Todd: -casually struts into the chamber with all the paintings on the walls- ruuupyyy— -sees him working on something- … -sneaks up by him-
Rupert: -hasn't noticed-
Todd: OH MY GOSH YOU'RE PAINTING? SINCE WHEN DID YOU PAINT
Rupert: gAH! -turns around rapidly and glares at Todd- since now
Todd: oh... -stares at the painting- you're not very good at i—
Rupert: yes well I have only just started and I still have much to learn if I ever wish to improve
Todd: but li—
Rupert: and I will require all of the practice I can get if I ever wish to truly paint well which takes time, time which would require my painting instead of blathering with you
Todd: … ouch
Rupert: ah— -blushes- sorry
Todd: nah it's fine, that was a pretty sick burn though
Rupert: ...thank you?
Todd: what can I say except you're welcome
Rupert: -sighs-
The Aloft Champion
Chapter 14: Dinu Makes Bad Choices
Rupert
It takes nearly another day for her to arrive, but when she does, there is not a soul in this cabin who does not know of it the moment it occurs. First off the door is slammed open, to which it butts loudly against the wall with a sour, breaking squeak. Then not moments after the door is slammed shut, emitting a similarly weak cry. Finally feet go off stomping in the first direction they pick—left or right, left or right—and she must have chosen right because soon after there is a monsoon of yelling from the area Luk and the others tend to stray about.
Mier sits silently beside me. I have returned to the bed... my foot still throbs from my recent expedition, but it is worth the pain this time; I did need the time to relieve myself of this chamber. In our new quiet blanket of loudness, I turn to the pinkette and recall to ask him, "If this is your chamber, then why did you allow me to sleep here instead of in one of the guest ones?" He must have quite a few extra rooms if not mattresses to fit everyone seamlessly enough.
"Yeah, well..." He is also quiet, but still a commanding quiet that he manages well beneath the din of all of those voices. "The rooms are out past that hallway or up the stairs, and besides then you're sharing a room with somebody, with all of your friends bunking here, and... I dunno. It seemed like the right choice I guess?" Pause. "Oh wait. Also there's the fact that I had to put you down somewhere to set your foot and this was the closest bed. So you know."
"Oh." Then we are quiet again.
After a moment he laughs softly. "You weren't lying, Rupert... oh, no." Shakes his head. "Your cousin is something else. She's like... a vengeful spirit, or something, like she has something against everyone in the entire actual world. Hundreds... of people." As if the thought of it is too heavy for him, Mier rests his head in his hands. There is an exasperated smile toying at his lips.
Quiet again. I dare no higher than a whisper. "She prefers low to high expectations. She dislikes... putting hope into things. It can be risky to put hope into others when one remembers that people are... flawed."
He shrugs. Somehow or another, he heard me. "I guess that's one way to look at it... though I must say it's the freaking depressing one. Geeesh."
"My apologies," I venture again, "if she breaks anything." She is also... not much one to clean after herself. She sees no problem with having flaws so long as she owns up to them.
"Aaah. It'll give me something to do." When I eye him curiously, Mier goes on, waving a hand. "Don't forget now, I used to live in this cabin all on my lonesome for years. Giving me something to do is about the best anyone can do for me. Y'know, after having not all that much of a purpose for however long... it's good to feel needed. Right? Good to know you've got something going for you."
My gaze streaks the ground, and I smile softly. "Yes... it does feel good." Perhaps... there is more than one reason for purpose... and that I am beginning to understand... but even so it is nice. Nice to have someone who... wants to be around you, who appreciates... who you are.
I know how it feels to grow up in isolation. It does... bad things to one's esteem. And it is lonely, truly lonely. And I wonder then how Mier has lived his life up until now... why, so far as we know, he never left his chamber and broke his spell of solitude. Maybe it felt... safer... in his head, to not let himself out into such an unknown. I could... understand that. It can be scary... to open up to someone else, to reveal the most vulnerable parts of you... people tend not to wish to put themselves out like that. It is... scary.
Either way, the cacophony continues for another good few moments and then there is stomping up the other side of the hallway, each step edging closer and closer to where we lie. Suddenly nervous, I scoot back into the bed and fold my legs carefully crisscrossed in front of me. The bandages are beginning to wear... Thankfully if naught else my leg is healing nicely, and what once felt like a stone to my side when I stood has dulled to a nice small throb that I can easily ignore when needed.
Finally this opening slams and the reddest face I have ever laid eyes on streaks toward me. She has gone pinched in places and is still thawing in others and oh her hateful, hateful gold eyes. One wicked swipe of a glance at Mier and she goes back to me.
Firstly she goes, "You have no idea how awful it is out there."
I glance up at her. "It is cold outside. Rather. And... was there a blizzard?"
"That's beside the point." She shrugs off my inquisition and situates herself in between myself and Mier. The latter gives her this annoyed, condescending stare, but she turns to me and situates her back to the pinkette, who gets up and goes to my other side with a disgusted grunt.
"That what happened?" As I try another attempt at sating her and Mier leans over the edge of the bed, he goes on to glare back at Dinu, but still my cousin offers only her undivided attention to me. The longer she stays in the cabin the more her face tones back toward its natural pale cheeks and her frozen nose melts toward a less... swollen look, but also the longer she stays in the cabin the further irritated those eyes of hers get.
She huffs. "What happened is that the entire castle is practically empty, there's those creepy ancients everywhere, and what is wrong with your Dina? My... gosh." Catching my weak hopeful glance she scoffs. "Yeah, I ran into the thing on my way here. I must say she's gotten a lot less... ahh, pushover-y. But that's just... weird. And annoying."
"I thought you were annoyed when she was 'pushover-y'."
"I was!" she cries. "You do not get me wrong here, Rupert! I was! But it's like... it's like... like..." She angrily clenches the air about us. Then, catching eye of the pillows on the bed, she yanks one and tosses it at the other wall, where it resounds a soft pffunk. "She's not being normal! Uhhhg..! I hate lies more than I hate the truth. Lies are... annoying." It is mildly amusing how she says this now and yet didn't tell our grandfather where she was going, just took off in front of his eyes.
There is a pause in which she puffs her cheeks and blows air on her cracked hands. "Don't look at me like that." She tilts her head. "You're thinking about Nigel, aren't you? Ahhhhg. I didn't tell him, no I didn't, but I at least have a reason."
"Is there not a reason why Dina is acting—"
Another scoff. It effectively cuts me off. "Stop that! Okay? That's something else! Hhhhg..." Then, blankly staring at me, she says it again. "That's... something else." And she drops her gaze.
Regaining composition. Hands folded in her lap in front of her, head shrouded by a veil of her thin blonde hair, eyes downturned, breaths slowly, slowly deepening and expanding as she thinks about what she is doing. Was it not Nigel who taught her that? Oh, Dinu.
In her silence, Mier awakens. He has pushed himself close to me—though still there remains a small gap between us—and he is watching my cousin a little warily. "She looks tired. Well, well, never mind, duh." Shakes his head slowly. "Been a long day, uh?"
"Heh... Yes, it has." I nod. "I cannot blame her, even so. Ancients are... tiring. And... worrisome, yes? They can cause all sorts of damage... physically, mentally... I am sure there are other barriers I was unaware of. But they... hurt. They hurt... to be around, and to be controlled by. They are... so... overpowering."
"Yeah." He does that little quirk where he fuses so much into the word. The emotion in his eyes—the one I started to look to as protection—gleams strongly here... and he watches me carefully. He rests one arm behind me, by my side. Nearby, but not so enforced as to ensnare me. And I... I thank him for that.
Dinu manages to look up again, distracting herself with the pinkette this time. "Geez..." She tousles her head. "What is it with the two of you? Luk was right... it's weird. Honestly, Rupert, since when have you ever let someone befriend you?"
"I—" Before I can stop it, my face heats. "Can I not have more than a handful of people I care about? I-I know this is strange, it is already strange enough for me, but... so what if I was able to—to connect with someone? That is... alright, is it not?" She throws me this look that tells me "it is just weird" and glances over to Mier. Her expression curdles.
"Stop looking at me like that. You're making me feel violated."
Mier giggles quietly.
"No—seriously—ugggh—Rupert, why is he so..." There her face crumples. "How did you become friends with this guy?" She scoffs yet again. "I can't... I can't understand..." And there she lays, her disgust think in her tone, her hand on her forehead as she glares back at Mier.
Quiet again. Mier proffers, "Oh, maybe it's because everyone's used to thinking they know you. Right? Because of the whole famous thing. So after the years of 'seeing' you they translate that to 'knowing who you are' while misinformed that actually they don't. And after seeing you so alone for so long... it's weird, your change. They probably reacted with shock on the whole Dina thingy too."
I sigh. "Oh, this life of mine..." How... violating it feels when people you hardly know assume who you are. Mier is probably right. Even so, Dinu knew me, ah, better than any fanatic or foe, at least I liked to think so. It must be weird, though, for her to see my change.
"Yeah, well." Dinu pops up again, an arsenal of vengeance reveling. "I was surprised as the next person when he fell in love, but at the very least it was with the little thin sickly girl who kind of resembled him. Also, it's easy enough for some people to pretend he took up to her out of pity." Oh. Well. Well I did not do that. "Don't give me that look. It lets the nonbelievers think they understand," to which she adds "idiots" under her breath, to them or to us... most likely both.
She goes on to point a finger at Mier. "And then THIS GUY! Alright. Alright." She backs off, only to lash in the air at him a moment later. "AT LEAST THE GIRL WAS A SQUEAKY LITTLE PUSHOVER! YOU GET ON MY NERVES!" Before she has the chance to leave a mark, Mier snatches her hands. There is... boredom in his gaze. Amused boredom.
"You told me Dina got on your nerves too, Dinu, please do not forget," I remind nobody as I am the only one who even hears myself.
As much authority as my voice provides, there are simply some people who bypass it. Unfortunately, Dinu is one of those people. And Dinu is... stubborn to her grave. Ahh... How do I go on with this... Here I am, watching as my blonde cousin shoves herself at my friend, and my friend, while overpowering, obviously should not have to be stuck here for so much longer... Oh, if only she would relent from time to time...
So I step gently and try to take Dinu by her hand as obviously she will not listen to me. The touch causes her to jolt and she swings her fist at me then, too, but Mier still has it clasped so he manages not to allow her attempt. She growls at this and then glares at me again and then she collapses into herself and sighs, slowly, and she sits down on the wooden floor. It creaks after her. Mier and I kind of stare at her, but she makes no indication of moving again so I follow after her. Mier snorts and follows after me.
She lets out one long, long breath. Her hands have clasped together tightly. "I swear... first you lose Dina... and next Pauleen's confessing all over about the freaking ancient in her head, and... you're not who I remember you were. But I guess that's both of our faults, mm... Me for assuming, but—but it's your fault too." She scowls. "For... changing."
She spits it like it is a sin.
"Just... I need to adjust. In a lot of ways. Don't you go expecting me to change, though." Resolve hardens along her face, tightening her cheeks, sharpening her lips, darkening her gaze. "I'm... not gonna do that." Dark eyes lash at Mier again. "And stop looking at me so weirdly! You're so... violating! Ugh, I hate it! Rupert"—she rakes her gaze across me—"if you're going to make more friends, at least make good ones." Oh, Dinu...
Her shell is hard and tight and taut around her, and there is no entrance inside of it. She has been so hard for so long her shell is her... and there are times when it appears that by ascending hardness she has left behind dignity, morale, sympathy. And then it spikes in little moments, in little ways that otherwise come out as harsh.
We stay like that for a moment. And then I lean close to her—though I still leave a berth to outright touching her again—and I whisper, "I missed you... Dinu."
"Rrrrrgh..." Her lips twist. "I know." There it is, plainly in her despite, there is her mutual agreement. "Just... nnnh, stop that." She scoots back some; she never liked being touched either. "Well, uh. I'm... here, I guess. Now what? Dina's literally out and about, like, actually running around the place and was there not an ancient inside of her... well. She wouldn't be in the best condition, shall we say. I wonder at how many people she's tried to hurt by now..."
"It is not quite Dina, though. It is... I mean, it is... but it is not her. She is... in pain. Somewhere. And—And I have not seen Torn or Trikko or any of the others since she went missing either..." Well, I did see Trikko the once, but his definite disappearance is what irks me.
Dinu closes her eyes. "I'm talking about plans of action, not what's going on, I... ahhh, whatever. It's impossible to say anything without you thinking of her."
Mier watches our words bat back to back, his lip twitching. But he is silent for now... so I guess he does not have much to offer to our conversation, not yet at least.
With our silence, Dinu sits up straighter. She expands as much as she can manage in her thick beige coat, and she loudly pulls up her booted feet on the floorboards. "That's as much as I thought. S'why I was yelling earlier... you idiots. Hhg. Well—Well anyways, there's right now and that's good enough I suppose. So... so here's my idea after evaluating at our predicament: we go find more ancients and get possessed by them and kill Dina with them and then get them out of us, however that works."
I sit up so fast I bump my head on the side of the bed. "Aahh—Dinu—" But the blind pain has me unable to speak and my head collapses in my hands as I groan softly. "Dinu..." Even I hear the whimper in my tone and I wince at this, and I try again, taking in breaths slowly. "Dinu, no. No, that is a horrible idea." That is all: it is an absolute abomination, idiocy only at its finest.
"Well obviously Dina's already lost her mind, so—"
"We..." I cough softly. "We do not know that. Pauleen... has not lost her mind, now has she?" There. There. There is proof enough. "And we all know I had two enter me and I never lost my mind either." Well that is questionable, I may have somewhat at times, but... but here I still am today.
When I lift my head, Mier's eyes flash dangerously and he puts his arm beside me again, just carefully so, and Dinu has a glint of fight in hers. "We need to do something. Pauleen mentioned it earlier—they're everywhere now, ancients. And it's... because of that... that surge. And Dina's the one who started it all because of the thing inside of her taking over and for as long as that thing leeches on her we're in danger. Danger..." She loses eye contact with me after Mier ceases but quickly flicks them back, holds them tightly.
"Kill her," I whisper, my voice breaking as I do, "and in the process allow myself to become a vessel for someone else to make home. I... I do not want to do that again, Dinu. It is... dangerous. I-I know—I know apparently our friend Pauleen can handle it, but... that is another matter."
She cries loudly, just sounds, wordless sounds. "Rupert..! We're in such a bad situation we're literally living in someone else's house trying to figure out how to get out of here and take our lives back, our everything back!
And then she goes into herself and she yells, "Why can't you give up that stupid girl already!"
Poor Mier is all but forgotten.
"Di-Dinu..." Oh, no... oh no... oh no... "Dinu, I..." Do not, do not... Rupert... "Dinu, if... if we are to retrieve whatever it is you consider your everything back... first you suggest we kill... m-mine." Oh... dear, the tears fall anyways. I hastily wipe them with the side of my hand but she must see them, they must all see them.
Her voice lowers but not her intensity. "We have to do something, don't we? It'd be easier that way."
"Easier," I hiss, "easier for us to simply kill her than... than..." Than what? This is what she is telling me, is she not? The ancients are here now and it seems every step outside only has us venture into the maw of another, and here I am... unable to let go anyways. Unable to let go of my love, and my love for her. Because while it would be easier to simply remove her from my life... while maybe there would be much less pain in relinquishing now... but...
I... hate it. I hate it.
When I regain enough composition I whisper, "There must be another way. It probably is a-a harder way, much more tedious, more time-consuming... more painful. But there must be another... I-I cannot allow you to... just kill her." My Dina.
She seethes quietly, and she lowers her voice even more and she whispers back, "She's just one girl, Rupert. My... gosh. She's just one single freaking girl. Everything's going to crap and she's just one little freaking stupid pushover terrified nervous weak useless girl!"
"She is not," I whisper, weakly, and as hard as I try I cannot stop these bloody tears, "she is much more than one girl." Maybe to Dinu... she is one girl. And one girl does not amount to everything else. But... she is everything, and she is everything else... and I hate this but here it is, and I refuse to take the easy path if it means she dies.
A voice coils into my head and asks me, slyly, were I in Dinu's position if I would go just as quickly to defeat like she did, if I would resort that fast had the one at risk not been someone I knew very well, someone I hardly remembered existing at times in the first place.
But that is not how it came out, is it? I... I will not let them hurt her. Not... anyone. Not as much as I can bear to stop them. So it is as I face the ground, my cheeks streaked with tears, that my cousin huffs and gets up and offers some snide remark about searching for ancients herself and she leaves, slamming one door, stomping down the hall, slamming another.
My heart throbs. Before I know it I have to cover my face and try not to be so... loud. I never knew tears could well up so thickly in one's throat and make it so hard to... breathe... without release. How much it hurts... how much it hurts...
I rub at my cheeks and pull back my hands when I remember I am not the only one left in the chamber. My gaze streaks over Mier, watching so delicately, so quietly, without a word, and my heart tugs and I think I feel... shame. "F-Forgive me." I struggle to get up and nearly fall again, the pain in my foot returning wholesomely with my next step that I struggle to sit on the bed and stay there.
How pathetic must I look now?
With a consoling murmur, he gets up after me and sits next to me again. Says nothing, offers nothing but his presence and his arm draped just by me but not close enough to touch, not quite. Not until I lean against him just slightly, and then he is close enough to.
It takes some time. I stay there quietly, and he is quiet next to me, and I finally release a breath and I whisper, "It hurts a lot sometimes."
His pain is mirrored in his eyes. "Yeah." A soft sigh. "Yeah, it sucks." He closes his eyes, humming quietly to himself. "But you didn't wanna kill her, uh? So you said no... So that's good. I think."
"You must know very well by now that I trust your opinion."
He offers a soft laugh but nothing else. That is fine.
I sigh. "We should go find her. She was frigid enough to the touch when she first came here... and now, ah, searching for ancients of all things..." Dinu must be pained too. And... I did not see any of her vivosaurs earlier. Are they alright? Maybe she is just... exhausted. That alone is a worthy enough reason. We must all be exhausted by this point. I only worry for the next time someone else snaps.
"Yeah, we probably should."
"Why... do you continue to support me?"
He smiles slightly. "Cuz I like you too, obviously." O-Oh. Of course. "Heh... And I agree more than disagree with what you think, so... well. Pauleen and the others'll probably need to come too, and, like, Mistress and them."
"Yes," I murmur. We are quiet again then. "She must be around here somewhere. She was never one able to uphold the sight of a quarrel... But—yes, you are right... especially if she manages to find an ancient before long." Oh... dear. My solace is at least once I gently call for her, out my mapo queen ventures from under the bed.
Sorry, dearie.
I smile. She hops up the bed and rests on my lap for a moment. Don't be sorry. It was scary.
Yes it was... but I'm supposed to be strong, dearie.
You are strong, I reassure her, gently petting her head, simply not in this area.
She goes on pouting, but I think it is more for play than anything else by this point. Mier scoots closer to pat her head too... I think she is growing fond of him. I cannot say she is the only one.
Soon after, there is a sharp knock upon the door. Hard but careful, as if expecting the wood to fall apart because of how hard Dinu slammed it. Although... she did appear to put all of her energy in it, so for all I know it would not take much of an effort to send it all reeling.
I glance over at Mier, catching myself wipe at my cheek as I do so. "Do I look like I was..." Oh, I lose my nerve, but I believe he catches my meaning with a bit of recognition in those... gentle, golden eyes.
"Do you want the truth or what's gonna make you feel better?
I sigh. He giggles. "No. You don't look like you've been crying."
Wait. "Was that the truth?"
"No." He giggles again before looking back toward me. There is a small pinprick of honesty, of belief. "But I'm sure you'll be fine. I've seen you cry a small number of times now and really... it just makes a point." And then he just turns back, musing, as my cheeks flush for the umpteenth bloody time. "You can come in!" he calls to the door, and soon it swings inward and a dark face peeks through.
"Oh. Pauleen," I murmur in greetings and lift up onto the floor to go and greet her. She takes one look at my weak bandaging and steps in quickly and presses me back somewhat.
"You really diga-don't need to be walking this much! Like..." She sighs, rolls her eyes. "Well I guess you got up already so it diga-doesn't matter what I say. Whatever." The emerald eyes turn slowly upon Mier and myself. "So uhhh... Diga-Dinu? I'm guessing something violent happened over here too?"
I nearly come up with something to say when Mier steps up by me. "Yeah, pretty much. Rupert's cousin is... well, she's a puzzle. We were talking about finding her soon? Uhhh, did she go all over some crazy idea to get possessed by a whole bunch of ancients and then kill Dina with you too? Heh..." His eyes lower. He... does not like it either, does he...
"Yeaaah." She sighs softly. "That's pretty much what happened. I... what the heck? What's that supposed to diga-do, though? I guess I get what she's talking about, but we weren't really into the thought of just, like, smiting diga-Dina, so she got all huffy and went your way." There is a pause as she looks up at the ceiling. "What made her think that would go any better..?"
Before we get much further, a certain bluenette tears through the opening and takes my hands and says, "Man... I forgot how scary Dinu is! Are you alright?" And Todd is not far behind... so I would presume that they must have been waiting for Pauleen to breach contact first. Oh... they are silly friends. Really, they are.
I smile softly. "Yes I am... thank you." It takes me a moment to remember and ask him, "Are you... faring well? Like you said, I mean... Dinu can be surprisingly ferocious. And so stubborn..."
"Mm? Yeah, I'm okay. I just forget sometimes, since I didn't see her as much as I saw you I guess, and you're more passive-aggressive and she's, well, she's not."
I sputter. "P-Passive-aggressive—"
But he goes on his merry way and blatantly ignores my question. Mier, with a little grin, assures me of I am not quite sure what though it makes my heart sink somewhat. "Yeah, well... I guess we go after her? Like, we can't just leave her to the ancients..." While unvoiced in the conversation, the end of his sentence is palpable in the air: or we might lose her, too. It's the too part that hurts more... like we failed again anyways, like there is no... victory, but loss after loss after bitter, bitter loss. Like we never stood a chance in the first place.
To think like that offers no hope though... to think like that assures Dinu was right anyways, and Dina will—
I suck in a breath. No. She will not. She will if I do nothing but stand by and let it happen... which is not what we are doing. "Yes, Luk." They all turn toward me. "Yes... Everyone, we should not leave her to her own devices. Outside of the window of chance she is possessed and harmed in some serious form... she is still out there; and it is possible, if not likely, that she will harness some ancient or another, find Dina—as she is the last one who saw her anyways—and... then it is finished." And I for one cannot have that.
"She's gonna get maaaaad," mumbles Luk. Beneath his foggy sense of nerves... there is fear, there is a hole inside of him, a great monstrous hole of fear sucking the sensations out of him. Maybe if I let myself think about it, I would be afraid too... of the ancients in general, the cold, my violent cousin—and it does start to wear at me but—but—but to forget about Dina... to lose Dina...
Pauleen stiffens and grounds her fists together. "Well! If she's mad, then I better get furious! I'll friggin show her, digadig!" While her tone is light, her eyes are not, and I am suddenly thankful we at least have this girl on our side. "Besides, Oni's diga-damn terrifying."
I would not doubt it. The weight in her words teases me not to.
"Yeah!" Todd cries from the back, toward presumably everything we just discussed.
Beside me, Mier plucks Mistress off of the bed. "Well then. We'd better get a move on, mmm? Gotta find Dinu, gotta save us a Din-Din..."
And again I swear I never heard a soul use that nickname in front of him, like I never heard one utter her name at all... and there it is. But I must be second-guessing myself, it is completely possible Todd used it once or twice in front of him... then why does my heart feel so... painful?
But there is no time to second-guess something as small as a name. I take Mistress myself and as the others collect their vivosaurs and move she forms into a smaller version of herself, one that fits well enough in this house, and she has me climb upon her. You're staying here, Rupert, alright? Dearie, I care not if I go too slowly for any tastes; I follow safety!
But... But Dina—Oh, but Mistress will have none of it with this bandage of mine, and so it is done as it is. At the very least her definition of "slow" is faster than I had anticipated, and I only bump just marginally on her back, my arms wrapped around her neck gently. She is soft and warm... in stark contrast to the wonderland outdoors. As we exit, the others round themselves up helpfully, and out we go into a heavyset white horizon.
I immediately sneeze and Mistress chokes on her thoughts. Rupert! Maybe it better if we don't—
Mistress, no, I whisper, no, we have to find her, and we need as much help as we can get. I turn myself to look at my other vivosaurs, these precious saviors of creatures, one of the larger reasons I am still here today, and I try my best to instruct them. Pippy, take to the north—at our left—where the trees were, I think you will see best. Gyntis go with him; we should utilize groups for maximized safety. Somewhere there is a relieving sigh. Sunny, to the south... go with Tessa. The latter is thankful not to be paired with me and I think my little water vivosaur will be best on that downward slope with all of the snow she can empower to her will. And... I sigh when I realize... Camri, you and Mistress with me... let us go behind the cabin.
The others begin to form their groups as well: there are five of us, only two of us own no vivosaurs. Pauleen still has Sivan and one or two others; Todd with his old, faithful three. I see him instruct Gren, his stego, to follow Sunny and Tessa; Eddie the edapho goes left with Pippy and Gyntis, and finally he hops upon his spiny Flower and nearly skewers himself but that is beside the point as he manages not to. And he goes forward. Mier quickly hops on beside him; Luk turns out and calls for Pippy, who ceases just a moment to let him on; Pauleen turns south with Sunny.
One of us in each area. Two in another... it is rather likely she went forward with all of those trees, but behind is always a safe option, as behind is not always thought of first.
Oh, I knewwww you would take me! Camri cries, galumphing happily in the snow next to us. I knew you had a redeeming potential about you, Ruuuupert! Ohhh, I knew it was smart of me to believe in you! I never am wrong, you know. Did you know that? I'm quite the force to reckon with! Yes, yes... gaze in awe at me all you like; I know my body is rather attractive.
I sigh softly, smiling sightly. Yes of course, Camri. I begin to turn away from him when I catch glimpse of his back again... and as my eyes travel the ocean-blue strip I note the lines that mark him. Camri, what are those?
He bursts off in his strange Camri laugh. Oh! Oh! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Smart of you to ask. They appear to make little pairs of two... like a numeral of some sort... I always had a hope in your potential! But yes, these? He shivers his back and it shimmies up and down and up and... They are... pairs! Every last one of them, pairs! I admit here that kronas are known for their tally-marks up to five but mine are all merely pairs! Can you guess why?
I ignore his attempt at an alluring wink and decide not to question him any longer. He is such a... dizzying personality. It hurts sometimes merely thinking of him.
Wings sound in the air above. Fwuuuu, fwuuu, fwuuu, fwuuu... I glance upward just as a thick, heavy shadow descends upon us. Mistress soon blooms into her usual colossal mapo queen size and Camri soon follows—his much larger than even she. The creature—flaming wings—descends upon us quickly, and before either of my vivosaurs can launch an attack he yells, Hey, hey! I'm one of Pauleen's, don't do that!
And so we do not assault Pauleen's dimorph ace. I have a name, he mutters, Flimp, okay? Call me Flimp.
Sivan, Flimp... I pause. Are there not more of you? Was there not... who was it... a menchi, I think I recall? And someone else too...
There I feel the wince. Yeah, but... well. Pauleen's been... ah, different, little bit, ever since Oni showed up in her head, so... some of them got a little dramatic and preferred not to associate themselves with her. Oh. There's me and Sivan, we probably care the least, and the menchi—name's Blocko—think he went with the Todd guy, and... well, the others are angry. I swallow slowly.
My apologies.
He nods slightly. I try to go on when Camri decides something else is in order and goes, Whyyy, hell-o there! Oh no... What brings you to our side of the cabin, mmmmh?
It only sickens me more when I realize he has grasped the attention of the dimorph ace not only quickly but so easily, so sublimely he grabbed him and had him hooked and... oh, Camri, I cannot stand you. Well I must say, murmurs the transfixed Flimp, as if sleepily, you certainly improved my likeness of this side.
Ohhh, did I now? Alright... alright. I doubt I can listen to this much longer. I must say that I am not surprised, although that is of no fault of yours. Like one could try to resist me.
There is a pause. Yes. Like one could try.
Then don't!
I wish he would abide to the disgust I give off... but he is Camri, and Camri does not abide. Besides... somehow if but slightly but very slightly but hardly slightly I think... of Dina. And how I always... want to hold her, and kiss her, and... love her, even if there are others around—even if her disastrous Torn is around. And if but very hardly slightly... there is a similarity. That of course does not mean I should indulge in his... idiocy, so I simply turn to ignore him and focus on my dear mapo queen. Mistress, why is it he has no decency? And I am returned by a giggle... but it is a small giggle. And then she is quiet.
Um... Mistress? She still remains quiet. Mistress, what is wrong? She shifts just so that the spine which curls above her eye shadows it, and the other one she keeps nearly-lidded, and then her thoughts delve inside of herself... to which it is difficult to discern what she is thinking.
I think about it—I do—if but a moment—but the thought crosses me I could use on her what she always uses on me... that it is wrong to hide feelings inside of oneself, that she—and now I—want to know how she is, that I care. But... she would not like that. She is purposely hiding herself. And... And I was never very good at... opening up to others.
There is a sigh. It's not all that important, dearie.
Mistress, it's important to you. She twitches but otherwise is silent. Why else would Mistress herself close off like this? Please, ah... there are people who find Dina unimportant, and there are people who find your wants unimportant too, but I do not find either of these unimportant and therefore it... it matters, yes?
She caves. Never was she one to stuff everything inside of her.
A-Alright. There is a wince. It's nothing much though, dearie, really... it's nothing much. She says this as she hangs her head low and refuses to look anyone in the eye. Y-Yes, dearie... auh... And she fails, again, to say what it is, so she just looks in the direction of the overmuch krona, the one who flatters himself to gain attention from others.
I sigh. Does he bother you, Mistre—No. That cannot be it at all... can it? She is the one who speaks up for him when I refuse to relent on my side, so then... oh, oh. Mistress... Him? Why him, Mistress? He is... not a very kind... creature, you do realize? Not a very kind... creature at all. And his favorite company outside of adoring strangers is... himself. Mistress—
Yes I know, she mutters, I know very well where I stand. Wait. Where she stands? If anything she is—I-I get that...he is quite the high-class individual and he looks sharp yet... curvy and speaks in words you cannot agree with but I... it's not just his looks, dearie, please do not get me wrong..! I think... he is a nice man. I think.
Oh, Mistress...
But... she tended not to pry on me. So it would be rude not to return her favor... and besides, she cares, no? And one cannot stem another's feelings just with hurtful words. I... know this. I know this well. Dinu—Dinu is who we are searching for, what we have come to do, and... we should not deter so much from this. She could be anywhere... she and her—
Ssssssss...
A thin, long, white tail slips along the snow.
I swallow. Camri. He jolts to attention at the sound of my tone, devoid of my annoyance or disgust. Follow. And he is loud and huge but he follows well enough, and he is big enough to follow that thick tophis wherever it goes, and it is not fast enough to escape so quickly. Flimp, I add, circle ahead, the others must be around here somewhere. He goes swooping upward as I try to recall them—They were all neutral vivosaurs... she had two of the type Reyna—ah, kryptos, two of those and this one stout black one with flowers on its bodice.
Camri giggles at bodice but moves on quickly enough. It is close enough, yes?
Mistress picks up speed while being careful to make as little noise as she can manage, landing in lumps of snow with a sort of grace I doubt many others could manage just so like hers. An intensity begins buzzing in my skull—and my heart leaps—and Mistress goes faster, faster, careful but faster until she has to slow down and even though I ask her not to she does anyways... when we swerve around a tree so thin and sparse we would not have noticed had we still been going fast. There is a sound of pride at herself for that... one I cannot deny her.
When the krypto slams into us.
Ahh..! At my retort, Mistress slams back into it and struggles to move through the snow, backward, backward, slipping through it with an ease I recall Sunny reciprocating as the krypto must fumble to grow near. She juts her maw and shoots a beam of water that forms into ice as it splays onto the krypto and freezes its hulking black head and big white body, frozen right in its place.
A creepily unintentional half-smile glimmers on the frozen, meaty face. Still flexing... still flexing...
From above, Flimp loudly counts. Twooo, threeee! The other three right heeeere! Well I guess you got one but look out! The girl's not far ahead!
Go for the girl! I instruct him and he goes for the girl, zooms through the air with crippling speed after wherever it is my cousin went off to... where the power feels stronger.
Camri still lies just at the edges of my senses. The slick sensation of poison has... Ahh—Camri, focus, I know it stings but you must focus and please keep an eye on that tophis, you must eliminate it before it comes our way..!
Whether he hears me or not is questionable. I receive no acknowledgment. Well... I still have Mistress, and we still have a small arsenal to defect. As the second krypto rounds from one corner I instruct her to prepare for the left flank and then the other—a mihu—shows on her right and I realize there is no way she can focus on both attacks at once so she runs off toward the second krypto and shoots water at him first and manages—I think—to encase him, only I look over and her flank—her flank is bleeding.
Oh. The mihu is... fast.
I stagger and my hand claws for the place on my side that has doubled over in hot red... ahhh... But I... lift my head and... I cannot see the dratted thing anywhere... it must be hiding, waiting to ambush again. Well—Mistress, let us go find Flimp, and she abides, panting softly, so we do.
It takes a moment as the stabbing continues in violent thrusts of seconds to pinpoint where it comes from and as soon as that happens Mistress is on her, foot above her, water hardening, crystallizing about her... and thank goodness for ice, thank goodness. They may escape in the approximation of minutes to hours to the very next second... but there is time. Which is good. Mistress is... exhausted, her pain coming off in waves upon me.
Finally we reach a little clearing which is mostly taken up by the dimorph ace. Just in front of him, I sense the presence of another... As we duck into the clearing I catch eyes with the girl. She lies there, trembling, glassy eyes wide, facing the world above her now condemned to the big hot fire creature surrounding her. I think she is—she is—is she breathing?
Before Mistress makes much of a cry I jump from her back and roll and stand and get myself over to the side of my cousin. Her cheeks... hot, and forehead inflamed and did she have a fever before she came to the cabin? Was the entire time I thought she was thawing really revealing the sickness inside? Is she hurt? Where? Her arm is twisted... unnaturally, and pry as I might I cannot seem to force it loose.
My heart beats threateningly so in my chest. I take her head in my hands and she manages to seek mine out, her golden meeting mine... and all of the sharpness she comes with, her bite, her aggression, her spite, the entirety that is Dinu dissolves inside of those irises.
"D-Dinu!" No, no, no no no... I pull her head close to my chest and somewhere in hers I feel I feel—I feel something, I feel something, and my breath comes out in panicked squeaks that I try to ignore, oh, Dinu, what are you doing? I almost want to yell but I hardly have in the past so I doubt... I doubt it would do much anyways, and I just stay there, fingers shaking, as I stare into the snow and feel my cousin's frozen body heat against mine.
What happened to bring us here? Was it the conquest of power? Ancients streaming through their fossilized bodies that remain without revival again, some not even old enough to have fossilized at all, their overpowered souls intense enough to take over the body of a mortal so... easily. Or would that be greed? Power and greed? Greed over power?
Why us? Of all people, why us? I never... e-even wanted power, I feared power, feared my father and what the corruption of those disgusting feelings did to him. Did Dinu? I... Maybe it matters not. Maybe it matters not what I think, what someone else thinks, what anyone else thinks so much as it happened and here it is and now we... live with it.
Mis...tress..? I stir slightly and turn in the direction she—was. When I hear the hissing again.
The ancients must be inside of their heads too... oh, it is like as Flimp was saying, the power threw some of her vivosaurs against her, some of Flimp's friends distrusting and turning away from Pauleen. This sort of immense power... is not meant for mortals to experience, now is it? My heart thuds painfully heard in my chest, like each breath I take, like every time I close my eyes and little tears form at the edges from the cold numbness of this place.
Flimp, I rasp, Flimp... go alert the others, please. And immediately he does. Immediately he is gone in search of everyone else and immediately I crumple as I realize just how cold it was without him... bad it was already... and having him leave was a mista—
I... refuse... to give in. I-I... refuse... to let go. I refuse... I refuse... I refuse...
When the hissing continues, I snap my head upwards only once again I cannot identify where it came from... Snow comes down in cold hard fistfuls of hot white energy... and I see the shadow slinking behind my head, and I turn slowly the other way so he does not see me coming and then he leaps and I duck and I swerve and his tail flickers out of reach that bloody tophis and when I turn again he has swung and my head reels and I fall... and little droplets of red snowflakes drip, drip, drip around me...
It is... hard to see... within such a warped world of... of all this... all this—
Dinu. I lurch toward her and manage to hold her body close again, her cold body, feebly flickering warmth like a candle on a dreary night...
but morning comes... morning comes... morning comes...
The next time the tophis swings at me I push Dinu in front of me—desperately—and he does not wish to attack Dinu, now does he? And so there is a truce, albeit a cursory, unwanted truce.
My head sheds its red tears... streaking down my forehead, little layers of red in my hair... down my face and droplets of red in the snow...
Breath after breath after breath crunches in my chest but I stay, I stay, I stay...
When sharp golden eyes manage to wrest their way up into mine, I nearly start. Woozy, and weak, she does not push me back like she would if she could, but she stares as little beady droplets of red drip down my face. And she reaches out a hand and gently touches my cheek as one falls and she stares at it, and then she stares at me, and her mouth sort of tips open.
"No more ancients," I whisper, as strongly as I can manage, though that is not very strong at all.
And she watches and she nods slowly and repeats it, no more ancients, and I think we are safe, I think it will be okay, when she asks, "Where did the bird go?" and I realize it was stupid of me to send him off, we should have gotten onto him... and Mistress—her medal lays somewhere in the snow over there... and Camri somewhere else... and now that I think about it my head is splitting, the pain so... strong...
But here... we are. Here I am.
"Dina... does... not... die."
I nearly lose consciousness just trying to say those words, four tiny tiny words, and Dinu musters a little grin.
"No... guess not."
Man that was intense! Haha... ahhhhh... Battle scenes always make me a little nervous xD
Rupert's too much hahaha he's like I WILL NOT FALL YOU CAN'T MAKE ME HWAAHH and then he nearly dies
yeah if he didn't have those three vivosaurs there would've been trouble, huh? Haha... ah... there would've been trouble... poor rupy, he finally manages something and he keeps getting hurt, heh, keeps getting big injuries... but I guess that tells you how hard he's fighting, too... really fighting for his Dina... heh.