Shamino's Pocky Chain
Cinnamon Swirl #18. Speak of the Devil
with Cookie Crumbs, Hot Fudge, and Malt
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : PG
Timeframe : 1260-70's
Word Count : 1477 (15-part pocky chain)
Malt Prompt : B-Day prompt from Olram - VNV Nation's Second Skin - the lyrics said Kairn & Sham to me
Woah, spoilers again. I'm sorry if some of this is disjointed, it's intentional, so hopefully it works. The portions that are all quotes are from an assortment of characters - most are taken directly out of old pieces - see if you can pinpoint who's talking ;)
“There’s not a girl in ten miles that will touch him, on fear of death.”
“You know, I hear Berwyk took your balls to keep you from spawning little magic brats.”
“I said I wasn’t interested. Never said I couldn’t have her.”
“A god, Sethan, you could summon a god. Hell, you could summon them all."
“I don’t see what the harm would be. I mean it’s just…a kiss.”
“These prophecies, these foolish, twisted games of the gods’. They make pawns of us. Why not turn it around on them?"
“Did it have to be my sister?”
“Have you thought about a name?”
She’s lying in the grass, face twisted with the effort of ignoring the growling of her distended belly. “Don’t you have more important things to worry about? Like fixing some dinner?”
There’s a rabbit on the fire. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing, which is what they had last night. He can feel her eyes on him as he goes to turn the makeshift spit, and he’s about to apologize, again, for the fact that it’s so small, but she opens her mouth first.
“Shamino.”
“After Father?”
“Seems as good as anything.”
Sethan ducks around a corner, shoulders hunched, a little wad of sigil covered silk stretched between his hands.
“Reida?”
The interlocking forms of earth and air emit a soft glow. “I caught up with them this morning.” The words hang in the air, faint and crackling. “They weren’t hard to find. Just follow everyone else following them.”
“And they’re safe?”
“Kairn’s tougher than you’d think, but…” Static swallows the sound.
“But what?”
“Guilford’s men are tracking them. And they’re massing at Kalas.”
“Damn.” The silk buzzes when he squeezes it.
“You knew this would happen.”
Sethan sighs. “Don’t lose them.”
“Look, I don’t think you’ve read the same prophecies we have.” She’s gesturing between strokes and Kairn swears only Reida could make a bread knife look more dangerous. “When peril comes, the gods reach out to save us.”
Kairn numbly accepts the bread shoved his way. “Who’s to say he isn’t the peril?”
Lyssa shrugs, the blunt blade sweeping through the air in front of her. “He’s the key,” she says, as if that puts it all to rest.
“The key to what?”
Another shrug. “Won’t know if we don’t keep him around to see.”
They’re prying the whimpering bundle from his numb hands and Kairn’s lost track of the number of faces peering down at him. He’s given up on trying to recall how he came to be here.
He can still hear the ring of metal on metal, still taste the smoke and the blood. But there’s a chorus of quietly murmured sympathies and concerned questions gradually overriding that now.
“My…my son,” he says hastily. “His mother’s…dead.” He chokes on the word, and the faces soften even further. They’re passing the boy between them with gentle hands. “Please. Help us.”
“If Sethan wanted to find us, don’t you think he would have by now? He let us go.”
"I don't want a baby. I want my sister back. I want my home...and my friends."
"I figured someone better check in on the kid."
“Sometimes I just can’t wrap my mind around it. How does that destroy the world?”
“There are an awful lot of people that would like to get their hands on your boy, a lot of bad people.”
“You live for old words by dead men. If anyone knows anything about the prophecies, it would be you.”
“Why do you look at me like that sometimes?” He’s got his father’s expression spot on; one brow raised, lips slightly quirked. It’s like twenty years have slipped away.
Kairn shakes his head. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Sham scrunches up his face in thought, and Kairn’s almost ready to retract the comparison. Almost. “Like someone’s just hit you, I suppose.”
Kairn sighs. “Sometimes,” he says. “Sometimes you look a little too familiar.”
Shamino laughs at that. “I’d hope I look familiar. You’ve only been looking at me my whole life.”
Kairn laughs too as he tousles the boy’s hair.
“You know, you’re not doing so well at finding this boy.”
“You can’t say you’ve had much success either, can you?” Sethan waves off Kinu’s impending protest. “I’ve got more important things to do.”
“You set him loose on the world.”
“Yes, and it’s just falling apart, isn’t it?” The big man opens his mouth again, then just sighs instead. “ I’ll clean things up when the time comes.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” says Kinu. “To let me chase him for years and then snatch up all the credit yourself. It‘s not happening. I will find him first.”
“Such a pretty little thing, you are.”
The boy’s staring at her, completely dumbstruck, and that’s magical enough, even if it doesn’t actually feel any different to be in his presence.
“You know you look just like your father?”
There’s a mute half nod at that.
“Do you know who I am?”
Still not a word, but a gentle shake of the head.
“I’m your Auntie Reida.”
He frowns and blinks, like maybe this is something he should know, that maybe he‘s forgotten.
Then the door opens and Kairn’s standing there, horrified, groceries falling from his grasp to the floor.
“This…gateway. What do we do once we find it?” The big blonde man is frowning at him, chin in his hands, elbows on the table, a sea of sigils spread between them.
“Well,” says Sethan. “Take this form. We bring these elements together, bind them in a circle, and draw on just a bit of the goddess’s power. Now, imagine the gateway.” He draws a fresh loop. “You and I the elements,” he continues, pulling random items into the ring. “And with the boy we draw more than just a bit of that power.”
“And this is their will?”
“I’m not taking you to him.”
“You’re not here. So get over it.”
Get him out
"The kid’s with Lyssa, I’m sure he’s fine.”
"A lot of faith you have in your woman."
“You used to tell Uncle Kairn all the time that you loved him.”
“You lay a hand on that boy and you won’t be going much of anywhere.”
“I would say I was sorry, but you would never believe...”
“Maybe this whole idea that I’m supposed to be something special is wrong and we’re just wasting our time.”
You keep me waiting again.
“She…she wants out.”
“Half a ham!”
Shamino’s curled up in the space under the stairs.
“Where does one even put half a ham while he’s running?” the voice above continues.
The knapsack clutched against his knees is starting to get a bit sticky.
“Last week it was a chicken.”
“How do you have any idea it was even the same thief?”
“I don’t. I haven’t seen him. But the next bastard that tries to steal from my kitchen is losing a hand.”
Shamino crosses the Golden Rooster off his mental list of places for easy meals.
“Uncle Kairn’s not…a bad person…is he?”
Lyssa turns to him with a look that embodies all the horror he feels at the question he’s just raised, and Shamino feels his stomach do a slow turn.
“Whatever makes you ask such a thing?”
“Well, it’s just, I mean, I think he’s killed people before.” She’s grinning at that, and it makes his skin crawl. “And now they’ve taken him, the people you say he used to work for, the ones that are looking for me. So…”
And then she does laugh. “You think my hands are clean either?”
Mara drags the back of her hand across her eyes as Sham walks up, but she’s quick to abandon the gesture and let the tears flow as he sits down beside her.
“Did you ever think,” she says, before a loud hiccup breaks off her words. “Did you ever think that everyone, just everyone, was lying to you? And that…and that none of it…made sense anymore?”
His chest is tight, but he sucks in as deep a breath as he can and puts an arm around her shaking shoulders. “Only every day,” he says.
“You don’t need to explain,” he says. Why would he, it’s like looking into a mirror.
His father gives him a crooked smirk, and he supposes that’s an expression of his own as well. Shamino looks to Kairn to see what he thinks of this, but if his uncle is concerned, he’s keeping it to himself.
Still grinning at him, Sethan reaches out a hand to brush back his hair, as if he were some toddler to be patted and coddled, and Shamino resists flinching at the unfamiliar touch. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, my boy.”
with Cookie Crumbs, Hot Fudge, and Malt
Story : knights & necromancers
Rating : PG
Timeframe : 1260-70's
Word Count : 1477 (15-part pocky chain)
Malt Prompt : B-Day prompt from Olram - VNV Nation's Second Skin - the lyrics said Kairn & Sham to me
Woah, spoilers again. I'm sorry if some of this is disjointed, it's intentional, so hopefully it works. The portions that are all quotes are from an assortment of characters - most are taken directly out of old pieces - see if you can pinpoint who's talking ;)
“There’s not a girl in ten miles that will touch him, on fear of death.”
“You know, I hear Berwyk took your balls to keep you from spawning little magic brats.”
“I said I wasn’t interested. Never said I couldn’t have her.”
“A god, Sethan, you could summon a god. Hell, you could summon them all."
“I don’t see what the harm would be. I mean it’s just…a kiss.”
“These prophecies, these foolish, twisted games of the gods’. They make pawns of us. Why not turn it around on them?"
“Did it have to be my sister?”
“Have you thought about a name?”
She’s lying in the grass, face twisted with the effort of ignoring the growling of her distended belly. “Don’t you have more important things to worry about? Like fixing some dinner?”
There’s a rabbit on the fire. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing, which is what they had last night. He can feel her eyes on him as he goes to turn the makeshift spit, and he’s about to apologize, again, for the fact that it’s so small, but she opens her mouth first.
“Shamino.”
“After Father?”
“Seems as good as anything.”
Sethan ducks around a corner, shoulders hunched, a little wad of sigil covered silk stretched between his hands.
“Reida?”
The interlocking forms of earth and air emit a soft glow. “I caught up with them this morning.” The words hang in the air, faint and crackling. “They weren’t hard to find. Just follow everyone else following them.”
“And they’re safe?”
“Kairn’s tougher than you’d think, but…” Static swallows the sound.
“But what?”
“Guilford’s men are tracking them. And they’re massing at Kalas.”
“Damn.” The silk buzzes when he squeezes it.
“You knew this would happen.”
Sethan sighs. “Don’t lose them.”
“Look, I don’t think you’ve read the same prophecies we have.” She’s gesturing between strokes and Kairn swears only Reida could make a bread knife look more dangerous. “When peril comes, the gods reach out to save us.”
Kairn numbly accepts the bread shoved his way. “Who’s to say he isn’t the peril?”
Lyssa shrugs, the blunt blade sweeping through the air in front of her. “He’s the key,” she says, as if that puts it all to rest.
“The key to what?”
Another shrug. “Won’t know if we don’t keep him around to see.”
They’re prying the whimpering bundle from his numb hands and Kairn’s lost track of the number of faces peering down at him. He’s given up on trying to recall how he came to be here.
He can still hear the ring of metal on metal, still taste the smoke and the blood. But there’s a chorus of quietly murmured sympathies and concerned questions gradually overriding that now.
“My…my son,” he says hastily. “His mother’s…dead.” He chokes on the word, and the faces soften even further. They’re passing the boy between them with gentle hands. “Please. Help us.”
“If Sethan wanted to find us, don’t you think he would have by now? He let us go.”
"I don't want a baby. I want my sister back. I want my home...and my friends."
"I figured someone better check in on the kid."
“Sometimes I just can’t wrap my mind around it. How does that destroy the world?”
“There are an awful lot of people that would like to get their hands on your boy, a lot of bad people.”
“You live for old words by dead men. If anyone knows anything about the prophecies, it would be you.”
“Why do you look at me like that sometimes?” He’s got his father’s expression spot on; one brow raised, lips slightly quirked. It’s like twenty years have slipped away.
Kairn shakes his head. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Sham scrunches up his face in thought, and Kairn’s almost ready to retract the comparison. Almost. “Like someone’s just hit you, I suppose.”
Kairn sighs. “Sometimes,” he says. “Sometimes you look a little too familiar.”
Shamino laughs at that. “I’d hope I look familiar. You’ve only been looking at me my whole life.”
Kairn laughs too as he tousles the boy’s hair.
“You know, you’re not doing so well at finding this boy.”
“You can’t say you’ve had much success either, can you?” Sethan waves off Kinu’s impending protest. “I’ve got more important things to do.”
“You set him loose on the world.”
“Yes, and it’s just falling apart, isn’t it?” The big man opens his mouth again, then just sighs instead. “ I’ll clean things up when the time comes.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” says Kinu. “To let me chase him for years and then snatch up all the credit yourself. It‘s not happening. I will find him first.”
“Such a pretty little thing, you are.”
The boy’s staring at her, completely dumbstruck, and that’s magical enough, even if it doesn’t actually feel any different to be in his presence.
“You know you look just like your father?”
There’s a mute half nod at that.
“Do you know who I am?”
Still not a word, but a gentle shake of the head.
“I’m your Auntie Reida.”
He frowns and blinks, like maybe this is something he should know, that maybe he‘s forgotten.
Then the door opens and Kairn’s standing there, horrified, groceries falling from his grasp to the floor.
“This…gateway. What do we do once we find it?” The big blonde man is frowning at him, chin in his hands, elbows on the table, a sea of sigils spread between them.
“Well,” says Sethan. “Take this form. We bring these elements together, bind them in a circle, and draw on just a bit of the goddess’s power. Now, imagine the gateway.” He draws a fresh loop. “You and I the elements,” he continues, pulling random items into the ring. “And with the boy we draw more than just a bit of that power.”
“And this is their will?”
“I’m not taking you to him.”
“You’re not here. So get over it.”
Get him out
"The kid’s with Lyssa, I’m sure he’s fine.”
"A lot of faith you have in your woman."
“You used to tell Uncle Kairn all the time that you loved him.”
“You lay a hand on that boy and you won’t be going much of anywhere.”
“I would say I was sorry, but you would never believe...”
“Maybe this whole idea that I’m supposed to be something special is wrong and we’re just wasting our time.”
You keep me waiting again.
“She…she wants out.”
“Half a ham!”
Shamino’s curled up in the space under the stairs.
“Where does one even put half a ham while he’s running?” the voice above continues.
The knapsack clutched against his knees is starting to get a bit sticky.
“Last week it was a chicken.”
“How do you have any idea it was even the same thief?”
“I don’t. I haven’t seen him. But the next bastard that tries to steal from my kitchen is losing a hand.”
Shamino crosses the Golden Rooster off his mental list of places for easy meals.
“Uncle Kairn’s not…a bad person…is he?”
Lyssa turns to him with a look that embodies all the horror he feels at the question he’s just raised, and Shamino feels his stomach do a slow turn.
“Whatever makes you ask such a thing?”
“Well, it’s just, I mean, I think he’s killed people before.” She’s grinning at that, and it makes his skin crawl. “And now they’ve taken him, the people you say he used to work for, the ones that are looking for me. So…”
And then she does laugh. “You think my hands are clean either?”
Mara drags the back of her hand across her eyes as Sham walks up, but she’s quick to abandon the gesture and let the tears flow as he sits down beside her.
“Did you ever think,” she says, before a loud hiccup breaks off her words. “Did you ever think that everyone, just everyone, was lying to you? And that…and that none of it…made sense anymore?”
His chest is tight, but he sucks in as deep a breath as he can and puts an arm around her shaking shoulders. “Only every day,” he says.
“You don’t need to explain,” he says. Why would he, it’s like looking into a mirror.
His father gives him a crooked smirk, and he supposes that’s an expression of his own as well. Shamino looks to Kairn to see what he thinks of this, but if his uncle is concerned, he’s keeping it to himself.
Still grinning at him, Sethan reaches out a hand to brush back his hair, as if he were some toddler to be patted and coddled, and Shamino resists flinching at the unfamiliar touch. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, my boy.”