Post by deuteronomy on May 2, 2007 4:56:12 GMT -5
((Characters: The Everlasting Cat, Alonzo, Aprilli, Burelle, Christine (Old Deuteronomy’s Human), Deuteronomy, Electra, Etcetera, Leathik, Mali, Munkustrap, Quaxo, Rusty, Simeon, Tumblebrutus, Victoria
Thread Summary: Old Deuteronomy, the Jellicle Leader, lives with his family, but there’s a problem, the girl he lives with, Christine, is dying from a cancer and he has to make a choice, his life or hers. He sees that she is a mere 16 years old and she plays music which greatly influenced him and the Jellicles and makes the choice to sacrifice himself. He used all his magic to heal her, so much that he died, his much smaller body could not survive the cancer, and it took over him quickly.
The Everlasting Cat decided that due to his good work as a Leader and Healer, and so was to be reborn. But of course all this was unknown to the Jellicles in the Junkyard.
Munkustrap is guarding the Junkyard when he senses that something is wrong, but what he cannot figure out. So he sets off towards some human restaurants in search of a couple of mice.
In the meantime Deuteronomy is reborn as a kitten but there’s a problem, he is alone, on the streets in the middle of winter. At least his girl was safe and alive.
Munkustrap found himself wandering around some alleyways when he smelt the scent of Old Deuteronomy. He followed the trail until it ended…it ended with the scent of death. Munkustrap then returned to the Junkyard, bumping into Victoria on the way. He was to become the new Jellicle leader.
Once in the Junkyard Munkustrap set about gathering everyone in the piano, but he heard a noise, the mewling of a kitten. He set off in search of what made the noise, he found a lone kitten. He carried the kitten into the piano and asked Burelle to look after it. Once everyone had gathered in the piano, Munkustrap made the announcement that Old Deuteronomy had died.
Everyone was sure that he would be reborn possibly as one of Bombalurinas kittens. Meanwhile Etcetera heard a mewling from next to her, where she lay near Burelle. She spoke to the kitten working out that he was actually that reborn Deuteronomy.
Excited, Etcetera swung Deuteronomy around whereupon the rest of the tribe discovered he was the reborn Deuteronomy, back from the dead already. As the excitement died down, everyone found a place to rest and sleep.))
She was to see the doctor tomorrow morning. She was missing school again. It was rare for her, she was usually such a good student. Mid-eighties to mid-nineties, never a disturbance in class, an independent worker… Her report cards would testify to what Deuteronomy already knew.
He wished he could write up a little report card on his human pet. No grades, just comments. Cooks salmon perfectly. Makes wonderful tea. Lets me sleep on top of her laptop when it’s charging. Quiet, respectful. Plays music like a sixteen-year-old girl shouldn’t be able to. Doesn’t deserve to die at all.
“At all”, of course, would be triple underlined with a red pen. Just to get his point across. Not that he could use a pen, lacking opposable thumbs. Maybe he’d type it, even if it took forever tapping out one letter at a time. Did Microsoft Word even have a triple underline function? Wait, she had a Mac now…
All those insignificant thoughts were merely to distract himself from the fact that the girl was dying and he couldn’t help her. Not without killing himself. Those were not his thoughts now, however. Now he was facing the problem head-on, and he was not so helpless.
It was a simple choice; him or her.
Race was neglected, for she could not help being born a human. Age… Sixteen was fairly young for a human, she had much longer she would naturally live for. He was a healer for his tribe, she… Her music was beautiful. Music did not influence humans as greatly as it did Jellicles, but she deserved a chance, dammit!
Deuteronomy could stand it no longer. He could not let her be taken to a hospital, could not let her die in some impersonal, sterile environment far from her home and far from him. He could not let her music go unheard, not when it was full of so much… potential. There was only one choice, then… He would have to die.
He could not help but lag slightly as he took the well-beaten route to her bedroom, jumping onto the bed for the last time. Deacon’s bench, bed. For years he had done that until it was all but one movement.
She had kicked all the covers off in her night fit, and she was shivering slightly, curled into a ball. She was pathetic; like a newborn kitten left in the cold. Left to die by an uncaring mother. Like her friend, Ama, who had no dam but two sires. But those two sires gave her warmth. Christine, at that instant, had no one but the cat who owned her.
Her hand rested on the bed, and it was here that he would focus his magic. The cancer was in her blood, he did not have to be picky. Besides, the hand was exposed. He needed skin. Deuteronomy sat down, taking a deep breath, watched his green sparks dance in the air beneath his paw. And then he plunged it down.
He had never healed a human before. It was all but forbidden. The shock was almost unbearable before the actual transfer began. Once the healing started to take hold on both human and feline, it was unbearable, but it was too late to stop it. Deuteronomy merely gritted his teeth. Pouring every spark of magic into the girl, he made sure that each and every trace of the illness was gone from her. His last dregs of strength were used to scan her, and he smiled tiredly when he saw no black within her.
The Jellicle leader collapsed back onto the bed, panting. He tasted blood… He had bit his tongue. He was not surprised. Pain seared through his body, ten times worse than his human had felt. Her illness had been spread through a larger body. It was now condensed into a much smaller cat. He knew he didn’t have long… He had to go, he had to…
“Deuteronomy…?” There was a hand on him.
He spun around, his teeth closing over the skin he had just sent his sparks through. There was a scream. Another taste of blood, this time not his own.
Christine’s eyes were wide as she clutched her now bleeding hand against her chest. “Deuteronomy, what’s wrong with you!”
He wouldn’t have answered if he could. He darted from the bed, from the room, from the house through the cat door. He took to the streets, keeping in the shadows, going as far as he could before he fell, the gutter water rinsing the taste of blood from his mouth.
He was empty now. He was gone. His life force had gone into healing the ungrateful human. His regrets were not for his life; they were for his tribe. Deuteronomy closed his eyes, and then he was gone. His body did not linger long, but diminished to sparks as it had at least once before.
Well, I hope you’re happy with yourself.
Oh, mystical divinity of unashamed felinity… He barely had a voice, if it could be called that, but it was dripping with sarcasm.
You’ve done the forbidden, Deuteronomy.
Healing humans isn’t technically forbidden. It’s simply not a good idea.
As you’ve just demonstrated. You want to get technical? Blood mixing. Sharing blood between a non-feline and a magical cat!
I didn’t… A pause. He had bit his tongue, and then her hand. I didn’t mean to…
You have no idea what that could cause, Deuteronomy! She may start getting the same dreams as the Jellicles, she may start to see better, hear better… She might start hearing your kind!
I didn’t mean to. There was no deviation in his voice now.
Despite what you’ve done… You were a fine leader, Deuteronomy, and a skilled healer. You shall be reborn. But under my terms.
Had he any breath, he would have exhaled. Which are…?
You’ll regain consciousness soon, in a new body I shall make for you. You shall be as you were before, your body the same, if not young. Your mind will be untouched, though I’m tempted to say it already is. Your powers… You will be able to heal others. In time, you may be able to heal yourself again. Perhaps not.
Fair enough.
You will be born outside the junkyard. If you survive to make it back there… You’d best hope your tribe will take you back after a stunt like this. Now be off.
If… If I survive! Wait, what…
It’s winter, Deuteronomy. You’re without a tribe. You can no longer heal yourself. I will not interfere.
And with that, he was spiralling back.
Thread Summary: Old Deuteronomy, the Jellicle Leader, lives with his family, but there’s a problem, the girl he lives with, Christine, is dying from a cancer and he has to make a choice, his life or hers. He sees that she is a mere 16 years old and she plays music which greatly influenced him and the Jellicles and makes the choice to sacrifice himself. He used all his magic to heal her, so much that he died, his much smaller body could not survive the cancer, and it took over him quickly.
The Everlasting Cat decided that due to his good work as a Leader and Healer, and so was to be reborn. But of course all this was unknown to the Jellicles in the Junkyard.
Munkustrap is guarding the Junkyard when he senses that something is wrong, but what he cannot figure out. So he sets off towards some human restaurants in search of a couple of mice.
In the meantime Deuteronomy is reborn as a kitten but there’s a problem, he is alone, on the streets in the middle of winter. At least his girl was safe and alive.
Munkustrap found himself wandering around some alleyways when he smelt the scent of Old Deuteronomy. He followed the trail until it ended…it ended with the scent of death. Munkustrap then returned to the Junkyard, bumping into Victoria on the way. He was to become the new Jellicle leader.
Once in the Junkyard Munkustrap set about gathering everyone in the piano, but he heard a noise, the mewling of a kitten. He set off in search of what made the noise, he found a lone kitten. He carried the kitten into the piano and asked Burelle to look after it. Once everyone had gathered in the piano, Munkustrap made the announcement that Old Deuteronomy had died.
Everyone was sure that he would be reborn possibly as one of Bombalurinas kittens. Meanwhile Etcetera heard a mewling from next to her, where she lay near Burelle. She spoke to the kitten working out that he was actually that reborn Deuteronomy.
Excited, Etcetera swung Deuteronomy around whereupon the rest of the tribe discovered he was the reborn Deuteronomy, back from the dead already. As the excitement died down, everyone found a place to rest and sleep.))
She was to see the doctor tomorrow morning. She was missing school again. It was rare for her, she was usually such a good student. Mid-eighties to mid-nineties, never a disturbance in class, an independent worker… Her report cards would testify to what Deuteronomy already knew.
He wished he could write up a little report card on his human pet. No grades, just comments. Cooks salmon perfectly. Makes wonderful tea. Lets me sleep on top of her laptop when it’s charging. Quiet, respectful. Plays music like a sixteen-year-old girl shouldn’t be able to. Doesn’t deserve to die at all.
“At all”, of course, would be triple underlined with a red pen. Just to get his point across. Not that he could use a pen, lacking opposable thumbs. Maybe he’d type it, even if it took forever tapping out one letter at a time. Did Microsoft Word even have a triple underline function? Wait, she had a Mac now…
All those insignificant thoughts were merely to distract himself from the fact that the girl was dying and he couldn’t help her. Not without killing himself. Those were not his thoughts now, however. Now he was facing the problem head-on, and he was not so helpless.
It was a simple choice; him or her.
Race was neglected, for she could not help being born a human. Age… Sixteen was fairly young for a human, she had much longer she would naturally live for. He was a healer for his tribe, she… Her music was beautiful. Music did not influence humans as greatly as it did Jellicles, but she deserved a chance, dammit!
Deuteronomy could stand it no longer. He could not let her be taken to a hospital, could not let her die in some impersonal, sterile environment far from her home and far from him. He could not let her music go unheard, not when it was full of so much… potential. There was only one choice, then… He would have to die.
He could not help but lag slightly as he took the well-beaten route to her bedroom, jumping onto the bed for the last time. Deacon’s bench, bed. For years he had done that until it was all but one movement.
She had kicked all the covers off in her night fit, and she was shivering slightly, curled into a ball. She was pathetic; like a newborn kitten left in the cold. Left to die by an uncaring mother. Like her friend, Ama, who had no dam but two sires. But those two sires gave her warmth. Christine, at that instant, had no one but the cat who owned her.
Her hand rested on the bed, and it was here that he would focus his magic. The cancer was in her blood, he did not have to be picky. Besides, the hand was exposed. He needed skin. Deuteronomy sat down, taking a deep breath, watched his green sparks dance in the air beneath his paw. And then he plunged it down.
He had never healed a human before. It was all but forbidden. The shock was almost unbearable before the actual transfer began. Once the healing started to take hold on both human and feline, it was unbearable, but it was too late to stop it. Deuteronomy merely gritted his teeth. Pouring every spark of magic into the girl, he made sure that each and every trace of the illness was gone from her. His last dregs of strength were used to scan her, and he smiled tiredly when he saw no black within her.
The Jellicle leader collapsed back onto the bed, panting. He tasted blood… He had bit his tongue. He was not surprised. Pain seared through his body, ten times worse than his human had felt. Her illness had been spread through a larger body. It was now condensed into a much smaller cat. He knew he didn’t have long… He had to go, he had to…
“Deuteronomy…?” There was a hand on him.
He spun around, his teeth closing over the skin he had just sent his sparks through. There was a scream. Another taste of blood, this time not his own.
Christine’s eyes were wide as she clutched her now bleeding hand against her chest. “Deuteronomy, what’s wrong with you!”
He wouldn’t have answered if he could. He darted from the bed, from the room, from the house through the cat door. He took to the streets, keeping in the shadows, going as far as he could before he fell, the gutter water rinsing the taste of blood from his mouth.
He was empty now. He was gone. His life force had gone into healing the ungrateful human. His regrets were not for his life; they were for his tribe. Deuteronomy closed his eyes, and then he was gone. His body did not linger long, but diminished to sparks as it had at least once before.
Well, I hope you’re happy with yourself.
Oh, mystical divinity of unashamed felinity… He barely had a voice, if it could be called that, but it was dripping with sarcasm.
You’ve done the forbidden, Deuteronomy.
Healing humans isn’t technically forbidden. It’s simply not a good idea.
As you’ve just demonstrated. You want to get technical? Blood mixing. Sharing blood between a non-feline and a magical cat!
I didn’t… A pause. He had bit his tongue, and then her hand. I didn’t mean to…
You have no idea what that could cause, Deuteronomy! She may start getting the same dreams as the Jellicles, she may start to see better, hear better… She might start hearing your kind!
I didn’t mean to. There was no deviation in his voice now.
Despite what you’ve done… You were a fine leader, Deuteronomy, and a skilled healer. You shall be reborn. But under my terms.
Had he any breath, he would have exhaled. Which are…?
You’ll regain consciousness soon, in a new body I shall make for you. You shall be as you were before, your body the same, if not young. Your mind will be untouched, though I’m tempted to say it already is. Your powers… You will be able to heal others. In time, you may be able to heal yourself again. Perhaps not.
Fair enough.
You will be born outside the junkyard. If you survive to make it back there… You’d best hope your tribe will take you back after a stunt like this. Now be off.
If… If I survive! Wait, what…
It’s winter, Deuteronomy. You’re without a tribe. You can no longer heal yourself. I will not interfere.
And with that, he was spiralling back.