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 Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 9:52 pm
The ghoul sighed loudly as she sat up in her bed, finding that she was unable to sleep. It had been a long day, and yet she wasn't tired in the least. Her suddenly insomnia was probably partly related to the experiences she had gone through the past few days. Her attempts to find the limits of her dream diving ability had resulted in her learning a great deal of worries that both her friends and peers held hidden inside. Some of these dreams had been particularly heartbreaking, and whenever she closed her eyes, she couldn't help but see them flash through her mind. Her "big brother" having his heart torn out, her close friend losing her parents...
...There was also the scene in one of the other dreams where Xiu had come close to getting her limbs sawed off by a certain patchwork, but that wasn't heartbreaking. Just terrifying.
Shuddering at the thought, Xiu threw off her blankets and frowned. Well, if she couldn't sleep now, then...perhaps a walk would help? The Baku stood up and went to dig through her wardrobe for a while, producing a coat that she threw over her long t-shirt (practically a dress, really) and shorts. With that done, she grabbed her keys, slipped her feet into a pair of comfortable shoes, and head out the door. If this walk didn't help, then she would have to turn to making some herbal tea when she came back.
As she sneaked down the hallway of the demon dorms, Xiu mused to herself how badly the last dream she had popped into had turn out. Well, it wasn't so much that it was bad rather than...scarring. For her, at least. At least the experience had taught her one thing: never enter the dream of a stranger, especially without their permission. The Baku would definitely keep this in mind now.
Never again.
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 10:25 pm
To say that Moure was in a bit of trouble was an understatement.
Moure rarely slept of his own free will, usually vetoing that option to instead go out and help others. Sleep was not efficient, at least not in the Runner's mind. Why would he sleep, when instead he could be out running Errands and keeping himself busy? Being able to run an Errand at any time was practically Moure's purpose for existing, and he liked to be able to do what he was made for.
The only problem with Moure's lack of sleep was that his body was still mainly made of human-like Parts, and sometimes they needed a rest, even if the Runner didn't think they did. When he did in fact run out of energy after practially weeks of no sleep, the Runner would literally crash, his Parts generall shutting down until he had gotten enough sleep to function again. That time could range from hours to days of simply sleeping.
Right now was one of those 'crash and burn' times. The Runner had felt the suddent fatigue, and managed to just make it onto a bench when he felt it start to engulf him. His boogeymon, a creature named Gibralter, was with him, and immediately realized what was going on. Gibralter gave a worried grunt and nudged Moure a few times as the Runner slumped against the back of the bench. Moure managed to say something along the lines of, "Couldn't have picked a worse place to crash, could I...?" before fully falling into his deep sleep.
Gibralter gave another whine and nudged Moure's head, which simply fell a bit to the other side. The boogeymon had been Moure's pet long enough to have seen this happen to his Master many times before. Gibralter knew that he wasn't going to be able to wake Moure up by himself, and the loyal little minipet knew that he couldn't just abandon the Runner out here for a few days.
He'd have to find someone who could wake up Moure. Maybe someone could get inside his head and wake him up that way? The boogeymon gave a determined nod at his plan to find someone and then gave the almost corpse-like Moure a reassuring nuzzle on the head, even though he knew the boil couldn't feel it. The little pelt-wearing reptilian minipet jumped down off of Moure's shoulder and then off of the bench, smelling the air frantically. There had to be SOMEONE around to help Moure, right?
The boogeymon left the little side path they were on and ran toward the closest building in the area: The Demon Dorms. Outside of it, he spotted what looked to be a light haired ghoul in with a long tail. The boogeymon immediately ran up to the ghoul, crossing right in front of her path and stopping, looking up at her with pleading eyes. He made a series of whimpering noises, tossing his head at the path he'd come from. Then, the minipet nudged her on the leg in that direction and then moved around to where he'd left Moure, trying to make the ghoul come follow him. She'd be able to help Moure, right? Right?
The boogeymon took a few steps down the path he'd come from, tossing his head back farther down the path and giving the ghoul the most pleading, begging look he could to get her to follow him.
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 10:53 pm
Xiu was startled when, upon leaving the dorms, she was immediately approached by...something. In the darkness, it was a little difficult to make out what the creature running up to her was. Once he was a few feet away from her, however, she realized that it was a minipet. A very adorable one at that! Though...why was he whimpering so? Curious, she leaned down and cocked her head to the side.
"What's wrong?" She murmured softly, eying the boogeymon with concern. It seemed that he was trying to tell her something...but what? She finally realized what he wanted when he gave her a light nudge. "You want me to follow you?" Xiu immediately abandoned her plans for a walk in favour of following the minipet. What if someone was in trouble and needed help?
The pleading look that the boogeymon shot Xiu immediately won her over. Without any hesitation, she hurried down the path and followed after him, a little nervous about what she would find. Was someone hurt? Had they collapsed and injured themselves?
When they finally reached the bench, the Baku discovered that neither of these seemed to be the case. From what she could see, the boil did not seem to have any external wounds, or...any injuries at all, really. As she moved closer, she caught a glimpse of his face. "Oh! You're..." Moure, wasn't it? From the music club! She hadn't talked to him, but she saw him around and heard others converse with him. What was he doing out here?
Leaning down, Xiu eyed him silently for a moment before turning to the boogeymon, a puzzled look spreading over her features. "He looks fine to me," She assured him softly, "But...I guess sleeping out here isn't the best idea. Moure? Wake up..." Reaching out, she gently shook his shoulder in an attempt to get him to rise.
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 11:24 pm
Gibralter probably would have snuggled this ghoul if he could. (And if you knew Gibralter, you would discover that his affections were actually extremely hard to gather. As of right now, Xiu was the boogeymon's favorite random person he'd met at this school. All because of the fact that she was in fact following him.) The boogeymon led the ghoul to the bench where Moure had crashed.
When the ghoul arrived on the scene and seemed to recognize Moure, the boogeymon's ears perked up a bit. If she knew Moure, perhaps she would be more inclined to help?
It seemed she couldn't see what the problem was though. Gibralter watched her gentle attempt to wake Moure up, then shook his head a bit.
Moure simply shook under the ghoul's attempt, limb as a ragdoll. When she had finished shaking him he just slumped back against the bench, completely and utterly asleep.
Gibralter gave the ghoul's leg another soft nudge, then jumped up onto the bench. Determined to make her understand that he wouldn't wake up, the boogeymon picked up Moure's hand. And then dropped it. It thumped onto the surface of the bench, and then remained there, motionless. The boogeymon lept onto the boil's shoulder and then pushed Moure's head a bit, which caused it simply to sway. Then, Gibralter looked over at the light-haired ghoul and shook his head.
Moure just would NOT wake up.
Perhaps Gibralter could make her see? The boogeymon jumped down onto the bench's surface again, and then looked at the ghoul. It was time for some 'charades'. The boogeymon pointed at Moure, and then made the cliche "throat slit" motion across his own reptilian throat. From there, he flopped down on the bench as if he were dead. Then he sat back up and pointed at Moure again, nudging the boil with his paws and whimpering a bit more.
In short, he was pretty much trying to tell her that Moure was practically a corpse right now, and that the boogeymon couldn't wake him up, but needed to. Oh how much the boogeymon would have given to have been able to just talk and explain it to the ghoul.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 12:22 am
Xiu was a little alarmed to find how limp the boil was. That was...rather strange, wasn't it? It usually wouldn't be so hard to wake someone up. Frowning, she watched curiously as Gibralter attempted to show her what was wrong. When he shook his head to indicate that the patchwork boil just wasn't going to get up, the Baku nodded to show that she understood.
The crease between her brows, however, showed that she was rather concerned about this fact. Why wouldn't he rise? Was he ill?
The boogeymon's attempt at charades ended up alarming the ghoul more than anything. "Do you mean to say he's dead?" A pause, "...N-no wait, I mean..." Well, of course he was dead! But why wasn't he reanimating? Noting the poor minipet's distressed, the ghoul reached out to pet him comfortingly if he would let her. What could she do? It was so late, and all the teachers--and the nurse--had probably retired for the night. The only thing that came to mind...
...No, she had told herself that she wouldn't do it again. Not without permission, at least. For one thing, it was wrong for her to intrude on someone's private thoughts like that, especially someone that she hardly knew. But...but on the other hand, assuming that he dreamed, waking him up from inside the dream would possibly just work. It would save a lot of time too--sometimes a dream that felt like an hour was sometimes only a few minutes. Then again, the reverse was possible too.
Still, what other choice did she have?
"I...I think I might be able to help." She smiled at Gibralter, though she looked a bit nervous at the idea of dream diving so soon after the last time. "I'll...I'll have to wake him up from the inside. D-don't be too worried if my body becomes like that too." Xiu gestured to Moure's limp body. Once she left to travel the dream world, her own body would be pretty corpse-like itself. The only difference was that she would actually "awaken" if someone were to violently shake or pinch her. Screaming or yelling at her body wouldn't work, but physical pain would definitely bring her back.
Before she began, she eyed the boil thoughtfully and removed her jacket, draping it over his limp figure. She didn't know if undeads got sick but...it wouldn't do if he got ill sleeping out here, would it? Turning to regard the boogeymon, she lifted the corner of her jacket and motioned towards it. "You're welcome to use this if you get cold as well." With that done, the ghoul settled herself down beside the bench, curling up and closing her eyes so that she could concentrate.
Considering how close she was sitting to the patchwork boil, finding the path that led to his dreams was easy--it was the first and brightest one that popped up. Like with her last few experiences, Xiu took a deep breath and started forward on the trail.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 6:58 pm
Gibralter watched as the demon ghoul nodded, glad to know that she realized that there was no chance of waking up Moure by shaking or pinching him. The boogeymon tried to understand her look when a crease formed between her eyebrows. Did that mean she was starting to come up with a plan?
The boogeymon's charades apparently frightened the ghoul more than he'd thought they would. At the question of if Moure was dead, Gibralter shook his head, assuming she meant truly and completely dead as opposed to just plain undead. As the hand reached out, Gibralter allowed himself to be pet, feeling comforted by the fact that the ghoul seemed to actually want to help Moure and that she cared enough to try.
The boogeymon listened as the ghoul spoke, ears perking up curiously when she said she might be able to help. At the next statement the ghouls said, the boogeymon gave a confused nod. The ghoul was going to make herself limp and wake him up from the inside? She could do that?
When the Baku took off her jacket and put it on Moure, Gibralter looked at her with a "What if you get cold?" look, but didn't stop her. She was going to help Moure, and that's what mattered. The little boogeymon slipped under the edge of the jacket, out enough that he could watch both of the students and make sure they were safe.
In any case, it seemed it was time for the ghoul to try dream-diving again.
The baku would find herself in a long white hallway when she actually entered the dream after following it's trail. There was one door on the farthest end of the corridor that was slightly ajar, but the rest of the doors that lined the hallway looked securely closed. On closer inspection, one might see that the ajar door had a plate secured to the front of it, which read off, "Resting Quarters". It seemed to be the only doom that a certain dream-invader would be able to enter at this exact moment in time, although even that door seemed to be swinging closed in slow motion. There was the sounds of movement in the rooms that dotted the corridor, along with the hushed words of unseen people. There was catches of phrases and sentences floating around the hall, almost all of them revolving around one topic.
Dr. Cphira was going to have 'friends' over later that night.
"Did you hear? She invited some of her 'collaborators' over tonight. Her get-togethers are always the worst for us..." Two patchworks, both of similar human-like build and appearance and both well-made, passed the hallway the dream was currently taking place in, quietly chatting away as they walked. "I bet we'll be left more alone than we were at her last party, though. They'll have someone new to inspect, after all. I hope Moure'll be able to take it. He's still so young... I still wouldn't take Moure's place for a hundred pumpkin seeds though, I wouldn't..." The voices trailed off as the two got farther away, until they couldn't be heard at all.
Seemed that the Baku might have to do a little bit of exploring to find Moure. Perhaps she'd find something if she tried one of the rooms?
((OOC Note: I don't know if Xiu actually has to be able to see the dreamer right when she comes in or not, so if she does, just quote me in the main thread and I'll add something to this post. ^^; ))
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:40 pm
The patchwork's dream world was nothing like she would have imagine it to be, but then again, she hardly knew Moure in the first place. Squinting at the sheer whiteness of the hallway, the Baku let her gaze sweep over her new surroundings. Her first thought?
Goodness, there are a lot of doors.
Where was she supposed to start? Noting the door at the far end of the hallway, the Baku started towards it when she suddenly heard...voices? She couldn't pinpoint the exact location they were coming from but, after so many other experiences in other dreams, she wasn't that surprised by this point. Closing her eyes, she tried to listen as intently as she could, but she still only managed to grasp certain scraps of the conversations. Something about this...Dr. Cphira.
Startled when she suddenly heard new voices--louder, this time--she opened her eyes to find that a pair of patchworks were approaching her from down the hall. Perking up, she cocked her head to the side as she took in their conversation. Collaborators? And...what was this about Moure? Frowning thoughtfully, Xiu didn't even bother moving aside for the patchworks, simply allowing them to go through her as if she were air.
Speaking of Moure, where was he? This was the first dream that Xiu had entered without seeing the dreamer in some shape or form. Noting this fact down--these dreams were always a learning experience--the Baku eyed all the doors contemplatively. Assuming that at least three of these doors could be opened and followed in, that was already three different paths she could take. She was going to get lost here if she didn't have a guide to follow, and the only one that could serve in that role would be the dreamer himself. It was best if she tried to seek him out...but where to begin?
As the one that stuck out the most was the ajar door at the far end, Xiu decided to head for that one first, breaking into a jog as she finally realized that it was slowly swinging closed. "M-moure?" Was he in that room she wondered?
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:29 pm
People were still speaking quietly in other rooms, gossiping in hushed tones about the upcoming "party" that Dr. Cphira was apparently hosting. There was a certain tone that could be picked up, something in the air. It was fear, that was the emotion hanging throughout the hallway. Nervous, anxious fear.
As Xiu arrived at the door which lead to the "Resting Quarters", the slowly closing door clicked into the door-frame. As she called out Moure's name, the handle seemed to turn slightly, as if someone was turning it on the other side. Then, it paused, as if the other person turning the knob was hesitating for a moment. Then, the handle was turned completely, and the door swung back open.
The person who'd opened the door was Moure. Well, they would be recognizable as Moure, from the shaggy brown hair and the electric blue eyes. (There was the same stitching across his face, along with down one of his arms, if Xiu had been so observant to notice the stitch patterns on the Moure she'd found on the bench.)
In any case, it was Moure in miniature. A few years younger, at most. Maybe eleven, twelve. He was still tall for his age, whatever that age was.
The smaller, younger Moure looked at Xiu with a much more critical expression than a child his age would usually have. "Who are you...?" Came the young boil's voice, sounding somewhat guarded. Then, some kind of understanding seemed to cross his face, and he gave a sigh as he opened the door for Xiu to enter. "You must be one of Dr. Cphira's friends. I suppose you couldn't wait for the party to start to come see Cphira's newest creation..." Moure gave a defeated shrug, then began to walk away from the door.
It seemed the "Resting Quarter" room wasn't even really a room. It was practically a dormitory hall. It was long enough that there was at least ten beds against each wall, each nearly identical with no individuality. Moure moved through these until he was at the second to last bed on the right side. There was one difference between this bed and the rest of the ones lining the room. There was a tiny toy car, like the kind found in a cereal box, sitting on the foot of his bed.
Moure sat, looking rather downcast. After a moment, the patchwork boil looked up at the Baku expectingly, his expression almost saying "What are you waiting for?". There was a kind of guarded fear in his blue eyes though, as if he thought, he was expecting, that she was going to reach over and rip off his arm.
By the haphazard stitching visible on his left shoulder (his sleeve was rolled up, enough that the seam was able to be seen), it actually looked like that might have already happened.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:43 am
Now, none of the dreams Xiu had been in had been...well, happy. Not in the least, actually. In some cases, she had learned a great deal of dark secrets that her friends held deep inside--things she honestly should not have seen--and in other cases, she had been terrified out of her wits by some of the dream-events. So far, this dream seemed to be rather...tame, and she certainly hoped that it would stay that way.
That was why she sighed in relief when it was a familiar patchwork boil that opened the door for her, and not some...giant crazy thing. The only thing was that the boil in question was quite a bit younger than his present-day self. After a brief pause, Xiu smiled in relief. Good, she had found him! Not to mention awww, he was so tiny (compared to his current self, at least)!
The Baku gave a little wave. "There you are! I--" She blinked in surprise, cutting her greeting shirt when she found herself suddenly being invited in. Well, she was just here to try waking Moure up from his dream, but...she supposed that it wouldn't hurt to enter the room, especially since the boil in question had walked back inside.
Slipping into the room, the ghoul wrinkled her nose slightly as she took in her new settings. This place was a little...cramped, wasn't it. She did a quick sweep over all the beds, determining that there were at least twenty beds in this room. Twenty! What was this place, and why would such a room be necessary? Was this...some kind of hospital for patchworks, perhaps? The white hallway, the name "Dr. Cphira" and the patchworks she had seen--a total of three, counting Moure--ultimately drew her to this conclusion. A conclusion that most certainly could have been way off base.
Moving towards Moure's bed, the Baku leaned down so that they were eye level and tilted her head to the side, a friendly smile spreading over her lips. "Hi there." She greeted, careful to keep her voice gentle. He seemed a little nervous around her, and the last thing she wanted to do was frighten him off. "You're Moure, right? I'm Xiu. Actually, I needed to tell you something..." Now, how to approach the topic that he was currently dreaming and needed to wake up?
Or would she not get a chance to dive into that topic at all?
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:21 pm
The younger version of Moure watched as this white-haired ghoul seemed to looking around the room. Had she never seen a mad scientist's resting quarters before? By her expression, the young patchwork would almost say she hadn't, which would be strange for any of Dr. Cphira's friends to not recognize the room as the place where Cphira's creations rested. Perhaps this young woman wasn't one of Cphira's 'friends' after all? Then how had she gotten in...?
Unknown to Moure, the conclusion that the baku had come to, about this place being a hospital for patchworks, ironically was both that and the exact opposite of what she had thought.
The younger version of Moure looked up at Xiu again as she spoke once more, tilting his head in a slightly confused fashion at the fact that she knew his name. And that she wasn't a Doctor herself. "Xiu..." He said quietly, trying to puzzle it all together. If she knew his name, that meant she had to have heard it from his Doctor, right? Once more, Moure gave Xiu a critical expression, as if trying to understand who she was and what her place was in the grand scheme of all this. Carefully he said, "What did you need to tell me...?"
Then, a very recognizable sound could be heard coming down the long hallway that led to the 'Resting Quarters.' The sound of footsteps against the floor.
But not just any footsteps. These clicks were the sound of high-heels clicking across a hard floor. The steps rang out, carrying an aura that could be felt even through just the sound of the steps. A confident, powerful aura. And it sounded angry.
Moure stood up, his eyes widening with what looked like it might be panic. He pocketed the little toy car that had been sitting on his bed, then looked over at Xiu with some terror in his eyes. "She never comes down here. Why is she coming down here...? Why is she coming...?" Just as his words died out, the door to the 'Resting Quarters' was flung open.
And then suddenly, there was a very young boogeymon flying through the air, crossing the entire length of the room before sliding across the floor and eventually hitting the base of the wall.
Moure's eyes watched the little creature fly in horror, then looked to the doorway.
Standing there, leg extended slightly as if she had just punted the boogeymon, was a tall, elegant looking woman. Her hair was put up in a tight bun, and what might have been bat-like wings were pressed up against her back. She was clad in a ironed out and very business-like white silk shirt, a black mock-pencil skirt (it looked like a pencil skirt but had somehow been modified so she could take long strides even while wearing it), and a long white lab-coat.
Moure gave a slight whimper, his eyes darting back and forth between the boogeymon and the lady in the doorway.
Then, the lady looked around the room, her eyes calculating and, spotting no one else inside but Moure, entered, pointing at the boogeymon. Her eyes and voice were carefully guarded as if to hide intense anger, and as she spoke, her tone commanded authority and answers. "What is that mongrel doing in my home?"
Moure opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again, watching as the boogeymon sat up woozily, but none-the-less alive. "Uhm, uhm, Doctor I can explain, I can, really..."
She closed the distance between the door and the bed Moure was standing on, looking more and more imposing as she did so. "So you're the one who brought that little mutt into this labratory...?" It seemed the woman's expression was getting more angry as the moments past. "Well, I'm waiting, Moure."
Moure swallowed, practically radiating fear. He spoke again, stumbling over his words now that she was so close, "W-well, D-Doctor Cphira, it was a-abandoned out by the general shop...the building you sent me to go get those needles from...I-I couldn't just leave it..."
Cphira's eyes narrowed, and her words carried the potency of poison in them. "Moure, you should know by now that you do only what I tell you to do. Did it tell you that you could bring home some fleabag? No, I told you to go get needles and come back immediately. Instead, you brought home this thing." She looked musingly at the boogeymon, continuing for a moment with, "Well, I suppose I might need a new fur shawl..." At Moure's now even more horrified face, she looked back at her creation with a barely hidden disgust and a torturer's smile. "Heh, you like that little monster, then? You can keep it for now. Remember though, next time you disobey me, you might just have to see it flayed alive. And you might be rewarded with the same treatment if you keep up messing up, just like Rifter was a few days ago..." She gave almost a snarl of a smile. "Think about that next time you want to disobey me, Moure."
With that, she turned on her heel and strode from the bed, back toward the door she'd come from. Over her shoulder she called, "Don't forget to get ready for the party tonight, darling~ It's going to be such a blast!" Followed by a haunting, sadistic laugh.
As soon as the door slammed closed, Moure ran to the boogeymon's side, scooping him up in his arms and looking him over carefully. "You're okay, Gibralter, you're okay. I won't let her hurt you again, I won't..." He sounded choked up by the end of his words, holding the hurt boogeymon gently as he sat and cradled it in his arms.
There was a reason why in reality Gibralter was now so protective of Moure.
That reason is Dr. Cphira.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:23 pm
So close. Xiu had been so close to telling Moure that he needed to wake up when they both caught the sound of heels clicking against the ground. While the Baku was simply puzzled by the approaching footsteps, the poor patchwork boil seemed to be in a panic. Straightening up, she cast a concerned look at Moure before turning to look towards the door. "Who's tha--!!"
Xiu flinched as the door suddenly flew open, her eyes widening in horror as she noticed something--a boogeymon?--soaring through the air. A young boogeymon...could that be...?
When it slid to a stop against the wall, Xiu instinctively took a step towards it when she realized that there was a figure by the doorway. Freezing, the ghoul's gaze only had to sweep over the woman once before she decided that she didn't like her. Maybe it was the way that she made the young Moure frightened, or the fact that she had just punted a poor minipet across the room. Whatever the case, Xiu hovered close by the patchwork boil side as she watched the exchange between the two. She had a little flashback of two of the other dreams she had ventured into--watching her friends being grabbed or abused while she could only stand by--and the Baku hoped that this scene wouldn't dissolve into the same situation.
She visibly stiffened when Cphira moved closer, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest as the woman nearly stopped right in front of her. While the doctor couldn't see her, Xiu was able to see the doctor very clearly, down to the furious expression on her face. She wouldn't...she wouldn't hit Moure or--Jack forbid--do anything worse to him, would she? A child?
Then again, her past few dream experiences had taught her that sometimes adults didn't care whether or not they were merely children.
Even though she knew that both Moure and the boogeymon would, at the very least, survive this night and the years to come, Dr. Cphira's thread still made the Baku quiver. It wasn't until she left did Xiu relax slightly, but only after she stared at the door for a long time, as if expecting the woman to change her mind and come back. By the time she turned away, Moure had already run off the the minimon's side.
"..." What was she supposed to say? Should she tell him that this was all a dream and he needed to wake up right now? She wasn't sure if this was the best time, really. Stooping down close to the child and his pet, Xiu hesitated for a second before she reached out and laid a gentle hand on his back. "Gibralter will be fine, Moure," She murmured, "You...you're both stronger than that, right?" She tried to keep a small smile on her face, but her brows were knit in concern. The party that Cphira had mentioned...the other patchworks had been talking about that too, hadn't they? What did this "party" entail, exactly?
She shuddered again as she remembered the woman's laugh just before she had left this room.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:48 am
After Dr. Cphira had left, Moure heard the sound of someone's footsteps coming in his direction. These were not the footsteps of his creator, though. They were softer, gentler. The young Moure looked up from his injured minipet when he felt something touch his back. He looked over his shoulder, the distraught look on his face, settling slightly when he looked into the kinder face of this ghoul, this Xiu. At her words, he swallowed and gave a nod. "G-Gibralter's okay. He's okay..." The boogeymon gave a slight wriggle, then buried himself against Moure's stomach, as if that would be able to protect him from Cphira if she returned. To the second statement, Moure looked up at her and gave a firm, although slightly shaken, nod. "I-I'll be strong...I-I'll be strong enough to survive a-anything Dr. Cphira does." His voice trembled slightly, remembering all the threats he'd seen her make, and how many of them she had carried out. Still fresh in his mind was the trama of what had happened to Rifter, one of the other patchworks, a few days ago.
Moure hadn't known it was physically possible to flay the skin off of some of a patchwork, or at least he'd never seen it happen. Witnessing Rifter's punishment had changed that fact.
After a few moments of silence, moure gave the boogeymon a few pets before saying quietly out loud. "I don't want to go to her 'party'...I've never been to one before, but the others have...warned me." He looked up at Xiu with a somewhat concerned face, as if she might know something else about the event that was going to go on later. After all, when he'd first seen her in the hallway, he had thought she was one of his Doctor's 'friends'. His eyebrows pushed together slightly, as he continued to try to figure out what she was and why she was here. She'd seen all that, yet she hadn't responded to Cphira, and the Doctor hadn't even noticed her. Moure quietly let out a question, trailing off near the end. "So, what are you...? You look too young to be a Mad Scientist or a Doctor like Dr. Cphira...you're not one of her friends, or she would have looked at you, right? So...how did you get in here?"
The boogeymon in his lap gave a slight shake, as if he was fully regaining his awareness of the area. The little Gibralter finally stood, gave Moure a nuzzle, and wobbled off Moure's lap and over to his bed. He scrabbled at it for a moment, attempting to climb up. When Moure saw this, he slid over to the bed's edge and gently pushed the minimon high enough that it could flop onto the surface and curl up, attempting to go to sleep. Moure looked back at Xiu after checking to make sure that the boogeymon was alright one last time. Almost out of nowhere, Moure stated, "I don't think she has any real friends. She always says they are when they come to her get-togethers, but I think they're more like...collaborators, or other mad scientists, you know?" Moure almost cut himself off while saying these things. He still wasn't sure just what Xiu was, so he was taking a risk by announcing what every patchwork made by Cphira knew. After all, if Xiu was one of Cphira's 'friends', why wouldn't she just go tell the Doctor exactly what Moure had just said?
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 3:48 pm
Xiu nodded in an approving manner at the young boil's answer and gave him a little pat on the head. "I...I know you'll survive, then. Both of you." With a small smile, she motioned to both the patchwork and the minipet. Indeed, if this was a memory dream--which it definitely seemed like it was--then the Baku could at least take comfort that both Moure and Gibralter were both still alive (figuratively speaking) and well. If Xiu had been treated like this when she was young...well, then she would probably see Amityville as some kind of safe haven.
"Warned you?" Xiu perked up, suddenly looking incredibly worried at the idea of the party. "Warned you about what? ...Do you have to go?" Dream or not, she didn't like to see the dreamer have to go through any suffering, especially if it was a memory from the past. It was one thing to go through it once and forget it, but she had realized that those with traumatic pasts tended to relive the trauma over and over again when the slept. Just when they thought that they had escaped it-- "--Hm?"
She was snapped out of her thoughts by the question. What...was she? The ghoul frowned a little at that question and pressed a hand to her cheek. How was she supposed to answer? "I'm...nobody special. It's a long story, but no, I'm not a friend of Dr. Cphira's." She wondered if it was wise for her to admit to the next thing, but she did it anyways. "As for why she didn't look at me...she couldn't see me. I don't think Gibralter can either." After all her experiences, Xiu had come to realize that it was both a blessing and a curse. Aside from in that one dream, Xiu hadn't been thrust into any dangerous situations herself--she had just been an observer. Still, being an observer wasn't easy either, especially when all she was able to do sometimes involved standing to the side and watching helplessly.
However, there was always the option of eating the nightmare too. The Baku--who, for the most part, was a failure of the traditional nightmare-eating Baku--would probably feel incredibly sick after, but if it came to that, then perhaps she would have to go through with it to spare Moure from dreaming about this "party".
The boil's words about the doctor actually made Xiu do a bit of a doubletake, and she considered it thoughtfully before speaking. "You...you may be right. In that case...it seems kind of lonely, doesn't it? Not having friends?" But perhaps Cphira was one of those people who didn't care so much about loneliness. While the idea did result in Xiu feeling a little more sympathetic to the woman, that still didn't make what she did--threatening a child and harming a minipet--right.
"Oh! And...about what I wanted to tell you before..." If she ended the dream right now, then Moure could be spared from whatever was going to follow.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 7:42 pm
As the younger version of Moure felt a hand touching the top of his head, he looked up. His eyes had instinctively grown wary, as if the only time someone touched his head was to pull him up my his hair. The look softened after a moment, and he closed his eys, trying to take in as much of the kindness as he could from her action. After a moment, he asked, some curiosity in his voice, "How do you know that we'll survive?" Was she some kind of fortune-teller? The young patchwork had never met someone like Xiu before and he wasn't sure exactly what she really was.
At her concerned voice, Moure gave her a slightly surprised look. "The party? Of course I have to go...Doctor's orders, after all." He gave a slight shake of his head, looking at the door cautiously, as if to make sure he couldn't hear any footsteps in the halls outside. Finally he said in a whisper, to make sure Cphira wouldn't hear, "They warned me about the party. It's kind of like, well, the term party is more of like a cover than anything. Kind of how she says that those other people are her 'friends', when they're all just Mad Scientists. They're probably her competitors, I think... But apparently, the party is more like a get-together so they can talk about their latest and greatest creations and conclusions. But Cphira never actually talks about her research..." Moure paused, looking around, his eyes growing downcast again. "I...I don't even really know what she does down in the lower levels of the lab...but since she doesn't talk about that, she talks about us instead. Her creations. And I'm her newest one, so..." A shiver traveled down the patchwork's spine, a slight wave of panic traveling through his eyes.
Clearly, Moure was not excited for this event.
Moure looked back at her as she began to answer though, pushing past his fear to listen to her. His face lit up in relief when she mentioned she wasn't a friend of Cphira's. After all, if she had been, and she'd told his Creator what she just heard, Moure was sure he would've had no chance for survival. At her next statement, Moure tilted his head slightly, confusion written across his young face. "A...are you invisible...?" It seemed like a good question to ask, in all actuality.
The question about being Cphira being lonely took the young patchwork off guard. "I-I don't know. Maybe she is...although she has so many of us, I won't think she'd be..." He gestured to the lines of beds, then spoke again, his tone completely serious. "I think she just...just likes her job more then she likes other people. Plus, I don't know if she's capable of feeling lonely. I think you need a heart to feel with to feel lonely, right?" Did Moure just say he didn't think Cphira had a heart? Yes, yes he did. And he was completely serious about that. He'd never seen evidence of one, after all. He didn't know if one could even exist in someone like Cphira.
Moure looked back to her, curious again. "Something you have to tell me?" He asked, head tilting again. Did she need to brake some news to him or something? At that thought, then something else, something much worse, occured to him. "You're not going to tell me you don't exist, are you? Oh, please tell me that you actually exist, and that you're not just a part of my imagination. That you're not a hallucination or something. Because if you are, and I'm actually seeing you, then there'd be something wrong with my brain, and if Cphira found out that there was something wrong with my brain..." His hand rose to his head, holding the side of it with panic in his eyes. He gulped, looking from Xiu to the now-sleeping boogeymon on his bed. He finished his statement with a tight voice. "...I-I might not be able to keep it." He was positive that if Cphira thought his brain was faulty, she would have no qualms with pulling it out and replacing it with a different brain. Sure she might just decide to repair his brain in that case, but who knew what she would do if she had the opportunity to change parts of Moure's brain and being? Moure was rather positive she'd make sure he'd never displease her again.
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 12:33 am
Ah...ahaha, h-how, he asks? The Baku looked hesitant before she slowly answered, "I...I just have a feeling, is all. Looking at you...I think that the two of you would find a way to overcome any obstacles." Now that she thought about it, though she had learned quite a bit about Moure's past through this dream, there were still things she was in the dark about. For example...how the patchwork and his mini managed to get out of Dr. Cphira's grasp in the first place. Or were the really free? Perhaps they were still tethered to their creator in some way.
The thought made Xiu grimace.
The young boil's description of the "party" didn't help alleviate any of her concerns either. To have other scientists stare at and discuss Moure as if he were simply some kind of experiment and not a living (term used loosely), thinking, and feeling person? Even then, she had to hope that it was only discussion that they would take part in, and not any actual...experimentation. If they hurt this child--...well, there was little she could do in someone else's dream, but perhaps she could do something to jostle him awake before the party happened. It was probably a mixture of concern and selfishness--concern for Moure, and selfishness on her part as she didn't want to watch such a thing occur--that made her consider the idea.
Snapping out of her thoughts, the ghoul couldn't help but crack a smile at his question. "Invisible? I...suppose you could say that. I only decide to show myself to you." Not entirely a lie, but not entirely the truth either, like everything else she had been telling him up to this point.
Xiu had to admit that his logic about Cphira did make...well, a bit of sense. She didn't seem like a particular compassionate woman, but surely there was some good in her? Whether or not other berated her for her naivety, she liked to think that people usually had a hint of goodness in their soul, no matter how small. The same must apply to Cphira, right? Maybe it was just...a small hint of goodness.
...A really small hint of goodness. "...Maybe." She answered finally, making a face.
When Moure suddenly jumped to a wrong conclusion, Xiu's eyes widened as she immediately shook her head. "N-no, no! Moure, I'm not--I mean, I don't--" Creases formed between her brows as she struggled to find the right words. "I'm not imaginary, I promise you! I really exist! I just...can't show myself to anyone else right no--w-wait, Moure, what do you mean that you might not be able to keep your brain?"
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