November 8, 1pm – At Willard’s House. After a fight.
Sometimes it’s like outside knows what’s happening inside, and while Edmund and Abby were fighting, the sky got dark again and it started to rain AGAIN. Rouse says that we should go downstairs and eat something, and even though I’m not hungry, I follow everyone downstairs where Mabel has cooked a turkey that’s the size of three of my heads put together. Rouse eats like a starving wolf, and Edmund drinks a tiny little glass of stuff that looks like melted jewels, but the rest of us pick at our food like birds. I guess to force things to go back to normal, Rouse starts the “what are we going to do now” conversation that makes me want to stick his head into the guts-hole of the turkey. These are everyone’s suggestions this time:
We end up deciding to go to Quashie for a vacation, which is a great idea because it probably won’t be raining there. Biter is excited to go somewhere without rain too, but not as much as me because snakes are waterproof. Vinnik, who is not waterproof but who is the fattest owl ever, is going to come too! Rouse decides he likes the rain, and says he’s going to stay and “make contact” with X/Sander again. This is a weird thing to want to do again…it’s not like Xander is his girlfriend. I let Biter visit Ed for a bit, and when he comes back to me we all go get ready to leave and then meet in the kitchen and teleport away.
Three teleports later (details- Spine: hot, Losegay: misty, big bugs, giant lake), we get to a wild jungle, the one just outside of Quashie. All we can see are plants, all we hear are buzzing bugs, which makes Biter hungry, and little rustlings of animals. And some rustlings of big animals. As I am an expert tracker, I look at the ground and see the tracks of a panther leading up to a tree 15m in front of us. Obviously I want to see him, so I use my special animal language to talk to him. At first, he wants to eat us, but I convince him not to. Then he wants to eat Vinnik, but I don’t think that’s a good idea either. Luckily I am very good at persuading (a kinder word for “telling”) so in the end he doesn’t eat anyone and he even lets everyone pat him, if they want to. Safin doesn’t because he’s scared- I don’t even want to call him a scaredy cat anymore, because panthers (which are cool) are actually big cats.
We make our way out of the jungle and the wet foggy heat is like a blanket. Ed easily turns us into seagulls, and Biter rides in Vinnik’s mouth. This isn’t scary because Ed has commanded our friends to get along. As seagulls, I fly the highest and do the best and most tricks. Feathers keep you much cooler than skin does, and the air up high is cool and fresh. We fly into Quashie, and land on Jake’s dock. Almost right away, Jacob comes out to meet us, smoking a sweet smelling tiny cigar, which right away he passes around. Unfortunately Abby notices that I try to have some- I’ll have to wait until she’s not paying attention one of these times. Jacob takes us down into the boat to get away from the suffocating fog, and the entire boat smells like the sweet cigars. There are chunks of Mabel’s herbs all over the furniture, and bread crusts on the table. Everyone falls onto the cushy furniture, which sops up all the sweat shining on our skin. Abby has taken off her long-sleeve shirt and now Ed and Jacob keep looking at her chests like they have decided that’s where her eyes are. It is so hot and we all want cold drinks, so, after the boys smoke some more, we go upstairs and Jake pulls a barrel of beer out of the water and pours everyone a glass. I only get a small one, even though I think I should have a whole one because Biter might try some. Since Jake is hungry, we tell him we will go out and get some food and more cold drinks- since we are going out anyways so that Safin can find some more armor. He should just get armor for his back, since he spends most of his time running away or hiding and somersaulting. Before we go, Jake gives Safin and Ed some sacks and we go to the Salty Gull.
The sign of the Salty Gull is trying to be hilarious because the seagull has an eye patch and a peg leg, but I don’t really like it that much. Even though we haven’t been swimming, we are all wet and fuzzy-haired like new born animals. It’s gross. Everywhere in the world is wet right now, I guess (Jake said it has been foggy for 2 days). The Gull isn’t that full, and everyone that is there is just drinking their beers slowly and staying pretty still. Even the ceiling fan seems like it’s trying not to move that much- it’s spinning just fast enough that you notice that it’s not cooling anything. Ben, which is what the owner is called, comes and sits with us while we drink (Biter and I get juice, AGAIN). Because grown-ups love to do this, we talk about the weather, which has apparently (a word that makes you sound smarter, but doesn’t do much otherwise) been like this, and windless, for the last 2 days. When Ben starts speaking in strange sentences, Abby drags me outside as Ed and Safin pull out the sacks Jake gave them.
The next mission is to get armor for Princess Safin, so we head to Links, which is the shop that Ben recommended to us. We are supposed to tell the Links people that Ben did this for us. There is more armor in Links than I have seen in my whole life, except in the field with the big bug. The man that works at Links looks like a gigantic keg on two smaller keg-legs. Safin is talking in code again and I don’t understand why he just doesn’t ask for mithril, rather than all the somersault-talking he’s doing right now. In the end, Safin gives the man 100gold pieces and promises to bring 3000 (3000!) more by tonight or tomorrow or something. Basically this seems impossible, unless he is planning on stealing, because we don’t have jobs.
Quashie, the beach – 12pm
Beach time now! We deliver foods to Jacob and we all go play in the water until about 4pm, when the fog has completely cleared away and it’s just really really hot, instead of hot and foggy. I remind everyone of the proper way to surf, because I haven’t gotten worse in the week that we have been away. Biter is very impressed.
On our way back to the boat, I notice, and then everyone else notices, a man that looks a bit older than Abby following us. Ed takes my hand and we go sit on a bench. Biter is tucked up my sleeve and ready to bite if he needs to, as he can be very dangerous if he wants to be. Kind of pushing her shoulders back too much, Abby goes and leans against a wall with her eyes a bit slittier and her mouth hanging a bit open. Safin picks up a coin from the ground. As the man walks right past her, east up the street, Abby says something in a voice that sounds like it’s holding back a laugh, and he goes into a store, where we all follow him, and then out, where Abby talks to him again. Safin grabs his arm and we get him in the middle of the road, looking like we’re all a group of friends, except that the stranger’s back is becoming very close friends with Safin’s knife. Ed asks him if it’s common for people to follow visitors in Quashie, and asks why he was following us. The poor guy, with darty eyes like a trapped mouse, says he wasn’t following us. Lucky for him, Safin says “he’s noboby”, and we let the guy go. Edmund taps the mouse-man’s butt and sends him on his way. And that’s how Safin learned not to flash all of his money around so much.
