*A/N: Another awkward chapter, but it's nice and long! Minus this thing,
it's 5 pages long. Yay! Sorry for the lack of recent updates, it was
midterm week last week, and it just about killed me. Well, same old
copyright stuff still applies and all that jazz. Plz R&R*
"Silence," chapter 8
Civilization and Thoughts
Tzaaki sent a messenger to Anthony when she got into the city. The city was a frightening place for her. The only human constructions she had seen since her adoption were the shrines in and around the Basin, and the ruins of ancient temples.
Looking down, she found herself on a path, but it wasn't wild and overgrown. Instead, the path was straight and narrow, lined with tall buildings that loomed to the height of her father and mother at times. The streets were cobbled and swept clean, and they lacked the sounds of the wild forests. Small, nicely kept trees were planted at intervals, and from the branches, small songbirds hopped and sang. Tzaaki shuddered at the cleanliness of the city and walked slowly down the street. She heard the far-off voices of saurians and humans together, apparently at market.
She was saved from making more human contact by Anthony hurrying down the street to greet her.
"Welcome to civilization." Anthony said.
"I've been around humans before." Tzaaki spat. "This place is so...clean."
"Yes, well, this is where lots of humans live, and we're not in the wild anymore." He paused and looked her over. "Come with me. We can get you some fresh clothes, good food, and hot bath." He turned and started walking down the street.
"Ooh. I haven't had a hot bath for a long time. Mother rarely takes us to the hot spring." Tzaaki smiled and caught up to Anthony.
They walked in silence for a distance.
"It's been a long time for you, hasn't it?" Anthony broke the silence.
"Huh?" Tzaaki looked sharply at Anthony.
"Being in a human settlement. It's been a long time for you." Anthony said, waving to an elderly woman sweeping the steps of a row house.
"Yes." Tzaaki looked at the ground. "Sometimes, I question whether or not I am human or Giganotosaurus. And no, I don't eat raw meat. My mother was kind enough to find a raptor that could smoke meat and cook it for me until I was well. Then the raptor taught me all I needed to know about cooking the meat the father brought home."
"I wasn't gonna ask you what you ate. I was gonna let you be the boss in that respect." He glanced at Tzaaki. "Want to run? I'll take you around the market-place."
Tzaaki shrugged. "Sure." She took off at a light trot. Anthony quickly passed her, but was severely out of breath when he reached the warehouse. Tzaaki was breathing hard, but wasn't as bad as her male companion. "You really need to learn endurance."
"Oh....shut..." He drew in a breath, held it, and exhaled. "Up." He opened the door to the warehouse and guided Tzaaki inside.
"Everyone." Anthony said, still short of breath. "This is Tzaaki. She has agreed to provide the carnosaur help needed."
Cassie, Chad, and Bran came up to inspect the newcomer.
"Welcome to our lair." Andraste said, looking Tzaaki up and down. "You have the right proportions for Cassie and Slayer. Maybe they can help you get cleaned up, and get some food into you."
"Hi, I'm Cassie, welcome to Chandara." Cassie said smiling.
Chad looked Tzaaki over and walked back to where Yvonne was sitting.
"Um, hi." Tzaaki said, looking slightly nervous. "I guess I'm going with you, Cassie."
Cassie smiled and nodded. "Yep." Cassie turned and headed towards a different door. Slayer got up and followed, beckoning Tzaaki to follow, which she did.
The two led her to a public bath house, and helped themselves in cleaning their hair and bodies before soaking in a bath. Tzaaki followed suit, the dust and mud sliding off her skin, which shone with a brilliance showing her family roots. She washed her hair and combed it straight, and then Cassie helped her tie it back.
"We need to get your hair trimmed. You have split ends." Slayer mused while admiring the wild girl's personage. "And you are so beautiful for someone who has lived with the carnivores."
"Thank you. Mother did tell me I was the most beautiful of all her children, despite me being human." Tzaaki said. She mumbled something in her language, a prayer of thanks for her deliverance to kind humans.
"You have a family out there?" Slayer asked, intrigued.
"Yes, I live with Standtall and his wife Firestorm. They adopted me and cared for me when their sons found me." She recounted her story. Slayer edged closer, excited by the sheer fantasy of the story.
"Forgive me. I'm a dolphinback, and nothing exciting happens in the Outside." She rethought her statement. "Well, nothing like THAT ever happens there."
"Nothing too exciting happens in the Basin, as well." Tzaaki shrugged. "There are scuffles between clans, but other than those, we live in relative peace."
"I always thought that there were constant clan wars in the Basin, and that it wasn't safe." Slayer said, shifting to lean against the wall of the bath, looking sidelong at Tzaaki.
"Well, for a human, yes it is dangerous, unless you are accompanied by a meat eater, or the Habitat Partner. Or if you are going to one of the temples in the forest." Tzaaki answered. "And gifts to appease those whose territory you cross are always welcome." She smiled.
"So you aren't wild beasts?"
"No. We're quite civilized. I just look wild and unkempt because I haven't gotten a proper bath in a long time."
"I'm taking it you are fluent in Dinotopian and that Universal tongue thing you speak in?" Cassie asked.
"Yes. I knew Dinotopian before I was adopted."
"Okay, I'm turning into a raisin, so I'm getting out." Slayer said, standing up.
"Me too." Tzaaki stood up. Slayer admired her strongly built, yet light frame and smiled. Tzaaki wrapped the fluffy towel around her body and waited for Cassie to get out.
"You coming, Cassie?" Slayer asked.
"Sure. Gimmie a few seconds." Cassie smiled at Slayer.
"Alright, see ya soon." Slayer said.
In the dressing room, Slayer handed a bunch of clothes to Tzaaki.
"Here, these should fit you." She smiled. Tzaaki took the clothes and put them on. The shirt was a little too tight, but the skirt fit fine. Slayer looked her over and nodded in approval.
"Very nice, Tzaaki. I guessed those would fit you." Cassie said from the doorway. She walked over to them, and inspected Tzaaki. "For living in the Basin for almost your whole life, you are beautiful."
Tzaaki blushed and admired herself in a mirror.
"C'mon, let's go get some food at my house." Slayer said, exiting the building, and turning down an alleyway that would lead them to her house.
Slayer rented a room from a family and had turned it into her own private Outside World. The room was on the top floor, and had a high ceiling. Some of her CDs and posters had come up intact and were hung on the walls, and a few of the shirts that reminded her of the Outside were tacked to the wall. She had made a beaded curtain out of small blue beads, twine, and a few shells from the beach. In exchange for the room, she also cooked meals twice a week and did housework.
"Wow, your room is quite large." Tzaaki commented, looking at the memorabilia on the walls.
"Here, this is the best part." Slayer said, grinning and moving a bookcase to reveal a ladder going to the ceiling. She climbed it, unhinged something, and pushed a trap door open. Slayer disappeared for a moment out of the hole, then poked her head back in.
"Come on up. I have roof access." She said.
Tzaaki climbed the ladder quickly and climbed out onto the roof.
"Wow. This is nice." Tzaaki said, looking across the rooftops.
"I come here when I need time to think." Slayer said. "Come on, let's get some food. I don't know about you two, but I'm starved!"
Slayer led the way into the kitchen, and pulled several things out of storage, and lit a fire beneath a cast-iron skillet. She mixed up a batter, and poured it into the skillet when it was hot enough, forming a large cake. She made three of these. She removed the fried cakes and set them aside as they finished cooking. Into the now hot skillet, she added some oil, and dumped in some half-cooked rice, and stirred the rice around until it began to fry. She then added water, put out half the fire beneath the skillet, and let the mixture simmer, adding a few vegetables and spices, and putting a lid on the skillet. To keep them warm, she put the fried cakes on top of the lid.
"It'll be about 20 minutes before its ready, unless you want really soupy stuff." Slayer said, brushing some sweat away from her brow.
"What was that?" Cassie asked.
"A quick dish the family who lives here taught me. It's actually quite good." Slayer said. "They've taught me a lot of dishes, and I think I've taught them a few things. Like, before I came, they had never had pancakes. Sadly, I need eggs for that, so we've found a few chickens to keep in a communal yard outside of town."
"Why sadly. We eat eggs when necessary." Tzaaki said.
"No one normally eats eggs. Its sacrilege or something close to it." Cassie said. "By eating eggs, you are saying you don't mind destroying a future generation that has yet to be born."
"But all in all, some must be sacrificed. It's a law of the wild, in order for some to live, some must die."
Cassie started to get angry at the disrespect to the future in that statement, but kept her cool. Slayer sensed this, and checked the food. She put out the fire, and stirred the mixture. It was thick and goopy and lumpy. Putting the fried cakes onto a plate, she slopped a spoonful or two of the mixture into the center.
"Here. Lets eat." Slayer said, ripping off a piece of the cake and scooping up some of the slop before eating it. Tzaaki smiled and followed suit.
"Thanks. I've been running on empty for a while." Tzaaki said, popping some of the stuff in her mouth. "It's better than it looks, Slayer."
Cassie took a bite. "Indeed."
They ate in relative quietness and went back to the warehouse after they were done.
At the warehouse, Andraste and Anthony were in a heated discussion over what could be done. Andraste kept calling Anthony's plans "pipe dreams" and saying that they could never work. Anthony wanted to tear down society, assassinate the Elders, and cause general fear and chaos. He asked Tzaaki to come along in order for her to lead in the carnivores in an attack against major cities. Andraste called this bunk. He said that in order to get what you needed, you had to brainwash citizens. However, Andraste enjoyed the idea of hiring the carnivores to cause havoc. He could use that to show that he is a leader they need. He could have them attack, and then stop them himself and command them back. Afterwards, he'd lie and say it was no trick and he has no association with them. It would be playing into people's fears, and building on the old legend of the boy who saved a town from an attack and stopped the carnivores in their tracks.
Conversations between the two groups were less heated. Some of them began to doubt why they had begun to associate with the two boys, and questioned their practices. Chad and Yvonne were the ones who were apart from the group, sitting together in a far corner, discussing something deep.
Slayer stepped out for some fresh air and cigarette. She looked up and admired the stars, which seemed to shine brighter than before. 'If Anthony or Bran has their way,' she thought to herself, taking a deep drag on the cigarette, 'then I may never see these stars the same. But the chance to see the Outside again is tempting.'
"The same three beats of peace, revolution, and war repeat themselves in an endless waltz." Cassie said, coming up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's getting frightening in there. Outside is so much more peaceful."
"Silence," chapter 8
Civilization and Thoughts
Tzaaki sent a messenger to Anthony when she got into the city. The city was a frightening place for her. The only human constructions she had seen since her adoption were the shrines in and around the Basin, and the ruins of ancient temples.
Looking down, she found herself on a path, but it wasn't wild and overgrown. Instead, the path was straight and narrow, lined with tall buildings that loomed to the height of her father and mother at times. The streets were cobbled and swept clean, and they lacked the sounds of the wild forests. Small, nicely kept trees were planted at intervals, and from the branches, small songbirds hopped and sang. Tzaaki shuddered at the cleanliness of the city and walked slowly down the street. She heard the far-off voices of saurians and humans together, apparently at market.
She was saved from making more human contact by Anthony hurrying down the street to greet her.
"Welcome to civilization." Anthony said.
"I've been around humans before." Tzaaki spat. "This place is so...clean."
"Yes, well, this is where lots of humans live, and we're not in the wild anymore." He paused and looked her over. "Come with me. We can get you some fresh clothes, good food, and hot bath." He turned and started walking down the street.
"Ooh. I haven't had a hot bath for a long time. Mother rarely takes us to the hot spring." Tzaaki smiled and caught up to Anthony.
They walked in silence for a distance.
"It's been a long time for you, hasn't it?" Anthony broke the silence.
"Huh?" Tzaaki looked sharply at Anthony.
"Being in a human settlement. It's been a long time for you." Anthony said, waving to an elderly woman sweeping the steps of a row house.
"Yes." Tzaaki looked at the ground. "Sometimes, I question whether or not I am human or Giganotosaurus. And no, I don't eat raw meat. My mother was kind enough to find a raptor that could smoke meat and cook it for me until I was well. Then the raptor taught me all I needed to know about cooking the meat the father brought home."
"I wasn't gonna ask you what you ate. I was gonna let you be the boss in that respect." He glanced at Tzaaki. "Want to run? I'll take you around the market-place."
Tzaaki shrugged. "Sure." She took off at a light trot. Anthony quickly passed her, but was severely out of breath when he reached the warehouse. Tzaaki was breathing hard, but wasn't as bad as her male companion. "You really need to learn endurance."
"Oh....shut..." He drew in a breath, held it, and exhaled. "Up." He opened the door to the warehouse and guided Tzaaki inside.
"Everyone." Anthony said, still short of breath. "This is Tzaaki. She has agreed to provide the carnosaur help needed."
Cassie, Chad, and Bran came up to inspect the newcomer.
"Welcome to our lair." Andraste said, looking Tzaaki up and down. "You have the right proportions for Cassie and Slayer. Maybe they can help you get cleaned up, and get some food into you."
"Hi, I'm Cassie, welcome to Chandara." Cassie said smiling.
Chad looked Tzaaki over and walked back to where Yvonne was sitting.
"Um, hi." Tzaaki said, looking slightly nervous. "I guess I'm going with you, Cassie."
Cassie smiled and nodded. "Yep." Cassie turned and headed towards a different door. Slayer got up and followed, beckoning Tzaaki to follow, which she did.
The two led her to a public bath house, and helped themselves in cleaning their hair and bodies before soaking in a bath. Tzaaki followed suit, the dust and mud sliding off her skin, which shone with a brilliance showing her family roots. She washed her hair and combed it straight, and then Cassie helped her tie it back.
"We need to get your hair trimmed. You have split ends." Slayer mused while admiring the wild girl's personage. "And you are so beautiful for someone who has lived with the carnivores."
"Thank you. Mother did tell me I was the most beautiful of all her children, despite me being human." Tzaaki said. She mumbled something in her language, a prayer of thanks for her deliverance to kind humans.
"You have a family out there?" Slayer asked, intrigued.
"Yes, I live with Standtall and his wife Firestorm. They adopted me and cared for me when their sons found me." She recounted her story. Slayer edged closer, excited by the sheer fantasy of the story.
"Forgive me. I'm a dolphinback, and nothing exciting happens in the Outside." She rethought her statement. "Well, nothing like THAT ever happens there."
"Nothing too exciting happens in the Basin, as well." Tzaaki shrugged. "There are scuffles between clans, but other than those, we live in relative peace."
"I always thought that there were constant clan wars in the Basin, and that it wasn't safe." Slayer said, shifting to lean against the wall of the bath, looking sidelong at Tzaaki.
"Well, for a human, yes it is dangerous, unless you are accompanied by a meat eater, or the Habitat Partner. Or if you are going to one of the temples in the forest." Tzaaki answered. "And gifts to appease those whose territory you cross are always welcome." She smiled.
"So you aren't wild beasts?"
"No. We're quite civilized. I just look wild and unkempt because I haven't gotten a proper bath in a long time."
"I'm taking it you are fluent in Dinotopian and that Universal tongue thing you speak in?" Cassie asked.
"Yes. I knew Dinotopian before I was adopted."
"Okay, I'm turning into a raisin, so I'm getting out." Slayer said, standing up.
"Me too." Tzaaki stood up. Slayer admired her strongly built, yet light frame and smiled. Tzaaki wrapped the fluffy towel around her body and waited for Cassie to get out.
"You coming, Cassie?" Slayer asked.
"Sure. Gimmie a few seconds." Cassie smiled at Slayer.
"Alright, see ya soon." Slayer said.
In the dressing room, Slayer handed a bunch of clothes to Tzaaki.
"Here, these should fit you." She smiled. Tzaaki took the clothes and put them on. The shirt was a little too tight, but the skirt fit fine. Slayer looked her over and nodded in approval.
"Very nice, Tzaaki. I guessed those would fit you." Cassie said from the doorway. She walked over to them, and inspected Tzaaki. "For living in the Basin for almost your whole life, you are beautiful."
Tzaaki blushed and admired herself in a mirror.
"C'mon, let's go get some food at my house." Slayer said, exiting the building, and turning down an alleyway that would lead them to her house.
Slayer rented a room from a family and had turned it into her own private Outside World. The room was on the top floor, and had a high ceiling. Some of her CDs and posters had come up intact and were hung on the walls, and a few of the shirts that reminded her of the Outside were tacked to the wall. She had made a beaded curtain out of small blue beads, twine, and a few shells from the beach. In exchange for the room, she also cooked meals twice a week and did housework.
"Wow, your room is quite large." Tzaaki commented, looking at the memorabilia on the walls.
"Here, this is the best part." Slayer said, grinning and moving a bookcase to reveal a ladder going to the ceiling. She climbed it, unhinged something, and pushed a trap door open. Slayer disappeared for a moment out of the hole, then poked her head back in.
"Come on up. I have roof access." She said.
Tzaaki climbed the ladder quickly and climbed out onto the roof.
"Wow. This is nice." Tzaaki said, looking across the rooftops.
"I come here when I need time to think." Slayer said. "Come on, let's get some food. I don't know about you two, but I'm starved!"
Slayer led the way into the kitchen, and pulled several things out of storage, and lit a fire beneath a cast-iron skillet. She mixed up a batter, and poured it into the skillet when it was hot enough, forming a large cake. She made three of these. She removed the fried cakes and set them aside as they finished cooking. Into the now hot skillet, she added some oil, and dumped in some half-cooked rice, and stirred the rice around until it began to fry. She then added water, put out half the fire beneath the skillet, and let the mixture simmer, adding a few vegetables and spices, and putting a lid on the skillet. To keep them warm, she put the fried cakes on top of the lid.
"It'll be about 20 minutes before its ready, unless you want really soupy stuff." Slayer said, brushing some sweat away from her brow.
"What was that?" Cassie asked.
"A quick dish the family who lives here taught me. It's actually quite good." Slayer said. "They've taught me a lot of dishes, and I think I've taught them a few things. Like, before I came, they had never had pancakes. Sadly, I need eggs for that, so we've found a few chickens to keep in a communal yard outside of town."
"Why sadly. We eat eggs when necessary." Tzaaki said.
"No one normally eats eggs. Its sacrilege or something close to it." Cassie said. "By eating eggs, you are saying you don't mind destroying a future generation that has yet to be born."
"But all in all, some must be sacrificed. It's a law of the wild, in order for some to live, some must die."
Cassie started to get angry at the disrespect to the future in that statement, but kept her cool. Slayer sensed this, and checked the food. She put out the fire, and stirred the mixture. It was thick and goopy and lumpy. Putting the fried cakes onto a plate, she slopped a spoonful or two of the mixture into the center.
"Here. Lets eat." Slayer said, ripping off a piece of the cake and scooping up some of the slop before eating it. Tzaaki smiled and followed suit.
"Thanks. I've been running on empty for a while." Tzaaki said, popping some of the stuff in her mouth. "It's better than it looks, Slayer."
Cassie took a bite. "Indeed."
They ate in relative quietness and went back to the warehouse after they were done.
At the warehouse, Andraste and Anthony were in a heated discussion over what could be done. Andraste kept calling Anthony's plans "pipe dreams" and saying that they could never work. Anthony wanted to tear down society, assassinate the Elders, and cause general fear and chaos. He asked Tzaaki to come along in order for her to lead in the carnivores in an attack against major cities. Andraste called this bunk. He said that in order to get what you needed, you had to brainwash citizens. However, Andraste enjoyed the idea of hiring the carnivores to cause havoc. He could use that to show that he is a leader they need. He could have them attack, and then stop them himself and command them back. Afterwards, he'd lie and say it was no trick and he has no association with them. It would be playing into people's fears, and building on the old legend of the boy who saved a town from an attack and stopped the carnivores in their tracks.
Conversations between the two groups were less heated. Some of them began to doubt why they had begun to associate with the two boys, and questioned their practices. Chad and Yvonne were the ones who were apart from the group, sitting together in a far corner, discussing something deep.
Slayer stepped out for some fresh air and cigarette. She looked up and admired the stars, which seemed to shine brighter than before. 'If Anthony or Bran has their way,' she thought to herself, taking a deep drag on the cigarette, 'then I may never see these stars the same. But the chance to see the Outside again is tempting.'
"The same three beats of peace, revolution, and war repeat themselves in an endless waltz." Cassie said, coming up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's getting frightening in there. Outside is so much more peaceful."