01-27-2018, 01:20 PM
“Espera!” Jade breathed, sounding every bit as bowled-over by surprise as she felt.
Because the shadowy figure was Espera. It just was, who else could it possibly be? The shadows had parted just a little bit, revealing the dusty brown feathers flecked with bluish-silver speckles and the pale, mask-like face of the owl woman, her black scarab-shaped eyes staring flatly back into Jade’s own. Darkness crept in to fill the fine spaces between each sprawling curve of lace and fluffy plumes, and yet despite the black lines crawling over her (like worms writhing inside a bloated corpse), Espera stood completely and utterly still.
Still, the young girl’s relief was almost palpable, her concern rushing from her like a swiftly receding tide. She smiled widely, buckteeth and all. “Wow Espera, you really gave me a scare! What on earth are you doing down here? I thought you’d be at the part— whoa!”
Shliiiink! A barrage of glistening-sharp blades whistled out from Espera’s robes, each of them whistling straight for Jade. The dog-eared girl barely managed to fling herself to the side, the sharpened steel piercing through the metal floor as easily as if it was butter. Staring at the still-reverberating metal with wide eyes, Jade could only imagine how deeply they might have cut into her body.
A wave of unease washed over her as she looked up, chest heaving in terror, mouth agape. “Espera,” she said, but Jade already knew deep within her belly that this was no longer her affably sedate owl pal. Brine and other salty, brackish offing stung at her nose, as if carried straight to her by the ocean’s current.
Her brand new gun was in her hands with a second’s thought, fizzling with electric lime energy.
“Who are you?” she asked, shivering. “What do you want?”
As Jade anticipated, Espera’s beak parted. Yet, instead of the customary greeting she had come to expect from the owlish person, another voice spoke instead. A dark, ugly voice, one filled with creepy crawlies and sinister whispering that sent frigid goosebumps prickling up over Jade’s skin.
“We have searched ceaselessly for you, Tearen Wover, formerly the singularity known as Nealaphh,” the thing wearing Espera’s body croaked. “You were a difficult mark to trace, this is true, but at last we have found you.”
Jade boggled at this admission. “What,” she said.
Forging onward into a no doubt totally disheartening monologue, not-Espera began to drift forward, inch by inch, an inevitable and very real threat. “Yesss, it is clearly surprising to you that we have managed to see past this… effeminate, weak, teenaged disguise of yours. Did you really believe pretending to be so utterly stupid would help you to blend in? It was so obvious.”
“That’s not even--” Jade sputtered.
The thing across from her sniffed haughtily. It was a weird nasally whistle, especially when performed through an owl’s beak. “Of course you are Tearen Wover. You have the same eye color, wear the same cloth… changing your skin cannot hide who you truly are, even if it IS a particularly ugly one.”
Okay, that was SO uncalled for. “Uhm, first off, I am NOT Tearen, you fuckass! He’s long gone, to-- to wherever he went! And second of all, fuck you!” Jade snapped, red cheeks puffing out furiously. The gun in her hands crackled with green static, almost as if it was responding intelligently to her ire.
“We tire of your worthless gibbering. Perhaps a familiar face will make you more willing to comply.”
Jade watched as the creature morphed into a gray, dripping mass right before her eyes, humanoid in shape and utterly destroyed. Bones snapped with sickening wetness, jutting out through tattered clothing, and silvery white hair matted with debris and ice grew out from the top of the figure’s head. As the thing’s face split into a yellow-toothed grin, Jade’s eyes widened, a strangled, wounded sound leaving her mouth.
Standing across from her was Solomon Grundy, obviously after the mountain had collapsed and sealed him inside a soundless tomb. The gun wavered in Jade’s hands, the barrel slanting toward the ground.
“Aw, that’s just not fair,” she whimpered, backing up with a few hurried steps. She could feel the air growing steadily colder despite the cozy diving suit clinging to her skin, her breath fogging in white clouds in front of her nose as the temperature dropped.
“We should have gutted you in your cabin and taken the child when we had the chance,” the creature sneered, teeth stained with gore dripping down from the caved-in dome of Grundy’s skull, half of his face saturated with squishy brain matter. “Regrettably, now we must serve as pest control. It is very degrading.”
Jade’s hands shook despite her best efforts, her palms sweating from fear. “What the hell does that mean? Wh- What are you talking about?” she demanded angrily, hoping to wipe that disturbingly smug grin off this thing’s face through sheer bluster alone.
If anything, the smile on her dead friend’s face widened, Grundy’s decayed and sawdusty teeth glinting dully. The creature made a sound halfway between a chuckle and a distorted, wet gurgle, coolly regarding the glow from the lighted glass gateway to the bottom of the ocean. “Don’t pretend to be daft. It is all about the child, always has been, to tell you the truth. He was adamant that the child must not be harmed during this… transaction period, and— naturally— you had to be removed from the equation. As payment for disposing of you, the bounty is ours. Nothing personal.”
“Oh, I’m taking it pretty personally, bucko,” Jade said, a hysterical whine in her voice. Abruptly, she blanched, eyes widening from sudden dread. “Wait… that’s what this is about? You and… whoever else… you’re trying to take Rebecca away from me! Why?”
Not-Grundy snorted in reply.
“Child Protective Services, what else,” the thing responded drily. “Please. We could care less about what happens to that broken little girl. Damaged goods, in our opinion, but Dr. Kelvin wasn’t picky about which subjects he would return to Rapture with.”
The young Witch of Space stared. She didn’t know Kelvin was a doctor! Or that he was secretly a totally bad dude— priorities, Jade!
Still, she couldn’t quite believe it. Trusting the word of a bounty hunter just seemed stupid. Hands scrabbling hurriedly at her dress pockets, Jade finally managed to extract the heavily-stuffed envelope Kelvin had given her, the one meant for his sister; the creature across from her merely looked on, mildly curious. Without pause, she ripped the darn thing open with her teeth, blinking as a dozen or so items flapped to the ground. She squinted down at these supposed letters, eyes shifting frantically from one to the next as the betrayal sank in.
“Son of a bitch!”
They were all brochures— the kind one could easily find in any old gift shop or tourist center on the island of Costa del Sol. Through her haze of steadily-rising, volcanic red anger, Jade could make out these cheery words: Island Treasures Flea Market — Where ‘x’ marks the spot!
“Son of a bitch!” she repeated, fists clenched so hard her knuckles had turned a searing white. “That fucker!”
Because the shadowy figure was Espera. It just was, who else could it possibly be? The shadows had parted just a little bit, revealing the dusty brown feathers flecked with bluish-silver speckles and the pale, mask-like face of the owl woman, her black scarab-shaped eyes staring flatly back into Jade’s own. Darkness crept in to fill the fine spaces between each sprawling curve of lace and fluffy plumes, and yet despite the black lines crawling over her (like worms writhing inside a bloated corpse), Espera stood completely and utterly still.
Still, the young girl’s relief was almost palpable, her concern rushing from her like a swiftly receding tide. She smiled widely, buckteeth and all. “Wow Espera, you really gave me a scare! What on earth are you doing down here? I thought you’d be at the part— whoa!”
Shliiiink! A barrage of glistening-sharp blades whistled out from Espera’s robes, each of them whistling straight for Jade. The dog-eared girl barely managed to fling herself to the side, the sharpened steel piercing through the metal floor as easily as if it was butter. Staring at the still-reverberating metal with wide eyes, Jade could only imagine how deeply they might have cut into her body.
A wave of unease washed over her as she looked up, chest heaving in terror, mouth agape. “Espera,” she said, but Jade already knew deep within her belly that this was no longer her affably sedate owl pal. Brine and other salty, brackish offing stung at her nose, as if carried straight to her by the ocean’s current.
Her brand new gun was in her hands with a second’s thought, fizzling with electric lime energy.
“Who are you?” she asked, shivering. “What do you want?”
As Jade anticipated, Espera’s beak parted. Yet, instead of the customary greeting she had come to expect from the owlish person, another voice spoke instead. A dark, ugly voice, one filled with creepy crawlies and sinister whispering that sent frigid goosebumps prickling up over Jade’s skin.
“We have searched ceaselessly for you, Tearen Wover, formerly the singularity known as Nealaphh,” the thing wearing Espera’s body croaked. “You were a difficult mark to trace, this is true, but at last we have found you.”
Jade boggled at this admission. “What,” she said.
Forging onward into a no doubt totally disheartening monologue, not-Espera began to drift forward, inch by inch, an inevitable and very real threat. “Yesss, it is clearly surprising to you that we have managed to see past this… effeminate, weak, teenaged disguise of yours. Did you really believe pretending to be so utterly stupid would help you to blend in? It was so obvious.”
“That’s not even--” Jade sputtered.
The thing across from her sniffed haughtily. It was a weird nasally whistle, especially when performed through an owl’s beak. “Of course you are Tearen Wover. You have the same eye color, wear the same cloth… changing your skin cannot hide who you truly are, even if it IS a particularly ugly one.”
Okay, that was SO uncalled for. “Uhm, first off, I am NOT Tearen, you fuckass! He’s long gone, to-- to wherever he went! And second of all, fuck you!” Jade snapped, red cheeks puffing out furiously. The gun in her hands crackled with green static, almost as if it was responding intelligently to her ire.
“We tire of your worthless gibbering. Perhaps a familiar face will make you more willing to comply.”
Jade watched as the creature morphed into a gray, dripping mass right before her eyes, humanoid in shape and utterly destroyed. Bones snapped with sickening wetness, jutting out through tattered clothing, and silvery white hair matted with debris and ice grew out from the top of the figure’s head. As the thing’s face split into a yellow-toothed grin, Jade’s eyes widened, a strangled, wounded sound leaving her mouth.
Standing across from her was Solomon Grundy, obviously after the mountain had collapsed and sealed him inside a soundless tomb. The gun wavered in Jade’s hands, the barrel slanting toward the ground.
“Aw, that’s just not fair,” she whimpered, backing up with a few hurried steps. She could feel the air growing steadily colder despite the cozy diving suit clinging to her skin, her breath fogging in white clouds in front of her nose as the temperature dropped.
“We should have gutted you in your cabin and taken the child when we had the chance,” the creature sneered, teeth stained with gore dripping down from the caved-in dome of Grundy’s skull, half of his face saturated with squishy brain matter. “Regrettably, now we must serve as pest control. It is very degrading.”
Jade’s hands shook despite her best efforts, her palms sweating from fear. “What the hell does that mean? Wh- What are you talking about?” she demanded angrily, hoping to wipe that disturbingly smug grin off this thing’s face through sheer bluster alone.
If anything, the smile on her dead friend’s face widened, Grundy’s decayed and sawdusty teeth glinting dully. The creature made a sound halfway between a chuckle and a distorted, wet gurgle, coolly regarding the glow from the lighted glass gateway to the bottom of the ocean. “Don’t pretend to be daft. It is all about the child, always has been, to tell you the truth. He was adamant that the child must not be harmed during this… transaction period, and— naturally— you had to be removed from the equation. As payment for disposing of you, the bounty is ours. Nothing personal.”
“Oh, I’m taking it pretty personally, bucko,” Jade said, a hysterical whine in her voice. Abruptly, she blanched, eyes widening from sudden dread. “Wait… that’s what this is about? You and… whoever else… you’re trying to take Rebecca away from me! Why?”
Not-Grundy snorted in reply.
“Child Protective Services, what else,” the thing responded drily. “Please. We could care less about what happens to that broken little girl. Damaged goods, in our opinion, but Dr. Kelvin wasn’t picky about which subjects he would return to Rapture with.”
The young Witch of Space stared. She didn’t know Kelvin was a doctor! Or that he was secretly a totally bad dude— priorities, Jade!
Still, she couldn’t quite believe it. Trusting the word of a bounty hunter just seemed stupid. Hands scrabbling hurriedly at her dress pockets, Jade finally managed to extract the heavily-stuffed envelope Kelvin had given her, the one meant for his sister; the creature across from her merely looked on, mildly curious. Without pause, she ripped the darn thing open with her teeth, blinking as a dozen or so items flapped to the ground. She squinted down at these supposed letters, eyes shifting frantically from one to the next as the betrayal sank in.
“Son of a bitch!”
They were all brochures— the kind one could easily find in any old gift shop or tourist center on the island of Costa del Sol. Through her haze of steadily-rising, volcanic red anger, Jade could make out these cheery words: Island Treasures Flea Market — Where ‘x’ marks the spot!
“Son of a bitch!” she repeated, fists clenched so hard her knuckles had turned a searing white. “That fucker!”
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Gamzee Makara Wrote:S’aight. After all, dogs have a tendency to motherfuckin’ bite.