Get you some! ((closed))

[RumpleGrumblePuss]

I stood at the port side railing of the ship bearing me from Raiaera to Scara Brae. Between bouts of moaning retches I thought about cursing any god that could hear me. A second thought stopped me from actually yelling any curses up towards the sky. I had read far too many stories where the gods had indeed intervened to be that stupid. Speculative and appraising looks from a couple of sailors caught my attention. Without thinking about it I hissed at them. The startled looks they gave me was more than enough to make me laugh. Wavering across the deck on legs still unused to the pitching motion of the sea, I waddled more than walked to the portal to go below deck.

Experience had taught me to grab the top of the door way. I had no wish to suddenly find myself without a step beneath my feet and greeting the wooden floors in a fairly unpleasant manner. The splinters in un-mentionable places alone were encouragement enough. My mind drifted to the events of my arrival into Althanas and to my meeting with Kor. I wrinkled my nose as I admitted to myself that it was more of a rescue than anything else. I pushed the door to the small room I shared to a very familiar woman. A quick glance around the room crowded by the double bunk and the chest in which I had tossed my backpack showed that I was alone for the time being.

I climbed up and flopped on to the upper bunk, giving my shorter roommate the lower bunk and giving me a few seconds longer to react just in case someone decided they wanted to break in. I squirmed a little on the lumpy mattress, the rough blanket making any skin that was unlucky enough to touch it itch. Sighing, I stared up at the wooden ceiling, studying the flaws in the wood. I thought on the events that had led me to my present position in this boat. In a vague way I was a little surprised that I wasn’t more upset at being trapped in a made up world. I shrugged away the thought.

“I’d rather push on and survive than break down and be dinner for something.” I murmured into the still air of the cabin. A stray thought of the husband I had left behind in the real world surfaced, quickly I pushed it away. A small ripple of melancholy caught me; I turned over onto my side and stared at the wall. I closed my eyes, blanking my mind to keep any stray thoughts from popping up and tried to sleep. I hoped that when I woke up my stomach would feel better.

[Chromanon Rockskin]

The shorter bunkmate was one Chromanon Rockskin. She sat crosslegged on the bottom bed, her things stretched out before her. Her possessions were meager, only two items to her name, but they were more precious than anything else that she'd ever seen. She carried with her a small jade, and a petrified hand. Just as Jenn's thoughts were on Jason, so were Chroma's on her own husband.

Within the deep green of the jade, a figure moved. It was blurred, though Chromanon wasn't sure if it was from the opacity of the stone or her own unfallen tears. She wanted Ter-Thok more than anyone in the world right now, but as she raised her eyes to clear away the tears, a feral grin graced her features. She might not have her dear sweet husband, but that didn't mean that she was alone.

These days you are never alone.

Chromanon stuffed her belongings in a hip pouch and scrambled off the bed, turning back to look at it. The top of her head, much less her eyes, cleared the top bunk, so she could see nothing but the outline of the woman's hip and shoulder rising like the silhouettes of mountains on a planar horizon. She gripped the side of the top bunk and hauled herself up so that she was sitting on the edge. She grinned at the woman's back, wondering if she was sick. Normally by now, she'd have been yelled at or at least fearfully whimpered at.

"Oooone night, one morn when I was born and the whistle went toot toot! Toot toot! You can buy a cake or fry a snake when the mudpies are in bloom!" she said in a singsong voice. It was the beginnings of a children's song she had heard somewhere before, and it always managed to cheer her up when she was feeling blue. She watched the woman intently, hoping that at least she'd get a small chuckle.

"Don't be sad. You've got Chromanon Rockskin Thok here to be your friend!" Chroma said, holding out her hand. It was always fun to make new friends.

[RumpleGrumblePuss]

The bed shifted under me, as something or rather a small someone climbed on to the bed with me. An all too familiar song came from the figure occupying the rest of my bed in an attempt to ‘cheer’ me up. I turned over and looked at the diminutive woman with a distinctive hairstyle. I studied my best friend's most insanely cute and obnoxious creation with more than a little amusement.

“Nice to meet you Chromanon. My name is Jen… Kahlina.” I shook my head at the slip up of names. ‘Never again, I am not going to be Jennifer any more.’ I pounded that thought into my mind and set it with the mental equivalent of superglue. Smiling slightly I took Chroma’s offered hand and shook it. I grinned suddenly and decided to finish the song where Chromanon had left off.

“…six and six make nine. Does ice grow on the vine? Is old man Joe an Eskimo in the good old summer time! Oh, loopy de loop through the noodle soup just to give those socks a shine. I’m guilty judge I ate the fudge, three cheers for old man time. I can not tell a lie, I hawked an apple pie. It’s on a tree, beneath the sea, above the bright blue sky.

“When Easter eggs wash their legs their children will be ducks. Quack! Quack! I rather buy a lemon pie for forty seven bucks. Ching! Ching! Way down in Barcelona, they jumped into the foam-ea, but that it all baloney –ea. Patter roosky blow your horn!” I finished the rushed, tongue twisting song giggling.

I’m not going to get any sleep at this rate. I shot an inquisitive stared at Chromanon as I remembered the last things I had read on her. I mentally shrugged the thought away, deciding that is was not the wisest of things to go around spouting knowledge I had no business knowing. After all look at the interesting and alarming turn of events that occurred when I met Kor. Quickly, I tried to tally up just how many characters Manda had while I wondered if I would be meeting them all at one point or another. I also wondered how that was possible, Althanas is a big world. I shook myself out of my musings and offered Chroma a small smile of apology for getting lost in thought.

“Perhaps, I could teach you some other songs. I know quite a few silly songs. We could go up on the deck for some fresh air while I sing them for you.”

[Chromanon Rockskin]

"Toot toot!" Chroma piped as Jennifer finished the song. The kender was giggling now, pleased that her roomie both knew the song and had yet to shove her off the side of the bunk. The offer of new songs was tempting, but the kender's mind had already turned to something else. When Kahlina had turned to look at her, she'd seen a flash of silver. Two rings were on the woman's hand. Chroma tilted her head to the side as she studied them for a second.

The first was a wedding band, and of not much interest to Chromanon. She almost asked where the woman's husband was, but kept oddly silent with her question. Perhaps it was a sad story, like hers and Ter-Thok's. If he'd died, or fell out of love with her, Chromanon didn't want the woman to remember and be sad again. It was a pretty band, with purple and flashy diamondesque stones, but her eyes were far more drawn to the other one.

It was a simple silver band, etched all around with a script that Chromanon didn't recognize at all. It looked magical, and she wondered if it had the power to set people on fire or make the wearer invisible. She pointed to it, her puzzlement apparent on her face.

"What does that say?"

[RumpleGrumblePuss]

I twisted, pulling my body up until I sat up on the bed facing Chroma. A warmth similar to time spent watching and play with my little cousins filled me. ‘To hell with any advice. It’s too hard to be withdrawn around Chroma. She’s just too lively to ignore.’ I watched her eye my rings. For a moment I wondered if I was going to have to hide them. I knew Chroma wasn’t a thief but things did have a way of finding their way into her little hands.

“My stepfather went on a trip for his job. While he was away he visited a country very far from where I used to live. He brought this ring back for me. The ring is based off of a movie that is based off of some books I’ve loved since I was a little girl. It’s called the one ring of power.” I stopped and looked at the ring wondering if it would be possible to enchant the ring. I didn’t see why not, I could remember reading about many different enchanted items. I filed the thought away for further thought at a later date.

“The ring says: One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. The ring in the story had the power to make a person invisible to other people. It was made by a really bad guy that wanted the world to be his. A bunch of good people fought him and destroyed the ring so he couldn’t have it. The ring itself my not be very special, after all it is only a copy, but it is special to me. One of the few good memories I have of my stepfather.”


I pulled off the ring and held it out to her to look over.

[Chromanon Rockskin]

"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them..." Chroma whispered, repeating the incantation's translation. She took the offered jewelry, rotating it in her tiny fingers to look at the etchings all around. Her brow furrowed for a moment and she nearly put it in her hip pouch before she realized what she was doing. Instead, she held back out the ring to Kahlina, and tilted her head to the side a little.

"Does it rhyme in the other language too? Usually when poems are translated, they don't rhyme again. I think it'd be nice if everyone spoke the same language, you know? I wrote a poem," she said, her voice rising and growing more rushed and excited as she spoke. "It's about why I'm going to Scary Bra."

She opened her mouth as she gathered together the memory of the little limerick she'd written, but paused, her brain routing on a whole different thought in the blink of an eye.

"Why are you going to the Scary Bra?"

[RumpleGrumblePuss]

I kept an eye on Chromanon as she looked over my ring. I was a little surprised when she stopped herself before putting my ring in her pouch. Nodding my thanks I put the ring back on its customary finger. For a moment I flexed the fingers of my right hand, it always felt naked with out my ring on.

I took my time to answer Chroma’s questions. As much as I tried I couldn’t recall having ever heard the One ring’s poem spoken in the originally language. I frowned slightly and look at the innocent silver band on my finger.

“I honestly can’t remember the poem in its original form. I think I must be getting old.” A quiet chuckle escaped from me. I hunched one shoulder in a semblance of a shrug.

“Scary Bra?” I snickered to myself. “I’m headed for Scara Brae because; well I was really anxious to get out of Raiaera. My, ah, adventuring days started quite unexpectedly. I wasn’t too thrilled to find myself close to the Red Forest. Frankly, I hope to never see it again. It’s way too strange for me.” I shifted uneasily where I sat. I didn’t want Chroma to ask me any more questions about myself. I wasn’t sure that I want to lie but I also knew that I didn’t or rather shouldn’t tell the truth as I saw it.

“Hey, Chroma. Can I have your autograph? I have a friend that would just die of shock if she knew I had met you. Afterwards, let’s go up on the deck.” I scooted forward until I could slide off the top bunk. It took only a moment of digging through my pack to find one of the two small blank books and a pen. I held them out to Chroma expectantly.

[Chromanon Rockskin]

Chroma took the book and pen without a moment's hesitation, staring down at it with a fascinated expression on her face. After the Lornius victory against Mist and Sorjax, she'd been plied with several of these. Mostly she just accepted them as gifts, confused when the givers demanded them back. It wasn't until she noticed Ter-Thok scribbling something absent-minded into a few of them (only to be annoyed seconds later and leaving the crowds as a raving lunatic) and after a few of these observations she was pretty sure she had it down.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/darthmaulnda/Chromaautograph.jpg

It had certainly helped that the priest who had married her to her husband had been kind enough to help her practice her signature so that the marriage certificate would look just as authentic and legally binding as it was. The thought of the small sanguine creature that found himself effectively snared in her heart brought tears to her eyes, but she chose not to cry over their separation. Instead, finding him would be her greatest adventure, beyond the LCC, Adventurer's Crown and even finding out what happened after death itself. Handing back the items to the woman, she slipped off the bedside and headed for the door, intending to go back onto the deck as her roommate insisted.

"You know," she said, her mind wandering back to Kahlina's explanation of her voyage, "If people never went anywhere strange, we'd never get anywhere at all." She shrugged as she came to the room's portal and stepped through it into the hallway, holding the door open for the woman.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been sitting for a full year. Since no response has been made to create activity I am going to be moving this. If you would like it to be reopened please feel free to PM myself or another admin and they will be able to move it for you back to Scara Brae.