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 Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:09 pm
[Beginnings] Quote: In my beginning is my end. TS Eliot
As they entered the house and walked into the living room together Chandra blessedly stopped her wailing. Kam smiled down at the child, hoping it was a sign she had grown used to her. Chandra didn't smile back however, just blinked a couple times and yawned.
"Ok Chandra, this is your new home. Why don't I take you on a tour? And then we can check your diaper and round up something for you to eat before bed."
Chandra still just stared at her so Kam took that as agreement. After all its not like babies can talk. As soon as she tried to turn on the light in the living room, Chandra started wailing again, her wide eyes scrunched shut. Kam shut the light back off and looked at the baby in surprise. She didn't like light? That seemed odd, but what the hell.
"Ok well no lights then. I hope you can see in the dark."
Chandra gurgled happily as Kam pulled the drapes shut over the blinds, banishing what minimal light there was in the room.
"This is the living room. I like to watch TV in here. You probably won't though since the TV is a light source. Moving on, “ Kam walked her bundle out to the kitchen, "this is the kitchen. And I think I need a drink."
She juggled Chandra into one arm and poured herself a glass of orange juice, kicking the refrigerator door shut with her leg as Chandra squirmed away from it.
"Would you like something to eat, sweets?"
Kam opened the fridge again and shut off the light.
"How about some apple sauce?"
This met with a firmly closed mouth and clear disapproval. As Kam leaned over again, Chandra reached out for something almost falling out of Kam's arms.
"Oh you want something?"
Kam looked at what the baby clutched. A package of hot dogs.
"You want hot dogs? I'm not sure thats good idea buddy. You don't have any teeth."
As Kam finished the last sentence, Chandra started wailing again and Kam remembered with a start that she did have teeth.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:10 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:12 pm
[Words]
Kam jerked awake in her chair as Chandra began wailing loudly. Blearily she turned her head to look at the clock. 3:35am swam into view and she groaned. Chandra's wails abruptly stopped as she sensed Kam was awake and she started gurgling happily in her crib.
"Nye, nye, nye!"
Kam stood up slowly and stretched. Sleeping in a chair was hardly comfortable, but Chandra wouldn't sleep at all during the night unless Kam was near.
"Hello sweetie. I suppose you've had enough sleep? Hungry?"
Chandra pulled herself up to a standing position using the bars on the side of the crib for balance.
"Ya!"
"I suppose thats a yes?"
Kam reached in and hefted Chandra out of her crib, hugging the child close as she turned to walk out of the room and down the stairs. It was touhg to navigate the stairs in the dark, but Kam didn't dare turn on the light. If she did Chandra would only pitch a fit and the whole house would be up.
Kam shuffled her way into the kitchen and placed Chandra into her baby chair. Then she wandered over to the refrigerator, pulled out a couple hot dogs and began chopping them into bite-sized pieces.
When she was finished, she brought the plate over to Chandra who made happy noises and immediately grabbed a piece and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Yarghafff."
"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full honey. Its not polite."
Chandra frowned and threw a piece of hot dog at Kam's face where it bounced off her nose.
"Throwing your food is also not polite, " Kam grabbed Chandra's hand and pried a second piece of hot dog out of it. "If you can't be trusted to feed yourself, I'll have to feed you."
Finished with her first piece of hot dog, Chandra squealed and beat her fists on her high chair's tray.
"Foo! Foo~!"
"Food?" Kam clapped her hands together in glee. "I think this might be your first real word!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:13 pm
[Dreaming]
Two wide amber eyes blinked open on a field of unending snow and ice. It was nighttime and moonlight glinted off every surface. A fierce wind circled the eyes seeking weakness. Their owner shivered, shedding black and white feathers in a tiny storm. On contact with the snow the feathers disappeared, their number dwindling until eventually there was nothing left except a pair of eyes and the empty howling of the wind.
The eyes closed, blinking, and when they opened again the night had advanced, the moon further along its path through the sky. There was more to the landscape now than snow. A haunting tune just on the edge of human hearing was playing from a tiny silver flute and as if summoned by it, several corpses lurked in the distance.
The corpses moaned, echoing the shrill cry of the wind and tried to clock out the sad melody. Their skin hung off their bones like rags and hatred and hunger flowed off them in waves. The amber eyes blinked again and the dead zeroed in on the life they sensed behind the wind. Their mangled hands reached out greedily for the eyes as they shuffled closer, their motions a sick parody of those they must have made in life...
... and Chandra woke, chilled and frustrated - unable to voice the terror and yearning the dream produced in her heart. A small black and white feather rested on her chest and she grabbed it in her tiny hands just before it dissolved into fine white snow and blew out the open window.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:13 pm
[Another Chandra/Dare RP]
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:15 pm
[Cold as Death]
After bringing Chandra home from the HQ Kam was at a loss as to what to do. Nothing seemed to warm Chandra up, almost as if the cold was coming from inside her body. So she gave her a hot bath and put her to bed. Kam settled down in her usual chair in Chandra's room and without realizing it dozed off.
Two amber eyes opened once again on the plain of snow. This time the white was marred by scarlet slashes. The owner was propped against a fence which seemed to have been conjured for just this purpose. His blind eyes stared straight ahead at Chandra, icicles formed over his eyelashes. Whatever color they had been in life had long since bleached out to a pale blue.
Chandra tried to look elsewhere, uncomfortable with the accusative stare of the dead, but her attention was drawn back by the wind's voice. The corpse spoke, his voice high and fluting, as if he were an instrument played by the wind.
"You must become death before it swallows you whole. Defy the natural order and you can rule everything."
Chandra was not sure whether she had simply missed it before or if it had always been, but the snow was no longer snow. It was a sea of bleached skulls, every single one facing her.
Kam woke a full minute before Chandra started wailing and as she fought her way back into life she panicked. There was something on her lap. Not fully awake she jumped up off the chair and something heavy clattered to the ground. Skittering away from the sound, Kam fumbled for her glasses and shoved them on her face.
"s**t."
It was just a book, her mind said. Just a book. Just a book that looks like it should never be described as just a book. Kam gingerly reached a hand out towards the book, but snatched it back as Chandra began crying from her crib.
Kam peeked in on Chandra and the child immediately stopped crying and started sucking on one of her fists. Kam reached in and felt Chandra's head. Miraculously Chandra appeared to be back closer to normal room temperature. Whatever had been wrong was now better.
Chandra closed her eyes when Kam touched her and dropped back into sleep. Kam turned back to go sit in the chair and was horrified to see the book was still there sitting in a patch of moonlight. She had hoped it was just the afterimage of a vivid dream.
Kam knelt down by the book and was sickened to see it seemed to be leaky some sort of liquid. She reached out and hefted the book half expecting it to bite her. It did not, so she brought it out into the hall. She closed the door to Chandra's room and turned on a light.
The book fell to the floor with a loud thud as Kam threw it away from her in disgust. She turned away from it and dry retched into the corner. The book was leaking blood and appeared to be bound in some sort of skin. She didn't even want to know what it held inside.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:16 pm
[Lessons Begin]
Kam woke in the hall minutes later, her left arm cramped underneath her where she had apparently passed out. Slowly she untangled herself and looked over towards the book, willing this all to be some dream. Her breathing sped up as she saw it was still there. She willed herself not to overreact. It was a book, nothing more.
She crawled over until she was right next to it and taking a deep breath she reached out and brought it to her. It left no mark on the floor where it had fallen although it still appeared to be oozing blood. Kam hitched her sleeve up over her hand and wiped it over the surface of the book. No stain, nothing, it didn't even disturb the droplets forming on the cover. An illusion? Kam's breathing slowed. An illusion of blood was not pleasant, but a thousand times better than actual blood.
Before Kam could open the book or squirrel it away somewhere, Chandra started wailing from her room. Kam got up and hurried into the room, knowing the wailing would only get worse if Chandra figured out she wasn't there.
She checked in on the child and found her to be fine, just wide awake, which wasn't unusual for this time of night. Kam gently smoothed down Chandra's hair and went to pick her up when she realized she was still carrying the book.
"Ooops, sorry sweetheart. I'll have to go put this down before I can pick you up."
Kam looked around for a place to put down the book and decided on the chair. Somewhere between the crib and the chair, however, Kam was no longer Kam.
Chandra pulled herself up so she could peek out of the crib as she felt the room grow just a little bit colder and watched the Kam who was not Kam sit on the chair, open the book, and begin to read.
Death is not an ending, but a beginning for those who understand its inner workings...
When the first chapter was finished, the not Kam placed the book on the chair and was gone. In her place a mildly confused Kam turned around and walked back to the crib to pick up Chandra so she could go feed the child.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:17 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:19 pm
[Something Wicked This Way Comes]As Kam walked home from the HQ, Chandra seemed a little quieter than usual.
"You ok sweets?"
Chandra didn't bother to reply, but yawned widely displaying her tiny sharp teeth. Kam just smiled, putting the silence down to Chandra being tired.
When they arrived at home, Kam put Chandra up to bed for a nap. In her experience over tired babies got cranky pretty fast. On her way out of the room she noticed the book sitting on the chair. It no longer appeared to be dripping blood in her sight, so she picked it up and ran a finger down the spine.
The Book of the Dead
Interesting, but what was it doing here? Kam opened the book up, flipping to a random page. It was blank. She tried another page, also blank. Puzzled, she reclosed the book and set it back on the chair before heading downstairs to fix dinner. What to do about the book would bear further thought.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:19 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:21 pm
Diary Entry This first week with Chandra has been pretty hectic. I really just sort of slapped her room together when she first got here, so this weekend I finally went shopping. I picked up a bunch of cute things and I'll make sure to add pictures here when I can. I also bought some paint, so I can finish Chandra's room. I plan to paint a landscape on the walls, and the night sky on the ceiling. It should be quite the project. I still haven't managed to rid myself of the book. Everytime I try to get rid of it I managed to get sidetracked into doing something else. I suppose I am just lucky that Chandra cannot read yet.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:21 pm
[Into the Forest, Part 1]
Darkness? It had a different quality than night. It was suffocating and oily. The eyes blinked, but nothing changed, the texture remained exactly the same. Lips appeared and pursed, slowly and deliberately, the movement unfamiliar. A clear note rang out, seeking weakness in the darkness. A way to break out. They succeeded and slowly the darkness lifted like a curtain.
The eyes were again in her endless field of snow. Or was it bones? They blinked and the picture flickered, her internal reality shifting. A body to match the eyes built itself from the mountains of dead and then she was standing naked in the field of skulls again, all of them facing her. Hers to command.
After a moment of confusion in this unknown body, Chandra took a step forward and gasped before doubling over in pain. Her feet were bleeding, cut open on the bones below her. Her dark blood leaked and stained the ground below her the color of night. Somehow it was a cue and a frenzy of skulls swarmed her, biting and tearing at her. She closed her eyes and shrieked with pain as each attack stole pieces of herself. Before long her life leaked out through the holes they left and she was no longer on the field.
Dark figures cut the night sky, obscuring her vision. She was trapped, their branches preventing this body from flying out and away into the horizon.
A tiny snowy owl huddled nervously among the fallen pine needles that carpeted this part of the forest. The sun had risen and set while she sat here. The baying of hounds had surrounded her since sun down on this second day and they kept circling closer. It was only a matter of time until they and their masters found her.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:22 pm
[Into the Forest, Part 2]
"Urghh."
Kam tried to roll over so the light streaming in the window would no longer be in her eyes and hit the floor with a loud thud. She leaped to her feet, still fighting her way to consciousness and tried to figure out where she was.
Oh right, Chandra's room. I must have fallen asleep in my chair.
But that didn't make any sense. She never got to sleep through the night, Chandra slept fitfully and often had to be taken out and walked around the house before she would go back to sleep.
Frowning, Kam walked over to Chandra's crib and peeked in at the child. She looked like she was just sleeping. Maybe she had gotten used to sleeping through the night?
Kam smiled down at the sleeping baby, reached into the crib, and gently brushed Chandra's bangs away from her face. When she touched the child's skin she frowned, worried once again. Chandra's skin was ice cold and clammy.
"Chandra? Sweetheart?"
Kam's voice wavered as she tried to wake the child. What was wrong with Chandra that she got so cold at times?
Chandra didn't move at all at the sound of her own voice, so Kam tried tickling the bottoms of her feet.
"Chandra? Can you hear me?"
Kam started to cry, tears quickly rolling down her cheeks. What was wrong with her baby? Kam reached into the crib, gently picked Chandra up, and cradled the baby against her chest.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:23 pm
[Into the Forest, Part 3]
As Kam began to cry on the outside, her tears streaming down her cheeks to fall on the top of Chandra's head, it began to rain in the forest. The braying of the hounds had stopped about 10 minutes before and the forest had become deathly silent.
The rain that began to fall was cold, on the edge of becoming sleet and the cold motivated the tiny owl to find shelter. She beat her wings and ascended to a lower branch of one of the fuller evergreens. The needles gave her a measure of protection from the rain and she puffed out her feathers for warmth.
Narrowing her eyes to slits, the owl swiveled her head. Besides warmth, her perch had a big advantage over the ground and she could see. She couldn't see much since it was dark and the trees clustered around like prison bars, but she caught glimpses of motion in the underbrush. Was it the hounds? She wondered bleakly whether they could climb trees.
Her situation didn't look good.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:24 pm
[Into the Forest, Part 4]
About an hour after Kam had started crying, she shuddered to a stop. Chandra was whimpering. Her eyes were closed, and she was still closed, but she was whimpering quietly as if she was deathly afraid.
Kam hugged Chandra closer, and went to sit down in her chair. She would stay with Chandra until the child woke.
"Come back to me sweetie. Come back."
Kam choked up and she began to cry again. Her heart was breaking because there seemed to be nothing she could do.
As she lowered her head over Chandra, she caught sight of that book out of the corner of her eye. Without thinking, she shifted Chandra in her lap and picked the book up. And then again, she shifted to the not Kam and opened the book to read the second chapter.
Death is not a friendly place for those who do not wish to continue on. It is best to avoid death's guardians while travelling in death. Sometimes evasion is not possible, however, and there are way to mislead and confuse the guardians of death long enough for one to make their way back to life...
When she was done, not Kam dropped the book back beside the chair and closed her eyes. Those eyes opened again moments later, and Kam shook her head to clear it. Had she fallen asleep? What if she had missed some important development in Chandra's condition?
Panicked, Kam checked on the sleeping Chandra, but the only thing that had changed was that Chandra was no longer whimpering.
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