GoodToBeAlive

Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah) by Andy Grammar
Hallelujah, let that bass line move ya, say hey
Pretty good to be alive right about now (woo-hoo)
(GoodToBeAlive)

Former Name: Kaladin

“Just this way, my dear. I have a friend who is sure to be able to help you get to the bottom of your condition.” The voice was slightly muffled by the thick door, which creaked open just a moment later. “He is a scientist, you see. Quite a good one at that. He has many different projects and investigations involving strange phenomenon of life.” Two figures waltzed into the room. The first was a posh tundra gentleman dressed elegantly in black, and the other a pearlcatcher lady in a demure grey cloak, who was stepping quite carefully, her head held high. She said not a word as she scanned the room around her.

Terrariums, tanks of various fish and amphibians, plant boxes, chemistry equipment, cauldrons, and large box of straw covered every available surface. On the far wall, a small door was snugly shut. A large pile of leaves, feathers, and fur appeared to be snoring against one of the work benches. With a quick apology, the tundra left the pearlcatcher where she stood, and approached the pile. He gave it a quick shake, and hissed a few words to it. With a start, the pile seemed to come alive, rising up into a vaguely dragon-like shape.

“Ah yes, this is the scientist I was telling you about. Don’t mind his messy appearance- he doesn’t often receive guests.” The tundra gave a charming smile, a slight bow to the lady, and waltzed back to the door. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have other business to attend to.” He slipped out the door and back out into the shadows of the hallway. The lady could have almost sworn that his shape had seemed to… shimmer? ….and be absorbed into the darkness with a chuckle. She shook her head. No, her eyes must just be playing tricks on her.

“S’cuse me, ma’am…. *yawn* I’m ‘fraid that I don’ even know yer name. Wha’ can I be doin’ for ya?” The words were obviously draconic, but the voice itself was… strange. The accent was unlike any that the pearlcatcher had heard before. The sound was almost like a machine, clicking and stiff from disuse. She cocked her head, deliberating, until a violet fit of coughing made her lose focus. She finally managed to catch her breath, looking up at the ceiling. The shape stopped its approach, seeming unsure whether to give her space or come closer.

“I…. apologize for my current state… but please, don’ ya’ go bein’ ‘fraid o’ me, alrigh?” She kept her head firmly pointed toward the ceiling, and the shape almost seemed to shrink at her refusal to look at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she could just see his claws scuff at the floor. “M-may I please know why yo-” His voice was cut off by a low growl. Immediately he whirled around, focusing on the large box of straw in the corner. He made some unintelligible grumbling, and trotted over, seeming to adjust something. Slowly, the pearlcatcher lowered her head once more, still keeping her snout high. She let her eyes play over him- another tundra, she would guess, though all the clothing made it hard to tell. A thick cloak of cloth and leaves covered most of his body, along with a mish-mash of random feathers. An enormous wide-brimmed hat sat upon his head, leaving his face in shadow. Even that seemed strange though, his snout more long and narrow than it should be. Without turning around, he softly spoke. “I am sorry…. This is one of my other…. Duties. I will be with you in just a moment…. If you allow it.”

“....it isn’t because of you.” Her voice was soft, meticulous- as careful as her steps had been. Her words had a choppy undertone to them, like water lapping against a rock. “I must be careful how I position myself…” At this, the tundra looked over his shoulder at her, curious. She opened her cloak, revealing a glimmering underbelly, and vibrant wings. It looked almost like one of his tanks, a thick layer of sand, with a sloshing area of clear water at the top of her chest and throat. Sitting gently between the two materials was a handful of tiny pearls, and one slightly larger one, about the size of a duck egg. “I am not sure whether this was a blessing, a curse, magic, an experiment, or some twisted get-rich scheme…. But I have been like this as long as I can remember, and I want it gone….” Her voice, which had gotten more and more acidic, rapidly lost its fire. “...or at least, I would love to make it easier to manage.” She almost seemed to deflate. It was obvious she had been dealing with… whatever this situation was exactly, for quite some time without any real reprieve.

“....you are in good company, ma’am.” He turned back around to face her fulling, watching her reaction carefully. He slowly pulled off his thick layers of cloak, letting the leaves fall every which way. When she didn’t seem to draw back, he carefully reached out a paw, pulling the hat from his head. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she stayed silent; stayed still as she took it in. “I was quite little, when some cruel dragon decided that I was an excellent subject for practicing his ‘skills’ on…” He turned slowly, and she took in his patchy, nonsensical meshing of feathers and fur, fluff and down that were colored every hue in the rainbow. Turquoise feathers stuck up next to black fur, a stripe of neon green ran down his back and turned into tiny purple quills. The most shocking was his face- it wasn’t a tundras snout at all. He had his normal horns, but they were surrounded by a mass of olive and brown feathers, flattening out into a pair of sunken eyes, and a long, curved beak.

Suddenly his voice made sense- he sounded like one of the parrots that a clanmate had kept at one point in time. After she had taken some time to observe his appearance, he lowered the hat back on tight to his head, seeming shy and embarrassed to have shared so much. As he scrambled to pull his leafy cloak back over, she took one step, then two, closer. She settled next to him, and absently stroked the glassy scales of her chest.

“Do you see that one pearl? The one that is larger than the others? That is my actual pearl.” It was the scientist’s turn to be startled; it was much smaller than any mature pearlcatcher’s pearl should be. “It grows like the pearl of an oyster. So do the others.” She gave a watery sigh. “I eat so much sand and salt water- crave them heavily. My body dissolves the worst of the silicates, and absorbs them into my scales. It’s why my wings are so colorful. They even change depending on the exact makeup of the sand I ingest. The bits that get left behind irritate the cavity- and it starts to coat them. It is a much faster process than oysters, but still only makes a few every few weeks or so..” She raised her head to the ceiling once more. “I have tried so many things…. If I only eat sand, I dehydrate to the point of being unable to move. If I only drink water, my body becomes weak. It doesn’t matter what or how much I eat of other foods or normal water- only the salt water and sands seem to keep me functioning.” She gave a sigh. “What I would give to not have to walk around, afraid to spill salt water out of my mouth when I talk, or have it burst out of my nostrils because I want to look at something on the ground…”

The tundra seemed to fluff up even larger than he had been. He looked down at her, his eyes just tiny points of light in the shade of his hat. “I promise ya’, ma’am- I won’ give up on ya’. We will fix this. Ya will live a normal life!”

The pearlcatcher gave a tired smile. “Thank you.” Cautiously, she reached out a hand, hesitating slightly before laying it on his arm. “I have seen much on my travels to try to fix this- know that there has to be a way to undo your condition as well. If you help me, I promise I will do my best to help you as well.” A shiver ran through the tundra’s body. It had been a long time since anyone had touched him aside from his boss- since anyone had seen him as, well, anything other than a monstrous being that was a means to an end. He gingerly clasped his paw over hers.

“Together.”

---

Future ancients?
20068787
mosaic/breakup/runes
20068788
mosaic/hex/runes

44916481
pinstripe/trail/weathered
51543235
jaguar/daub OR streak/scorpion