It's Been a Long Day

[singindemonhq]

/OK, Recording/

I wish I knew where we are. I'm pretty sure that I haven't seen this place before - not recently enough to remember, anyway. One good thing, that means it's not Zranth - at least, not any part I'm familiar with.

(It's not Pylea, either - the hell-dimension where vampires sunbathe and singing demons can't smoke about. The sky's over-cast, but from the glow there's only one sun, and it's a very hot one.) I'm dreading that it's one of those horror-places where all the rules of magic and physics are changed, but I won't really know until the morning.

It's been a really bad day. We - Percy, Sam and me, were up at around 6 a.m., raided a military base, were chased out of it by a carnivorous demon - at least, it wanted more than murder, from its vibes.

We had a wild ride by fire-engine, and finally got out of Sunnydale as ... something .. real bad started behind us. The omens said that town would die and I think it did. Things got to the point where it looked as though we'd got no choice but to Portal out -

I was trying to take us through to Kansas by dimensional portal and it misrouted - to here. That wasn't the worst. When we came through, I thought Erynne was in the car, too. She didn't make it. I don't know whether she stayed back there. We were way outside Sunnydale, if she did she could have made out - if we hadn't led a thing with a mouthful of knives right up to her.

I kept trying to reopen the portal - any portal - to get us back. It wasn't just burn-out, I'd burned CDs to avoid that. It wasn't re-routing, either. The whole Sunnydale quadrant is out. Everything around there. I think the Hellmouth imploded or something. So I sat in the car trying to get the portal open with the humans radiating what they felt about it at me.

Percy took the gun to hunt for food. Got something, too - three or four of them, small ones, nothing I could recognise. I can eat meat but it doesn't do much for me. I think it was my second meal in 18 hours. Once I get this tired I need sugar.



I'd tried to smoke around, check the place out (and check for Erynne.) If she was seperated from the car and came through she could be anywhere . Let's just say I didn't manage much. I'm out of strength, I think. I'll know after I sleep. If this is one of the places that magic doesn't work right it could be real bad.

Saw a bit of the place - there's a river quite near where we came through. So we went to it. We've got clean water - that's going to matter, in this heat. We drove the car closer but kept it off the vegetation, don't want to risk it bogging down. Turned off everything to conserve the car's energy, too.

There are mountains some distance away, and that's the horizon. There are fallaways, too, with what looks to be caves - and there are a lot of waterfalls, just thin streams pouring themselves away forever down the cliffs. I kept on looking for Erynne but there don't seem to be anything with a mind much bigger han a rabbit.

I'm out of strength. I was almost dozing after the meal but it enlivened Percy and Samantha. They've got the river to play in - even a kind of whirlpool in that eddy by the rocks. I told them I was going to sleep and just came up here, to this little group of trees, way clear of the forest, or the jungle or whatever you'd call it. It wouldn't have taken me out of range ordinarily but it will tonight.

Erynne had got near enough to the car to drop her bag in the back seat. I found that after we'd had the meat, and a bag of brownies with my nickname on it, too. I may need those bad in this sugar-free zone. I ate half of the smallest. Even that helped. I think I'll be back to normal once I've slept.

I cast the mojo but there's no animal thinking it'll hunt. Just a couple that're afraid I'm a hunter. There's a trick they know on a few worlds, I'm going to try it here. Casting the mojo just for a length of fabric took about all the energy I've got left, but here it is. So, four thicknessess should hold me, fasten one end to this tree and the other to that, high enough to be clear of any beast that might jump for me.



I should maybe think about composin' a lament, but the losses will be the same tomorrow -and me, I do gigs. I'm always leavin' places. Usually I've got the only people I know there travellin' with me. It's the people that matter, and they'd mostly got away. Joan and Astraleia, Willy and Grant and the kid.

You can't grieve for bricks, it's the people that matter. It looks as though Erynne didn't make it and there's been a kind of film runnin' in my mind since I knew. It starts at the Countess' ball, that incredible throwaway line and that ridiculous costume - and runs right through the rest, including accidently torching her apartment It ends with her running for the car. There isn't any more after that. I don't want that film to run again, not tonight.
You can't change the past - but you can change its affect on you.

Hmm, I think they call this a hammock, here - back where I was, I mean. It works and it's comf........

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[wicked-bad.livejournal.com]

*spreading along the tree, sliding slowly over the branch, twisting along, reaching forward to sink venomous spines into the warm foodthing that smells of meat. Sliding down the fabric of the hammock, entwining it loosely, ready to tighten....

Reaching to the warm. Sliding onto the sleeping flesh, moving to bring the venomed spines close ... moving faster, touching warmth.... ready to still with venom....ready to drain for food.. So little venom in one spine .... so many spines on the whole mindless plant ...*