It was just E.'s luck, to drive the wagon Diamond decided to ride in that day. It'd been a few days since they made their way out of the desert, but she was still in a foul mood. She wanted to go back and find Essryn, was convinced that they would cover the entire known world and the majority of the unknown and would come back to find the girl in Essryn.
"The dragon will find her before we do," she grumbled. "Then it'll be harder for us to get her."
"He has a couple years lead, he should have found her already." E. twisted a section of rein around his hand.
Diamond's eyebrows formed a nearly perfect 'v' across her forehead and she curled her upper lip in a snarl. "That's not my fault! Aaargh!!" She rolled on her back and kicked a booted foot up in the air, hitting a paper lantern on the roof and sending it flying out of the wagon. It bounced once before getting flattened under the hoof of the mule pulling Juk's cart. Diamond frowned when it was destroyed, stuck her bottom lip out and let her leg drop.
"E."
"Yes."
"Have you ever fought a dragon before?"
E. tiled his head to the side, brought his hand up and rested it on his palm. Diamond rolled her eyes.
"Yes, but I can't remember much about it."
"Useless."
"At least I don't destroy the lanterns when I'm frustrated." E. flicked the reins at a horsefly hovering over the mule's rump.
"Are you making-" Diamond stopped, no that was ridiculous, E. was probably already trying to figure out where they could get another paper lantern and how to fit it into the budget. "Maybe we should get another wagon and just stuff it full of paper lanterns. While we're at it, why don't we just rent a bathhouse, stay at a nice inn for a couple days and just relax. Fuck the girl, fuck 'Natchia, fuck Deszeld and fuck that sword."
"And you wonder why-" A loud crack and a screech cut him off. Diamond slammed her hand on the floor of the wagon and E. stopped the mule.
"Is Zan!" Juk called from behind them. "Her wheel broke, the bad one! Pop! Off!"
E. hopped off the wagon and trotted past Juk's wagon to the last one on their caravan. The old rickety wagon they used to cart around anything the Syndicate needed moved from one place to another. It was empty now, but the wheel's hub was threatening a break since the desert. Juk was a few steps ahead of him and the both of them found Zan kneeling in front of the broken front wheel, growling at it. Her traveling robe was nearly hanging off her shoulders and a few strands of black hair were starting to work their way loose of her bun.
Juk sighed and began to twist his stringy black hair into a topknot, his eyes closed and his jaw pulled in like he was going to fight the wagon instead of doing any lifting involved in jury rigging it to work. E. unbuttoned the top half of his grey coat and let it hang over his belt.
"This," Diamond announced, one black nailed finger held high in the air as she strutted over. The sunlight gleamed on it. "Is a sign. We should turn around now and try to find Essryn."
"A sign?" Zan's eyes were round and her tall ears stood straight up. She glanced at the busted wheel, at Diamond and then at Juk and E. Juk was looking at the wheel, E.'s eyebrows crossed slightly.
"No."
"Aaaw, come on! Do it do it do it do it do it do it do it!"
"I said no!" Aylin screamed at the three headed potato cat. "I am not eating dirt, that's just icky." She stared at the cat with a sour look on her face, arms crossed, bare foot tapping impatiently. The damn creature had been pestering her for an hour now, trying to get her to eat dirt, and she wasn't even hungry.
"Fine then!" the cat spat back, poking out it's three asparagus tongues before burrowing back into the ground. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Free from the potato cat's reign of mild annoyance, she returned to her skipping. She was quite the sight really, a young woman skipping across the plains in the middle of no where, a huge grin plastered across her face. Her dress was black with white sleeves and red frills underneath the bottom that made it puff out like a cone coming down to her knees, and it bounced as she skipped. The corset that made up the top half of the dress was loosely done up and didn't leave much to the imagination.
The mud felt good between her toes. She liked it after it rained and she could go and squish worms and feel their gooey insides stock to her feet.
As she skipped along Aylin noticed something in the distance, rumbling shapes that could only be rocks. Living rocks of course, otherwise they couldn't be moving. She stopped to look, leaning forward and shielding her eyes with one hand. Yep, they were rocks alright. Rocks being pulled my smaller rocks. How dare they?
She set off at a run, mouth open and eyes wide with her tongue lolling out the side. She'd teach those rocks to pull each other. Either Aylin was moving very fast, or the rocks were coming towards her because in what seemed like no time at all she could see them clearly.
Not rocks at all. People in houses on wheels, being pulled by giant beavers. That made a lot more sense than rocks. She laughed giddily at her rocks theory, and accidentally forgot that she was running.
The ground came up and hit her in the face, making her form a triangle with her legs still straight and her bum in the air. After a moment she pulled herself back up and smiled again, half of her face covered in dirt.
One of the beavers was looking at her, but she ignored it, because everyone knows beavers can ensnare you with a single glance. Thrusting her chin skywards, Aylin goose stepped towards the people gathered around the wagons, her grin replaced by a stern look.
When she reached them she clasped her hands behind her back, rose up on the toes and took a deep breath. Scampering around them like a puppy, head tilting this way and that to look at them all from different angles a cheery string of words bubbled out of Aylin.
"Hiiiiiii! How are you? Who are you? Who are you? I'm fine, that you so much! Why is your hair like that? Are you alright? Why do you look like that? Who are you? Why? Who am I? What's your name? Can I have your pants? I am Aylin Ophelia Lomman by the way nice to meet you all I hope you like cheese because I sure do."
She ran out of breath and stopped, hand extended to none of them in particular to shake, grinning stupidly. Her eyes flicked between them all rapidly, taking in all the colours and shapes until they froze upon something. A purple cord, tied around the waist of one of the people. Already large eyes bulged at it, overwhelmed by it. It was so beautiful.
Her hand snatched at it, grasping one end and yanking on it like it was a snake and she was trying to get it out of its burrow to eat the sweet nectar inside. Must. Have. Purple rope.
The sudden appearance of the young woman attracted the attention of the female members of the caravan - Diamond's from a desire to do as little work on the wagon as possible and Zan's from curiousity. Initially, the men were too busy looking at the wheel to bother paying attention to a random passerby. Though, the stream of chatter eventually drew Juk's attention and finally, E.'s.
The four of them stared. There wasn't much they could say while questions and comments were spilling out of her mouth like water over a cliff. Each of them, the dark skinned blonde in tall boots with a skirt and shirt that were cropped only enough to be slightly decent; the fair elf whose robe was slowly beginning to slide further down her shoulders and whose ears were tipped forward; the big ruddy-skinned man with the bulging muscles and tusks who had a slight greenish tint in the light; and the dark skinned man with white splotched black hair and one yellow eye narrowed in annoyance, waited. The air around Diamond getting a little heavy with all the answers to the questions sitting on the back of her tongue.
They were all wasted on a squeak when the girl suddenly reached out and pulled the cord off Zan's robe. Zan glanced down at her open robe and then back up at the other three, shrugged and let her robe fall to the ground. "Zan, put your robe back on, I'm sure she didn't want you to get naked," E. said dryly, while Juk knelt to pick up the robe and drape it clumsily around her shoulders and Diamond stepped forward in an attempt to distract Aylin.
"Hello... Aylin," Diamond beamed, her teeth perfectly aligned and nearly white enough to see at night, and clasped her hands together behind her back. "We're with a traveling carnival, not much to look at now, but if you tell us how to get to Essryn we'll give you a free ticket." Her voice took on a sing-song quality at the end."
E., who no longer needed to bother with Zan and her robe, stepped up next to Diamond, crossed his arms and said. "Actually, if you can tell us the way to Ketra, we'll give you a ride there and a free ticket."
Tilting her head, Aylin studied the elf, who was more naked than she'd been a moment ago. Aylin liked when people were naked. Clothing meant they were hiding things, like cheese.
Her ears were the most interesting thing though, the way they moved. She wanted to play with them, but before she could a woman was talking to her. Taking a step backwards and clutching her new rope to her chest Aylin whispered, "H-how do you know my name?" She must be able to read minds.
So they wanted her secret knowledge of Essyrn eh? Those devils. How dare they?
If she could only remember what an Essyrn was.
Taking a deep breath, ready to give a lengthy explanation of how she didn't know, Aylin was interrupted. Her breath came out as a wheeze as the funny man asked her something she did know.
"It's that way, then that way, then that way," she said quickly, pointing then gesturing left and forward again. Beaming, she rocked up and down on the balls of her feet. These people were weird. "Heeeey," she chirped, "How come you've only got one eye huh?" Tying the rope around her waist, Aylin slapped a hand on her left eye to mimic him.
She noticed something and pointed with her free hand, "Your wheel's broke." It was probably that damned potato cat.
The corners of E.'s lips twitched downward slightly when the girl answered by pointing. Helpful... very helpful. Well, at the very least she could give better directions when they started going. While talking their ears off, joy. He didn't see any reason to answer her question about his eye. It seemed fairly obvious why anyway, he had one eye because the other one wasn't working.
Diamond could hear opportunity knocking. She twisted her upper lip from the snarl it was trying to contort into back into a wide smile and shuffled a little closer to Aylin. "Don't listen to him, he's not in charge," she punched the last four words. "We really need to find Essryn. It's really important. If you could tell us how to get there I'll tell you exactly how he," she pointed at E. who looked back at the wagon wheel in an attempt to distant himself from the conversation a bit. "Lost that eye of his."
"We aren't going anywhere unless we get the wheel fixed." E. glanced at them for a moment.
Zan closed her robe and shuffled over to stand next to Diamond. "If it is a sign, then we must go to Essryn. Girl, please, if you can help us, we'll help you as well."
Diamond's eyebrow twitched. Help her as well... blech... if that was going to be the cost of finding Essryn they could always go to Ketra and find someone more willing to work for less.
Aylin gasped and slapped her palms against her cheeks. "Really? You will?" That would just be the best thing to happen since...since....since the last time something really good happened. Like that time she one a stuffed bear by throwing a ball at a target. That was the best day ever.
She missed that bear.
Pulling her bottom lip down with a finger, Aylin considered their proposal. On the one hand, she didn't need any help really, but on the other hand, she also didn't know who this Essyrn fellow was, and on one foot she kind of wanted to ride in the wagons, and on the other foot was a worm, which she kicked off.
"Uh....ok!" she said brightly, "Essyrn is over there, I saw him not too long ago!" She pointed in the opposite direction to where she'd pointed before, flashing white teeth in a huge grin. "Can I ride in the wagons now huh can I can I can I?"
E. did an awful job of pretending to look at the wheel when it seemed that Aylin was going to tell Diamond the directions to Essryn. His eyebrows raised and he began thinking of reasons why it wouldn't be a good idea to try finding Essryn. No green-eyed people were born in the desert (promising, but Diamond could argue that it wasn't a naturally green-eyed person they were looking for), the desert folk wouldn't be interested in tawdry carnivals (garbage, they'd be sneaking around the city staring too hard at the children), there was only so far a soul like the girl's could have gone so she'd have to be closer to the mountains (complete lie, but what did Diamond know about souls?)
There was a time when Diamond would have started bouncing up and down with joy when Aylin began thinking and finally said 'ok!' She almost regressed. Almost. She had to be in control here, couldn't let out any unnecessary bursts of emotion. Later on, however, she planned to completely lord it over E. for doubting the power of fate. Stupid man, he if anyone should be able to understand that some things were just meant to ha-
"Essryn is person?" Zan blinked, her ears tilting back and forth like they were seiving the truth from the air around her.
E. went back to looking at the wheel. Diamond had to stop herself from falling on the ground and reliving a far earlier than her previous impulse. At that moment, she actually had a vivid memory of one of those times. That beautiful orange box with its delicious spheres of blonde yumminess... denied. For one succinct moment, that ever went wrong in her life was pinned on the denial of that one specific box and its magical contents...
"Juk! Juk!" Zan called, hopping and waving her hand. Once she had his attention she repeated. "Is Essryn a person we are seeing?"
Juk looked at E. E. shook his head side to side. "No, it's a city."
Zan looked a little dissapointed, then turned back to face the girl, ignoring Diamond who was looking a little out of it. She shrugged. "Oh well, is not the same Essryn. My name is Zan, I work with these people. We can still give ride to you, for Ketra, if you wish."
Aylin had always had particularly wide eyes, so when she stared wide eyed at something they became like two saucers stuck to her face. She peered inquisitively at Zan's ears as the swished about, looking very much like a cat watching a ball on a string. If ever Aylin wanted something, it was to play with those ears. It even might be worth trading her purple cord for it.
These people, it would seem, were even less knowledgeable about the world than Aylin was. She cringed when Juk-Juk said Essyrn was a city. Damn, but how could she have known it was a city? Well, at least no one seemed to have picked up that she was lying.
Clasping her hands in front of her, Aylin beamed at the good news. She was going to Ketra, hurrah! She seemed to remember liking Ketra, or maybe she remembered disliking Ketra...
Only one way to find out for sure.
Flinging her arms around the woman Aylin gave Zan a firm hug, mumbling, "Thank you so much Zan," through sudden tears. She pulled away and sniffed, wiping a big tear off her cheek. Practically flinging herself she latched onto Juk and squeezed the greenish man. "Thank you Juk-Juk," she sniffled before letting him go and squeaked, balled fists furiously rubbing her eyes, "I'm so h-happy."
Mere moments later her face emerged, devoid of any sign of tears. A giddy smile once again occupied her face, the crying forgotten already.
"So," she declared to no one in particular, "Do I have to fix this wheel by myself, or are you lazy lot gunna get moving?" The hub was broken, worn down by an off centre wheel. It would happen again and again until they replaced the wheel, but for now all they needed was a piece of timber cut roughly the same size and fastened onto the wagon. How Aylin knew these things was as mystery, even to her. How she knew and how she did a lot of things she knew and did were a mystery to her, hell, the majority of Aylin's life was a kaleidoscopic blur of feelings, mud and nakedness. Mud and nakedness tended to take up a lot of Aylin's attention, and the combination of the two was her favourite thing in the whole wide world.
Considering the wagon, she hiked up her dress and grunted. The dress couldn't really be hiked up, but she made the motion as if she were wearing pants. "Yeeeeap," she drawled in an accent completely different to her normal tone, "'Ere''s yer problem, yer hub's broke. Best be findin a new un."
Diamond sighed, blowing the dream of cereal-wrought doom into the wind. She crossed her arms and decided that it could be worse... she could have a girl clinging happily to her, like she agreed to save her poor kitten from a tree. At least Zan didn't mind sloppy shows of affection.
Zan's ears swiveled backwards when Aylin hugged her. Once she was certain they weren't about to be yanked, they flopped back into their usual position. She patted Aylin's back and was about say... well it didn't matter now that she launched herself toward Juk. Zan smiled, it was nice to see someone so happy.
Both Juk and E. startled when the girl suddenly attached herself to Juk. Juk, because he wasn't paying attention and didn't expect to have another person latched onto him, or thanking him or crying while claiming how happy she was. His froze while she was actually touching him, unsure of just what he was supposed to be doing, his eyes huge and round. Nowhere near the size of Aylin's, but significantly huge on the half-breed.
E. jumped because he was paying attention and didn't fancy the thought of having someone suddenly jump on him, cry profusely and- well there he drew a blank. He wasn't quite sure what Aylin would do once she was through watering his shirt. He was the last person involved in the whole 'free ride to Ketra business'. Fire and ice, it was his idea in the first place. E. actually stiffened up a little when she let Juk go and he wondered if he should start looking at the wheel. Maybe if he didn't look at her, she would forget all about him...
Or she would read his mind and start looking at the wheel herse-AAAGH!
Diamond was watching the entire spectacle and figured that E.'s tension about being the next recipient on Aylin's love train was perfect time to get a little petty revenge for him further distancing them from Essryn. Who cares if she had pratically the same thought about it, that wasn't the principle. So she crept up behind him, draped her arms around his shoulders and brushed a thigh against his. E. spazzed, nearly jumping.
"S'matter," Diamond purred. "Scared of cooties?"
If E.'s eye narrowed any further than it did, he would have looked like he was fast asleep.
Juk and Zan paid no attention to them, they were focused on Aylin. Who suddenly seemed possessed. They stood behind her, Zan with her ears tipped forward and Juk with his arms crossed and a solemn look on his face. The hub, yep, well at least she wasn't completely ignorant of how wheel's worked, good. She might actually be useful.
"We don't have spare hub. Is there another way to fix?" Zan asked, while Juk nodded.
Plucking a stick of grass seed out of the ground and sticking it into her mouth, Aylin slouched and scratched her rump. She looked Zan over, as if seeing her for the first time. "Look darlin'," she drawled, stepping closer to Zan so they were almost touching, "Even if yah had a spare, aint nothin' ye can do about it out 'ere. Wheels a complex thing, if it were just a spoke or lynchpin maybe ye'd have a shot, but a busted hub means a busted wagon. Yer best bet'd be takin off yer other wheel there and just runnin it as a cart on the back uns. Don't look like ye got too much weight innit so yer mule should hold up alright." She chewed on the grass idly and looked from Zan to Juk with a blank expression.
After a moment she patted Juk on the arm and said, "You can handle that eh big fella?" With a smile she slipped past them, pinching Zan's bottom through her robe as she did and bearing a huge grin once the deed was done. As she neared the other two her back suddenly straightened, her face returned to normal and the grass fell form her mouth.
In her normal, chirpy voice again she inquired gleefully, "Are you two in luuuuurve?" Moving close to E. she pressed her shoulder against his chest, rising up on her toes and rubbing against him so her face was up near his. Eyes lidded, with a great smirk upon her face she asked him, "Do you luuuurve her? Do you waaaant her? Is she your girlfriend?" Each question was accompanied by her going down and up again, rubbing her shoulder playfully into him with each elongated word.
Nothing they could do about it... the words made Juk and Zan wilt, so to speak. Their shoulders slumped a little bit and Zan's ears started to curl downward. That meant that Diamond was going to have to speak with Boss, which had the potential to be very, very not good. It all depended on the Boss' condition really, but chances were she would be in an even fouler mood after dealing with him.
If it was the wrong day, they'd all be having a bad day.
It was a good thing that Aylin knew about wheels. Zan was up on the balls of her feet and looked like she was about to bounce happily, glaring at the offending other wheel. Juk nodded to Aylin and approached the cart, sauntering over to the other side and preparing to take off the wheel. Zan jumped when her arse was pinched, which was a little confusing because that sort of thing usually happened when they were in city. If it was the city she could just get angry at the person doing it, but out here? Maybe it was a bug. It didn't matter anyway. She scampered around the wagon to watch Juk.
E. shrugged his shoulders in a futile attempt to get Diamond off, but she tensed her arms just enough so gravity wouldn't get them. Today's sexual harassment quota was far from being filled. She grinned when Aylin approached them. This could only get better. E. frowned when the madwoman decided to come bother them. Damn it all... if he was going have crazy women hanging off him, what did numbers matter? If he was lucky, Zan would be distracted with the wagon and wouldn't think she was missing out on a group hug.
Diamond had been accused of worse than loving E., whose expression became the facial equivalent of a monotone, and she grinned, nuzzling her head into the nape of his neck because it would give the wrong impression.
"No." E. said dryly. He would have shaken his head side to side, but he would have bopped heads with the idiot trying to coil her face around his neck. Instead, his hand twisted around and started slowly moving behind him.
"He's just-FUCKEN TEASE!" Diamond jumped off E. and immediately sat down, crossing one leg over the other and pulling her legs into her chest. She wrapped her arms around her knees and muttered at them, occasionally looking up and glaring.
E. smirked.
Zan dashed over to them and all but tackled Aylin, squealing. "Is going to work! Is going to work! We can go to Ketra! Thank you! Thank you!"
Grinning brightly, Aylin planted her hands on the man's chest, giggling when he denied his obvious love. They were so cute, like a couple of wolpertingers during mating season, the way her antlers brushed against his so tenderly. As with so many wolpertingers though the male apparently messed up, because the woman was suddenly cursing and retreating. She looked a little flushed too, how odd.
Before Aylin could question how exactly he did that she was knocked to the side by a flying mass of butter. Hopping thrice before she felt certain of her ability to not fall down, Aylin wriggled around to return the hug, noting that the butter seemed to have taken the form of Zan.
Licking the cheek of the butter Zan to taste her buttery goodness, she responded merrily, "Yaaaay!" not really understanding what the woman was on about but being happy anyway. It was nice that she could be so happy in a time of crisis. Someone should really tell them how to fix their wheel too. Aylin would have, but she had no idea how to fix a wagon.
With a final squeeze she let go of Zan, still beaming at her. Those ears were so cool. She just wanted to play with them, maybe bite them a little. "Bide your time girl," came a familiar voice from beside her. Bending at the hip Aylin leant over to speak to the tiny red ducking at her feet. "I know that!" she whispered vehemently.
"Bide your time," he repeated, "Gain her trust and she'll let you play with them forever and ever!" With that the little demon duck erupted in flame and was gone.
Furrowing her brow and considering the sucklings sagely advice, Aylin righted herself and planted her hands on her hips. With a sigh, she looked about. She wanted to play with the ears now. She wanted to play with her friend Juk-Juk now. Everything always took so long, she hated it.
Her lower lip stuck out in a sullen pout, Aylin plonked herself down on the damp ground and crossed her arms. She was aware her bare bottom was sitting in the mud, and her skirt was getting messy, and she didn't care. She was going to sit there until the wagons were ready to go and that was that.
Excellent. Now that Zan was busy distracting Aylin, E. could get over to the cart and see if Juk needed any help. E. strode off, tugging at the fuzzy edges of his gloves and afterward running a hand through his hair to pull the bangs away from his face.
Zan was too happy to care about being licked. She just squeezed onto Aylin until the girl wriggled free and afterwards bounced up and down a little, her ears leaning to one side and then the other like a metronome.
Diamond glowered up from her perch on the ground. The hell was that girl doing, bending over like that. Talking to the grass? The hell was the grass going to do about them not going to Essryn, E. being such a freaking skank and Natchia making her day a billion times worse when she reported in that evening. At least she wasn't the only one that was miserable... Either the grass wasn't too great of a conversationalist or something else was wrong. Diamond didn't care, she was just glad Aylin wasn't bouncing around like everything was all sunshine and happy-fucking-rainbows.
Once Juk removed the good wheel from the wagon, which had been laying contently on the grass when Zan spiraled off to go hug Aylin and was now being loaded into the last wagon by E., he applied the Alexandrian solution on the remains of the busted wheel. Three sharp kicks dislodged every piece touching the both the ground and the wagon. Juk kicked the pieces out of the road, crossed his arms and grunted.
Diamond jumped to her feet when she heard the first crack of Juk's boot against the wheel. "What the-" she said, startling at each of the cracks that followed and running over to the wagon. "Oh HELL!" She hopped up in the air a few times and buried her hands in her hair. "The wheel, oh Juk, the wheel! It's completely broken now!" she stamped her foot on the ground a few times and grit her teeth.
"But," said Zan, who trailed after Diamond when she dashed toward the wagon. "Wheel was already broken."
"There was no fixin' it," Juk shook his head side to side, slowly. "We're better off just gettin' a new one."
E. emerged from the back of the cart, slipped his coat back on his shoulders and buttoned his collar. "Stop panicking, you'll just make things worse for yourself."
Eyes narrowed, lower lip stuck out and trembling, Aylin pouted as hard as she could. She looked silly, legs played out in front of her, huffing every few seconds. But she didn't care. Quite enjoying the damp soil beneath her, Aylin sat in that position, huffing growing louder as if she were trying to attract attention.
The first snapping sound broke her feigned pout, and the second transformed her face into a look of wonder. Breaking thing was fun, she liked breaking things. The third snap had her rolling back onto her back and kicking her legs into the air to flip back into her feet in a most unladylike manner. Trailing after Zan who trailed after the angry woman, Aylin frothed with glee.
Clutching the top of her head to ensure her brain didn't froth out or her skull she rounded on the wagon and grinned gleefully. Juk-Juk had been smashing the wheel just like she'd told him. He'd been a good boy, he deserved a cookie. But cookies would have to wait.
Angry woman was being all grumpy, so Aylin decided it would be a good idea to cheer her up. Sneaking carefully up behind the woman, Aylin pounced. Thin arms and dirty legs coiled around her neck and waist, forming a firm grip. "Cheer up grumpy!" she squealed, "And let's get moving! You guys owe me a ride."
"But-but-but-but-but-but" Diamond waved her arms toward the wheel, toward the sky, toward the ground, then out in each direction. Her eyes perfectly round and her right eyebrow twitching. "You have any- AHHHHH!"
Zan, Juk-Juk and E. all cowered a little when Diamond screeched. The sound caused, of course, by the sudden addition of Aylin to Diamond's back. Diamond whipped her arms around in circles, or whipped them around as much as she could in a fraction of a second before she lost her balance and fell. Flat on her arse. There was a very audible thud and Diamond's face squinched up so tightly that her facial features nearly disappeared into the center of her face.
"Diamond... you ok?" Juk asked, one could say that there was a hint of timidness in his voice.
Diamond made a surprisingly tiny whimper and her face slowly began to reaarange itself.
E. leaned over to get a good look at her, then stood up straight and raised an eyebrow a little. "Maybe that fall knocked some sense into her."
Zan swatted E. on the shoulder and frowned at him.
"shutthefuckup," Diamond whimpered again. "ooooooowoowoow my ass..." she sniffed.
It wasn't appropriate, E. knew that one thing about the first thought that went through his head. It may not have been appropriate, but E. figured it just might soothe Diamond in a way. Or just traumatize her to the point of shutting her up for a few hours.
"Just think of it as hurting a few hours early, maybe it'll keep your mind off your 'punishment' if that's the flavour of the month."
Diamond's jaw dropped. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she went limp in Aylin's arms.
"Diamond! Oh, E., you bad man!" Zan swatted his shoulder again and ran in circles around Diamond and Aylin.
Juk chuckled a little, stopping when Zan shot him a nasty glare. "Sorry Zan, it was kinda true though."
E. almost smiled, the ends of his mouth twitched like he was about to but in the end it stayed the same. "Juk, if you would please, take Diamond to my cart, she can sleep this off. Aylin, I wouldn't reccomend riding in Zan's cart, but you can sit in any of the other two."
Momentarily forgetting that they were currently her primary means of fighting gravity, Aylin flailed her arms, lost in the flailing frenzy. She felt that she was falling, and thinking that she was slipping off flung her arms back around grumpy-woman's neck. The sudden stop made her glance about, realising that in fact the woman had fallen down, taking Aylin down with her, but thankfully her own bottom had been spared due to how high she was clinging.
Hanging her head upside down she gaped at the Cyclops and giggled at his comment before righting herself and petting her pet's fair hair comfortingly. Poor thing, she'd hurt herself. She'd have to be taught not to fall down for no reason.
Aylin opened her mouth, about to tell her as much, when Cyclops interrupted and her poor pet suddenly went limp. Her face contorted into a look of horror as she tipped backwards. Not having been on the ground at the time, Aylin fell back a little before her bottom hit ground, cradling her pet in her arms protectively.
She nuzzled against her head, whispering softly, "Aaaaw, poor baby. Did the bad man scare joo?" Despite having no idea what he'd meant she got the general idea. Bad man said something, her pretty puppy passed out.
A sullen expression setting on her face, Aylin suddenly yelped, "No! I can do it!" She clung tighter to the limp form in her arms, curling around her defensively and shooting glances at Juk-Juk and Cyclops intermittently. Once she was convinced no one was going to snatch her pet away from her, or perhaps before they could, Aylin wriggled around the body to straddle her, easing her head down to the ground. Leaning over her she parted her pet's lips slightly, bringing her own close. Her big, dark curls formed a curtain that shielded them from the others. Not that there was much to see anyway.
A soul was, surprisingly, only attached to a body by a very weak force. She didn't really understand it, but when she sucked, doing something unexplainable but still inherently more than just inhaling, the ephemeral thing that was the woman's soul slipped out of her mouth and into Aylin's own. The taste of it lingered in her mental mouth as she effectively sucked on the soul. It had an interesting taste, the soul of this 'Diamond', something inhuman about it. Her name came with the soul of course, because it was her consciousness too. Oddly, she could never seem to get any information other than the person's name.
Rising slowly up onto her feet and stepping off Diamonds still body, she tucked her hair behind one ear and beamed down at the woman. She wasn't dead or anything, far from it. Until starvation set in she'd be just fine, if somewhat vacant. A fact Aylin was going to take advantage of.
"Diamond," she said brightly, "Stand up." The body, that wasn't really Diamond anymore, stood up obediently, if a little clumsily. Taking the bodies hand she led it slowly to the foremost wagon, being patient as it dragged its feet. Instinct and obedience was all that remained in the Diamond shaped shell. Her consciousness was safely tucked inside Aylin, unaware as all the rest were.
Realising that the body would be unable to mount the wagon on its own, Aylin spun around and inquired, "Can one of you help? Juk-Juk? Eyeball? It...uh...she needs help getting up."
Diamond couldn't respond to Aylin's question. She was too busy doing an inspection of her brain cavity.
Juk took one step toward Diamond before Aylin announced that she was going to carry her and- his eyes widened. Did she think that E. said to kiss Diamond in the wagon? Or... was this something else... He looked over his shoulder, eyes still wide, mouth hanging open a little.
Zan wagged her ears back and forth, eventually letting one stand straight up and the other to fall to the side. She raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Maybe Aylin thought Juk was going to kiss Diamond and wanted to kiss her before she did. Zan wondered if she should kiss Diamond next. It would be a good time for it, she was passed out. She couldn't do anything about it.
E. looked unfazed. Though, he did wonder if Aylin was trying to reenact an old story he heard somewhere. Girl is cursed, curse makes girl look like she's asleep, boy kisses girl, girl wakes up, girl and boy live happily ever after. That wasn't happening here. Diamond waking up would never cause immediate and enduring happiness to follow afterward.
When Aylin sucked out Diamond's soul, there seemed to be another name attached to it, besides 'Diamond'. One long out of use, more of a fond memory than anything. While it was hard to see, it did have the impression that cobwebs were hanging from it.
Diamond's soul was agitated. One moment it'd been calmly sitting in it's unconscious body and then yank, like being dragged by one's hair across a smooth, marble floor. Now she was somewhere different. Diamond's soul didn't trust different and it couldn't sense anything, which... probably meant she didn't... have... anything... to sense... with.
OH SNAP! Was she dead? Surely she couldn't have died of fear? Diamond's soul rolled around, highly agitated. If she got the chance, she was going to haunt E. Definitely, he moved straight to the top of her 'haunt when I'm dead list'. What a crapshoot...
Even E. reacted when Aylin commanded Diamond to stand up and she did without saying a word! His eye widened and he tilted his head to the side. Juk stepped away from the two of them, almost as though Diamond was violently ill and he didn't want to catch it. Zan's ears shot straight up in the air. "Diamond? Diamond, you ok? A little sick in head? Yes?"
The three of them fell in line when Aylin guided Diamond back to the first wagon. First Zan, then E. and finally Juk (who was a good foot and half behind E.)
"Diamond sleepwalks, yes?" Zan asked E., turning around and walking backwards.
E. wasn't sure how to answer that question. He didn't believe it. Sure, a sleepwalker would answer questions in their sleep and could be guided around, but Diamond? Sleepwalking? There had to more to it than that. He was going to find out what.
Opportunity knocked when Aylin asked for help getting Diamond into the wagon. Juk stepped back even further. As he was, E. stepped up to the wagon, grabbed the back of her collar with one hand and swept a hand behind her knees, dragging her back to make her fall in his arms. Once she was there, he hefted her up a little and tossed her into the wagon.
And waited to hell to break loose.
Hell did not, break loose.
"Good Cyclops," she said happily, bouncing up on the balls of her feet as Cyclops came over to help Diamond. Peering at Juk-Juk with a puzzled look-look and trying to figure out exactly what he was afraid of, Aylin said, "I'm glad one you are going to – HEY!" The body was dumped roughly into the wagon, making little effort to protect itself then slumping on its back. "Why'd you do that for?" she squealed, fists balling up in frustration.
That was a mean thing of the one eyed man to do, and her grumpy stare made her disgust at him evident. "That's my pet you're tossing around. Mine, got it?" Planting her hands on her hips she huffed loudly before climbing into the wagon and turning her back to the others.
Getting down on her knees she straddled Diamonds still body once again, muttering softly to herself. "Poor pet. The bad man hurt you didn't he? Don't worry, Aylin will make you all better."
She leant down, once again parting Diamonds lips and bringing her face close, only this time she didn't stop an inch above it. Sucking a soul out was one thing, the intake of magical breath forced the spirit into her own body, but transplanting one, or returning it in this case, was an entirely different matter.
Given half a chance a soul without a body would wander off, unable to see or hear or touch anything, floating on the ethereal breeze, unable to die. To prevent this, Aylin formed a seal with her lips against Diamonds, and then effectively threw up her soul back into her own body. She held herself locked there as the soul re entered its body, waiting until it had well and truly attached itself back into her brain and Diamond had regained control before pulling away.
She beamed down at Diamond for a moment, proud of herself for successfully transporting her very tasty soul and having the willpower to give it up again, and then collapsed on top of her pet, burying her face in the other woman's neck. Clinging time, it seemed, had come again.
Zan gasped, her ears flattening against the sides of her head. "E. *swat* Tierny *swat* T.*swat*! You kill Diamond! Why? Aaaaah! Why?"
"She isn't dead," E. pointed at her. "Her eyes are open." He arched an eyebrow when Aylin called Diamond her pet. She'd have some competition for that claim.
"Corpse's eyes *swatswatswat* can be open!"
"Diamond is dead?" Juk wrong his hands nervously and shifted backwards a little bit.
"Nyoes.!" E. and Zan stared at each other. Zan swatted E. again and sniffed loudly.
"What do we do now?" Juk put his hands in his pockets, looked side to side and hunched down low.
"Run?" Zan said meekly.
"Keep going to Ketra, Diamond will wake up eventually." E., ready to make good on that suggestion, turned and lifted a foot to walk to the front of his wagon.
Juk and Zan both got significantly paler. "Don't say such things! It evil to wish for dead people to wake!" Zan squealed.
Right... evil... Juk's mother's crazy superstitions lived on.
There it was again. That same being dragged across a marble floor feeling. Only this time was for when one really screwed the pooch and the person doing the dragging was hurrying to wherever their planned punishment was going to take place. She even felt like she'd been slammed to the ground this time. Ah... memories. Death sucked. The least she hoped for was a light at the end of the tunnel... maybe seeing some friendly faces. If she was going to relive the memories of her life for the next... however long, why couldn't she at least relive the good ones?
It was enough to make her want to scream. Actually, that seemed like a good idea. She was dead, no one could hear her. Just take a deep breath. Wait... take a deep breath. She was dead. So... why did she just take a deep breath. And... was that... E. and... Zan? Did they all die in some horrible freak accident? Her vision was getting a little better, but when she tried to lift her head up to see better, her shoulder started to sting. Ow... that last memory (was it a memory?) really had some bite to it.
When Diamond's head moved, Zan shrieked, causing Juk to scream. The elf woman dashed over to the hulking man and jumped into his arms, both clinging to each other tightly and screaming: "SAhez omhabs i! cAomze ombacbi!k! AUnzomdeabdi!!"
Diamond winced. "What are they on about?" She glanced at Aylin, moving her head as little as possible to see her. "What's this doing on top of me?"
"Congratulations Diamond, you have a new little crazy. Maybe you won't need the old one anymore." E. clapped twice, unenthusiastically. Throwing Diamond was a good idea. When her head hit the wagon it probably rattled enough to knock her anger into remission. He'd have to remember to chuck her around the next time she went into histrionics.
The girly screams caused Aylin to jump and cling to Diamond even fiercer, eyes wide. Juk-Juk and Zan's babbling washed over her without any understanding whatsoever, leaving a confused and somewhat vacant expression on her face.
Yanking her head away from Diamond sharply she regarded one-eye with a look of shock. "I'm not crazy!" she gasped, "You're crazy for thinking I'm crazy when I'm not crazy and you saying I'm crazy makes you crazy unless it turns out that Zan's crazy and we're all just figments of her crazy imagination so in actual fact neither of us are crazy Zan is." A mighty intake of breath followed the lengthy sentence, Aylin grinning with glee at her perfect logic.
A possibly crazy face turned back to look at Diamond, being perhaps a bit too close for most peoples comfort. "You're mine my pretty, all mine."
Leaning in, she nuzzled against Diamonds cheek and whispered in a breathy voice not quite her own, "Since we became one, since you were...inside me"
Zan blinked. Then she squeezed her eyes shut so hard that anyone watching her might think she was trying to bury her eyebrows into her cheekbones. Which is what Juk thought when she began doing so.
"You ok?" Juk asked. Just closing your eyes didn't make the undead go away from you.
"If world is part of my imagination, then I want it to work right! I want girl here and Diamond alive so we can be happy."
Juk wasn't quite sure how to answer that. So he just patted her head.
E. looked over his shoulder at Juk and Zan, then back at Aylin and Diamond and finally up at the sky. It didn't look like they were going to be doing much more traveling today.
Diamond sighed, a bit too dramatically. "Why can't anyone I want to want me want me." she muttered.
E. raised an eyebrow. Apparently Aylin was infecting Diamond somehow. Maybe it was related to that becoming one business. There was no telling what sort of freaky thing Aylin was. He heard of a fairy that effectively 'became one' with another being by thumping it on the nose. That other creature was one of the Boss' little alter egos, the one that made his eyes go reddish gold. Not only did the fairy brag about it afterward, but the ego (who wasn't quite an ego then, more of a complete being) brought a fairy child to term in his nose. He wondered if Aylin used any sort of preventive methods when she and Diamond became one.
Diamond blinked, completely confused. Inside... Aylin? Diamond lifted one hand and sniffed her fingers. Finding nothing satisfactory on them she did the same thing with her other hand. "The hell did you mean, inside you? I don't have the parts for that."
The raven haired little crazy perched on Diamonds lap could only tilt her head at the woman sniffing her fingers for to apparent reason. Perhaps she wanted to know if they'd make good eating.
"The hell do you mean parts for that?" she retorted. "You have a soul, and a very tasty one too. We're soul mates!" A big lump of Aylin hit Diamond again she hugged her, eyes closed and grinning. She didn't mean soul mates in the 'love at first sight' sense, but rather in the 'I ate your soul then vomited it back into your mouth' sense.
Releasing the hug she sat back up, still not particularly wanting to get off. "We're on the wagon now!" she exclaimed, "Can we go now Patchy?" An innocent smile touched her lips while she looked at him, clearly excepting compliance.
If he didn't, she would cut him, oh yes. Slice him this way and that, make him bleed and then, just before death, take his soul and preserve him in endless darkness.
E. didn't need any encouragement from Aylin to cluck to the mule and get the little caravan moving again.
Soul mates? "WHAT?" Diamond yelled. If there was a God, she'd faint again and wake up once they reached Ketra. She knew there was a God, but he didn't care about her, so she stayed wide awake.
--
For the whole entire afternoon. At least Aylin tried to talk to E. more than herself. Diamond still wasn't sure how she managed to get free of her clinging. Soul mates... honestly. There wasn't a more garbage term ever invented.
The caravan stopped when the sun was halfway down. It would be too risky to move Zan's damaged cart off the road so they stopped in the middle of the road. There weren't any other travelers on the road, and any bandits were probably off where they were. They could afford to leave the wagons on the road and hobble the mules in the grass. The only thing that wasn't good about their campground was that there was no water nearby. From the look of it there was some sort of body of water ahead of them. Too far to reach tonight, but close enough so that they wouldn't die of thirst trying to reach it the next day.
Once the animals were taken care of, Juk unlocked the door of his carriage and E. brought the bundle of blankets from his wagon. The blankets were tossed around the seat of the carriage, which curved like a U with the open end facing the door. Dinner was a couple bites of jerky, with a couple sips of wine from a bottle that turned up amidst the piles of stuff in E.'s wagon. Once it was through, E., Juk and Zan all climbed into the carriage and claimed a spot. Though there was more than enough space for them to sprawl out, they all huddled relatively close to one another, Zan snoring softly as soon as her eyes closed.
Diamond stayed outside. It was time to report in to Natchia. She shuddered, went to E.'s carriage to retrieve her jacket and the belt that went over it. Once both were on and secured, she pulled a crystal pendant on a chain from the jacket's bottom pocket and began to swing it back and forth, chanting softly.
A blue circle of light opened up in front of Diamond, who thrust her head up as high as she could carry it and prepared for the worst.
After a while Aylin decided that her pet had been given enough cuddles, and went to talk to the Cyclops instead. She learned his name was E., which was perhaps the fifth oddest name she had ever encountered.
Unfortunately for E., Aylin did not discover much more from him, as for the rest of the journey she barely paused for breath as a torrent of drivel spilled from her mouth.
She fell off the wagon once, bouncing on the ground before running to catch up, already fully healed by the time she plonked down next to E.
When they stopped, Aylin hopped happily down again and started to help. Unfortunately for the others Aylin's idea of helping was to shout confusing orders and slap the mule's on the rump, sending them into a panic. Despite Aylin's 'helping' they did manage to sort everything out, and soon she was happily munching on a strip of jerky and drinking more than her share of the wine.
Aylin huddled up next to Zan, slipping under her robe to spoon with her. Zan was the big spoon. Unfortunately it didn't take long before Aylin was up again, having carefully slipped out from the wagon. "Gotta pee gotta pee gotta pee," she mumbled to herself softly, hoping form one foot to another.
Darting away from the carriage, she froze, noticing something strange. A pretty blue light coming from the wagon. Like a moth to a flame Aylin wandered towards it, wide eyes filling up with it and mouth hanging open. The need to pee was forgotten, pushed under the weight of the pretty.
Silent as an owl, Aylin snuck up into the wagon, creeping up behind Diamond and planted herself behind her. Peering over the woman's shoulder, she gazed at the circle, watching the goings on without making a sound.
Diamond was sitting on her heels, her hands balled into tight fists over her knees and a line of sweat running down the back of her neck. She was so focused on the blue portal that she didn't notice Aylin creep up behind her. If the other woman Diamond might have noticed, but now she couldn't afford to let her attention be focused elsewhere.
Then, like a window, the blue light suddenly filled with an image. A red chair that obviously knew it was the comfiest thing ever made and seemed to demand butts to enjoy it. Or at least it would if it wasn't occupied, so it sent out at 'I'm comfy and you're not sitting in me nyah~' vibe. The person in the arrogant chair was dressed all in white with a doll-like face, long white hair hanging loosely over their shoulders and brilliant green eyes.
Diamond's eyebrow twitched. "Ah-ah-ah." She bit her bottom lip and blinked, her fists trembling.
"Hey kid," he winked.
Peering over Diamonds shoulder, Aylin looked at the window in awe. The white man on the other side was weird looking, sitting there all white. She backed up a little, out of the window's glow and into the darkness, still watching the little window as if something wonderful might happen and she didn't want to miss it.
A little man made of straw hopped silently up onto the wagon, pulling some of Aylin's attention away from the window momentarily. She heard Diamond stammer and the man in the window talk to her, but the stick man started making gestures that dragged her attention to him.
Nodding silently she pulled on the loose knot holding the criss-crossed string at the front of her dress tied, then tugged the corset open a little, exposing her breasts. The stick man nodded and disappeared, leaving Aylin grinning happily.
Sliding her dress down and stepping out of it she tossed the garment off the wagon, leaving it in the dirt. The stick man had never lead her astray before, so Aylin stood there, naked as a jaybird, with no idea why.
Silently stepping closer to Diamond again, Aylin took advantage of her squatting and hopped onto the woman's shoulders, arms hugging Diamonds head into her stomach and peering over to look at the window. "Who yah talkin to Diamond?" she squealed gleefully, toes just touching the wooden floor.
Diamond licked her bottom lip and took a deep breath. "Ah-Aznimal? What's going on? Did something happen to Natchia?"
Aznimal chuckled. "If only... If only. Apparently it's been crazy here this past week. Either he doesn't want to deal with you or he's actually resting somewhere in here."
Diamond knew Aznimal was leaving out a reason, both of them were aware that Natchia sometimes let Aznimal or Enki have control if he wanted to sit back and observe how others reacted when they thought he wasn't aware. As much as she'd love to think that Natchia was aware that this wouldn't work with them, they could never let their guards down.
"Everything alright up there," Aznimal continued. "You don't look so-" his eyes suddenly became reddish gold and looked up above her. "Di.... why's there a-"
Then something very warm grabbed onto Diamond, who would have started shrieking. Would have, because she heard Aylin's voice soon afterward and figured there was no use yelling, because she'd just be inviting E., Juk and Zan to her murder. Why didn't she plan for this to happen! Why did she just assume that Aylin would stay sleeping! Diamond tried to contain the urge to foam at the mouth and faint.
The person in the portal now had one eye that was bright green and another that was reddish gold. He looked confused, both arched eyebrows trying to invade his hairline. "Well I'll be damned..." the reddish gold eye's eyebrow crossed all of a sudden. "That was awful Aznimal... just awful."
Diamond, convinced she could open her mouth without churning up a frothy mess of spit to drown herself, said weakly. "Aylin, please put your clothes back on, you can hang around and watch me err... talk... but please put some clothes back on."
"I can't Diamond!" Aylin said gleefully, not loud enough that anyone should wake up, "They ran away and I don't know where they got to." She giggled, watching the man's eyes change colour with unrestrained joy as she balanced perfectly on Diamond's shoulders.
"Who are you Mr. White and why for are you inside this little hole? Did you fall in?" To help the man get out she stretched out an arm, hand touching upon a hard, invisible surface. Her fingers pushed against it but the thing didn't budge, though the window did get somewhat wider as she touched it. Her mouth taking on a disgruntled slant, Aylin pulled her hand away, causing the window to return to its former size. "Hmph. There's something in the way," she pouted.
Clinging to Diamond tightly with both her hands and her thighs, Aylin gazed into the window like it was a puzzle that needed solving. Maybe it was a window into another world. A world in Diamond's left shoe. Yes, it all made sense now.
Potato.
"Clothes don't run away," Diamond hissed. "This' for your own good!"
"Aaaaw, I never thought you'd give up on 'philia," the man in white smiled brightly.
Diamond's eyes widened. "Duh-don't smile like that with that face. It's creepy..."
"Ah, not denying it." "Stop teasing her already, look how red she's getting."
Diamond's jaw dropped and was quickly snapped shut. She pouted and didn't say anything about talking to the portal. Mr. White was a pretty good nickname for Natchia... she wondered if he'd ever gone by that name in the past.
"You mean me?" The man pointed to the green eye and then moved his finger to the other eye. "Or me? Or..." He ran a hand through his hair, twirling his hand slightly as he moved it. "This body? We're all in another place, this is portal, so Diamond can talk to him," he petted the hair again.
Diamond felt it best to explain Aylin, before she could try to explain herself. Especially if the crazy girl was going to start by saying that they were soul mates. That was the last thing she needed. "She's just a passenger we picked up. Gonna show us the way to Ketra so we don't get lost. Nothing more. Nothing."
The man leaned back in the chair a little, propping one foot up on his knee and smirking a little. "I don't think so Diamond."
Diamond's shoulders shook a little and she was a lot more tense than she was before. The man's eyes had turned from bi-coloured green and red to bright blue in one blink.
Aylin's jaw dropped.
Philia. The name rang in her head. Some other person had staked their claim on Diamond's tasty soul. How darethey?
While they all talked she just perched there, fingers clasping Diamonds hair with increasing tightness, glaring at the window. She heard it all, took it all in on some level, but it was just background noise compared to the rage.
When Diamond shivered beneath her, Aylin snapped out of it and yanked on the woman's hair, pulling her head back and giving her an accidental face full of boob. "You're my soul mate Die-Die," she screeched, face twisted in anger that made her look quite frightening, much like a murderer would look just before the kill. "Who is this...this Philia?!" the name came out like a curse word, "And what have they got that I..." She trailed off, suddenly sniffing at the air.
Loosening her grip on Diamond's hair, Aylin leaned forward, towards the portal. She sniffed at it, tilting her head this way and that, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
"Who are you? And why are there so many of you in there?"
She could smell them, even through the window. The distinct taste of several souls, how many she couldn't determine, but there were definitely more than there should have been in that body.
Diamond tried not to look distressed as Aylin began pulling at her hair.
Then she was yanked. She should have expected a yank to come, Aylin was gripping tightly enough to yank, but they always seemed to catch her off guard. She would have squeaked in dismay, but her mouth was full of flesh all of a sudden. Boob flesh. Urgh, she didn't want to talk about 'philia now. Not now, anytime but now.
The person in the portal looked like a kitten who just had a mouse with a broken back set in front of it.
Diamond took a deep breath, her shoulders tensing up to contain a shudder. She opened her mouth to apologize for... damn, everything. Bringing 'philia up, skipping Essrym, the wagon wheel breaking, not brushing her teeth tonight, getting a blis-
Then Aylin was leaning forward, she was sniffing the portal. She was making herself even more visible. Oh no. Oh no. Diamond reached up to grab Aylin and pin her to the ground, but she was already talking. Oh no. This was not going to be good. If it wouldn't have drawn too much attention to herself, Diamond would have curled into a ball, shut her eyes and waited for someone to kick her awake in the morning.
The man in the portal raised an eyebrow when Aylin's face loomed closer. He leaned forward, propped his elbows on his knees and his chin on his palms like he was talking to a little kid sitting by his chair. "I have extraordinary luck. How do you know Diamond? Are you her new infatuation. Lie to me if you have to, I could use some good news about now."
Aylin pondered over just how lucky that man was having more than one soul, her mouth beginning to dampen at the thought of all that tasty soul in one gulp. It'd be a feast of epic proportions!
Her nose hovered an inch away from the window as she answered the white man. "I am Aylin!" she beamed. Oh wait, he didn't ask that question. "I know Diamond because she broke the wheel before and I helped fix it and I gots a free ride from it and then I ate her but she's ok now cos I un-ate her and that makes us soulmates!" Her face was the picture of happiness, frozen with eyes wide and a huge grin. She had no idea what 'in-fat-choo-ate-on' meant, so she gave the best answer she could think of.
"Yes. Yes I am. Unless you mean it in the metaphorical, metaphysical metabolic sense, in which case maybe."
"Uh! Ooh ooh!!" she squeaked suddenly, remember a question she'd wanted to ask of an authority figure. As she squeaked, she fell backwards, tumbling off Diamonds shoulders and landing on her back.
Scrambling over, she wriggled in from of the woman and sat on her knees between her and the window. "Mister," she chirped, "Before, Diamond was on E's back and he did this," she twisted a hand behind her and moved it about, hitting Diamond in the stomach, "and then she want "He's just-FUCKEN TEASE!"." Her Diamond impression was flawless, mimicking the exact sound of her voice. "What did he do?"
She stared at the window with a puzzled look. If Diamond had a secret, magical button that could make her squeal, Aylin wanted to know about it. She could push it whenever she wanted Diamond to do something.
[center:2qtz2hwf]It's about to get pretty un-kosher in here.
You have been warned.
Proceed at own risk.[/center:2qtz2hwf]
A voice in Diamond's head encouraged her to throw Aylin off her shoulders, start running and keep running until something caught her or until she died of exhaustion. The only problem with that scenario was that Aylin would probably roll over and grab her ankles as soon as she tried to run off. It would be embarrassing.
"Wait a moment!" she burst when Aylin said she broke the wheel. "I didn't break any- ate? You liar!" Diamond snarled, her lips raising up far enough that her gums were visible. She calmed down in the next second, but was noticeably shaking. "Natchia, please ignore her."
It was no use, 'Natchia wasn't paying any attention to her. His attention was completely focused on Aylin. Diamond considered running again when Aylin flopped off her back. If she was lucky she might be able to make it into the carriage and lock the door. Depending on how persistent Aylin was, it would either doom E., Juk and Zan to a slow death by dehydration, or they could go back to finding Essryn in the morning when her short attention span dragged her off somewhere else.
Now that Aylin was in front of her, she could definitely make it. She couldn't do it though, her hands felt like they were made of out cement blocks, her knees sticking fast to the ground like they had roots. Diamond bit her lip and took a deep breath when Aylin began asking about that - as if she was reading her mind and picking out the question that would lead to worst possible outcome.
She should have clapped a hand over Aylin's mouth.
She should have tackled the other girl to the ground.
She should have shut down the portal.
What she did was stare ahead, dumb and motionless and trying not to look as scared as she felt. She didn't even react when Aylin jabbed her in the stomach.
'Natchia laughed out loud at Aylin's Diamond impression. Excellent, a mimic. He could see the appeal a mimic might have when you were long for someone else. Somehow, Diamond must have shown her what 'philia's voice sounded like; without even letting her know whose voice she was mimicking. That or she was going to. He grinned. "It'd be best if I showed you. You might not understand if I explain it," he purred. He took a pocket watch from his pocket, opened it-
-and was there, standing next to the portal instead of sitting inside it. He closed the watch and put it away.
Aylin knew what was going to happen before he even said anything. Something deep inside her made her look away from the window and divert her gaze to the blank space beside it, which was soon filled with Natchia's face. She'd picked up his name earlier, without realising it.
Standing up to look at him, Aylin moved to one side, no longer blocking him from Diamond. With a regal wave of her hand she commanded, "Very well. Demonstrate."
Her attention wandered between Diamond, and eyeing the pocket that the watch had slipped into. That watch was shiny, and did fancy things. She wanted that watch.
Diamond regained control of herself long enough to look in Aylin's direction, her expression still blank. She didn't trust herself to make a face. She'd lose it.
'Natchia bowed when Aylin directed him to Diamond, sweeping his arms out to the side. "My pleasure." Once he straightened up, he looked at Diamond, who looked away from Aylin and up at him slowly, like a sunflower reaching for dawn's light.
"Diamond," he turned a hand palm up and raised it, Diamond rising to her feet. Her eyes were vacant. 'Natchia's finger crooked and she lurched forward, swaying slightly. "Now," 'Natchia turned around, standing in front of Diamond. "Climb on my back, pretend I'm the little sword boy."
Diamond obeyed, wrapping her arms loosely around 'Natchia's neck and sliding a leg clumsily up his.
"Watch closely," 'Natchia snapped the fingers of the hand closest to Aylin, then twisted it around and slowly stroked Diamond's thigh. Once his fingers got to the hem of her skirt, Diamond's breathing got a little faster. "It could have been as simple as this, but that's not our little E. Tierny T. That one thinks subtlety is the word used to describe Juk's beard before he shaves in the morning. Come closer, this is what E. did."
'Natchia hooked his thumb around the hem of Diamond's skirt, letting his fingers fan out. Then he hooked his middle finger up and under her skirt, Diamond's next breath was ragged. The rest of his fingers soon followed. Diamond's breathing didn't change, but it didn't go back to it's normal pace either.
"Do you understand now little one?" 'Natchia smiled pleasantly. "Or do you need to take a closer look?"
The watch was so preeeeeetty and so shiiiiiiiny. She wanted that watch, wanted it bad. She'd kill him for that watch.
How dare he steal her watch and put it in his pocket? She'd just have to cut his hands off so he couldn't do it again.
Her attention however was, as was typical, easily swayed to a new target. The man seemed to have a great level of control over her pet, which intrigued Aylin to no end. She must know how to do that. Perhaps Mr. White could be persuaded to teach her the skill.
Persuaded with bananas.
Dark curls tumbled off her shoulders as her head tilted, her curiosity well and truly piqued. To better see Aylin got down on all fours, crawled over to the pair and squatted squarely behind Diamond. Looking up seemed the best vantage point from where his fingers were heading.
As commanded Aylin peered up, leaning in closer. She watched as the man's fingers disappeared one by one, mouth twisting in increased confusion, until she slumped back down again.
"I don't get it," she moaned grumpily. Looking first at her hand, and then down at her own nethers she enquired, "Where did they go? And....this still doesn't explain why she screamed afore." A sullen pout fixed itself onto Aylin's face, eyes peering up for answers.
'Natchia tilted his head back to watch Aylin, effectively bracing his head on Diamond's shoulder. To Aylin, it would look like two of his fingers had disappeared completely into Diamond, one was bent and rubbing and the little finger was curled.
A slow smirk spread across his face at Aylin's round of questions. "I'm afraid why Diamond was upset is a lot easier to explain than how. In the literal sense, he rubbed her the wrong way. Or," he laughed. "Maybe she just didn't want him there."
Diamond's nostrils flared slightly.
"The how," 'Natchia began to sink to the ground, sitting on his heels and finally kneeling, taking his hand out of Diamond and crossing both on one raised knee and twisting around to look at Aylin. Diamond swayed and nearly fell over him, looking down nervously. 'Natchia laughed softly. "I'm not so good at explaining the how. It's not something that can be explained easily."
A lot of things didn't make sense to Aylin. Where the sun went when the moon chased it away. Why the leaves were purple. What ever happened to that dog, Scarl. These things rarely bothered her, they just were so she accepted them, but this, this was irritating.
She could see his fingers, see where they went, but two were just gone, like what happened when she put her fingers in someone's mouth, they disappeared. But that wasn't Diamonds mouth.
"Like when you pet an echidna wrong," she nodded, then after he clarified, "Like when you pet a bombnewt at all." She'd lost her arms a good dozen times playing with bombnewts.
Diamond wobbled and Aylin grabbed her by the hips, saying firmly, "No, bad Diamond, you stand!"
Slapping the inside of Diamonds thigh with the back of her right hand, Aylin made her spread her legs a little more, looking determined. "Hold still, I'm a find yer magic hole."
Her tongue touching her upper lip as she concentrated, Aylin took her hand and crept up Diamond's leg like a spider. Reaching her groin, Aylin imitated the white man, her pinkie pulling the woman's underwear aside while her index and middle fingers forced their way into Diamonds magic hole.
Diamond had disassociation down to an art form when 'Natchia was involved. As long as she stayed grounded enough to respond to little signals like being grabbed or smacked and paid attention to her name, she could take her mind away from whatever was happening. The less she could remember in the future, the happier she'd be...
'Natchia watched Diamond's expression as Aylin copied him. While her eyes were open and her breathing was heavier, the lights weren't on upstairs. Her eyes were completely vacant, her mouth parted slightly and her head looked like it was about to loll to the side. There were a few things that could yank Diamond from la-la land, but 'Natchia wasn't in the mood to share them.
In the carriage, E. was awake. Tonight was the night he'd make contact - he planned to do so after Diamond got back in after making her report. The first thing E. noticed after he got up was that not only Diamond was missing, but Aylin was as well. It made sense, sort of. Aylin seemed to have permanently attached herself to Diamond. E. wasn't sure how Aylin's presence would affect the meeting.
Shifting a little, E. pulled himself toward one of the carriage's windows, pulled the curtain back a little and peeked out. It looked like the report was long over. Diamond wasn't worth the trouble that would follow if he decided to go out and help her. Eventually they would get bored, or they would stop watching the carriage and he could creep off.
With a tactile fascination reminiscent of a baby first chewing on its own limbs Aylin explored Diamond. It was like a second mouth really, and Aylin wondered if Diamond too was getting the same tactile joy discovering her fingers as Aylin was feeling around the damn interior of the magic hole. It had saliva, lips of a sort, it just lacked teeth and tongue. Oh, wait, that might be a little tongue at the top.
Curious.
She grew bored with this discovery after a minute or so, pulling out her fingers with a delightful squelch. Curiously she licked her fingers, face contorting into confusion at the odd taste of the spit.
For a moment she sat, legs crossed while she tried to understand the whole thing, when suddenly there was a rush of heat from her groin. Glancing down briefly, Aylin stood and looked at the white man. "I don't need to pee anymore. We will be going to bed now. You should go to sleep now." She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. "I need water so I don't stink, and I need Di 'cos her boobies make good pillows."
She'd had enough of Mr White. Him and his dirty, dirty monkeys. They mocked her with the lemons, and she didn't like them.
Didn't like them like she didn't like the piggy that told her to burn things.
Remembering the shiny, she asked sweetly, "Can I have that fancy watch?"
By the time Aylin really started to explore Diamond's 'second mouth', Diamond was busy staring blankly at the horizon. Her body would twitch every now and then, but she didn't make a sound and her expression didn't change.
'Natchia watched it all with his arms crossed loosely and a faintly amused expression. There was always a chance that the girl would find one of Diamond's buttons while she was poking around. That would be amusing. Diamond's armor wasn't anywhere near impenetrable, her expression once she realized this inexperienced girl was able to break through her wall would be a delightful epicaricacy.
That didn't happen. Diamond was still staring blankly ahead by the time Aylin had enough and plopped on the ground to lick her fingers. Since she was so busy, now would be a good time to pick up where she left off. 'Natchia walked around behind Diamond, sliding his hands up her forearms. They were just to her shoulders, his fingers closing around them, when Aylin stood up and announced that she didn't have to pee anymore and that she was taking Diamond back with her.
Flaring his nostrils wasn't the best course of action then. It was one of his usual tics when he was irritated, but ages of controlling his facial features helped keep him from flaring his nose and checking to see how hydrated Aylin was. Letting Diamond go was probably for the best, he was up to the top of his throne in issues. Besides, it wasn't like this new person was going to make sure Diamond was comfortable, so it would work out.
'Natchia cupped Diamond's chin, turning her face toward him and nuzzling her ear. After a second her eyes widened, fists clenched, knees twitched and Diamond nearly jumped out of her skin. Pulling herself out of 'Natchia's grip and taking a step back toward the wagon, she crossed her arms, huffed and inspected her boots for a second.
Just as 'Natchia was getting ready to get out of there, the girl Aylin was asking for his watch. "You cannot have my watch," he answered, drawling the words a little and smirking as he put a hand in his pocket and blinked away.
"Asshole," Diamond growled softly, kicking the grass in front of her hard enough to send a few clumps soaring through the air. She glared at them as they fell back to the ground and turned to the wagon.
E. moved away from his spot at the corner of the window, curling up and shutting his eye just enough to make it look like he was asleep. It would take Diamond about an hour to fall asleep, more or less. Then he could make his move.
"But I want it!" Aylin hissed, her mouth an open frown and tears welling up in her wide eyes. Unfortunately he used it to teleport the rest of the world away from him, so she didn't have time to kill him and take it.
Pouting something fierce she turned to Diamond. A hand clasped on her forearm, tugging on it like a towel.
"Di Di," she whined gazing up at the woman, "Is sleep times now. And I need water to wash."
Fully expecting to be lead, Aylin waited. She couldn't remember the last time she'd bathed, though it was probably two days ago. Maybe twelve, it was hard to say.
Mostly because a boulder had stolen her time.
If she ever found that boulder, why, it was getting painted blue. After all, boulders hated blue. It reminded them of the sky, which mocked them, and the water, which beat them down to pebbles.
Diamond was annoyed. To be fair, Diamond's default setting was usually annoyed. Though, after meeting with 'Natchia her mood was usually somewhere at the extreme edges of annoyance, near 'leave me alone, I'm trying to think' and furious. Right now it was a little further to the right and threatening to drop even further.
Scowling, Diamond turned to look at Aylin, her lip curling and eyebrow twitching. "You'll have to wait 'til morning," she spat through her clenched teeth. Right now she wasn't in the mood for acknowledging what other people wanted - and Aylin seemed to have gotten enough of that tonight. "You can just wrap yourself up in a blanket until we get to the lake tomorrow."
Since Aylin was clinging to her and Diamond wanted to be in the carriage and unconscious more than she wanted her arm, Diamond walked to it, dragging Aylin along. She opened the door and grabbed a blanket, tugging to see if it was wound around anyone. It didn't give, so she tossed it aside and reached for another one, tugged and got resistance again. Diamond growled, tugged and managed to pull a sheet free. It was tossed over Aylin and Diamond crawled into the carriage as best she could with another person clinging to her arm, curled into a ball in her spot and started making good on her desire to be out.
E. closed his eye all the way when the carriage door opened, listened to Diamond rustling around with the blankets. When she tugged on one underneath him, he shifted so it would slither free. The sooner she got what she needed, the sooner she and the crazy girl would be asleep.