Tattered Sleeves
Welcome. To the most confusing thing you will ever read.
Hey, I am Joseph Gaines. I wrote this story, in hopes of expressing myself. Most, but not all characters are mine. All publicly recognized characters are the property of the individual author who created them. I would like to thank them for their characters. Also, I do not actually use the characters; I just have my own meet with those. Each chapter is written by a different side of me.
Jeremy- *mostly* Me.
Joseph- My ‘Mecha’ side
Adalyn- My *hopefully* Romantic side
More to come, and without introduction: MY STORY:
Chapter one, Jeremy Gaines
Faro walked along the ground, looking for the mauled bear carcass. He growled in frustration and looked around once more, his anger growing. His body started shaking, in uncontrollable fits. He kept on walking, seemingly unbothered by the events. His whole body then, began to change. First, his fingers, still at his sides seemed to widen, and elongate. Then, his nails split and fell to the ground, black claws erupting from whatever bloody remains his nails were. The same thing happened to his feet, his shoes, melting into his skin, and the same process happening with his nails. This time though, his feet grew downward into black pads of rougher skin. Faro’s once muscular chest, pulls in at the gut, yet at the same time, his chest erupting outward, into an even more imposing appearance. He paused, seemingly trying to gasp for breath, his waist growing wider, but not in a bad way. He suddenly arched down, his spine jutting from his back, before being covered by the brown hair, mixed with brown streaks of hair erupting from every single pore. His still human face, quickly being covered by the fast growing hair, elongated into a muzzle, cheeks flapping uselessly. Suddenly, unknown to a viewer of this miracle, sharp, white, gleaming teeth are defined against the cheeks, if they could still be called that. The hair that had now covered his entire body, thickened, able to be called fur. The leaves around him shriveled, unable to continue by the sudden blast of heat coming from the werewolf. He growled with pleasure, and stood up on his hind legs, only for a moment, to stretch his painfully throbbing back. He quickly fell back to the ground with a thump and started walking around again, only this time, with is four paws.
Nearby, a boy stumbled along the same path, not too far away from what would seem to him, the beast. He walked closer, his glasses falling down his sweaty nose and he cursed. He cursed the Author above all thin
Faro the other hand was thanking the Author once again for giving him his wonderful ability, no matter how painful it was. But another part of his small brain was still angry for no apparent reason. He had quickly found the bear and eaten it, but was still angry. He decided to take his anger out on a nearby tree, planted by him just for occasions like this. Strangely, in the sense of things, he would have noticed the boy stumbling up the path towards him, but he was too angry.
The boy on the other hand, was nearly falling back off of the path and did when he saw Faro. But, all he saw was a hulking, five-hundred pound wolf, practically killing a tree. It was almost dead, peeling bark and whatnot. The boy walked closer to the thing and again, cursed the Author for making him like this. He had almost gotten past it when it whirled around to face him.
Faro growled at the humani who had dared to even come within a yard of him. He whipped around and grabbed the boy by the neck, What do you want, boy? This is my territory, get off now. The boy trembled in his paws, and looked at him fearfully and stammered, “P-please d-don’t eat me!”
Faro growled and set the boy down. He painfully transformed back into a human, reversing all the effects of a wolf. He stepped back from the boy and then stepped forward and punched his face, and hard. “You idiot, I don’t eat people. Not yet anyway.” He growled again and turned around to examine his damage to the tree.
The boy backed away, right into another tree, nursing his wounds to his face, a purple bruise already having appeared. He quickly started, “But-” One look from Faro stopped him in his tracks, and he slid down the trunk into a sitting, embracing his legs to his face.
Faro continued to scratch at the tree, this time, only his hand a paw. Without turning away, he asked the boy, “Boy, what is your name?”
The boy looked up nervously, pushing his glasses up his nose, right above his bright blue eyes, and covered only a bit by wood-brown hair.
Still stammering, he said,” M-my name is Theo, S-sir.” Faro growled at the boy and interrupted, “Don’t you dare call me Sir right now, or ever for that matter.” Before the boy could say more, he turned around and hooked his now human hands onto a tree branch. He pulled himself up easily and kept going until he found the perfect branch, already sagging a little, and smoothed in a place from when he had sat in it so many times before. He settled himself into the well-known brown, and of course, wooden hollow and called out below him, “I am Faro. Do not bother me, because I am going to rest now, Theo.” The last part, he said through his teeth to show his extreme annoyance, and finally closed his already-heavy eyelids. He settled down deeper and deeper, until he was strong asleep.
Theo looked up at the man high in the willow tree, and decided he should get some sleep as well. He settled down into the high grass surrounding him and tried close his eyes. But, they kept snapping up to the man called Faro in the tree. He quickly decided against sleeping and stood up. He started tripping, falling, sliding, and who knows what else, towards the edge of the forest. When he finally got there, not seeing the growing blur behind his crooked back, he sat back down on the ground. “Here, I can peacefully sleep, without any chance of that- thing finding me.” He declared for the world to hear. Alas, all that heard him were the bugs, and a very angry werewolf.
Faro swept in behind the boy, Theo, and picked him up by the scruff of his neck with his bared teeth. He quickly shook the humani, trying not to smell it. He quickly, and as always, with pain, changed his forms. He dropped the boy on the ground and snarled, “Ah, so I am a thing now, am I?” He shoved the boy backward and the boy trembled uncontrollably, but not because of the reason Faro would.
He was scared, almost to death. After a moment of silence, his trembling slowed, and he spoke up, for once without stumbling, “I did not mean it like that… I was too scared of you. I mean, look at you, you’re a five-hundred, snarling, vicious wolf!” He quickly stepped back down from the perch he had taken while speaking.
Faro eyed him suspiciously and finally demanded a promise out of the boy. He would not say anything about Faro, and he wouldn’t do anything rash.
Theo nodded timidly, and Faro let out the breath he had been unwillingly holding in. He sat down against the tree. He eyed the boy and swore, “Wait, where the hell did you get that mark on your back?”
Theo froze where he had been standing. He pulled his shirt back on, and once…again, he backed away. Faro watched him and thought, Is he always this scared? He stood back up, and walked towards the boy, ordering, “Off with your shirt.” Theo cautiously obeyed and turned towards him. Faro walked towards the boy and spun him around roughly. He looked at the boy’s back, and sitting there, was a mark. Not a Tattoo, not a bruise, just- a mark. Faro’s normally flush face drained of its blood, and Theo could actually feel it get less hot near his head.
He twisted around to look at Faro, and seeing him the way he was, he went to poke him. Faro easily grabbed the boy’s hand and twisted it away. Theo whined at the pain, and Faro twisted his hand a little more, and he immediately stopped whimpering. Faro let go of the hand and looked at the mark. Without saying anything, he picked up the shirt and threw it at Theo’s head and walked away.
Theo grabbed the shirt, surprisingly easily and stared at the retreating Faro. “B-but what was that a-all about?” Faro didn’t turn around, so he grumbled and slid down into the grass. He looked around, and decided to play with a blade of shining grass he had found on the ground. He twisted it around his fingers, and stiffened when it grew lighter, and everything surrounding it got seemingly darker. He inspected it, and decided to throw it down, but couldn’t get it off of his finger. He looked at it, and saw that it had twisted itself around his ring finger, and became one solid band of green grass. Well, grass-ring. He made a face at this, and briefly wondered if it had to do anything to do with the mark on his back. He shook his head and stood back up. He decided to go back and find Faro, wondering if he was still sleeping.
He reached the hollow where Faro had been last, and looked into the willow tree. Nothing was there. He looked around again, finding nothing; he decided just to walk through the forest. He walked towards a gurgling creek a few minutes away; well he thought there was one. He could hear it, so surely there would be one. He walked towards the sound of the creek and was astonished to find Faro sitting in it, crying. He quickly backed up as Faro’s head lifted up and looked right at the bushed where Theo had been hiding himself. He rose slowly, but turned around. Theo took this chance to run back as fast as he could to the hollow, tripping only about three times. He looked behind him carefully and watched for Faro. He tripped for a fourth time, Darn. I was so close to beating my record, but stayed on the ground. He watched the opening in the bushes and backed up slowly into a sleeping position when they rustled. He closed his eyes mostly, and acted as if he was only just waking up. He watched Faro’s dark and imposing form slip through the bushes and yawned. “Your finally awake now Faro?”
Chapter Two, Joseph Minotauro
Faro adjusted the watch sitting on his wrist then looked over at Theo. He nodded quietly then walked forward to a tree and raised his fist. He raised his other hand which was holding a glove, and fitted the glove onto his right hand. The glove clicked once, then twice; a red gem in the middle started pulsing a dim red light. He aimed his fist at the tree, and putting all of his strength into it, he punched clean through to the other side. He clenched his teeth to stop the pain, but was satisfied to see that there was little. He turned to Theo and said, “If you do anything to provoke me, that is what I will do to your face.” He finished with a blank face. Theo turned away, his eyes widening. He rubbed his glasses, inconspicuously pressing a small button. Nearly invisibly, a faint blue screen appeared in his black glasses, showing him a screen.
Theo looked at the glasses, holding a miniature mouse in his pocket. Alright, now, if I do this and this, then that will pop up. He clicked a few times and a new screen popped up, asking for a password. He quickly thought of his password, and neurosensor in the glasses read his brain waves. It logged him onto his journal and he looked a Faro. A sketch drawing of him was put into the paper, and all of his thoughts were copied down into the screen. I must be aware of Faro at all times; he may be a- special species, but he is also very dangerous. I shall keep my glasses nearby at all times. Also, I must really get to working on my hover bike, if I get it I will have finally beat that incessant Artemis Fowl. He closed the journal and opened up some schematics for the hover bike. He only needed a few more things, and then it would finally be finished. Artemis may have Faeries, but I have- He paused for a moment, a little curious of what he actually did have. A thought popped into his mind, and before he could even think it through, it was put on the paper. I have Faro. He looked up, and as if Faro could read his mind, he was being given a red glare. He shivered and looked back at his lasses. He blinked once and the blue screen vanished, only to be replaced by a dark red one. It flashed once then turned off. He sighed and stood up. He walked over to Faro and looked down at his glove. He held his hand out and asked, “May I?” Faro nodded and took the glove off with a squelching noise. He held it up and caught the sun’s glare in the gem. It glowed brightly, and he tossed it at Theo. Theo nearly missed it, but caught it at the last second. He held it up to eye level, turning it around in his hands. He pressed a couple of buttons then held it back out to Faro.
Faro quickly grabbed the hand and was about to ask Theo what he thought, but thought better of it; he didn’t exactly want a lecture at this time of the night. He looked up, looking at the purple sky, slowly turning to dark sapphire. He loved the night. The cool air running through his pelt, twigs snapping under his pads. IT was just plain tranquility. This on the other hand was just a plain ramshackle. Well, the story anyway. Dang Author has ruined us. Why couldn’t he just make us up and leave. He had to go on and try to kill me and others every day, yet the worst part is, in this story, I CAN’T DIE. It must be the worst possible life for someone like me. Faro looked over at Theo, and was wondering if he hated the Author as much as Faro did. He turned to Theo cautiously and asked, “So, I head that there is this guy who writes stuff about us. Ever heard of him?”
Theo looked up immediately and let out a strangled squeak. His eyes narrowed and he responded, “If I did, and I knew this person personally, I would kill them.” Faro nodded and turned back to his glove. He located a hidden notch and turned it off. He stood up, looking around for danger.
“Alright, time to head out of here.” He said quietly. He stepped back towards the opening in the bushes and walked back towards the stream. Theo followed after Faro, glad to hear the tranquil, chuckling, stream. He strode briskly past Faro and stuck his hand into the cool water. He brought his mouth down to the water, drinking deeply. His throat protested and contracted together, getting used to the freezing water. It tasted so good, he hadn’t drunken for days. Faro watched him, a small smile appearing on his face. “Thirsty much?” Theo looked up, a sheepish grin on his face. He stuck his head back into the water, making squelching sounds. The gulping finally succeeded and Theo stood up, rubbing his mouth on his tattered sleeves.
