Defender of Stories
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- Posted: Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:26:59 +0000
►► ▶▶ ▸▸K E S S L E R ♟ │ h │ e │ m │ o │xx│ s │ i │ n │ e │xx │ s │ p │ i │ r │ i │ t │ u │
it's my four-letter word ━━━━━━━━┛
it's my four-letter word ━━━━━━━━┛
i'm still here: leaving, going to fly over the town ▰ in my sights: rooster ▰ vital signs: i'll never be what this town needs.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ▸▶► ♟ ◄◀◂ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
AND I will stay up through the night
xxxxYEAH, let's be clear, won't close my eyes
xxxxxxxxxxxxxAND I know that I can survive—I'll
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxWALK through fire to save my life.
& & you did not xBREAK 「M E」▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
...i'm still fighting forx「P E A C E」xxxxxxxx
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
To Kessler's not-surprise, given her track record, but unending confusion, Rooster dropped her sword as soon as she faced him. Instead of taking a hostile stance or making an attempt to defend herself, really, she merely closed her eyes as more tears continued to stream down her falsely human face. Kessler set his jaw hard and watched cautiously. She's trying to get my guard down, he told himself. She knows I protect vulnerable humans, and she's trying to appeal to that side.
Rooster began to speak of soldiers and orders, and Kessler felt his insides recoil, a memory of a long-lost friend hovering in his mind like a fly over a carcass. What do you mean, medical discharge? What's going on?
Don't cry over spilled milk.
"He may be considered a deserter, but he's still doing what he thinks is right. And..."
For reasons Kessler knew horrifyingly well but didn't want to think about, his teeth were chattering, and he had broken out into a cold sweat. He clamped his teeth down together even harder, hoping Rooster couldn't see his jaw trembling, and tried to keep a defiant look in his eyes—but without a mirror, he knew not where he stood.
"I think there's still something worth saving in them! In every single one of them! That's why... I won't kill others... but most of all..."
Kessler flinched as Rooster made eye contact, though he mentally chastised himself rapidly afterwards. He mustn't show fear or vulnerability or weakness—
Because this is what happens when you're afraid.
—But if she was trying to break down his guard with the buzzwords he himself may have used, words like "saving" and "worth," she was succeeding, and Kessler's blood boiled for it. That was what she was doing, right? There was no way an other could actually feel things like compassion.
"Most of all, I won't kill you, Kessler... Because I see something worth saving in you more than any other monster, any Other, in Silent Hill..."
Kessler's stomach seized, and he reflexively took a step back, only to remember that his back was to the wall. Rooster spoke of his desire to save humans, her admiration for him, how he suffered through his status as freak and traitor—suddenly, Kessler's lungs felt as if they were submerged in salt water. Each breath stung ponderously. Did she know? Did she know about his... history? Speaking of redemption for humans was an effective way to get Kessler's attention, but the best way to paralyze him like a bear in the jaws of a trap was to suggest that he was actually worth something.
"You can't erase every single Other... Because that'd get rid of you, too... And Silent Hill needs someone like you..."
Rooster's humanlike hand was pressed frigidly against his face, and Kessler struggled not to shiver. She's trying to get in your head, he desperately tried to counsel himself. She's a monster, remember? Kindness isn't in her dictionary. Get out of there! But with his eyes wild and his face streaked in sweat, he couldn't move.
Rooster pressed her head against his chest and cried, and Kessler stiffened, wondering if she was trying to pinpoint the exact position of his heart so she could wrench it out with her monstrous hand. The vengeful side of his mind saw an opportunity to fire Ghost into the back of her head with little struggle—it probably wouldn't kill her, of course, but it should at least stun her. But that part of his mind was paralyzed by another part—the part that sought to defend the defenseless.
In Rooster's tears, Kessler heard Penny's self-conscious sniffles, and though his mind screamed at him that this was her plan, he had too long a confession list to commit another sin.
Keeping his eyes set hard, Kessler reached out to Rooster's shoulder and patted it a couple of times, uncomfortably and awkwardly. "You're crying," he said softly, "not dying."
He used his hand on her shoulder to gently push her off of his chest. This was too much for his brain to process right now—he had to keep his distance, to protect himself. He couldn't protect humans if he was busy stewing in confusion. "Humans cry when they're sad. Or when they're happy, even, or scared or angry. I guess... anytime a—a human feels something that's too much for them, they'll try to cry it out. But that's humans. You..." He tilted his head to the side, furrowing his brow. "Don't tell me you used to be..."
Kessler quickly snapped his jaw shut. He had already said too much, shown too many raw and rough parts of himself. Maybe Rooster was trying to mess with his head, or maybe she wasn't, but right now said head of his was far too muddled to sort through this. His frontal lobe seemed to be pounding, and his feet felt unsteady on the ground; he probably needed some more codeine, maybe some aspirin on top of it. He stepped away from Rooster.
"You said Silent Hill needs someone like me. But that's not how this town works. Silent Hill was built by sinners, for sinners. There's no place for heroes here... especially pretenders." He stared resentfully over his shoulder at one of his wings. "Eventually, I'll be just another victim of the town. The only thing I can do in the meantime is lead as many out as I can." He turned away. "Even if... even if I never get out."
He spread his wings, ignoring the sickly sounds of sinews snapping as they stretched beyond their capacity. "If you try to hurt a human again, I won't be merciful." His voice dropped a bit, but he tried to keep his tone bitter, not wistful. "Never learned what mercy was."
With that, he crouched and took off into the air, leaving a shower of ashen feathers behind.
Rooster began to speak of soldiers and orders, and Kessler felt his insides recoil, a memory of a long-lost friend hovering in his mind like a fly over a carcass. What do you mean, medical discharge? What's going on?
Don't cry over spilled milk.
"He may be considered a deserter, but he's still doing what he thinks is right. And..."
For reasons Kessler knew horrifyingly well but didn't want to think about, his teeth were chattering, and he had broken out into a cold sweat. He clamped his teeth down together even harder, hoping Rooster couldn't see his jaw trembling, and tried to keep a defiant look in his eyes—but without a mirror, he knew not where he stood.
"I think there's still something worth saving in them! In every single one of them! That's why... I won't kill others... but most of all..."
Kessler flinched as Rooster made eye contact, though he mentally chastised himself rapidly afterwards. He mustn't show fear or vulnerability or weakness—
Because this is what happens when you're afraid.
—But if she was trying to break down his guard with the buzzwords he himself may have used, words like "saving" and "worth," she was succeeding, and Kessler's blood boiled for it. That was what she was doing, right? There was no way an other could actually feel things like compassion.
"Most of all, I won't kill you, Kessler... Because I see something worth saving in you more than any other monster, any Other, in Silent Hill..."
Kessler's stomach seized, and he reflexively took a step back, only to remember that his back was to the wall. Rooster spoke of his desire to save humans, her admiration for him, how he suffered through his status as freak and traitor—suddenly, Kessler's lungs felt as if they were submerged in salt water. Each breath stung ponderously. Did she know? Did she know about his... history? Speaking of redemption for humans was an effective way to get Kessler's attention, but the best way to paralyze him like a bear in the jaws of a trap was to suggest that he was actually worth something.
"You can't erase every single Other... Because that'd get rid of you, too... And Silent Hill needs someone like you..."
Rooster's humanlike hand was pressed frigidly against his face, and Kessler struggled not to shiver. She's trying to get in your head, he desperately tried to counsel himself. She's a monster, remember? Kindness isn't in her dictionary. Get out of there! But with his eyes wild and his face streaked in sweat, he couldn't move.
Rooster pressed her head against his chest and cried, and Kessler stiffened, wondering if she was trying to pinpoint the exact position of his heart so she could wrench it out with her monstrous hand. The vengeful side of his mind saw an opportunity to fire Ghost into the back of her head with little struggle—it probably wouldn't kill her, of course, but it should at least stun her. But that part of his mind was paralyzed by another part—the part that sought to defend the defenseless.
In Rooster's tears, Kessler heard Penny's self-conscious sniffles, and though his mind screamed at him that this was her plan, he had too long a confession list to commit another sin.
Keeping his eyes set hard, Kessler reached out to Rooster's shoulder and patted it a couple of times, uncomfortably and awkwardly. "You're crying," he said softly, "not dying."
He used his hand on her shoulder to gently push her off of his chest. This was too much for his brain to process right now—he had to keep his distance, to protect himself. He couldn't protect humans if he was busy stewing in confusion. "Humans cry when they're sad. Or when they're happy, even, or scared or angry. I guess... anytime a—a human feels something that's too much for them, they'll try to cry it out. But that's humans. You..." He tilted his head to the side, furrowing his brow. "Don't tell me you used to be..."
Kessler quickly snapped his jaw shut. He had already said too much, shown too many raw and rough parts of himself. Maybe Rooster was trying to mess with his head, or maybe she wasn't, but right now said head of his was far too muddled to sort through this. His frontal lobe seemed to be pounding, and his feet felt unsteady on the ground; he probably needed some more codeine, maybe some aspirin on top of it. He stepped away from Rooster.
"You said Silent Hill needs someone like me. But that's not how this town works. Silent Hill was built by sinners, for sinners. There's no place for heroes here... especially pretenders." He stared resentfully over his shoulder at one of his wings. "Eventually, I'll be just another victim of the town. The only thing I can do in the meantime is lead as many out as I can." He turned away. "Even if... even if I never get out."
He spread his wings, ignoring the sickly sounds of sinews snapping as they stretched beyond their capacity. "If you try to hurt a human again, I won't be merciful." His voice dropped a bit, but he tried to keep his tone bitter, not wistful. "Never learned what mercy was."
With that, he crouched and took off into the air, leaving a shower of ashen feathers behind.
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
WELL I've got thick skin and an elastic heart
BUT your blade— it might be too sharpxxxxxxxx
I'M like a rubber band until you pull too xxxxxxxxxxxx
HARD—I may snap, and I move fastxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ & & you won't see me xFALL 「A P A R T」
xxxxxxxx...'cause i've gotx「A N」
▸▶► E L A S T I C ⇣ H E A R T ◄◀◂llllll
▸▶► ♟ ◄◀◂
Cyberweasel89