Tony," I mutter. "He's like that with anyone I bring over. I think he's projecting his lack of romantic partners into me." Leea giggles lightly at that. I smile as well and pick up the yarn again.
Truth be told, I've never thought of Leea like that. Sure, she's pretty, and smart, and funny, and has an amazing voice, but she is a bit too... scary for me. A brilliant friend, but not girlfriend. Not for me, anyway.
The door opens and Cecil walks in, Rachel on his heel. Flame lets out an excited noise and jumps on him again, and he laughs. Rachel just rolls her eyes and goes to sit next to Leea, who scoots over on the table she's sitting on.
"You had something to ask me?" Cecil asks, taking a seat as well. He looks curiously at my knitting.
"Yeah, we wanted to ask about that song we were singing in the dream," Leea says. "See, we're making this show for our choir's Christmas performance and we're trying to write a whole new Christmas carol. And we thought that song would be really good to work with."
"Yes, let's see," Cecil says and pushes up his glasses. "It went something like this, yes?" He starts humming the tune. Flame seems delighted about it, and purrs softly.
"Yep, that's it," I say.
"That is actually one of the only ever recorded songs of the White elementals," Cecil says. "I transliterated it to the best of my ability into common music notes once. I could... send the sheet to you as an e-mail if you want?"
"That would be great!" I say and Cecil smiles widely.
"By the way, how's it going with Wasp?" Leea asks.
"Eh," Rahel shrugs. "I mean, he still hasn't sodded off, but I think he's starting to believe the elementals really aren't here. I'd give it a few more days until he gets sick of the lack of booze at Cecil's and the lack of fucks I give about his existence. Seriously, he's tried to hit on me and got turned down so many times I'm starting to wonder if he has Alzheimer's."
"Where is he now?" Leea asks.
"Don't worry about it," Cecil says. "He was out cold before we came under."
"I may have spiked his drink," Rachel says with a grin. Cecil gives her a disappointed look. "What? It's just a little sleeping draught, he's not gonna die of it."
"That means you have time here... right?" I ask.
"Well, yes," Cecil says, looking at me. "Why?"
"I was just thinking, maybe you'd want to teach me things about the elementals?"
Cecil's whole face lights up like a Christmas tree.
"Absolutely."
________________________________________________________________
I'm sorry, I suck at being on schedule. But here it is~ enjoy! Your topic isssssss............ Ball Gown.
Pie out
Friday, December 12, 2014
Carol, Part 12 - Cookies
Ok, before I start, I want to say a couple of things about your comment about my last bit being crap.
True, not my best work. BUT.
1. I was trying to give an explanation to the things that have been happening. I also had just finished watching the first season of Heroes. If you've seen it, you can't really blame my brain for coming up with an explanation like that.
2. Like I said in the very beginning, I don't really know what to do with a world like this. Because it's technically the real world, it has to make a certain sense that pure fantasy worlds just don't. I mean, obviously fantasy worlds have to make sense too in the sense that they have to be consistent, but you get to decide what it is that makes sense in a world like that. In a world like this, you don't. At least not completely.
Anyway, here we go.
_______________________________________________________________
It's been a week and a half since we met with Cecil and Rachel in the dream. We haven't heard of them again. Since they told us to just keep going as normal, that's what we've been doing. Well, more or less. We've had to keep princess Flame around, safe and a secret with Leea, of course. We haven't told even Nick or My or any of our family.
"Seriously, we do need to start coming up with something soon," My says while pulling fresh cookies out of the oven. She decided she wanted to bake today, so we all met at her place to discuss the choir Christmas show.
"We know," Leea says and munches on a cookie from the previous set, "It's just... None of us has come up with anything really good. And we agreed the point of doing a whole new Christmas carol was to create something amazing."
"Yes. Well, it's getting too late for amazing," Nick says and pokes the cookies My just took out of the oven. They're obviously hot, so he hisses and pulls his hand away. My stops and looks at him with a slightly confused look on her face.
"What?" Nick asks.
"I had a tune stuck in my head last night," My says, "I have no idea where I had caught it, but it kept playing for hours. I thought it was really great. How did it go...?"
She starts to hum, first trying to find the right tune, and then starting to get a hold of it. Her humming gets louder.
We listen to it for a moment. It is a pretty great tune fora Christmas carol. It's not a simple one, like the tunes for most carols, and it's got little moments of weirdness. The kind of tune that keeps surprising you.
Suddenly I realise I've heard it before. I glimpse at Leea. I can see she recognises it too. She turns to look at me, first looking surprised, but then masterfully concealing the feeling.
"You're right," Nick says, "It is a pretty great tune."
He has seen the same dream, we know he has. Cecil said he showed the dream to everyone in the area who's in a choir before Wasp came and shot him. Nick doesn't seem to remember it, though. Maybe having found an elemental the following morning and the guy who got shot in the dream in the evening that makes you remember things like tunes in dreams.
And I know I'm not imagining. I'm not imagining, because Leea recognises it too.
"Yeah," Leea says, "It is pretty great."
I mutter in agreement.
"Anyway, I have to go pee now," she continues. She shoots me a quick glance.
"And I should wash my hands, they're all greasy with the cookie dough," I look at the kitchen sink for a second, as if thinking. Right now it's filled with dirty dishes. "Which I can't fit to do here."
We walk out of the room with Leea and head for the bathroom.
"The song we were singing!" Leea whispers excitedly once we're out of the room
"I know," I say a little louder now that we're further away.
"We should use that tune, it's a great tune," for a moment there I think Leea will burst with excitement.
"I know, " I say again, "I don't know why we didn't see it before."
"The elemental!" Leea practically shrieks, "The white fire elementals came out and sang the most incredible songs to people. Flame can help us!"
I just smile. I don't know how we didn't come to think of it before.
"And Cecil..." Leea is tugging at my sleeve now, "He was the choirmaster in the dream. It was his dream, he planned it and planted it. He must know the rest of the tune, at least I only heard the end of it."
I turn on the water, hoping the sound of it will muffle our voices enough that Nick and My won't hear something is different.
"We'll go see him tomorrow!" Leea's eyes are wide and bright when she looks at me.
"I'm not sure it's a good idea, with the Wasp looking over his shoulder or what ever," I hate to be a killjoy, I'm almost as excited as she is, but someone has to say it. Her face goes dark for a second and then lights back up.
"We'll send him a message to meet us in a dream again!" she says.
"Okay," I smile at her and turn off the water. For a moment we just stand there staring at each other.
"Now you need to go. I really do need to pee."
"Oh, right, sorry," I return to the kitchen, where I end up having to prevent a cookie war between My and Nick. After all, cookies are for eating.
__________________________________________________________
Ookay.
You're topic for tomorrow is Cones.
I'll see you in a few hours.
~matu
True, not my best work. BUT.
1. I was trying to give an explanation to the things that have been happening. I also had just finished watching the first season of Heroes. If you've seen it, you can't really blame my brain for coming up with an explanation like that.
2. Like I said in the very beginning, I don't really know what to do with a world like this. Because it's technically the real world, it has to make a certain sense that pure fantasy worlds just don't. I mean, obviously fantasy worlds have to make sense too in the sense that they have to be consistent, but you get to decide what it is that makes sense in a world like that. In a world like this, you don't. At least not completely.
Anyway, here we go.
_______________________________________________________________
It's been a week and a half since we met with Cecil and Rachel in the dream. We haven't heard of them again. Since they told us to just keep going as normal, that's what we've been doing. Well, more or less. We've had to keep princess Flame around, safe and a secret with Leea, of course. We haven't told even Nick or My or any of our family.
"Seriously, we do need to start coming up with something soon," My says while pulling fresh cookies out of the oven. She decided she wanted to bake today, so we all met at her place to discuss the choir Christmas show.
"We know," Leea says and munches on a cookie from the previous set, "It's just... None of us has come up with anything really good. And we agreed the point of doing a whole new Christmas carol was to create something amazing."
"Yes. Well, it's getting too late for amazing," Nick says and pokes the cookies My just took out of the oven. They're obviously hot, so he hisses and pulls his hand away. My stops and looks at him with a slightly confused look on her face.
"What?" Nick asks.
"I had a tune stuck in my head last night," My says, "I have no idea where I had caught it, but it kept playing for hours. I thought it was really great. How did it go...?"
She starts to hum, first trying to find the right tune, and then starting to get a hold of it. Her humming gets louder.
We listen to it for a moment. It is a pretty great tune fora Christmas carol. It's not a simple one, like the tunes for most carols, and it's got little moments of weirdness. The kind of tune that keeps surprising you.
Suddenly I realise I've heard it before. I glimpse at Leea. I can see she recognises it too. She turns to look at me, first looking surprised, but then masterfully concealing the feeling.
"You're right," Nick says, "It is a pretty great tune."
He has seen the same dream, we know he has. Cecil said he showed the dream to everyone in the area who's in a choir before Wasp came and shot him. Nick doesn't seem to remember it, though. Maybe having found an elemental the following morning and the guy who got shot in the dream in the evening that makes you remember things like tunes in dreams.
And I know I'm not imagining. I'm not imagining, because Leea recognises it too.
"Yeah," Leea says, "It is pretty great."
I mutter in agreement.
"Anyway, I have to go pee now," she continues. She shoots me a quick glance.
"And I should wash my hands, they're all greasy with the cookie dough," I look at the kitchen sink for a second, as if thinking. Right now it's filled with dirty dishes. "Which I can't fit to do here."
We walk out of the room with Leea and head for the bathroom.
"The song we were singing!" Leea whispers excitedly once we're out of the room
"I know," I say a little louder now that we're further away.
"We should use that tune, it's a great tune," for a moment there I think Leea will burst with excitement.
"I know, " I say again, "I don't know why we didn't see it before."
"The elemental!" Leea practically shrieks, "The white fire elementals came out and sang the most incredible songs to people. Flame can help us!"
I just smile. I don't know how we didn't come to think of it before.
"And Cecil..." Leea is tugging at my sleeve now, "He was the choirmaster in the dream. It was his dream, he planned it and planted it. He must know the rest of the tune, at least I only heard the end of it."
I turn on the water, hoping the sound of it will muffle our voices enough that Nick and My won't hear something is different.
"We'll go see him tomorrow!" Leea's eyes are wide and bright when she looks at me.
"I'm not sure it's a good idea, with the Wasp looking over his shoulder or what ever," I hate to be a killjoy, I'm almost as excited as she is, but someone has to say it. Her face goes dark for a second and then lights back up.
"We'll send him a message to meet us in a dream again!" she says.
"Okay," I smile at her and turn off the water. For a moment we just stand there staring at each other.
"Now you need to go. I really do need to pee."
"Oh, right, sorry," I return to the kitchen, where I end up having to prevent a cookie war between My and Nick. After all, cookies are for eating.
__________________________________________________________
Ookay.
You're topic for tomorrow is Cones.
I'll see you in a few hours.
~matu
Carol, Part 11 - Darkness
We don't stop running, until we finally collapse on a bus stop almost an kilometer off mall. The both of us are breathing hard, our breath coming out in puffs of white in the cold air. Flame is getting increasingly anxious.
"We can't stay here," Leea pants. Then she glances around and whispers, "What if they followed us?" I look around as well.
"I don't think so..." I say. "But let's go to my place, we're like halfway there already."
We walk swiftly the rest of the way home.
~x~
We barricade ourselves in my room and I open my bag to let Flame out. It lets out a soft cry and jumps out, stretching its legs. I notice something at the bottom of the bag.
"What the-?" Leea looks at me as I pick it up. An envelope. I turn it around in my hand. It's sealed with a butterfly.
"What is that?" Leea asks, leaning over. "A letter?"
"I think it's from that Cecil," I say quietly and get up. I pick up my letter opener and carefully slice the envelope open. There is indeed a letter inside and on the letter is one word.
""Darkness"?" Leea reads over mt shoulder. I lift the paper up against the light, but there is no hidden text on it.
"Maybe should try the opposite," Leea suggest. I frown. "Y'know, it says "darkness", so maybe it's something you can only read when it's dark."
"Oh. That might work," I say and pass the letter to Leea to go turn off all the lights. Flame glows softly on the bed, where it's curled into a ball.
"Nothing," says Leea, sounding disappointed.
"Wait, I'll cover Flame. Maybe it needs total darkness." I go over to the bed and place a blanket on Flame, who apparently doesn't like the idea and instead jumps off the bed. "Damnit, stay still!"
Flame jumps around the room as I chase it, trying to cover its light.
"Wait!" Leea shouts suddenly. We both stop. "Look!" She turns the paper so Flame's light shines through it. Flame sits down and scratches its ear while I go around to Leea's side. My eyes widen.
There's writing on the paper, glowing lightly.
""The elemental is in danger. We need to talk. Dreamshare, tonight."" Leea reads and then points at a few lines in the bottom of the page. "That's a dream spell, I think. To create a common dreamspace."
"Are you sure?" I ask. I'm not sure what to think of all this.
"I took Spells 101, I can do basic magic," Leea says and looks at the lines closer. "We say the words before we go to bed and when we fall asleep we'll be in the same dream."
"You mean like Cecil was in my dream?" I ask.
"No, not like that. That must've been a projected dream. He made you see that dream and he was in control of it. But this time we're all controlling it. Sorry, it's kinda hard to explain," Leea says, smiling at me sheepishly.
"So do we do this? I mean, do we go meet him?"
"Well, it's a dream so he can't actually hurt us even if he wanted. And I think he really wants to tell us something."
"I guess so," I say. There's a knock on the door. I sweat and throw a blanket on Flame just as mom opens the door.
"Oh my, it's dark," she says. "Dinner time, honey."
"Mom, can Leea stay the night?" I ask before she leaves.
"Oh, sure. Does she have her school things with her?"
"My books are in my locker," Leea says.
"Well okay then. Now come eat," mom says and leaves. Flame lets out a displeased sound and crawls from under the blanket, lighting up the room again. I sigh.
Two hours of idle chit chat with my family and another two of finally finishing my math homework later Leea and me are sitting on my bed. I've made her a bed on a spare mattress on the floor and Flame is currently bouncing up and down on it. We've brushed our teeth and changed into our pajamas. Well, I've changed to my pajama; Leea is wearing one of my star trek tees. She had a toothbrush with her, but not even Leea carries a pajama everywhere.
"I can't believe it's been just one day," I say. Leea pats my back.
"Well, time to get started," she says and gets down on her bed. I, too, get under the cover and lean over the edge of the bed. Flame is curled on Leea's chest like a cat and she lifts up the paper she wrote the spell on. We read it out loud.
We wait. And wait.
"Should something happen?" I ask. Leea bites her lip.
"Usually there's a sleep spell in the dreamshare spell, but I guess this one doesn't?`We'll just have to fall asleep the normal way."
"Okay then," I say and flick off the lamp on my night stand.
~x~
We're walking down the hallway. Leea looks determined next to me and Flame is sitting on her shoulder, eating a stick. I don't know why I'm surprised it was able to follow us here. When we get to the door she yanks it open and we march inside. We're in the choir room.
"Why didn't you tell me you'd find them?" someone says. Cecil.
"Well I couldn't have told you when that bloody git Wasp was hanging around you all day, could I? That guy is thick as fuck, but he's dangerous and there's no way in hell I'm gonna say anything when he's around!" is the reply. Rachel.
"I know he's dangerous, why do you think I made him go on that wild goose chace to the woods?!" Cecil is shouting now, but Rachel ignores him.
"And now you've probably scared off the only people who might be able to help us! What the hell was that about breaking into people's dreams, do you even realize how creepy that sounds? You were an utter moron back there, spewing all that shit, I swear to God it's like you-!"
There's a high voice that sounds like bells and magic. Flame.
They finally notice us. Cecil's eyes widen and his mouth falls open.
"I-is that-?" his voice is barely over a whisper now. He reaches out his hand. Flame jumps on his face.
There is a short period of chaos as everyone tries to get Flame off Cecil's face and Cecil tries to decide whether he wants Flame off or closer. Finally we get Flame off his face, but it refuses to let go completely, instead clinging to Cecil's shirt. He looks like he couldn't be happier.
"So what's the big deal? Why couldn't you talk to us back at the mall?" Leea asks. She and Rachel are sitting on the edge of the stage while Cecil and I stand in front of it.
"We couldn't talk because Wasp was there," Rachel says. "He's another member of the organization and he is not nice. He's strong and persuasive and very trigger-happy. He wants to capture the elemantals and sell them, he doesn't care about the knowledge."
"I told you the truth about that, by the way," Cecil says, eyes fixed on the elemental in his arms. "We do really just want to learn to understand them. We do not want them any harm." Flame lets out a purring kind of noise and Cecil's smile just grows. He seems like a completely different person than before. In the shop he seemed stressed and suspicious and almost anxious. Now he's relaxed and excited. Flame really seems to like him, too.
"How did you know we had the elemental?" I ask, not taking my eyes off Cecil.
"I'm not blind, I saw the bag shifting on your lap in the shop. It wasn't subtle," Cecil says and Rachel snorts.
"Oh," I say. Flame makes a happy noise. "But I did mean before that. How did Rachel know to give us your stone. And how were you in my dream?"
"Mostly luck, to be honest," Rachel says. "I was checking in on all the chorister's houses and I could feel the elemental's energy from yours."
"Wait, what has this got to do with the choir?" Leea asks with a frown.
"The elementals search out others like them. They were often found following choristers and singing carols with them," Cecil says. "We had reasons to believe that there would be elementals in this town this year, so, last night I projected a dream to all the people in the town choir in the hopes that I could tell them who I was and what to do if they came across an elemental." He pauses for a second and looks down. He seems... sad? Uncomfortable? "That didn't work when Wasp caught me and shot me in the dream. I did manage to make a lasting impression on you though, so that's good." He looks up at me then and smiles. I can't help but give him a small, crooked smile of my own. Then I realize something.
"You... You said all the people in the choir?" I ask and he nods. I turn to look at Leea. She look surprised. "Did you have a dream about him too?" I know it's stupid, but I feel kinda disappointed now that I know I wasn't the only one who saw the dream. I had kinda hoped I'd be special or something.
Leea contemplates it for a while.
"I did have a dream about choir practice last night that ended with the choirmaster getting shot," she says finally. "Although I'm not sure it was you. I was more interested in the words on the music sheet, because I had no idea what language they were."
"Oh?" Cecil says and for the first time turns away from Flame. "Do you think you can remember the words? Because they might come in handy later."
"Why, what were they?" I ask. Cecil grins.
"I haven't the foggiest."
Rachel facepalms. Cecil turns back to Flame with a smile. Leea and I exchange looks of desperation, wondering what we're really getting into. I take back any suspicions I had of Cecil, the guy is a loser. But, like, in a good way.
"I have a question," Leea says. "If elementals come out during winter that means Flame wasn't hibernating in that tree, right? So what was she doing up there?"
"She was probably following you around. She could tell you are a great singer," Rachel says and gives Leea a grin and a wink. I would say she looks away and smiles bashfully, but the Leea I know doesn't do bashful. But I suppose not all sides of her are for me to see.
"So what now?" I ask after a moment of silence.
"Now," Rachel says, "we know there are elementals here. And if we want to have a chance to study them without Wasp scaring them all away in an idiotic hunting attempt, we need to convince him there aren't. And then he will piss off."
"But what you need to do," Cecil says, "is continue with your lives as normal, and keep this precious little elemental safe and secret. But whatever happens, Wasp cannot know there are elementals here. That guy is a walking Murphy's Law; if there's a possibility for him to fuck something up, he will. By accident or not." He takes in a deep breath. "It's possible he comes to talk to you. Tell him what you told me, that you saw one run across the lake but didn't see it up close or engage with it. If we stick to the story he should believe you. Hopefully."
Flame makes another happy sound and hops to sit on Cecil's head. Then it jumps to Leea's lap. Cecil looks only a little sad.
"We should wake up now," Rachel says and hops off the stage. "Wasp could be back soon."
"Keep her safe," Cecil says once more and then the dream fades to darkness.
________________________________________________________________
Yaaaaas. FINISHED. Damn that's long.
Your topic is........ Cookies. I'm going to bed, bye.
Pie out.
"We can't stay here," Leea pants. Then she glances around and whispers, "What if they followed us?" I look around as well.
"I don't think so..." I say. "But let's go to my place, we're like halfway there already."
We walk swiftly the rest of the way home.
~x~
We barricade ourselves in my room and I open my bag to let Flame out. It lets out a soft cry and jumps out, stretching its legs. I notice something at the bottom of the bag.
"What the-?" Leea looks at me as I pick it up. An envelope. I turn it around in my hand. It's sealed with a butterfly.
"What is that?" Leea asks, leaning over. "A letter?"
"I think it's from that Cecil," I say quietly and get up. I pick up my letter opener and carefully slice the envelope open. There is indeed a letter inside and on the letter is one word.
""Darkness"?" Leea reads over mt shoulder. I lift the paper up against the light, but there is no hidden text on it.
"Maybe should try the opposite," Leea suggest. I frown. "Y'know, it says "darkness", so maybe it's something you can only read when it's dark."
"Oh. That might work," I say and pass the letter to Leea to go turn off all the lights. Flame glows softly on the bed, where it's curled into a ball.
"Nothing," says Leea, sounding disappointed.
"Wait, I'll cover Flame. Maybe it needs total darkness." I go over to the bed and place a blanket on Flame, who apparently doesn't like the idea and instead jumps off the bed. "Damnit, stay still!"
Flame jumps around the room as I chase it, trying to cover its light.
"Wait!" Leea shouts suddenly. We both stop. "Look!" She turns the paper so Flame's light shines through it. Flame sits down and scratches its ear while I go around to Leea's side. My eyes widen.
There's writing on the paper, glowing lightly.
""The elemental is in danger. We need to talk. Dreamshare, tonight."" Leea reads and then points at a few lines in the bottom of the page. "That's a dream spell, I think. To create a common dreamspace."
"Are you sure?" I ask. I'm not sure what to think of all this.
"I took Spells 101, I can do basic magic," Leea says and looks at the lines closer. "We say the words before we go to bed and when we fall asleep we'll be in the same dream."
"You mean like Cecil was in my dream?" I ask.
"No, not like that. That must've been a projected dream. He made you see that dream and he was in control of it. But this time we're all controlling it. Sorry, it's kinda hard to explain," Leea says, smiling at me sheepishly.
"So do we do this? I mean, do we go meet him?"
"Well, it's a dream so he can't actually hurt us even if he wanted. And I think he really wants to tell us something."
"I guess so," I say. There's a knock on the door. I sweat and throw a blanket on Flame just as mom opens the door.
"Oh my, it's dark," she says. "Dinner time, honey."
"Mom, can Leea stay the night?" I ask before she leaves.
"Oh, sure. Does she have her school things with her?"
"My books are in my locker," Leea says.
"Well okay then. Now come eat," mom says and leaves. Flame lets out a displeased sound and crawls from under the blanket, lighting up the room again. I sigh.
Two hours of idle chit chat with my family and another two of finally finishing my math homework later Leea and me are sitting on my bed. I've made her a bed on a spare mattress on the floor and Flame is currently bouncing up and down on it. We've brushed our teeth and changed into our pajamas. Well, I've changed to my pajama; Leea is wearing one of my star trek tees. She had a toothbrush with her, but not even Leea carries a pajama everywhere.
"I can't believe it's been just one day," I say. Leea pats my back.
"Well, time to get started," she says and gets down on her bed. I, too, get under the cover and lean over the edge of the bed. Flame is curled on Leea's chest like a cat and she lifts up the paper she wrote the spell on. We read it out loud.
We wait. And wait.
"Should something happen?" I ask. Leea bites her lip.
"Usually there's a sleep spell in the dreamshare spell, but I guess this one doesn't?`We'll just have to fall asleep the normal way."
"Okay then," I say and flick off the lamp on my night stand.
~x~
We're walking down the hallway. Leea looks determined next to me and Flame is sitting on her shoulder, eating a stick. I don't know why I'm surprised it was able to follow us here. When we get to the door she yanks it open and we march inside. We're in the choir room.
"Why didn't you tell me you'd find them?" someone says. Cecil.
"Well I couldn't have told you when that bloody git Wasp was hanging around you all day, could I? That guy is thick as fuck, but he's dangerous and there's no way in hell I'm gonna say anything when he's around!" is the reply. Rachel.
"I know he's dangerous, why do you think I made him go on that wild goose chace to the woods?!" Cecil is shouting now, but Rachel ignores him.
"And now you've probably scared off the only people who might be able to help us! What the hell was that about breaking into people's dreams, do you even realize how creepy that sounds? You were an utter moron back there, spewing all that shit, I swear to God it's like you-!"
There's a high voice that sounds like bells and magic. Flame.
They finally notice us. Cecil's eyes widen and his mouth falls open.
"I-is that-?" his voice is barely over a whisper now. He reaches out his hand. Flame jumps on his face.
There is a short period of chaos as everyone tries to get Flame off Cecil's face and Cecil tries to decide whether he wants Flame off or closer. Finally we get Flame off his face, but it refuses to let go completely, instead clinging to Cecil's shirt. He looks like he couldn't be happier.
"So what's the big deal? Why couldn't you talk to us back at the mall?" Leea asks. She and Rachel are sitting on the edge of the stage while Cecil and I stand in front of it.
"We couldn't talk because Wasp was there," Rachel says. "He's another member of the organization and he is not nice. He's strong and persuasive and very trigger-happy. He wants to capture the elemantals and sell them, he doesn't care about the knowledge."
"I told you the truth about that, by the way," Cecil says, eyes fixed on the elemental in his arms. "We do really just want to learn to understand them. We do not want them any harm." Flame lets out a purring kind of noise and Cecil's smile just grows. He seems like a completely different person than before. In the shop he seemed stressed and suspicious and almost anxious. Now he's relaxed and excited. Flame really seems to like him, too.
"How did you know we had the elemental?" I ask, not taking my eyes off Cecil.
"I'm not blind, I saw the bag shifting on your lap in the shop. It wasn't subtle," Cecil says and Rachel snorts.
"Oh," I say. Flame makes a happy noise. "But I did mean before that. How did Rachel know to give us your stone. And how were you in my dream?"
"Mostly luck, to be honest," Rachel says. "I was checking in on all the chorister's houses and I could feel the elemental's energy from yours."
"Wait, what has this got to do with the choir?" Leea asks with a frown.
"The elementals search out others like them. They were often found following choristers and singing carols with them," Cecil says. "We had reasons to believe that there would be elementals in this town this year, so, last night I projected a dream to all the people in the town choir in the hopes that I could tell them who I was and what to do if they came across an elemental." He pauses for a second and looks down. He seems... sad? Uncomfortable? "That didn't work when Wasp caught me and shot me in the dream. I did manage to make a lasting impression on you though, so that's good." He looks up at me then and smiles. I can't help but give him a small, crooked smile of my own. Then I realize something.
"You... You said all the people in the choir?" I ask and he nods. I turn to look at Leea. She look surprised. "Did you have a dream about him too?" I know it's stupid, but I feel kinda disappointed now that I know I wasn't the only one who saw the dream. I had kinda hoped I'd be special or something.
Leea contemplates it for a while.
"I did have a dream about choir practice last night that ended with the choirmaster getting shot," she says finally. "Although I'm not sure it was you. I was more interested in the words on the music sheet, because I had no idea what language they were."
"Oh?" Cecil says and for the first time turns away from Flame. "Do you think you can remember the words? Because they might come in handy later."
"Why, what were they?" I ask. Cecil grins.
"I haven't the foggiest."
Rachel facepalms. Cecil turns back to Flame with a smile. Leea and I exchange looks of desperation, wondering what we're really getting into. I take back any suspicions I had of Cecil, the guy is a loser. But, like, in a good way.
"I have a question," Leea says. "If elementals come out during winter that means Flame wasn't hibernating in that tree, right? So what was she doing up there?"
"She was probably following you around. She could tell you are a great singer," Rachel says and gives Leea a grin and a wink. I would say she looks away and smiles bashfully, but the Leea I know doesn't do bashful. But I suppose not all sides of her are for me to see.
"So what now?" I ask after a moment of silence.
"Now," Rachel says, "we know there are elementals here. And if we want to have a chance to study them without Wasp scaring them all away in an idiotic hunting attempt, we need to convince him there aren't. And then he will piss off."
"But what you need to do," Cecil says, "is continue with your lives as normal, and keep this precious little elemental safe and secret. But whatever happens, Wasp cannot know there are elementals here. That guy is a walking Murphy's Law; if there's a possibility for him to fuck something up, he will. By accident or not." He takes in a deep breath. "It's possible he comes to talk to you. Tell him what you told me, that you saw one run across the lake but didn't see it up close or engage with it. If we stick to the story he should believe you. Hopefully."
Flame makes another happy sound and hops to sit on Cecil's head. Then it jumps to Leea's lap. Cecil looks only a little sad.
"We should wake up now," Rachel says and hops off the stage. "Wasp could be back soon."
"Keep her safe," Cecil says once more and then the dream fades to darkness.
________________________________________________________________
Yaaaaas. FINISHED. Damn that's long.
Your topic is........ Cookies. I'm going to bed, bye.
Pie out.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Carol, Part 10 - Butterfly
Cecil leads us to the backroom of the tattoo place and sits on a couch. He signs us to do the same. We sit on another couch, facing him. Rachel disappears into another room. I get a glimpse of her arm while she goes. There's a black-and-white tattoo of a beetle on the inner side of the arm, along with the symbol on the rock and the cup.
"What is this?" Leea eyes Cecil suspiciously.
"What do you know about fire elementals?" Cecil asks. I stiffen. Something about the question makes me uncomfortable. I can feel Flame squirming in my bag next to me on my couch. I tighten my hold of the bag just a little, so that the movement won't show out.
"Pretty much what every one else does too," Leea says, still seeming a little suspicious. Knowing her she's probably more so now, but she's realised it might be better not to show it.
"Back in the day, a long time ago, there used to be these different kinds of fire elementals too," Cecil begins, as if this conversation made any sense, "Normal elementals aren't very special, just animals living in a forest. I'm actually a little surprised no one has ever tried to take them as pets. These other elementals, however, were different. They were only seen rarely, once a year. And even then not many of them."
He's quiet for a moment, like waiting us to say something. We just stare, trying to make sense of the situation.
"These other elementals were more than just animals. They had a language. They could sing the most beautiful songs. They were only be seen around Christmas, in groups, singing carols of their own. When other elementals go and hide from the dark and cold, these elementals came out and brought their light and warmth to everyone around the longest night of the year."
"This might be a stupid question," Leea interrupted, "But why are we in the back of a tattoo parlour listening to stories about mythical creatures?"
"They're not mythical. They are known to have existed. The last ones were seen some hundred years ago," Cecil answered, "I work not only as a tattoo artist, but also for an organisation that is looking for these elementals. We believe there are still some out there, and we intend to find them."
"That's what the symbol is?" I ask.
"Yes." He pulls up his sleeve and reveals the tattoos I thought I saw in the dream. The symbol in on his inner arm, along with a buttefly.
"And then what? What do you do with all the... super-elementals?" Leea asked, suspicion back in her voice.
"We want to know, what they are. How they're different from the ones we normally see. How their language works, how to understand it. How to make such beautiful carols for this time of year."
He was quiet for a moment again. I felt cold inside.
"What exactly has this got to do with us?" Leea asked, braking the silence.
"You said you saw me in a dream?" Cecil asks, turning to me.
"Uh..." I already said I did, there's no denying it any more, "Y-yes, I guess. It might be my mind is just adding your face into the dream," I lie right through my teeth and hope it doesn't show.
"No," Cecil says, "It must have been me. See, we have a system of breaking into people's dreams. The rare elementals, we call them white, because normally they're black under the flames, but these ones are white," I am trying to not give anything away, not look at the bag next to me, "They have powers. It is settles some time before seeing one someone will see one. We have a way to pull that information from the universe and appear in the dream of the person, who will meet one. We don't know about it ourselves, when we are in someone's dream, but it helps the people recognise us and come to us."
Because this wasn't creepy enough before...
"So... What's this got to do with us?" Leea asks again.
"I believe you have run into such an elemental," Cecil just looks at us. It's not even a question, it's just a statement of fact.
"Uh..." I pull myself together, even though Flame is getting increasingly restless next to me, "No, no I haven't seen one of those."
"But we did see an elemental back in the woods yesterday. It ran across a lake's ice," Leea comes in to save me, "It was on fire, though, so I don't know what color it was underneath. We did think it was weird, seeing one in the winter, but we didn't think much more of it."
Cecil eyes us suspiciously. Leea smiles at him.
"We don't know anything."
"Where in the woods?" Cecil finally asks.
"In the eastern part of the city somewhere, can't remember exactly," Leea says and looks at me, as if trying to remember.
"Yeah, somewhere around there. Not very far from the roads," I nod.
"Okay," I can tell Cecil doesn't believe us.
"Well, if there isn't anything more, I think we will leave now," Leea says and get up. I get up with her, and we start towards the door. On the other side I hear Cecil's voice coming from the backroom.
"Butterfly to Wasp, they're leaving..."
Outside the tattoo parlour we start into a run.
________________________________________________________________
"Start into a run"? Is that an actual phrase that means something?
Anyway...
Your topic for tomorrow is Darkness.
Because it is so dark all the time. Someone told me that on average the sun shone in Finland for seven hours in November.
7 of the 720 hours.
The sun is never up this time of year, and like last winter it seems this winter we don't see it even the few hours a day. Because it's always raining.Damn you rain.
I wish I could say "It's dark all the time" and exaggerate.
~matu
"What is this?" Leea eyes Cecil suspiciously.
"What do you know about fire elementals?" Cecil asks. I stiffen. Something about the question makes me uncomfortable. I can feel Flame squirming in my bag next to me on my couch. I tighten my hold of the bag just a little, so that the movement won't show out.
"Pretty much what every one else does too," Leea says, still seeming a little suspicious. Knowing her she's probably more so now, but she's realised it might be better not to show it.
"Back in the day, a long time ago, there used to be these different kinds of fire elementals too," Cecil begins, as if this conversation made any sense, "Normal elementals aren't very special, just animals living in a forest. I'm actually a little surprised no one has ever tried to take them as pets. These other elementals, however, were different. They were only seen rarely, once a year. And even then not many of them."
He's quiet for a moment, like waiting us to say something. We just stare, trying to make sense of the situation.
"These other elementals were more than just animals. They had a language. They could sing the most beautiful songs. They were only be seen around Christmas, in groups, singing carols of their own. When other elementals go and hide from the dark and cold, these elementals came out and brought their light and warmth to everyone around the longest night of the year."
"This might be a stupid question," Leea interrupted, "But why are we in the back of a tattoo parlour listening to stories about mythical creatures?"
"They're not mythical. They are known to have existed. The last ones were seen some hundred years ago," Cecil answered, "I work not only as a tattoo artist, but also for an organisation that is looking for these elementals. We believe there are still some out there, and we intend to find them."
"That's what the symbol is?" I ask.
"Yes." He pulls up his sleeve and reveals the tattoos I thought I saw in the dream. The symbol in on his inner arm, along with a buttefly.
"And then what? What do you do with all the... super-elementals?" Leea asked, suspicion back in her voice.
"We want to know, what they are. How they're different from the ones we normally see. How their language works, how to understand it. How to make such beautiful carols for this time of year."
He was quiet for a moment again. I felt cold inside.
"What exactly has this got to do with us?" Leea asked, braking the silence.
"You said you saw me in a dream?" Cecil asks, turning to me.
"Uh..." I already said I did, there's no denying it any more, "Y-yes, I guess. It might be my mind is just adding your face into the dream," I lie right through my teeth and hope it doesn't show.
"No," Cecil says, "It must have been me. See, we have a system of breaking into people's dreams. The rare elementals, we call them white, because normally they're black under the flames, but these ones are white," I am trying to not give anything away, not look at the bag next to me, "They have powers. It is settles some time before seeing one someone will see one. We have a way to pull that information from the universe and appear in the dream of the person, who will meet one. We don't know about it ourselves, when we are in someone's dream, but it helps the people recognise us and come to us."
Because this wasn't creepy enough before...
"So... What's this got to do with us?" Leea asks again.
"I believe you have run into such an elemental," Cecil just looks at us. It's not even a question, it's just a statement of fact.
"Uh..." I pull myself together, even though Flame is getting increasingly restless next to me, "No, no I haven't seen one of those."
"But we did see an elemental back in the woods yesterday. It ran across a lake's ice," Leea comes in to save me, "It was on fire, though, so I don't know what color it was underneath. We did think it was weird, seeing one in the winter, but we didn't think much more of it."
Cecil eyes us suspiciously. Leea smiles at him.
"We don't know anything."
"Where in the woods?" Cecil finally asks.
"In the eastern part of the city somewhere, can't remember exactly," Leea says and looks at me, as if trying to remember.
"Yeah, somewhere around there. Not very far from the roads," I nod.
"Okay," I can tell Cecil doesn't believe us.
"Well, if there isn't anything more, I think we will leave now," Leea says and get up. I get up with her, and we start towards the door. On the other side I hear Cecil's voice coming from the backroom.
"Butterfly to Wasp, they're leaving..."
Outside the tattoo parlour we start into a run.
________________________________________________________________
"Start into a run"? Is that an actual phrase that means something?
Anyway...
Your topic for tomorrow is Darkness.
Because it is so dark all the time. Someone told me that on average the sun shone in Finland for seven hours in November.
7 of the 720 hours.
The sun is never up this time of year, and like last winter it seems this winter we don't see it even the few hours a day. Because it's always raining.Damn you rain.
I wish I could say "It's dark all the time" and exaggerate.
~matu
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