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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 13:17:54 GMT -8
There was a knock at Avices' door.
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Post by Avice Locke on Jun 8, 2018 13:38:07 GMT -8
Three clear bottles empty on her side table and a fourth by the door she heard it knock but didn't say anything. Thinking they'll leave her be if she just did as she has done. Her eyes were dark and sunk in just as her cheeks she hadnt left the place since the war a couple of days ago. Her high metabolism might be the end of her as she hardly ate anything. She didn't want to feel anything she didn't want to think about it and of she couldnt do that then no way was she going to have a public meltdown.
She also was all packed up she didn't have much but obviously a full backpack by the door meant she was ready to leave this place all together. Her former partner... That damned dragon... Had pegged her absolutely right. She was a coward always running. And she had already realized the truth when Leon entered her head. She was running everywhere but going no where. She had nothing and was nothing. Without realizing iitshe refused to be anything all this time too.
Why did she take up arms to fight along side a man who first night here struck her in the back and aimed to kill her for little to no reason? Wells he reasons he had were justifiable and it seemed better than joining the privileged boys ranks. She'd go on and bet that his side of the fight was with fewer casualties and mmuh easier won because of name and fate.
Her face twitched at the thought. And more so sue tasted something horrible in her mouth for making that choice. Child warfare... She was a child without a family many if them were baught and "adopted" to become these soldiers. She was an unruly child and never was obedient enough to satisfy the good or the bad. Some tried to break her and others tried to make her conform but she was always brought back to the adoption home. They even placed her as the refund child, a scam, to be sold for no refunds and brought back to be sold again gaining money like tricking an old vending machine. And she just let it happen.
She thought she'd seen some shit... But she was wrong. She looked at the door and saw the thick mist of Qi seeping through the edges, someone strong for sure and wondered just who the fuck..?
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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 13:41:03 GMT -8
The door was kicked the fuck in.
David was there, his outline filling the door frame entirely as he looked over at her, hands in his pockets. His leg lowered back down to plant, and he'd start forward, reaching down to grab Avice by the back of the shirt and haul her self-depricating ass to her feet.
"You're coming with me."
He'd start walking her out the door.
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Post by Avice Locke on Jun 8, 2018 13:54:13 GMT -8
She bared here fangs at yet another dragon.
She brought her hands in defence but wouldnt be met with a frontal assault as he grabbed her shirt and dragged her off the bed.
She cried out as she hit the floor and her shirt begins to choke her she gained leverage with her legs. And would gain footing with no issue, But her fingers trying to pry his hands away was wasted. She'd attempt to slip right out of her shirt no shame standing in not but jeans and her bra.
She looked at him and spat at his feet. Fury plastered on her face.
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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 13:56:34 GMT -8
She slipped out, topless, but David seemed entirely undeterred.
"What is it you want, little rat?"
He'd lurch forward to grab her by the face and lift her up, hoisting her pathetic ass off her feet to dangle in the air.
"You want to die? I can help you with that."
Lightning began to crackle around his body.
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Post by Avice Locke on Jun 8, 2018 14:02:35 GMT -8
The one question she didn't have an answer to and the one she did.
"I don't want to die..." she'd say through clenched teeth. Unwavering with the thunder rolling in.
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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 14:07:38 GMT -8
"THEN WHAT!?"
His voice came out in a slight roar, like a lion about to feed on it's own cub.
"I've given you objects of power, I've proven we are willing to make you great....and you just spit at my feet because one man broke you down into tiny little pieces from a bench."
He tossed her ass out the door. Not hard, but hard enough to send her crashing into the wall. He picked up her shirt as he walked out after her, throwing the cloth in her face.
"You want to run?" He kicked her bag out into the hall, it skittering to a stop at her feet.
"Then run. Flee to find another hole to cry in. Hate who you are for all time, pitying the woman you could have been simply because you were unwilling to scrape up the strength and the fortitude to try."
He'd stare, and watch her. She was either leaving now, or she'd return to what he said before. That she was coming with him.
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Post by Avice Locke on Jun 8, 2018 15:23:17 GMT -8
"You rule not just your own territory but also the largest territory known to man! You are the most powerful beings here! YOU have everything!" she grew a rasp to her voice. "What purpose have you bestowed upon your self? Who ask you to do it?"
She picked up her bag and threw it back into her door way. "Given me this and this and that... For what purpose? Am I just a weapon? A puppet? A fucking sacrifice? It would make no difference to any of you who you pawned in your schemes!" so what was it he had planned for her.
Out of so much anger and confusing emotions her lip would quiver she still fought back childish tears. "I took you using me as a challenge one I was happy for. I enjoy them I wanted this. I even thought to challenge myself by becoming one of you after that fucking cock tossed me asside! I watched kids get tossed going into battle by a bloke I hardly knew other than he gutted me once! Why?... I have no Fucking clue." but she did it and regretted her choice.
She had no idea what to do. As someone who had gone the through life living in the moment she was terrible at planning shit out. She had no direction. And what drive she gave her self felt really meaningless.
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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 15:58:35 GMT -8
"Using you? USING YOU? Silly fucking child. If I wanted to use you I would tell you to your face. You think because I give you these things, that I must have some divine plot and puppet you into position? You're way the fuck off base and you need to have a reality check."
He leaned against the door frame. At least she was talking.
"People die. People get used up and spat out and chewed up. Children died every few seconds, even before the first great war. Some are used as pawns, while others are the rook or the knight. A few even become the chess players. You think to use any of this as an excuse to run away? You think because the going is hard and impossible things stand in our ways, that any of us would run? No. Here's the real truth Avice Locke, the one you just can't comprehend because it's not who you felt you were."
He pointed.
"You're afraid."
He folded his arms again, staying leaning against the wall.
"You see the horror of the world around, you see the death and destruction and you see what everyone is willing to do to survive. To win. To become better. And because you're a coward you fucking run, because you fear you can't match up. Because you don't want to die some pointless little death like every fucking man and woman who was ripped apart by that weapon."
His eyes narrowed.
"Try to tell me I'm wrong."
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Post by Avice Locke on Jun 8, 2018 16:24:07 GMT -8
It was three out of three dragons that pegged her for what she was and she'd admit it the same way each time. She'd not argue a sense of defeat has swept over her since that day, its scared her tucked her tail between her legs and shoved her in her room.
Maybe that was why she went. She'd try to challenge herself amd not shy away from difficult situations. When she failed she was reminded why she doesnt get into them in the first place.
Failure has lead to a lot of pain and death and broken promises. They were saying it was the best outcome. Stupidity is repeating the same thing and expecting a different result. That is why she doesnt accept partners she fucked up one and she hadnt fucked up when it was just her so why would she take another? Truth was she was afraid to fuck up agaim amd it cost something dire.
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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 16:43:08 GMT -8
When she didn't answer, he continued.
"I thought so."
He stood straight. Air formed around them, blocking sound out from everything, so they could neither be heard no hear what went on outside the bubble.
"You yell at me about my power, about my rule. Well, I'm going to tell you something I have never told anyone, save for my wife."
He looked to the ground, then back to her.
"Long ago, when I first led the Dragons, I made a decision that got a lot of people killed. After, Mathew returned and people started turning to him for advice and orders. From my perspective, I had been a stalwart defender of these people for months, and I felt they turned their back on me. So, I abandoned my post and left them in his hands, for a time."
He sighed.
"In the end, I was shown something about myself I'd never had to deal with before. I was afraid. I was petrified that if I kept leading, that I'd get more people killed. That I would see the destruction of my people and all I love and held close. And because of that fear, I left. I was a coward, too."
He tilted his head to the side.
"All of us- Leon, and Mathew, and Asiv. Blake. Preston. Bailey. Tina. We all come to a cross roads. A place where we have to choose between staying who we are, dying in self obscurity and regret...or taking the road less traveled. You are not wrong in your fear, Avice. People will die. People you care about. You'll see things that make you question everything you are. You might die in a way that's terrible, or in a battle that means nothing to the overall challenges your people have yet to face."
He would shrug.
"But conquering that fear, and getting from where you are to where I am is not about simply recognizing it for what it is. Courage is nothing, without fear. It's about understanding that even the smallest change can tip the scale. And choosing to be better than the worst parts of us is what legends of history are made of. You could leave, and live. Or you could stay, and maybe die. But picture being at the end of your life, old and toothless, looking back on it all. Wouldn't you trade all the days of pointless wandering between this day and that, for a single chance to come back and scream into the storm that you will not go quietly in the night?"
He searched her eyes.
"If that's not the case.....then do what you will, Avice. But nobody here is forcing you to stay, or to go. You are free."
He'd start walking away down the hall.
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Post by Avice Locke on Jun 8, 2018 16:55:35 GMT -8
"If I truly wanted to leave I'd have already done so..." she hadnt looked at him the whole time only listened. She picked up her shirt and wiped her eyes before putting it back on. She'd follow him.
If their was still something she could do here she'd not give up yet. She still wanted change.
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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 17:16:52 GMT -8
He wanted to ask why pack a bag then, but she was following him, and that was what he wanted in the first place. He lead her up through to the command center, where there were people standing in front of a lot of various screens. Each screen had something different- people screaming, fires, explosions, children running, energy weapons firing, bodies littering streets, cities in rubble. He'd let her follow him in while he watched her observe.
"This is what I see. Every day."
His hands were in his pockets.
"I'm not keeping you in my back pocket to use. I am using you outright. As a soldier. As someone who can save lives. These terrible things aren't going to stop on their own- and the more people I have to help, the better. That's why I gave you the things I did. To help get you stronger, to feel more at home here. So that when you do help us, you feel like you're helping yourself."
None of the others in the room were listening.
"Nobody here is going to hold your hand Avice. I'm showing you this to give you my reasons for doing what I'm doing. Find yours. That's all."
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Post by Avice Locke on Jun 8, 2018 17:37:55 GMT -8
Of all the places she'd walked she saw only but a taste of this. Of course she wasn't stupid enough to walk into to a warzone. Still how he had eyes in the thick of all of it at all times seemed immense. She got to see a bit of this twice now.
She crossed her arms her cold metal one chiling the other. Her brow furrowed deeper watching the screens.
"So now what?"
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Post by David B. on Jun 8, 2018 17:44:02 GMT -8
David furrowed his brows.
"That depends. What do you want?"
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