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II: The Jabberwocky
Or: In which Lion-O gives Marilyn a Gift
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Warmth. Safety. Deep rumbles. Gentle silver and blue light behind her. She was smiling as she felt the wind curl it's invisible fingers through her hair. The rumbling of a vehicle came from all around, along with the silhouette of a person sitting next to her. A warm feeling covered her body. The sound of the wind, a deep rumbling purr. Silver and blue. Silver and blue. Two colors overlapped on her vision and the smell of woodsmoke and pines laid heavy in the air. Silver and blue. Silver and blue.
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Marilyn's eyes slowly opened, her vision swimming back into focus as she blinked. Her body felt bone-tired and hardly rested at all. The pain she had numbed herself to came back full force and she whimpered faintly. Her right wrist still had the bracelet on it as far as she could feel, and it pulsed a gentle warmth up her arm. Sitting up with some effort Marilyn blinked the gritty sleep from her eyes to find herself alone in a strange room. It was lavish and stocked with pillows. In the back corner was a desk covered in metal shards and screws. A pair of goggles sat hung from a nail in the wall. It took a moment to remember vaguely where she was, a palace with strange-humanoid-cat-creatures, but once the memories came back she stiffened before curling over and burying her face in her hands.
A strange place with strange creatures… what will they do to me? They helped me when I went into a panic attack and a flashback but what about now? Will they kill me? Eat me? The questions circled over and over in her head and Marilyn began to tremble. She tried taking deep breathes and they seemed to do the trick. She threw the covers off and was startled to notice she was dressed in completely different clothes. She had on a light blue shirt with darker blue long-length pants that were loose and comfortable, if not a much bigger size. Standing and then holding still so she didn't fall over, Marilyn shakily put one foot in front of the other. She had a feeling the door wouldn't be the best option, but she needed to figure out where she was.
After a brief internal battle of self-preservation verses curiosity, she was proud to say that her self-preservation won out and she decided to stay in the room. She came across a note on the desk when she worked her way along the wall to it. Sadly it was written in a strange writing and Marilyn wasn't able to read it. She was about to put the note down when earrings sent a burst of heat up her lobes and made her cry out softly in pain, hastily clapping her hands over the source of the burning and slam her eyes shut on reflex. But just as quickly as it appeared the pain vanished.
Marilyn cracked her silver eyes open, pinpricks of tears having gathered at the corners as she blinked to clear them. Her head was suddenly hit with a slight ache and then images flooded it, symbols, shapes, meanings. Slowly, the note that was left for her became legeble as if it was written in english:
Marilyn,
I went to get some breakfast and will be back with food soon. You've had a long night so I let you sleep, though once you wake up you may want to do something to keep yourself busy. Therefore anything in the room is for you to entertain yourself with if you need. Though there are some rules you need to follow to keep not just you safe but everyone else in the palace calm and ignorant of you being here as well:
First, you cannot leave the room until you're healed or unless you're with me, covered, and I am able to sneak you in and out without causing a fuss.
Second, try not to make too much noise- I have an older brother and he tends to be nosey and invasive when he sees or hears something that he deems suspicious.
Third, there's a small tunnel for when I need to get away from the palace in the closet, located in the far back in the right-hand corner. Usually it's for if the fall of Thundera is imminent and the Royal Family must evacuate, so if anything happens and I'm not there you need to hide. If it's just a servant, climb in and wait until they finish their duties before coming out. In the case of a siege to Thundera- trust me you will know- and I'm unable to reach you, get inside and follow the tunnel. Though there are many turns and intersections, stay straight ahead and at the seventh crossroads take a right, left, another two rights, then straight ahead again. That will lead you to the outskirts of the city on the west side and I can meet up with you there along with others who make it out.(AN: I know this was non-existent in canon, but it would make sense if the princes were too young to fight and needed to make a fast getaway)
Marilyn, I can't even begin to understand what you went through before you fell into my room last night, but I know that I'll help you get through it however you want. You seem like an interesting person in general, not because of your past, though… I am holding out that we can become good friends.
Also to not startle you and have you mistake me for a servant, I won't knock on the door. I'll scratch.
Hoping to be friends,
Lion-O.
PS- Snarf apparently likes you- he rarely warms up to people even if they're hurt, so color me interested on that aspect too.
Marilyn blinked as she read the note with more and more ease as every line passed under her silver eyes. He's given me a way out, she realized. He wants to be my friend, and he wants to help me… Marilyn couldn't help but feel the slight flutter in her chest at the sincerity from last night and the meaning that was written into the note.
Maybe she had died and gone somewhere better after all? A slight pain in her legs when she shifted wrong made her dismiss the thought0- if she was dead, she wouldn't be in any pain
The glint of something metallic under the bed caught her eye and Marilyn slowly made her way over, still leaning on the wall due to her various sores and pains. Easing herself onto her knees to get a better look at the item, silver orbs went wide at the object as her fingers itched to get her hands on it and play with it. Her hand came forward and closed slim soft fingers around the long cylindrical object. Pulling it out, Marilyn swallowed before settling on the bed and began to play… after all, Lion-O did say that anything she needed to occupy herself with was free for her to use as she saw fit, and she hadn't used one of these in quite a while…
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The prince walked hurriedly through the hallways to his chambers with Snarf at his heels like usual. A platter piled high with food was in his arms while Snarf carried a jar of water. Sneaking the food out of the kitchen was a task, but he had managed it. Lion-O was anxious to get back to Marilyn; when he left the note for her on the desk she had been sleeping fitfully, but he had a feeling it wasn't a bad fitful… it was as if she had been having a dream, but the dream itself wasn't bad or good, if that made any sense. Arriving at his door without being seen (it went smoothly- a bit too smoothly, but Lion-O wouldn't look a Thunder Tank in the filled oil chamber), he unsheathed his claws slightly and scratched at the wood.
At least, he would have if he didn't hear a strange, if not familiar sound.
Sharp notes.
Humming in a low and high voice.
Trills.
A tap-tap-tap against the ground to make a beat.
And for the life of him, Lion-O couldn't imagine what was making those noises, pleasant as it was to his ears.
Then a voice started to sing, gently, sliding and jumping against the notes as they repeated themselves and painted a strange picture.
∙∙::::∙∙
Jabberwocky
~Sung by Erutan~
..::::..
Lalalalala, lalalalala,
Lalalalala, lalalalala~
Lalalalala, lalalala,
Lalalalala, lalala~
Marilyn used to have a flute when she was seven. Her Mama and Papa would sit her down with instruments of their own and play nonsensical poems-turned-songs with her, and this is one of them, a poem by Lewis Carroll based on his Alice through the Looking Glass work. Jabberwocky had always been her favorite. No matter where she was, or what had happened to her, when she felt sad she would play to the tune of Jabberwocky, recite lines from Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves,
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe~.
Lion-O cracked the door open and peeked inside before entering. Marilyn was facing away from the door and she was playing his old flute- gods he'd forgotten he even owned that! She played beautifully, using her device- the one that played music- to produce the sounds of drums and other flutes so she could sing the lyrics. Despite not understanding a word of what the song was about, the mood of the song painted an eerie forest with the next lines.
'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jub-Jub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'
Marilyn smiled softly as she spun under the light of the midmorning sun coming in through the window. Her blue-black hair fanning out as her aches and pains were forgotten in the wake of being lost in Wonderland.
Lalalalala, lalalalala,
Lalalalala, lalalalala~
Lalalalala, lalalala,
Lalalalala, lalala~
Lion-O couldn't help but tap his claw on his leg to the beat. Marilyn stepped gracefully and lightly around the room, her eyes closed or half-open yet not truly seeing where she was going. Even so, she never bumped into anything. It was as if the obstacles in her way were replaced with something else.
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
Marilyn twirled, her fingertips all a-tingle and her hair fanning out once again in an indigo blue-black halo. She felt calm as she tittered away on the flute for the first time in years.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
La~ lalala, Oooh~ lalala,
Lalalalala, lalalalala~
Lalalalala, lalalala,
Lalalalala, lalala~
Oooo, ooo, oooo~!
Lion-O blinked as a flicker of light reflected off of Marilyn's hair; it was silvery like her eyes but it couldn't have been her earrings because they were made of copper. Lion-O narrowed his gaze at her blunette strands when the flicker appeared again, only slightly bigger and centered with blue instead of silver.
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
Marilyn felt warm and content as she sang. Remembering days of reading tales of Alice and playing to her adventures. The warmth sang through her body, seemed to go everywhere, even to the very ends of her hair. She loved the feeling- it was like being free. Finally, finally, finally, free.
'And has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Calloh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
Lion-O kept his eyes on her hair for several seconds, but the small lights at the ends never came back after they dissapeared from sight. Dismissing them as tricks of the sunlight in the window, Lion-O's eyes focused back on the dancing figure in mounting awe and amazement. As beat up, hurt, and scarred as he knew she was, she still managed to move, find joy in something as simple as this song, he could see it in the way she sang, stepped, and spun. This human was a strong creature. He felt a small warmth in his chest as he watched her and listened to her sing.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
As the final notes faded into the air, Lion-O forgot about his promise to scratch at the door. He placed the platter on the desk and clapped lightly at the performance. Marilyn jumped three feet high with a strangled cry before she turned around to see the young lion smiling at her with a warm look in his green eyes.
"That was very good," he said. "What is it called?"
Marilyn felt her heart restart after a second and she answered hesitantly. "J-Jabberwocky… it's a song f-f-from my childh-hood that my mama and papa would play with me…"
Marilyn trailed off, shaking slightly. All the relief she had felt before was gone, replaced with anxiety. Lion-O seemed to notice her unease and gestured to the platter he'd brought for them. "Snarf and I got us some food. I hope you're hungry." Marilyn gave a shaky smile before nodding and placing the bronze and copper flute down reverently on the bed. Lion-O noticed the longing she held in her eyes when she let it go and smiled. "You can keep it of you want- I have no idea how to play it and I'd honestly forgotten I had it until I heard you playing it from outside the door."
Immediately Marilyn's silver eyes lit up and her smile widened, becoming brighter.
With a nod the human sat down at the desk across from the prince and looked at the platter he'd brought in. in all honesty it was a bit much, even for the two of them. "Pumyra had mentioned that you were really malnourished, so I swiped extra." Lion-O explained. Marilyn blushed, a powdering of light pink covering her cheeks as she realized what he was saying- you need to eat more.
"T-thank you." She said softly. With a nod, from Lion-O, the two plus Snarf tucked into their breakfast.
Marilyn mostly stuck to the fruits, asking every once and a while what some were- there was one that looked like a thorny strawberry and when Lion-O said the name, she couldn't pronounce it. In the end she called it just what she thought it was, a thorny strawberry. "What other kinds of technology to you have where you come from?" the prince asked after a bit. Chewing and swallowing that she found looked like a pink pineapple but was really called an Atlatl Fruit (AN: I'm making them up as I go okay…? =_= 3:00 Am here guys…), Marilyn blinked before she looked down at her phone. "W-well… there's s-something called a TV that h-has m-moving pictures that you c-can watch. The pictures t-tell stories, play music, help know what's h-happening in t-the world… even help s-sell things."
Lion-O's eyes were wide with interest as he took a bite of some dried meat. "What's this one do? What's it called?" he points at the phone sitting next to her. "I-it's called a c-cell p-phone, a-and you can use it to c-contact other holders f-from a long distance away. A-also, you can l-listen to m-music and also use them for r-research." Looking for permission to demonstrate, Lion-O nodded eagerly and watched as Marilyn looked up different things that had to do with technology on her phone.
Now that she was actually using it, she noticed that the 100% she had wasn't depleting. It had been on for a full 24 hours since she tried to… well anyway, it hadn't been turned off as far as she could tell, so it should be drained of its battery by now. Yet it's still fully charged. Maybe she will never have to charge it here? She had mental fingers crossed on that.
Marilyn spent the rest of the morning getting to know the prince and the prince getting to know of her younger years and technology from her world. Neither of them noticed that the earrings were dulling as they pulsed a dull reddish-gold color from the gems within them, or that the gem in her bracelet was doing the same, nor did they notice that the warmth of the room rose a bit. Not enough to be noticeable, but enough to show that something was changing.
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Okay! Chapter 2 is done! Omg I need sleep, guys… anyway! Again I'd like to thank WAR-Operative for bringing the non-development of Marilyn to my attention! Also, I've decided to throw those of you thinking about the gems in Marilyn's earrings and bracelet for a loop! Also WE'VE GOT SOME SNEAKY SIGHTINGS OF SILVER AND BLUE LIGHTS! WHAT COULD IT BE?!
Yep, Marilyn will be hiding in Lion-O's room and Lion-O will be taking the couch. Or I could have Marilyn take the floor or couch cuz she's never known anything other than literal springs in a moldy damp basement and either way it is a heavenly change for the girl…
Also… look up the song! Erutan does an amazing job and I LOVE HER! You'll be seeing sooooo many songs by her in this story, guys I'm not kidding!
Another thing- FF.N MIGHT delete my story because of some maybe M-rated material I'm planning to add later on. If that happens, message me and I'll add the story and it's link to my AO3 account! I gotta sleep before I pass out, guys!
