A Scripta

When Grim awoke, he was covered in liquid peanut butter.

He jerked up, his first thought being for the book that he was reading, but someone had taken it off his lap and set it on the desk. He had fallen asleep on the floor in the library, sitting in a lotus position, having strange dreams. This was Arcadia after all.

Figuring out the fae magic book came easier and easier as he sat with it. They wrote like he did - in different languages and symbols, odd word tenses and mixed up sentence structure. There was no pattern, no rhyme nor reason, and if he let his mind go, things just came to him, just like he was automatic writing. However, they didn't stick - just like automatic writing.

He got up, and could hear giggling just beyond the door. It was a pooka, obviously, and could very well have been Skye. He headed out of the library, and saw something at the top of the stairs. It was small, green, with wild hair tangled among curly horns. He looked like a satyr without hooves. He looked at him and sang in a sweet voice,

I like black and white
Dream in black in white
You like black and white
Run run away!

Grim looked at the fae. He smiled, wiggled his hips and continued:

See the chameleon
Lying there in the sun
All things to everyone
Run run away!

"Right," Grim said, and walked past him. But the fae followed him, still singing.


If you're in the swing
Mud in everything
If you're in the swing
Run run away


See the chameleon
Lying there in the sun
All things to everyone
Run run away!

Grim stopped at the top of the stairs. "Will you stop it?"


Oh now can't you wait?
No no come on and wait
Oh now can't you wait?
Run run away!


See the chameleon
Lying there in the sun
All things to everyone
Run run away!

He kept repeating the last line, and Grim realized what he himself was doing. He was running away. Away from his friends, who needed him. Shar'nok, the new guy, was still learning. And he was a better man than the way he acted toward Dmitrius and Kal - he's not ready to apologize yet, but he is at least ready to avoid them. He said to the singer, "I run, run away." The singer nodded, and took off.

Grim went to the shower, and washed off the peanut butter. As he did so, he realized what Ryder was trying to do - keeping his mind off Dmitrius and Kal. That's what he would do - keep his mind occupied. He had an idea...

(Lyrics from "Run Runaway" by Slayer.)