I'm Alive... I Think

[Tuatara 'Tut' Yamen]

Tuatara dragged his sweaty self over yet another sand dune. Blasted sun, he thought, hysterical and angry. Why am I here?!

"Aeros!" he called out. "Yo! Yipper-di-do! ARG!!!" Tuatara collapsed onto the ground. Why am I here? For who?! ME? WHO AM I?!

"What do you want?" he said to no one. "I'm dieing, tired, and I left the roast on! What is it I am to do? No friends, no family, no one! I'm a midget, burning to death in the desert! Fiberdy gibbit!"

Heat waves danced across Tuatara's vision, and he gazed deep into them, mesmerized by their taunting power. I'm weak, he thought despairingly. I'm hopeless. The only thing I can do is steal; I can't even make a good joke!

Quit the stupid act..... The thought echo in his mind, and he toyed with it. Show them..... the hurt...... and pain.... and-

"NO!" Tuatara woke with a start.

"Just a dream," he murmured,"just a dream. I'm tired, making all my thoughts fuzzy." Though perhaps the voice-thing is right. Perhaps I should stop acting and be my old, witty self. Oh, Father would die! But....Aeros. I've lied, to my best friend......

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Tuatara awoke. He knew what he was to do. What he was meant to do. He picked himself up and marched toward the rest of the world.... and destiny.....

He made it ten minutes. "Come on, you can do it! I have faith in you! Wait- why am I talking to myself.....? Come on, you can do it, whoo! Your gonna be cool, have a fancy title, be dark and mysterious! Yay......" he said hysterically, face in the sand.

"Hmph." Tuatara heard.

"Great, now I'm hearing things!" he looked up, wild-eyed, right at a man.

"Are you ok son?" the stranger asked. Silence. "I'll take that as a no. Well, get in the wagon and we'll get some water into ya."

Tuatara refocused to take in the sight of a horse and cart behind the man. "Wha....?"

OoC: Hows that for a revamp? Oh ya
Though it feels a bit rushed....... Oh well, take that! ARG! XD

[Tuatara 'Tut' Yamen]

Tuatara lay in the back of the wagon, gulping down water.

"Slowly, slowly!" the man said. "Now what are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Tuatara countered between gulps. "Who are you?"

"Why don't we get moving and then we can talk."

And so they sat up front, Tuatara gulping water and the man whistling. "I'm gonna cut to the chase- what?"

"Can you at least sound mystical? I've never had a hallucination before."

"Emillie knows ya need one," the man said sarcastically.

"What do I call you," Tuatara asked, setting down the water.

"I don't know, just give me one of your quirky nicknames I guess."

"Your Mom," Tuatara snickered.

"Really, that's the best you got?"

"It makes for great humor!" Tuatara busted out laughing.

"Great, whatever. Now listen son, there is a legend, about a boy," Your Mom began.

"Could you at least make it original?"

"No! You asked for it so shut up! Now, where was I.....oh, yes. There was a legend about a boy, a Sarcaen boy of short stature, a midget in fact."

"Your having too much fun with this," Tuatara interrupted.

"Oh get over it, I'm hallucination, so my life span is as long as you are crazy," Your Mom replied frivolously. "Now, this boy spent his life lying to himself, because of others expectations. He became what they expected. A liar, a thief. Very little of his personality showed, and he played dumb to fit into the lie he had crated for himself."

"Interesting..... who is this guy again?" Tuatara asked, turning away.

"You know very well who I'm talking about," Your Mom spoke softly. "And here is my question for him: Why has he done this? Why doesn't he prove them wrong?"

"Perhaps he feels he doesn't know who he is," Tuatara offered. "Perhaps he got tired of trying to prove them wrong, lost something important to him. Something irreplaceable."

"What?"

"You know very well what!"

"Just say it."

"My family, ok! My brother, my Mother, my Father, D*** Orpheus and all his kind!" Tuatara choked, and then suddenly froze.

"What of Aeros, Aerious, and Marcus?" Your Mom questioned.

"They.....are different," Tuatara said quietly. "Especially Aeros. Marcus is crazy and Aerious old and crotchety. Aeros is my friend....after meeting him, I grew confused, unsure of who I was. My hatred was me, it defined me. But...after I found a friend, things changed. I wasn't alone anymore, but....."

"What do you fight for? It's not hatred. We both know that."

"Friends, family, survival; to prove the world wrong. Prove it to myself. I've fought many battles, survived the unsurvivable, met the unsurvivable; met magical creatures, even befriended one."

"And tell me, Tuatara, how many people get such an opportunity? How many have your luck, your skill?"

"Few." Tuatara said, turning back.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

[Tuatara 'Tut' Yamen]

"We're here," Your Mom said as the horses stopped. The sand wisped along without them.

Tuatara looked over to see mountains. "There?" he pointed.

"Yes. It's about a mile off, and you'll find a stream near there." A horse nickered. "Those are the mountain's of Lycia's southern border. Just follow them. You know where your going. It's just getting there."

Tuatara hopped down. "How'd we travel so fast?"

"I don't know, it's your hallucination." The wind blew the old man's hair about.

"And I'm not hallucinating that?" Tuatara motioned toward the mountains.

"You'll have to find out." And then Your Mom was gone, cart and all.

"Well, poop." Tuatara covered his eyes with his hand and looked toward destiny. "Destiny? Sounds like Parcheesi."

And he walked. And walked. And then he got bored. "How long does this take?" He looked to the side and looked straight at Your Mom. "Really?"

Heat waves traveled across their vision as they looked at each other. "Don't look at me, you're the one who hasn't pinched himself."

"Oh." So Tuatara pinched himself.

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Tuatara gasped for air, waking underneath a tree, his back to it. A stream trickled nearby. Mountains to his left, a nice path leading to it. You Mom was no where.

"Wha...? Me and my hallucinations." He shook his head. "I guess it's time to go."Tuatara got off the ground, stopping by the stream on his way down the trail.

"I know where I"m going," he said, breathing in the mountain air. "It's just getting there." And he was off.


End Thread