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Post by Lucien DeChain on Sept 1, 2013 21:01:23 GMT -8
The Weight One Carries
-Your greatest flaw, personified-
Format:
Single.
Reward:
Choice of +4 EXP, or $1200
Scenario:
Imagine if fear had a face. If your own sadness could speak. Your own strongest negative emotion, as a person. What would they say? What would they do? How would your character interact with their own worst fear?
Requirements:
- 1,200 word minimum
- Role-play your character meeting its personified emotion. You are free to design what they look like, as long as it is human.
- You must play through 1 day being accompanied by this person. The next day, they are gone.
- This one is pretty open ended, so be creative. Think about what your character would do. Does your character still have that emotion that the person is tied to? Is it gone while near that person? Does the person know that they are tied in that way? Are they clueless?
- Have Fun!
This Monthly Event ends on Sunday, September 29th.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Sept 24, 2013 8:53:08 GMT -8
’Hmmhmhmhmhahahaha…’
Olesya sat bolt upright in bed, multi-colored eyes darting around for the source of the sound. A laugh that dripped with malevolence, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, made her skin crawl…she’d heard it before.
’Hmmhmhmhmhahahaha…’
Again. She hadn’t been dreaming, much to her chagrin. In the shadow of the room, where the morning light didn’t touch, a woman leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. She was tall and ghostly thin, with long disheveled auburn and violet hair and ice blue eyes that glowed unnaturally from the shadows.
It was her worst nightmare.
”Ophelia?”
”Good morning, sunshine.”
The shadow sneered, malice dripping from every syllable. Olesya’s skin crawled, and she felt like she’d been doused in ice water. She sat up straighter, her hands grabbing fists-full of sheets, her knuckles white.
”But…b-but how? You’re me…or you WERE me…I’m a different person now!”
”Are you really? Do you think that you can truly get rid of me? The chemicals are gone, but ‘the damage has already been done.’ Your saintly doctor said it himself…you’re stuck with me forever.”
”Lies! It’s all lies! Shut up!”
Olesya bounded out of bed, stumbling toward the shower. She turned on the water to ice cold, catapulting into the tub still dressed. It was a nightmare, it was only a nightmare. Maybe she was still partially asleep; she had to have been hallucinating. There was no way that her alternate identity could manifest as a real person! She had to be dreaming…
After twenty minutes, the white haired woman stepped out of the shower, shivering. She peeled off her soaked tshirt and boxers, drying herself off and wrapping herself in a towel. Now thoroughly awake, she felt confident that the object of her nightmares had dissipated with the morning light. She wrung out her bed clothes and tossed them in the hamper on her way out of the bathroom. She returned to her room, managed to get dressed and finish her morning routine without any further incident. She kissed Maddie on the forehead, ushering her out the door to school like she did every morning, though when she closed the front door…there she was again.
”Cute kid.”
”The fuck!?”
Olesya nearly had a heart attack, stumbling backward away from the front door, nearly taking out a kitchen chair in the process. She stared at the psychotic incarnation of herself with fear, like she was seeing a ghost.
”Wha-why are you here?! I thought I was dreaming…”
”HAHAhahaha…if only. But I see you’ve made yourself a cute little family, brava.”
”You keep her out of this.”
Olesya snarled, instantly defensive. Dealing with her own demons was one thing, but she would die before letting them harm Maddie. Maddie was too young, too pure for such absolute corruption and evil. She had never seen Olesya at her worst, and she would never see that if Olesya had her way.
”How cute. Mama bear protecting her baby bear…but how long do you think you can protect her until she finds out?”
”What-?”
”How long until you drag her down into the mire that you have created?”
”I’d never-!”
”You’ll destroy her and everyone you love sooner or later, Olesya-“
Olesya dashed out the door, running full-tilt toward the medical facility. She skipped over a couple boxes and barrels, dodged the early morning traffickers and skidded to a halt in from of the main medical building in record time. She raised her fist to pound on the door and froze, another idea striking her. Doc wouldn’t understand her dilemma, he hadn’t been the one to treat her. There was only one person in the entire world who knew what to do about this, who had brought her back from the brink of destruction.
She kicked off, taking to the sky and heading North as fast as she could fly. Within an hour she was touching down at a gutted apartment complex that had been reborn as a medical facility. The ‘halfway house’ as it were, where Dr Oliver Twist worked. His treatments were unorthodox, but sometimes you had to think outside of the box to cure someone, like Olesya. She landed hard, stumbling as she took off at a run toward the door.
”Doctor Twist!”
”He’s with a patient right now, can I help you?”
The receptionist answered politely, unfazed by her haggard appearance. Olesya took a couple deep breaths to steady herself before speaking. She leaned on the doorway for support, her head spinning.
”I just…I need him. There’s something…someone…following me…”
The receptionist’s eyes widened.
”Are you in danger, miss?”
”No. Yes. I don’t know. It’s not…it’s…”
”How about you go lay down for a couple minutes, take room three. I’ll send the doctor in as soon as I can.”
Olesya went down the hall, entering the second door on the left. The bottom floor of the building was all of Doctor Twists offices. The second floor was his home, and had been gutted and rebuilt to accommodate him and his family. The upper floors were all ‘apartments’ for his patients. Olesya had lived here for a couple years while she was recovering. It was certainly more homey than the asylum he’d found her in. She laid down on the bed, curled up in the fetal position until Doctor Twist came in . He was a tall man, lean, and very limby. He had wild orange hair that curled like springs, and was receding from his temples. A pinc-nez sat on his nose.
”Oleysa…what a surprise. I didn’t expect to see you again.”
”Doc, I’ve got a problem…”
Dr Twist set his files down on the counter, taking his stethoscope and checking her vitals as she explained.
”Someone’s…following me. But, it’s me. I’m following me…but it’s…it’s the identity I had before, back when I was crazy. I see…Ophelia.”
”When did this start happening?”
He checked her pupils.
”This morning. I woke up…and she was there. Talking to me. Mocking me. Following me…it’s like…I can’t get rid of her.”
”Of course you can’t.”
Olesya jumped up as if she’d been electrified, staring at her own ghost. Doctor Twist looked around, not seeing anything. He looked back at her, puzzled and a bit concerned. Olesya clenched her fists, knuckles white, she was shaking.
”She’s here!”
”Who’s here?”
”Ophelia...”
”Olesya…I'm going to have you sit down and take a couple deep breaths…”
”I’m inside you.”
Olesya clamped her hands over her ears.
”SHUT UP!”
{color=purple]”I am you.”[/color]
”NO YOU’RE NOT!”
”Olesya!”
”You’re nothing but a monster…just like me.”
”NO! STOP IT! STOP IT! STO-!”
Doctor Twist withdrew the needle from Olesya’s arm, and she slumped back onto the bed. He disposed of the needle, having stabbed her with a tranquilizer to calm her hysteria. He lifted her legs, moving her onto the bed in a more comfortable position and covering her with a blanket.
”I’m sorry Olesya, it seems we have more work to do.”
---
The following morning, Olesya awoke from her tranquil dreamless slumber. She had been moved to one of the vacant apartments on the third floor. She would have jumped to her feet in alarm if her head didn’t feel like it weighed a hundred pounds. She slowly sat up, holding her head. The attendant who had been sent to watch her stepped forward with a glass of water and an aspirin. Olesya accepted it gratefully, taking the aspirin and washing it down with the entire cup of water.
”Where’s Doc?”
”With a patient, I believe, but he told me to come fetch you when you woke. Excuse me.”
She left the room, leaving Olesya to her own devices. The room looked exactly like the one she had lived in for several years when she was recovering. It was a simple studio apartment, there was a bed, dresser, desk and chair for furniture, and a bathroom and kitchen and closet by the door. It was almost like she’d gone back a couple years, and was still here. With how the last 24 hours of her life had been, it was a bit unnerving.
Doctor Twist arrived a few minutes later, and he smiled genuinely, taking the chair from the desk and turning it around to face Olesya where she sat on the bed.
”You were out for about 18 hours.”
”Was I?”
”Yes, I had no choice but to sedate you. You were hysterical.”
”I’m sorry-“
”Don’t be. There’s a likelihood that the damages done by the chemicals can cause some lingering side effects long after the chemicals are gone. I’m not entirely surprised.”
”But…she talked to me.
”Most likely your subconscious taking advantages of the hallucination. …Do you see her now?”
Olesya looked around the room.
”No.”
”I want to follow up with you, keep an eye on your progress, alright? Once a week, starting now, I want to see you in my office for a check up. My guess is that you were under a lot of stress for one reason or another, and the combination of exhaustion, stress, and post-traumatic stress caused the episode. I want to keep you under supervision for a bit though, just in case. My attendant, Mirielle, will take up residence in Dragon Territory with you, she can work in your health center and send me regular reports.”
”If she’s there, will I need the weekly check ups?”
”And miss a chance to see your smiling face? Never. Once a week, my office. You are who you choose to be, remember that. Take care, Les.”
He ruffled the top of her head before excusing himself to go check on his other patients. Olesya took a few minutes to continue to wake up. She got some food from the cafeteria and headed out back home, shaking the haunting she’d gotten just a day before. You are who you choose to be.
Word Count: 1,646
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Kyrie Blaze
Adept
Ex-Shadow Dragon
Sív pide köd. And I Shall Choose Love.
Posts: 174
200x300 Avatar: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/397862536277524482/456939463810088960/200300KyrieSidebar.png
OOC Name: Arararashi
250x350 Avatar: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/397862536277524482/456939466469146624/250350KyrieSidebar.png
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Post by Kyrie Blaze on Sept 30, 2013 21:22:50 GMT -8
. o O ( Timeline wise, this takes place before "Liberation", a WIP PM/Skype RP that will be posted as soon as it is completed, and also takes place before "Keep Your Friends Close", which follows "Liberation".
Playlist:
Wordcount: 2469 (without OOC note, code, and quote from 'The Enemy'). EXP please. <3 )
El Enemigo
The Enemy
At the end of the journey,
we remember only one battle:
the one we fought against ourselves,
the original enemy.
The one that defined us.
~ Adrianna Catena
&
Alejandro Vigil
'Push, push, push.'
She had been up the vast majority of the night, but it wasn't about to stop her. Kyrie brushed her hand against her forehead. She had a lot to think about. A lot had gone on. From whether or not to accept an entrance into the anonymous gathering that Michael Connor had extended the invite to - and wasn't that a little suspicious, anyway? if she hadn't picked up on his mannerisms, if she hadn't been able to tell the words he said with the offer were genuine, she would have seriously considered simply tailing to the meeting place to ensure it wasn't a trap; his...distaste towards Barker was genuine - to David making what was a temporary return...
Her night had actually been with him.
And as such she had no excuse but to be back out, hard at work--not that she had made excuses before. Even when she was suffering before she had fled to Delilah, she kept to her duties with little to no sleep.
Her mind turned back. Last night David had asked her to go with him--to live either with or next door to him. And with the assumption that despite what she had told and given Olesya, and that he had already spoke with the white-blonde woman and chose otherwise, she’d said she would like to, yet realized he needed time and space. If anything, the option of living more nearby was something she could likely do, though daily she would have had to come back to Dragon Territory if she were to live next to him, as she still had duties and obligations.
And no less than a minute later, David said he would need to return to Olesya, to talk with her, and that he was concerned if Maddie or Olesya—if something happened... The blonde closed her eyes, briefly. He gave hope and inadvertently took it back in such a short amount of time that she hadn’t known what to do. But she could see that something like that was easy to do when one was hurt or undecided.
The steady cadence of her footfalls – accompanied by two other sets – gave her something to set her heartbeat to. Something to concentrate on. She took her mind from it; the night, otherwise, had been special to her. She hadn’t been joking in the slightest when she had said she wanted to enjoy what time she had with him. Despite the hurt, she forgave, because she didn’t want each time she could be near him to be tinged with regret. She forgave and moved forwards.
And hoped it was with him despite how much she had given to Olesya.
Parting ways with him, today, she wondered when he would go to her. But such wandering and wondering thoughts would only trouble her. She couldn’t deny the nervous flutter to her heart. She had such fierce hope and love that she held tight to it, knowing he loved her in turn made things both harder and easier. Easier because she wasn't alone, either.
Harder because even knowing, she'd given herself no chance.
In truth, her choice had been made up before she thought she even had one to begin wi--
Rounding a corner, she nearly ran smack-dab into someone. Kyrie threw herself forward on an angle, rolling off her shoulder and twisting her body to turn to face whomever it was. Chase jumped to the side--and Dillon with him. They turned, stopped, and watched as Kiyr faced...absolutely nothing.
"Hey, Kiyr, what do you see?" Dillon probed, at the ready with his other two companions. Chase remained silent and watchful.
The blonde, however, was staring straight at herself, eyes widening and narrowing and widening again. And she was staring right back. Kyrie's double was polished, hair long, soft, and with smooth curls. A light shimmer of makeup was on her face. Even her clothes helped to create the image of beauty: pristine, pressed, no dirt, no holes, and in a style that hugged her body without revealing anything.
"Why didn't you let us have a chance, Kyrie?"
"Kiyr?" Chase spoke at the same time, causing the two names to overlap. He was hoping to take her from her silence. She had done this, before, sometimes. Mostly when she had first started working with them. Sometimes it took a few tries to draw her out, though from where he stood he couldn't tell if her gaze was far-off or not.
She stared, hard, at herself a moment. Deciding she didn't wish to speak and draw more concern from the two men waiting on her, Kyrie narrowed her eyes and instead thought her response, her expression and eyes betraying nothing. 'You know why.'
Chances were likely that if it was one of Barker's tricks, she wouldn't hear. So when her image's eyes widened and then narrowed in outrage, she was pretty sure this had something to do with a lack of sleep and emotional turmoil; the only thing was...was that the blonde wasn't mentally unstable--not to have hallucinations of herself, though she still struggled with what Mason did to her. Her apparition gave a gasp of indignant denial and started to speak.
The blonde looked over her shoulder at her two companions, effectively both seeming to ignore her double and cut her off. "Apologies, my Brothers. I thought I saw something."
Her two scouting partners nodded and gestured forward. They set out at a run once again. And Kyrie's "imaginary" companion leaped forward, too. It seemed she could easily run and keep up, even with heels.
"Say it!" She hissed, blue eyes flashing and bright with tears.
'No. I have no need. You can hear my thoughts. You know, already.'
"Why? Why do you throw away our chance at happiness? Do you not love him? Do you not want to be with him!?"
'Everyone deserves a chance to be happy. Of course I love him, and I want to be with him more than I can express in words. But what I want is irrelevant.' Kyrie navigated turns with her two companions with ease. They were nearly done their patrol slot.
"But you are hurting! I am hurting! Does that mean nothing? Make it stop! I cannot bear to see you hurt. And you do--do not deny it! Do you not deserve happiness, too? That everyone deserves happiness is only a partial reason!"
'I am not denying anything of the sort...' Because she was hurting. The dull throb in her chest... But she also knew that David - regardless of what she had or hadn't said to Olesya - would have tried to come to an understanding with the white-blonde, at least. Because even though he had a mountain of pride, that very same pride would not let him be at odds with a person he loved. 'I wish I could make it stop. With time, if things go...if my words got through that much to Olesya...it will take time to move on. Or, there is the highly unlikely chance he...could choose me. Otherwise, my own happiness will come...in time.'
"What if you never find love? What if nobody ever loves you again? What then?"
'That is a chance I have no choice but to take. Before I even realized I had a choice...it was made for me. By me. Because of my beliefs.'
"So tell me why. Just admit it, already!"
Silence. Kiyr was not giving up the ghost. She grit her teeth but bid a fond but temporary farewell to her two companions and moved onwards, hours later. Despite the continued questions, the pokes and prods, she was silent. Her thoughts were directed elsewhere. She had business to attend to.
She ran. The woman that was herself swerved ahead, causing the blonde to twist and take a detour.
"Seek him out--apologise. Get him back. Tell him you love him. Show him you love him. Ask him to stay--and stay with us! Do something, just don't give up!" The distress was more than showing through at this point. Those blue eyes that were an exact replica of her own flashed. Violence in the day as she demanded a revelation. Demanded for Kyrie to admit to them both what she kept in her heart.
What she already acknowledged and admitted to herself.
The blonde hardened her eyes despite the sheen of tears. She refused to acknowledge her double with a response. How many of these other thoughts had she had since giving Olesya that gift and sacrificing her own happiness?
Once, she had told Delilah...
Her gaze turned up as she pushed into a building and rushed the stairs, taking them two at a time, sometimes three.
Push, push, push.
By the time she got to the top, she was panting, hard. This was starting to take a toll. The tears glinted but she stood strong.
"What? Do you not think yourself good enough for David? Do you think you can survive without him? Thrive? Live?" Those blue eyes sharpened and glinted, wicked and almost mad. "Mason would take yo--"
Kyrie hissed a growled word: "No..!"
Some part of her realized that this was merely something to get her to lash out. To get her to say and admit aloud what she couldn't. Not yet.
Eyes brightening to a fevered pitch, her apparition pressed her advantage, interrupting to provoke more of a reaction. She had turned from concerned and even oddly protective to something more malicious.
Desperate.
...once, she had told Delilah that one of her greatest faults was avarice. But not a greed for material things, though at that point she hadn't elaborated.
"No? So you will go to Levi, then? Levi would take you, broken or whole! You could even get him to love him if you put in a little effort! You could have a family and be happy. Your dreams, all of them, come true!"
Kyrie went chalk-white and flung herself away, across the rooftop and the rows of fruit and vegetables that were ready for picking. She had come to her first garden for some peace of mind and to gauge just how many baskets she would need for each level.
"No!" Came the immediate shout of terrified denial after shaking herself out of her stricken stupor. To say those things..! Kyrie's blue eyes stretched, wide, in her face. This hurt--her double mentioning Mason hadn't hurt, it had just terrified. This? This both hurt and terrified her. She didn't want Levi. At one point, she had feelings for him, yes. But those feelings were gone. Long gone.
Sounds echoed in her ears. In her mind. The rustle of paper against a table. Two left hands, intertwined, the glint of rings on the fourth finger of each hand. Shivered breath. "...ready for us to really get our lives started..." A blank space. A shift. David holding a bottle. And then....then the sight of David holding onto Aryanna.
"My self-worth is not based on obtaining a relationship! I said my happiness would come in time if not with David--and it will." She had to believe that. She had to hold on to the things that made enduring everything worth it. "Besides--I am happy in my own way, now. Happy to be able to love him as much as I do. Happy to be loved in return by him! I have family. I have friends and food and security even though now or any moment in the future Barker or his soldiers could strike me down. And I am grateful and could never regret a moment of the great gifts I have been given despite all the pain that is part of the price...but I will never be able to love Levi again and I am not so desperate to seek him out for such a farce. He let me down and the only place I could trust him is on the battlefield--but only just, and only so long as I am able to defend myself. My reasons otherwise are my own on that."
Kyrie's eyes flashed in the deep twilight. It had been a long day. Her hair streamed in the breeze. As her double's did. She advanced, backing the manifestation of her own flaws and doubts towards the corner of the roof. And still, once more, just once more, Kyrie's "tormenter" pressed.
"If you can admit that why can't you say why you gave Olesya so much! I know you regret it! Just come out with it!"
Blue eyes flashed in the dark. Kyrie stopped, planting her feet roughly shoulder-width apart. She stared for a long moment.
"No." The word was carefully stated. Firm and unyielding. She would not break on this. "You are right. What I said is only a partial answer. Just like what I told Olesya. The only one that needs to know why I did what I have is David. And he only has but to ask and I will tell him, because I can do no less but be wholly honest with him. More than that, I want to."
Her body moved in sudden, fluid motion. She twisted, one leg sweeping up as the blonde's hips moved with the motion, torquing her body to add power. 'The only other person that needs to know is myself. I do not need to 'admit' anything to you. You know. You are me, after all. You simply can not accept because you crave that which needs to be freely given.'
For a second, as Kyrie's leg struck her counterpart's chest cleanly, there was a moment of solidity. And then her leg passed through as the apparition cried out a denial and dissipated to nothing. Bringing her foot to the dirt of the rooftop grove, Kyrie slowly sank to her knees, breathing heavily, panting her breaths out as she curled her fingers gently into the dirt. There were soft sobs, there, but they were quick to quiet.
She had her reasons. And true to her word, she would only reveal them if the person they were for asked. It still hurt, but, at the same time...she was softly proud of herself. She knew what was right and wrong. She would never bow to her need to be loved--she would never stoop so low to seek it from a source she did not trust--a source that her feelings had withered in regards to him.
The blonde tipped her head back and looked up at the stars, wondering if that sinking dread would be true. That David would stay with Olesya.
'...I do not know if she is aware of what that cost me...'
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Sept 30, 2013 22:07:44 GMT -8
Monthly closed, exp awarded. Thanks to those who participated!
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Post by Bastille Amtrum on Sept 30, 2013 22:12:03 GMT -8
((woops, was late because of color editing- totally understand if its not okay, ill just post it anyway))
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Bastille didn't have a worst fear per-say...she really couldn't explain the emotion. Fear to her, or at least what others labeled for her as fear- was the feeling as if an abyss had just opened inside your stomach and was sucking everything out of you. Logically this was impossible, and the simple reminder of this fact made it easy for Bastille to work through such anxiety.
She lay on a bed, her hair damp and sticking to her forehead as the sweat ran out of her body like morning condensation. Everything burned her skin, especially the small sliver of sunlight coming from a window just behind her on the back wall...towards the ceiling. Oddly metaphorical, so it seemed Barker had a sense of humor. Blood poured from the places she had activated her qi...which as all over her body. Joining the sweat was the intense smell of coppery and rich red blood. It felt like tiny lacerations had been made to her entire body on a microscopic level. Her chest rose and fell like that of a runner after a marathon, and her throat was like sandpaper. Worse, was that her hands and feet were bound by ice cold metal, which only burned her skin more- just as much as it soothed it. Licking her charred lips, her red eyes scanned the room. Nothing...it was silent....except for that irritable sound. The sound of her own blood pooling around her on the table she was strapped too...and plipping to the floor like the ticking of a clock.
Things that Bastille feared....
While her childhood was a foggy blur of reality, at least to the present personality, the rest of her life was crystal clear. Trauma had forced her brain to almost completely restart...through the formation of alter egos, almost completely separate personalities, usually dominated by the one. Knight. Princess and Witch stayed quiet , although Witch often gave her input and came out when necessary. Princess...well she was locked away for reasons even Knight had forgotten.
Drip. Drip. Dri-drip.
Right...things she feared.
Like any sane person- the likes of which group she proudly accredited herself- she feared death. Again, what she knew of fear....
drip. drip. drip.
She feared someone harming her children, ...
Her husband's recklessness getting himself killed- really with him there were hundreds of options.
Her brother abandoning her again...or worse, dying...
drip drip drip...
Barker getting his hands on her, or worse her family....the one she never thought she'd ever have...What was that? In the mirror...a forest, a giant house.....and old 18th century english manor...fog, dark clouds... seriously? Right now?
drip drip...drip
Something was coming from the house, a figure... in the upper window staring down at her....at the mirror- no
drip drip drip drip drip
through the mirror into her cell...
That hollow feeling in her stomach was suddenly there, and all she knew to do was raise a brow...this was too real. Perhaps the pit in her stomach was real.
drip drip drip
The figure stared at her, and she couldn't make it out....it was looking closer and closer as if the room around her, her cell was being lifted and pulled towards the room.
Bastille shook against her shackles- this had to be the drugs.
drip drip drip
something behind the figure
drip drip drip
Now that you mention it, clocks held a certain brand of irritation for Bastille. She enjoyed quiet places, and every time she heard another tick at a clock she would strain- furrowing her brow as if she had a headache.
the clock in her fathers study. It ticked away as the green jacobine wallpaper around it seemed to hollow out. Tick tick tick...just like the dripping of blood, it would tick seconds away. Seconds she didn't have, seconds she didn't get..... seconds that were out of her comprehension.
The door to the room swung open and Bastilles head jerked to look at it. She expected a figure there, one that had just emerged from a hall way full of doors that lead to similar rooms. Instead the door left out to a dense forest with those white trees that shed their bark.
Bastilles shackles opened a minute later and she could have sworn she felt someone there, standing in the door- watching her, but the entrance to the forest was open.
Barefoot and soaked in her own sweat and blood, Bastille lifted herself and felt sobs rising in her chest. This body felt foreign...as if it was hers, but she was sitting back watching someone else control it. Someone who cried like any decent human would at the torture Barker put them through. She gripped the door frame and stepped out onto the dry autumn leaves.
The fog was crisp and cool to touch, and her body felt like it had just undergone a fever. Probably had. Bastille was starting to wonder when she'd wake up from this dream. The body moved, her body, hunched and trembling used the trees for support- crunching through the leaves and away from the door. The world was empty, it was silent out here...for some reason Bastille knew there was no one left on earth here... everyone was but a whisper in the fog now- so soft and quiet that they fell into silence.
There arose a soft painful prick to her chest. Her eyes began to water and sting...then it felt like heavy rocks were being places upon each rib individually. Sadness... Loneliness...
She could cry if she had tear ducts left to do it.
"But not even Loneliness will stop you" A whisper said.
"No.. even through that you would survive....you could survive everything- if you call THAT surviving"
"You're no more than the living dead"
Whispers rang out, soft and tingling...like an echo from far off, and another as if they were standing by her ear. Then...she walked forward, towards the visage of a child. It had appeared and she would follow. Forget every freaking horror story ever. She ran after the blonde girl, who like her was barefoot.
Bastille ignored the voices, they were in her head after all. Mere hallucinations by the fever...this dream...
"Admit it, It's a nightmare" The voice said clearly. Bastille stopped, her body jolting away from the voice and the figure now attached to it, standing directly in front of her. The body cowered steps away, like a quivering cat in the corner...it was repulsive. Bastille suddenly realized she was both looking through the eyes of the body itself, and from behind it. Looking down at her hands she saw chains that did not drape the body...but as she looked up her vision changed to back inside the body.
She was now standing in front of three mirrors, framed in ornate gold texture. In the trees thousands of mirrors had appeared. There was no running from them...the figures in the mirrors.
The figure in front was Witch. Bastille knew her, not by sight but by feel. She could see through her eyes too.
"Sorry Knight, I had to seal you- nothing personal but this business gets sticky and we know your flight mode is a bit faulty"
"Faulty no, it doesn't exist. Witch what are you doing?" The voice spoke from behind her.
"The problem is, with you around...I'm not getting much air time. See I miss Spain, I got out all the time."
Witch was eerily beautiful. Like if you envisioned the sort of aura Helen of Troy, or Lady Macbeth might have...doomed women. She enjoyed the splendor of life, enjoyed humanity (they all did), and enjoyed believeing herself above the rest. She was Bastilles selfish side, the part of her which was fueled by the need of self preservation- even if it meant distorting reality so much it was barely recognizable and would normally drive a person into madness...she was the negative byproduct of Bastilles thirteen year old post traumatic stress. On creation that had grown to fruition after Barkers experiments.
Knight was the dominate side of Bastille, the one most people saw...at least through witches twisted logic. Knight was the deep morality, the almost impossible sense of honor and chivalry that one could only find in stories. Knight was the quest for the impossible, as was only possible when the possible had become impossible.
"You think too much...." Witch said. She caressed the bodies cheek, lovingly- it was something of value to her after all. Knight usually worked well with Witch...but that didn't mean they shared values. Knight let out a protective growl..
"See, but really you're worse off, Knight....You're nothing but a statue....while I am the personification of a real emotion- something she...we can no longer process you? You're just an ideology...and religious spit of nonsense this body hold onto to keep some human semblance. A white peace of marble to idolize and reform too... It's pathetic."
"Where are you taking this Witch?" Knight demanded, slander did not hurt her of course- she really was what Witch said.
Witch shrugged. "It's not what I'm after..."
Knight looked confused. "Who then?"
Witch just smiled and the little girl came to stand next to her.
"It's what I'm after" Bastille said, the girls voice below her echoing through her lips. the body cowered back further, placing its beaten hands over its mouth. The tiny girl just smiled, bright red eyes gleaming.
"It's my body, I want it back- you two have held the reigns for far too long" She heard the voice come out of her mouth again, the girl only looking regally upset and both the two egos--- scolding them as if she were the parent scolding children.
"No...please, no" Bastille begged her body begging before she could stop it from doing so. The little girl came up.
'Do not be afraid, here....come with me'
She held out her hand and Bastille took it before she could rip her hand away.
---
Suddenly they were sitting by a quiet swimming pool. It was night time and the build over top looked to be in a well maintained state. Bastilles brows furrowed as she looked around, feeling empty- but normal again. Man, being ripped between personalities like that was harsh. She'd had dreams like this before...when the drugs had been spilling into her system- her Qi had been ripping her apart.
"You see....the only thing you fear is fear itself" The girl said. Bastille whipped her head to the girl, looking at her with a sort of trepidation- as if this girl could bring her to sweat and bleed like she had again.
"You fear emotions...you have two children and a husband- but really you only go through the motions of loving them...those emotions are there- you feel them through the filters you have created; Knight and Witch. They battle that fortress of emotions you have inside, that human part of you. But that part of you hasn't seen the light of day in near 18 years now." Bastille could feel her head begin to ache and she looked away from the child and into the water...but the girls reflection was that of a woman. A Beautiful lady who sat in front of her, a stern but gentle face. Bastille didn't recognize her.
"Where are we?" Bastille said, trying to focus....
"A small pool, you recognize it don't you? The swimming pool in Carmarthen, Wales...it's a public location just down the hill from Trinity Saint David and a couple miles north there is Llansteffan Castle"
"Sure...I'll go with that" Bastille said, irritated by the womanly figure in the water.
"You'd really think I would stay the visage of a child forever? Locked away, never to see through your eyes- too tired and miserable so that I might keep my eyes shielded? Did you think I would not grow as you grew?" The voice said quietly.
"Princess" Bastille replied dryly.
"Yes....I've broken free of the shackles that Witch and Knight threw my in...I thought I'd be locked in there forever..."
"As far as I'm concerned that is still up for debate" Bastille commented, but there was no dry humor or meaning behind it. Witch and Knight were gone.
"No, it is not.... see you went and did something that allowed me to come out. I doubt you even know what it is." She said calmly.
"Don't think I want to" Bastille said in a last ditch effort..
"You also have forgotten what it is that makes you innately avoid me...What it is I protect and represent"
"I reiterate"
"You can't run Bastille, you are the prison you were named for....I am both the Royalty that it represents and commands it as I am the executioner who now holds the blade"
"How are you free?"
"You became a mother, Bastille." She said calmly....
Bastille looked up, her eyes a world of confusion .
"It was a door way to emotion, the break in my chains. It was an emotion you could not fathom before you witnessed Leons murder and in your pit of melodramatic despair regaled a new meaning to life- nor was it an emotion you could explain past that of a dictionary definition once your new identity had been formed. But see, I have never left and I have grown and with this way out- Aryanna and Evelyn...breaking my chains, I can come and reclaim what was mine and be the mother they deserve"
"You think you are really ready?"
"Does it matter, we both know you are ill-suited for the task"
"Watch it blondie" Bastille cursed.
"You are no mother, you cannot show love to your husband what makes you think you can show love to your children"
"Love is weakness, as much as it is strength."
"No,...running from emotion is weakness....you are but a shadow of me....I am the real you"
"No"
"Why do you deny it? This was my body first why do you keep it from me?"
"You are not me, you were me...WERE"
"No...You are me....you don't exist...."
"You'll take them to Barker...."
"He can protect our children better than Mathew or anyone...feel emotions Bastille, you feel it dont you? That's fear....fear that we are losing, fear that you are losing yourself. I'm not here to fight you..I'm here to give you answers"
"You dont know anything...you were only a building stone- a corner stone to who I am...only a part of three that makes the whole"
Bastille closed her eyes tightly, trying to shoving the princess from her mind. But the girl held out her hand and touched Bastilles cheek. The young girl was not an adult both in and out of the water- her long blonde hair cascading around her.
"But what is the whole without me....no Bastille, the reason you feel incomplete is because the three of you are no longer needed....It's time I step back in...."
"No" Bastille said darkly. "you've been tainted"
drip drip drip
"You are nothing but a shadow of what was...and a promise of what is to come should I fall back into that pit"
"Bastille..."
"I'm sorry"
The girl froze, looking at her in a confused manner.
"Sorry?"
"I can't face you quite yet....Maybe over time, and in time....but not yet."
"Bastille what are you doing?"
"You're wrong you know...I feel emotions...they may be through filters, but I do feel them..."
"Bastille step away from the pool"
"And giving birth might have broken your chains but being tortured and having the Qi ripped from the echos of my soul is what awoke you...You used to be me, but that visage- those memories are nothing but darkness- a solemn shadow only seen like a photograph...one that was tainted by too much light exposure.....................you are the cake mix of old memories and the disillusionment caused by my trauma..."
"Bastille. Stop!"
"And you know? I dont feel like bloody dealing with you today"
Bastille plunged into the pool- the icy water wrapping around her limbs like silk. But before she could sink into their embrace she felt the harsh sting of air in her lungs and glacial hands wrapped around her throat ripping her from the water. Her eyes were wide and her face was cracked all over like porcelain in a fire about ready to explode. Red yellow eyes, grey burred into her face.
"YOU THINK IT WILL BE THAT EASY?!"
----
But the image was gone and Bastille was pulling herself out of the pool and onto the deck- coughing and hacking up water. She was in dragon territory and she remembered that she'd come here to get some easy exorcise before returning home to the girls. She must have dozed off in the water because lord her lungs felt like knives were being blown around inside them.
After a moment she raised her head to look at the dusty pipes ahead of her...
Drip drip drip....the drops plipped down from the pipe onto the floor. This place had been vacant since the bombs- guess that meant the plumbers too. She hoisted herself up and looked around...Walking over to the mirror she used her arm to dust it off.
Gazing into the mirror, she could see flashes of the water and of those hands around her throat...then in the background she saw a body laying on the pool deck behind her reflection self...the girl had shoulder length blond hair and she was wearing a white gown soaked in blood and dirt. Her feet were bare and her head was face down. She looked up back to her actual reflection....
Regal red eyes stared back, her pale skin and cascading blonde locks flowed around her. Of course, her hair was still short by how she could actually feel it but the reflection still showed something different. Bastille looked to the spot where, according to the reflection, the body should be....
"I'm sorry Princess, but this Bastille is mine now- did you really think.....It'd be that easy?"
(word count: 2984)
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Oct 1, 2013 18:24:00 GMT -8
Late entry approved. Go ahead and collect your reward, Bastille.
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