Snap Crackle

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Now that sounded like progress. The fiery blaze of the hottest furnaces in Hell seemed to have cooled down from incinerate all life to something just above extreme discomfort. It was a start.

Shaehern Azhrarn was not Naelona Ezel's friend. It had never been so. As children they were social playmates. Time progressed naturally from that point, and the relationship grew more distant. Now they were very familiar acquaintances--two people who had known each other for most of their lives, but who had almost nothing in common otherwise.

"I will not attempt to justify anything I have done," he said in a tone that was a little more serious than he wished. "However, it sounds like you have a lot going on up here." Shaehern pointed to the side of his own head. He'd rather not listen to everything she had to say about the matter, even if she were willing to share it with him.

"I will tell you what I told Kristopher that one night. You are in a trap of your own design, and you've surrounded yourself with enemies who pretend to be... well, I suppose you don't really have any friends, do you?" Shaehern gave her a gentle smirk as he started to walk a little more. It really was none of his business.

"Furthermore, you push away those who mean you well." Shaehern stopped mid-step and spun about on his heel. Slowly he sauntered in the other direction. "Does that sound about right to you?"

[Naelona Ezel]

"I always have something going on within my mind, Shaehern." Naelona stated rather matter-of-factly. There were too many issues to deal with, she could not afford not to always be contemplating something. That's how oversights came to be, and solutions were missed by acting too quickly before proper consideration.

Continuing her work she drew nearer to the next corner of the pool area, keeping an eye on exactly where Shaehern was going. He was wandering again as he spoke, and soon enough she was going to run into him. No - no she wasn't. It seemed the boogie had the sense to keep his space after all. He couldn't have turned heel and went the other way soon enough. Maybe he would keep up the pace and just leave.

A trap? Perhaps. Naelona didn't view herself as having enemies. After all she wasn't stuck out in this corner of Wonderland stuck with everyone else, it was the others who were haplessly stuck with her. Naelona shot a glare that spoke of death at Shae when he mentioned 'friends'. She had considered him a friend before, and still often did in more recent times. Apparently he didn't see it the same way.

She considered Jouhnin a friend and she was a friend of his, he had said such himself. Perhaps Shae was correct in his assumption.. She didn't have 'friends', at least in the plural sense of the word. Though she didn't require them to do what she did for a living. An obvious barb at her temper, but it was one that wouldn't quite work. It wasn't important enough, and if anything, displayed his own ignorance.

"You are incorrect and misguided, as usual. Shaehern." Her words were still sharp yet Naelona sounded almost.. bored with the response and mostly uninterested. The first part she didn't need to defend herself about. "And for the record, I am not the one who pushes others away." Standing a bit straighter she paused in her sleeping to fix her eyes on him. "It is others who try to either push me away, or leave themselves. I expect one such as yourself to understand this concept to the fullest."

Naelona paused to shake out the broom, before working her way across the end and gradually sweep towards the side Shae had been pacing. "A friend once told me that 'those who live in glass houses should not throw stones'. I believe you should also understand this particularly well."

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

"Always something going on in your mind and never really letting anyone in on it. It's none of their business, after all." There were some individuals who were capable of prying into minds--those were the types of people who could potentially put Shaehern out of business if they really wanted.

But Shaehern could not pry into the mind. He could examine how people behaved and take guesses at what it was they were hiding--he was wrong at least as often as he was right, but the trick was figuring out which it was at a particular moment.

Shaehern stopped his pacing once again. What was it that he could really say about Naelona at this time? She was putting up a strong front. Hell, she was even attempting to take the battle of wills to Shaehern. He had been grossly unprepared the other night with Kristopher, but today was not going to be the same.

"Of course I'm not correct. Lil ol' Shaehern never knows what he's talking about. You have slaves, you have acquaintances, you have a brother, and you have social playmates, but you do not have friends. The closest you had was a slave, but slaves are little more than talking pets." That was all Shaehern had ever really thought about slaves. It was why his first few decades of slaves all had abysmal life expectancy.

"And if you are implying that I push people away, I'm afraid you are sorely mistaken. I have a magnetic personality. I have friends. People are not pushed away from me; they walk away of their own free will." Shaehern's lips curled up in a terrible sneer.

"Perhaps you do not push them away. You walk away when you cannot have your way. Just like you walked away from your family."

[Naelona Ezel]

The broom suddenly clattered to the ground.

"Shaehern Zanderion Azhrarn!" The broom handle hadn't even bounced twice and Naelona was already closing the distance between their respective locations. "I have walked away from nothing!" Walking away was akin to giving up. That was something she didn't do.. things either heeded her or they broke. "..Least of all my own home!" The boogie came close for an Ezel, but still stopped a good foot or two away.

"You were not there. Do not attest to me to knowing what went on!" She spat. "Only fools speak of things they did not see and and presume them to be fact." Stepping away lightly Nae moved to the side instead of back. It was something he would probably recognize, as would most an slave of hers. An arc of a circle.

"My own mother left me. Kazn left me. He took Anolean and shoved me away. He has done so for years and continues to do so to this day. You were not there. You did not hear to hear the words he said to me, the accusations he still makes. ..and you.." Naelona's eyes narrowed to dark slits with a sneer, leveling a finger at him accusingly. For someone she'd known since she was a child, he really was no better. The only surviving being from her childhood who hadn't let her down was her brother. Her brother was loyal, but in ways that wasn't saying much.

"You.. you were a worse fool than I ever was. You dare to accuse me of running away, when it is you who flees." He'd fled years before she even ever thought to consider it. "It's like a little game to you, isn't it? Every time your life is 'just so', so you leave it. It's why you left your parents. It's why you left your home. It's why you're now here now, and one day when it is 'just so' you will again, walk away, and go someplace else."

"And what is it you're after this time? Fame and renown?" Naelona spared his attire a glance with scorn. His current reputation certainly suggested it. For one who used to hide away, the trait couldn't hope be found on him now. "You'll never get it that way. Life isn't a game, Azhrarn. Learn to clean your own reflection before you criticize mine." He had always had a step up in things that she did not and not once did he seem grateful for it. Having gotten that off her chest, Naelona turned away to retrieve her broom. "At least your mother cried for you." Nae muttered in passing as a spiteful afterthought. At least he even had one to cry.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern marveled at how masterfully he managed to reel Naelona in. Her usually calm demeanor had dissolved into a bubbling vat of acid and spite. It was at this time that nothing she really said would make much sense from a logical point of view. In regards to her temper she was really no better than her father.

He allowed her to take a heavy sledgehammer to the metaphorical ground she had been standing firmly on before. The tremors from the tumultuous blow were enough to shake Shaehern's calm and pleasant response he had planned into something a touch more primal.

"Your mind is divided, Naelona. Am I fool, or am I not? You should decide before you catch yourself in a hypocrisy." The little woman was two feet away. Shaehern cut that little safety bubble of hers in half.

"But it is a little late for that now, is it not?" His pitch deepened and shook a little bit as he spoke. "I was justified when I left them, so do not you dare speak of them in such a fashion. I did what was in the best interests of most of those involved!"

As Shaehern spoke he found himself inching closer to Naelona. His brow furrowed and his fingers twitched slightly. "You cannot even begin to comprehend my motives then or now, so do not play my mother as the victim!"

Little Shaehern was the victim. He was the butt of the jokes. He was the source of entertainment when a set of shadowy twins got bored. And, in the end, he was nothing more than one more part of a parental scheme.

"Choose your next words wisely, woman," he said in a voice straining to keep calm.

[Naelona Ezel]

Naelona didn't budge when he closed the gap in half. In most cases it was well within her instincts and nature to take another step or two away, but not in conflict. It was the other who should step away. It was an aggressive move on his part, and given her current temperament it was one that only prompted her to continue with her stubborn resolve.

Hearing him respond her tone quieted, but the words came with no less purpose than before. "Mijn asked about the entire household. No-one knew a thing." It wasn't too unusual for slaves of one house to confer with the other, especially during visitations. It was a mouse's ear Naelona had not neglected. "There was no argument, no conflict. You just simply 'left'." 'Involved' suggested there was something going on, of which Naelona knew there hadn't been a thing at all.

"Your mother was one of the kindest people I knew. You should speak of her more highly than you do." The decreasing proximity was ignorable mostly due to her own anger. Yet even to now it started to become uncomfortable after a point. Naelona felt herself tense, but she wouldn't let her feet back away from this conflict quite yet.

"Or you'll what..?" At this distance she didn't raise her voice even a fraction, there was no need to. Naelona raised her thin eyebrows at the old acquaintance with a light scoff, if not the weakest signs of amusement. It was high time he had to struggle with something, and so be it she was able to be the instigator of it. "..you had so much promise back in the day. It is a pity they cannot see you now."

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern just glared at her. The distance between their eyes could be measured in inches now. His breathing was a little uneven, but he needed to make absolutely certain she understood what she was doing. She would need to take responsibility for what she was saying.

"You do not know the whole story. There was no fight because I circumvented it. I did not quit playing their game; I just changed the rules." Sometimes, that was the only way to win. Some people called it cheating.

"As for that wry little minx, do not make her the victim. She was kind to you because-" Shaehern cut himself off. There was no need to drag Naelona into that whole affair. She had gone this long without knowing. There was no need for her to understand now.

It was at that time Shaehern was prepared to back away. He was ready to just put some distance between Naelona and him and keep quiet. Clearly, this was not a conversation they were going to be civil while having. He took a step back and started to turn away.

"..you had so much promise back in the day. It is a pity they cannot see you now."

"Promise? Promise! I'll show you promise!" He struck much like a viper that had been poked with a stick one too many times. He lashed out quickly and grasped at Naelona's tiny wrists. His right leg swept across her shins and he forced the woman down.

Both of them right down into the pool.

[Naelona Ezel]

Because what? That perhaps she could take pity on a few visiting children who had no mother? For one who had none, Cebil had been a subject of fascination to a younger Naelona for a number of years. She had never actually warmed up to the woman, but she had been a subject of curiosity for some time.

Naelona didn't even have time for a startled gasp before she suddenly hit the water. Most would have shrieked at the unprepared shock of the ice cold water striking their warm skin, but those weren't possible when one's head was already submerged underwater. The cold embrace covered her body while that unwanted grip forced her down. She was in the pool - a very deep pool. Even if the concept of disrobing didn't bother her she still would never willing swim in it. At one end it was possible to wade in, but at the other even two slaves atop each out couldn't break the surface. Immediately her heart started pounding as the situation sank in.

Blinking blindly underwater she started to thrash to try to break away from his grip, kicking up at him even if that meant sending her deeper. Just getting away from him might be enough to swim to the surface, but a lingering thought knew better. Shaehern was a fish in the water and always had been. If she went too far down, there would be no way of getting back up unless he let her. A powerless concept.

Bubbles streamed up from her thick clothing. The heavy skirts made it difficult to try to kick at him while insetting panic was making it difficult to think. She hated deep water, she hated being trapped by any degree, and she hated forced contact. The first two came from comparably sillier sources, but the Ezel had learned well that the last one could easily prove to be deadly.

Above she could see the disturbed surface and its broken ice floating above becoming increasingly further away. She really didn't have the breath for this. Blinding Shae, Naelona tried twisting her wrists free from him. So help her she was going to get out of this pool and beat him over the head with a broomstick the moment he tries surfacing after her.

Serve him right for this mess.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Some lands had stories of the kelpie. The kelpie was a peculiar horse that lived in the water and often offered the unwary and unsuspecting a ride on its back to cross a river. But this was merely a trap. As soon as one would mount the kelpie the true nature of the beast was obvious--one was adhered to the kelpie. The beast would then dive with its prey in order to drown it.

What happened after this usually was left up to the storyteller and is in no way significant to Naelona's current predicament. However, she was trapped with a Boogie who often used the kelpie technique to torment, kill and capture humans.

Naelona could thrash about as much as she'd like, but mindless thrashing did no good in the water. The reduced force of her already weak blows meant that Shaehern could shoulder the burden of every punch and kick and not be concerned.

Also, Shaehern's clothes were often loose and flowing; this made them impractical for swimming. However, they were the perfect tool for entangling a struggling fool underwater.

Naelona would quickly lose the ability to tread water and would sink into the dark bottom on the pool. Shaehern was considerably better at holding his breath and felt no concern at this time. He just wanted the grim satisfaction of feeling her hit the bottom of the pool.

[Naelona Ezel]

Water and Naelona was not a pair that got along. Even the bathes were far deep enough for her tastes, let alone the depths that could be found here. Struggling underwater became more difficult and the clothing more cumbersome and the water and weight of clothing slowed her movements.

Soon enough it wasn't her own clothing getting in the way of her efforts, but Shae's as well. What was worse is he still had her by the wrists, cutting short a number of efforts before she had a chance to attempt them. One foot was caught upon some fabric and one free leg couldn't do much by itself. The chill went through her submerged body like a knife, but that wasn't the more pressing matter. What began to overtake her thoughts wasn't so much the struggle outside as the burning within.

Naelona wasn't a strong or physically adept boogie. Swimming wasn't her forte, nor was holding her breath. No warning kept her from taking any additional breath. Struggling was strenuous, and panic only accelerated the condition. On instinct she tried pulling her hands back to herself. Making a face, focus shifted more from showing Shae's his place to not breathing in the water that surrounded them. It was difficult, and becoming more so by the passing moment. He still hadn't let her up. An only option would have been to outlast him, but that would be impossible.

The water turned dark like mud as Nae struggled not so much with Shaehern, but with herself. It took to much to fight. The surface was getting ever further, but she wasn't even glancing now. Eyes clamped shut and lips pressed thin, if felt like a century where nothing happened at all. One moment she caved and tried taking a breath, but unlike in dreams there was no air under this water. There would have been a cry had there been the breath to sound it. The freezing water burned in a terrible way and even shades became flickering, confused things.

Half of a breath, struggle, and a panic wasn't enough to stave of the quickly approaching inevitable. Even the shadows would abandon them save for one beneath that marked their destination, and one that lurked within her mind. How strange to think one could burn and freeze at the same time.

Odds were she would never even notice the bottom when they hit.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

The depth of the water went largely unnoticed to Shaehern. Three feet of water was usually sufficient to drown a full grown human, though it was possible to do it with as little as three inches. In a pool as deep as this one, the contender had no chance of victory.

Her leg was ensnared and he still had both of her wrists firmly grasped in his hands. Even if he were to let her hands go she could not muster the force to swim back to the surface. As though to spite her further, Shaehern released some of the air from his lungs to hasten their descent. Little bubbles rose from his nose up to the surface of the pool.

There was a certain satisfaction when he finally hit the bottom of the pool. His hands finally released her wrists. Those long fingers of his crawled their way up her arms and wrapped around the woman's throat. This was it. This was the kill.

He could just slowly squeeze the life out of her like an anaconda, though the water itself would rob her of life quickly enough.

Something did not feel quite right about it. His fingers did not feel quite right around her neck. He hesitated for a few seconds before loosening his grip. His arms snaked their way under her shoulders and he easily lifted her body up in the buoyant water. For the first time since he took the plunge, he realized how cold it was down here.

He bent his knees and pushed up from the bottom of the pool. The only sign that anything was changing was the feeling that everything was moving past him, but it was not moving nearly quickly enough on its own. Without Naelona that kick-start might have been enough to bring him to the surface. Now he felt his legs burning as he kicked desperately to maintain some upward momentum.

He let go of her with one arm and held her with the other as he reached his hand up to push himself just a little harder. Five strokes. Then six. On the seventh his hand broke through and hit air. The air felt far colder than the water, but his chilled fingers reached for the side of the pool. He heaved Naelona upon the side. She quickly grew heavy as more of her drenched form rose from the surface.

Large chunks of ice still floated on the top of the pool and parted ways as Shaehern pulled his entire body out. Water ran off of his specially-treated clothes. It was a precaution he took with most of his flowing dry-clean-only robes, and he was suddenly grateful that they did not retain water.

He finished pulling Naelona from the water and laid her on her back at the side of the pool. Staring at the woman he gave her a quick slap to see if he could bring her back to the world of the waking. He couldn't help but feel some grim sense of satisfaction from the motion.

She had it coming.

[Naelona Ezel]

Consciousness was nothing but a fleeting awareness of the world. It was just another mode of perception, another way to note the things around them. It spoke of different things, but so was any switch from one mode of existence to another. Even if the latter was a form of nonexistence.

Boogies were known to be resilient creatures. Resilience alone could not carry one very far, especially those weaker than their kind. Naelona was such a creature. She always had been, and likely always would be weaker than her peers. Compared to slaves she was still one to fear, but to her own kind.. words were her only strength. When it came to the physical trials of living she didn't always fair so well. Ironically a bit like another being that existed in her life.

The enveloping water was everywhere. It was difficult to breathe a liquid and what futile attempt had existed, it didn't last very long. The last fading shreds of consciousness noted nothing but distorted sounds of the pool and flanking sensations of pain and chill. Even those seemed distant as the world became a blurry perception as everything went dark.

Touching the bottom of the pool went unnoticed. In the water there was no more fight, no struggle. Hair floated loosely from its previously pinned settings. Wherever any lingers senses were, they weren't here. There was no resistance to the closed proximity. The ascent to the surface went unnoticed, and even the cold air upon her skin seemed to have little effect. Laying by the pool water seeped from her clothing and into a growing puddle around her limp form. Even at the slap, only her head moved a little bit from the force. No other signs of movement existed. It seemed the plunge had truly gotten the best of her.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

The woman was still. Had Shaehern really drowned her? How long had they been under the water? The time all sort of blurred together and made figuring it out difficult. Shaehern was in something of a panic and did not notice his own shivering in the cold air.

From out of nowhere Shaehern received a heavy blow to the back of his head. Perhaps it knocked some sense into him, or maybe it just knocked the panic out of him. Regardless of the true nature of the blow, Shaehern was confident that he knew whom had seen fit to strike him. Zalamel was far too intelligent to land within an arm's reach of Shaehern after such a move.

Shaehern focused his mind back on Naelona. He supposed it was possible for him to just dump the body in the pool and walk away. Yet, that would have made the motion of dragging her up to the surface pointless. Shaehern hit his own temples once or twice before moving his hands down on the woman's prone form.

He tipped her head back and opened her mouth. His fingers reached in and moved the tongue where appropriate. Shaehern clasped his down on her nose and took a deep breath before pressing his mouth to hers. A breath passed from him to her. There was nowhere for it to go but into her lungs. He hoped in silence that forcing a breath into her might trigger a coughing fit as her body attempted to expel whatever water she may have swallowed.

[Naelona Ezel]

Leave it up to a bird to be the token to her survival

The first sounds that met Naelona's ears were horrible. 'Hacking up a lung' never quite took the same meaning as when it was par literal. Whatever Shae had done did the trick. Coughing up water while gasping for air was a painful and conflicting experience. Her body felt sluggish and cold, yet it burned. It was a strange cycle between gasps and coughing that took several minutes to settle down.

As soon as she was finally able, Nae tried rolling over not so much to get away from Shae but to get the bright sky out of her eyes. In time her wits started to catch up to her. The events that'd happened, being thrown into the pool and held there.. a shudder nearly sealed her to the ground. Shivering, her fingers twitched of their own accord. Finally her breathing settled to something sensible, still dotted with coughing now and again. Her mind starting to click and infer what had happened between now and several minutes ago. It wasn't very pretty.

"Do-n't touch me." Naelona rasped between coughs. It was difficult to move and equally so to speak. Slumping against the wall that surrounded the pool, she wasn't sitting nearly straight enough for her preference or comfort. Going into another fit of coughing, Nae shivered. With as soaked as her clothing was and as weak as she felt, she wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

It took a bit of fight on her part, but the Ezel finally managed to sit upright, leaning back against the wall and fixing a weakened glare upon Shaehern. It wasn't held for long and it was shortly directed elsewhere. She hadn't been named 'Naelona' as a child for nothing. "S-shae.." The motion was small, but she did beckon him over weakly. "Come h-here." It maybe a stupid decision in regards to dealing with someone who had just tried to drown her, but he had brought her back to the poolside.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

She coughed and water started coming out of her lungs. Shaehern was relieved and somewhat disgusted at the same time. Had circumstances been somewhat different, then he might have anticipated an immediate retaliatory strike when she returned to consciousness.

As it was she was little more than a weak little woman who was still struggling to catch her breath. She simply did not have the strength nor control to strike him.

Shaehern backed away, but remained seated on the wet floor beside the pool. She would need help, but it would not likely come from him. It would probably be best that she see a physician and get some rest after the incident.

Furthermore, she did not want Shaehern touching her. He probably would leave her be here once he was certain that she was not going to fall over as soon as she tried to stand up. His eyes wandered skyward as he tried to locate Zalamel and his perch. The dark-feathered and black-hearted monster would have a great deal to answer for later.

In silence that bordered on reverence he listened to Naelona's sudden beckoning. It seemed so peculiar, given everything that the two had been through. Perhaps it would be a mistake to lean forward, but it was a mistake Shaehern was willing to make. He smiled gently at her and placed his right hand flat against the ground. He would lean on it to support his body while he leaned forward.

He shut his eyes in anticipation.