HALLO! This is Magma, and I'd like to thank those who have reviewed/followed/favorite this story!
Ahem~ reegreeg'd like to add that we don't own, like, anything.
Sarid laid in his bathtub, suds covering the top of the water. His eyes were closed and face at ease. After a few minutes, he dried off and dressed himself in to the pajamas of silk he had made earlier that day. He went into his room, rubbing his hair with a towel to dry it.
The sun had set, cool moonlight coming through the windows, he staring out one into the yard, where crickets chirped and fireflies winked.
He sighed, went to his bed and laid down.
Back home, this was the time of day he'd sit out on one of the balconies of the manor he had built, drinking tea and looking out over his land that he explored, defended, and harvested. He'd look out over the town he had built, and the people who lived in it. It was small in population, but it was prosperous and wealthy, and he had built it. No one else, just he and his hands that had mined the stone, carved the stone bricks, and placed the stone bricks. Who had carved the wooden furnishings and decorated the homes to the citizen's unique taste so it fit them perfectly.
While he never felt emotion, looking upon his land brought some light to him.
He closed his eyes, imagining the buildings washed in the moonlight.
Red had cleaned up the kitchen and put all the uneaten food away, and was in his room, dressing into his pajamas. He wrote a letter at his desk, then climbed onto his loft bed, turning on the lamp on the wall, and reading a book.
Terra Lark couldn't sleep. Her bed was too puffy. Her blankets were to puffy. Ceratopia was too puffy.
So she picked the colorful rug off the floor and took an oversized tweed coat from her closet and began meandering off towards...something. There were an awful lot of distractions on her way to something: gossiping moths, a corn snake with indigestion, and a group of fluffy gray bunny-like objects who she was enthralled to find weren't bunnies at all, but puffs of dust.
But after an hour or two of conversing with random animals and poking at the now-aptly named "dust bunnies" (it took Terra five minutes to come up with that, and another ten to realize that name already existed), Terra found herself sitting on the shingles of the roof, a rug in one hand and a coat in the other. The roof, she reasoned, would be a great place to sleep.
She held that assumption in her head until she started sliding off. Then she had to scrabble for her life; afterwards she cursed a very very very blue streak and decided that she'd have to settle for sleeping on the floor of her room instead.
So much hassle.
Dunal finished a small amount of spring roll and went outside. She shivered in the cool night air. She tried to melt her rock, but her flames weren't hot enough due to energy loss. She just decided to dig a hole in the dirt and bury herself, but even that didn't work. She shivered for a long while before she went inside to warm up, then went upstairs to sleep in front of Red's door.
Red turned off his lamp, pulling the covers up to his chin and laying on his back. He was glad the bed was bigger that normal, otherwise his feet would be sticking off the end. He rolled on his side, staring into the dark.
The Dinaurian scratched at his door, trying to open it. Her claws were good for many things. Opening doors was not one of them.
Red opened his eyes at a scratching sound, making him push the covers of and climb down to the floor. He went and opened his door, looking out into the hallway, not seeing anyone. He felt something warm and rough against his leg, making him look down to see Dunal.
Dunal felt Red's warmth touch her belly, and she instantly ran into the room and jumped up upon the bed. She curled up on the pillow and fell asleep, wrapping some of the blankets around her to keep warm.
Red stood there for a few moments before closing the door and and climbing back onto top of the bed. He wrapped Dunal in the leather pad Sarid had given him, to keep her scales from hurting him. After that, he lays his head down, falling asleep.
The child blinked as Red got in the bed with her and wrapped her up. She purred and snuggled up beside him, absorbing warmth and making her scales smooth to hold in the heat to keep herself warmer.
Flames. Screams. Blood.
The buildings crumbling down and the people running in panic, Sarid watching it all from the person who carried him, staring over their shoulder. His brown stuffed bear fell from his hands, the person carrying forced to stop from monsters that blocked the path, drawing their sword.
Sarid stared his bear, hot tears running down his face, when a shadow fell over it, an armored arm made from the shadow reaching down and picking up the bear, raising it to a face with glowing red eyes.
"Sarid..."
His bright blue eyes popped open, gasping for breath and tearing out his Phoenix Blaster. He jumped from the bed, rolled, and fired ten shots.
Smoke streamed from the barrel of the gun, his skin was slick and heated, his eyes wide open and he panting.
The cool moonlight still poured through the windows, showing the room was empty, and that the only humanoid shadow was his own.
"..." He blinked, lowering his gun and wiping his forehead, pressing his hand over his eyes.
I loathe sleep.
Sarid took a deep breath, lowering his hand. He went to the dresser and pulled out his sword, then sat on the sofa in his room, tapping his foot and staring into the dark.
Dunal shivered in a dimly-lit room, dark shadows and red eyes staring through the darkness at her. She was in a stiff cocoon, confused and frightened half to death. She mewed and cried. She was never more scared in her life.
A shadow moved to her, fangs gleaming, blood lust in its eyes. It would eat her alive.
The child screamed and sat up, clawing at the leather until it ripped apart, doing the same to the covers. She shot up and smashed through the window, flying lopsidedly into the surrounding trees to be alone for a while. She smashed into twigs and branches, her wings now torn. A large mark was left were she fell.
The ruckus had woken Red with a yell, and had made him fall to the floor.
Ow... He thought, sitting up with the door flew open, he looking to see Sarid, who had a glowing sword of elegance in his hand.
"What's wrong?"
"Dunal had a nightmare, I think..." Red told him, then pointing at the window. "Though she also torn up the blankets."
"Reckless misconduct." Sarid mumbled. "Fine. You can sleep in my bed. I'll fix the window and the blankets."
"You can do that?" Red asked, amazed.
"Yes." Sarid told him. He turned, leaving, Red following him.
An hour later, Sarid had completely fixed the window and the blankets on Red's bed, and he sat in the large living room of the house, cool moonlight still pouring through the windows. He still wondered why people required the things called TVs for entertainment, he and the people on Earth Is-Land had no such things.
Dunal silently cried to herself in the darkness of the forest. It all reminded her of the nightmares she had. She was cold, but too frightened to move anywhere but where she was. She mewed softly, hoping above all hopes that it was once again a nightmare.
It wasn't.
She remembered the horrible, slimy tongues of the Flyers rasping to suck her dry of her blood. The giant tusks of the Tankers, waiting, watching for the perfect time to gore her with them. The claws of the Night Crawlers, feeling her, determining if they should eat her or let her live to see another day.
She remembered her blood on the ground after a Kerak sliced her open to experiment with her innards. The child looked down at her stomach. Looked at the long, deep scar on it.
She was afraid, truly afraid, for one of the first times in her life, for what could happen to her. Of what did happen to her.
Curling up, tail over her eyes, she cried for a long time, all the while her Core Fire slowly going out from the cold.
Wynter put his head in his hands and glumly sighed, absentmindedly drumming long fingers on the ground around him and wiggling his toes and swaying slightly. Terra Lark, he told himself. What good are you if you can't kill Terra Lark? She just nearly killed herself, mucking about on the roof there. She should have been easy.
Should have been, parroted the other side of his head. There were a lot of things that "should have been" when it came to Wynter's life. But they never did turn out as they were supposed to. And he'd always just be the boy in the background, killing whatever needed killing and smiling when they didn't.
"Derbyn fey piracātam, hynafiaid," he whispered, scooping up a few fallen willow branches and set about lighting them on fire with two pocket-sized pieces of flint. "O ancestors, answer my prayers. Show me...show me home." It's not my home.
And so the ancestors did, after a few minutes of waiting in the late-night cold for a sufficiently sized puff of smoke to rise from the fire. June Wren answered his call with a tentative "Wynter?" and then a stronger, "What in the world is taking you so long?"
Wynter heaved another sigh and averted his eyes, unable to bring himself to meet the girl's steely crimson gaze. "I can't do it," he mumbled.
Her lip curled. "Yes you can."
"I can't," he insisted. "I've tried, I really have, but she has people protecting her and a thing has popped up and-"
"A 'thing'? Now I'm curious."
"I canna tell you about it."
She sniffed. "Whatever- wait; Wynter Towhee, why are you sitting on a Ceratopian lawn?"
"It's part of the 'thing'," he managed. "June, I'm really sorry, but I can't do it and I can't come back."
Another sniff; but June didn't pry. Instead she crossed her arms and said, "Then you are a traitor, Wynter Towhee. We will not send people after you, but if and when you do return to Ceirw Cilfach, you will be executed just like your target was supposed to be." And she waved her hand through the smoke on her end and severed the connection and in the first time in forever Wynter wanted to cry.
Because there went his life.
Sarid stared out the window at Wynter, who sat by a fire. He found it strange how anyone would want to sleep outside, especially during a full moon. What he found even stranger was that there was no monsters roaming about. Back at Earth Is-Land, there would be zombies and demonic eyes everywhere, and he almost wished there was so he could fight them.
He went back to the sofa, sitting down on it. Now his mind was focused more on how to keep everyone from killing each other, and how to keep Dunal from destroying everything. Even a three-year-old had better, less destructive behavior than her. Negative reinforcement could probably work, he knew it had earlier that day. Then there was the matter of how to prevent her from breaking anything until she learned to behave.
He also came to the conclusion to steer clear of Terra until he ran out of the solution Mortimer had given him. That in all truth was the only reason he smelled of a girl. His days were taken up by building, mining, and fighting monsters, so he'd return home drenched in sweat, gore, mud, and dirt.
So, of course, he never smelled very good.
Even no matter how hard he scrubbed himself, there was some lingering scent, and finally one day Mortimer came up to him, and instructed him to use a solution in his bath to get rid of the smell. It went away the next day, and he had to use it since.
So as of the moment, it was either smell like a girl or smell like a dead skunk on a hot day after rain.
Adira flopped upside down on her bed. "Why is it so hard ta sleep?" she sighed. Listening to the odd quiet of the house, interrupted everyone now and then by random gunshots("Do I want ta know? ...No. No I don't.") and footsteps on the roof. Letting out another sigh, she threw her feet over the side of the bed and got up. Tugging at the ends of her rather short pajamas, she shrugged. "I won't be flashin' anyone." she decided, padding out of her room.
Red laid awake in Sarid's room, feeling guilty of imposing on the blonde teen. True, Sarid was letting him stay in his room and said he wasn't going back to bed, but still. Questions and thoughts bounced around his head and the sweet smell of the sheets weren't helping to calm him down. Something to eat would probably help him, and a cup of herbal tea sounded wonderful at the moment.
He pushed the covers off and got out of the bed, and started towards the door when a dresser drawer suddenly caught his eye. It was open ever so slightly, and the moonlight reflected off of something in it.
He knew it was rude. Of course it was rude. There was nothing in there that was his concern. Probably just one of Sarid's weapons.
He opened the drawer.
It wasn't a weapon, it was actually a framed picture. It showed a group of people, being a nurse, a girl wearing pink with confetti all over her, a...creature that was short and blue-skinned, a girl with bright orange hair and a wrench across her back, a woman with a top hat, a...Cyborg...a dark-skinned man with a fedora and gun under his arm, a dwarf lighting a bomb, three elderly men with beards, one dressed as a wizard, one with a red hat, and another with a long brown coat and matching hat, a man with overalls and a paint can, a woman with heels, apron and scissors, a teenage boy with an awkward smile and book in his hands, a pirate with a parrot, a young man dressed oddly in shades of purple, a tanned man with a rich-colored robe, a person with a staff and strange mask, a woman with long green hair in a braid, and...a...humanoid blue mushroom?
In the middle of them all was Sarid, who still had not an emotion on his face.
Red stored the picture away, then left room, thinking about what he had just seen. He walked down the hall, and passed the stairs that lead up to the second floor, entering the large, spacious living room, when he saw Sarid sitting on one of the sofas.
"You're still awake?" He asked.
"And you?" Sarid asked.
"I was just going to make myself some herbal tea." Red answered. "Do you want some?"
"..." Sarid thought of the wonderful food he had tasted earlier. "...No thank you. I have no intentions of falling back asleep."
"Alright." Red told him, then going into the kitchen.
A few minutes later, he sat in the living room at the coffee table, sitting back on his ankles. He had turned the lights on, so the room was much brighter than before. He sipped his tea, it warming his insides.
"...Hey Sarid." Red said, Sarid looking at him. "What's it like where you come from?"
"...Interesting." Sarid told him.
"The people?"
"Interesting."
"The buildings?"
"I built them."
"You're a builder?"
"No, I am a crafter. I am a creator." Sarid told him. "I re-built Earth Is-Land from its crumbling ruins to the place it is now. Each building uniquely decorated for the resident. I am its defender, and I shall fall before I see it in ruin."
"..." Red blinked, surprised. "I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak."
"Hm." Sarid hummed.
Hm indeed, thought Terra as she watched the boys converse in the living room. Insomnia had led her to decide she might as well explore the house when nobody was up, but bumping into the redheaded girl in the halls and now watching these two was starting to make her think that exploration would be harder than she thought it would. Terra refused to let that deter her, though, and so she gallivanted about on slightly lighter feet than she had originally and that was that.
She considered butting into Red and Sarid's conversation and making some witty retort about herbal tea, though she couldn't come up with anything good, so she didn't. Instead she slumped down against the wall near the staircase and sighed, turning her necklace over and over in her hands and wiggling her toes in her new fluffy socks.
Red sipped his tea, looking at the bands on Sarid's arms. One caught his eye that had a purple shape with a gold symbol on it.
"What's that purple thing?" he asked, Sarid looking at the band.
"It's an Ankh Shield." Sarid told him. "It's very useful."
"What's it do?"
"Many things."
"..." Red blinked.
Dunal slowly made her way back to the house. The smell of her blood on the tree branches was strong and fresh from the crash landing.
She held her hand over the open cut on her wing to keep it from attracting predators. Gently shoving apart branches and vines and thorny bushes she went back to the home.
She scratched at the door in the darkness, hoping that someone was still awake so they could open the door for her.
"What was that?" Red asked. The scratching continued, Sarid standing and going to one of the glass sliding doors. He looked down, seeing Dunal with a bleeding wing, making him open the door, and picking her up.
"Come along." He said, then setting Dunal down on the coffee table. He examined the cut, then took out medicine and applied it to the wound, then bandaging it. "There. You'll be fine by morning."
Red came back from the kitchen, carrying a small plate with four spring rolls and jerky.
"Here you go." He tells Dunal, setting the plate down.
Dunal winced and hissed when the ointment was applied. She perked up at the food and swallowed it without chewing. The child then licked the plate clean, savoring every little morsel.
Terra padded out on to the lawn, staring at her fellow tribe-person's crackling little fire and dyslfunctional little tent and finally at him. "Hi," she said.
He did not say hi back. Terra swallowed down anger and went on, "Did I technically win that fight earlier? Or are you still trying to kill me?"
Wynter's lip curled and he halfheartedly threw a butter knife at Terra. "It's all your fault" was his cryptic answer. She gave him the finger and turned around with a "No it's not" and "So much for that."
She made sure to lock the doors to the house behind her – judging from Wynter Towhee's intelligence, it'd be some time before he actually walked around the house to come in through the front door in the morning. So that was one of her problems down; now just a million to go.
"Hi Terra!" Red said at her entering. "You can't sleep either?"
I doubt anyone is sleeping tonight. Sarid thought, Red then yawning.
"Am I able to sleep in my bed?" Red asked Sarid.
"Yes. Come." He answered, Red following him past the staircase, then to Red's room. They went in, Sarid opening the pack he carried with him, and taking out stones, some kind of fabric, and brown-grey metal bars. He assembled the stones next to the desk like a small cave, putting the metal bars in with the stones. Finally, he put in the fabric, and stood.
"What's that?" Red asked.
"It's a bed for Dunal." Sarid told him. "The metal is a...special kind, gives off heat and keeps the stone from melting. The fabric is interwoven with it, so she won't be able to destroy it, and it as well gives off heat." He went to the door.
"Sleep well." Sarid told Red, shutting the door. Red climbed back on top of his loft bed, crawling under the covers and sleeping.
Dunal trudged in behind Red, holding onto his hand like a toddler being led across the street. She fell onto the floor in an instant and fell asleep before she hit the ground.
"Hey, Terra." Adira called, trotting over to the younger girl. "Can't sleep either, eh? Doubt much sleep'll be gotten tonight. Unless you're Caiden. Went ta see if he was awake, good god a meteor coulda hit the house and he wouldn't stir!"
Terra furrowed her eyebrows at Red's retreating back and then shrugged at Adira. "This place is too puffy," she said. Then she grinned unexpectedly. "We should, like, egg him or something. Take the opportunities as they arise and stuff, right?"
"I like how you think." Adira grinned. "A dozen eggs per!"
The child blinked. She only slept for a minute, and she was already cold. She climbed into the rock bed and curled up on the odd fabric, enjoying the heat around her.
Sarid had decided the best look out was on the roof.
He sat on a flat area of it, looking around at the emptiness around them. The house was in the middle of the woods, the only sign of life being the city off in the distance with it's winking lights. However they slept with so much light was unknown. He had put on his armor and carried a different sword with a green blade, and odd crossbow-shotgun weapon across his back. He sat staring out into the darkness, when he remembered the letter Asher had given him before he left. Looking over at his pack that laid beside him, he opens it.
The letter had a wax seal on the front, an impression of a book in it.
He looked up, staring at the winking lights, feeling the paper in his hands, running his thumb over the smooth wax.
After a few moments, he looks back at it, breaking the seal and pulling the letter out, unfolding it. The first thing he noticed was the shaky writing.
Sarid,
I...I wish you weren't leaving. You're not going to long, right? Well, I mean, you can't really...considering your status around here and all...But...really, no one here wants you to go. (Words were erased after that)
Anyways...I hope...uh...whatever you're leaving for is resolved. I also...wish...you spoke to us, on matters like this...
But really. Please hurry back. Please.
-Asher.
A small squeak sounded out in the darkness. Something blotted out the stars in the night. It made no sound as it moved through the sky, and a small tuft of purple fuzz fell from it as it swiftly turned. The fuzz landed right before Sarid and clung to the roof shingles.
Sarid responded by drawing his shot-bow, and taking aim. The green arrows it had were deadly and would bounce back if they missed, which he had no intention of doing.
The thing suddenly flew very fast, breaking the speed of sound and making a loud sonic boom that was visible in the night.
Sarid just watched it fly, unaffected by the loud boom. Whatever it was, there was no reason for alarm. If it was hostile, it would have already attacked.
Terra yanked open a tall white closet thing and pulled out three cartons of eggs, smirking at Adira. "Party time," she mouthed.
"This is gonna be awesome!" Adira did a mini cheer, grabbing a carton from Terra.
Dunal bolted awake, startled by the boom. She looked around, confused, tired and crabby. Claws clacked on the floor as she left to find the source.
Red merely lifted his head, half asleep, hummed, and then rolled over, going back to sleep.
The child looked over at him. Rolling her eyes, she jumped up on the bed and tilted his head gently so the ear was facing her. And then she roared a loud as she could, without making him deaf, into said ear.
"Not now, Gale..." Red mumbled, waving a hand for Dunal to shoo, and rolling on his other side. "I'll feed you in the morning..."
Terra nodded to her new partner in crime and silently opened the door, her smirk growing wider.
Dunal was now furious. She carefully slipped under the covers and bit Red as hard as she could on the hand. She wanted him up and ready to move.
Because, to tell the truth, she was frightened.
Red shrieked in pain, automatically fighting back by kicking Dunal, making her fall to the floor on her back, Sarid bursting into the room. He saw Dunal on the floor and Red gripping his hand, filling in his mind on what had happened. Going to Red, he made him drink a healing potion, fixing his hand.
Misconduct.
The Dinaurian hissed and leaped at least twice as tall as she was and latched onto Red's face. Biting, scratching, hissing, spitting, and even a little flame-shooting proceeded as she payed Red back for what he did to her.
Sarid grabbed Dunal and threw her through the glass door, making it shatter again, Dunal skidding against the ground. Before she stopped moving, Sarid jumped through the broken door and blasted her with several water blots, then grabbed her neck, ran to the backyard pond, and dunked her into the water. After holding her there for five seconds, he lifted her out so she could breathe, then dunked her under again, repeating the process twice. After that, he threw her to the ground, placing his armored foot on her chest and pressing down.
"If you never wish for this again, stop acting childish and destructive." After a second of staring with his eyes that were empty of any human warmth or emotion, he lifted his foot off the pestiferous creature, then going back to the house and entering Red's room, making him drink a potion of healing.
Sarid then took the bed he made Dunal and put it in the yard, on the burnt ground ringed by sand he had made earlier.
She shivered, absolutely terrified now. Claws scraped the ground as she went to the little cave. But she didn't go inside. Instead, she went off to the forest, frightened and angry and overall scared. Leaves and pine needles served as her new bed and the thorn bushes were her blanket.
She muttered about monsters and demons and jumped at everything. She didn't get any sleep at all.
Something shrieked loudly in the darkness, diving and swooping at the pond.
"What was that?" Red asked, Sarid finishing up the repairs to the glass door. Again.
"Hm." Sarid hummed. "Something. This place is nothing to Earth Is-Land."
"How so?" Red blinked, interested.
"Zombies, flying eyes, Blood Moons, werewolves, vampires, Swamp Monsters, and such things."
"..." Red blinked, wide-eyed. "...Well then."
The thing shrieked again, then smacked into the window. It didn't break it, but it looked like a large dark blue and green bat with purple fuzz all over its back.
It flew away and flew into the window again, obviously trying to gain attention.
It is a horrible thing, having heightened senses, when things are making horrid noises at maximum volume. That's what Terra truly realized as she heard a loud ramming noise, and some creature shrieking; her ears were on fire and she swore they were actually bleeding as she flung her egg carton away to clap her hands over her ears and bury her head in her knees, gritting her teeth.
Of course, none of that helped. The noise was just as ear-splitting as it was a second ago.
Sarid stared at the creature through the glass door in Red's room, watching how it dove at the glass.
After that, he left room, running down the hall, past the stairs, the through one of the doors into the yard, drawing his shot-bow, taking aim and firing four green arrows. One his the creature's right wing, another hit the left, the third lodged itself in its rib cage, and the last stuck from the right shoulder. It would be forced to the ground, where Sarid could easily finish it with his sword.
The thing screamed and tried to right itself in mid air. However, this was useless, as it had broken wings now. It tumbled to the ground, but landed on its feet almost gracefully.
Now in the light, it looked more like a Nycto Ace with the colors and spines of a Spinax. Purple fuzzy stuff clung to the back of the creature, and it had a large, bloated chest. Its wings looked to be almost three times the size of the creature itself, and they looked strong and flexible, too. Part of its mouth didn't cover the teeth right, so it seemed to be in this forever snarling pose. Megenta eyes glowed in the darkness.
Its tail was the weirdest thing, though. It had the tail of a Nycto Ace. Almost as if it had been glued on the little thing. It was long and swished slowly as the thing tilted its head.
"Uurrra?" It flew forward and landed in front of Sarid, looking curious. It wasn't big enough to be dangerous, but the large chest offered a loud voice. It then mimicked the way he looked, now blank-faced, emotionless.
Anyone else would have been amused at its attempt.
Sarid was known and remembered for his eyes, not because they were emotionless and blank, but that they were voids the color of bright blue.
Even now he could see effects on the creature, being drawn in by fact his eyes showed no mortal warmth. Deeper and deeper, staring, nothing to find but seeing the darkness that was locked deep in them, like a trap that promised something, but gave nothing when you arrived. Just a hypnotic, deepening, darkening, void with nothing. When a person's face was emotionless, you could still tell they had emotion, locked away, but Sarid?
No.
There were no emotions to find.
Just the empty, cold, nothingness that could captivate any living thing, and already done so with the creature before him.
He clapped his hand right in front of the creature's face, startling it.
It shrieked and jumped back, turned around and tried to fly. It only made it as far as the pond with the torn wings and burning shoulder. It splashed in and flailed wildly, screaming and shrieking and clawing at the water.
Dunal suddenly tore from the forest and ran around the edge of the water, frightened and worried, but unable to get to the creature without dying herself. She raced to Sarid and tugged on his pant leg, pointing to the thing in the pond that was drowning.
Help him! Help Uraz! Uraz dying! Help Uraz! She ran around the pond again, shrieking at it and trying to help it. She only showed absolute fear. Her patterns burned a deep, violent red as her fear increased sharply.
Help Uraz!
Sarid waded into the pond, picking up the creature - Uraz - and carried it out, setting it onto the ground. He made it sit up, slapping it on the back as it coughed up water. When it had finished, he removed the arrows and treated the wounds, then turned his head to look at Dunal.
"There," Sarid told her. "Now, in return, you will behave properly."
She hugged the creature tightly and cried for the first time in public. It hugged her back and licked her, shivering violently. It looked terrified and in shock, but still able to respond.
I be good girl. I be good. She cried for a long time after.
"Hm." Sarid hummed, then standing. "...I can build him a bed-cave if needed."
It squirmed and flapped its wings, shaking its head.
He want nest. No cave. Nest better.
Sarid went to make one, gathering branches and tall grass, then climbed up a tree that stood a few feet from the ring of sand around Duanl's rock. He wove the grass together, reinforcing it with the branches, nestling it between the tree's branches, so that it stayed. After that, he took out more of the strange fabric - the same he had used in building Dunal's bed-cave, laying it in the bottom of the nest.
Sarid then jumped to the ground, looking at Dunal and Uraz.
"Done."
The creature flew around his head and finally latched onto his face, pecking his nose with its tongue. "Urrraaaaal! Vuuuuuuural!" It then flew up into the tree and preened its feathers, pulling some out and lining the nest with it.
"Never do that again." Sarid told it, then going back into the house, Red standing there.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"...All...right..." Red said. "Anyways, I'm going to bed, where I'm going to stay." He yawned and dashed past the stairs; Sarid heard his door shut.
Sarid sat on the sofa, actually tired.
Dunal sneaked in through the back door, opening the fridge for something to eat. Claws clacked on the floor and jostled around things in search of meat or a spring roll. She took a small stick of jerky and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing and swallowing right then and there.
The creature that Dunal refered to as Uraz was screeching, looking almost like it were trying to sing, though it couldn't do so very well. It suddenly fell from its nest and broke its wing again. Another scream brought Dunal barreling through the house and jumping over the couch and table and to the night...
Only to slam, face-first, into the glass sliding door that lead to the outside. Her momentum made the window look like a spiderweb had come to it magically, and the child fell limp to the floor.
The next morning...
"BREAKFAST!" Red yelled from the kitchen, having prepared mushroom omelets, and the table was set, glasses of milk and juice poured, and a bowl of fruit in the center.
Sarid came into the kitchen, having remained awake for the night, but showed no sign of weariness.
"Good morning Sarid!" Red told him with a big smile, setting the platter of omelets on the table. "How was your night?"
"Hm." The blonde hummed. "Yours?"
"I slept like a baby!"
"..."
"...What?"
"...You woke every few hours an cried for your mother?"
"What?! No! It's...It's an expression! I slept soundly last night."
"...Hm."
Dunal got up, dizzy from slamming into the door. She smelled eggs, though, and stumbled into the kitchen. Vural flew in somehow with a broken wing and landed in a chair, reaching across to get something to eat. His wings ended up scattering things across the table and knocking things over. His wing knocked Sarid's food off the table. He looked guilty after that and folded his wings over his eyes, scared of what the boy could do to him.
Sarid stared at his food on the floor, then turned and looked at Vural.
"In the future, I suggest you fold your wings together, or ask someone to fix you plate." Sarid tells him in his empty, monotone voice, then fixing himself another plate. "And the one you knocked off is your mess to clean."
Vural tilted his head. "...Urra?"
Dunal sat down in a chair and slumped, her head still spinning.
Sarid said nothing but began eating an omelet, still feeling nothing.
Red, however, took notice of Dunal's slump and wonder whether or not to ask, wondering if she'd be injured.
The child leaned over the side of the table, now unable to even keep balance in her eyes, and threw up. Dry heaved, to be exact, as she hadn't eaten in a while.
Vural, on the other hand, managed to snatch something from a random plate and down it in the blink of an eye. He choked for a moment, but then recovered and continued snatching random things from random plates faster than anyone could react.
Terra stumbled into the kitchen with a "bluh", puffing out her cheeks and flopping against the wall. "Bleh-bleh?" she mumbled. "Breakfast?"
"No," deadpanned Wynter, stomping in behind her, "lunch."
"No, breakfast." Red told Terra and Wynter, sitting down at next to Sarid, who sat at the head of the table.
Vural snatched something off of Red's plate and placed it in front of his sister, who was still heaving over the side of the table.
"Awesome," Terra said, feigning awake-ness. "Okay, so what have I missed?"
"Hey!" Red objected, about to speak again when Sarid brought his arm down on Vural, knocking him to the ground.
"Take something from the table, not another's food." Sarid instructed him.
"What is that thing?" asked Wynter, following Sarid's instructions to a T and taking an apple from the fruit bowl.
Terra frowned. "'E smells funny," she added, and then gestured towards Dunal. "Like you only nae."
Vural shrieked on the floor, flailing his arms almost uselessly. Dunal had no other reaction than a dark glare at Sarid before she doubled over again.
When the little Flyer did manage to get up, he shook himself off and stared at something else on Red's plate. He looked like he wanted the food to suddenly levitate to him. His wings twitched as he reached for it, slowly.
Sarid brought his fist down on Vural. HARD.
"There is food that you can get from the platters on the table." Sarid tells him. "Are you creatures so uncivilized that you believe that you may steal right from one's plate?"
Red sat in silence, his food haven fallen back onto his plate. He shrugged, then started eating.
Vural lay on the ground, half asleep from the blow. Several of his fragile, hollow bones were cracked, including his ribs, making it very hard for him to breathe. Dunal looked up, fear showing on her face. She immediately fell to the floor, trying to get away from him.
"Ooh mai," said Terra smally, yawning slightly, "forget I said anything."
The smaller Flyer just jumped back up upon his chair and stared at Sarid as he grabbed something from a PLATTER, not someone else's plate. He was obviously still hurt, but hunger drove him to dare eat at the table.
Sarid finished his breakfast in silence, then left to room, going to his bedroom, shutting and locking the door. He pulled the curtains from the windows, allowing the natural light in, taking a deep breath through his nose, as if to inhale the light.
He stood staring out the window he stood at for a bit, then turned his back and sat down at the chess table, rubbing his face.
Vural finally finished his breakfast without stealing from another's plate and hobbled past the stairs to Sarid's room. He looked up at the doorknob. It baffled him how any creature could operate it without sticky hands. He scratched on Sarid's door instead, hoping to get in.
"Leave," Sarid said at the noise of scratching from his door. He looked down at the chess pieces assembled in front if him, thinking back to the games he played with Mr. Pip back on Earth Is-Land.
Getting up, he went to the dresser and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a flat, circular crystal that had a ring of silver and four curving legs so it could stand. He returned to the chess table, setting it across from where his chair, which he then sat in.
"Shining crystal, I have a message to send, to Mr. Pip the Terrarian, my friend."
The inside shimmered then cleared, showing a room made of stone bricks with wooden furnishings, a man with a red hat and white beard sitting at a table, sowing needle in hand and stitching up a torn vest. He looked up, showing his dark blue eyes, which then wrinkled as a smile crossed his face.
"Sarid! Good to see you!" The elder said.
"Hello Mr. Pip." Sarid answered him, still void of emotions. "Would you like to play chess?"
"Certainly." He says, setting aside his work. He stood, taking a wooden cane in hand, picking up the crystal on his end, making the view of the surrounding area change as he walked. It stilled when he set the crystal down, showing view of a chess table and chair, when he settled into, still smiling.
"I believe it's your turn." Sarid told him.
"Alright." Mr. Pip said, picking up a chess piece on his end, and moving it, Sarid moving the same one to the same spot on his end. "How're things with you?"
"Slow. We have been moved to a home so that the researchers may study our behavior to see if that has any effect on our ability to communicate with dinosaurs."
"We?"
"I am here with seven others."
"Ah...what are they like?"
"One is friendly and an excellent cook, another also carries a gun and has an interesting accent, one panicked and slept, another is rather acrimonious, one was sent to assassinate the acrimonious one, and the remaining two are imps."
"...Sounds like an interesting bunch."
"Hm." Sarid hummed, moving a chess piece, Mr. Pip mimicking the move on his board. "...How's Asher and the others?"
"They're doing alright. Asher's been out and about more, keeps walking by the road coming from the shore, wanting you to come back..."
"Hm. The others?"
"Alright...until we have a Blood Moon, that is. Then someone's going to get killed."
"They know the penalty of murder."
"Aye."
They played chess in silence for a bit.
"...Sparkle wants to throw a welcome home party for you when you return."
"And?"
"...Well, you'll come, right?"
"What for?"
"Sarid, it's for you. You may not think it, but we do miss you."
"I don't wish to spend my time after returning home in a room with colored lights, dancing people covered in confetti and blaring music. I'd prefer to-"
"Sarid, this is the problem!"
He looked up at the crystal, able to see the elderly man's angered face looking through it.
"You can't think how what you do will affect other people! You may not have feelings, but everyone else does!"
The image of him disappeared, the crystal now clear, Sarid able to see the edge of the table through it.
"..." He stands, taking the crystal back to the dresser, then exiting to the outside, jumping atop on of the many large rocks, and sitting down, his face upturned to the sky.
"...Why do I require such petty emotions, Mr. Pip?" Sarid asks the air. "What use do they have?"
Vural followed Sarid and stood next to him, staring at him with big magenta eyes.
"...Urrrad?"
He looked worried. He flapped his wings and landed beside him.
"Leave me be, imp." Sarid ordered him, not looking.
Vural didn't listen, instead moving a little closer.
"Are you deaf?" Sarid asked, turning his head to look at Vural with his soulless eyes. "I said leave."
The flyer nodded, acknowledging what Sarid had said. But he only moved closer.
"Imp." Sarid said, then standing and jumping from the rock to the ground, landing perfectly on his feet. Standing, he walked away out into the trees surrounding the house, the same thing he did at home when he sought solace. As he crossed into the trees, he pulled a dark blue fabric from his pack, which he wrapped around his shoulders, it being a cloak, held by a circular clasp that, within it, held a downward facing triangle, bisected horizontally with a single line.
The cape of it hid him all the way down to below the knees, and the edge was torn and spotted with small holes, but very clean, as it was styled that way. Sarid pulled on the hood which hid most of his face, then pulled up the mask which hid the rest, only his eyes showing.
As he walked the property, he began to wonder if he could build himself a house out in it, away from everyone else. There were plenty of trees for wood and stone was easy to mine, though he wondered if the same laws of nature applied here as his Earth Is-Land. Soon enough, though, he came to a tall, chain link fence that reached at least ten feet in the air.
What was interesting, though, was the coiling barbed wire at the top, and how it leaned inward...
... Just like in prisons.
Vural followed him, looking down at him and flying a little slower. And then he found out about the barbed wire by running into it.
Sarid merely watched as the little imp crashed into the wire, then fell to the ground.
"I told you to leave me be. This is your punishment." Sarid told him, turning his back and walking.
Why are they trying to keep us in?
Vural easily got back up and flew at Sarid, catching up to him. "Uuurrrrid! Urrid!" He landed on his head, careful not to hurt Sarid in any way.
"Get off me." Sarid orders, grabbing Vural and dropping him to the ground, then walking.
Terra wasn't used to being ignored in the way these people did. It wasn't out of scorn (probably). They weren't shunning her. But nobody had anything to say to her; nobody saw her.
So she had two options – pick a fight (which would probably result in the loss of the rest of her teeth, judging from the fight from yesterday) or explore. There wasn't much to explore, but she decided to explore nonetheless.
Miss Lark found a great number of things while exploring. She found a book that wasn't a book, because it had no pages, only a glowing blue screen, and another screen that displayed a moving picture of a man happily waving toward a raging fire behind him. (She then found that when she showed them to Wynter, he went white with shock and started shaking uncontrollably – good to know.) She found her friend the corn snake (whose stomach was much better now, thank you very much) and a compsognathus in a little cage (she let it out, against her better judgement, and told it to get the heck out of this dump before anybody saw it) and a box with white-and-black buttons that made plink-plonky meandering music when she pressed them.
But she found nothing of interest. Nothing that would be the start of a great adventure. Nothing that would-
"Lark."
"Towhee," she answered, startled into responding.
Wynter crossed his arms. "You know what they found?"
"Do I know what who found?"
"Them," he grumbled, starting to think that talking to her was just as much a waste of time as the voice in the back of his head had said. "Blondie and that thing that looks like that Dun-ee piece."
"Okay, what did they find?"
"A fence." Wynter paused for effect. "In the forest."
Now Terra was intrigued. "No way. That's like against every rule ever!"
"I know!" Despite himself, Mr. Towhee felt a hint of animation creep into his voice. "I saw it when I was following these butterflies around? Blondie was walking and then, whoa, fence. I was gonna go find those scientists so I could ask them about it. Do you...um..." He swallowed. "Wanna come with me?"
Terra shrugged. "Mebbe. Why me?"
"Because you're the only person here who I know can help me find their place."
"Will we be taking anybody else with us?"
"I dunno, will we?"
Terra's mind flashed back to the previous day and how businesslike Wynter had seemed for the first two seconds of his assassination attempt. Safety in numbers. "Yes," she reasoned, "we will take Blondie. Come along now, no time to waste."
Only later would Terra realize that maybe she was getting her big adventure after all.
Sarid returned to his room through on of the outside sliding doors, shutting the door so Vural wouldn't follow. He pulled down his hood and mask, then looked around the room. Aside from his forge area on the loft, and his chess table, there in truth was little to do in his room, unless he wished to arrange his furniture into a fort, which was a waste of time.
So, he left the room into the hall, and started down it.
The house was large and spacious - which he liked, though it was nothing compared to his glorious manor - and Red was still in the kitchen, cooking something he called Gyoza, but he let Sarid taste it, and it was wonderful.
The main floor consisted of his room, Red's, a large study, the kitchen, and the lever large living room, and he found the second floor was mostly bed rooms, though it had an exercise room with odd machines - he found them bulky and useless, as all his swimming, mining and running gave him all the training needed - other that that, there wasn't anything that he would have spent his time on, until he came across a piano.
He remembered building one for Minerva when she first arrived, and at one point in his own life he had learned to play.
But, ink fades, for the parchment of his memory could no longer find the way to strike the keys and make a melody, and whatever ink had remained had been covered by blood, but no, blood cannot always erase the ink, for in the time before his present state the ink still showed in his memories if he so chose to think of them, until the dark day of death that had changed the ink to blood that stained the parchment and now and forever haunted him as if the ghost of a writer with a book unfinished clawed for his empty soul, and since the dark day, had chosen blood for his ink, as ink was for times of peace, which Sarid hadn't seen since the day he was created into his new state of mind, which, when he meditated brought the question upon him if he found solace in his fighting and waging wars upon the agressive invaders, so that more blood could be used as ink for the parchment of his memory, that was forever stained since the times of first bloodshed.
So no, he could not play a melody, for survival and building had taken his mind, and even though they as well brought solace, he questioned at times if it was all he was truly capable of, and how it calmed him if he felt no emotions, which lead to the further question of if he were even human, as he knew that whoever stared into his eye saw no human soul within them.
He blinked, then walked from the piano when he heard an "Ahem."
Turning, he saw Terra and Wynter.
"...Terra. Wynter." He said. "Might I help you?"
Dunal had managed to drag herself from under a bed and into the kitchen. She sniffed the air, tail dragging behind her, and jumped up onto a chair.
"Smell good," she told Red. "When it done?"
"Right now." Red told her, setting a plate of Gyoza in front of her.
She smiled weakly at him, grabbed a fork and spoon started eating. "It good food..." she hummed softly.
"Thank you." Red told her with a smile, then turning back to his cooking.
She nodded and finished her meal. She got down from the table and rooted around the pantry for some medicine, but being only four feet tall, she couldn't reach anything on the bread shelf.
"Hey, whatcha need?" Red asked, going over to Dunal.
She pointed over to the medicine she wanted, hoping to see if it was something that her mother made once. It cured an upset stomach in a few minutes.
Red reached up, taking the medicine bottle, unscrewing the cap, then looked inside to see little pills. After reading the instructions on the back, the took two of them and held them over Dunal.
"Open." He said, wanting her to open her mouth.
She did so, showing her smaller, pointy teeth, oversized fangs and a flat forked tongue. Red dropped the medicine into her mouth, then put the bottle of it away, except on a lower shelve, so that she could reach it if she needed it again.
The child choked on the medicine and tried to spit it out. It tasted like the rancid fish guts dipped in grape juice. And the bottle said bubble gum. Bubble gum her tail. She eventually choked it down, now looking even more sick than she was before.
"I was worried that'd happen..." Red said. "They never taste how they say they will!" He went over to what he was cooking, dipping out a bowl, then taking it to Dunal with a spoon. "Here, eat this. It's Daube de Boeuf."
She just stuck in her head and licked the bowl clean. By the time she was done, there wasn't even a stain of the stuff on the surface, and she was licking her face clean to get rid of the original taste of crap the medicine had left in her mouth.
"Yes, I am tolerably certain you could help us. Me. Us. Whatever." Terra folded her arms and rocked back on forth on the balls of her feet, making somewhat-steady eye contact with the emotionless blond, exhaling sharply through her nose. "Wyn- um, Towhee. Explain."
Wynter did as he was told, tactfully omitting the part where he was chasing butterflies and, in a strange gesture of kindness, including Terra in his tale (even though he referred to her as Lady Doomsday, a strange kind of monster with features so horrible they'd turn you to stone...no, ash...no, BIRD TURDS!). It took him a solid three minutes and was all very dramatic. Terra approved.
"And so," she concluded, nodding sharply to her partner, "it and I were going to go demand for information from those scientists and we were wondering if you would like to come with us because A) we might need a chaperone of some kind to distract evil fish sellers trying to kill me and B) you saw the fence, too. Whaddaya say?"
"..." Sarid blinked. "...Very well. But only on the condition I do the speaking. They're more likely to listen to a young adult and I've had to do this before, so I have a better idea of what to do."
He walked past them, towards the front door.
"Come along, children."
Dunal heard children, causing her ears to twitch. The mere word reminded her of her father, making her homesick. She obediently jumped down from the table and ran over to Sarid, even though the command wasn't directed to her. She sat down, folded her ears and tail fins down, and waited for another command.
Sarid noted Dunal's behavior, making him look at her.
"Stay here, and listen to Red. Don't break anything." He told her.
She nodded. "I be good girl, daddy." She bowed her head, then ran off to follow Red around. She sat before him, tail curled around her, and waited for yet another command. "Want to do something. What you want me to do, daddy?" She tilted her head slightly.
Terra arched an eyebrow at Dunal's "daddy" but kept her lips pressed together as she and Wynter strode out the door with their chaperone.
The trio exited the went to the front walk and to the tall, front gate that was set into a white brick wall that only went roughly twenty feet in each direction. Sarid pushed open the gate, approaching the road when a thought occurred to him.
If there is a fence around the property, then it also has to cover the road leading here... He thought. Yet I saw no such thing on the way here...
Speaking of transportation, it then came to him that he was travelling with two people, and there was great distance between their current location and the destination. He wouldn't be able to use his wings, that would tire him, and his boots could only carry so much weight.
So, he pulled out a blue and silver board, about one and a half feet in width, and five feet in length. Dropping it, it stopped about six inches from the ground, soft blue light coming from under it. Sarid stepped up onto it, his boots making a click noise as he did, ensuring he wouldn't fall.
"Come on." He said, reaching down and grabbing Terra and Wynter, then lifting them up onto the board, hugging them into his sides. "Hold on. Tight."
After that, they rose into the air, moving forward and gaining speed until they smoothly glided along the tree tops.
Sarid stayed emotionless, shutting out the sound of the two passenger's screaming.
Red just looked confused at Dunal.
"But...I'm not your dad. I'm too young to have kids!"
Dunal stared for a bit, then shook her head. "Want something to do. What I do?" She looked up at him, almost as if she were looking to him for orders on a battle field. Her tail swished in anticipation.
"...Uh...Play outside?" Red asked. "But don't break anything!"
She nodded and ran to the glass sliding door. She totally forgot it was there, again, and slammed into it. Again. Deeper cracks appeared in the glass as she slid down it. The world swam when she got back up and tried to orientate herself. That only made her throw up. She collapsed on the floor and tried to keep in the rest of her breakfast. "Broked... Someting..." She spat out a tooth onto the floor.
Sarid flew down to the front of the Research Lab, hopping off the board he had ridden and dropping Terra and Wynter, who both fell the the ground. It seemed neither had flown before, as they looked dizzy.
He ignored this, and took the floating board and returned it to his back pack. Then turning, he entered the lab, holding his head up and moving with a quick, long stride.
"Pardon," He told the woman at the desk, who looked up at him. "but I and my two companions outside must speak with the scientist who interviewed us - we have a pressing matter that requires immediate attention."
"Is it that important?" The woman sighed.
"I'm a pratical person."
"...Very well." She sighed again, then picking up a phone and dialing a number.
"...Hello? Dr. Gleeful?...Yes, the boy you interviewed yesterday is up here, he says he need to speak with you and the others one an important matter...alright, thanks."
Others?
"He'll be right up to take you three back."
"Thank you." He went to stand at where Gleeful would come out, right as Terra and Wynter managed to come in.
There were three interview scientists. Sarid thinks. It would have been easy to their names rather than 'others'...and that is used to describe people that one knows, and more than a few people...
Dr. Gleeful came into the room a few moments later, the stout man looking at Sarid.
"Ah, there you are...well, what's this 'pressing matter'?" He asked, crossing his arms.
"My companions and I wish to discuss it with the other two scientists who questioned us." Sarid answered, nodding at Terra and Wynter. Dr. Gleeful's eyes wandered to them, and lingered a bit - as if debating - then looked back at Sarid.
"...Alright." He said. "Follow me."
The trio did so, shadowing him as he walked down various halls of the lab, Gleeful opening one door into a room with different equipment, the other two scientists inside.
"Pines, Sidheag, these three have an 'important' question for the three of us." Gleeful explained.
"Alright," Prof. Pines said, leaning against a counter, "what do you need to ask?"
"It has been discovered that around the property, there is a chain-link fence, topped with bobbed wire leaning inwards." Sarid told him. "This means that it was made to keep things in, not out. As if we are imprisoned. All I ask is for a good explanation."
He stood, waiting for it.
Terra took a deep breath and added, in her best inside voice, "I would like to add that this is not the nicest thing someone has ever done."
"It's a big fence," said Wynter.
A shadow passed over Dr. Sidheag's face, but she recomposed herself quickly. "A fence," she echoed, adopting the skeptical tone adults adopt so well.
"..." Silence ensued the room, which caused the air to grow heavy with a scent of suspicion that Sarid breathed in, his soulless eyes looking at each of the scientists.
Pine burst into laughter.
He stood laughing for a bit, Sidheag and Gleeful looking at him, with the trio of subject who watched as well.
"Ah, that was a minor construction error." He explained, still smiling. "It's really nothing to worry about."
"Then why has it not been addressed?" Sarid asked.
"Addressed?"
"Yes...addressed..." Sarid repeated. Repeating the question to think of a lie.
"Ah, more pressing matters came up and it slipped our minds." Gleeful explained. "But he's right, nothing to worry about!"
"Do you think it could be addressed?" asked Terra. "I'm sure that the pressing matters you have to deal with en't anything hard for brainy people like you."
"And think of the woodland creatures!" said Wynter helpfully. "That fence is disturbing their hab-i-tat." He sounded out the last word slowly: he'd only recently learned and still wasn't a hundred percent sure what it meant.
Sarid held out his hands, the palms facing Terra and Wynter, telling them to be quiet.
"We understand. Surely what distracted you was of greater urgency, likely an experiment gone wrong. However, the issue has been brought to your attention, so I only ask that it be handled as soon as possible. You cooperation in this would be very appreciated," Sarid told them. "We will take our leave now; good day."
Turning around, he placed his hands on Terra and Wynter's shoulders, make them walk with him at a quick pace.
"I said let me do the speaking." He told them in the hall.
"Oh, yeah, that," said Wynter offhandedly. "I dinna, Terra started it."
Terra, just as nonchalant as her mortal enemy, shrugged. "I did," she said.
She took Sarid's silence and slight turn of head toward her as an urge to explain further; and while the old Terra would have shut up out of spite, something about the blankness in his eyes and a lack of dramatic reaction to most everything set her pointy teeth on edge, like when confronting a particularly nasty snake or being spat at by a bear.
"I'm bad a' shuttin' up," she said. The end of her sentence was wobbly. She cursed inwardly. She never wobbled. Trying again, in her business voice the one that emphasized the last consonants of each words so sharply it hurt to speak, she went on, "And it's nae only your problem. Everyone, e'en Adira and the scaly freaky ones, we be affected by this fence just the same as you. Let's say they are trying ta keep us in or something like? Well...then it'd be bad for all of us." She twisted a finger in her cheek. "Okay, maybe that was a wee dramatic for just a li'l explanation. But I rest my case."
"They said it was a construction accident." Sarid told her, still void and blank, keeping his stride and hands on the shoulders. "They have no reason to lie to us."
He saw objection in their faces, making him squeeze their shoulders as a way to keep them silent.
When they left the building to the outside air, they went past the gat in front of the lab, he looking over his shoulder, his bright blue voids scanning the gate and white brick wall.
Sarid stopped walking, pulling Terra and Wynter to a direction to where they faced him.
"Did you not think there were cameras?" He whispered. "Ones that could hear us?"
He took the looks on their faces as 'no'. But, they came from where such things did not exist.
"Come along, back to the house."
He pulled out his board again.
When arriving back, the two passengers were not as dizzy as they had been the first time, Sarid still leading them with a hand on one of their shoulders. He steered away from the house, out to the forest, and stopping mid-way between the fence and house.
"Now listen," He told them, still keeping a low voice. "when I ask that I speak, I ask that you remain silent. Pressing the matter could have ended in violence or threats, which we want to avoid, unless it becomes necessary. You must understand, they are watching and listening to us. If we discuss the matter in a way that says we do not believe them, then they'll know, and that needs to be avoided at all costs. Just act like you accept it, and we'll discuss this when we have the chance. For now, don't talk about it. Just carry on as you have."
Wynter saluted half-mockingly. "Yessir!" he crowed, about-facing abruptly and breaking into a jog as he went back towards the house. Instead of following, Sarid walked off by himself shortly afterwards and Terra watched them leave, hands on hips and teeth gritted.
Carry on as I have? thought Terra. I think not. I'm getting my adventure, telek.
She called for Chuchip and set off toward the fence and whatever lay beyond.
Sarid had felt air enough to know when evil was present, or something ominous that lurked about.
After walking for a bit, he came across another part of the fence, when something felt different.
The fence looked the same, but he could hear a faint hum radiating from it. Picking up a rock, he threw it at the fence, and upon impact electric spark sizzled and hissed, Sarid raising his arm to protect himself, and the rock fell to the ground, singed.
He realized the fence was electric.
Yes, the ground in front of it was flat, if was just a normal fence, that wouldn't be, but the underground electric wires were there.
This was bad.
Alright! This has gotten really long, so I'm just gonna post it! -Magma