Chapter 3: "Small Things"
#1 of Flamechild, Book II: Ignite
This one was a lot of fun to write.
This takes place in an inn that the cubs travel to. That's all I can say without currently spoiling any of the events from either story.
This chapter was sparked by a real event. (Yeah I sat here, trying to blow on a spider that was not even remotely close enough to feel it, but, it did make me feel better, for, when I did it, it seemed to move a little bit.)
I guess you could say I have arachnophobia (it's the same symptoms described in the chapter), but it's nothing that keeps me from going outside or stop my life for.
That feeling that happens when I see a spider scurrying along, is indescribable, I had a very hard time describing it, and could only refer to it as the ringing sound in your ears, (or clogging sound) that you get when you yawn.)
Basically, I retell the events that inspired this chapter, (I was having a staring contest with this little bugger while I was writing this chapter) >:(. I tell it mostly from Kira's perspective. I describe the feelings that I went through, and don't really change anything.
Although, I didn't have some naked raccoon flamemage laying next to me to kill it >:(.
Rowen kissed the scantily clad girl on her rosy cheek. "Well, Kira, I'm going to sleep now."
Kira squealed, drunk from happiness. She rubbed her lover's thigh, "Good night, honey. I love you."
"I love you too."
Kira sat upright on her shins, next to Rowen's body in the bright candlelight. She noted a black dot on the wall, it was really very small, and thought nothing of it.
She looked at her lover, smiling, as she watched him so peacefully sleep.
She looked back at the white, wooden-wall.
The dot was gone.
Kira tensed up and scanned the walls and ceiling, easily predicting what she would find.
Now, just because you can predict something, and know what you will find, doesn't make your findings any less scary.
Just then, she saw the black dot again, scurrying across the ceiling.
Her ears rang the way your ears ring when you yawn. Her tail bristled and she tensed up, arching her back minutely.
There was a spider.
It stared at her with it's beady eyes, from across the room.
She stared back, genuinely terrified.
After staring at the tiny creature for seven, long minutes, she blew at it. She didn't blow too forcefully to wake up Rowen, but nor did she blow weakly.
It moved, making her jump a little bit, accidentally letting out a small "eep!" It marched across the ceiling with it's eight small legs, marching in Kira's direction, meandering from time to time. She felt as if it was mocking her as it moved closer.
She fully understood that her blowing on it from across the room did absolutely nothing, and it deciding to move, was a pure coincidence, but, the immediacy of the coincidence did make her feel a little bit better.
The spider was only a few feet from where she would be, if she, too, were on the ceiling.
"Dammit," she muttered quietly under her breath, "why did I have to take off my clothes?" Kira sulked, feeling increasingly itchy. She spotted an extra sheet draped over the bed that wouldn't irritate her slumbering mate if she grabbed it.
She planned to grab the sheet, but, she was powerless. Her arachnid assailant's presence, was far too overpowering.
She sat and stared, paralyzed, trapped for two minutes more in this staring contest.
Finally, she grabbed it, faster than light,draping it around her torso, back,and arms. It did provide her with a small feeling of comfort, and helped reduce her itchy feeling.
It moved again.
She gritted her teeth, nervously, tail bristling, making a soft alarmed sound, "Nyaaaa!" The ringing in her ears began again, like a very strong, lengthy yawn.
It was so small, but it terrified her. She'd never been consciously bitten or stung before, so, fear of the unknown made the terror even more.
"Kira," Rowen stirred, not bothering to open his eyes, his head still firmly on a pillow, facing away from Kira. His speech was slow and tired-sounding. "C'mon, honey, aren't you going to sleep soon?"
He rolled over, to face his mate. He opened his eyes to a truly devilish sight. He widened his eyes, looking away out of respect, cheeks burning.
From his position, he could see Kira, sitting on her shins, the sheet draped only over her raised, bristling tail, back to him, slightly bent forward, allowing him to see what lay underneath.
"Um..." Rowen started.
Kira jumped, not noticing when the boy repositioned himself, due to her intense bout with exoskeletal foe. "Oh, sorry Rowen, did I wake y-" She noticed his gaze and his raging cheeks, slowly connecting the dots in her mind. "Oh! Um... Don't look!" Kira covered her round tush with the sheet, lowering her puffy tail with her paws, embarrassed beyond words.
"Row-"
"What was wrong..." he blushed, "What are you staring at? Why was making
your tail bristle?"
She was too flustered to give him a true answer, and too embarrassed to admit
the truth. "I have half a mind to ask you what you were staring at! To be truthful..." she began, after a pause, laying her ears down and closing her eyes, "it was a spider." She glanced back at the ceiling.
It was gone.
Her tail bristled once more.
"Oh, it was only a spider?"
Kira knew Rowen meant nothing by this statement and was asking a genuine question, but, it still offended her. She flicked her ear, irritated. "No, it's not only a spider!" Kira looked into Rowen's eyes, becoming almost teary-eyed, "Rowen, I'm deathly afraid of them. It's not so bad if they stay in one place, across the room, where I can monitor them easily, but when they move..." she glanced around the room, the creepy-crawly ear-ringing returned.
Rowen stifled a chuckle, upon seeing his sweet Kira being so serious and genuine about something. This act, however, did not go unseen, as, Kira huffed in contempt as she heard the air escaping from his muzzle. She was truly serious about this, and Rowen adored the fact that she was being so honest to him. He chuckled because she was so cute, then, in her desperate time of need. He also chuckled because the position he was now put into made him feel like a hero. "Where is it, hun?" he asked her, hopping out of bed, and picking up a piece of parchment.
"I don't know," Kira told the nude racoon boy.
Her fearful, unsteady voice was probably the cutest thing Rowen had ever heard.
She scanned the room, looking from wall to wall,ceiling to floor, still sitting on her shins, unable to move.
"Gotcha!"
Kira jumped again, seeing Rowen smack the wall with the paper.
She unconsciously cowered away from the side of the bed closest to the wall, half-expecting eight flailing legs to fall down from behind the paper and scurry off somewhere unreachable. "Did... did you get him?"
He set the paper back down on the nightstand. "Better?" he asked her, in a genuinely caring voice.
He noticed her eyes dart back to the paper from time to time.
Wow, she really is terrified of them.
He kissed her worried face and stood again, taking the parchment in his hands, walking over to Kira's side of the bed. Kira unconsciously scurried over to Rowen's side of the bed, away from the tainted paper. He tossed the paper out of the open window to the cobbled street, one-story below them.
She looked into his eyes, embarrassed, "Thank you, I'm sorry."
"No, no. It's okay; I know this was something very personal for you." He laid a kiss upon her forehead, "I'm not judging you." he wrapped his arms around her back tightly, in a hug that made her feel very safe.
She still thought it would be a good idea to stay away from the general area where she first spotted the creature.
"Now, how much did you see?" Kira stared into him.
"What?" Rowen was genuinely puzzled, shifting in the bed, holding her shoulders.
"Of me!" she hit his chest. "Of my terrified tush!" she lowered her voice and brought her face close to Rowen's, angrily. "Did you see the hole?" she narrowed her eyes.
She was fierce, and lost all of her scared and defenseless qualities.
"Um..." Rowen's cheeks must have looked like Skyfire itself! "a little bit, I looked away though, I swear!"
Kira turned a bright red.
"Rowen! you pervert!" she bombarded him with fists and slaps, the sheet falling down her back.
"Kira, please!" Rowen begged, nearly pinned by his raging foe, paws up in protest and protection from getting punched in the face.
She sighed, finally ending her domestic barrage. Her closed fist lost most of it's speed and ended up just laying on Rowen's chest, opening and slowly sliding down on account of gravity. "I can't believe you," she sighed, eyes looking downward, "taking advantage of me like that, while I was so helpless and terrified." she nearly punched him again, but, restrained herself.
She curled up into his chest, in loving surrender, extinguishing the bright candle with a flick of her tail. She closed her eyes and laid in the contour of Rowen's body, facing away.
"I love you, Rowen. Thank you."
Rowen gripped her lower abdomen and pelvis, pulling her even closer into him, lovingly. "I love you too... I'm here to protect you from anything, my love."
Kira made a contented huff and was fast asleep, holding the protective paw that Rowen hugged around her, under her brea