Fan Fiction ❯ Demon in Disguise: On Tamaran ❯ Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Whoa, dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "What is that?"
"I'm a Cocknelian, I am; and I won't let no body say otherwise!" The woman who had just entered the cell wore an indignant scowl on her magenta face.

"Have you always looked and talked like that, or is it just an act?" Robin, always the detective, asked.

"I always been Cocknelian, I have; and I won't be nothin' else."

"You talk funny." K'liah giggled. "You look kinda funny too."

The Cocknelian then glanced at her reflection in one of the steel walls, taking in her magenta skin, eyes, hair, and more or less human facial structure. "I talk and look just fine, Miss."

"Why are your teeth so pointy?"

"Because they are."

"I bet you've got some demon in you?" This sentence, voiced by Terra, was filled with hatred and contempt.

The magenta-skinned woman frowned: "No. But they're strong enough to snap yer neck."

"Are you trying to scare me?" Terra scoffed. "Because it's not working."

"What's your name?" the always curious K'liah, asked.

"Lizia." was the Cocknelian's one word reply.

"You a friend of Kath's?"

Lizia glanced over at the raven-haired Tamaranean, who wore a bored expression. "Yes Miss, I am."

"How did you meet. Your people aren't from Okaara, are they?" Robin wanted to know.

"After I escaped from the Gordanians, I needed to find a place far from their brutal influence." Kathrand'r spoke up. "I ended up on the planet Cocknelia, the home world of the Cocknelians, where I took refuge in a cave for several days without sustenance of any kind. My hunger, thirst, and depression soon got the better of me, and I left the cave in search of nutrients and companionship."

"What 'appened was is I 'eard a row outside." Lizia started. "So I go outside to break it up, because 'aving a row outside's bad fer business."

At the Titans confused expressions, Equinox quickly explained: "She owned a pub."

The Cocknelian took up from where she had left off: "So I walked aht to clock what all the bloomin' noise is about, and what did I clock? Well I'll tell yer. I clock a ruddy Tam, blatherin' on in Tamaranean, gettin' 'er arse kicked by some of me kind. Then I break the bloody row up an' send them drunks on their way. So then I get Kath inside, still cryin' and bleedin' and whatnot. She asks me fer some grub and Tamaranean ale, but we was all aht, so I rabbits to 'er dat we ain't got no more Tamaranean ale. But then I found 'er a Aristotle and I gave it to 'er, and she gets Brahms and Liszt. So, after somehow managin' to clean 'er up, I take 'er up to me room and put 'er to Uncle Ned. Then later Kath wakes up and she gets Tom and Hampton all over 'erself, so I--"

"Don't you ever shut up?" Terra interrupted the Cocknelian's nonsensical, to her at least, story.

Lizia glared. "There's manners fer yer! I'm tryin' to answer 'is question, and she goes and interrupts me! Yer need to be taught yer place, yer do!"

"You have an anger management problem, don't you?" the prisoner began.

"Same could be asked of yer, it could." Lizia shot back.

"Oh, now who's interrupting?" Terra glared. "Or are you just a drunk?"

Lizia turned on the blonde: "I ain't a juiced: Nobody's ever clocked the flamin' sign of alcohol on me... 'cept once."

"And lemme guess. It involved Equinox over there, didn't it?" the blonde asked smugly.

The Cocknelian looked confused. "What?"

"She means me, Lizia." Kathrand'r explained.

"Oh. And to answer 'er question, yes, it did. Remember dat time Kath?"

"How could I not?" Kathrand'r droned.

"Was that a night filled with unbridled passion?" This question, coming from Starfire, sounded so innocent and child-like that it made everyone turn round to see if some other unexpected person had entered.

"No, Koriand'r, it was most definitely not." Was Equinox's stone-cold reply.

"But later--" Lizia began, and then suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, Kathrand'r having just elbowed her hard in the side. "Never mind."

Terra suddenly spoke up: "Okay, fine, I'll tell you where the demon is, if, and only if, you'll make that Cock over there shut up for at least thirty seconds."

"So, where is she?" Robin interrogated.

"On the Gordanian homeworld." the blonde answered. "Oh, and you can just leave me here. I won't do anything, I promise."

"You've got to be kidding." Robin began. "Do you really think that we'll believe that, after all you've done?"

The prisoner glanced down at the floor: "No, I guess not."

"Come on, let's go." The leader of the Titans led Terra out of her cell, while gesturing for the rest of the group to follow them.

As she was about to exit, Lizia felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. "Hmm?"

"Thank you." Kathrand'r murmured.

"Not a problem. I'm always 'appy to 'elp yer whenever yer ask. If makin' 'er bleed didn't work, then me using rhymin' slang on 'er certainly would, and it did, thankfully."

The two then left, arm-in-arm.

A/N: Here's something which I got from The Cockney Internet, which may help you to understand Lizia's interesting speech pattern.

"Cockney is only partly the famous rhyming slang. It's also dropped 'H's at the beginning of words and syllables (be-ave yerself), 'th' replaced by 'f', dropped 'G's at the ends (listen ere, darlin), and glottal stops in the middle replacing 'T's and other unimportant consonants (a drin' a wa'er)." Converting /tmp/phpUa9m1h to /dev/stdout