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Post by Jules on Jul 21, 2008 23:36:40 GMT -5
It hadn't been an easy, or short walk, and once they were there Zizzy was entirely unsure of where to go. Iker hadn't though that piping up was at all necessary and she just hoped it didn't mean Armand had woken up.
They'd stopped on a jutting cliff, somewhere close to where they'd first encountered Iker.
Slightly worried she'd look kind of crazy, Zizzy explained herself before trying to talk to Iker out loud.
"I kind of lied...to Armand. Only he has to be asleep for Iker to move around."
She gave him a sheepish look and then rolled her shoulders. "Iker, you fat rat, where the hell do we go from here?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 22, 2008 0:00:38 GMT -5
Fat rat? Hardly an encouraging title, my pet. You're due north. You'll hit a canyon up ahead, follow it. Oh, and for the future... perhaps we should converse in your head, lest dear Alexander think less of you, or your sanity.
"Well, I didn't think you told him the truth," he said, with a roll of his eyes. At her question, apparently addressed to Iker, he waited--- mostly for direction, but also at the offchance Iker's cold voice would suddenly answer in the wind. In this place, he wouldn't be that surprised.
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Post by Jules on Jul 22, 2008 0:03:24 GMT -5
Zizzy rolled her eyes. You've obviously never had friends before. "Alright, north from here, we're supposed to find a canyon and follow it." She stretched and was about to take a step forward when she paused.
"Which way's north?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 22, 2008 0:09:01 GMT -5
"Technically, the Isle of Morpheus has no magnetic forces to create an actual north, but on the map....? It's thatta way."
He pointed with his finger and then without waiting for her, started off in said direction. As long as he knew what he was looking for, he could lead. He felt a little better going first anyway; call it gallantry or noble if you will, but in reality something was more likely to sneak up from behind then in the front.
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Post by Jules on Jul 22, 2008 0:18:57 GMT -5
Zizzy followed after him, looking around warily wondering what might lurk in the deep shadows and why the heck did Human's nightmares have to be so freakin' creepy.
After a few hours of hiking, following the instructions and winding around the canyon they arrived at a plateau of sorts. The atmosphere had plunged from creepy to down right terrifying and although she'd deny it if asked it was quite obvious that Zizzy was riddled with goosebumps. She stepped a little closer to Alex.
"What now, Iker?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 22, 2008 0:25:54 GMT -5
To say that this place gave him the creeps was like saying he liked to play with fire. Impossible to fully pinpoint and describe the inner passion, or in this case, dread. Everything seemed to close in on them, desperate to claim them as part of the haunting landscape forever. He met Zizzy's step toward him with one of his own, until they were almost shoulder to shoulder.
The cave.., Iker whispered. Anything more, he didn't dare, lest he give away his excitement. Farther on, shrouded completely by low, prickly trees, was the mouth of a cave.
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Post by Jules on Jul 22, 2008 0:32:23 GMT -5
Zizzy approached the cave like one might the open mouth of a dragon. With utter reluctance and naked fear. But she did it anyways. By now she was crackling with lightning bugs, which added even odder shadows to the somehow perverse surroundings.
"Right, into the cave we go." She shuddered perceptibly and took the first step past the threshold of the yawning stone.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 26, 2008 17:12:06 GMT -5
Alexander grimaced. "Of course. Where else would we go?" he muttered.
He grabbed her shoulder to halt her progress and stepped in front of her. He pushed a hanging limb out the way (the clawlike one that looked eager to strangle someone), and then another until finally all the branches shrouding the entrance went up in flame and then crumbled to ash.
He's handy to have around, isn't he? Iker mused in Zizzy's head.
Using his hand as a torch, Alexander stepped into the cave. It appeared average enough. An arch of jagged stone that was neither too big or small, and no skulls on the ground. He stretched his flame higher, but the flickering orange light only provided vision a few yards ahead. Everything else was black, black mystery.
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Post by Jules on Jul 26, 2008 17:20:36 GMT -5
Just remember your promise.
Zizzy would've provided light as well, only that the glow Alexander cast was warm and comforting, while hers would've been cold and alien. She stayed close, within the area of light he cast. As they went deeper she began to wonder how long this cave was and what, exactly they were looking for.
Raising her own hand she sent out a probing bolt that skittered across the floor and revealed more plain rock, more cracked cave wall, more worn stone floor until....
The bolt came rushing back at her, stronger then when she'd sent it out. Of course, it only tickled a little when it hit her, but it seemed to have started a chain reaction---something else started to glow.
A Crystal, large enough to reach the cave ceiling began to strip away the shadow with it's odd, pinkish light. Once it grew stronger and Zizzy's eyes accustomed to the brightness after the flickering dark, she saw what the crystal contained.
A floating woman. "How do we get her attention, Iker?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 26, 2008 17:40:56 GMT -5
Just wait.
It took the woman a moment, it had been so long since she had felt the presence of anything alive, but her eyes fluttered open. She saw the visitors, not clearly, but enough to know they were there. She sighed breathily and light exploded inside the cave. The crystal seemed almost opaque, milky and the woman, who had been almost transparent, her form described in shades of gray, now shone colorfully. Though, there was really one color to shine. Pink.
"Visitors?" she began in pleasant tone. "I must say, it's been--" She froze, her eyes fixing on Alexander. The entire cave seemed to quiver. "You," she hissed, eyes flashing. The rock in the cave came to life, pointed stalactites springing from the ground and the walls. They shifted, grew and connected to each other and in a matter of only seconds, Alexander was pinned to the wall with a very long, very sharp cut of rock pressed to his throat.
Hina's breathing was ragged and harsh, like an animal's. Alexander squeezed his eyes shut and Hina said, "Oh."
The dark, beast-like quality to her face fled and she blinked. "You're not Jack." She brushed a hand through the milky crystal and the rocks sank back into the wall as easily as melted chocolate. Alexander collapsed to the ground, where he coughed and rubbed his throat, more trying to rid himself of fear than actual pain.
"Sor-reee," Hina sing-songed brightly. "You look just like him. But of course, you must be Alexander. What a pleasure to finally meet one of my nephews." Alexander could only stare at her. Her eyes swivelled over to Zizzy. "And who are you?"
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Post by Jules on Jul 26, 2008 17:49:35 GMT -5
Zizzy swore profusely as the stone was breathed to life and took after Alexander. She was thinking on what to do just as he was released, and she turned to Hina.
"No one." She replied stiffly. Why wasn't Iker telling her what to do? She had no idea how to bargain with Hina, she certainly wasn't going to let loose yet another villain upon the unsuspecting Royal Family.
"Just, need your help with getting a Night Terror out of someone. I don't suppose you know an Iker?"
This didn't seem like the place to edge around the hedge.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 26, 2008 17:59:16 GMT -5
One perfectly shaped brow arched. "Iker the demon of Visitation?"
She remembers.
"How is that bastard?" She smiled coldly. "And you traveled a long way, Miss No One, to a very dangerous place. I've been nothing but polite to you, and I realize you are a Nightmare, but if you really push yourself, I think you can find some inkling of courtesy."
Alexander pushed himself to his feet, staring at Hina with something bordering on fascination. She saw the look and a sly grin curled her lips. "Not what you expected, Alexander?"
No, not at all. He stopped staring, but there was still a hint of puzzlement in the line tightening his mouth. "You're.... pink," he managed.
"Yes, well, I like to look good when I take out entire realms." She shrugged.
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Post by Jules on Jul 26, 2008 18:03:37 GMT -5
"Zizzy." She muttered. It wasn't like it mattered, anyways. There was just something about the woman that reminded her of a snake, even if she looked like a flower. She didn't have the energy to worry about the look of fascination on Alexander's face.
"He's still a bastard." She offered and rolled her shoulder. "Will you help me? He said you had some way of separating Jack from his Nightmare side? There was something innately immoral about this all and she couldn't help but feel a little tainted, a little sick with herself.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 26, 2008 18:08:06 GMT -5
Hina laughed, like the light tinkling of a bell.
"Iker informed you correctly, Zizzy. During the Great War I struck bargains with many of the seven Night Terrors. I assume that he is the one in need of removal, though I wonder what's wrong with the body he has?"
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Post by Jules on Jul 26, 2008 18:20:42 GMT -5
She grinned a little. "It's not compliant enough for his tastes." If she could play this off as solely for Iker's sake, perhaps Hina would be more willing to help. The more she thought about it, the more there seemed little reason to even mention Armand too much.
"Besides, he wants his own, understandable, right?" Hopefully Alexander trusted her enough to realize she was bullshitting all of this, that she wasn't a turncoat.
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