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 Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:45 pm
In theory, sleep had been a good idea. Yet she found it was easier said than done; even in a room full of people and even in the arms of her Igor, it was impossible. No amount of stress, terror or exhaustion could put her out, and she lay there for what seemed like ever, curled into Christof's side. The lingering smell of formaldehyde and preservatives, the dirt and decay; all scents she loved, and all scents that had once upon a time put her to a comfortable sleep.
Now it just made her feel guilty. Guilty and awake.
Unable to take it any longer Amrita carefully found her way out of Christof's arms, managing to get the slip on someone who held her so tightly. Huddled in Israfel's coat she slipped away, carefully manuvering around the foreign room and out the door. She felt clumsy and loud, but it seemed that she hadn't disturbed a soul. It made her keep moving out the door, down the hallway, and out into the crisp Halloween air.
She took a deep breath, closing her eyes to the comforting feel of FEAR in the breeze, and took a seat against the nearest tree. It was nice to be home, just...for the first time in a very long time, she was at a complete and total loss. Where should she go from here? Should she even stay here? How would her friends react once they found out the truth? There was a lot of truths to tell, after all.
Giving a low whimper in distress, Amrita pulled her knees against her chest and hugged the borrowed limbs tightly. She stayed that way for a moment or two, until a rustling noise startled her from her reverie; the ghoul visibly jumped, head snapping in the direction...but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. A minipet, perhaps...?
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:03 pm
Calder only slept well when he was in a group, or nestled beside Barth. It was the first time he managed to convince Christof to sleep with him, and the familiar scents mingled to a reassuring perfume, making him nuzzle deep into the plush mattress of his boilfriend and fall asleep. That didn't mean he wasn't on edge, and just when his body went from dead exhausted to just tired, he fluttered from a deep sleep to a lighter one as if he was sleeping in the woods listening for a predator than among his friends in the demon dorms. When the mattress moved, Calder's ears twitched, and he waited for whoever it was to shuffle and go back to sleep. This didn't happen, and he gave it a moment, before he rose up and noticed Amrita was gone.
He first had to tell himself that she wasn't taken, and while he should have waited, he just couldn't sleep knowing she was off somewhere. Glancing about, he slowly slid down the bed and off before he slipped out to follow.
Outside, he slowly approached, feeling more paranoid with her out in the open. She probably needed a moment, but he didn't like seeing her alone.
It certainly wasn't a minipet that came from the bushes, and rubbing his eye, he stepped forward. "Going to give everyone a heart attack - leaving like that. Thought saving you was all a dream when I woke and you weren't there." He said, glancing down at her and the odd coat she had been holding since they found her. Something about that coat nagged at the back of his mind. It was very pretty, and he could sworn he saw it before. He tended to notice nice clothes.
"Nice coat."
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:17 pm
Another noise, this time in the other direction; her head swiveled, eyes wide with the beginnings of panic until she recognized the boil. The recognition made her deflate almost instantly, drooping her head to rest her cheek against her propped up knees.
"Sorry..." She murmured like an embarrassed child, giving the Kelpie only a glance before focusing on the rather interesting ground. If not seeing her felt like a dream to Calder, then Amrita wasn't sure how she felt; she couldn't believe she was back in Halloween and yet her time in the Hunter's grasp also seemed unreal. What was the truth, and what was just her imagination? "Th-Thanks for saving me, by the way. I...I don't think I s-said it." At the mention of her coat however, the ghoul seemed to curl even further into it; she insisted on wearing it, even if it was too big for her.
"It...It's Israfel's." Her tone dropped from grateful to despairing, her fingers pressing even tighter into the fabric. She had to give it to Lucien soon; Madison had only told her that the phone went to the boil, but she couldn't imagine not giving him this coat, either.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:31 pm
"Israfel?" Calder asked, moments before sitting beside her but pausing. The way she said it, the way she was holding his coat when he wasn't wearing it, had said too much. "I thought....I thought he was with you all." Of course Calder didn't know. He had been fighting off Hunters at the portal and hadn't been with the rescue party. His contribution was to clear the way to the labs, and then he had to back off and rest else he would have really been useless. However, knowing that one person did not make it made his stomach turn - and Israfel. He had a meeting with the siren out in the woods, and Calder had listened about the boil's view about hunters. What had happened to someone who only sympathized with the hunters? Did it ultimately betray him as Calder had warned?
"I....I told him to be careful around them. What...what hap-" He paused. Not sure if he should tax Amrita with telling the story when she was already troubled as it was.
He was gone. It was clear by the way she held the coat that he was gone. Not gone as they thought Riley was, as it seemed there was hope if that had happened, but actually gone.
Frowning, he finally sat beside her, and looked at the equally interesting ground. "I thought we had saved everyone." Just knowing someone was left behind. That they didn't make it, made him feel powerless again. Whatever small boost in confidence he had, that he could matter in this war, dissolved. "I hate that they do this." He hated the hunters kept taking them and didn't care. He wished he could do something, and he remembered what Arel said. From this point on, they had to decide their own paths. He just wanted to pick the right one. The one where he mattered and could make the changes that was good for protecting everyone.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:49 pm
"H-he was...at first..." Amrita said quietly, her voice starting to shake. For a while she stayed quiet, listening to Calder talk and sort out his thoughts instead of speaking herself. It seemed that he managed to get the idea of what happened, and as he sat next to her she did give him a sympathetic stare. Yes, she understood that feeling, but somehow she imagined she felt worse; Calder hadn't been there, he hadn't tried to talk Israfel out of it.
"He chose it." She said after a while, unwrapping her arms to gently grasp Calder's hand. "They...They gave us a choice and he...he chose them." There was no small resentment in her voice, but it was the sad sort; she felt terrible for resenting him in this. Differences of opinion they had, but it didn't deserve this. "W-we...we watched him...step into that t-tube and..." The screaming, the colours, the form of the Siren shifting and bending, condensing from something beautiful and alive to something that would likely one day be used against them. "W-weapon..." She started, but couldn't seem to finish the word. Calder would understand, she hoped. No, she knew.
"Th-they gave me this...a-and his phone...I have...I have to tell Lucy..." She paused long enough to let out one choking sob, and a little longer after that to recompose her voice. "I have to tell him he's gone." Again...she had to break the loss of a loved one to someone. Again. Her head tilted back, staring up at the dark sky and the pumpkin moon, blinking furiously as though trying to rid herself of the tears that wouldn't fall.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:56 pm
Calder squeezed her hand. Again, Israfel wasn't directly close to him, and was yet another person he knew from meeting. That didn't mean it worried him, that he liked what had happened, and he worried when the day would come that someone he was very close to would have something bad happen to them. While he felt bad for thinking it, he was glad Amrita wasn't the one to go.
"Why would they make you choose? It seems, cruel of them. I don't understand why they wouldn't just pick all of you. It's why they kidnapped you all." He didn't get why the hunters would tell them to decide. Clearly, wouldn't they all not want to be turned into a weapon, and then what? What would the hunters do to their prisoners if they didn't pick otherwise? It just seemed a twisted sort of cruelty to make them decide. Like a trick. They took these students from their friends and family. Just letting them go if they all said they didn't want to be a weapon defeated the purpose of kidnapping someone against their will.
He didn't like thinking about that tube. To know he had been in there and had come so close to being weaponized without knowing the full gravity of his situation at the time.
Looking over, he scooted closer to her, and hugged her once more. "If you have to tell him, I can go with you." Amrita didn't need to be breaking bad news when she was already dealing with all she had to go through. "I don't think you should do it alone." Even if Calder wasn't there when Israfel was turned into a weapon, he wanted to be there for Amrita. She was part of his close herd, and he would do everything to keep her safe.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:09 am
Amrita scrunched up her nose as though she was trying to remember something important before her memory blocked it out. "We were...chosen." She parroted uncomfortably. "But we had to choose. He said...he said he'd let us go so long as we answered his questions, but if we wanted to join them, we just had to ask." Israfel asked. Well, no, Israfel accepted the offer. Her gaze shifted, eyeing the boil who always knew when she needed a hug. As always she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. The offer was nice, and she nodded in way of accepting; he'd been there before, when she told Christof. It would be nice to have him be there again.
"But...but that wasn't all. He said there was a quota...needed two. Isra was one..." He just needed one more. For a moment she fell silent, remembering the pictures that were put in front of the screen. Files on her dear friends, and the flat threat that they would end up in that room on that island some day. "Calder, I..." Her voice dropped, her tone and her body suddenly shaking. "I almost...chose..." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she made it to the last word. She was embarrassed, she was horrified, and more than that she was scared. "I...I did choose." She corrected in a hoarse whisper, horrified by her own choice. If Amphi and Yin hadn't stepped in, and if her friends had never ransacked the island...
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:18 am
"A quota?" He said, wondering why would they pick that many students just for two, and what was the point in making them CHOOSE to meet that quota when they could have just forced them all and have more weapons. "I don't get why they would take so many of you and make you choose. They kidnapped you. They were probably lying to you. It makes no sense for them to have less weapons when fighting. When they hate us this much." But he couldn't ignore the whisper that Amrita had told him, and he hugged her more tightly, as if somehow ensuring she would remain and never make such choices again.
The fact that she had to choose, that she was at the point to choose, to give up her life, was just cruel, but he also felt torn that he almost had lost her. That she could have been a weapon. That he could be holding a article of her clothing and breaking such news to someone else. That his fears would be real, and someone actually very close to him would be gone. He wasn't sure if he could handle that.
He still held her, even squeezing her tightly. "They just wanted to trick you. They're mean and wanted to play head games. To make you choose - it's beyond twisted. I know you wanted to protect everyone. You fight harder than most people I know, and I know you want to live. No one fights that hard unless they want to live. Just.....don't let them trick you. Don't believe what they say. They could be lying to you." He didn't see any sense in them having a quota. Why they would give their prisoners a choice like that.
"I'm only sorry we couldn't have arrived sooner to save him." To save Israfel. To keep anyone from making that choice.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:30 am
Tears of a sort did start to well. It was a thicker, almost-reddish brown sort, but it was tears. She knew he was right, the Hunters on the whole were dirty and underhanded, but at the time...it made sense to her then. She really was deluding herself. Sitting in ignorance.
"It worked." She murmured miserably, leaning heavily into Calder now, adjusting the way she sat so she could hold him back. Something tangible, something real. "He...he had folders. Pictures. Names. All my friends..." She just assumed they were all there, but took up the most important ones - a romantic interest, a partner in crime - for display. "C-christof. He...He's an Igor. If they ordered him to...I thought he might..." Another pause for a crying breath, a little hiccup as she tried to not actually cry. Amrita was scared for him; she knew what he was, that he followed orders in his own way, but there was a nagging in the back of her mind that went what if. Days could wear on anyone, especially someone built to take orders. "A-and Lizzy. Lizzy would choose, i-if it meant it'd be over." As hard as it was, the words simply tumbled out.
"I d-didn't want anyone else there. I...I hated them. I hate them...b-but if it meant...that n-nobody else had to...t-to make that choice..." She'd do it. She offered, even. On her feet in front of the screen in open defiance, making her reasoning as clear as her offer. Amphi and Yin had piped up, and she had been all ready to lie to the Hunters to get their focus on her, but then...the tagging.
In the end it really didn't matter what she chose, did it?
"I...I t-tried to s-stop him..." She managed to get out between heavy breaths. "I tried..." And he still only smiled at her, and told her to not worry.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:52 am
Calder cupped Amrita's face, moving it to make it look to him and lock eyes. "Amrita, they were relying on you to feel bad. To feel guilty. To feel you HAD to choose. It's the only way I can think of it. They were trying to trick you because you are a good person, and good people would volunteer to protect those they love. They would risk their very lives on it, just as all we had to save our friends. To save you. They took something good, your love of everyone, and forced you into making that decision because they are mean people. They probably lied that they had a quota. They wanted to make you worried, afraid, and pressured into doing that. I.....I'm not sure why Israfel did what he did, but you said he decided to do that. That was his decision. The fact the hunters even put him in that decision just shows you that they probably had it happen before. They've been taking students for a long time. Remember the trance? They probably got really good at doing head games like this. VERY good. I bet it's some twisted art for them. I know you tried, and that's all anyone can ask of you. You couldn't keep Israfel from doing what he choose to do. That was his choice, his freedom." Calder, as a kelpie, knew all about freedoms. It was his kinds strong belief, the freedom to do what you choose to do.
Releasing his hands from her face, he let his hands comb through her hair. "I don't know they have folders about us, but we can talk to the others about that. If they could get on campus in bodies that look like us, they could have found out a lot about us, but don't worry about Christof. He's a good Igor. He only takes orders from his masters. I mean, I'm a monster and he never listens to me. He wouldn't listen to some dumb hunter just because they told him." He gave a chuckle. "Probably rip their heads off before they could even say a order. Not after they took you." He smiled at her. "He was very worried about you."
He paused in his hair combing before placing a hand on the undead ghoul's hand. "In the coming days, if you need someone to hold you or talk to, please do check with Christof or any one of us. I might be gone in a couple of days, but you have plenty of other people here to talk to you. That love you. Do promise me you won't keep yourself alone on this if you need to talk. If you feel bad, okay?" He looked to her, his deep green eyes pleading to her.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:28 am
When Calder held her face, she had no choice but to look at him, to make and keep eye contact. It was clear she didn't want to, but she simply had no choice. Those odd reddish-brown tears of hers lined her eye, thicker than most but still quite obvious as to what it was. She listened to him carefully, or at least as carefully as she could in between trying very hard to not start crying again; it was somewhat rude to cry into someone else's face, wasn't it?
Calder was right, of course; it was obvious now that she was on this side of the fence. They were trying to trick them, they were very nice to them in order to get their guards down, but she always knew something was up. It wasn't until she saw the folders that she caved and went against her own beliefs for the chance to save her friends. She still didn't agree with Israfel's decision; she still thought it was a bad one and she still felt that he had been incredibly selfish. It was because of his choices that she'd have to talk to Lucien - a very dear old friend of hers - and tell him what happened.
Yes, Israfel was selfish...but that also made her something of a hypocrit in the end, didn't it?
All she could do to everything he was saying to her was nod. She understood, she agreed, she knew. That was, of course, until ---
"You're leaving?" For a moment she sounded horrified. "Why? When? You're coming back, right?!" No no no no no she couldn't go on without Calder! He was like, one of her best friends! He and Lizzy together, she couldn't function without either of them! He couldn't leave her!
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:41 pm
Her panic was understandable. She was rather fragile right now, and Christof wasn't the most vocal or practiced in consoling anyone. Considering the Igor usually handled his own emotions poorly, he wasn't very prepared to handle Amrita's with much grace, but it was time for him to learn. Considering he was Amrita's boilfriend, he needed the practice, and Calder had to allow his friend to make his own decisions without Calder holding the reigns. As it was, this was just something he had to do, and been meaning to do, and needed to do soon before something else happened.
"Amrita. Amrita. It's okay. I'm not leaving forever. I'll come back. I mean....I'm going to try very, very hard to come back. I love you all. I love Barth, and I couldn't think of a life without you and Christof and all my friends. It's....why I have to leave." He bite his lip, squeezing her hands a little more. Amrita had always been so open to him with her emotions while Calder was rarely honest with what was happening in his own life with anyone. He was their emotional anchor, their advice giver, that he felt lost to who to talk to when it was his turn. He was their herd stallion. He wanted to lead, protect, and be there for everyone.
Reaching up, he tugged on a ear before pulling hsi hair back. "Amrita, you're very dear to me, so I'm going to tell you something that I've only shared with Barth and Christof. You see...well, I am ..paired with a kelpie back in my clan. They don't very much want me to even be in school, but once I graduate, they want me to come home....for good. My clan....we don't socialize much with others, and young boils like me usually either get with someone to have scarlings, or get placed into a harem to make scarelings and to be protected till we're strong enough to have our own. It's how our clan gets bigger....and it's been very small these few years. It's important for us to have nice, big families." He smiled at their values. He liked families. He liked scarlings. He just...didn't agree with a lot of other things.
"I used to wear a anklet. I'm not sure you noticed, but it meant I was ...well, I guess it's engagement for everyone else. We don't really call it that. Just...protected by someone and if I decided to have scarlings, it would be with them. Murchadh selected me." He smiled weakly. "If I never met Barth, it would have been a dream, but.....I don't very much like Murchadh. Now with all of this, with all of you, with everyone I care for and want to keep safe.....I can't think of a life without you guys....and leaving you alone to fight hunters scares me. It's why I've decided to go back to my clan and tell Murchadh that I can't be with him, which means that they'll probably kick me out." He sighed, looking away. "They never liked me very much because of my parents. Murchadh was the only way I got into the clan in the first place." He very much liked being in a clan. It hurt thinking he'd be deciding to leave it. Clans were security. Protection. Safety. It meant that if you were messed with, you had a group to fight for you. Now that he thought about it, he doubted if his clan would fight for him if he mentioned hunters.
"So....that's the story. I havent' told anyone only a few people about this." His ears dropped as he looked at her, unsure of what she would think of him.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:52 pm
Amrita puffed out her cheek in a rather childish notion. Trying wasn't gonna cut it - he had to come back! Who would cuddle with her when Christof was too busy to sleep? He'd probably be on a rampage studying now - at least when she handed over the fear-reducing bracelet she had been forced to wear - and then what? Long nights by herself? She could barely stand the walk out to this tree all alone! But, she told herself, he said he was going to try really really hard, which was...better. Not the answer she wanted, but close enough to make her keep her mouth shut.
Besides, he was about to tell her something very important! Her cheek deflated and she stared at him, curiousity peering through the generally lost, unfocused haze she found herself in since the tagging. Most of what he said fell into the realm of uncertainty; her grasp on relationships was weak at best, but the way he was describing it...it seemed important. She understood the part of getting together to make scarelings, but that was about it. The rest of her knowledge of relationships was between two people; groups and harems were never given much thought before, and somewhat baffled her now.
She did understand one thing though; he was going to leave his clan, his family, for the friends he made at school. For them, and for Barth. The ghoul didn't know what to say to all that, and merely stayed quiet for a length of time after he finished his explanation. What could she say to that? She'd never been in a tight-knit family before; she had a big one, but she'd always more or less been alone in it. But having someone flat out abandon one for them...that was...well...she didn't know what to think.
"S-so...what...what happens...when you get kicked out of something like that?" She asked hesitantly, rather afraid of the answer.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:59 pm
The question made his ears drop down even further, and he glanced around before looking at her hands. A small shrug was given. "I won't have a clan to ever go back to. No territory of my own. No group to protect me if I was even taken or in need of help. I'd be the only person. I'd be considered a rouge bachelor. A rebel. A bad influence. They might think my parents didn't raise me right. I just hope they still get to keep their house. I mean.....they should. My mom is still in the clan. Just...." He squeezed her hands a little tighter. "I might hurt her." His heart twisted and he had to look away, on the verge of tears just thinking about it.
"But...it's for the best. Barth said I could be with him after graduation. So...I guess as long as he likes me, I'll have somewhere to go." And if Barth changed his mind, if Calder screwed it all up, then.....he didn't know.
"I just can't leave you guys. Not after all this, and my clan would make me." They would want him back, and wouldn't care about some demons and undeads. They weren't kelpies. They weren't important.
"So I have to go there, and tell them my decisions. Tell Murchadh I can't be with him." He bite his lip, before looking up at her. "So I can be with all of you."
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:11 pm
The answer to her question made her frown more than his reaction. This she could understand easier than the home life itself; harems and whatnot were lost to her, but she knew what it was to have something and then be alone. Not to mention disappointing your parents...
The way he looked away dug right into her heart, her hands giving his a squeeze for the first time since they sat down; it was her turn to be reassuring, it was her turn to try and say all the right things. More importantly, it was her turn to tell him the truth.
"That...That's not true!" She stammered out, holding tightly onto his hands (which was hard, considering the grip he already had on her). "You won't be alone. You'll have us! We don't have to be the same race to be a family. There are lots of families with many many different kinds!" She knew he grew up with Kelpies and only Kelpies; she grew up with only Vetala, but she had learned a thing or two since coming to school. "I...I'm sure your Mom wants what's best for you. That's what Mothers do, right?" Her own Amma must feel that way too...and Amrita just abandoned her. What a horrible daughter she had been... "Y-you'll always have somewhere to go, as long as I'm alive..." She'd always take him in if he needed it; no matter where she was or who she was with. Even if Christof told her no. She could take him, and she'd win too; it didn't matter that her boilfriend was a hulking Igor. She would win. Granted, she couldn't think of a reason for Christof to turn him away, either.
"S-so you...you do what you have to, and you'd better come back to us. We...we can't be a family without you." Calder was the go-between for a lot of things, she knew that much; losing him would be more than just losing a dear friend.
"But...I am sorry you have to make a choice between us. That...that's not fair..."
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