A Better Understanding [closed, contains Nightmare Plot oddness]

[enter_aeneas]

Aeneas the blue-striped alien was looking decidedly confident as he marched towards the bright pink bus parked in the City. Well, for somebody who should be suffering from the afflictions of recent dreams, of social reclusion, of mild depression…

But that was just the thing, wasn’t it? Aeneas didn’t suffer from any of those things-rather, he

Comments

[lackofdarkwings]

"You're doing well," said Matt, taking on a sage tone of voice and he was tempted not to add "my young padawan learner" to that. "To actually move the water on your first try; that is a rare gift

[lackofdarkwings]

"Wuffle," replied Matt, already drifting away.

1/3

[enter_aeneas]

Aeneas blinked. That was…almost too easy.

He curled up next to the bed like an overgrown cat, lower half curled into a tight ball around his torso, arms and muzzle resting on the sheets, rumbling purr easing Matt into a more comfortable slumber. Some time passed before Aeneas began to ponder just how much rest the average human required each night. This creature needed only a few hours, spread out in sporadic naps, sometimes getting two or three in when it got dark; from what he understood, however, humans were primarily diurnal and could sleep nigh eight hours at a time. If this young male’s exhaustion was any indicator, he’d probably be asleep even longer.

This was going to be a looooong guarding session

2/3

[enter_aeneas]

Hesiod, the male, was all too happy to oblige. Aeneas had to help him from his seat, his legs were so unsteady and tail so sore; these lounge chairs weren’t exactly made for an alien of his working-class build and fuisti shape. The other creature herded him the rest of the way through the door, which was not at all an issue. She was extremely large compared to them both-especially to Aeneas. Eight feet tall and thirteen feet long, Thessaly was, amazingly, the average size for a female of their species, albeit an extremely muscular one. Her muzzle was nearly the size of Aeneas’s head

3/3

[enter_aeneas]

“Who, your friends?” he hissed with sudden vengeance, “Do all of your friends shoot at you upon meeting?”

Thessaly was in as much of (if not more) a panic than Aeneas was, staggering across the bridge with wide eyes and flared feathers. “This is all going according to plan. Everything is working out perfectly. Get us deeper into the atmosphere, act like we’re trying to avoid them-“

Two more ships came, closely followed by two more rounds. Aeneas evaded one but the other hit cleanly, shearing off the cargo hold behind the ship. The power went out. Hesiod was kicking the doors, claws scratching against metal.

“So this was your plan?” Aeneas screeched, jumping out of his chair, “This was it, all along? Some half-baked suicide mission? Why did this have to involve us? You could have obtained a private cruiser, snuck past the borders

Re: 3/3

[lackofdarkwings]

Though Matt was mostly dead to the world, Aeneas' discomfort, frustration and soon pain spiked through his mind, breaching his shields.

With a startled jerk, he rolled over, gasping for air as he looked over at his bleeding friend. "Slag," growled Matt, unable to formulate a response.

"Hang on bud," said Matt as he got out of bed and knelt down next to his friend. Clasping his hands, Matt searched his memory for some kind of focus through the bleary haze of sleep and the stabbing of Aeneas' pain and frustration driving through his shields at such a close range. A magic circle appeared under him and Aeneas and he muttered, "O brilliant angels, grant us your favor! Nurse!"

Magic poured from Matt's frame, twisting around in a green-yellow energy as he started to feed the healing spell into his friend. "You okay Ani?" he inquired, light floating upwards as he continued to maintain the spell.

[enter_aeneas]

And suddenly, with a strangled gasp through flared nostrils and jagged feathers, Aeneas woke up.

Matt’s spell worked well enough to wake him from his dream-induced coma and heal most of the wounds that were starting to appear from the crash itself-gaping lacerations, shattered ribs all along his torso and abdomen, multiple internal injuries-but a good majority remained along with the clear memory and mental scarring. Aeneas could still see the scene play out in front of his eyes, could still feel the spit dribbling down his neck. And, worst of all, he could smell his own blood pooling on the floor of the bus.

He wasn’t bleeding out too terribly, which should’ve come as a surprise to any creature with a cardiovascular system even remotely resembling a human’s. His blood was also something of an oddity; it was red, sure, but it was more on the florescent side, and extremely gooey, like paste. Clotting was quick to set in, helped by Matt’s healing spell and Aeneas’s matted fur.

Matt.The fact that the previous traumatizing vision was

[lackofdarkwings]

"I've been better myself," replied Matt as he played the spell across his friend. "Damn. This isn't going to heal right. Ani, I'm calling for a Doc to come pick you up. You need the healers more than I need rest."

Reaching out, he grabbed his comm ring from the bedside stand. "That okay with you?"

[enter_aeneas]

Confusion increased.

“I-I do not underst-“ Aeneas’s eyes swam and his other hind leg buckled, tail coming with it. His mandibles parted, corrosive spit dribbling through his teeth, and he let loose an agonized screech. It was like a sound that a horror movie creature might make, complete with gurgling, an ear-piercing upper pitch, some oddly human-like groans, and an underlying layer of white noise. Considering that his esophagus did not contain any sort of recognizable vocal chords, the strangeness of it was understandable.

As was his pain, of course. Escalating conscious recognition of the situation at hand was not helping.

“-Matt, I can-“ the alien dragged himself forward, front legs also giving out after a few shaky steps, “-I remember-“

Aeneas squinted his eyes tightly closed, slowly curling up on the floor.

The implied answer to Matt's question was, in fact, a yes.

[lackofdarkwings]

Matt nodded, putting out the call immediately as he knelt down next to Aeneas. "Just relax," he soothed. "I'm almost spent of mana myself so I need you to try and lay still. Don't aggravate your injuries bud."

Stretching out his hands, he added, "I'll sink another healing spell into you but that's all I can do. You'll feel less pain from it but that's as much as I can muster. I don't think you'll be in any condition to get up and walk till the people arrive here on stretchers."

Closing his eyes, he tapped deep into his magical reserves and sought the Light, what little he had of it. "O light which shines in the heavens, cast thy undefiled purity upon the land. RESURRECTION!"

Pinpricks of golden light burst free from the floor beneath the injured alien and started to mend for about ten seconds before the spell faded, leaving Matt to slump to the floor panting. "That should ease the pain a little," groaned Matt. Resurrection was one part powerful healing spell, one part painkiller.

[enter_aeneas]

Aeneas’s vision blurred and his ears filled with static. He could see Matt kneeling in front of him, watch his mouth move as he chanted something, feel more of his wounds close in the brevity of the spell; it wasn’t until after his pain partially subsided that he regained those functions to any reliable extent. If anything, it was the pleasant warmth replacing what heat Aeneas was losing through his cuts that revived and calmed him the most.

His eyes relaxed, gaze becoming hazy. “-I remember the crash…Matt, the crash…She-she caused it, and I should have known-“

Aeneas paused, slack mandibles twitching on the floor. His abdomen rose and fell heavily, gills sucking nitrogen from the air to compensate for his hyperventilation-induced lack of oxygen, emitting a strong, syrupy odor upon respiring. Something about it was disturbingly reminiscent of apples.

“…How could I have been so ignorant…”