She squirmed and wriggled, hair flowing and flying all over the place in a silken fan of copper terror. Though the lizard man struggled to keep his grip, he did not let go. With a panicked squawk of alarm, Yus realised that if she wanted to survive it was time to start fighting dirty. "Ngg!" She began mentally mapping out bites, groin kicks, solar plexus jabs, the odd headbutt... Part of her wondered distantly if this beast even kept its essentials and soft parts in the places she was planning to hit. Before she could find out though, it did something which shocked her into momentary calm. It spoke. "Yus, what are you doing?" It was not the grating, slimy otherwordly tone she'd been expecting, it sounded almost... human. And, how did it know her name? Before she could demand answers, she noticed that, knee-tremblingly, GiganToe had heard the commotion and was now lumbering over from the trees. She began to squirm again and during the struggle one of her shoes was sucked into the mud, coming off with a squelchy slurping sound. "Yus" the lizard continued in a muffled tone. "Calm the Herc down! I thought you were joking at first, but you seem almost hysterical." "WHO ARE YOU?" bellowed the poor confused girl. "What?" Exclaimed the monster, sounding rather well-to-do for a hideous ethereal fiend. "Are you quite mad?" The beast let go at last, and Yus stumbled away a few odd-footed steps, turned, and then goggled - more awestruck than a fourteen year old lad who'd found himself accidentally transported into a women's locker room - as she took in the next horror. With a twisting movement, the gross lizard thing had begun removing its own head. Transfixed, Yusseca could not move her newly working eyes from the disturbing spectacle. She screamed mutely, so horrified that no sound came. The head removal continued. The neck bulged, and suddenly, where the throat had been, was a human face. "WHAT!?" yelled Yus, alternately confused, relieved, pissed off, and still very frightened. Heart hammering she realised she somehow recognised the face. It was a young-man version of a slightly rounder face familiar from her childhood, it was... "Duncan!?" What the hell was he doing running around in a lizard outfit. "Wow" breathed Yus. "Jyce was right, you really are a tit." A pang of sadness plucked callously at a heartstring. It resonated through her chest, vibrating through her being at the thought of poor, lost Jyce. Duncan ran a hand through his short blond hair, looking pretty ridiculous with his partial lizard body and man head, and seeming more than a little hurt. GiganToe lumbered their way. While it was likely this was also a costume, Yus instinctively took a step away. It too removed its head. "I never said that! Or.. Wait? Did I? Sounds like something I'd say to be fair." At the voice, and the face - a grown version of that which she so strongly remembered, and adored - Yus expelled a helpless yelp of emotion. It felt like immense joy and sorrow combined, and was so overwhelming that she almost crumbled to her knees in the mud. But she didn't. Instead she launched herself at her big sister, hugging around her furry outfit with an impressive rush of strength and love. "Whoa!" Jyce managed to grunt as the air was knocked from her. "Yus, are you okay? You're squishing me!" "I missed you so much! I love you!" "Yus, I love you too, but you saw me this morning, silly goose." "I did? What's..." Yus's voice became a quiet, muddled mutter. "What's going on?" She asked. "One minute I was in the Goo with Cap..." Jyce gently manuevred her so she could look into her little sister's pale face. "Who's Cap? What 'goo'?" Yus babbled beffudledly on. "You know... the Captain. The cyborg! The Purple Pool!" Jyce and Duncan exchanged confused glances. "Yus" Duncan said calmly, "I think you've been watching too many Horro'ween holos." A Durond dropped. "Horro'ween! That's why you're dressed as--" "Lizardo and his sidekick The GiganKid, yeah! You asked us to, remember?" Yus tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and frowned. "No sorry. I don't." Jyce let out a doubtful "Hmmmm!" and prodded her. "You're having us on, aren't you?" "W-what? No!" A humph from Duncan's direction and a tilted head. Apparently he was unimpressed. "Very funny, Yus. You almost had me going." Yus frowned more deeply. Had... Had it all been a bizarre dream? This certainly felt like reality. Jyce pulled Yus close and ruffled her hair "You are a funny bunny." Not knowing what on Eryth was going on Yus just hugged into her. "And annoying!" Jyce added, in typical Jyce-style, shoving Yus playfully. Duncan strode over, replacing the top portion of his horrible lizard costume. "Enough of this silliness. We're going to be late for the party, come on." Party? He ushered the young women through the fog, through the trees, to the side of a road which bordered a large storm ditch. It... seemed like Yus had seen it before. She looked about, trying to get her bearings. Civilisation was a LOT closer than she had realised when running. The lights of many dwellings could now be seen shining through the fog. Well, mist. The pea souper had begun to dissipate, turning the valley's edge from ethereal to faerytale. There was something familiar about the patterns the lights dotted out. The mental picture of that before her very eyes rearranged, melding with images from her childhood, and suddenly she worked out she was on the outskirts of town. Everything slotted into place. "My gods" she breathed "I'm home." A gust of breeze caused her to shiver. Duncan and Jyce weren't listening, they were fiddling with their costumes, dropping down into the stormdrain, chattering excitedly, hurrying through the dip and nipping out the other side. Before Yus could even catch her breath from all that, they prodded her down a slope and along the road. It was wide, smooth, and devoid of traffic. A bassy thrum could be heard from somewhere nearby. After a while Yus had to trot to keep up with Jyce and Duncan, who were now making a buzzline directly towards a large house which sparkled and shimmered through the mist. As they drew nearer, Yus dimly realised the expensive property was the Lyrca residence. The Lyrcas were friends of her father. Of course! They lived not far from a storm drain. She remembered them because they had a son around her age who at one time she'd thought rather cute. The lovely fancy home was decked out in fantastically arranged Horro'ween decor, and throbbing loudly with chart hits. People in all sorts of costumes were hanging out on the lower and upper balconies, and throughout the large gardens which gently sloped up to the house's front door. They were chatting, drinking, smoking, kissing, laughing. Living. An old classic, so old it predated Eryth's gradual reclassification, began to play. 🎵Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy...🎵 Funny how the vernacular could change - historical reasoning lost without a trace - yet the impact of ancient popular culture remained, solid as ever. Yus gazed about in wonder. It felt like decades since she'd been among people and normality. But according to Jyce it had only been this morning. What on Ery-- "Rescinderella!" someone laughed, pointing at Yus in a friendly manner. "Huh?" She looked down at herself, and for the first time realised she wasn't wearing the torn rags from the crash but was in costume herself. Rescinderalla was an old faerytale which had become twisted over the years, as truths and tales tend to, developing from the simple story of a poor girl who went to a prince's ball, into the tale of a young steely adjudicator whose job it had been to create barely legal loopholes in previously fair regulations, in order to unfairly and cruelly cancel refunds due to good, poor people who'd had their money stolen. The evil loopholes benefitted only the ruthless, greedy organisations who'd stolen from them in the first place. Due to overzealousness at the role which even the Bwanks and Zombudzmen couldn't stomach, the Adjudicator ended up losing her own job. She became lost in life, confused as to her purpose. No employer - legitimate or otherwise - would take her on, and soon all of her own money was depleted. She learned what it was like to live as a poor person and as a result, eventually became humble and kind. One day her formerly icy heart was melted by a good man whom she believed to also be poor. After some time her love revealed himself as a prince and invited her to a ball at his palace. This became a regular occurance, and she was elevated to a luxurious lifestyle once more, but this time with all the benefit of wisdom, kindness, and experience. In this new version of the tale, due to a curse by the wicked Feary Wadmother, if Rescinderella didn't leave the palace by midstar, she would never be allowed to return again. Her own Return Rescinded in a wicked reflection of that she once was. Night after night she fled, and night after night the Prince would become frustrated. One deep blue starspecked evening he stole one of her shoes so she could not run away. Famously Rescinderella wore a beautiful blue gown. And one shoe. "Nice touch" the friendly guy added pointing to Yus's muddy and pale, boney shoeless foot. "Authentic." "Um... Thanks." There was a rustling of scales beside her. "Hands off meladdo, she's mine!" Duncan's voice barked in an irritating muffled way through his lizard costume. Jyce - AKA GiganToe the GiganKid - facepawed. "No I'm not" Yus muttered, feeling a little confused and woozy. The scene seemed to float before her eyes for a moment. She felt like she was forgetting... Who was she... What? Someone dressed as the Gobline Kinge in impossibly tight grey leggings which distractingly highlighted his junk in intricate detail, floated before her vision as he danced past, then a scoundrelly looking man in a pirate outfit took her gaze. He had an eyepatch and for some reason he reminded her of... "Cap." She staggered unsteadily towards the pirate. Somebody laughed "I think she's had too much to drink already!" "Haha yeah" someone added. "Or something stronger". Have I? Wondered Yus. Have I been doing drugs? Is that what this is all about? Daddy will be disappointed. I'd better stop... She reached out a slim hand and touched the pirate man's face. He grinned, pervaciously pleased at the contact, but she realised it wasn't... Wasn't the man she was looking for. While she wasn't 100% sure what Cap looked like, something inside her told her that this was only a passing resemblance to... Thing... Duncan pulled her away jealously, lizard head removed once more. "You have been drinking haven't you?" Wait, who was it the pirate reminded her of again? She stared. The pirate winked his uncovered eye. "I... Don't know" said Yus, somewhat distractedly, trying to hang on to the last smokey tendrils of memory, of the face of a man she'd never seen. "Very unseemly you know. To drink before the party's even begun" Duncan tutted pompously. But he laughed, softening at her knotted brow. His hard blue eyes sparkled a little and Yus noticed that they were reflecting the garden's cosy orange Horro'ween lanterns. He wasn't bad looking as an adult she supposed. A little Gormy perhaps. He kissed her. It wasn't especially wonderful, but it wasn't especially horrible either. "Um, ew." Jyce was next to them. "Come on idiots let get inside and fluckin' DANCE!" To Be Continued... |
Imagining hilarious, beautiful
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