Ducky in:
You know what I realized.. is that my parents both really, really love me. But they sing such different songs. I'm burdened because I can't dance to both, but the frequency and clashing of their songs, that sometimes make me deaf and angry and annoyed, it's all just love.
Very, very heavy love.
Today was really good.. it was perfect weather, and we went out and enjoyed it at the lake, I sat down and drew 3 pictures in under 8 hours.. full ones, that I'm proud of even. Here's one of them up top, of my "Ducky" and his "Ashling"..
Yeah.. mom asked me if I'd consider staying an extra month so that I may watch the house while they're on vacation, and I agreed. I'm having fun, this time. I'm not ready to go home yet. There's something I'm working on here that if I go home, won't be finished.
I sawr my aunt recently.. she's well, but I'm afraid we're very awkward around each other. Ah well... still had fun.
I'll leave you with my latest series of short stories..
--
He blew pink smoke out his nose that night. I knew it had to be bad; hardly ever out of his whole rainbow collection of cigarettes does he pick pink.
Well... either that, or he's running low.
"You're mumbling to yourself again," He said curtly, abruptly stopping my thought process and causing me to fluster.
Yep, he had a bad night. I stood up straight.
"I do that often.."
"I noticed." the cigarette shifted in his mouth, he raised the gun higher to polish the hard-to-reach areas I couldn't name yet.
"Magazine...Safety..." He names as he goes along, idly trying to cement the components in my head. I, of course, recognize this and shift my attention to other things. With luck on his end, the lesson will stick in my psyche..
"So where did you come from?" I'd asked a million times by now, I must have. I bet he secretly keeps count. I bet he'll make up mathematical components based on this number of times I've asked, I bet that number will be so cemented in his head, I'll have my own mathematical symbol. the Elizas Can Be Incrdibly Annoying Symbol. ☄
"The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?"
"I really want to know."
"Y'know, for just $1,000, you an buy a star? Incredible, what can be purchased with money these days. 'Yes, folks, buy your fiancee a wedding gift she'll never forget: A simple dot in the sky that you can hardly see, of something that used to exist. Buy her a memory of a dot for just 1k!' "
"Really, Rant; you don't seem like a part of.."
"All the rage in Italy, folks!"
"I'm serious.."
He put the gun down, dropping his tone, his energy shifting at once to annoyance. He walked up and put his face uncomfortably close to mine, close enough so that I could smell the oil he'd cyphoned out of the 'Monster that day on his breath, the heat of his cigarette, even threateningly close to my too-soft cheek. "Listen," he began.
"Listen to me."
"I told you once thatI came from a part that doesn't exist yet, and I mean that. I cam from a part that at one time did exist and MAYBE, if you're lucky, WILL exist again. I come from a possible future and a definite past, Ashling." Any closer and he'd burn me.
"And these questions.." He shifted up slightly, looking down his nose at me, half sensuously admiringly and half death-threat. He scoffed slightly and lowered his eyes as he stood upright.
"These questions are lowering your chances."
He walked away and left me standing there in the darkness for a good minute or two, with me and the Nothing in the Wonderland night, nothing except the gun slightly catching the light of the moon.
I'd be running back to Heaven once again alone in an hour or two.
----
"Took you a while to catch up."
"Shut up, the motorcycle was MOVING...You made me CHASE it..."
He snickered, I scowled and pressed my chin firmly into his back, expecting him to jump, or something. Of course he didn't. Which in turn made me more annoyed.
"Hey, Rant?"
"What."
"What's your Power Animal?"
He thought a moment about this one, tossed one almost-finished cigarette into the Wonderland night (Of course this started a fire, but we were here for the intention of destruction) Lit a new one, and smirked audibly. "Slyde?" He asked, mockingly.
"No, no.. but yes..I want to know."
"Tell me yours first," He said. the smirk toyed with his voice and it was obvious he was attempting to contain something. I couldn't come up with one for a long moment. "fox..?" I said shyly. "Cat?"
"Wrong," He said. "You don't have one. And of course, if you don't have one, I don't either. Besides,the whole system is.. how you say?... homosexual? Gay." another cigarette into the darkness, another one lit. Another fire behind us.
"Why do you say that?!" There was nothing inside me that said anything like this. I really do believe in Guiding Spirits of all shapes and forms.. I just can't find mine. I've been told I don't have one. I don't know.
"If you say you have a Guiding Spirit.. you're confining your behavior into a box of characteristics. You're confining yourself into the behavioral patterns of a creature that may or may not, actually be Guiding you," He said. "Say a cat spirit is trying to... lead you astray...from what you really should be looking at." He looked over his shoulder to see the face he knew I was making.
WHAT?!
"I suppose the only useful animal spirit would be either a bird or a human," He continued. "Then you'd either be asshole enough to admit you're just a lowly asshole, or backed away enough to look at the big picture." Another cigarette; this rate told me he was getting excited.
I wasn't, I was completely deflated at this point.
"My guiding animal is Human," He finished.."I love these fucking aposable thumbs."
I fell silent and held onto him, through the alleyway leading up to the hospital, my least favorite one in the whole area.
---
Ducky and Ashling ranted on, talking at length through Wonderland's shiny night about their beliefs, which was right and which was wrong, and ultimately agreeing that cosmically, none of this donkey jizz mattered,so why even bother. After that it was silence for a while.
Ducky Nudged Ashling out of an hour's worth of sleep when they came up to the Hospital again. he wanted her to operate the gun. she fumbled with it twice and aimed clumsily, shot, and reloaded. Two of the resident zombies faltered and fell and of course Ducky laughed. Ashling shot more, getting the feel of the kickback, and Ducky told her where to shoot. Zombies were dying again everywhere; whatever wasn't felled by Ashling's bad aim, was felled by Rant's trusty Nailbat.
"Eliza!" He'd cry out, cig still clenched between his teeth, "cover me! I'm going in close range." She'd fumble and load the gun with all sorts of goodies, anything from sewing needles to pancakes were shot through that poor piece of metal, and eac one had a different effect on a different person. The best example was that a blueberry cupcake would turn a rotted-through zombie into a ripened tomato, the salmonella-giving kind.
---
"Ash-"
Mmph... my Mushroom.. my snuggly, bouncy, candy Mushroom.. I just took it from Wonka hisself and I'm running, running... laughing...
"ASH-"
Tripping.. falling....there it goes...
"ASHLING--"
It flew out of my hands....
"GODDAMMIT"
Noooo!!!! MUSHROOM!! "FUCK YOU WONKA!" I screamed, opened my eyes to find my own Wonka laying over me and glowering. "Ashlinggoddammit"
"What?!" I pushed him off, leaned over rubbed my face in my hands goddamn Wonka. Where's my pink shroom when I need it fuck give me coffee.
Coffee was shoved into my hands, and I woke up and looked around; we were at the cliff just off the path to that damned Hospital.
"We've got to leave soon. You slept in again." I only noticed that today his cigarette was purple, and that it signified something, but I don't know what... uhh... Sssip.
"C'mon, drink up. Fionn's waiting for us." He sighed, sat down, rested his only arm on his knee and watched me drink, sharply so I'd feel pressured. I was used to it; I didn't.
"Where's Fionn?" I asked idly, watching the sun rise. It was only 5pm, why's it rising so early?
"She's at the top of the Hospital, wants us to go in after her," he said. I dropped my soda.
"Fuck this, I'm going back to Heaven,"
"Nope." He smiled. "You're coming with me. This is necessary."
"I dropped my grape juice," I admitted with defeat. "Rant..." He wasn't paying any attention, of course, he mounted his Monster and revved, held out his hand to me.
"but my hot cocoa..."
"Nevermind that, get on." I did, and held fast to him as we took off, finally heading to what we've been tiptoeing around for the last couple days.
"Did you know that if you drink Grapefruit juice while you're on Verapamil, you'll get sick? Same for Pomegranate juice."
..
"I miss MY Pomegranate juice..."
---
Ashling had put off going to the Hospital, distracted Ducky with one of his favorite things - Gainax.
After staying up all night listening to Rant bawl about Camina's death, Ashling was a little vexed. He felt better now, of course, but only because he's attached himself to another character: Unsurprisingly, Viral.
"But how can I be so attached to a BAD guy?!" Rant was glued to the TV, mostly talking to himself.
"It's really, REALLY funny how anywhere other than your fanworld, good and evil don't exist, but here it does..."
Rant whipped around to look at her when he said it: "Shut up, Ashling." his commanding tone did nothing for her and she smirked.
"You know, you need to be more like your Yoko idol.."
"I AM TOO LIKE YOKO!"
"No, you're more like.. Yoko/Kaoru/Niya/Simon/Mamimi... with a hint of Shinji..." He was full smiling, now.
"I am NOT like Shinji! I hate Shinji!" But of course her Rant wasn't paying attention. "Do me next! Me next!" Ashling sighed and thought a moment. Ducky actually paused the anime to listen.
"You're... a lot like Camina.. somewhat like Yoko.. and Viral.. and ...does Chuck Pulhaniuk have an anime character?..if so, then him, and also Haruko. Yeah, a lot like Haruko. And that kid's pervert dad."
"You need to be more like Yoko..." Rant repeated absent-mindedly, having stopped listening a bit ago.
"WHY DO YOU 100% BUY INTO THIS SHIT?!"
Ashling took his cigarettes, picked out his infamous pink-I'm-Pissed one, and lit up.
-----------------------
