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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jun 9, 2009 21:32:43 GMT -5
One foot in front of the other. Just have to keep on walking. If she admitted to herself that she really was lost in the scummiest part of town, then she'd panic. Panicking would be bad, then she'd just get herself more lost. Which in turn would make her feel more panicked. It really was a vicious cycle, wasn't it? Treasa had made a poor choice in trying to cut through the allyways. She knew her grandfather's house was on the outskirts of the shady part of town, and it had been a bright and lovely day. She'd thought that maybe, just maybe, walking through the alleys would get her home faster. That on a day like today, there would be no danger here, at least not until it got dark. Well, it was twilight now, and she wasn't any closer to home than she'd been when she'd started looking. A fine tremor went through her body as she continued to wander through the narrow passages, pausing at every corner to survey her surroundings. Did anything look or smell familiar? Was there a dumpster that she'd seen before, some clue that she'd either already gone this way or was just walking deeper and deeper into the maze? If the girl'd had ears, they would have been pinned fully against her neck. She let out a low whine, then, and sat down. She closed her eye. She took a deep breath. She was lost. |
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Post by The Jenn on Jun 9, 2009 21:50:20 GMT -5
Jak licked some of the froth and foam from his lips, staring around him for a moment in the dazed incomprehension that always hit him after one of his 'seizures'. It was so nice to see everyone again, even if they couldn't see him. It was like a visit through a glass wall. Better than nothing, right? Grandpa sure was hairy, and Dad had come to like graveyards more than he used to, and Mom had some pretty strange habits. Kieran, at the palace. Amhal, sitting across the room from him. Dell, always present. And Treasa... She'd been in an alley. Had she taken up dumpster-diving too? It was a fun though. He drifted for a moment, choosing to stay in a haze rather than forcibly clear his head, until a thought suddenly struck him. Hadn't that dumpster looked familiar? It was the green one with the peeling paint and the suspicious rusting on the corner that he would swear came from an old magical item that used to be there until somebody else found it before he knew to look. He knew that dumpster. It was close. Which meant that she was close. Treasa! The sister he hadn't seen since he was six years old! Except for his little visits into voyeurism, but those were different. She was close! Without a word to his brother, just a few excited whining noises, he shifted into the Avington canine form that he affectionately called 'Bert' and ran out of the house, in animal form for better speed. She was there! He had to find her! So close! He dodged through alleys and jumped trash cans from memory, the routes and backways of the Outer Bazaar firmly imprinted on his brain. At last, after a few minutes of running, he could smell her. His speed increased to reckless levels and he headed straight for the smell, which would probably result in a rather nasty collision unless her reflexes were exceptional. |
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jun 9, 2009 21:59:50 GMT -5
Treasa sat, huddled beside the dumpster, for several long minutes. All the while she focused on her breathing, trying to keep it steady. The sky was getting darker, and she was well aware of the place she was in. Dark, dingy, dirty, dangerous. It wasn't a good place for a child to be. Hills, it wasn't a good place for anyone to be, from what she'd heard about it! And here she was, without anyone she knew close enough to be of any use at all, completely lost.
When the sound of footsteps reached her earholes, however, Treasa raised her head and glanced around, her remaining eye dull with worry. She didn't see anyone, just heard the noise... And they sounded like they were coming fast, whoever they were.
She had a moment to hope to herself that they simply passed by, too wrapped up in their own business to pay a cowering Highlander any mind at all. That was before she caught a glimpse of the person heading her way, Avington colors bright under a dingy coat.
Treasa screamed in terror as she was plowed bodily into, tumbling and landing beneath a complete stranger, holding her paws up as if to protect herself, all while shaking hard and waiting for a blow to come. "P-please! D-d-don't hurt m-me!" she whimpered, closing her good eye even tighter.
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Post by The Jenn on Jun 9, 2009 22:06:46 GMT -5
Rolling and ending up on top of her after everything was said and done, Jak didn't hurt her. He just covered her paws and face in licks like a dog happy to see someone, something this body happily lent itself to. "Sa! It's really you! The dumpster, I knew it was the dumpster, it's the magical rust and the green with the white underneath, I remembered the rust, and you were sharing the space with the rust, so here you are. You didn't move! You must have known! Were you waiting for me?"
More licks, and then he hopped off of her like an excited puppy and sat, wiggling slightly. The Avington canine form was a comfortable one, being half his normal species. Red eyes stared at her. "It's been so long, Sa. Did Grandpa tell you where we were? Do you know Grandpa? Have you seen Mom lately? She's been doing weird things and I keep hoping she'll visit, but after last time, well, she hasn't been back yet. And I haven't seen you or Kieran since you went with Mom to the place with all the shiny white stone! Did you miss me? Did you miss Amhal? I missed you so much, Sa!"
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jun 9, 2009 22:21:20 GMT -5
No attack came. Only a barrage of affectionate licking that made Treasa's skin crawl. What was this dog doing? She'd heard that Avingtons were weird and kept secrets their whole lives, secrets that were sometimes dark and terrible... Maybe this one's secret was that he liked to lick strangers?
Of course, as soon as the canine began to speak, Treasa froze. The dog was completely insane. That was the only explanation. Either that or it was someone she'd met in passing and forgotten about... And wasn't that a horrifying thought? She'd always tried to behave as a proper noble, but it was so hard remembering so many people, and she was certain that she'd have remembered someone so exuberant. Perhaps he had just mistaken her for someone else?
When he hopped off, the coyote rolled to her feet again, tail turned into a bottlebrush and tucked against her tummy. She tried her hardest not to shake or be afraid, but this person was making her... So nervous. She was about to tell him that he'd confused her for someone else, that she wasn't waiting for him, she was just lost, when she looked full into her red eyes with her single golden one. Something about the dried-blood shade of his eyes... It sparked something inside of her, and by then it was too late for her to speak. His torrent of words had started all over again.
And this time, there was a meaning she hadn't expected to find. Mom, doing weird things. Kieran. Herself, in the palace. Amhal.
There were only a few people in the world who knew about Amhal. Five, to be exact. The person standing in front of her clearly wasn't Kieran, her mother, or her father. And he was talking about Mom...
"Jak...?" she finally said, having to try several times to make the short word come out. "B-but... how... You're A-Avington... and... m-mom said you were d-d-dead..."
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Post by The Jenn on Jun 9, 2009 22:37:54 GMT -5
So weird... she didn't look happy to see him at all. In fact, if he had to peg it, she looked frightened! Her words soon cleared up that spot of confusion, though, and everything started to make sense.
"Yeeeees, it's me! It's Jak. As an Avington. Er, sort of. It's a long story. I forgot you didn't know. Erm. Mom's been acting weeeeird lately, so I guess I'm not too surprised she didn't tell you. But really, if you weren't looking for us, why are you here? You're pretty close to our home. 'Us' is me an' Amhal. We're an us. And you're a you. But you're an us too, because you're family." He took a few steps closer to her and reached out his canine muzzle to lick at her cheek, an attempt at a comforting gesture.
"We aren't dead. We're living here, me an' Amhal an' Dell. We're one big, happy family. I go see Grampa sometimes. I met another part of the family and he's a bird. Funny, huh? Apparently there's more and I just don't know them. But hey, it's been so long. Cheer up, huh? Smile? For me? Please?" His creepy red puppy eyes begged her to be happy.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jun 9, 2009 22:45:40 GMT -5
Treasa's heart felt like a bird trapped in a cage, beating its wings urgently against the bars of her ribs. She thought that at any moment it might come bursting out, so torn between emotions was she. Jak was dead. Amhal was dead. Her parents... They'd both told her so. But then, they were both gone as well... She hadn't understood it when they'd left, and she didn't understand it any better now. She swallowed hard, unable to blink while she stared at the dog.
"B-but... how?" she said, voice coming out as a low whine. She was stuttering again, which in any other case would have upset her even more. Now, she didn't even notice it. She licked her lips, a slight nervous tick. How could Jak be an Avington? Or... was it just like Grandpa Seth's weird coat-change ability? It took her a second to realize he'd even asked her a question. "Er, well.. I g-got l-l-lost. I still d-don't know where I am, b-b-but..."
She swallowed again, staring up at the familiar red eyes. Those and the way the dog was talking... It had to be Jak. There was no one else like him. She returned the gesture somewhat tenatively, her tail giving a weak wag from where it was pinned under her belly. "I g-guess I'm n-not alone anymore, am I?" Then she smiled at him, as best she could manage. They were all here, then? Something about that news...
The smile widened slightly, beginning to reach her eyes. "C-can... We go see them?"
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Post by The Jenn on Jun 9, 2009 23:01:27 GMT -5
The combination of hesitant tail wag and the genuine beginnings of a smile buoyed Jak's spirits like a dose of nitrous oxide. He giggled, the sound high-pitched and worrying from anyone else, and jumped a little in place. "No, of course not! Of course you aren't alone. You have a family. We're always around. Aaaalways." He bumped his nose into hers and then bounced again.
"Yes! Of course! Let's go right now!" With the boundless enthusiasm of someone who's just found something that's been lost for years, he took off down the alley at a trot, back the way he'd come and around a corner. His head kept swiveling back to make sure she was following, often enough that it looked as though he was some sort of life-sized green and yellow bobble-head. His grin widened every time he turned and saw that she was actually there. Treasa! His sister! Finally she'd returned to them! People left, but he always seemed to manage to find them again. Now all he needed to do was get Kieran to come somehow, and figure out what was going on with Papa, and then he could...
...could...
...well, he wasn't sure. But he could do something! It was a goal. It had to be a goal. His canine tail wagged happily as he trotted up to the house that he had purchased with the money Grandpa had given them. It was small, one bedroom and a living space and a bathroom and a kitchen area and a teeny closet, but it was better than the garbage heap they'd been living in and the landlord wasn't nosy.
"This is hoooome," he half-said, half-whined, shifting the Avington form to biped in order to unlock and open the door. "AAAAAAAAMHAL! DEEEEEEEELL! I'VE BROUGHT OUR SISTER!" The words were bellowed and howled at the same time as he turned and ushered Treasa inside.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jun 9, 2009 23:15:07 GMT -5
The situation still didn't make any sense, but with the Avington dog's... Jak's... excitement and enthusiasm, there wasn't really time for Treasa to sit back and try to figure it out. The fact that they were still alive was enough to make her head hurt - after all, she'd lived the last nearly 10 years of her life believing that Kieran was the only sibling she had left, other than Her Majesty's children, but they were technically only her half-siblings. The fact that Jak seemed to have lost many of the things she remembered as being odd about him was another issue.
She just didn't understand it. She couldn't see any trace of feline at all in him, and he was walking normally. She didn't remember that, only a strange shuffling-hop. She stared at her brother with no small curiosity while they walked, not really paying attention to where they were going.
And then, apparently, they had arrived. Treasa stared at the building, wondering how it was that Jak had managed to find a relatively nice-looking place like this. It wasn't in the best of neighborhoods and it was nothing compared to the Court, but all the same... Her tail started to wag just a little bit harder.
It was Jak. Her Jakodi.
...Her Jakodi who had gained a biped form to match his Avington canine one. That was almost enough to make her feel weird all over again, but he was bellowing for her other brother and sister to come down. She was so excited, so very happy. She'd never dreamed that she'd see them again, and here she was, being ushered into the house by her beloved brother. "Oh Jak, I did miss you, ever so much." she said as soon as she was inside, voice small as she waited for the others to arrive.
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Post by Satra on Jun 10, 2009 0:27:47 GMT -5
Amhalghaidh was sunning himself in the stretched-rectangle shaped sunlight as it was making its last hurrah for the day as Jak twitched and spasmed through another one of his seizures. It was an incredibly alarming thing when it first began, but the Feline had grown used to it by now. He also took a guilty pleasure in listening to Jak tell him what he saw. He liked hearing about Grandpa and the Grandma he'd never met and the new aunt and uncles that Grandpa had made that he'd also never met before. A wave of annoyance hit him when Jak suddenly left without a word. Amhalghaidh hated being alone, especially without knowing the reason why is was necessary. He huffed and laid his head back down on the pillow on the floor. The only thing he could do was wait for Jak to come back. Granted, it wasn't like he was going to move from that spot anyway, it just made him feel better to have Jak there. After some time, Jak came back.... with... "Treasa..." he whispered, not believing his eyes. He slowly got up and walked to her. "Is that... Treasa!" he exclaimed suddenly and bound over to her. It was so overwhelmingly refreshing to have a new person around that he didn't want immediately banished from sight. He went straight up to her, purring, and rubbed his head against her neck. |
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