[jp] The Escapist Lyrics
Aug. 13th, 2008 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magic_fratboyWho's there knocking at my window?
The owl and the Dead Boy
This night whispers my name
All the dying children
“You’re doing far better today, son.”
Tommy dealt the new hand, frowning a little as he did. “So far, I guess. How long’s it been? I...can’t keep track here.”
“That’s why you still have me.” the older man seated across from him replied with a smile, reaching into his coat for a pocketwatch. Flipping it open, he snapped it shut importantly and tucked it away again. “It’s been fifteen minutes...how long do you believe you’ll need?”
Tommy shrugged, setting the deck aside and picking up his cards, peering at them critically. Five aces...happened sometimes. After all, they were magicians... “I have to hold the trance for at least half an hour, and be able to work through it.”
“You’re going to escape while dead? That’s dangerous.”
Glancing up at White, his constant dream companion, Tommy bit back the urge to call him by name. He knew now that the man he played cards with in his sleep was a representation of Houdini’s memories...essentially Harry Houdini himself...but as long as he was simply the knowledgeable old veteran named White, Tommy felt far more comfortable with him.
“Is that why we didn’t do it last time? I can’t remember.”
“And you won’t remember while we remain separate. The escape is difficult, and dangerous, but the spiritual aspect bothered me more than anything. We’re vulnerable here, being what we are.”
“What, separate?”
“A reborn soul. You think you’re the second name to this spirit, my boy? You’re the third.”
“I...what?” There was something in the look on White’s face, that piercing gaze boring into his...
Without looking at his hand, White laid down his cards...five aces, matching Tommy’s. “The way of dreams is symbols, but you knew that. The like hands drew you to the truth...when they differ, we’ll finally be one, and you won’t see me here again. You’ll also know the truth I learned only at my death from the one who came before me.”
Something in his tone was scaring him, and Tommy hadn’t felt much in the way of real fear since his initiation. “I don’t understand, White...”
“You’re not meant to, not yet. But know that they want you. They’ll take you if they can. Even here. I’ll protect you as best I can, but whatever you do, don’t let them draw blood. One bite, one cut, and they’ll turn you inside out. The Darkness, Tom...”
White’s voice trailed off as a shadow flickered along the back wall of the parlor...a play of fire in the hearth, right? But it was bigger, colder. It wasn’t a shadow, it was Shadow, it was massive and black as coal, there for only an instant before it disappeared...
“The Darkness.” he echoed in an exhaled breath. “It’s here.”
“Wake. Quickly. For the love of the gods, boy, RUN!!”
* * * * *
In all his years, Mike had never seen anyone take the trance so deep or so long while healthy and whole. The body laid out on the table before him was white as a sheet and cool to the touch...no breath in its lungs, no beat of a pulse in its veins.
The nails told the tale...they always told the tale. His were waxy white, not deadly blue and purple...oxygen still flowed through his body, too slow and shallow to register with human senses. The hum of his mind, a steady and quiet stream that any machine would read as delta waves echoed in Michael Kellar’s thoughts with comforting regularity.
Still...it had been too long.
“A healing trance doesn’t last more than an hour, two at most.” he observed aloud. “He’s healthy, and he’s been under at least that long.”
“Does he speak to you?” Dog asked quietly, standing at the other side of Tommy’s lifeless form.
“I can still hear him in my head. He’s out. But it’s been too long.”
“He’s gotta master time and space to rise from death, little brother. This is better.”
“Not if he’s in trouble.” Ben pointed out from a few feet away, pacing and smoking. “He needs to be out for about half an hour to survive in that coffin...and did we forget, he has to escape from the cuffs while he’s asleep? He’s not moving. This isn’t working. Go in and get him, Mike. This isn’t good.”
Just before Michael could enter Tommy’s mind and pull him from his trance, Tommy’s body spasmed as wide, sightless eyes flew open at the same moment he choked down his first breath of air.
It wasn’t his lungs that concerned the Brothers that gathered around him, though...it was the coal red irises that burned in Tommy’s eyes for several long seconds before they dissolved back to dark, living brown again.
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 816
The owl and the Dead Boy
This night whispers my name
All the dying children
“You’re doing far better today, son.”
Tommy dealt the new hand, frowning a little as he did. “So far, I guess. How long’s it been? I...can’t keep track here.”
“That’s why you still have me.” the older man seated across from him replied with a smile, reaching into his coat for a pocketwatch. Flipping it open, he snapped it shut importantly and tucked it away again. “It’s been fifteen minutes...how long do you believe you’ll need?”
Tommy shrugged, setting the deck aside and picking up his cards, peering at them critically. Five aces...happened sometimes. After all, they were magicians... “I have to hold the trance for at least half an hour, and be able to work through it.”
“You’re going to escape while dead? That’s dangerous.”
Glancing up at White, his constant dream companion, Tommy bit back the urge to call him by name. He knew now that the man he played cards with in his sleep was a representation of Houdini’s memories...essentially Harry Houdini himself...but as long as he was simply the knowledgeable old veteran named White, Tommy felt far more comfortable with him.
“Is that why we didn’t do it last time? I can’t remember.”
“And you won’t remember while we remain separate. The escape is difficult, and dangerous, but the spiritual aspect bothered me more than anything. We’re vulnerable here, being what we are.”
“What, separate?”
“A reborn soul. You think you’re the second name to this spirit, my boy? You’re the third.”
“I...what?” There was something in the look on White’s face, that piercing gaze boring into his...
Without looking at his hand, White laid down his cards...five aces, matching Tommy’s. “The way of dreams is symbols, but you knew that. The like hands drew you to the truth...when they differ, we’ll finally be one, and you won’t see me here again. You’ll also know the truth I learned only at my death from the one who came before me.”
Something in his tone was scaring him, and Tommy hadn’t felt much in the way of real fear since his initiation. “I don’t understand, White...”
“You’re not meant to, not yet. But know that they want you. They’ll take you if they can. Even here. I’ll protect you as best I can, but whatever you do, don’t let them draw blood. One bite, one cut, and they’ll turn you inside out. The Darkness, Tom...”
White’s voice trailed off as a shadow flickered along the back wall of the parlor...a play of fire in the hearth, right? But it was bigger, colder. It wasn’t a shadow, it was Shadow, it was massive and black as coal, there for only an instant before it disappeared...
“The Darkness.” he echoed in an exhaled breath. “It’s here.”
“Wake. Quickly. For the love of the gods, boy, RUN!!”
In all his years, Mike had never seen anyone take the trance so deep or so long while healthy and whole. The body laid out on the table before him was white as a sheet and cool to the touch...no breath in its lungs, no beat of a pulse in its veins.
The nails told the tale...they always told the tale. His were waxy white, not deadly blue and purple...oxygen still flowed through his body, too slow and shallow to register with human senses. The hum of his mind, a steady and quiet stream that any machine would read as delta waves echoed in Michael Kellar’s thoughts with comforting regularity.
Still...it had been too long.
“A healing trance doesn’t last more than an hour, two at most.” he observed aloud. “He’s healthy, and he’s been under at least that long.”
“Does he speak to you?” Dog asked quietly, standing at the other side of Tommy’s lifeless form.
“I can still hear him in my head. He’s out. But it’s been too long.”
“He’s gotta master time and space to rise from death, little brother. This is better.”
“Not if he’s in trouble.” Ben pointed out from a few feet away, pacing and smoking. “He needs to be out for about half an hour to survive in that coffin...and did we forget, he has to escape from the cuffs while he’s asleep? He’s not moving. This isn’t working. Go in and get him, Mike. This isn’t good.”
Just before Michael could enter Tommy’s mind and pull him from his trance, Tommy’s body spasmed as wide, sightless eyes flew open at the same moment he choked down his first breath of air.
It wasn’t his lungs that concerned the Brothers that gathered around him, though...it was the coal red irises that burned in Tommy’s eyes for several long seconds before they dissolved back to dark, living brown again.
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 816
