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dark_slippy_thingAnd so, Valentine and Helena continued to walk, Helena on her quest to save the world (as you do), and Valentine thinking that Helena was completely insane for being on her quest to save the world (as you do).
"Enter at your own risk," the sign said. "Giants Orbiting," it said.
That sort of sign was Valentine's cue to stop in his tracks.
"Right. Well, this is where I stop."
"What?" Poor girl must have been hard of hearing. He pointed to the sign to illustrate his reasoning. She read it aloud. "Giants orbiting?"
"Sounds a bit iffy, doesn't it? Good luck." He sat himself down on the ground and reached for a handful of pebbles. "I'll be here when you get back. If you come back."
No, of course Valentine didn't put much stock in the wild notion that Helena the crazy person would be coming back any time soon. This was the girl who saw cuddly sea anenomes through windows into junk rooms filled with broken pottery.
He made himself comfortable on the ground as she headed through the gate and he played with the stones that she had picked up, balancing them idly on the back of his hand.
Niiiice and safe out here, it was. Niiiice and safe.
Except for that wall of death off in the distance. Valentine had to pull a double take when he noticed that particular change in scenery.
"Oh no."
That streak in the floppy coat running under the 'Giants Orbiting' sign may or may not have been a certain Very Important Man.
And that thing that stepped in front of him may or may not have been a gryphon.
"You shall not pass!"
Valentine hated these things.
"Right! Riddle!" He waved his arms about as he scrambled for something verbal to throw at the beast that would not result in him being devoured, bones and all. "If you got it you want to share it, if you share it you haven't got it!"
The gryphon, brilliant beast that it was, took a moment to mull it over.
"Um."
"Look, I haven't got all day! Give in?!"
"All right," the gryphon sighed. "What is it?"
"It's a secret."
"Well, what is it?"
...
"It's a secret."
"Please, just tell me!"
Of all of the gryphons in all of the world, Valentine had to be held up by the one with the problem-solving mindpower of a brain-damaged monkeybird.
"Look, an idiot!" He pointed madly behind the feline thing, who actually looked.
"Where!?"
And by the time the gryphon looked back, Valentine was long gone.
~~~
"Hey, hold up! Big chance of plans!" Valentine ran up to Helena, who was already on her way toward a set of stairs leading to a pair of rocky-looking giants. Orbiting. Naturally. Their bodies hung entwined in mid air, each with an opposite gravitational pull that meant one would crash to the ground and the other would fly away if ever they were separated.
He put his hands on his knees and attempted to catch his breath.
"You weren't coming, remember," Helena pointed out, trying to be clever. He'd have happily retorted with some remark about TENTACLES OF DEATH, but he was too busy breathing to manage a witty response. "I think those giants may be able to help us."
"Mm," he managed, finally gathering some semblance of air inside his lungs. "Possible. But there's no time for that now. And it don't be a quick hullo-how's-your-father? job with those giants. They aren't succinct, like me." He waved his hands in front of his face to illustrate, getting right into his bout of suggestions on how to deal with large, floating rocks. "Nope. You've got to come in low, share an observation about life or two, a bit of banter about erosion or grit, open them up a bit, and then you're in. The charges are laid, the fuse is set, the conversational excavation is underway..."
He looked up. He looked around. Helena was on her way up the stairs.
"...And I'm talking to myself again."
He turned and started to run up the steps. As if he hadn't done enough running already.
Up ahead, Helena was already inciting conversation with the large, floating things.
"We are looking for the charm, to wake the Queen. Can you help us?"
In one big heave, the giants started to reorient themselves so that they were facing Helena for their reply. And when the reply finally came, it was so... slow... that it nearly caused Valentine pain just listening.
"Many..."
"Many, yes," Helena repeated, keeping track.
"... have... asked..."
"Many have asked," Helena continued to repeat. One really had to when dealing with this sort, or one might forget what came first when all was finally said and done.
"....where...."
"Many have asked where the charm is, yes?" Valentine decided that an even better way to keep track would be to just help them right along. Maybe they'd take a hint and either speed up, or leap on ahead.
"...the..."
Or not.
"The charm is...?" Trying again couldn't hurt.
"Charrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmm..."
"Is?"
"Is."
"Helena, we have to get out of here," Valentine urged, giving up on the giants altogether.
"Not now. I think we're on to something," came the reply, much to Valentine's dismay.
"But... we..." The female giant continued, painfully slowly.
"Know?" Valentine supplied helpfully.
"Sadly..."
"No sadly! Happily!" The juggler was jumping up and down and waving his arms about, now. "I know where it is and I will tell you really quickly!"
"Solemnly..."
"No adjectives," he groaned, "please!"
"We... guard... the..."
"CHARM!" Valentine? Still jumping, yes. Why?
"Box."
"What?"
"Look, up there in her hand," Helena shouted, pointing upward, "a little silvery box!"
This was about the time that the male giant decided to speak, in a lower, slightly more rumbling tone that was equally as maddeningly slow as that of his floating lover.
"Shadows come."
No kidding!
"That's what I was trying to tell you! If she doesn't get to the end of this sentence in the near future we are dead!" And Valentine did not want to die! Valentine wanted to remain alive and keep his promises and bathe in fish and eat chocolate buttons and choose his classes for the next term and juggle some more and maybe get a new tower that wasn't angry at him and maybe not bathe in fish, actually, as that would be rather disgusting, and he was not in the mood to die today!
"Is the charm in your box?" Ah, good old Helena. Master of absolutely not caring that they were going to be swallowed up whole by black tendrils of death.
"For..." Oh. Look. The female giant was still talking.j
"Oh no, not for, just yes or no," Valentine urged.
"The queen."
"'We guard the box for the queen,'" Helena repeated. Back on that repeating thing again. Wonderful. That would save them all. "Listen! We're here for the Queen! She's asleep forever unless we can find the charm for her! We don't even know what it is!"
As they spoke, shadowy tendrils were reaching upward and wrapping themselves around the leg of the male giant, who slowly reached down and snapped a piece off between his huge fingers. For all the good that it did, really.
Valentine continued to do more jumping up and down and waving about of his arms. It was certainly more productive than conversing with rocks, wasn't it?
"Come on, forget it, time's up, come on, run! It's polite conversation or death! Polite conversation, or death!"
The shadows continued to wrap around the male. Helena continued to urge the female to cooperate. Valentine continued to want to not die.
"Please," Helena said stubbornly, "you must believe me!"
"Charm is..." the male giant was actually the one speaking, now, "the Mirror... Mask..."
"Yes?" The female giant slowly reached her hand, the one holding the box, toward Helena, even as the shadows pulled her away from her lover, even as they slipped apart and she was forced to hang on to him my linking her elbow with his, even as the large giant male started to convulse as the shadow began to work its way through him, turning his body into charcoal blackness. "Get..."
"The box?" Helena supplied, hopefully.
"... Higher." She reached. She dropped the box into Helena's hand. Her elbow-link with the other giant slipped, and she started to drift into the sky helplessly, with nothing to stop her from sailing away entirely.
The other giant crashed downward into the bricks below, vanishing into the stone.
Helena and Valentine ran.
And the shadows melted away into the ground.
Valentine continued to freak out.
And really, if he was acting overly flaily and terrified at this point, could anyone blame him? The shadows were no longer chasing them at the moment, but Valentine was not going to simply cease wanting to remain alive. He had too much to live for and all of this was just stupid.
(NFB due to distance. NFI for the same. Once again, I'm recapping the events of MirrorMask using mainly the scriptbook and then the movie from there, and so the content is not mine, it's Gaiman and McKean's. I just crammed in the subtext and changed the point of view to be more Valentine-centric. This recapping will not continue forever, I swear. And, go me, I've gone and forgotten to clarify that this stuff is all backdated to Monday thus far. MirrorMask isn't insanely long, honest.)
"Enter at your own risk," the sign said. "Giants Orbiting," it said.
That sort of sign was Valentine's cue to stop in his tracks.
"Right. Well, this is where I stop."
"What?" Poor girl must have been hard of hearing. He pointed to the sign to illustrate his reasoning. She read it aloud. "Giants orbiting?"
"Sounds a bit iffy, doesn't it? Good luck." He sat himself down on the ground and reached for a handful of pebbles. "I'll be here when you get back. If you come back."
No, of course Valentine didn't put much stock in the wild notion that Helena the crazy person would be coming back any time soon. This was the girl who saw cuddly sea anenomes through windows into junk rooms filled with broken pottery.
He made himself comfortable on the ground as she headed through the gate and he played with the stones that she had picked up, balancing them idly on the back of his hand.
Niiiice and safe out here, it was. Niiiice and safe.
Except for that wall of death off in the distance. Valentine had to pull a double take when he noticed that particular change in scenery.
"Oh no."
That streak in the floppy coat running under the 'Giants Orbiting' sign may or may not have been a certain Very Important Man.
And that thing that stepped in front of him may or may not have been a gryphon.
"You shall not pass!"
Valentine hated these things.
"Right! Riddle!" He waved his arms about as he scrambled for something verbal to throw at the beast that would not result in him being devoured, bones and all. "If you got it you want to share it, if you share it you haven't got it!"
The gryphon, brilliant beast that it was, took a moment to mull it over.
"Um."
"Look, I haven't got all day! Give in?!"
"All right," the gryphon sighed. "What is it?"
"It's a secret."
"Well, what is it?"
...
"It's a secret."
"Please, just tell me!"
Of all of the gryphons in all of the world, Valentine had to be held up by the one with the problem-solving mindpower of a brain-damaged monkeybird.
"Look, an idiot!" He pointed madly behind the feline thing, who actually looked.
"Where!?"
And by the time the gryphon looked back, Valentine was long gone.
~~~
"Hey, hold up! Big chance of plans!" Valentine ran up to Helena, who was already on her way toward a set of stairs leading to a pair of rocky-looking giants. Orbiting. Naturally. Their bodies hung entwined in mid air, each with an opposite gravitational pull that meant one would crash to the ground and the other would fly away if ever they were separated.
He put his hands on his knees and attempted to catch his breath.
"You weren't coming, remember," Helena pointed out, trying to be clever. He'd have happily retorted with some remark about TENTACLES OF DEATH, but he was too busy breathing to manage a witty response. "I think those giants may be able to help us."
"Mm," he managed, finally gathering some semblance of air inside his lungs. "Possible. But there's no time for that now. And it don't be a quick hullo-how's-your-father? job with those giants. They aren't succinct, like me." He waved his hands in front of his face to illustrate, getting right into his bout of suggestions on how to deal with large, floating rocks. "Nope. You've got to come in low, share an observation about life or two, a bit of banter about erosion or grit, open them up a bit, and then you're in. The charges are laid, the fuse is set, the conversational excavation is underway..."
He looked up. He looked around. Helena was on her way up the stairs.
"...And I'm talking to myself again."
He turned and started to run up the steps. As if he hadn't done enough running already.
Up ahead, Helena was already inciting conversation with the large, floating things.
"We are looking for the charm, to wake the Queen. Can you help us?"
In one big heave, the giants started to reorient themselves so that they were facing Helena for their reply. And when the reply finally came, it was so... slow... that it nearly caused Valentine pain just listening.
"Many..."
"Many, yes," Helena repeated, keeping track.
"... have... asked..."
"Many have asked," Helena continued to repeat. One really had to when dealing with this sort, or one might forget what came first when all was finally said and done.
"....where...."
"Many have asked where the charm is, yes?" Valentine decided that an even better way to keep track would be to just help them right along. Maybe they'd take a hint and either speed up, or leap on ahead.
"...the..."
Or not.
"The charm is...?" Trying again couldn't hurt.
"Charrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmm..."
"Is?"
"Is."
"Helena, we have to get out of here," Valentine urged, giving up on the giants altogether.
"Not now. I think we're on to something," came the reply, much to Valentine's dismay.
"But... we..." The female giant continued, painfully slowly.
"Know?" Valentine supplied helpfully.
"Sadly..."
"No sadly! Happily!" The juggler was jumping up and down and waving his arms about, now. "I know where it is and I will tell you really quickly!"
"Solemnly..."
"No adjectives," he groaned, "please!"
"We... guard... the..."
"CHARM!" Valentine? Still jumping, yes. Why?
"Box."
"What?"
"Look, up there in her hand," Helena shouted, pointing upward, "a little silvery box!"
This was about the time that the male giant decided to speak, in a lower, slightly more rumbling tone that was equally as maddeningly slow as that of his floating lover.
"Shadows come."
No kidding!
"That's what I was trying to tell you! If she doesn't get to the end of this sentence in the near future we are dead!" And Valentine did not want to die! Valentine wanted to remain alive and keep his promises and bathe in fish and eat chocolate buttons and choose his classes for the next term and juggle some more and maybe get a new tower that wasn't angry at him and maybe not bathe in fish, actually, as that would be rather disgusting, and he was not in the mood to die today!
"Is the charm in your box?" Ah, good old Helena. Master of absolutely not caring that they were going to be swallowed up whole by black tendrils of death.
"For..." Oh. Look. The female giant was still talking.j
"Oh no, not for, just yes or no," Valentine urged.
"The queen."
"'We guard the box for the queen,'" Helena repeated. Back on that repeating thing again. Wonderful. That would save them all. "Listen! We're here for the Queen! She's asleep forever unless we can find the charm for her! We don't even know what it is!"
As they spoke, shadowy tendrils were reaching upward and wrapping themselves around the leg of the male giant, who slowly reached down and snapped a piece off between his huge fingers. For all the good that it did, really.
Valentine continued to do more jumping up and down and waving about of his arms. It was certainly more productive than conversing with rocks, wasn't it?
"Come on, forget it, time's up, come on, run! It's polite conversation or death! Polite conversation, or death!"
The shadows continued to wrap around the male. Helena continued to urge the female to cooperate. Valentine continued to want to not die.
"Please," Helena said stubbornly, "you must believe me!"
"Charm is..." the male giant was actually the one speaking, now, "the Mirror... Mask..."
"Yes?" The female giant slowly reached her hand, the one holding the box, toward Helena, even as the shadows pulled her away from her lover, even as they slipped apart and she was forced to hang on to him my linking her elbow with his, even as the large giant male started to convulse as the shadow began to work its way through him, turning his body into charcoal blackness. "Get..."
"The box?" Helena supplied, hopefully.
"... Higher." She reached. She dropped the box into Helena's hand. Her elbow-link with the other giant slipped, and she started to drift into the sky helplessly, with nothing to stop her from sailing away entirely.
The other giant crashed downward into the bricks below, vanishing into the stone.
Helena and Valentine ran.
And the shadows melted away into the ground.
Valentine continued to freak out.
And really, if he was acting overly flaily and terrified at this point, could anyone blame him? The shadows were no longer chasing them at the moment, but Valentine was not going to simply cease wanting to remain alive. He had too much to live for and all of this was just stupid.
(NFB due to distance. NFI for the same. Once again, I'm recapping the events of MirrorMask using mainly the scriptbook and then the movie from there, and so the content is not mine, it's Gaiman and McKean's. I just crammed in the subtext and changed the point of view to be more Valentine-centric. This recapping will not continue forever, I swear. And, go me, I've gone and forgotten to clarify that this stuff is all backdated to Monday thus far. MirrorMask isn't insanely long, honest.)
