Jaki's World
Chapter Three: Protecting Jaki's World
by Naia Zifu
Jaki was in high spirits as he made the last pass of his afternoon patrols.
The woman had promised to bring him back a special surprise when she came
back in from outside today, and he couldn't wait to see what it was! Usually
he was all business when it came to patrolling his tank, but this once he
decided to take a detour to rub up against that tall plant with all the tiny
little leaves. He always liked the way those leaves massaged his body as they
brushed against him, and had just turned to make another pass when he spotted
something blue in his peripheral vision. As he stopped and peered around
to see it properly, he noted it was a little azure lizard with a long tail
and a ruffle of skin around its head. Not including its tail, it was only
a bit larger than Jaki, so of course he wasn't at all frightened.
Flaring his frilly black and gold fins as big as they would go, he charged
at the intruder. The lizard quickly ran away and disappeared over the edge
of the table on which his tank sat. Jaki turned and began to swim away, feeling
quite pleased with himself. . . until he began to have the distinct feeling
of being watched. He turned around to find the blue lizard sitting by the
wall of his tank once again, head inclined slightly as it stared at him. Flaring
his fins once again, he charged at the lizard, but it didn't run this time.
In fact, it licked the outside wall of his tank with its purple forked tongue.
Of course, that only infuriated Jaki all the more, to the point where he
slapped the side wall of the tank right in front of the lizard's face with
his tail. Fortunately, that made the lizard run off and disappear over the
edge of the table again. Unfortunately, it also made Jaki's tail sore, so
he turned to swim away a bit more slowly and cautiously than before. He returned
to the tall plant to rub his injured tail against it in hopes the massage
would make it feel better. Once in a while he would look around to make sure
the lizard hadn't come back, and was relieved to see it hadn't.
Jaki heard the door open and close, and swam as quickly as his still slightly
sore tail would take him to the other side of the tank. The woman who took
care of him came in wearing a sleeveless pale orange top and white pants,
both of which were now streaked with dirt from being outside. Her hair was
braided and pinned up in what looked like a complex serpentine style. Though
she was dirty and sweaty, and her cheeks softly flushed from exertion, she
was beaming.
"Have you been a good boy while I was gone?" she asked.
Jaki swam in happy little circles. . . not as tight as usual due to his
sore tail, but it got the point across. He'd actually been even more than
just good today; he'd protected his world from an invading lizard!
"Well, then, I think someone deserves a surprise."
From seemingly nowhere she pulled a piece of pottery, white with a band
of shining gold around the lip. Though the jar was complete, it was also
quite small. He looked at the woman questioningly. Where had this come from?
Who had made it? What had it been originally used for? Did finding such a
thing mean there were other creatures like her on this planet? Jaki wasn't
sure how he felt about that possibility. Though he wanted the woman to be
happy, and having others like her around would help with that, he also rather
liked having her all to himself.
As if oblivious to his questions, the woman simply took the piece of pottery
away to properly wash and check it for sharp or ragged edges. She never put
anything in the tank without doing that, as she didn't want to risk Jaki possibly
getting hurt. He supposed all he could do was wait and watch for her to return.
And then the lizard came back.
©2008 Naia Zifu ([email protected]), all rights reserved.
Galaxia is a SM character I don't own rights to. Jaki is a black
and gold halfmoon betta fish given to Galaxia by Neo Queen Serenity while
she was guest-starring in a holiday special over on Court Intrigue. As
always, I'm not trying to make money off anyone else's ideas.
Jaki's World started out as a way to amuse myself while waiting for actual
gaming to begin on This Chaotic Universe (http://chaoticuniverse.proboards105.com),
and meant to take place during that version of reality. I'll likely
do some fic along a similar line, however, which these should just as easily
fit into.