Grey, Blue, and Red. (Rhiiii)

[Anonymous]

It was about time he got back into his element.

It had been just about five thousand years, and finally these apes were able to progress themselves to a point where they were almost in the same time as he had originally come from. Of course, his planet was…well his planet was a lot more civilized. There was no civil unrest and separated colonies on his planet. Carthax Feratul had seen to that by uniting everyone or killing those who chose not to join the Unification. They weren’t meant to live anyways, as those who couldn’t see the light were pathetic and had chosen their path.

Now though he was back into space, back to where he wanted to be.

He loved space.

It was endless, the expanse was amazing, there were so many people and beings out here, new ships to see, new planets to see, new natural anomalies to witness, like a super nova, a quasar, pulsars, everything was out there for him.

For them.

He had with him his…gorgeous Mistress and Lover (Which still felt funny to say), Demaht. This ship has been her idea, her creation for that matter. He wished for it, and she made it with her powers. Of course she made it to her standards, so it had a large…very large bedroom for them, complete with a magical bathtub of course, a full closet for all her clothes (Which he found odd since she could make clothes) and various other things. There was a Cargo hold at least, so they could store and transport stuff, more crew quarters in case they picked anyone up, and the fully stocked kitchen. Demaht hated the Food Replication Device; she said it could never quite make fruit like she wanted.

Tzak didn’t mind doing…well…almost everything. He cooked and piloted the ship, dealt with Communications and minor repairs. He got a whole lot more used to using Demaht’s powers to help out, though every once in a while she would make sure that he had to be very specific with his wishes. Kept him on his toes she always said.

The ship was large, red and gold mostly, painted to be her favourite colours of course. It was sleek and fast, with good shields and modest weapons. After all, he couldn’t lose in any of the space battles they went into, or else Demaht wouldn’t let him live that down. That was usually why he went for the diplomatic approach to things. That’s the only way to go after all. You almost never lost when you went that way.

Tzak currently resided in the cockpit of the ship. There were two very large leather chairs, as Demaht liked to sit beside him and…well bother him really. He learnt focus really quickly after that. Thankfully the ship wasn’t hard to manoeuvre and pilot, most of it was done by a specialized joystick, some engine controls and what not. There were many thruster controls, allowing the ship to dive back and forth, zig zag and swerve and perform some rather impressive acrobatics. Space was great like that. It also helped for when they went into asteroid fields and such.

A hand went down to his neck, where an amulet and necklace hung loosely. The thing that tied him and Demaht together. Several hundred years ago they figured a way to free Demaht…of course…it was better to have her with her powers, as when she was ‘free’ she lost those powers. The Gods really were a tricky bunch, and they had a sense of humour apparently…just not one that Demaht wanted. She was a treat to have with him though…he loved her, respected her, treated her like she should be, and in return…she finally was one who tried to do all those things back. Of course, she still ordered him around, but he loved that part of the relationship so…Ahem.

Outer space was dangerous as it was beautiful, just like Demaht was for that matter. Right now Tzak had one grey hand on the steering joystick, another was lazily hanging onto the engine control. Things had been dull. After a run in with some Mordecai Slave Traders, Tzak had decided they should push for a quick escape…and they had. Now they were simply floating along the outer fringes, and he was bored out of his mind. There had been a bit of excitement but they’d been on the fringes so many times it was losing its majesty.

That is until something rocked the ship and alarms began to go off, warning systems activating. What the hell?! It was the ship’s right Ionic Drive. Something had been sucked into the Converter and was sending everything into a frenzy of broken equipment. The object was small but it seemed to be lodged into the engines. Right away he shut off the engines, powering them down and quickly getting up from the seat. He pressed a button on the intercom system, no doubt Demaht was bathing.

“Demaht, we’ve got something stuck in the right engine. I’m going down to check it out; I might need your help in a little while.� He donned the grey protective jumpsuit that he had, having only been wearing a simply pair of pants and shirt before hand. This would protect him from the heat and such, just not his face. He couldn’t remember where he put the helmet but it didn’t matter. Running down the corridors, it wasn’t long before he got to the engine room. It was chaos inside, things were broken, steam was escaping from certain vents and pipes, and one of the main conduits had busted open and was leaking coolant into the system. Tzak sighed as he went to the drive intake, opening up the panel and covering his mouth and nose as smoke came out. Ugh, it stung his eyes and it smelled to high heaven. The thing was busted pretty well…and…huh. There was the problem.

It looked to be a strange ornate golden hoop of some sort.

It couldn’t have been made of gold though, as gold would have been torn up instantly. Whatever this really was…it must have been made of space ship material. It looked almost like a heating inductor from a Zipper Class ship. He couldn’t really tell though. Still…it looked more like a piece of decorative jewellery instead. Maybe Demaht would like it.

There should have been warning bells in Tzak’s mind, but there weren’t any. The piece looked almost familiar; almost like he had seen it before or….he really couldn’t say this time. Well, he might as find Demaht and show it to her. Heading to the bedroom, knowing she’d be there (After he of course stopped all the problems in the engine room) he found her of course lounging on the bed with one of the many old books she brought with her.

“Demaht, take a look at this…it’s what jammed up the engine. I…I think it’s either a bracelet or a heating coil…� And that’s when he did something that he really should have thought about. He slipped it onto his hand. “A little loose but it fits me actually…what are the odds of that?�

[Rhi-Rhi]

Demaht sighed blissfully as she reclined in the bathtub, inhaling the steam as it rose. Ah, nothing was better than a nice, long soak in hot water and scented oils. Of course, another person probably wouldn't have enjoyed her sort of bath; she was an ifrit and when she was alone she liked her water scalding hot. While she much preferred baths with company, it was really nice to just let go every now and then, let her own body heat up, and not have to worry about melting the skin off of anyone around her.

Not that she normally worried about that. Or at least she hadn't for quite a few millennia. A few millennia ago and she would have delighted in being able to case as much harm as she was capable of causing, and while she still did possess that sadistic streak--old habits were hard to break--it at least was far more controlled.

Still, she would never dream of harming Tzak. At least, not intentionally. She was still getting the hang of certain emotions and she still had a tendency to come off as insensitive and selfish. Which, well, she was to a certain degree, but that was beside the point!

The point was, she was trying. She was trying to be how she had once been, the Demaht she'd been before that whole debacle where the Gods had imprisoned the djinn and all that.

Grimacing, she sank down lower into the water until she was submerged up to her nose. That whole thing still left a bitter taste in her mouth. It was just best not to think about it.

Naw, instead she'd just focus on the wonderful scented steam, the hot water covering almost every inch of her body...smiling contentedly, she let her orange eyes drift shut. Mm...maybe once she was done, she'd go pester Tzak. Even after all these years he could be so shy, and there was nothing more hilarious than just heading on up to the bridge in nothing but her skin. Oh, sure, he tried to stay focused and block out her distractions, but she knew there was only so much he could take. Besides, he could use a little excitement! After that whole thing with the Mordecai, things had been rather slow, and there were only so many stars you could look at!

Ah, Tzak...even after all these years, she hadn't grown tired of him.

And she knew without a doubt that what she felt for him was love. Even if it was sometimes difficult to say and difficult to grasp...he knew she loved him, and she most certainly did, too.

Submerging herself completely to get her hair wet, Demaht resurfaced, pushed red hair back out of her eyes, reached for some soap--and promptly face-planted in the water when the ship rocked unexpectedly and the warning systems went off. She came back up sputtering, spitting out soapy water. Blech. What the hell was that?!

She found out soon enough when a voice spoke over the intercom.

And then she couldn't help but roll her eyes. He could have just wished for her to fix it, but...ah...whatever . She'd learned millennia ago that while Tzak was submissive, he wasn't weak and he did have something of an independent streak. He liked to do these things without having to wish and, while it was often frustrating, she had learned to let him.

So she would.

Standing up and stepping out of the tub, Demaht didn't even have to bother with a towel. The heat from her body was enough to evaporate the water from her skin and hair, and it took only a thought to make clothes appear on her body, her usual garb. Even after so many years, she still favored these clothes. She paused only to drain the tub before she headed out of the room, a wall of steam from the room following her, and walked up to their room. She was glad that Tzak had finally wished for her to be able to go more than twenty feet away from him. It really came in handy when she didn't want to spend the day staring at stars as he piloted the ship.

Once in their room she flopped onto her stomach on the bed, grabbed a book from the bedside table, and began to thumb through it. Well, if Tzak wanted to tinker with the ship, she'd just lounge around and relax until he said he needed help. Who knew how long it would be until he finally just admitted that he needed assistance.

It wasn't too long, though, before he headed into the room, and Demaht glanced up from her book, folded a corner to mark her place, and set it aside. "Well?" she began, but Tzak began to explain.

And held out something for her to see. What had been stuck in the engine, apparently.

A golden hoop.

Demaht's eyes narrowed a little, squinting. She didn't think it looked like a heating coil. Actually, it really did look like a bracelet...but how could it have jammed up the engine? A simple piece of jewellery would have been destroyed by--

It was then that, suddenly, a wave of familiarity and realization washed over her, making every muscle tense. And it was also at that exact moment when, as though in slow motion, she saw Tzak move to slip the bracelet onto his wrist.

Demaht's eyes widened and she launched herself off of the bed and onto her feet. "Wait, Tzak, no!" she yelled, but by then it was too late. The bracelet slipped onto his wrist and after that there was just nothing she could do but press her hand to her forehead and wait. And lay into Tzak. "Tzak, ya fool! Ya any idea what ya just did?! Take the bracelet off! Take it off!"

Too late.

The air in front of them began to shimmer in a strange way, like a mirage, before it suddenly started to take on a shape, started to solidify, and all Demaht could do was stare intensely at the spot as though trying to will it out of existence. Of course, that didn't work, and in a matter of mere seconds a woman was standing before them both, tall, beautiful, but still transparent and shimmery; it almost looked like she was made out of liquid. It took a few more seconds before the woman truly solidified into a flesh and blood form.

Well...flesh and blood. For a djinn.

Taller than Demaht at five foot eight, the woman gave the other djinn a cursory, disinterested glance before turning her gaze to the one who had summoned her with equal disinterest. Quite unlike Demaht's bronze skin, her skin was a pale blue and her long, straight hair, falling to her waist in dark blue and green strands, had a strange quality to it. It looked somehow wet and it moved in an odd way, curling around her her and swaying as though she were underwater. It was quite obvious that if Demaht was fire, she was definitely water.

Her garments, or what there were of them, were blue and made of some sort of shimmery fabric that was still thin and gauzey like Demaht's clothing, and her style of dress was no more modest. A strapless top just covered her breasts while a low-cut skirt covered her lower body, slit high up the sides to expose her legs and bare feet. Aside from some strings of pearls woven into her hair and a golden bracelet on her left wrist, she wore no jewelry and not even her pointed ears were pierced.

The new djinn was no longer staring at Tzak but was instead gazing around the bedroom curiously. It was apparent that she found that far more interesting than the two beings in front of her--either that, or she was making a deliberate effort to ignore them. She even turned away from them both and began to walk slowly around the room, brushing her fingers over a dresser top here, picking up an old book and thumbing through it there, and Demaht was seething as she watched and undecided as to whether she was more angry with the other djinn just for existing or with Tzak for summoning her.

Gods be damned...Tzak had no idea what he'd just done, did he?

Finally, when the djinn went and started poking at her computer, Demaht couldn't take it any longer. She tossed her hair irritably and took a step forward. "Stop that! Whaddya want?"

"What do I want? It was your master who summoned me, Demaht," the djinn replied calmly, finally turning around and looking at Tzak again. Demaht didn't seem at all surprised that the djinn knew her name; the truth was, all the djinn knew each other, if only in passing. The djinn tilted her head a little to the right and tapped her lips with her index finger. "Hmm...how odd. I don't think I've ever heard of one person acquiring two djinn. Interesting. Well, Demaht? Stop being rude. Be a good slave, now, and introduce me to your...master."

Demaht ground her teeth together. A marid. Tzak managed to get ahold of a bloody marid. No. No, she was not staying. They were going to correct this here and now. Spinning sharply, she turned to Tzak and stabbed a finger at the bracelet he wore. "Take if off, Tzak. That's Saritsu. She's a marid," she said, not caring if he had no clue what one of those were. Oh, he'd find out soon enough. "I dunno how the hell ya found another djinn, but ya take that bracelet off now an' toss it back into space! Gods be damned! Don'tcha know better'n to put on random jewellery?! What possessed ya to do that?! You're a man, ya don't needa wear girly golden bracelets so why'd ya even put it on?!"

Saritsu only gave a mild smirk and turned away from the two, going back to investigating her new surroundings and not seeming to really care about them. She was more interested in learning more about where she was and what the year was, now. She had no idea how long she'd been trapped in that bracelet, but from the looks of things, the world was vastly different from where she'd left off.

[Anonymous]

Tzak very much enjoyed having Demaht with him. She was always a strange breath of fresh air. She knew so much, and she loved to share all the information she could with him, and he was eager to learn. Well. In most subjects. Even after these thousands of years he was still a little...embarrasse d on a few of the subjects that Demaht liked to talk about. Some things should be kept very quiet and private...like...no t even leaving the mind. Her mouth was quick and liked to run away with words.

At least he was used to her warmth finally.

Scalding temperatures didn't as much affect him, as he wished for greater resistance so he could be with her when she went to bathe. It was a water saver and well, he liked to wash her hair and give her manicures and pedicures. Those sort of things were actually kind of fun for him, he got to spend a lot of time with her and she often talked about the strangest things there. Mostly about her life before the incident with the Gods...And other things. Things she saw before him, he wanted to know everything, past owners, things she had done. He didn't much feel like having any surprises happen, or for that matter, he wanted to know most of her tricks.

Still, there were times that she lied, she was never good at hiding those but...

He humoured her.

And she seemed to humour him...

They loved each other. She didn't always know how to show that, and he showed it all the time, but she would eventually get it. She had changed vastly over the years and well, that was actually nice to know that she could change, it just took...well...you know, several thousand years.

Hey, still, she had been alive for much longer so to know she had changed in such a technically small amount of time...It actually worked itself out.

There was no real time to think about that. He had to go through the motions of an emergency on the ship. There was always something, at least this time it wasn't pirates, self replicating robots eating the ship, the wrong kind of fuel burning through all the energy converters, and not to mention the incident that involved that weird biological metal eating sentient liquid. Ugh, that had been a handful and a half.

Now what though?

What could it be? A laser shot, maybe a torpedo hit, asteroid got through the shield, solar pulse or something? On land, these things were really actually quite easy to solve. However now in space there were vast possibilities. He hated vast things sometimes, because they could always be a hassle and a headache. ugh.

The answer was astonishing to this question though.

It was...something for that matter.

Of course Tzak had no clue until of course he slipped it on and then Demaht began to yell. For a split second he feigned total innocence until he realized it. The answer was in front of him. What was completely indestructible unless it had an owner? A Djinn's jewelry. That was when something began to happen. Something started to form in front of him and he knew exactly what it was. It was...water? No of course it wasn't...It couldn't be water because then...it became something else. It was a person.

A woman for that matter.

His hand was on the bracelet but he couldn't bear to take it off. He had brought it into existence again. It...would be wrong to suddenly take that away, wouldn't it? Who knows how long this Djinn had been stuck in the bracelet after all. Still...

She seemed...just as beautiful as Demaht. Her hair looked completely damp for that matter, but he was pretty sure that it was actually dry. Still...she was the exact opposite of Demaht it seemed. One was fire and the other was water...Oh dear. Well...Hm. At least he was...eh...stone so he would be able to be a barrier between them then! If it lasted that long. Demaht REALLY didn't seem to like her, and the other one seemed...very...ehm ...disinterested.

"What is it with Djinn and no clothes?" Tzak muttered quietly to himself as he looked from Demaht to the new Djinn, then back to Demaht. He hadn't a clue what to say. Though Demaht was livid when she started touching her stuff and going through things. Tzak wondered who might speak first. Probably not this new Djinn...Demaht seemed more appropriate. And of course she did.

"Summoned...right..." Why couldn't there be a code word you had to say or something like that to summon Djinn instead of just putting the jewellery on and being done at that. Tzak blinked a few times though as the Djinn seemed to know Demaht. Oh Shadows that couldn't be right now could it? "I must have the worst luck over or...maybe the best luck ever...I...Ehm..." Alright this couldn't be good at all. Two Djinn. How could he possibly end up with TWO Djinn?! It just...it really didn't make any sense! This had to be a dream. Yeah! He must have passed out in the engine room from the gasses or maybe something hit himself in the head. He did even pinch himself while Demaht and the other Djinn were talking.

Then of course she was suddenly yelling at him. "Marid? Aren't they the...other Djinn the um..." Tzak could feel it. It was like...a million male souls around the universe, in other realms, in other dimensions just yelling the same thing. "DON'T SAY IT." That's all he could hear. "The other Djinn." That's all he could say. Don't say anything about how they were created first or anything like that. No, stay careful with THAT one of course. "I just...thought that...and then I...erm...I...ahem. .." He looked down to the bracelet and started to slip it off but then he sighed and shook his head. He couldn't do it.

"I can't do that Demaht. You know I can't...It's just...She deserves to live like you do and...I'm sorry." He coughed before he turned to look at Saritsu. He hadn't heard much of these Djinn, just that...well they were arrogant. He dealt with arrogance like...well...with Demaht. Of course they were supposed to be a whole lot more arrogant that the Ifrit of course.

"I'm Tzak miss Saritsu and...I'd just like to say that erm...you shouldn't call me master. I'm...well...erm...people are more my masters. Mostly Demaht of course...So is there anything I should...really know about the Marid? I'll tell you this I won't be making any wishes with you...I barely make wishes with Demaht anymore either." That's right Tzak, just be nice, be humble, be meek, know your place and all that. Hopefully things...ah Shadows who was he kidding, this was going to be at least ten times more difficult than Demaht. Ugh.

Ten thousand years then is how long he'd have to wait till she was different.

Terrific.

Well, at least...it would be a challenge.