[Solo] Easing the Passing of a Monster
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:57 pm
50th of Searing, 4622
Vivian was feeling moderately better. Fifty days of feeling like he was at death's door finally marked some improvement. Headaches had gradually become less vicious, as had the nausea and nightmares. It was like his Mark was finally beginning to settle again, satisfied that it had punished its occupant. Vivian was finally able to keep down food consistently, and with the crest of Searing came the hottest parts of the year. The staff had been given the day off with the exception of the cook, who was tasked with keeping the Veir and his wife in cold lemonade and tea. With the hot sun beating down on the house, playing in the spigot wasn't cutting it for the former staff of House Socorro. They were going to the river.
Vivian knew the Vinasir very well. In the oppressive heat of Searing it lowered enough to be safe to swim in some areas. The poor often flocked to it, and even the servants of households could be found frolicking in its waters. It was one of the few reliable ways to beat the heat away from the all seeing eyes of the nobles, and Vivian had been looking forward to it all morning. The servants brought some extra towels that were older or part of Degare's color scheme. Vivian felt a little odd with one of the blood red towels under his arm; Degare had always put stock in lovely things, and now he was about to spread such a fluffy, expensive towel on a riverbank to go swimming. Well, damn the man for leaving and damn his manipulation.
The riverbank was sloped, enough to allow people to sun themselves on its banks. It had a more practical use as well; barges could nuzzle up to the sides quite easily to stand in line and unload goods, allowing their occupants to go out for a bit of holiday while they waited on a crowded riverbank. Today, there was only one barge at the docks, leaving the shallows free for people to go and swim in. Vivian grabbed the porter's hand. Lucas was one of the employees he'd grown rather close to under Degare's rule. They were decent friends, and occasional lovers, even if Lucas disapproved of the way Vivian lived.
The pair rushed into the shallows, and the cool water hit Vivian's ankles. Vivian danced back to the shore and stripped down to his smallclothes, tossing his pants and towel on the riverbank. He plunged into the water up to his waist, and splashed Lucas as he fussily folded his clothes. "Viv! Stop!" Lucas giggled, waggling his towel at him.
"Mm. No." Vivian stuck out his tongue. Lucas joined him in the water.
"I swear to the gods I'm going to scrub off that makeup!" The porter threatened laughingly.
"Not in this river you're not!" Vivian splashed him again, and fled to slightly deeper water.
Lucas followed him, and grabbed him around the waist. Vivian squeaked, dragged down into the river. He emerged sopping wet, his makeup flowing down his face. Lucas exploded in laughter, stumbling out of grabbing range to catch his breath.
"You look like a drowned rat!" Lucas cackled as Vivian wiped away the makeup.
"Oh. Oh you are dead." Vivian swiped for him, a grin on his face. "You mussed up my hair and you didn't even pay for it this time."
Loud shouts from the dock pulled Vivian's attention away from the attractive little blonde thing running away from him. He frowned, looking up and over at the small commotion. There were men unloading fish, which in itself wasn't that unusual of a thing, but an inspector was opening a barrel of their catch and shouting. The beaurocrat was waving his arms, and Vivian saw a slimy loop of something slither over the side of the barrel. Even at this distance. It must have been huge. "I'll...be right back." he told Lucas distractedly, and hurried to the shore. He pulled his pants on, and rushed to the dock. It was only about a hundred yards to the import area, and the closer he got the more crowded it was. He wiped away the last of his makeup in irritation, not wanting it to blind him while he was trying to figure out what was going on.
Vivian's slender form let him slide between two of the sailors to the barrel in question. It was full of mackerel, and packed in seawater to prevent them from going bad during the journey. They had probably opened it up to switch the seawater with vinegar for trips to the market, and discovered the large animal writhing inside. It had eaten about a third of the fish, and had somehow survived in the slimy, murky red water that remained in the barrel with the rest of the decaying fish. Vivian could see why the inspector had chosen it; it reeked!
"What the hell is that thing, captain? What in the gods' names have you brought?" the inspector raged at the captain, who was attempting to explain between the angry beaurocrat's questions that sometimes animals other than the school they were hunting were brought in with the catch. This one must have just hidden itself among the mackerel until it was time to barrel them up, then got stuck.
Vivian's heart ached for the creature. It was thrashing in the barrel, clearly dying. It's body was bright, alarmingly bright, pink and as thick as a man's wrist. Its body pulsated, flattening and searching for the sea. On one end, what Vivian assumed was the head, a trio of sharp black fangs rolled out from the slimy flesh, grasping at the air. It didn't deserve to die like this, poked and prodded. It needed the water. Even if the river water wasn't exactly proper for it, at least it could support it's body as it died. It would be, hopefully, less painful than drowning in old, bloody rot water.
"Gods, Arkash was right. I'm going to get myself into trouble some day..." he mumbled, and lunged for the barrel. He grabbed loops of the creature, discovering as he supported its body that it was at least eight feet long. The lancing, terrible teeth arched for his hands, and he seized the creature just behind the head. As much as he wanted to help it, he also didn't want to get bitten.
"Hey! Hey you! What the hell are you doing?" The sailors had shaken off the shock at seeing him simply grab the worm, and Vivian turned to flee. He leapt off the dock into the water, plunging deep into the sun-drenched river. He swam awkwardly underneath the dock, where large chunks of basalt helped him regain his footing. He was able to properly examine the worm.
It had stopped trying to bite him. Its teeth retracted into its head, presenting a soft, phallic end to the ribbon-like body, and it slid around Vivian. "It's alright. Don't try to swim. Just...rest." Vivian said softly. The worm couldn't understand him, but it was also too weak to flee to deeper water. Vivian stroked along its flanks, his hand sliding through mucus to touch the soft, pliant body underneath. It was beautiful. In the sea such a creature would have swum magnificently. He closed his eyes. He wanted to understand the poor thing, and the journey it had gone through. The creature was beginning to enter torpor, the last stage of dying. Though such an animal didn't understand gratitude, Vivian hoped it understood on some level he was trying to help.
Though he was hurting from mageblight, he slowly fed his ether into the creature. Like the hammerhead worm, it was a mighty hunter. Unlike the hammerhead worm, which he had captured while it was healthy, this creature was dying. It was like approaching a tiger while it was bleeding out. This great hunter of the seas would meet its end here...but perhaps not always. "You're so strong..." Vivian whispered. 'You've fought so hard...and if I was able to...you'd be back in the sea." He could feel the beating of several dozen hearts in a chain down the animal. It was pure muscle and gnashing teeth, and its flesh was meant as a blanket of death to the prey it hunted. Vivian could see himself gliding down through cold seas to chew and feast alongside hundreds of its brothers at whalefalls and shark leavings, plunging into soft tissue and eating great tunnels.
As he withdrew the ether, the worm relaxed in his hands. Its head and the coils of its body dangled loosely, carried along by the drifting water. Vivian sighed, and disentangled himself from the worm. "Thank you, great one." he told it, and gave it a push out to the current. The fish would take care of the corpse. He sat down, and winced as a headache began growing at the base of his skull.
Well, at least it was cool under here.
