Bad Luck

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

~ Time becomes indistinguishable when shredded bits and chewed up pieces of you are slowly meandering through the intestine of a gigantic tentacled bog monster. Or at least, it does to Regulus. When you come from Five, being eaten by things hiding under the water is just a situational hazard, but it doesn't mean Regulus finds the process any less horrific.
During his digestion he is reminded vaguely of goldfish and how they apparently have very poor memories. Because Hell has a funny way of never letting you die, instead of being able to quietly become mush with everything else the creature has eaten recently, Regulus' consciousness flares into alarm and his mashed up bits of body follow into a fit of excruciating pain before it's clear he cannot stay alive separated and masticated as he currently is and all the bites of Regulus collectively lose consciousness for a far too brief moment before the process repeats itself.

On one such flare of reanimation and pain after countless tries and failures, Regulus finds himself finally back in one piece, discarded and finally fully reassembled half buried in a pit of mud somewhere on Five. The first thing he does is vomit up what feels like his entire organ system all over himself and after looking down at his cracked and blistered form he resigns himself to glaring up at the canopy of acidic green and rotted foliage and doing what Fives do best: Lamenting. ~

Comments

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*in the distance a similar pit glints faintly in the dim, frozen solid, a splintered leg, clothed in what was once a pair of trousers, is the only sign of life - a frost-eaten toe gives a vague, miserable wiggle*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*Regulus makes a shivery whimpering noise, the kind that sneaks out from the mouths of ill people in their half-asleep fever addled tossing and turning, he doesn't have a clue where Barty has ended up nor where he himself is, and frankly his most pressing thought is currently a question: why can't I ever wake up and find things have gotten better for a change?*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*in his own little pit, Barty, half submerged in muck, is quite resolutely frozen in, and though he's long regained the ability to breathe, he has no wiggle room - and as the sick rises, he chokes, unable to assume proper retching position*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*slowly wriggles, wincing through it, trying to escape the mud*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*Barty finds one raw arm is free, it looks like died mud, the fledging oozy wounds quite grudgingly frozen, cracking unpleasantly at every subtle movement as Barty attempts to haul himself out of his icy grave, of course the effort is quite futile and even if the ice had been only half formed, his arms are strangely frail and weaker still from a curious wave of exhaustion*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*not terribly far away, Regulus is finding himself in a terribly similar (if less icy) situation and though he is the quiet type, when his arms shake and he collapses back onto the ground where even the wet mud is too hard a landing for his wounded body, a pained groan almost carries over the muck and through the trees to where Barty lies*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*more bloody vomit escapes from his lips, running down his front and freezing there too, Barty rather feels like an infant trapped in a high chair and absently wonders why no one's bothered to give him chopped carrots to play with*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*he makes it up and it is the most strenuous thing he's done in ages, his entire body feels weak and sitting back on his heels in the mud Regulus sits with his arms out from his sides and his eyes closed in a wince, not wanting to touch his skin to any other part of his body*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*spits, trying to clear his mouth, vines and half submerged undergrowth block his view of Reg - not that he'd have recognized him with his fissured skin and sadly bald state, he makes further attempt to wiggle out, cursing hoarsely under his breath all the while*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*when Regulus speaks it's nearly a whisper, the swamp is never quiet but risking calling out to anyone for any reason here is dangerous, serving only to alert anything within your area to your presence*


Barty?

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

Regina? REGINA!

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*he wants to shush Barty, ask him politely not to get them eaten again, but just staying upright hurts enough so he waits and listens to the sounds around them to try and discern is they're being listened to before replying*


I'm here.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*looks warily down at his arms only to discover that the blistering hurts more now that he's getting a good look at it*

I don't think I'm back together again.

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*none too pleased with this but dedicated, Regulus begins a quiet crawl through sticks and scum and filth, sores on his hands make his arms shake but he keeps his mouth shut and keeps going*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*Barty is a sad, barely recognizable sight indeed, but he is hardly aware of this yet, and as Regulus emerges from the ferns looking a right horror Barty's eyes widen, thinking it's some malformed demon*

REGINA FASTER. Grab something bludgeon-y on the way too - there's an abomination lurking in the bushes.

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*he IS an abomination but he doesn't know the extent of it either, so likewise, when he sees Barty, Regulus claps his hands to his mouth (immediately regretting it when he gets mud and something wet and leaky on his lips)*

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*Barty struggles, his fractured skin cracking as he goes, trying to lean as far from the thing as possible, which is not even an inch in his half submerged state, he opens his mouth to call for Regulus again but his voice is cut short by another emergence of bloody vomit*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

What's happened to you?

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

*Barty eyes practically bulge in surprise at the ever familiar voice emerging from...that, he coughs, feeling like the act has ruptured his throat*

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

*continues his crawl down through the ferns toward him* I don't think I'm back together yet...

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]

[wetandbothered5.livejournal.com]

...What's happened to your hair?

[madlymirthful9.livejournal.com]