Gemini, Part II: You Jump, I Jump

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Title: Gemini, Part II: You Jump, I Jump
Location: Stacy; The Sensoriums





"And it seems like all is dying, and will leave the world to mourn
In the distance, hear the laughter of the last unicorn."



He was dancing.

He was dancing in a maelstrom of the sea, the wind and a hazy fire.

Wings hadn't been an option when this dance had begun, thanks to the stitching in his back (and his own stupidity) but Renne still dances among stars he'd hung in the air himself. It was all an illusion, he knew that, but he was grateful for the chance to be allowed to place it in the Park -- a place spacious enough for this dance.

It was a dance for the repentant with guilt heavy upon their shoulders and it was a dance he was compelled to carry out.



He remembered the dance as he explored the City for a while. His mind kept on going over what had happened and what had nearly happened down in the pod chamber.

From the City to a Sensorium, he crawled and on the way, he passed by a door that he knew, didn't need to be marked. It was known in a way no outside mark could tell and he smiled a little at it.
In a Sensorium chamber, Renne Transcended and let his emotions carry him where they will.

His surroundings became a cloudscape of gold and above, a sky shone with blue stars.

Renne himself found his shape change. He smiled inwardly as a tri-coloured blue unicorn became a form of his. The body and upper halves of four legs shone of night-sky dark blue. The tail and mane shone in a lighter, silver-sea-foam tinted with gold. A silver horn twisted from his forehead and silver cloven hooves kicked up the cloud-ground.

In a star-filled Sensorium, a little blue unicorn learned a new part of himself.

In a bedroom near the door, a parcel sat, waiting for its recipient.

Comments

[morphitudinous]

Billy woke, having felt a strange calming sensation brush his mind. It felt like Renne. Had the imp finally decided to move in?

Curious, Billy slides his glasses over his nose and looks around. No one is here, nothing is out of place, except...a package? What was that?

It's more painful than usual to get up (he'd really taken a beating in training) but he soon crouches next to the item, running a hand over it. A second later, it sits in his lap. Before he opens it, he wonders:

"What have you done this time, Renne?"

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

The parcel isn't too large, nor is it tiny by any standard. It is however, moderately light.

Within, lies, of all things, a little music box crafted of an odd rock specimen. The stone had been cut and melted and ground to a polished, smooth shine and it's displayed on a silver-gold twisted stand showing off five specimen-related colours.

Five unicorns dance on a liquid-blue crystal wave of a sea frozen in time.

Affixed to it, lies a folded letter, half-crunched a bit by the stamp of raised ink.


I am alive.

[morphitudinous]

It's a beautiful thing. Billy studies the majestic creatures, thinking for the first time that day that maybe they wouldn't be ashamed of him if they awoke. Why had he even thought that today in the first place?

The second he moves, spikes of pain answer for him. Oh, that was why. The other trainees had sparred---he'd been beaten and thrown around by the group, learning in detail why his entire approach to combat was wrong. He was too slow, too unbalanced, too concerned with style. If Jason and Tommy had been there, they would have been shaking their heads---and he'd probably shamed the Rangers' reputation too. The other crew members knew he was the weakest link, but they couldn't know how much better the other Rangers were.

Moving to other thoughts, he carefully openes the note. Renne's words, clearly. His friend was alive. Hopefully safe as well, but just living would be enough for now.

"I'm glad," he whispers to no one. At least, he /thinks/ no one is there.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

The Sensorium chamber remains in that starry cloudscape.

Even as the chamber is, for a while at least, vacated, a unicorn offers a silent request that it remain there and marked. There's something not-right and it's beyond his own shadows. Beyond the skeletons in his own guarded closet and yet, for once, it's something that can't be run from. Won't be run from.
However, even while remaining in this new, strange and enlightening shape, he hopes this niggling not-right disturbance isn't something thought of as invasive.


At that door, there's the sound of something perhaps, odd. Tiny cloven hooves click gently against the door.

[morphitudinous]

Hooves? Who has hooves?

Scratching his head, Billy opens the door with a button and sees a...small unicorn at his feet. He's baffled for a moment. Where did a unicorn come from?

Upon reflection, he senses that this is Renne in some form. "I gather that you've been busy," Billy says bluntly.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Chitter-whinny. If such a sound is possible, this little thing makes it.

While mindful of the horn, the beastie gives a gentle, if teasing kind of snuffling nudge. He's not treat-sniffing, simply nudging in this extremely new shape he's found himself in.

The bluntness however, draws the unicorn-appearance away and back into the little beastie's typical form. Oh, yeah, he's a little clumsy on the return there.

"Bee?"

[morphitudinous]

The unicorn form receives a gentle pet when it comes close. After a moment, though, his normal Renne is back.

"I thought so," he manages to say with a slight smile. "I'm glad you're still here. How did the unicorn transformation happen?"

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eee..."

He actually has to think about that for a minute but soon enough, he allows the memory out...

Renne had gone to a Sensorium chamber and Transcended, allowing his emotions to simply carry him where they willed.

His surroundings became a cloudscape of gold and above, a sky shone with blue stars.

Renne himself found his shape change... A tri-coloured blue unicorn took shape. The body and upper halves of four legs shone of night-sky dark blue. The tail and mane shone in a lighter, silver-sea-foam tinted with gold. A silver horn twisted from his forehead and silver cloven hooves kicked up the cloud-ground.

In a star-filled Sensorium, a little blue unicorn learned a new part of himself.

[morphitudinous]

Wow...

That's about the limit of Billy's thoughts at the moment. He takes in the scene, awed by the mystery of it.

"I'm guessing it's not a coincidence that the unicorn is important to me as well?"

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Perhaps because of you.

The unvoiced concept escapes the oddity before he can rein his little brain in.

"Rrrr-enne do thin-k, 'lots. Bee, is goo-d?" Chirp. He had been doing a lot of thinking, putting himself under the microscope. However, solutions hadn't been forthcoming and when that twinge of not-rightness met him... Well. There'd been no question, to put that down and find the Human.

[morphitudinous]

"I'll return to normal shortly," he says. Billy hopes that's the truth---saying that he was fine right now would be a lie, after all. "Today was the first day of training. Needless to say, I failed spectacularly---but as humans say. pain is one of the greatest teachers."

Indeed. Being hit and thrown over and over had taught him which openings he needed to close. He'd tried to close them, but he'd need to train tomorrow and during the next class as well. It would be a daily commitment if he wanted to have a prayer of catching up to the other students.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Failed spectacularly...pain is one of the greatest teachers... The words bring a frown to his face immediately.

"Eee, if ohn-lee firrrs-t.. Bee, noh say tha-t! Bee is goo-d."

Cue the gentle headbutt. And a little Renne's-paw version of a shaking finger.

[morphitudinous]

"Good as a person or at certain things, perhaps, but definitely not at combat," he says in a lightly self-depreciating manner. "I'll work as hard as I can to change that, but I'm guessing the others don't think very kindly of me."

What an embarrassment to the heroes he is.

You Jump, I Jump: Teach and Learn

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

He'd left Billy tucked up for a peaceful while of sleep, thinking of a logical survivalist scenario but Renne found himself frowning as his thoughts kept turning over the things he'd heard the Human say about himself.

Renne shook his head and as he reached the Sensorium chamber with his cloud-ground and starry sky, he sat for a minute in an almost meditative frame of mine. Why does he think such things of himself? Does he truly believe he is that...expendable? The thought alone had made him shudder.

It had also made him resolved and as he emerges from his thoughts, the beastie makes a quiet promise to himself.
I shall have him see his worth once and for all. No more self-harm.

As the chamber shifts into a primeval jungle-like place, Renne's ears slick back.

I shall not permit my shadows to taint him.

[morphitudinous]

Sleep had helped somewhat. With the frequency of training sessions, both officially scheduled and private, Billy suspected he would never again know a pain-free existence. Ah well. It meant he was learning.

Pulling himself into the present for yet another session, he slips in to the jungle and addresses Renne. "Reporting for duty." He's chosen to wear simulated Earth attire for this quest---blue and khaki.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eee, hell-loww!" Chitter.

He's had little experience actually teaching so it's likely no surprise that his informal chirp includes a little surprise-hello-hangdown from a branch. And a cheeky grin.

[morphitudinous]

"Hey," he says with the slightest of smiles. "So what's on the agenda for today's lesson?"

He hopes it doesn't involve getting beaten down and thrown repeatedly again. He's had enough of that type of lesson for today.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eee. Rrr-enne teeea-ch Bee haow surrr-vive in harrrr-d p-lace."

He doesn't drop down from the tree branch, at least not yet. His voice takes on a decently serious, level tone. You're in for a hard lesson, Billy, but you have a guide.

"Rrr-enne noh ma-ke sim-puhll, bu-t if Bee nee-d hell-p, Bee cahll. Rrr-enne be rrrigh-t hee-rrrre."

[morphitudinous]

"Understood."

He braces himself for more pain, but knows this is necessary for growth. Maybe he'd even survive the next mission.

"I'm ready."

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eee. Naow, wha-t Bee go-t wi-th Bee?" First, a question.

By now, the sounds and feel of the jungle slowly come to resemble something close to Earth. Hot, insanely humid and the sounds of various animals echo out.

[morphitudinous]

"A knife." He's just learned the basics of using it.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Eeee. Tha-t be goo-d. Naow, Rrr-enne co-me wi-th Bee, show Bee wha-t be goo-d, ahn-d wha-t be ba-d. Bee, ahll-ways lis-sen, fohrr ahm-mi-nuhl ahn-d see fohrrr p-lant. Rrr-enne go-t fay-th in Bee."

He remains above in the trees, and with a nod, Renne allows Billy to choose whichever direction he may wish to go. Right now, comes the learning segment. He'll throw in minor tests shortly.

[morphitudinous]

"Right." After securing the knife at an easily accessible spot on his belt, he sets off with eyes and ears wide open. There are leaves with varying compositions, twigs, footprints, and...perhaps the signs of a wild battle, if that flattened patch meant anything.

He walks (slowly, to avoid traps) and waits.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Worry not, Billy, he's on your tail.

Moving silently among the trees, the oddity's ears give a twitch. He sniffs the air and gives a very low, warning chirp.

"S-mell, Bee."

[morphitudinous]

Stopping silently, he does so and attempts to place the scent.

His leg muscles tense, preparing to move, and the hand waits next to the knife.