September 22, 2010
Transmission.
Another, really random, short:
“…Francis?”
It’s never a good thing when Jetta gets that rumble in her voice. “Yes?” I asked, flickering through the cameras until I saw her.
She was right behind me, glaring as best she could with a single eye.
…Then again, being glared at by one normal eye and one gaping hole is pretty fucking creepy.
“Were you messing with my eyeball again?”
Oh, she was very angry. “Why do you ask?”
“Because it’s missing. And it’s still broadcasting. Do you know how disconcerting it is to be seeing the inside of a sewer from the perspective of your missing eye?“
“I have a fairly good idea, actually.”
….
“Oh, really? And why would that be?”
I sighed. “Because I can’t disable the feed. Congratulations, your artificial eye has now gone wireless.”
….
….
“Get it back.” Jetta stalked out.
I sighed again and felt for the feed. I’d have to give it legs, but I could get rid of those again once it was back in her possession…
Bridging the Gap.
They stopped at the end of the bridge and stared.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Jetta snapped. “Of course we just happen to run across the Grand Canyon’s long-lost cousin, and of course the only way across it is some rickety bridge.”
“You wanna go back?” Kathleen asked, glaring at the doctor.
“Will it even hold our weight?” Jetta retorted.
It was a fair question, Beowulf thought as he knelt to examine the wooden planks. They really didn’t look stable. A faint rustle caught Beowulf’s attention, and he turned to see Nathan -
- Who was watching Jacob.
Who was approaching the really-horribly-cliched bridge with studied nonchalance. He stepped onto the end, and the resultant protest of aged wood was enough to end the burgeoning argument behind him.
“Uh, Jacob?” Kathleen reached out to pull her former student back.
He turned to look at her, strange magic rippling around the edges of his contacts. “If it holds my weight, it’ll hold all of you.” That said, he slipped off his gloves and casually strolled out over the canyon.
He got a little over a third of the way when the whole bridge splintered apart.
Jacob Carter plummeted like a stone.
- And massive tentacles erupted out of the canyon not ten seconds later, twining around outcroppings, the posts that had formerly anchored the bridge, and half the trees … on both sides of the gap. The eldritch-horror-usually-known-as-Jacob levered himself onto the opposing wall, then beckoned to the others with one shy pseudopod.
Jetta and Kathleen looked at each other. “That works,” the professor said.
Love Bite.
Nathan walked over to Ekion and, in a rare display of affection, rested his head on his husband’s shoulder. Ekion pulled him into a loose embrace and flinched a split second before Nathan sank his fangs into his flesh.
Teleika’s eyebrows shot up. Jetta grinned, and Lia started cackling.
“I thought I broke him of that habit,” she said.
Nathan opened his eyes and stared at his mother, his teeth still buried in Ekion’s shoulder.
Lia grinned back at him, entirely unperturbed. “You were what, six, before you stopped greeting everyone you liked with the biggest bite you could muster? You even told me once that kisses were for wimps who lacked decent teeth.”
“If you’ve got ‘em, use ‘em,” Teleika remarked absently as she watched Ekion’s attempts to pry his husband off grow less and less subtle.
“Oh, he does,” the guardsman remarked, then blushed.
Nathan grinned against his shoulder.
A Visitor.
Talia was standing by the university gate when a shadow fell over her. She turned and found herself looking up at the most massive person she’d ever met. (Not the tallest, not by far. But the General was built like a scarecrow.) The stranger was built like an ox, with hair so pale she couldn’t tell if it was blond or actually white, and a massive moustache that gave him the appearance of an albino walrus. He was of that indeterminate age many outdoorsmen get, where they could be anywhere over thirty, and something about his slanting dark eyes was familiar.
He stuck out a hand which engulfed hers completely when she shook it. “I am hoping maybe you can help me. You are a student here, correct?”
“No, but I am an office assistant. Are you looking for someone?”
“Yes, my sister. She-”
Somewhere up above, a window slammed upwards, and Dr. Kiehl’s bisected face appeared over the wall. “Jakov! Get your lazy ass up here!” Without so much as waiting for a reply, she popped her head back in and slammed the window back down.
“Your sister?” Talia asked, bemused.
Jakov nodded, sighing gustily. “But of course she is in the highest room she can get to. She always does this to me, you know. Ever since Grandfather taught her how to go up stairs.”
Talia snorted, pulling the doors open. “After you,” she said.
October 7, 2008
A Bad Fall.
Crevasses are an ever-present danger on glaciers; yet somehow, despite growing up literally on the edge of the largest glacier for miles, Jetta hadn’t honestly expected to ever have a problem with them.
Until she stepped on seemingly-solid ground, and her foot plunged straight through the snow and out into nothingness.
The rest of her followed with some alacrity.
A few heartstopping seconds later, her rope caught, and Jetta jerked to a stop, her face pressed to the icy wall in front of her.
Funny, it looks red. She was developing an awful headache from all this.
Distantly, Jetta heard the frantic voices of her climbing partners. A sharp tug on her rope, and she was moving again, swinging a bit away from the wall of the crevasse.
Abruptly, she was jerked to a halt, twisting slightly to her left. A babble of confusion sounded above.
Something’s caught, Jetta thought, turning her head to see. She couldn’t see anything out of her left eye; the blood was thick on her face. Damn, that’s some cut…
Irne’s hand grabbed her by the chin and forcibly redirected her gaze. “Are you even hearing me?”
“Yes,” Jetta muttered irritably, but it didn’t sound quite right. She remembered something else important. “I think I’m stuck.”
That didn’t sound right at all, but apparently Irne understood, because she already had her knife out.
“This is going to hurt,” she said, but Jetta couldn’t figure out what she was talking about, not then, and not when she suddenly came free from the crevasse wall, and not even when she saw something suspiciously like bone sticking out from a fissure in the ice.
And later in the hospital, while trying to sit up without falling over and read without triggering a migraine, all Jetta could think was that shock exists for a reason.
April 10, 2008
Chicken Legs.
“So where do you live, anyway?”
Jetta looked up from the herbs she was crushing. “Huh?”
“When you’re not here. Where do you live?”
Jetta tapped her chin with the pestle. “Wherever the house goes, I suppose.”
Kaezia’s eyebrow rose. “Wherever the house decides to go?”
“Yeah. It gets up and wanders around. It has chicken legs, you know.”
“And you got this house where?”
“Oh, from my grandmother,” Jetta said, light glinting off her steel teeth.
Babysitting.
“Why me? I don’t even like children.”
“That’s not true, Jetta.”
“Well, no. But they don’t like me. You know that, Kaezia!”
The dark woman sighed, turning to regard her companion solemnly. “Jetta, you promised to help. Dag’s been away for weeks, and weren’t you the one who said it would be nice if Lia finally had some time alone with her husband?”
“Yes, but-”
“No buts. You promised to help. I know you don’t like babysitting, and I’d do it if I could – heck, I planned on doing it. It’s not my fault the delegation from the Dragonlands arrived today!”
Looking at her friend’s frustrated face, Jetta deflated. “Okay, fine. I’ll babysit.”
Kaezia smiled. “Good! He’s sleeping right now,” she said, steering the reluctant sitter into a cozy room. “Have fun!”
And with that, Kaezia was gone, and Jetta saw her last hope vanish down the hallway. Sighing, the stocky healer-turned-sitter walked over to a chair, moving it over next to the crib.
“Hello, little one,” she said, looking down at her friend’s sleeping son. Nathan wrinkled his nose and sighed, almost in acknowledgement.
————————
An hour passed in peace. Jetta knew it couldn’t last; it never did. Sooner or later, the infant would wake, and, if he behaved like all the others, he’d start screaming his lungs out.
Of course, that might wait until he saw her. There hadn’t been a child yet who hadn’t started bawling at Jetta’s half-metal face, or the touch of her metal hand. Lost in thought, Jetta turned morosely to the crib. Why did I agree to this again?
Two bright gold eyes blinked up at her. “Ooo?”
Blinking in return, Jetta stared at the infant. When did he wake up? Impatient, the little one began wriggling, waving tiny hands at her. Gingerly, she picked him up.
“Hello, Nathan.”
Nathan stared up at her, his little forehead wrinkling. Jetta held her breath, certain this was a prelude to tears – and knowing she had no talent for stopping tears once they started.
Instead, a tiny dark hand reached up to grab her nose. “Ooo?”
Nonplussed, Jetta just stared. Nathan stared back, his wide gold eyes curious. Slowly, he ran his fingers over her face, feeling the contrast of flesh and metal, tracing the line where the two joined. Jetta blinked back tears, unexpectedly moved, and smiled.
Nathan stuck his fingers in her mouth.
————————
Liamariye walked down the hallway to her son’s room, idly wondering who Kaezia had stuck as babysitter. The dark woman had simply laughed when asked.
Outside her son’s door, Lia paused. It was silent inside. Sleeping still? No… Hand on the knob, Lia was about to enter, when she heard an exasperated sigh. Pausing, Lia decided to eavesdrop a little.
“Nathan, no! It’s not a good idea to gnaw your foot off! Especially not before dinner.”
Nathan just cooed.
Snickering, Lia entered. “Having fun, Jetta?”
The stocky woman jumped, causing Nathan to giggle. “Your son’s a little pest, you know,” Jetta responded, lightly tickling the squirming infant’s stomach.
Lia just grinned.
Nathan took advantage of the two women’s distraction to shove his foot back in his mouth. Growling softly, Jetta tickled him again until he released his foot, then unceremoniously handed him to his mother. “You explain to him why it’s not a good idea to eat his foot. I’m going to go eat.” With that, Jetta stalked off towards the kitchen.
Lia and Nathan watched her go, then turned to look at each other. “I think she likes you,” Lia informed her son.
Nathan tried to eat her hair.
