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 Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 12:11 am
Once Taima had deserted her companions, it hadn't taken her long to get lost. It wasn't the kind of lost that meant she didn't know where she was going; rather, she knew there was a destination in mind somewhere deep in the fog, she was just going to take her sweet time in getting there. She wasn't in a hurry because there didn't seem to be anywhere to hurry to. Despite the strange circumstances, it was almost a nice change of pace from the structure of any other average day. It took Taima a while to notice the strange lights in the distance. She hadn't seen anyone but the other student, the horseman, the demon, and the hunter since she'd woken up here, but if there were lights, there had to be other people around, right? She hesitated before taking a step towards the light that was different from the other ones, then thought better of it, turning around and walking in a different direction instead. She decided she'd rather be alone for whatever would come next, just her and her misguided sense of adventure. Stats:
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:23 pm
Now that students weren't popping out of the fog and attacking her and demons weren't appearing out of nowhere, the presence of the mist was almost comforting. If not for the fact that this was probably going to end up like one of those field trips she had been warned about, Taima could have been at home at her family eyrie in the mountains. She was getting kind of bored, though. She hadn't seen anything of interest since she'd walked away from the lights--how long ago was that? She hadn't brought her phone with her, and there was really no way to judge the passing of time here. It could have been a minute or an hour and Taima wouldn't have known the difference. It took Taima a while to register the faint sounds of music and laughter coming from somewhere deeper in the fog. The noises grew louder with every step Taima took, and the fog, which had been a steady but dormant presence before, seemed to swirl to life the closer Taima got to the source. Taima slowed down as the fog coalesced into more definable shapes until they looked like...Fright Night? It looked similar to the festival, down to the booths and noises of the crowd, but was completely devoid of color. Taima approached the booths with cautious curiosity, frowning as she reached for a treat on display and it dissolved beneath her fingers. She withdrew and explored some of the other booths, careful not to touch anything. She turned a corner, and suddenly it felt like she was falling. The fog swirled around her as she flapped her wings in an attempt to regain the balance she hadn't really lost. Once she regained her footing, she noted that the jubilant laughter had faded into an eerie silence. A figure blocked her path, flanked by booths that were now as unwelcoming as they were insubstantial. Taima's wings raised defensively even as her eyes narrowed in equal parts suspicion and irritation. "What are you fighting for?" The shadowy figure asked, its question followed by a chilling sensation that rooted Taima to the spot. "Is it for power? Is it for them?" Taima's gaze fell naturally to the misty shapes behind the shadowy specter. They almost looked like people, and she tried and failed to see if she could make out their faces while the figure insinuated that she had stolen from it. "What are you talking about?" Taima snapped. "What do you think I took from you?" "You know very well what was taken. I would like it back."A ghoul with a stronger sense of self-preservation would have agreed to give the figure anything it wanted. A less pugnacious ghoul would have said whatever she needed to in order to make the thing go away and leave her alone. A wiser ghoul wouldn't have said, "Then I guess we're both s**t out of luck, because I don't have anything of yours." "Stubborn, aren't we?""Buddy, you have no idea." And then the world went white. Stats:
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:56 pm
When the white fog cleared and awareness returned, Taima found herself on her knees. There was no trace of the phantom carnival or the shadowy figure. Instead, Taima realized that her hands were covered in wet, sticky warmth, pressed against the open wound of a person she had no memory of encountering. There was so much blood--who was this person?--what did this to them? Any lingering belligerence quickly turned into a rising sense of panic. Taima had no idea what to do. She was a predator; she killed things, she never healed them. This person obviously didn't have time to wait for Taima to get her s**t together, if the growing pool of blood beneath them was any indication. There was really only one option: put it out of its misery. It's something she would have done to any minipet that was suffering beyond the ability to remedy. It was merciful, she told herself as she removed one hand from the gaping wound and pressed it against the figure's throat. It was the only way, the only thing--Wait, no. There was something else. Taima snatched her hand away and fumbled in her pocket for the pill the demon had given her. He claimed it would heal all her wounds, right? She was fine, but this person was inches away from death. They clearly needed it more than she did. She brought it up to where she thought there mouth might be, fumbling blindly before pushing the pill in. She waited for it to work, for the wound to magically close up, but was dismayed when the figure's breathing slowed to a shuddering halt instead. Taima jerked when the figure suddenly grabbed her hand, squeezing it reassuringly as it wheezed out a "Thank you" and then was still. There was no more hoarse rattle of breath, and even the flow of blood slowed to a trickle. Taima sat in silence with the corpse for a moment before she realized that it wasn't going to dissipate and reform somewhere safe, healthy and whole again. This person was just so much dead meat now, like the man guarding the portal on the Hunters' island who had taken so much abuse that he'd fallen and never gotten back up. There was no coming back from this. This place had clearly been testing Taima by putting this figure in her path, entrusting her with its life, and Taima had...failed. There was no studying harder or extra credit, only abject failure. She held the corpse's hand as her mind worked overtime trying to figure out what had gone wrong. She had used the pill like the demon had told her to. Was it defective? Had Taima not used it quickly enough? It never occurred to her that the person might have just been too damaged to save. It didn't even matter that the person, like so much else she'd encountered here, wasn't even real. All that mattered was that she'd failed the task she'd been given. Taima didn't take failure well. It eroded her not-inconsiderable self-confidence and put doubts where they didn't previously exist. The figure faded into nothingness, revealing the pill she had tried to use to heal the figure-- of course it didn't work, you can't fix things with a magic jacking pill, how stupid! She picked it up and put it back in her pocket anyway, slowly rising to her feet. Her wings drooped as she walked on, dispirited. Stats:
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:14 pm
Taima was so wrapped up in trying to figure out what she'd done wrong and if there was any possible way she could have done it right that the sudden smell of something cooking caught her by surprise. A voice behind her caused her to whirl around, and she suddenly faced a kitchen that hadn't been there a second ago. A figure just as shadowy and indistinct as all of the others Taima had seen since deserting the horseman and the hunter seemed to be...baking? It prompted her to pick an ingredient from the squirming mass of inky shadows it had pulled from out of nowhere. Taima frowned in bemusement and leaned in to inspect her options. Without any real definition, they looked like animated paper cutouts. The one that looked like it might be fuzzy squeaked when she poked it, but ultimately, if she had to choose one--and with no way out, it seemed like she did--there was no question. She picked up the one that looked like a fish. Taima handed it over to the dark figure and watched curiously as it put the fish-looking thing into the bowl, and from there into the oven. Almost immediately, a strong, almost familiar scent filled the air. It smelled like something her mother would have made her if she was sick or sad--edible comfort. It soothed the anxiety she felt at having failed the last trial and brought a slight smile to her face even as the world turned white once more. Stats:
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:40 pm
The good feelings lingered as Taima continued on, restoring her emotional equilibrium until it was nearly forgotten. There was no point dwelling on it; she had to move on, and move on she did until a door blocked her path. She frowned, reaching out to push at it and finding that it was surprisingly substantial. She reached for the knob, almost expecting at this point that there would be some kind of trial she'd have to endure before the door would let her pass. She wasn't disappointed. "Wait."Her back stiffened, her feathers ruffling at the authoritative tone of the voice behind her. She stifled the urge to jump as a pair of strong hands clamped down on her shoulders, fingers digging in like talons. "Don't go. There's still another way. You don't have to do this," the disembodied voice continued gruffly. Taima snorted indelicately and winced as the fingers tightened further. "Yes, I do. I'm going whether you like it or not," she protested quietly. "Always move forward, never look back. You taught me that." She reached up with one hand and covered the fingers holding her tight, squeezing once before letting go. "It's okay. I'll be fine, Dad." The fingers on Taima's shoulders squeezed once more, almost affectionately, before withdrawing. The door opened. Stats:
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