There's No Place Like Home

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

~ The stench of Eight got to Regulus before it got to Barty, his stomach has never been very strong. Back when they were still in school together he had always been the more easily disgusted of the two by miles and though Hell offers few places that can pass as sanitary, so by all accounts Regulus should be used to it, it still takes less than it should for him to demand a trip back to his native Five.

Though the swamps of Five are hardly a day at the beach, Regulus' reasoning is that at least there is water. It isn't clean, it isn't clear, and it is teeming with things Regulus always hoped didn't really exist. Parasites, bacteria, dead bodies - you name it and it's probably somewhere down there in the muck. Even with all it's filth there is still something that draws Regulus back to the level to which he was damned. He isn't consciously aware of it, but it's clear that even though the boggy water that is so eager to swallow him up just reminds him of why he is here, a painful memory, there is something about Regulus that seeks comfort in the familiar - even if what is familiar is just as terrible and torturous as the unfamiliar.

They make it back through the noxious odor of Eight, the mountains of insect-infested rubbish of Seven, and just barely escape Six without running into Medusa or any of her friends and together Barty and Regulus scramble up the slippery sides and into Five. As they reach the top and the land levels out, Regulus breaths an uneasy but oddly relieved sigh. ~

I hate it here. Let's go in.

Comments

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*Barty eyes the murky expanses stretching out ahead with wide, suspicious eyes*

You're just bidding your time until I slip in and turn into a popsicle, aren't you?

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

Now, why on earth would I want that? Eugh - on your shoe, a lizard thing.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

I wasn't talking to yo - *Barty spots the thing, it's only vaguely reptilian and mostly slime but that hardly stops Barty from diving down, making to capture the thing in cupped hands*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

Bartywait - *grabs one of his wrists* Don't touch it.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*with an impish grin, he hijacks Reg's wrist and wrenches it toward the gently oozing creature*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

Nonono- oh it's gooey! Barty it's foul and probably poisonous.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*pushes Reg's hand precariously closer* I will not be satisfied unless you pick it up.

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

If you make me touch that, I'll be sick on your arm, I still feel nauseous.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*Barty seems to consider the odds in his head, which is made somewhat difficult by the heavy, constant pounding, it feels as though his brain is a weight in his skull that he's far too frail to hold up, which may be why he ultimately decides more vomit is worth it*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*it's rather difficult to escape someone's grasp, especially when that someone is older and larger as well as having the advantage of being frosted to your skin, even someone who isn't as strong as he likes to believe, like Barty is - Regulus still tries, but he ultimately fails*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

Does it feel like treacle? It LOOKS like treacle.

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*his stomach flops with unrest, the disgusting little thing wriggles* It feels like a treacle.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*far too many legs flail in alarm at Reg's forced touch, flecking thick molasses-like goop every which way*

I think we should keep it.

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*closes his eyes and leans as far back from the spray as he can* I will leave it and you chained somewhere.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

YOU CANNOT CHAIN OOZE. It is inherently free and untameable. That is its triumph.

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

I can chain you.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

You'd be horribly alone if you did, Montresor.

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

I could visit you where I chained you. But you couldn't make me touch anything.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

What if I became one with the ooze and slipped out, only to hunt you down and touch you myself?

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

Well I suppose if you didn't try too hard to be oozy... I wouldn't complain under those circumstances.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

NO BUT YOU MUST JOIN ME IN MY OOZEHOOD SO THAT WE CA- *Barty trails off staring at Reg's hairline with raised eyebrows*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*tries to look upward at his own face*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*reaches out with the hand not fused to Reg's wrist, blackened fingers finding a single strand, pulling it out with no resistance*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*Regulus looks wounded - but only after he sees the single piece of his hair between Barty's fingertips, he doesn't even feel it being pulled out but his mind says ouch* Hey, ow, have you digressed to hair-pulling?

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

There was no pulling involved. They're running away.