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 Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:27 pm
Naian felt vaguely ill. She did not want to offer service to this Goddess, her wings so bright and piercing... and yet it seemed she had to. To serve one was to serve all, perhaps. To be given a gift by one, to be given a gift by all...
The scissors felt cold in her hands, and she turned them over, opening and closing the blades. They closed with a satisfying snick. It seemed a simple enough task, but she already missed the small bits of companionship she'd found, and the clarity of the open air. The thought of turning her back on the Goddess of Paranoia made her feel strange, so instead she sidled away from her and her searing wings. Ugh. Those whose souls held that light... there had to be something wrong with them.
All she needed was something out of a chest. She could do that. Why the scissors, though? Perhaps that, too, was an error. She only needed a key to open a chest, after all... unless it was wrapped in paper, or held in with wires?
The Goddess seemed to have gone back to her work, and Naian didn't quite trust her in any case. She slipped away, tucking the scissors into the bag. The doors loomed. She had a choice to make.
... Despite the malice spreading from the door marked with the tree, something about the symbol attracted her. A tree. Life. Growth. Something that she almost remembered... or did she? Regardless, it was enough to draw her through the door.
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Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:33 pm
Darkness. She saw nothing, not even her own hand held up in front of her face. Naian cleared her throat awkwardly; the sound escaped her, but was swallowed up before it could echo or give any indication of the space she might now be in. Other sounds were dominant: a thud, steady and strange, and a whisper she couldn't quite make out. As if someone were calling out for someone else, but it wasn't hear name. It wasn't any name she knew, but Longing ignited in her heart again, steady and blue.
As she shuffled forward, clutching the bagged scissors in both hands, her skin crawled, hyper-alert for any touch, any sensation whatsoever. When her toes kicked something hard, she shrieked and dropped to her knees.
Something was damp under her legs, damp and cloying and just a little warm. She raked her fingers through it, then reached out to find the thing she'd touched. She found something hard, faintly rough and damp. The steady thud seemed to emanate from it. Maybe this was the chest the Goddess had spoken about? She fumbled the bag open and found the key, but her questing fingers found no keyhole - just the lid, which moved freely to one side without needing any key at all. She flinched as a sickly red light escaped from the newly opened crate, flooding her night vision despite its low intensity.
When she could see again, she realized there was something sticking out of the crate, just to her side; if she'd reached to the right rather than the left, she would have touched it, first. Unless it hadn't been there until she opened the lid?
Whatever the thing was, it was blocking the light. It was soft to the touch, fleshy and covered with a soft fuzz. She wasn't sure what it was - it seemed like a limb of some kind, but it didn't end in any kind of hand or foot that she recognized, at least in her limited experience. Just a stubby ending with separations too short to be either fingers or toes, with little hard bits sticking out the ends and rough on the bottom.
The thudding had stopped, she realized, and swallowed hard.
Well. The limb-thing wasn't a heart, so... She forced herself to push the lid all the way off the box, feeling her way down. More softness, more gentle fuzz tickling her fingertips and covering that odd, barely-warm flesh. It didn't feel like a person, though. She'd never met a fuzzy person. Was it on top of the heart? She screwed up her courage and looked inside.
Thump-thump.
And there it was, shrouded in layers of fur and flesh. A heart. The heart.
Thump-thump.
... 'Chest' had two different meanings, Naian realized, and had to cover her mouth and swallow, hard.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
She was still holding the bag - and the scissors - in her other hand.
There was nothing in the entire universe other than the Heart.
Thump-thump.
Swallowing bile, Naian pulled the scissors out of the bag and leaned over, feeling more of the damp wetness catch onto the front of her body as she pressed against the side of the crate.
Thump-thump.
The soft fur parted gently at the touch of metal, and she turned over the small form within the crate, rolling it until the blades no longer rasped against thick bones but against something more brittle.
Thump-thump.
She positioned the scissors carefully and crack cut her way snap down crack through the don't think about what that is obstacles in her way.
Thump-thump.
The Heart glowed like a beacon. Liquid swamped her hands and she scraped it away, ignoring how warm it felt. How warm everything felt.
Thump-thump.
Handfuls and handfuls came away, more than she thought possible to fit inside such a tiny-
Thump-thump.
She had to stop, retching fruitlessly into the darkness.
Thump-thump.
... But she was too far gone now. She had to finish. Otherwise why had she put herself through this in the first place?
Thump-thump.
Her scissors cut through unnameable things, things that crunched and slid and shattered under the blades. And then, at last, she scooped away one last handful of something wet and slippery and the Heart was revealed.
Thump-thump.
She swallowed and poised the blades just so.
Snip-
Thump-thump.
And then it touched her, that limb with no fingers or toes but it touched her anyway, and a shriek like nothing she'd ever heard flooded the world and she screamed back at it in the language of pure terror and she lost her grip on the scissors and they slid away to clattersplash into the crate but the Heart was there and she held it and it
Thump-thump.
against her fingers and she cradled it and
"-very special ghoul, Anna." Blue eyes blinked at her, set in an innocent face. His white tail swished behind him. "You can change the world with what you have in your hands."
Thump-thump.
The Soul Gem gleamed blue, light streaming between her gloved fingers. She could barely breathe.
"You can change your life, Anna. Just make a contract with me, and I will make you special..."
Thump-thu-
It stopped.
Shaking violently, Anna dropped the thing into her bag with a wet thud and crawled away.
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Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:03 pm
She got to her feet at some point, staggering through the darkness with her burden; the Heart seemed to tug the bag downward, far heavier than it had been when she'd cupped it between her fingers. The floor bounced under her feet like skin, and she felt the wet foulness of blood rise to lap over her feet, her ankles, her knees. She sloshed when she walked.
Something behind her sloshed as well; she turned in a splash and spray of fluid, but heard nothing more when everything became still once again.
Where was the door?
The sloshing came again, a quick double-step, like something small leaping forward. A strangely familiar rhythm. The Heart seemed to twitch in its bag.
"... Give it back."
Her eyes widened and she ran forward, drowning the voice in the sound of her passage. The blood climbed up her body, hitting her waist, then her chest, and then she was gasping through a lake of it, barely keeping her head above water. Where was the door? Was there a door?
"Give it back!"
She whirled, screaming. "You don't need it any more!!"
It was on top of the water, a baleful white, padding across the surface on perfect... paws. Of course. No wonder the limb hadn't had fingers or toes. It had a paw. A white tail swished behind it, but its chest was a ruin and all the blood that drowned her gushed from its depths.
Those eyes. Just the same, only they were greyed out, but otherwise - the same. She could be petting him or scolding him or destroying him and those eyes would always. be. the. same.
The tail swished again. "Give me back my heart."
"No-" she began, but he leapt and landed on her scalp like a boulder. His weight bore her down and she choked on blood, warm wetness pouring down her throat. She flailed, but the weight was unrelenting, even increasing as her own heart's beat thudded in her ears.
"Give it back."
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Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:07 pm
She kicked upwards, breaking the surface for one instant before the weight bore her down again. She was going to die - she'd only just started living and she was going to die, right here, right now, oh Goddess of Longing and a new longing burned within her, a Longing to live, to live to serve to EXIST and she had one weapon left just one.
She plunged the scissors into the depth of that gaping cavity, through the river of blood and out the other side as white flesh bulged and split out of the way of the blades. And then the fingers of her other hand wrapped around his neck and oh yes this she knew she knew how to do this it felt familiar she had never needed the blades never needed anything other than her own strength her own hands her own fingers cracking under the force she brought to bear she'd done this before his bones broke so easily so easily she'd done it before his neck just went crack and his head just fell and it was so easy so easy so easy so easy.
The river slackened. The body slackened, just as it had before. The mouth opened in a soundless shriek and then she was falling as all the fluid vanished, as if by attacking the source she'd made it all just go away, and as she fell she lost the body, lost the scissors but kept the Heart, felt it beat again just once against her own blood-soaked chest.
She coughed and coughed and coughed, bile and blood together.
And then there was light. She scrambled for it, sobbing, eyes flicking past the distant four-footed shadow that her mind refused to accept.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:49 pm
[ j o u r n e y - d a y t w o ]
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:52 pm
Another Goddess was before her, and Naian bowed stiffly - where, where was Longing, her own chosen Goddess, the one who had chosen her as well? Her heart squeezed painfully at the recollection of the void, of the aches in her body and the blood and tears she had found herself covered in only the day before. Was she to break herself to pieces again, and have nothing to show for it but stains?
She accepted the dagger, a little fearfully; blades seemed wrong to her, and fit strangely in her hands. But as the Goddess bade, so must she do. Fend for herself... could she do that? She had fought off the harpies atop the Cliffs, so perhaps she could...
She bowed again as Ruin finished speaking, then moved slowly towards the opening. Slowly, and with no small amount of dread.
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:03 pm
She woke up with a jolt, feeling... strange. Uncertain. She didn't remember having fallen asleep, just the Goddess, the dagger, and heading for a doorway. Had something happened, and her memory been lost to her as had happened the day before? Was she done now, on the other side of whatever Ruin had deemed her fit to do? She wasn't anywhere she recognized. Hugging herself and rubbing at her arms against the chill, Naian examined her surroundings. They were bleak, cold, empty. Empty was something new, really. All her previous surroundings had been something akin to chaos. The lights were too bright, and a pervasive hum made her jaw clench. ... There was a door. She crept over to it, hesitated, then pushed at it. It opened. Beyond was a corridor, just as uncomfortably bright; the sound of a slamming door made her jump and back up, but the door back to the room she'd left was still open. Nothing in there. No reason to stay. She shuffled through the corridor slowly - it seemed like there might be an exit, at the end, or at least something different. Something beyond the horrible lights and that infernal buzzing. And yet, as she moved, something different did present itself... but it wasn't an exit. It was a sound, a slow thudding that she identified as footsteps. A sense of dread overtook her, but why...? Why would she feel that way- She turned. Oh. Naian screamed and ran, her heart pounding. "No! No no no no no no-" She fled down the hallway, trailing no behind her, aware that past her own terrified gasping was the continued sound of footprints. Still steady. Still coming. She careened into the door and scraped at the handle, sobbing wildly, her panic only increasing as it failed to open. "No! No, please - please-" Her fingers scraped over something odd, and she realized that there was some kind of... what was that? Passcode required?!
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Sosiqui rolled 1 4-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:04 pm
Sobbing hysterically, Naian slapped at the keypad. Nothing happened. She dragged at the door handle with her full weight. Her heartbeat thundered; the approaching footsteps were inexorable. No no no no no no-
Something caught her eye, and she whirled on it, shaking. It was only a piece of paper, though, stained in red. Wait. The code?!
A C E G
"W-what?!" She stared at it, then resumed yanking on the door handle. "That doesn't m-make - doesn't make sense!" she screamed. She could hear her pursuer getting closer.
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Sosiqui rolled 1 4-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:05 pm
And then she saw the second piece of paper. It only had a tiny bit of writing on it, and yet understanding suddenly blazed through her mind.
A=0, B=1, C=2
"Ohhh jack oh jack please work please please," she sobbed, her hands trembling as she pushed numbers.
0 - 2 - 4 - 5
And the door opened. With a long, drawn-out wail of fear and relief, Naian plunged through.
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Sosiqui rolled 1 4-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-4)
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Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:14 pm
Naian didn't slow down a bit - she plunged forward, aware only distantly of her surroundings, of trees and fog and thin twigs that crunched under her feet as she ran. The thud, thud of her pursuer faded. For a moment, her heart leapt in hope. Crunch, crunch.She looked. " GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed, skidding down a slope and staggering at the bottom. Then she froze. Before her was a bridge, something more rickety than the one on the Cliffs she'd navigated so well just... this morning?! Was that even possible? It felt like she'd been running her entire life. Trembling, she stepped onto the bridge, scrambling forward - but the bridge began to sway, pushed by her own momentum and by the wind, and she stopped still, her knuckles white around the guidewires. No. No. Don't stop. Keep moving-She felt as though she'd been frozen in place. Crunch. Crunch.
Creak. Creak."N-no," she whimpered, a tiny and pathetic sound, as her pursuer's weight made the bridge sway even more. She forced herself to take a step, then stopped, trembling so powerfully that she was certain she would fall any minute. Snip-The sudden sound, so close, made her leap forward a few more feet, but the bridge creaked again and it was over. She felt a sharp nothing touch her; realized the pursuer was four-footed, and walking along the wire of the bridge as if it were a tightrope. "D-don't," she mewled, slumping, as it opened its mouth to reveal teeth like blades. One paw rested on her shoulder, holding her still. Paralyzed. "It only hurts once," it whispered, still smiling - as it, no, he always had, no matter what, even with a mouth full of metal. He leaned forward, as if kissing her- pain pain PAIN searing as he bit, chewing, flesh parting bones cracking thump thump thump thump THUMP-He tilted his head back and swallowed.
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:55 pm
[ j o u r n e y - d a y t h r e e ]
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:05 pm
Naian sank gratefully to her knees as her Goddess, Longing, descended. She hung on every word, inhaled the Goddess' strange sugary scent. Nibbled on the offered cookie. It would have been enough to just remain in her presence... but, of course, there was something to be done. A task.
But this was her Goddess. "I love you too," she said, tearing up a little. "I want to learn..." She rose, then curtseyed before hurrying through the gateway that her Goddess had so kindly opened for her.
It led... somewhere gentle. Somewhere beautiful, if strange. Naian released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, then wondered why she felt relieved at all. She held her hands up to cup some of the falling whiteness in them, then moved towards the table.
Two bottles. One pink, one blue.
She reached for blue, the color of her Goddess, and drank as the tag instructed. The bottle fell from her hands as she felt a wave of emotion, of unease and and dissatisfaction. There was something she was missing. Something she'd forgotten. Something that had been taken. Something she should have and didn't-
A rustle snapped her out of her reverie, and when she looked up the table was laid with a somewhat dire feast. She frowned at it. It didn't look as good as she'd been hoping, but... well. She picked up the cupcake and nibbled it gingerly, letting out a long breath as she swallowed the last bite. She felt weirdly edgy now, her heart beating a bit faster.
... Had those teacups been there before?
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:11 pm
She studied the teacups, then lifted the black one and drank. It was thin and bitter on her tongue, and as she drank her eyes widened - as if she was taking in not just tea but memory as well- Anna had heard about the Haunted House, but she'd always assumed it was just a rumor. Amityville had plenty of those, and she tried to ignore them unless she had proof that there was some kind of reality behind the words whispered from student to student in the halls and classrooms.
And then she turned around a corner in the Reaper dorm and found herself somewhere she didn't know. It took her a moment to notice, given that she was nose-deep in a book at the time, but she knew the path to her room so well that she could get there while reading... or so she thought, until she smacked into a wall.
"OW!"
The witchling took a step back, the sound of her patent-leather shoes echoing with the movement. Where... where was she? She turned around in a slow circle, but saw nothing she recognized. "H-Hello?" she called out, and the room ate her words.
"Help! Hello?! Help! Can anybody hear me?!" she shrieked into the silence of the Haunted House.
And someone heard. Someone in a white coat; someone she'd never believed existed. "I hear you," he whispered, cold and calculated, and she hadn't understood, not at first, until he cut her-
She swallowed, the trembling sweeping over her as her skin rasped against metal, the first warning twinges of pain scraping the surface...
... and then, in its wake, came anger. No, not anger: pure, visceral fury that snapped through her, gloriously liberating. "Leave me alone!" she shrieked, and the darkness that usually lay quiescent over her skin flared to life, creeping over her flesh as her curse-power awoke. She stumbled back, and the curse detonated.
A soundless dark wave washed away from her, and in its wake it left the world trailing color and light, a mad fever-dream of shifting shapes and shadows that seemed to swallow the girl up.The teacup fell from Naian's suddenly boneless hands. That was... that was her? Those memories were hers? That power... was hers? That name...?
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:13 pm
Naian sat down with a thump, and realized that the shards of teacup had something lying among them now, as if the cup were an egg and she'd shattered it, leaving behind... what? A book? She picked it up, perplexed. A... a Tea Diary? What was this? She got to her feet, slowly. As the Goddess commanded, then... She held the book to her chest. Tea One - Tea Two - Tea Three - Tea Four - Tea FiveTea Six - Tea Seven - Tea Eight - Tea Nine - Tea Ten
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:26 pm
Tea Guest Log  Colour of Tea Tasted: Dark Blue Description: Lost, Confusion, A sense of needing help. Fear. Loss. Your commentary on its flavour: The tea reminds her again of another memory, and as she watches it unfold, feels a sense of dread as to where it goes. Vaneda wants to pull the girl back, from wherever it is that she has gone. It was overwhelming though. And when it finished, it left her with a bitter taste of loss and helplessness in her mouth.
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