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 Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:23 pm
It was well known to all ten other residents of the Oak St share house that Aludra should be left alone while baking. The kitchen was off-limits, a disaster waiting to happen and anyone silly enough to hang around could count on being caught in the storm. It wasn’t the cooking that was the issue. Her cookies, if they survived her own wrath, were delicious. No, the problem was in the 85% chance (one Captain had actually done the calculations) of her completely losing her mind during the baking process. Today was not going to be the other 15%.
The day had started off well enough. Aludra had rolled out of bed, discovered she’d powered down during the night and instantly put that to rights, the feeling of her silly civilian body making her skin crawl long after she’d donned her black and red hooded corrupt clothing.
The next plan of attack for the morning, or rather afternoon, since she’d sleep well past midday, was to find Persephone. If that failed, she’d track down Dionysus and then she’d see how things went from there. This all changed when she walked past the kitchen, caught sight of a bag of flour left on the table and decided the only next logical step was making cookies. Gathering the ingredients had gone fine, mixing them even better. It was only as she set the timer and slid the tray into the oven that her world started to slip.
Twenty minutes in the oven or until golden brown.
The words ran through her head in a soft and loving woman’s voice.
Aludra recoiled from it physically, her back colliding with the kitchen table. She caught her elbow on the edge of the table and used it to keep herself from falling into a heap on the floor, her knees shaking with the effort.
They’re going to be delicious. You’re cookies are always better than mine.
Laughter. Warmth. Screaming. Pain.
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:05 pm
Oh, my Queen of Hades, you will know true torment before your months in Hell abate. Take comfort in the seeds of despair that I will spread for you. Feast on famine, and subject yourself to half an eternity with us - the darkness wears better on your pale skin.
Bischofite chose to walk to the collective housing provided by the Negaverse to its less fortunate members, leaving a surfeit of evidence pointing toward his intended location. ATMs, parking lot cameras, even cell phone videos captured his visage shambling toward the collection of structures. Bischofite paid them little heed; what surfaced on YouTube would likely draw Persephone's attention, if not the absence of one so close to her heart. In his wake bubbled thick gouts of tar, sprawled across the ground like desperate enemies clamoring for salvation. It clung to the tattered edges of his wasted uniform, and the bones trailing behind the remainder of its hem. They clattered slightly, but he didn't mind; as Schörl agreed, ambience is an incredibly potent affair.
The front of the building looked wholly unassuming with its white paint and grey trim, and architectural details so neutered that the entirety of the structure looked forgettable, almost too benign. In front, the landscape hosted a couple well-manicured trees and a pair of potted bushes trimmed to a meticulous spherical shape. A small window box of flowers hung by the main window and flourished with petunias, though he surmised that none of the tenants planted or cared for them. The front door itself offered nothing terribly out of place, though a close inspection revealed paint and portions of wood clawed off the exterior and later puttied in and painted over. He ran a taloned finger across the marred surface. Were they clawing to get in, or clawing to get away? These marks... They're too human for our youma.
Rather than knock, the creature crossed into the freshly-cut green grass and looked through the window toward the remarkably small living room / dining area. Just beyond a pocket door stood the kitchen - he memorized the layout by now. A breath, and he no longer knew the sights through the window - instead the whole of the room unfolded around him, while he stood far too close to a coffee table.
A slow pace both ruined the carpet and led him to the kitchen, where he leaned in through the pocket door until the thick bones of his wings prevented him from going any further. From his vantage point, he sighed the corrupt in question, hardly holding herself up against the counter while stricken into tremors. "Aludra," came a dripping drawl, punctuated with a draw of breath. "Somesing smells good. I trust zat zere are no bugs in zem zis time? A shame if it is so." Drawing wings to his back, he pressed through the remarkably cramped pocket door.
"Persephone is away, you know. Gone on a mission. Ach, it leaves me terribly lonely, child. Perhaps you will play wis' me today." He smiled absent mirth.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:54 am
She felt him coming and it was a balm to her tattered mind. The touch of Chaos filled in the cracks of her mind, burying old memories deep and allowing her to take a breath without feeling the phantom recollections of warm hugs and floral perfume. Yet she was still supporting herself against the table when he appeared in the doorway, her physical weakness taking longer to abate.
"Bischofite," she spoke his name like a lover might, soft and breathless. Her eyes when she looked at him were too bright. With a grunt of effort she pushed herself upright and stood on her own, albeit with one hand hovering above the surface of the table. "Everyone else said the crickets added a nice crunch."
With a laugh she bent at the waist to look through the little window set into the oven, watching the cookies as they baked. "You have to wait until the cookies are ready Mr. Bischofite and then we can go." Aludra straightened and placed both hand at on either cheek, giving a thoroughly exaggerated sigh. "Perse is so mean, leaving us both behind. But I always love to play with you."
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 7:54 am
Everyone else was a youma - they cannot taste, they cannot speak. Steeping you in chaos produced breaks in your mind, scraps of fallacies now lacing your very perception of the world. I now see what Schörl meant about art - there is far more beauty in imperfections. So make your cookies with crickets, cockroaches, carapace - to see these small gestures of warped domesticity offers great intrigue. The creature straightened when in the kitchen, no longer inhibited by the regrettably narrow pocket door. While he still lacked room to stretch tarred wings, they hung more loosely at his back.
Tapping talons on the counter, Bischofite cocked his head at Aludra in a gesture of exasperation. "Persephone has always exhibited zat measure of callous disregard for zose she spends so much time wis' - you, me, her ozzer 'children'... A bad parent, she is. A bad partner. Ever leaving when we need her most..." Afterward he bent at the waist, sinking down into loosely crossed arms while he rested cheek to the table. The countertop felt cool, smooth - a rare delight to his eternally burning senses.
Bischofite watched the small corrupt over the height of his arm, how she moved in such a hitched fashion, as if Chaos yet warped her joints. He liked the look of it on her - the eyes feverishly bright like hand-rolled glass, the rest of her operated by ill-measured strings. Her uniform sat starkly against pale skin, green hair - and as he considered it, he never witnessed her powered down. Never had he met the civilian side of Aludra, should one much exist anymore. How strange... I wonder if she sleeps in uniform. Oh, how dangerous that is... Projecting an aura for the remainders of our enemies to track down, however hidden, and wholesale murder her in fitful sleep. What a shame, yet it suits my plans just fine.
"Tell me what you're making today. White chocolate macadamia nut? Chocolate chip? Red velvet? Indulge my curiosity; I'm dying to know."
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Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:09 pm
Her eyes tracked his every movement, not missing even the slightest flex of his wing or twitch of a finger. Her own fingers were still pressed against her cheeks, tapping the soft skin there softly; an absent gesture as if she’d forgotten she’d even left her hands there at all. "But she always comes back," she said, assuring herself more than him. "Always. So we should have lots of fun without her, so she knows that next time she’ll miss out."
Hands finally dropping, unable to keep still or remain in the same spot for too long, she stepped closer and mimicked his position. She pressed her own face to the table, fingers gripping at the edge and watched him, a smile lifting her lips and lighting her eyes. He was amazing, she thought.
Aludra gave a pleased hum in the back of her throat. "Peanut butter and chocolate chip You’ll love it I promise. I added an extra special ingredient."
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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:14 pm
Oh, she will learn what folly it is to render herself absent for so long. All you need to do, my dear, is suffer. Straightening up, Bischofite braced both heels of his hands against the counter to stretch. He sighed through his nose afterward, a lull of tiredness claiming a margin of his sharp gaze. "Tell me about your life before you joined us, Aludra. Do you remember how you learned to bake cookies, or do you remember being taught to identify your enemy instead? How much is left a fractured mess in zat head of yours?"
I suspect Sarukadite's lab harbors many a tool to discern the amount of lost material objectively. It's... Garnered a unique reputation, these days. Perhaps I'd have more fun in taking her along for an inspection. It should prove more interesting than forcing her submission with tar... I wonder how the two will turn out at the end.
With an elongated finger pressed to the rim of the countertop, Bischofite started toward the oven itself where the cookies sat barely visible behind a mottled window. Regrettably he smelled nothing beyond his own tar - not yet. A special ingredient... Likely garbage as last time. No energy, no fragments of starseeds to entice what youma we release to the streets. No detritus of the soul. I wonder if she would obey if I asked her to bake portions of herself into these cookies?
Ach, Bischofite, when did you become so bored?
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:18 am
The question shut down her smile, wiping it off her face as if it had never been. If anyone else had asked her the same thing, even Persephone, she would have simply gotten up and walked out of the room. Anything was better than trying to locate that scared girl who wept at the back of her mind, who sometimes clawed herself into the real world and brought with her agonizing memories. But because it was Bischofite she stayed where she was, locked rigid against the table, as if expecting a blow.
But even for someone she respected as much as she did him, she would not delve too deeply. Whoever she had been could not come back. Aludra turned her face away, forehead pressed against the table top. "Sie ist tot," was all she said on the matter, before suddenly pushing herself upright and announcing in a voice that was too loud and too chirpy, "Oh look, the cookies are ready!"
They weren’t ready; that much as obvious as she threw the oven door open and immediately went to retrieve the tray. Her first attempt was barehanded and she yelped as soon as her fingers touched the hot metal. She cradled her hand, staring at the oven with a look of betrayal. How dare it hurt her? Aludra licked her burnt fingers one at a time, at the same time grabbing the nearby tea towel and using it to move the tray from the oven to the table without further mishap.
The cookies, despite being still raw in the middle, looked perfectly normal.
"Try one and then we’ll go play."
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:31 pm
"Ach, so ist das Leben," he offered in return. So what behooves you to remain so tight-lipped on the matter with one of your superiors? Would you capitulate to an order, I wonder?
How fulfilling it must be to default to such abject denial in the face of difficult questions. I suspect Persephone never introduced you to my ideals - which sounds quite apt for her behavior. She never placed much stock in suffering as a learning device, or an impetus to change. It is the survival that so benefits those involved - even me. "Aludra..." He started, eyeing the girl while she nursed her newly-inflicted burns. "Haf' you ever considered ze merits of sustaining pain? Sink about it - as you stand zere licking at your fingers, you know zat as your body heals, a sicker scar tissue will develop in place of formerly supple skin. An improvement, zough not often by purely visual standards. As Hemingway once said, ze world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at ze broken places.
"Ze same applies to us." His gaze lingered on her, strangely approving in her hurt and betrayed actions.
Finally Bischofite shuffled toward the cookie sheet sitting on already warped formica, where he eyed the cookies still pale from too little time spent beneath blistering heat. Finally he scraped one off the sheet, noting the ease in its departure, and examined the confection obtained. It looked ostensibly normal - no cricket legs or scent of almonds triggering suspicion. His free hand lingered half on the tray while he conducted his scrutiny, tapping absently (yet rhythmically) on the metal. Only when he finally took a bite, seething slightly at the sheer heat of it, did he finally remove his hand.Ruriska wut r in dem cookies? o_o
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 5:30 am
A finger was back in her mouth, caught lightly between her teeth, tongue pressed against the tip. The oven door was still open beside her and with a snap of her foot she banged it closed, cutting off the lingering heat. Her hand dropped. She sensed something deeper in his talk of pain and so she responded with the calm, seriousness it deserved.
"Yes," Aludra said. She held her hand out before her, fingers spread wide. "These maybe, yes. You maybe, yes. Broken things made stronger…" She casually strolled over to one of the cupboards, opened it and took out a glass. Turning her head to smile sadly at him over her shoulder, she held out her hand and let the glass drop.
It hit the floor and shattered. If he wanted to keep prying, he was welcome to, but her mind was on its last repair and any further break would keep it that way permanently.
Aludra shifted to stand at the other side of the table from him, smiling as he took a bite. "That’s it." The look in her blue eyes was tender, almost motherly. Taking one as well she gingerly tore off a piece and after a quick blow to cool it, popped it in her mouth. Aeeth Belladonna berries, actually. You'd need to eat more than one cookie for hem to do anything though. xD
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:39 pm
Some things are broken down to be repurposed. I wonder... How many of us no longer resemble our original forms before Chaos sank in? Maybe a dozen, a hundred in an entire army?
Bischofite blinked, sitting up slightly as he roused himself from the tangent. The cookie itself tasted sweet, still doughy with the granulated texture teasing at his teeth. Nothing about it appeared amiss - no cricket legs, smattering of poppyseed, or other known aversions. While he could not detect much taste beyond that, as tar had long ago burnt away most of his sense of taste and smell, he assumed the cookies likely tasted delectable to those of whole senses. Afterward he placed the cookie on the counter and focused on adding small indentations to the still soft exterior.
"Aludra, haf' you had your evaluation yet? If not, I can administer one while we work to ensure zat Persephone will feel sorry zat she left." After slicing out another portion of cookie using elongated talons, he carefully absconded with the piece and took it off his fingers with his teeth. "You are one of her favorites, you know. She talks about you many times - especially in strained situations. Always 'tell Aludra I love her', 'tell Aludra she's a sweetheart', 'tell Aludra to keep her chin up', like ze end is upon us and I will somehow make it out alif'e wis'out her." Which is very highly likely.
What does the Negaverse gain by having her around?
"I could tell you more, but you'd haf' to earn it."Ruriska Atropa Belladonna: 'The consumption of two to five berries by a human adult is probably lethal.' I don't know how much she used, so this is just fyi!
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Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 1:28 am
Her intensely focused gaze followed every bite his took, from the tray to his mouth, the thoughtful chewing, the return the counter, the second bite. It took some time for his words to sink in, her own cookie held forgotten in her hands. "E-val-u-a-tion." She said, breaking the word down to drawn out syllables. "No." Aludra remembered her cookie was there and let it go. Unwatched it hit the counter and littered the surface with crumbs.
Now she looked away, colour flushing into her cheeks, her expression deliriously happy. "She says that? Of course she would. She’s my favourite as well; you know I’d be lost without her. She’s my mother." Hands on her cheeks, she rocked back and forth on her heels, her demeanour almost that of an expressive teenage girl who had just been told her crush liked her back.
Her gaze snapped back to him, eager to please. "I’ll do anything. I’ll earn it. Evaluate me." Then Persephone would love her even more and never leave her alone again.
Aeeth lmao, wtf was I reading? Whatever website I was on said 10-15 or something. I was probably looking at the wrong thing. >o> NEVERMIND. The special ingredient is just blueberries.
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 1:18 pm
"Alright," he accepted, inwardly excited. Most corrupted senshi these days lack the ability to survive on their own - they require handlers or mentors to retain some semblance of independence in this life. I suspect it's a product of forced corruption, but often times, that insanity works out in the end. If I can convince you that ascension is the only option, Aludra, then corrupting you will have paid off. As loathe as I am to say it, ascension would prove you a good choice on Persephone's part.
Scheiß', even thinking it feels wretched.
"Ze tests zemselfs are mostly simple, mostly straightforward. First comes ze questionnaire, which ranges from simple inquiries about common sense living, and afterward a quiz on ze Negaverse and its constituent parts, wis' last being a field test to confirm your effectiveness in combat routines and general utility. Really, most pass it relatively well - it's difficult to fail unless you'f forgotten how to breaz'e. However, I'f found it's much easier to obtain accurate answers outside of ze house - where, for example, Columba possessed many a sticky note to outline ze aforementioned common sense questions. Also, it cuts down on energy expended to reach ze target training exercise destination. You see, I haf' a favorite. I will take you zere.
"We'll start on ze way, Aludra. Come, leaf' your cookies to cool. Zey will wait, if nossing else. Oh, and try to leaf' zem on ze cookie sheet for a while. Zat way zey stay chewy on ze inside." He learned the latter from far too many nights spent with Buddingtonite, he knew. Idly he wondered how the redhead even survived this long with his deteriorating mind, or even if he was fit to qualify as a mouthpiece to Metallia. It isn't our place to question her decisions, but I wonder what she's trying to accomplish wis' zat bombastic fop as a General-King.
With a beckon toward Aludra, he headed toward the door, in the same location in every cookie cutter apartment throughout the building. He far more than memorized it by now.Ruriska i figure it's a good idea to end here since the meta is about over~
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