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[npc-excolo.livejournal.com]

Dream.

There is a great sea. The sky is grey, the water green, and the seafoam is the flecked white of milk on the turn. The shore is stone and shingle, and the cliffs are bone-shades. Will you wake on the little fishing boat that rides the waves, wary of great beasts that lurk beneath the surface, or on the cold and stony shore? Or perhaps as some watery thing yourself, breathing in water as cold as ice and with a salt-iron taste like blood?

[OPEN TO ALL]

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[jaeresteade.livejournal.com]

I’m pretty sure she wants to hear about sea monsters a lot more than she wants to know where I’m from, so I think I can get away with not answering her first question. “If you’ve seen all that, maybe you owe me a story afterward.” I ease myself down to sit cross-legged. My knees and I are still not on good terms.

She’s looking at me with her eyes wide, still half pouting. I’m going to have to make this a very good story. I clear my throat. It’s still parched, but the prospect of telling a story is distracting me from it a bit. “Right, so once upon a time there was a man who had to take a long journey across the sea, so he hired a boat to take him there. But as soon as the boat set out into the open water, a storm blew up, and the rain and the wind nearly sunk the boat.” I’ve told this story before, I think, to another little girl a long time ago. “The sailors kept the boat on course, though, and when the next day came, the storm had cleared, and the day was bright and sunny and very, very still. And the men thanked God that they had come through the storm.”

I think she’s still with me, even though there aren’t any sea monsters yet. “But that day and the next day and the day after that, there was no wind, and so the boat couldn’t go anywhere. So the sailors cried and prayed to God to send wind, and that night the wind came, the breath of God on the sailors, and all of them fell down asleep. While they were asleep, an angel spoke to all of them in a dream and told them that the man who hired the boat was the reason for the trouble they were having.” I can’t do voices, so I’m just telling the thing outright, hopefully with enough flourishes to keep her listening.

“When the sailors woke up, they went to the man and told him what the angel had said, and even though he cried and begged them not to, they bundled him up and threw him over the side of the boat into the deep water. And what do you think happened then?” I look at her expectantly, ready to along with whatever she suggests, but pretty sure that I know what it’s going to be.

[celeste-excolo.livejournal.com]

“If you’ve seen all that, maybe you owe me a story afterward.”

Nodding, I giggle and sit on the ground in front of him so I can watch him tell his story. I'll tell him mine too if he's got time. I've never gotten to tell anyone a story! I hope I'm as good as Daddy is.

My eyes widen when he talks about Angels. They're tattletales? No wonder Daddy got in trouble!

“When the sailors woke up, they went to the man and told him what the angel had said, and even though he cried and begged them not to, they bundled him up and threw him over the side of the boat into the deep water. And what do you think happened then?”

Ohh, I know! I know! "Uhmmm," I say, pretending I'm guessing, "A Sea Serpent shows up and eats the man and then wraps around the boat and breaks it into a million pieces!" I spread my arms out cos a million pieces is a lot, "Then it eats up all the other sailors before they drown and it lives happily ever after with sailors squirming in its belly waiting for the next boat of sailors to come?" I smile big and hope that's right. A Sea Serpent wouldn't just let a boat full of sailors go.

[jaeresteade.livejournal.com]

Don’t know when I might have had cause to tell stories to a little girl, but it feels like I have before, and see seems to think I’m doing a fine job, the way she’s getting into it and playing along. “You’re almost right,” I tell her, keeping my voice light.

I’m trying to think of the best and most exciting way to tell the next part when I see her eyes go wide, and there’s a terrible splashing sound behind me. I scramble to my feet as I turn to look down the beach at the knot of people around the nets. They may have been fishing, but now something’s caught them. A great, coiling body, and a head, rising up out of the water, speaking.

I blink once, and then I’m backing away as fast as I can, feet scrabbling for purchase on the sharp stones. I reach out for CeeCee’s hand as I do. “Come on, sweetheart. We need to be not here.”

[celeste-excolo.livejournal.com]

“You’re almost right,”

Oh! It must be even better! I can't wa ..... wait. Something big is moving in the water where Daddy is!It swallows one of the ladies up just like I thought it would. He's probably teaching her a lesson so she doesn't try to catch one again. J gets up real quick and looks scared.

"Its a Sea Serpent!! See! I told you it likes to swallow people," I say, jumping up and down and clapping. Maybe the Serpent like'd J's story too!! And its talking. Ohhhh! this is so much FUN!

“Come on, sweetheart. We need to be not here.”

He grabs for my hand, but I hide mine behind my back shaking my head. "Its okay, my Daddy is there and it wants to play a riddle game! I'm good at those!" I turn and run as quickly as I can and call back to J," I'll be right back!" then I get up as close as I can and look up at the Serpent (http://community.livejournal.com/estdeus_innobis/405311.html?thread=10289215#t10289215).