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 Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 4:05 pm
After coming to terms with her new living quarters the white haired spirit decided to further explore the dormitory. She found the underground keep to be quite remarkable and the trip through the graveyard proved to be nothing short of relaxing and pleasant in a morbidly wonderful way. The common room itself was quite a large open space and many had already congregated there for social and academic purposes. The aura this place radiated was one-million miles away from the one given off by Miss Lovechild’s home for the Mortally Challenged, the Victorian style house was falling apart and had numerous nooks and crannies to hide in and explore. This establishment on the other hand was strangely... modern.
Pale eyes glowed with a hint of lavender, eyeing up the other inhabitants like one would observe lab rats. Despite being surrounded by her own kind she could not help but feel oddly isolated - but that alone was not motivation enough for her to engage with strangers. The ghost hovered off the ground, her skirt trailing behind her as she made her way further into the common room in order to find a spot she liked. It was in her nature to haunt certain areas and this place was no exception. She just needed to sniff out that one little area of sanctuary in this mass of chaos and unfamiliarity.
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:02 pm
So at some point following the recent events, Amarus had begun stressing other students out just by being herself, and as a remedy someone had suggested cards. You know, a game, to take the edge off of things. Or something. Amarus didn't really understand why she needed them, or what the purpose was, and she had kind of tuned out most of the instructions.
She flipped over the top card, and pushed it to the empty space at the far side of the table she occupied. "Checkmate," she said, her expression mirror-blank. As she waited for this game to become fun, she glanced up: a new ghoul was hovering around. Amarus tilted her head, bells ringing, and waved slowly but with intent at the new ghoul.
"Why don't you come over here? Fix this," she asked, first seeming at least nice, then probably kind of abrupt. Her expression was, yet again, nearly empty. The silver of her eyes shone bright, though, and she was definitely curious about this pretty new ghoul.
Her skin flickered in its purple-pink pattern, like waves of soft light, indicating her aura was still active and for once she was in okay health.
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 11:04 pm
Violet could not help but look behind her when she was adressed, but soon came to the conclusion the ghoul was infact, talking to her. She raised a dark eyebrow, thick and totally contrasting against her colourless hair in a way some might find comical. In truth she was not used to strangers starting conversation and the ghost felt an odd wave of unfamiliarity come over her - Was this, normal interaction? Deciding it was not in her best interest to ignore the character with pink hair, Violetta found herself hovering towards the table in which she sat - tentatively if nothing else.
Checkmate? She was no expert on cards and certainly no expert on chess, however this strange creature seemed to have gotten something mixed up somewhere. Pale eyes went to the cards, her mouth nothing but a tight line that reflected confusion. Fix this? What was wrong with it? She tilted her head, completely aware she was yet to say hello. The invitation to approach the table seemed to have overlooked the formalities of introductions, so she chose to ignore them, instead she chose to focus on the task at hand.
A small humming noise left her throat before her eyes flickered brighter, maybe in the place of a metaphorical lightbulb that was meant to light up above her head. Violetta slowly descended to the floor, the touch of her heels on the ground making a faint tapping sound sound - the transition from ethereal to solid very evident in the noise. In truth, everything seemed to flatten, her hair lay straighter and her dress no longer seemed ruffled by the wind, the violet glow she seemed to radiate seemed to dim also.
Slender fingers picked up the disregarded card, her other hand moving swiftly to take another off the top of the deck, sticking her tongue out ever so slightly the Ghoul concentrated. She balanced the cards together in an arch before slowly taking her fingers away from them to see if they could stand without her help - and they did. A smug look came onto her face, she did not have much knowledge of card games, but towers were simple, without rules and were as challenging as any test of wit.
"Tag."
A small smile came to her face, a small, maybe unnoticeable reference to another completely irrelevant game. Seeing as that alone felt like the embodiment of this meeting.
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 11:31 pm
As she shifted, the lock and its chains slid across her spectral flesh under her clothing, reminding her yet again: things locked away, memories, pieces of her just beyond her grasp. Things that would hurt.
She looked down at the table, hiding her expression for a moment: it was still fairly empty, but she was taking no chances. Amarus flipped over a second card, and held it in her hand, staring at it. It was someone's face. They looked happy. She set it down on the table gently before looking back up at the unfamilar ghoul.
Amarus was surprised to hear the sound of the ghoul's feet on the ground-- she touched it when she walked, now? How strange. Amarus never did, but she also didn't wear shoes, so even if she did you'd never know it. "Ah?" she asked, in a way, watching the ghoul place the cards and tag her in.
Unfortunately, Amarus was one of those ghouls who just wanted to watch the world burn; she fought down her urge to ruin the card tower, and added a bit of her own to it. She remained almost entirely tangible, but she always was anyway. Amarus smiled back in return: "Amarus, Lotus Eater," she said, touching her own cheek lightly as if to say Me, that's who. She nodded her head to indicate the card tower was ready for the new ghoul's addition. Building and destroying were two of her absolute favourite things, but only when they were a pair.
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Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 6:32 pm
Lotus Eater? Violet raised an eyebrow yet again, staring at the other ghoul like she was an alien breed. Violet had met many Ghosts in the past, but none had carried such a title - not even the strange ones that could be found at the Collection. "A devourer of flora? You are a strange breed, hungry one." The spirits bright clothing and strange bloodline intrigued her, a spark of curiosity faintly visible in large child-like eyes. "Does the title come from your dietary habits?" It only made sense for the eaters of lotus... to eat just that? Oh, what a wonderful specimen she had found, what luck!
Before she picked up another card the ghouls pale hands instead reached for her dress, pulling it up slightly and bowing her head, the mannerism reflecting the period in which she was dressed. "I am a creature of reflection. Violetta is this ones name." Mirror spirits were odd creatures, their speech was shattered and broken, like a mirror that had met the final death - Where some seemed to grow a custom to the more common tongue and slang of Halloween, Violetta had chose to leave her speech fragmented - it was more poetic, in her opinion.
The pale haired creature then picked up another card, extending the tower that they were constructing. Violet was clumsy with her hands, her fingers untrained due to lack of experience in her physical form. She preferred to stay spectral, very much so. She was proud of her performance so far, her concentration had not yet faltered - a turn of events that often lead to embarrassment.
She looked over her shoulder, eyes scanning the rest of the common room. "All these spirits roam in packs, why does the hungry one take up the position of the lone wolf? Does your pack dislike cards? Or did you gobble them all up?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:47 pm
Amarus watched the ghost ghoul's brow raise, and smirked in response. "I'm not that hungry, right now," she said. She didn't actually get hungry all that often, honestly; it was more of a superfluous need. "It's... you know, not really sure where it comes from. Something about, ah, we are steeped in the narcotic essence of the Lotus."
She had a weird way of speaking. It didn't really bother Amarus, because Mort had been even harder to understand when she met him, and she'd liked him then too. "I am a drug. The smoke I give off makes anyone near me feel more relaxed. Better. But it's addictive," she said, with a shrug of one shoulder. She didn't seem to pay it much heed; it sounded like a definition she'd heard somewhere and was merely repeating out of habit.
"Reflection? A mirror ghost, yes?" she asked, tipping her head, bells ringing again.
Amarus looked down at the cards, adding her own with deft hands. She, as Violetta's opposite, loved to remain purely in her physical form."My pack?"
Amarus thought immediately of Freya, and the lock on her chest grew warm to the touch as a memory unlocked. Tainted by revenge, it hurt far more than it had: Kettil and Freya, telling her they loved her too. But she'd never be with them, not really.
She pushed that dark feeling down. It was disrespectful to feel that way, and she couldn't imagine why, suddenly, she remembered it in that light. "Power is my one true love, and I don't know if you have noticed much, but power does not always make friends."
"Besides, there's only one of me. I have yet to meet another Lotus Eater."
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 9:34 am
“That is I.” The ghoul nodded politely, her voice quiet, lacking any kind of enthusiasm or feeling. Her hands were restless and soon found their way to pale locks of hair, fingers running through the fibres rhythmically as she listened to the others expiation. An odd species indeed, the sound of bells echoed in her ears, they were pretty. “Mother told us never to take drugs; I suppose talking to one is not indulging in it, though.” Ahh mother, so far away, yet always in her thoughts. She supposed it would be a while until she could forget the creature, a while until she was free of her.
“Power has a lot of friends. Stubbornness. Pride... Strength. Many of them are rather close to my heart. Maybe we do have friends in common.” The corners of Violetta’s mouth rose slightly, I guess you could call them a smile, despite the lack of effort put into it. She thought for a moment, she had never met one of her kind either... But surely there were others. Since the day she woke up in this world she was sheltered and her interactions limited, her family the people who resided in the orphanage. There were drowned ones, burnt ones, weeping ones.... None like her.
“One, Individual. Unique. It does not matter, we are all of the same family here, and death sired us all.” She did not know if the words were meant to be comforting or just to express her opinion. Species and race, they were titles that meant very little to her, powers and abilities to her were like personality traits and talents, something that mutates from person to person. She did not think she would like it if someone turned up that could understand hers, her abilities were personal to her, and they were something she would rather entrust in people. Someone who knew them by default... No she would not like that at all.
Could one feel lonely from being just one? Did loneliness bother people? It had always been such a dear friend to her; she could not imagine anyone hating solitude. Without connections, without complications, one could mould their own lives without chains and limitations.
She let out a small sigh, looking over her shoulder to see a mirror in the corner of the room. “Besides Hungry One, there is never only one, there is always the ‘us’ that resides behind the mirror.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 5:04 pm
"I keep my hair out of the way," she said suddenly, watching Violet run fingers through her own pale locks. Amarus tilted her head and regarded the ghoul briefly, before pausing, and then snorting. "Your Mother was probably right-- but I'm a good drug, didn't she tell you about those?" Amarus added, her aura flickering more brightly. Her smile was almost sweet, and her voice soft: "I'm like a painkiller, you know? I can make everything that hurts you go away," she said, making a motion with her hands like a bird flying off. She loved birds.
She listened in silence, observing the cards, as Violet spoke of Power's friends. "Ah, I have never thought of it that way. I am all of those things, and I would be pleased to have a friend in common with you, in that case." Amarus eyed the corners of Violetta's mouth rising: it reminded her so much of how she'd struggled to feel or show any emotion at all, at first; how abnormal it had seemed.
And yet, now, she understood many feelings. She could smile sincerely.
"Does death make us family?" Amarus asked, thinking honestly about it, "I would prefer not to have so many, ah, siblings," she admitted. "I find it hard enough to care about a handful of individuals, much less the entire Ghost species," she added, wrinkling her nose briefly in irritation.
Loneliness did, on some fundamental level, bother Amarus. Once, it had consumed her with its darkness. Now, she was a lot less afraid. A lot calmer. Not the calm of indifference all the time, any more, and seldom quite as destructive as it had been. "The one behind the mirror is still me, is it not? I am all, and everything. Two sides of the same coin does not mean there are two coins, that is how I feel," she protested.
Amarus flicked the cards over with one deft motion, watching them scatter. She shut her eyes briefly, thinking, and then opened them again. She felt as though she should be remembering something, but could not.
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 6:39 pm
“Can you make everything that hurts go away? Or do you just postpone it.” Surely, the only way to truly relieve pain was to cut it off at the source? Besides, what about pain of the heart, could she numb that too? Violetta pursed her lips a little. Pain... an odd sensation, one that she did not experience much. Personally, she would not want to get rid of pain, she would rather feel it pursing through her, to prove that she could feel, despite her handicap.
Family – another thing she found odd. “We are not connected by blood, our hereditary trait is death. Or maybe, we truly are alone with nothing to bind us together. I know which way I would prefer to think of it.” She shrugged before shaking her head a little. “Just because you’re a sibling, does not mean you have to care for them. You can’t choose family, but you can choose to not have them in your life.” She smirked a little, since when did you have to like your family? Anyone who swore they loved all their relatives unconditionally was a liar in her books.
On the topic of the mirror she just tilted her head, two sides to the same coin? “Maybe.” It was a deep conversation she was not ready to dive into with a stranger. Maybe those on the other side were just husks, creatures made for the soul purpose of puppetry and manipulation. Maybe they were just illusions created by the light, herself acting as the illusionist. Or maybe, just maybe they were our true selves, and we are just the creatures that reflected their movements, emotions and dreams. Maybe she was not manipulating anything at all, just cutting the bonds that connected the worlds.
“I see,” She pouted as the cards went flying in all directions. Maybe if Amarus stopped breaking it she would not have to ask strangers to fix it. Violetta sighed, once again levitating off the floor and regaining her glow.
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:07 pm
Amarus tilted her head again, regarding the pale-haired ghoul through half-shut eyes. All of this talking was making her sleepy. She tucked her legs up underneath her and curled up so that her head lay against one arm, watching Violetta at a sideways tilt. "What kind of pain? Would you cut off a limb just to stop something that ailed you?"
She paused, then added: "Not that either of us have limbs we can cut off, but surely you understand what I mean by that. Maybe? Ah, what am I saying." Amarus had nothing to say about the family thing, so she just stared blankly. "Mort is family. Freya and Kettil are family. Olivia is family-- to some extent, Siku could be family, too." Amarus' face was blank again, her eyes the empty silver of a mirror's surface once more. Her aura was low to her skin again.
"Violetta," she began, "do you desire power? Do you have strength? What do you think your core is, hmm?" Amarus just wanted to train, really. She shifted again so that her legs were dangling off the back of her seat and she was looking at Violetta upside down.
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