Open // Incomplete

[jardin_npcs]

Characters: All Jardin students and staff.
Location: The Gallery of Reminiscence
Time: October 1st and 2nd
Summary: They gather while they sleep, to see their memories on display.

Comments

[ofpenandsword]

Fakir had settled on one painting. The others, although interesting and very beautifully executed, did not make sense and therefore meant very little to him. Some even were too blurry to even grasp the subject

[ententeich]

"Hello? Is there anybody here?" Ahiru called out as she wandered the corridors. She was surrounded by paintings on every side, paintings that made no sense to her, but one suddenly caught her attention, causing her to stop and stare.

It was of a duck wearing a small crown, gracefully dancing with a armored knight deep in the depths of a lake. Above the two, painted in the sky, were a pair of two eyes, staring not just at the two dancers below but somehow at the viewer also. Ahiru stepps back, a old feeling of fear sending shivers up her spine when she feels the eyes looking at her (which is silly, it's only a painting so how can it look at her?) when a faint noise causes her to glance away.

She's relieved to come across someone she recognizes, after those unsettling eyes, even if it is her nigh-unapproachable roommate. "Fakir!" she calls out, running up towards the older boy standing in front of the picture. "Fakir, I am so glad to see you, do you know where we are?" she pants, before straightening and noticing that he seemed to be

[ofpenandsword]

Fakir jumped at the sound of her voice, so entranced by the bloody painting that he hadn't noticed her approach until just now. His heart was pounding wildly in his throat, ridiculous really, when it was only a picture and Ahiru was only a clumsy girl.

"I'm fine," He answered tersely, raising a hand to unbutton his collar a bit. He felt like he couldn't breathe. "What did you say again?"

[ententeich]

"I asked if you were all right," Ahiru repeats, noting that he still looked a bit shaken. "Was there something wrong?" She turned to look at the painting Fakir seemed so interested in; it too seemed familiar somehow, but she was unable place it, when she let out a sudden cry.

"The knight!" she exclaimed, hitting her fist in her palm. "He's in another painting, I'll show you!" She grabs his hand, tugging him in the direction of the painting of the duck and knight.

[ofpenandsword]

He let out a sound of surprise as she took his hand and started to lead him, feeling that this had happened to him many, many times before. At first he nearly tripped, but since her gait was so much smaller than his, he was able to settle into a comfortable lope behind her.

She was a good distraction, at least.

[ententeich]

Fakir's hand felt big clasped in her hand, bigger than it had used to be, like he had grown. Which was ridiculous because Ahiru certainly didn't even know he had existed a few days ago, so it was impossible to say that his hand felt larger than it did before.

But it did. Somehow.

It wasn't far to the painting. "Here, see!" Ahiru stopped in front of the painting, dropping his hand and pointing to the knight in the lake. She tried to ignore the eyes, but she could still feel them staring down at her.

[ofpenandsword]

She was correct, it was certainly the knight from his own painting, however, still in one piece. Although he had no idea why in the world it would be dancing with a duck of all things. And as his attentions traveled up the painting...

"I know those eyes."

They belonged to the man who had been taunting him in his dreams the day before he met Ahiru. The one who made his hand move against his will. They were very distinct, it was impossible to miss.

[ententeich]

Leave it to Fakir to bring her attention to the one thing she was trying to ignore.

"I don't like them," she mutters, having glanced up at the eyes before dropping her own to the floor. Sudden realization of Fakir's words hit her.

"Whaaaaaat?" Ahiru quacks. "Do you know what's going on then in this painting? Whose eyes are these then they're kind of creepy!"

[ofpenandsword]

"No. I don't know what the knight and the duck are for," He answered simply, crossing his arms over his chest, "But I've seen those eyes. An old man with those eyes spoke to me in one of my dreams."

Fakir purposefully skipped over the other details, he didn't want to tell her unless he had to. All of this was beyond coincidence, and it was giving him the creeps.

[ententeich]

"An old man?" For some reason, that caused chills to go down her spine again. Attempting to move on, she asked "Well, what did he say? It could be an important clue!"

[ofpenandsword]

A clue? What did she think this was, some sort of murder mystery?

"I couldn't make out exactly what he was saying," Since it was a dream after all, usually nonsensical things, "But he was narrating a story. And as he spoke, my hand moved against my will to write for him."

And you were there, he added mentally. You cast yourself into a lake from despair. The terror that I felt was so immense, I woke in a cold sweat.

"It went on for a while as he told his story. Eventually, I found a penknife and stabbed myself to make it stop." Fakir brought his hand up to show her the circular scar that pierced his hand.

"It ended there."

[ententeich]

Well, maybe if they started putting things together, things would start to make sense! And this place would definitely count as a mystery, although she'd have to get back to you on the murder part.

She stares at the scar on his hand, her mouth forming a perfect O at his story, and then reaches out to gently hold his hand in hers, studying the scar. "Are you all right now?" she asks in concern. "It... doesn't hurt anymore, does it?"

[ofpenandsword]

Fakir snatched his hand from hers, but without any ill intent. It was awkward, to say the least, sharing this with anyone. Let alone her, the girl that had just moved into his dorm only a day ago.

"It's fine," He replied, shrugging away from her, "I looked younger than I am now, in the dream. It could have happened years ago."

[ententeich]

"You... don't remember stabbing yourself?" Ahiru looks very, very confused. It appears that she's failed to realize what she's been missing since she's enrolled in the school!

[ofpenandsword]

"Of course I don't," Fakir raises his eyebrow at her peculiar behavior, "Nobody here remembers anything about their pasts, that's the whole conundrum."

"Do you remember anything?"

[ententeich]

"Well, of course I-" She stops mid-sentence as she realizes that he's right. As hard as Ahiru tries, she can't remember anything of her past or the scrap of a memory. Comprehension slowly dawns across her face as she slowly reaches up to touch her temple. There's a moment as the cogs in her head whir into action.

"I can't remember anything!" she shrieks, her cry echoing through the corridors.