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rainbowfic2014-09-15 11:55 pm
greenling) wrote in rainbowfic2014-09-15 11:55 pm
Barbados Blue #5, Ibiza Blue #12
Name: Greenling
Story: Shatterverse/Mixed AU
Colors: Barbados Blue #5 (Lagoon), Ibiza Blue #12 (Tesseract- The Answer)
Supplies and Styles: Acrylic (Island), Eraser (Mermaid AU), Collage
Word Count: 1,343
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Dmitry and the kids head off on vacation. The start of the actual story bits.
Alyn isn't mine, but everyone else is. Comments, criticism, and questions are all appreciated.
It was a foggy morning in early June when visitors came to Blackwood Lake. Dew hung in the pines like bolts of chiffon strung from branch to branch, rolling up from the rocky beaches around the lake, up the long hillside to the Blackwood estate, and then out over the surrounding town. It was nearly nine in the morning, and in most places the fog had begun to fade into dew; but in the lowlands around the lake, it clung fast, glistening brightly in the sun but refusing to yield to it.
Generations of children (and a few unusual adults) had come to the woods on mornings like this one, propelled by the sense of wonder inspired by the fog and the old lake. It was a lagoon, technically, and both lake and forest were filled with deep old caverns that supposedly led out to sea. It was wild land, and not always safe. Much of the land around the estate had been fenced off decades ago, but less and less of it was maintained as the years went on. Rumors replaced caution, stories replaced rumors, and the old lake nowadays inspired as much fear as wonder.
Three figures watched from the woods as a car turned up the road leading to the estate.
*
Highway. Trees. Scenic coastal road, next left. More trees. Trees. Trees. Signs of civilization: an IHOP.
Welcome to Five Pines, said a cheery green road sign on the right. The choir of angels that had been singing in Dmitry's head since they'd left Olympia reached a crescendo.
The first leg of the trip had been full of noise; just him and Jack, listening to music, watching videos on the empty early-morning stretches out of Pennsylvania. By that evening, they'd arrived at Dmitry's mother's house to spend a few days with her and his uncle and wait to pick up Bryce, his cousin Hitomi's kid. He hadn't grown much bigger than the chirpy, moody fourth-grader that was Dmitry's last image of him, but his personality had definitely changed. From Ohio to Washington he mostly sat in the back, staring out the window with an irritable expression. Then in Olympia, they picked up Alyn- Hitoshi and Alex's girl- and stayed another night. Dmitry had woken them all up as close to the crack of dawn as he could get them, and she'd mostly been asleep on top of her suitcase the remaining ride. Jack hadn't slept the night, Dmitry knew. He hadn't said anything about it, but there was a melancholy, hound-dog look to him that he got when he did that. He had Peace's "artistic temperament", though Dmitry thought the kid handled it better.
Three teenagers and four sets of luggage hadn't fit into his ratty old Honda, so they'd had to get a small trailer. It probably gave the wrong impression, but he couldn't help that. The people they were renting the cabin from supposedly had a kid around Jack's age, so maybe they'd understand. And there was their last turn.
Without thinking, he sighed loudly- loudly enough to startle Bryce from the backseat. He grinned up into the mirror.
"We're almost there. Just gotta check in with our landlords first."
Bryce scrunched up his face in something like embarrassment and pulled his feet up into his seat. Dmitry wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, so he just ignored it.
Rainclouds clumped in the sky like thick frosting, turning the whole world a shade of dark gray. The paved road running up to the hills had no name, and the trees were larger, older, almost forbidding. The bits of house visible above the trees- there were bits of house visible above the trees- were all gray stone and black roof-tile. As they continued up the road, though, it was clearly a...
Well, not a normal house, by Dmitry's estimation. A towering black iron fence ran around the front lawn, with artful stone brick pillars and even an iron gate with one of those little radio boxes. The house itself was huge, patterned like a French villa but built from dark stone like a castle. There was a well-kept yard, a substantial garden, and from what Dmitry could see, a minivan in the garage. So it wasn't an actual castle, thank God, no matter what impression it had been designed to give; though at that point, Dmitry would have been perfectly happy with a hunchback at the door and a soundtrack by Tim Curry if it meant he could stop driving and stretch his legs. It was still a really nice house, maybe or maybe not the nicest he'd ever been expected to walk inside, but a substantially more old-money kind of nice than his cousins'. The place would've made him self-conscious, but from what Alex had said the fuckers were taking his money on the premise that he was A Famous Professor or something, so they could suck it and be glad he wasn't covered in tweed. The gate was open, so he just went through, albeit with a bit of uncertainty.
Unsure where else to go, he parked in the driveway and got out, stretching his legs and back with a muffled groan. He was considering whether to call them first or just go up to the front door when he saw a woman in gardening gloves walking up from the side yard. She was pale and curly-blonde, prim but confident, and clearly the woman from the picture he'd been sent. Dmitry wasn't in a smiling mood, but still attempted to find one that didn't look sarcastic.
If he'd failed, she didn't seem to notice. "Hello! Sorry, my husband just told me a few minutes ago that you'd be coming this morning, or I'd be a little more prepared." She took off her gardening gloves and offered her hand. "Denise Blackwood. I presume you're Dr. Gilespi?"
He shook her hand, feeling his polite smile warm into something almost genuine. "Don't worry about it, I know we're early. I hope that's not a problem?"
"No, of course not. There might be some dust around the cabin still, but everything important is working. Would you like to come in? We'd love to meet you, and once he wakes up, my son can help get your things over to the island."
"Sure." Dmitry glanced behind himself to the car; Jack was already out, walking towards the back of the house and the lake. "Hey, don't go too far, okay?"
Jack turned back for just a moment, giving him a thumbs up and a little smile, then continued on. Dmitry sighed and knocked softly on the back window to get the other two out.
*
Maybe it was the early morning, but Jack felt strange. There was a weird sort of energetic melancholy running through him that he wasn't sure if he enjoyed or not. Mostly, he wanted to get the heck away from his family for a little while. He was probably being rude, but he had plenty of time to meet people.
A little brick trail led around the back of the house, running in a broad ring around a huge lawn, spotted with trees and rimmed with garden shrubbery. There was a huge garden visible over the hill to the right, a net-covered gazebo with a huge grill and a bunch of lawn furniture to the right, and a ring of spooky, foggy trees straight ahead. Jack kept walking.
It was a couple hundred feet or so past the end of the trail to a point where he could see down the trees to the lake. It was much bigger than he expected, so big he couldn't see the far end, though that also may have been the fog. He could see a little peninsula-sandbar thing, maybe fifteen feet across at its widest point, that jutted out towards a small, rocky island. There was the cabin.
Jack frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets. He hoped he remembered right that his Dad said the place had electricity.
Story: Shatterverse/Mixed AU
Colors: Barbados Blue #5 (Lagoon), Ibiza Blue #12 (Tesseract- The Answer)
Supplies and Styles: Acrylic (Island), Eraser (Mermaid AU), Collage
Word Count: 1,343
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Dmitry and the kids head off on vacation. The start of the actual story bits.
Alyn isn't mine, but everyone else is. Comments, criticism, and questions are all appreciated.
It was a foggy morning in early June when visitors came to Blackwood Lake. Dew hung in the pines like bolts of chiffon strung from branch to branch, rolling up from the rocky beaches around the lake, up the long hillside to the Blackwood estate, and then out over the surrounding town. It was nearly nine in the morning, and in most places the fog had begun to fade into dew; but in the lowlands around the lake, it clung fast, glistening brightly in the sun but refusing to yield to it.
Generations of children (and a few unusual adults) had come to the woods on mornings like this one, propelled by the sense of wonder inspired by the fog and the old lake. It was a lagoon, technically, and both lake and forest were filled with deep old caverns that supposedly led out to sea. It was wild land, and not always safe. Much of the land around the estate had been fenced off decades ago, but less and less of it was maintained as the years went on. Rumors replaced caution, stories replaced rumors, and the old lake nowadays inspired as much fear as wonder.
Three figures watched from the woods as a car turned up the road leading to the estate.
*
Highway. Trees. Scenic coastal road, next left. More trees. Trees. Trees. Signs of civilization: an IHOP.
Welcome to Five Pines, said a cheery green road sign on the right. The choir of angels that had been singing in Dmitry's head since they'd left Olympia reached a crescendo.
The first leg of the trip had been full of noise; just him and Jack, listening to music, watching videos on the empty early-morning stretches out of Pennsylvania. By that evening, they'd arrived at Dmitry's mother's house to spend a few days with her and his uncle and wait to pick up Bryce, his cousin Hitomi's kid. He hadn't grown much bigger than the chirpy, moody fourth-grader that was Dmitry's last image of him, but his personality had definitely changed. From Ohio to Washington he mostly sat in the back, staring out the window with an irritable expression. Then in Olympia, they picked up Alyn- Hitoshi and Alex's girl- and stayed another night. Dmitry had woken them all up as close to the crack of dawn as he could get them, and she'd mostly been asleep on top of her suitcase the remaining ride. Jack hadn't slept the night, Dmitry knew. He hadn't said anything about it, but there was a melancholy, hound-dog look to him that he got when he did that. He had Peace's "artistic temperament", though Dmitry thought the kid handled it better.
Three teenagers and four sets of luggage hadn't fit into his ratty old Honda, so they'd had to get a small trailer. It probably gave the wrong impression, but he couldn't help that. The people they were renting the cabin from supposedly had a kid around Jack's age, so maybe they'd understand. And there was their last turn.
Without thinking, he sighed loudly- loudly enough to startle Bryce from the backseat. He grinned up into the mirror.
"We're almost there. Just gotta check in with our landlords first."
Bryce scrunched up his face in something like embarrassment and pulled his feet up into his seat. Dmitry wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, so he just ignored it.
Rainclouds clumped in the sky like thick frosting, turning the whole world a shade of dark gray. The paved road running up to the hills had no name, and the trees were larger, older, almost forbidding. The bits of house visible above the trees- there were bits of house visible above the trees- were all gray stone and black roof-tile. As they continued up the road, though, it was clearly a...
Well, not a normal house, by Dmitry's estimation. A towering black iron fence ran around the front lawn, with artful stone brick pillars and even an iron gate with one of those little radio boxes. The house itself was huge, patterned like a French villa but built from dark stone like a castle. There was a well-kept yard, a substantial garden, and from what Dmitry could see, a minivan in the garage. So it wasn't an actual castle, thank God, no matter what impression it had been designed to give; though at that point, Dmitry would have been perfectly happy with a hunchback at the door and a soundtrack by Tim Curry if it meant he could stop driving and stretch his legs. It was still a really nice house, maybe or maybe not the nicest he'd ever been expected to walk inside, but a substantially more old-money kind of nice than his cousins'. The place would've made him self-conscious, but from what Alex had said the fuckers were taking his money on the premise that he was A Famous Professor or something, so they could suck it and be glad he wasn't covered in tweed. The gate was open, so he just went through, albeit with a bit of uncertainty.
Unsure where else to go, he parked in the driveway and got out, stretching his legs and back with a muffled groan. He was considering whether to call them first or just go up to the front door when he saw a woman in gardening gloves walking up from the side yard. She was pale and curly-blonde, prim but confident, and clearly the woman from the picture he'd been sent. Dmitry wasn't in a smiling mood, but still attempted to find one that didn't look sarcastic.
If he'd failed, she didn't seem to notice. "Hello! Sorry, my husband just told me a few minutes ago that you'd be coming this morning, or I'd be a little more prepared." She took off her gardening gloves and offered her hand. "Denise Blackwood. I presume you're Dr. Gilespi?"
He shook her hand, feeling his polite smile warm into something almost genuine. "Don't worry about it, I know we're early. I hope that's not a problem?"
"No, of course not. There might be some dust around the cabin still, but everything important is working. Would you like to come in? We'd love to meet you, and once he wakes up, my son can help get your things over to the island."
"Sure." Dmitry glanced behind himself to the car; Jack was already out, walking towards the back of the house and the lake. "Hey, don't go too far, okay?"
Jack turned back for just a moment, giving him a thumbs up and a little smile, then continued on. Dmitry sighed and knocked softly on the back window to get the other two out.
*
Maybe it was the early morning, but Jack felt strange. There was a weird sort of energetic melancholy running through him that he wasn't sure if he enjoyed or not. Mostly, he wanted to get the heck away from his family for a little while. He was probably being rude, but he had plenty of time to meet people.
A little brick trail led around the back of the house, running in a broad ring around a huge lawn, spotted with trees and rimmed with garden shrubbery. There was a huge garden visible over the hill to the right, a net-covered gazebo with a huge grill and a bunch of lawn furniture to the right, and a ring of spooky, foggy trees straight ahead. Jack kept walking.
It was a couple hundred feet or so past the end of the trail to a point where he could see down the trees to the lake. It was much bigger than he expected, so big he couldn't see the far end, though that also may have been the fog. He could see a little peninsula-sandbar thing, maybe fifteen feet across at its widest point, that jutted out towards a small, rocky island. There was the cabin.
Jack frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets. He hoped he remembered right that his Dad said the place had electricity.
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