WormXWere Part 2 | Rated M

((Yeah...

It's funny, no-one's ever really harassed me to my face. I think I have a reputation...
When I say it's been worse, that translates to having images of my dragon-self flashing behind my eyes (even blinking can trigger it), and having the echoes of body parts no human can ever truly know. I keep expecting to look in the mirror, and see a dragon staring back at me; it's a surprise to see my sad-eyed human face.
It feels like I'm going stark, raving mad, Wormy. Like I'm coming apart at the seams. It's starting to scare me...))

((The dual-edged sword, where on one hand you want to be a dragon, but on the other hand you don't, because that means you are not human and everyone else is right. But always remember, you are not alone. A billion other humans went through this too, including me. It's the dual-edged sword of sentience; on one hand, life is much easier since we can solve problems. On the other hand, we can very easily torture ourselves with meaningless psychology that had nothing to do with real life or real issues.))

((True.
The one separating mark comes in that it's just my body that doesn't fit. The rest of me works (brain, personality, etc.).
Ah, well. What's life without questions like these?))

((RP?))

((I have some body issues too. I walk on my big toe, so my balance is pretty off...))

((Sorry, I bleh. Hey, how do you pronounce Sha-Ulud? Sha like "shawl", and ulud like "uh" and "look"? ))

Lambda knew the second Sha-Ulud died. The last breath of air left the Argonian, carrying his soul along with it. As a Vortigaunt, Lambda could have left his own body and forced the wayward soul back into his friend, but he did not want to risk astral projection as a human, a species very lacking in psychic abilities.

The Wyrm seemed to know it too. Lambda could not tell how much she understood, or if she simply knew something was "wrong" with her love interest. She had given up moving him and instead wrapped her serpentine length around Sha-Ulud. When his soul left, she curiously sniffed him, then gave a disgusted hiss and recoiled. His body fell backwards onto the ground. Lambda choked out a sob.

At that point Svenja ran. Lambda didn't care to stop her; he figured she was dealing with grief in her own way, but after a minute of staring at Sha-Ulud, he really wished she hadn't run. He wanted to hold someone alive, to share his grief with her over a dead friend that knew barely a month. More than anything, he wanted Sha-Ulud back. But no, his soul was gone now, part of everything now. Or it was stuck between life and death as an anguished ghost.

Svenja came back with an ornate bottle of...something. She forced it down Sha-Ulud's throat, and out came a bright golden light that encircled him. Lambda opened his mouth to tell her it was no use, that a soul could not enter without powerful magic and there was no way that the liquid had enough. But then, Sha-Ulud's hand raised, reaching out for something.

The Wyrm rushed back to him with a purr-growl and many nuzzles. He fell back on her middle with a confused, "What happened?" Lambda hugged him tight and rasped out in a high-pitched voice, "Sha-Ulud's alive! He left, but he came back with Svenja's magic in a bottle..."

((Ah, yeah... Apparently, I'm odd in that I use literally all of my toes to balance... I only found this out by injuring one of them. XD))

((It's alright! We were talking about other things completely.
The first syllable is "sh" followed by "ah" (slur them together). The second is "uh" followed by "lud" (also slurred; whee, music terms in weird settings!).
Completely phonetic! It's from the language I invented last year; it literally translates to 'sandworm'.))

Sha-Ulud could taste the dregs of whatever he had been fed in his mouth, clinging in a fine film to his teeth and tongue. The mysterious substance was sweeter than the ex-leupak's memories of the open desert, and as savory as mortal flesh, with a rejuvenating warmth that sat comfortably in the stomach. Lying on the Wyrm as he processed the taste, he kept finding note after note to the flavor, even as the golden lights faded from around him.

Blinking as the last of the lights danced away, Sha-Ulud began to become aware that his friends were crying. The realization was somewhat of a shock for him; having never had friends prior to his meeting with Svenja, Lambda, and the Wyrm, Sha-Ulud often forgot that he was an integral part of a group. The tears, and the nuzzles from the Wyrm, served as an obvious wake-up call for him, opening indigo eyes to the reality of his situation. Lambda's sudden hug drove home the message, and the Argonian felt tears building in his own eyes.

Looking up, Sha-Ulud caught Svenja's eye. He lacked the words to truly thank her, and so he had to make due with a long look, indigo eyes opening to grey. Finally, as a response to Lambda, he managed a soft whisper, voice turned husky by tears. "Thank you... Thank you all..."

((You ever have a science teacher who speaks like a foreign university textbook translated directly into English with Google Translate?))
((L: You terrible people! Stop killing Lambda's friends!))

Lambda was squeezing Sha-Ulud much harder than he should, but at the current moment he didn't care. His friend was alive again! He was crying too, both him and Sha-Ulud, and really neither of them had any reason to, but it was okay because life allowed for such things.

At this time the sun was high in the sky, a white ball surrounded by blue. Clouds parted by the nearby mountain framed them. Lambda felt a tremor looking up at the mountain, the closest thing to the sky around here. He felt the need to thank whatever gods this world had for helping bring his friend back, but didn't know what, or where, to pray. The sky was a good guess, and such an imposing mountain could also be important...

A rumble like thunder rolled over the group. The Wyrm shot up, rubbing her cheek against one of Sha-Ulud's facial spikes in the process. A voice, or many voices, shouted something in the wind, and at once the land silenced, as if shocked by what they said. That sounded...no, felt, familiar. What was it? She didn't remember. But maybe it wasn't her, but him, the dragon Durruzdilonni (Sounds like Italian food) that remembered.

((Not personally, no... I sat in on a college lecture once, though, on botany. Every other word out of the dude's mouth was incomprehensible, I swear... And he was a native English speaker...))
((Old habits die hard, Lambda... You should see what we did to Nny. Poor Nny.))

Honestly, Sha-Ulud did not mind the fact that Lambda was hugging him a little too tight, given the circumstances. At this point, the Argonian was glad for the stimulus that said he wasn't dead, but even more appreciative of the sentiment, as it meant that he actually meant something to another creature. This concept, of meaning something, was still incredibly new to the former leupak.

Looking up through eyes rimmed with tears that didn't burn, Sha-Ulud beheld the blue sky, the sun hanging as a golden coin against blue satin. He had his back to the massive mountain, and so did not feel the same sensations Lambda did. Even if Sha-Ulud had been able to see the mountain, though, he had no concept of gods, and the concept of praying was not one the leupak was familiar with.

The concept of imposing presences, though, was an all-too-familiar concept to Sha-Ulud. As the voices thundered across the land with palpable force, he sat bolt upright, indigo eyes wide. He did not feel the familiarity that the Wyrm did; to him, the voices spoke of potential danger, and the ex-leupak felt a strange desire to run for the river.

"Wh-what was that?!"

((I really gotta start posting more...
Funny plant-words, like "autotroph" and "gero-something?"))
((L: Who is Nny?))

The sound dissipated as soon as it came, but the Wyrm could still feel its presence. Something was out there and she could not forget it's existence. She expected something to appear; maybe another dragon, maybe some other unusual thing, but nothing came. Slowly, she curled back around Sha-Ulud, not ready to let her guard down just yet.

Lambda was suspicious as well, but not as much as the instinctive Wyrm. Since nothing had yet come, it was unlikely it ever would. Perhaps it was simply a loud crash, or a funny-sounding avalanche. They knew nothing of this world; it might be a normal occurrence.

"Lambda does not know. It is gone now, so let's not let it worry us." He said to Sha-Ulud, slowly releasing the Argonian from his hug.

((Only if you have the time to.
In that vein, but longer, and more incomprehensible. "Autotroph", I'm at least familar with.))
((You wouldn't like him, Lambda...))

Gradually, when nothing possessing fangs or claws jumped out to try and devour a member of the group, Sha-Ulud began to relax. Comforted by Lambda's hug, then the Wyrm's curling body, the Argonian's scales flattened as his heart rate slowed. Slowly, he nodded at Lambda's statement, then reached for his armor; he no longer possessed an internal furnace of friction-sparked chemical fires, and was feeling decidedly chilled in the falling light.

"Fair enough, Lambda. Still, we shouldn't stay here, I don't think," Sha-Ulud replied with a brief nod. "Given what we fought here, and on the mountain, combined with whatever made that noise, I'm not keen on sleeping in the open tonight..." he continued, fading off as he looked around, indigo eyes seeming almost black in the falling light.

((Sorry for not posting for a few days... Life has been hectic...))

((I'm so sorry!))

Lambda briefly nodded to Sha-Ulud's statement. He was feeling a bit chilly as well, but the odd glowing robes seemed to keep more heat in than usual. Still, the night in this place was probably just as dangerous, if not more, than the day. Dragons and screaming voices were not fun.

"Lambda does not like those townsfolk. He thinks that his friends would not be welcome for another night. Perhaps there are more settlements in this area." He suggested. Honestly, he felt guilty that the townsfolk liked he and Svenja; the Wyrm was driven out of town (then again, she nibbled on their dead in that creepy barrow) and Sha-Ulud was lucky to get help from a slightly less racist guard.

((So am I.
I'm also struggling very hard to put my past behind me, involving the other teen who made my life a living hell two summers ago. It's hard, and I don't know why...))

Svenja, unsurprisingly, supported Lambda's decision. "A fair point, Lambda," she answered, her voice low, as if she was loathe to speak louder, lest she give away the group's presence; constant strife had taken its toll on her psyche.

"But where can we go? None of us know this land, nor do we have friends to turn to..." Looking around at the rag-tag group in the falling light, the were-bear couldn't suppress a morbid thought; would any of them die in this world? Would any of them survive?


Hearing both Lambda and Svenja, Sha-Ulud's face was grave, the dying light accentuating the harsh angles of his reptilian face. The combination of the angled shadows, and his bottomless, indigo eyes gave the disconcerting impression that the Argonian's head was nothing but a skull, skillfully attached to his body. Given the circumstances, it was an unfortunate comparison.

"Should one of us ask for directions, then?" he asked quietly, looking from face to face. "The night's not getting any younger, nor any warmer, as we sit here."

((Wormy...? Art thou here...?))

((Going to be away until late Saturday/Sunday morning.))

Check the Suggestions board. I can't use this website on my phone. I

((We back on here? I can make a post of everything we've done, for record-keeping purposes.))