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 Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 5:37 pm
Alessa was running blind, in a sense. The corn all looked the same and she had lost sight of 'Gabe' and his drag marks long ago. Adrenalin thrummed through her veins, fear driving her feverishly on even though she didn't know where to go. She was panting, her face, shoulders, and legs were scratched, and her eyes were wide and wild. Jack damn it! Where was he? Where had they taken him?
Something was wrong with this corn field. As she ran she started to catch glimpses of blood and bone. Worse, she nearly screamed when she suddenly stumbled passed a rabbit skin, freshly cut, hanging wet from a post. She couldn't bare to look at it further, but she could have sworn its coat color was auburn. As she ran she saw more skins and she started to see animals, wolverines, minks, dogs, ripping at scraps of flesh that clung to them. They would turn and watch her with bloody snouts as she ran by and howl after her as she disappeared from view. Suddenly her food snagged on a fallen corn stalk and she tumbled to the ground.
It took her a bit to push herself up, and when she did she huddled on the ground, gasping as she found herself crying. She wiped her eyes, smearing dirt on her face, only to huddle back down and press her forehead against her knees. Her fingers matted themselves into her hair, tugging on the mussed curls. "W-why..." She choked. Why had she yelled at him like that? If she had just kept her mouth shut he probably would have seen those hooded men, he probably could have gotten away..."Nnngg..." She couldn't manage any other words, they came out strangled.
He was dead now, wasn't he? He was dead and it was all her fault.
She finally looked up, to see where she was. As she lifted her head she found herself staring into two serpent eyes. Her heart stopped, because even before she shifted her gaze away she knew, knew what she'd be seeing. The jaw of 'Gabe's' serpent form hung open limply, the entire span of his long body mounted on small wooden stakes into the ground. Blood dripped down from the extensive slice along his belly where it mixed muddily with the ground.
Alessa jerked to the side and immediately dry heaved, having nothing in her stomach to really lose. And even though the vision only lasted a few moments, she found she couldn't move, and instead pressed her head back to her knees.
(( Her little insanity experience ends here, so there will be nothing worse than that! ))
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:01 pm
((I'm going to reserve the bigger insanity post for when he returns back to the main prp))
Gabrian wasn't sure how long he'd been running. Surely a few seconds? Not even a minute or two, and yet something about the cornfield and the atmosphere that hung around it made it seem like hours. His head lifted in the air and attempt to scent the air; surely Alessa's scent wouldn't be too hard to pick up amongst all this corn? Except... it was, and the demon found himself cursing softly, idly wishing he could shift forms for the umpteenth time that same day. It would have made searching for the nagual much easier.
Thankfully, though he could not see her, he could certainly hear her. It took Gabrian just a few moment to decide that following the sound of her strangled gasps and sobs might just be the only way to locate her. It was extremely difficult, granted, given the fact the sobbing sound and... what he could have sworn were voices in the distance were extremely distracting. However, the demon shifted his focus and placed it solely upon Alessa's voice, trying to follow it blindly through the stalks.
Just when Gabrian had started to rethink his whole 'following the sound of her voice' routine, he finally stumbled upon the ghoul in question, yet somehow... he hadn't really been expecting to find her hunched up over herself, half dry heaving, half sobbing. He paused as he drew nearer, showing some stalks aside softly before approaching her; recalling Ren's reaction to him though, he dared not touch her or even actually invade her personal bubble. Instead, he remain a couple of feet away, having emerged behind the ghoul, somewhere to her right, "Alessa?" it was said softly, hesitantly, very much unlike how he usually spoke to her. On a normal basis, his words to her were usually teasing, strong, but now... they lacked all that and he actually sounded slightly uncertain. Ren's rejection and the fear he'd seen in the gryphon's eyes were still burned in the front of his mind and he was loath to admit it, but he was actually rather scared Alessa would react in the same way Ren had.
"Alessa... are you alright?" this time though, he did take a step forward, situating himself by her side before he crouched down. Despite that however, he didn't stretch his hand out to touch her, instead choosing to remain crouched by her side, "What's wrong? Why did you scream out my name? And why on Jack's name would you ever decide to run into the corn stalks all alone when you just berated me for doing that?" his voice was still soft, soothing. It was clear he was trying to fill in the void and silence with words.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:28 pm
Alessa's head jerked up at the sound of her own name. It was a terrified motion, her eyes wide and her body flinching away. And when she seemed to see him she screamed, a short, shrill sound before she clamped her hands over her mouth. She clamped her eyes shut, because she was afraid of what she'd see if she really looked; exactly how dead, or perhaps undead in this case, he was, where he was cut, how much blood there was...After the visions she had seen there was no doubt in her mind that was what she would see.
She might have been able to keep the images out, so to speak, but she couldn't keep all of her tears in. Logic didn't seem to matter anymore, not on that Jack forsaken island. He was haunting her, she knew, because it was all her fault. "T-they killed you-!" Her words were a bit of a garbled mess, as she choked on them. "I tried...t-to s-s-stop them but...but I just...got l-lost...at all the s-s-skins-" She clenched her jaw shut, afraid to say any more mainly because she thought she'd be sick again. Instead she brought her hands closer to her mouth, neither seeing nor speaking, only barely whining.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:04 pm
If Gabrian had been confused before, he was beyond confused now. He had absolutely no idea what the poor ghoul was talking about, and even made a show of pausing and then redirecting his head down to his chest and arms, almost as if to double check that yes, he was in fact still alive, and that no, nothing had killed him off while he er... hadn't been looking, "Don't be ridiculous... no one killed me, Alessa. I'm perfectly alive. Bewildered and very much unhappy to be on this island, but perfectly alive and well," a pause followed his words, almost as if he had only just thought of something, "And whose 'they'?" the hand that had previously been hovering over her form, finally descended on her shoulder. Despite the fact he was still rather afraid she'd react negatively to his touch, he wanted to prove the fact he was warm and thus not dead.
Again he hesitated, but his hand remain on her shoulder, "What skins? Alessa... what is going on with you?" he had the distinct notion it had a lot to do with the voices he could hear around them, whispering, calling, and quite frankly, making him feel utterly unnerved, "Look at me. I'm not dead and I see no skins here, love. I think you were day dreaming..." or possibly worse. He hoped it was the former though, rather than the later.
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:35 pm
Despite her fear, Alessa peeked one eye open slowly and then the other. He didn't look dead. The fright lines remained in her face, though. Hesitantly she reached out with trembling fingers to touch him, because it seemed the hand he had laid on her shoulder wasn't proof enough. It was almost as if she expected to find a hole in him somewhere she wasn't looking. But when her fingers reached him she found him whole and as warm as Gabe ever really was. Her fingers tightened on the fabric of his clothes.
"B-but I saw them!" She swallowed thickly, her eyes still wet and shining. "W-we were arguing, you calling me bossy and then saying we were all failures and better off dead and then these two hooded men grabbed you and-" She stopped, taking a moment to try and catch her breath. Her eyelashes fluttered for a brief moment as she barely kept the tears back. That done she continued, "...t-they took you. And when I came looking I found all those bloodied animal skins and I found you-" She paused suddenly, and looked away from him to the area before her. There was nothing there. No blood, no sign that anything she had seen had been real. She shook more visibly, knotting a few fingers into the hair near her scalp. "Jack, was...was none of it real?...What's wrong with me?...What's wrong with this island?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:58 pm
The way the ghoul clung to him, her fingers sinking into his clothes as if... not truly believing he was real, "I'm sure you did," his tone of voice was not at all condescending, his gaze fixed on her as she looked up with shinning, tear filled eyes, "But it wasn't real. I never called you bossy because it's an insult... and I feel it's counter productive towards any argument I could make if all I do is insult the other person," a frown spread across his features as she continued. What she spoke of sounded horribly familiar, albeit for entirely different reasons; the voices he'd been hearing intensified and for a moment, all he could hear were mournful wails.
Get out.
Leave. Now. While you still can. Release. Find release. There is salvation only in death.
Tunning the voices out (or at least trying to), the nix shook his head from side to side rather violently. His gaze focused on the nagual ghoul once more, his hand reaching to grip her elbow, as if he too felt the need to remind himself that she was real, that she was not something he was dreaming up. Right now, the ghoul was his lifeline, and unless he clung to her, he felt he'd lose sight of reality.
Was this all a dream? What was real? Where they still on tat ship, sailing away through the ocean? Perhaps this was nothing but a fever induced dream he was having as he lay on the upper deck of Lady Red, or perhaps... the boat had also been a dream. Gabrian was no longer sure.
His grip on her elbow tightened, though never enough to hurt her, "I don't know," this was said as he swallowed down excess saliva, his eyes now wide as he turned his head, glancing around them, "I don't know... but what is wrong... I get the impression it's wrong....er out here in the field. We should get back," despite his own words, he made no movement to get up, as if fearing that the change in perspective would show him that he'd been right in his assumption that this was all a dream.
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Ary Keeyara rolled 3 6-sided dice:
2, 5, 2
Total: 9 (3-18)
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:12 pm
"I did think it was rather unlike you," Alessa admitted. It almost looked as if that would make her smile. Almost, but it didn't quite make it to her eyes. But who could really smile at a time like this? It was too hard. Too soon, even, from the experience she'd thought she'd had. It was a shame. A smile probably would have relieved some of the tension that was so clear in her face.
When he suggested they leave, she nodded mutely in agreement. The voices, a sometimes animal noises, were still there. It was almost like the sound was scratching at her mind, trying to get in...or out. But it was duller, with him here. At least she wasn't seeing things too. She released his shirt, very reluctantly, and made the first motion to stand. It was a bit of a weak one and she teetered slightly, but his grip on her elbow kept her from swaying anywhere close to the point of falling. Once up, she passed a small glance at her skirt covered legs and skirt (and face, though she couldn't see it) and realized she was missing something.
"M-my bag! My weapon's in it-!" She began to search the leaves and other underbrush among the stalks, searching for it.
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:38 pm
He would have snorted; any other time and Gabrian would have found her comment to be particularly amusing. Alas, the fact she actually knew the way he argued enough to notice that it was unlike him to insult others... was not quite enough to make him smile. It did, however, allow him to unwind just long enough to focus his full attention away from the whispering voices in his head (or were they outside? He couldn't tell) and onto the ghoul beside him. As she stood, he finally made motion to follow her, supporting her weight slightly as she tried to regain her bearings, "Funny," he finally chuckled, though the sound was muted and hallow, almost as if despite the fact he was amused... he couldn't quite bring himself to produce the sound truthfully, "That you know me well enough to know when something is off. Imagine that."
The ghoul's pause forced him to lower his gaze towards where she was looking. He was utterly confused by her increasing tension and for a moment was deeply concerned, figuring that perhaps she was going to go through another round of... whatever it was that had forced her to run in the first place. Insanity? It made sense, given the information Carthusia had given.
Her words made the demon groan, his eyes turning away from Alessa's form in other to glance around them and the small clearing they had created within the cornstalk field, "Don't leave," this was said, perhaps, in a much more begging tone than he'd want to. I'd been aiming for it to sound much more commanding than it came out as, and Gabrian found himself cringing slightly before offering her a pleading look. He pleaded with her not to make a big deal of what she'd just heard and... he pleaded with her not to run off, "If it's not here it means you dropped it on the way here. We should retrace your steps," a pause, "Can you hear... that?" he didn't think he needed to explain what 'that' was.
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:55 pm
The pleading tone of his voice made her freeze. She peered over her shoulder at him, the usual fear lines still in her face, but accented with some concern. Despite the regret that twisted her gut at losing her only bit of protection, she straightened herself back up. "I won't." It honestly didn't take much to convince her. She didn't want to be alone again and, despite her short bout with what must have been madness, she still thought separating was a bad idea.
"Oh! It's right there!" She said with sudden relief, jogging to the opposite side of him where her bag and its contents were scattered across the ground. She picked everything up and carefully stuffed them back in her pack. Except...had she had that many pieces of paper before? She didn't think so. But it didn't seem important right now. She slung both straps over her back, looking slightly more settled to have it there, as if it were a comfort.
She paused for a moment, giving him a long, strained look. Suddenly she rushed forward, and threw her arms around his middle, hugging him from behind. She pressed her forehead against his back, blocking everything from view for just a moment. Despite all that had happened, he was alive. They all were, for the time being. And that was something to be grateful for.
When she released him she took a step back, rubbing some of the dirt on her face as if nothing had happened. She eyed him nervously, "Hear...the voices? Or the sounds...? I...hear a lot of things." None of them good really.
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:24 pm
Despite everything, he felt himself let out a sigh of relief as she answered him so simply, thankfully not making a big deal out of the situation. He couldn't deal with it now. Maybe later, but not now. There were, in fact, a lot of things Gabrian was well aware he'd have to deal with if he ever got back to the school (or... if he ever woke up from whatever fever induced dream he was inhabiting). But he''d decided that now was not the time; his mind simply couldn't cope. It could barely just manage the most primitive of functions at the current moment, being much too occupied attempting to fight the ever increasing chorus of voices and wails he could still here in the background.
Rather than risk speech, the nix nodded his head slightly, one of his hands reaching up to massage his temple, as if the simple motion would somehow help rid the fog that was beginning to cloud his mind. She released himself from him and he turned his head just so, watching as she jogged to the other side of him to pick up her scattered bag; that was odd... he hadn't seen it there just a moment ago. Or had he? Maybe it'd been there all along and he simply hadn't seen it due to the darkness and fog.
Maybe he was going insane. Maybe this was all just a dream. Maybe the voices were right to assume that the only way to liberate himself from it was death; if this was a dream, wouldn't that effectively wake him up on the other side, safe and sound? Maybe he should-
It was right around then that Gabrian felt arms go around his middle, not to mention the warmth of a body press against his back, and it was only the warmth and comfort that impromptu hug offered him that managed to derail his current train of though violently. He shook his head forcefully from side to side, as if to clear it, and by the time she'd pulled away from him... he'd managed to somewhat disperse the fog in his mind, "Yes. Those..." he seemed to hesitate only a moment before taking a step towards her, his arm circling her neck in a pose reminiscent of the one they'd been in during the Christmas trip, "Thank you," he didn't explain what he was thanking her for, but he felt he didn't need to; she probably understood.
That in mind, he took the first tentative steps out of the clearing they'd made and into the cornfields in an attempt to reach the main path again.
((Exit post !))
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:31 pm
It was funny, because though Alessa thought neither of them needed the support physically, they certainly did need the closeness of someone. She felt it and she was sure he did too, the pressure the fog and its visions was putting on them. So she did not hesitate to put her arm around his waist.
"Despite everything and anything, we are friends. Always," she murmured. And just as he didn't think he needed to explain his thanks, she felt no need to explain that further either. And so she stepped carefully with him, heading in the direction she hoped lead back to the others.
(( Exit post! ))
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