Challenge: Defgras, a sport or a ritual?
Sorry I haven't written in a while! I got caught up in life. I was in a musical and it took a lot of time adn effort! Now that it is over, I have more time for my fanfiction. So, anyway, I hope you like this one! I love the character I added, the main one not the mermaids. Althought I like them to!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that are from Buffy or any other show. I also don't own the NaNoWriMo challenges. That is really depressing! But I do own the characteres I made up and the plot! So, yay me!
We dare you to invent a new sport and add it to your novel. (Make sure you explain all the rules.)
"Lovely dancing," Dawn told Spike. Spike was holding on to Dawn at arm's length, like a professional ballroom dancer. They had found where the music was coming from. In a small cove in the reef, there was a group of mermaids playing what looked like makeshift instruments. They had invited Spike and Dawn to join them. They have been listening to the music and dancing for the past hour. "You know I won't bite if you get a little closer, right?"
I might. Spike thought. He was feeling a little weird. He couldn't help but notice Dawn's body, the way she moved, the way she tipped her head, as if asking for permission to do something she was going to do anyway. No! That is the slayer's sister! You cannot express your liking of her, not at home! Not here!
"Spike? Are you ok?"
"'Course 'Bit, Just thinking of how we got here and how we can get home."
"Oh, yeah. That!" Dawn didn't look too concerned. "It's a dream, remember? No big deal." Dawn didn't look convinced anymore. She said it mostly for herself.
"It isn't, Dawn. We have to get home!"
"No we don't!" Dawn pulled away from him. "We don't have to do anything. I'm going to stay here and enjoy a nice swim. So either get out of the way or have fun with me!" She swam over to a few of the mermaids.
"Hi, I'm Dawn." She extended her hand.
"Hi, Alexis, Sandy, and I'm Terry." The brunette mermaid pointed at the other two then herself.
"So, what do you guys do for fun around here?"
"You aren't from around here, are you?" Sandy asked. Dawn could tell why she was called Sandy. Her hair was the color of Sand. The kind that has been sun bleached.
"No, I'm not."
"That's cool! We almost never get new people!" Alexis gushed.
"Yeah, our town is sooooo boring!" Sandy picked up a shell, admiring it.
"There's a Danthif game tonight. If you want, you could go with us!" Terry told her.
"Yeah, we know all the cute players." Sandy giggled.
"Looks like she already has a cute player." Alexis pointed at Spike who was swimming over to them. "No, Spike and I aren't, we, no, we, ummmm, aren't a couple." Dawn stammered.
"Yeah, it looks like he wants to be just friends." Sandy told her. "I have a sense for these things, he's hot on you. Big time!"
"Spike, this is Terry, Alexis, and Sandy. Terry, Alexis, Sandy, this is Spike."
"I'm going to the game with them, you want to come?" Dawn asked him.
"Dawn, we really need to get out of here." Spike told her.
"No, I want to stay for the game! I'm staying!" Dawn smiled in triumph, Spike frowned Dam Summers women!
"I'm soooo lost!" Dawn proclaimed as she watched the mermen swim around the ring.
"Ok, let's see," Terry looked at the mermen. "See over there they guy with the brown tail. He is a Defgra. Ok?" Dawn nodded. "And so is the guy at the other end. Each time someone scores those two move down a post. They have to cover the two closest posts. Okay?"
"Yeah, got it, I think. So what do the other players do? They have to score with the coconut?"
"Yeah," Alexis chirped. "They have to get the coconut in one of the two posts. Every time they do they get a point and the Defgras move to their left, around the ring."
"So, what's the catch?" Dawn asked. They game seemed pretty easy to her.
Sandy leaned in dramatically. "The Becks!"
"What?"
"You see the cage over there?" Dawn nodded at the cage made of bamboo tethered down. It held something she couldn't quite see. "It releases one of the team's becks every time the other team gets a goal."
"What are they?" Dawn asked.
"They are fish, I think. They have evolved to make themselves invisible. We have trained them for the game. They turn invisible and attack almost anything. The teams train them not to attack the team." Terry told her.
"So how do you control them in the ring! What separates us from them?"
"See those yellow shells? Those are the becks natural predators. They keep them in. Of course we don't use live frots, just their shells. But the becks don't know the difference." Alexis told her.
"Cool," Dawn acknowledged. "What do you think Spike?" Dawn turned to the former vampire.
"Yeah, it's cool." He needed to stop, stairing at Dawn! She was going to notice. What was wrong with him. He usually could control his urges better than this! He frowned, mad at himself
"You seem so excited about it." Dawn turned back to the game. "Anything else you can tell me about it?" She asked, fascinated.
"Ummm," Alexis thought.
"It comes from a ritual." Sandy told Dawn. "It was said the posts can call the sea goddess. They called her to help the people." Spike snapped to attention. "If you did the dance right and gave up your life." Sandy told her dramatically.
"What?" Spike asked her.
Terry rolled her eyes at Sandy. "It's an old tale, not even true. It's said the dance takes some of your life but in turn the goddess grants your wish for your people."
"It's written in the cave over there. We can check it out later if you want". Alexis told them.
"Can we go now?" Spike asked. He looked at Dawn. She looked so beau- No he cannot think this way! He scowled again. Dawn looked at him, confused about his behavior.
"No," Dawn told him. "I think I'm finally getting the game. We can go after it." Dawn told him, coldly. She didn't feel like being nice to him. All he wanted to do was go home. He obviously didn't want to spend time with her. Or that's what Dawn thought. He was having a hard time spending time with her, but not for the reasons he thought. He couldn't seem to hide what he felt for her. She kept being her, and he kept looking at her, then feeling guilty for looking at her because he couldn't love her.
By the time the game had ended it was dark, Spike was miserably, not dong well to control his urges to love her and Dawn was not helping. Luckily, the girls had a couple of shells with organisms that glowed in the dark. They couldn't, however, help Spike with Dawn and his feelings.
"The cave is over here." Terry pointed out. The cave looked very ominous. It seemed to glow from within. "When we were little it was kind of scary. Not so much now, though, right?"
"I don't know, Terry, It's still pretty scary. Maybe we can come back in the light? You know when a killer squid is less likely to eat us!" Sandy held her shell farther out in front of her.
"Come on, Sandy! Where is your sense of adventure?" Alexis nudged her with her elbow.
"In bed, where I belong." Sandy told her.
"Cut it out you two!" Terry scolded them.
As they neared the cave everything seemed to stop moving. The water was still as if everything was frozen. Time stood still. It seemed wrong to talk or even move. No one moved but Dawn.
She entered the cave. The glow became stronger, almost blinding.
"How dare you enter this cave!" A voice boomed through the cave. Dawn felt as if her head was buzzing. The light faded. "How dare you enter this holy place!" The voice seemed famine, goddess like.
"What are you talking about?" Dawn looked to the others. They were frozen. They looked like statues, cold and unmoving. "What did you do to my friends?" Dawn yelled to the disembodied voice.
"I have done nothing but freeze them in time. They are not harmed. You however, I may not be as kind. You have something you shouldn't. Power, shimmer." A wisp of what seemed like smoke appeared in front of Dawn. What looked like a face appeared in the smoke. It looked confused. "You are not right."
"How should I be then?" Dawn raised her chin in defiance. The wisp, touched her and shimmered a bright green.
"What spunk. You shimmer too, green, just like I used to. Just like me." The wisp drew back becoming pale green. " How odd. I used to shimmer green before I was sent here. When I was new, when the world was new, and when demons still roamed the earth. The men banished me here. To protect me, to protect them, from the demon. The demon who was not a demon at all, but a star, who had fallen. A fallen star? She was not a star, though, no, that's not right. A much more powerful being. She wanted me, fought for me. But they couldn't let that happen. They sent me here, breaking me in three. Sent me here where no one would look. Sent the other two away. I missed them. Missed them terribly. They sent them away. They put me here in the shimmering water, no one would notice the shimmer. The water should shimmer, no one would notice. They sent me here, where the merpeople took care of me. Said they would try to make me whole. Find the other me's. But no, they could not, tried, but could not. Not enough power, not enough shimmer. In return, though, for them trying, I helped them. Helped them thrive. Took their energy to keep me whole, then made them thrive. I loved them. Loved them, till they forgot me. But I helped them, none the less, still do. I don't use their energy, use my own. Still help them when I can. So, it's not as terrible being sent here." The wisp touched her and formed the outline of women. "You, where did they send you? They said they would send you away, so she couldn't have you. Did they send you to the stars? Or perhaps the shimmery jewel they had. It was so pretty. It shimmered like me, but it wasn't me, but it was. Where were you? Where is she? Did you find her, the other me, other you? They said no one would find me or you" The wisp touched Dawn again, burning green, then turning in to the form of a women. "Or her. But my other part found me? Did you find her as well? Why do you not have her with you? Why is she not here? I missed them, me, you. Missed them terribly. Missed the shimmer we made. We were one, but separate. I missed the power, the shimmer. They broke us. Told us it wasn't safe. Not safe at all." The women pulled back becoming almost a ghost.
"Not safe? We were in danger? From who?" Dawn was panicking.
"Who?" The women almost laughed as if Dawn should know the answer. " The fallen star, the goddess. The one they broke us for. With us, she could go home, destroy the world. We were safe in our world. The other gods trapped her. They were afraid of her. Afraid of her power. What she could do. But she could not find us. The men found us, took us. Took us for themselves, then made enemies with the goddess. The men had what she needed. Us. We would open the world so she could go home."
"Home? Open the world? A goddess?" Dawn asked the women. The woman was fading even more, becoming a wisp again.
"A goddess, who looked for us, but could not find. But the men found us. Sent me here. I could not find us, you, her. The merpeople tried. Some died trying, but could not fix me, us. I was trapped here, could not leave."
"Is that what the posts are for?" Dawn asked. "To fix us?"
"Yes, the posts. They tried to call you and her. To find you. To help me. To make us shimmer again." The wisp touched her, shimmered a green color. When it pulled back it dulled again.
"Could we use it to make you… us… whole?" Dawn asked.
"No, we need her. Our sister. All of us. Together, to make it work. To make magic, to make it shimmer. We don't have enough power, shimmer. I don't have much left. You shimmer, though, brighter than I did, brighter than her. I missed you terribly, miss her terribly. Where have you been?" The wisp touched Dawn's face. It shimmered a bright green again, formed a women's body. "We were one, but not. Missed you, her." The women looked longingly at Dawn. She had tears in her eyes.
"How do we find her? Where do we look?" Dawn asked her.
"You found me. How did you find me?"
" I found you by chance. I don't know how to find her. I didn't even know you existed." The women drew back, causing her to become a wisp again.
"By chance? You don't know me? Didn't you miss me? They broke us, didn't you miss me?" The wisp almost died out.
"Wait! I didn't know! They changed my form? I was a jewel or in the stars? I'm human now. I don't remember! What about her, the one who wanted us? Where is she, what does she want? Maybe she knows where the rest of us is?"
"No, she does not, should not. They broke us so she couldn't. Sent you away, and her. Where is the other us? I miss her."
"Listen! I need to get out of here if we are going to find her. Can you send us back? "
"I have tried, I can't leave, I tried. They sent me here, so I am to stay. Can you go? Did they send you here?"
"No I sent me here, Can you sent us?"
"Us? I said I cannot go, cannot leave, I was sent here. You do not listen. You used to, when we shimmered together."
"No, I meant us, as in Spike and I. Do you have the power to send us back so I can find our other part?"
"Yes, I have that power. I haven't truly shimmered for a millennia, but I can still shimmer. You, I can send back. Him? You want him to go with you? He does not being with you." The wisp seemed to get denser. A hand materialized, reaching for Spike's cheek. "How odd, he is. He feels the need to protect you. Even when you do not belong in this world," The entity turned to face Dawn. "But he doesn't belong either, does he? He is not a being that belongs. There is something special about him. He is not like the other demons. He has a heart, a piece of soul. He shouldn't, shouldn't have that piece." The entity touched Spike's face. It didn't change. It stayed to wisp. The other powers, the younger ones, must have given it to him, let him keep it. He loves you with it. He loves. Tries not to, does anyway. Why, I do not know. We deserve love. We loved each other. We loved others. Men, we did not like, you did, always did. Her and I did not like them, you loved them." The wisp touched Dawn again glowing bright, then pulled back. "I will send you both back, to the surface, where you can find her. I miss her, miss you. They broke us, to protect us. Protect us from her, do not forget that. Do not forget to come back. I miss you, miss her. We belong together, to shimmer." She touched Dawn's face. It whispered, "…To shimmer." Dawn stared into the women's green eyes, she felt herself spinning. All she could see were her other self's eyes. She grabbed for Spike, catching his arm. His arm was still unmoving. Dawn tried to scream, but found it was lost in the green wind.