004 - It's a terrible unlife (dream sequence)
[Backdated to the 16th. I'm going to add some links for visuals or else some decent descriptions of the scenes she's shown later, but this is the meat of it and I wanted to get it posted. And SPOILERS.]
Again the ruins, again the waste. Naal would have thought it would trouble her less the second time, but there is something about the repetition that unnerves her in a way the desolate landscape itself does not. Is this how it is to be? An eternal, inescapable repetition... though it seems even emptier this time than last. Perhaps it will come to a final end.
"A dream. A dream of many things."
The voice is one she recognizes. She turns, and finds beside her its owner; another drow child. The girl is a few inches taller than her and muscular for her age, with a great shock of messy orange hair gathered into something that could be loosely described as a ponytail and bright red facepaint streaking her cheeks. Her clothing is all yellows and oranges too; everything but her skin is as bright and loud as can be. She is Kiel'ndia Vel'Vloz'ress, a girl who by all appearances is Naal's opposite... but is her oldest and closest friend.
Naal wants to greet her, but she can tell Kiel is only pausing for dramatic effect, and between the two of them it has always been Kiel who talks and Naal who listens.
"A dream of friends and... well, I guess your family isn't here, are they? Ah, sorry. I guess I'll just, uh..." She clears her throat. "A dream of friends... wait how did the rest go?"
"Kiel, what are you doing?" Naal breaks in as the speech peters out.
"Oh, I was just trying to do a proper introduction for you! A classic! This is a bonnafid-" "Bona fide." "-a real dream sequence! I've never done one before, and it's for my best friend, so I wanted to do something special, you know? But I guess I screwed that up."
She scratches her head.
"...I didn't think you had any interest in the classics." Naal notes. Not that she recognized that line from anything she'd read... "...and if this is a dream I don't see why it needs an introduction."
"It's for them, you know?" She waves. Yes, at you reading this post. How do you wave at someone in an inherently viewpoint-less environment like written text? By being Kiel, that's how. "Smaller crowd than usual but I think I see a lot of new faces! And besides, this is important. I've got to set the scene- oh, that was it!"
And she's back to the speech again. "These things always mean something... right? Well I'm going to change that line, this time it definitely means something!"
Naal just shakes her head. She's long been used to Kiel's eccentricities. "Even if it's a dream it's good to see you again, my friend."
"Yeah well..." Kiel gives her an awkward look, quickly glancing off to the side. "I'd hold off on saying that. I've got some pretty rough stuff to discuss."
"Oh?" Naal looks at her, a bit curious but basically impassive. No help there.
"Yeah, look... I think you should give it up. This whole town you're in is dying. It looks all peaceful but it's really rotten. I don't need to tell you how that goes. It'll keep trying to be what it is until the end and then the whole thing'll just fall apart, like last time but worse. Like this." She gestures to the ruins all around. "It doesn't know how to do anything else... but you can. If you weren't here things would get better. If you just let yourself disappear it could heal, and the others might be able to live something closer to the lives they'd want..."
She trails off. Naal looks on, waiting for her friend to gather her words, but she looks strangely wounded. Kiel was always the one person who treated her as though her taint meant nothing at all...
"I know..." Kiel answers the unvoiced accusation. "I was always the one who told you that your life was worth living, even like that. But that hasn't changed, not really. I'm not asking you to do this because I think you'll be sacrificing less. I'm asking you because you told me yourself you wanted to do something worthwhile with the time you had left. Because you've always known best what a choice like this means. I want to help you find something before it's too late..."
"But you did." Naal's voice comes back quiet but hard. "I was supposed to help you. To 'save the world.' Until my death. I promised that and you accepted. I can still return..."
"I don't know if that's true, Naal. And even if you could... I think you can do more like this. There's not a lot you can do to influence my clan. And it's dangerous. I could have been killed trying to keep Kharla from hurting you. And it's always like that. I know you care about everyone else the most, but look how things turn out... Faen went crazy from being around you, and that's why that dumb kid attacked Chrys... and now everybody's split up because of that. Chrys knows all those things she shouldn't and can't let them go, Shinae tried to sell her out, Kyo ran off to the Surface... if you weren't carrying that seed none of it would have happened. Even though you try so hard to keep the peace it always ends with strife. We're mostly back together for now... but what's going to happen when your seed does take over? We're all already tainted but that doesn't mean anything. You were there the first time when that thing was born, you know what it'll do... if any of us are there with you, we'll be eaten. This way... is safe. I don't want to say that like it's just an easy way out, but you can do something to help a lot of people without putting any of your friends at risk."
She takes a step closer. Naal is no longer in any mood to argue; part of her can't believe Kiel would say such things... but more than that, she knows it all is true, and though she looks like she's about to cry there is also a resignation in the way she hangs her head.
"I don't want to make it sound like it's all about us, either. I used to think you were so perfect and emotionless, that knowing what you were and what you lost without feeling the pain of it or hating it wasn't so bad, but when you spent that night with me I saw how much that thing hurts you. I want to see you find peace. I want you to accomplish your worthy goal as soon as you can. Take this chance, Naal."
Naal glumly nods. Consent given. She cannot deny a single word that has been said. But then she steps suddenly forward to hug the other girl.
"...I don't know if you're really her, or if this is half a dream or all one, but please let me say first... goodbye, Kiel. It still was good to see you again..."
Again the ruins, again the waste. Naal would have thought it would trouble her less the second time, but there is something about the repetition that unnerves her in a way the desolate landscape itself does not. Is this how it is to be? An eternal, inescapable repetition... though it seems even emptier this time than last. Perhaps it will come to a final end.
"A dream. A dream of many things."
The voice is one she recognizes. She turns, and finds beside her its owner; another drow child. The girl is a few inches taller than her and muscular for her age, with a great shock of messy orange hair gathered into something that could be loosely described as a ponytail and bright red facepaint streaking her cheeks. Her clothing is all yellows and oranges too; everything but her skin is as bright and loud as can be. She is Kiel'ndia Vel'Vloz'ress, a girl who by all appearances is Naal's opposite... but is her oldest and closest friend.
Naal wants to greet her, but she can tell Kiel is only pausing for dramatic effect, and between the two of them it has always been Kiel who talks and Naal who listens.
"A dream of friends and... well, I guess your family isn't here, are they? Ah, sorry. I guess I'll just, uh..." She clears her throat. "A dream of friends... wait how did the rest go?"
"Kiel, what are you doing?" Naal breaks in as the speech peters out.
"Oh, I was just trying to do a proper introduction for you! A classic! This is a bonnafid-" "Bona fide." "-a real dream sequence! I've never done one before, and it's for my best friend, so I wanted to do something special, you know? But I guess I screwed that up."
She scratches her head.
"...I didn't think you had any interest in the classics." Naal notes. Not that she recognized that line from anything she'd read... "...and if this is a dream I don't see why it needs an introduction."
"It's for them, you know?" She waves. Yes, at you reading this post. How do you wave at someone in an inherently viewpoint-less environment like written text? By being Kiel, that's how. "Smaller crowd than usual but I think I see a lot of new faces! And besides, this is important. I've got to set the scene- oh, that was it!"
And she's back to the speech again. "These things always mean something... right? Well I'm going to change that line, this time it definitely means something!"
Naal just shakes her head. She's long been used to Kiel's eccentricities. "Even if it's a dream it's good to see you again, my friend."
"Yeah well..." Kiel gives her an awkward look, quickly glancing off to the side. "I'd hold off on saying that. I've got some pretty rough stuff to discuss."
"Oh?" Naal looks at her, a bit curious but basically impassive. No help there.
"Yeah, look... I think you should give it up. This whole town you're in is dying. It looks all peaceful but it's really rotten. I don't need to tell you how that goes. It'll keep trying to be what it is until the end and then the whole thing'll just fall apart, like last time but worse. Like this." She gestures to the ruins all around. "It doesn't know how to do anything else... but you can. If you weren't here things would get better. If you just let yourself disappear it could heal, and the others might be able to live something closer to the lives they'd want..."
She trails off. Naal looks on, waiting for her friend to gather her words, but she looks strangely wounded. Kiel was always the one person who treated her as though her taint meant nothing at all...
"I know..." Kiel answers the unvoiced accusation. "I was always the one who told you that your life was worth living, even like that. But that hasn't changed, not really. I'm not asking you to do this because I think you'll be sacrificing less. I'm asking you because you told me yourself you wanted to do something worthwhile with the time you had left. Because you've always known best what a choice like this means. I want to help you find something before it's too late..."
"But you did." Naal's voice comes back quiet but hard. "I was supposed to help you. To 'save the world.' Until my death. I promised that and you accepted. I can still return..."
"I don't know if that's true, Naal. And even if you could... I think you can do more like this. There's not a lot you can do to influence my clan. And it's dangerous. I could have been killed trying to keep Kharla from hurting you. And it's always like that. I know you care about everyone else the most, but look how things turn out... Faen went crazy from being around you, and that's why that dumb kid attacked Chrys... and now everybody's split up because of that. Chrys knows all those things she shouldn't and can't let them go, Shinae tried to sell her out, Kyo ran off to the Surface... if you weren't carrying that seed none of it would have happened. Even though you try so hard to keep the peace it always ends with strife. We're mostly back together for now... but what's going to happen when your seed does take over? We're all already tainted but that doesn't mean anything. You were there the first time when that thing was born, you know what it'll do... if any of us are there with you, we'll be eaten. This way... is safe. I don't want to say that like it's just an easy way out, but you can do something to help a lot of people without putting any of your friends at risk."
She takes a step closer. Naal is no longer in any mood to argue; part of her can't believe Kiel would say such things... but more than that, she knows it all is true, and though she looks like she's about to cry there is also a resignation in the way she hangs her head.
"I don't want to make it sound like it's all about us, either. I used to think you were so perfect and emotionless, that knowing what you were and what you lost without feeling the pain of it or hating it wasn't so bad, but when you spent that night with me I saw how much that thing hurts you. I want to see you find peace. I want you to accomplish your worthy goal as soon as you can. Take this chance, Naal."
Naal glumly nods. Consent given. She cannot deny a single word that has been said. But then she steps suddenly forward to hug the other girl.
"...I don't know if you're really her, or if this is half a dream or all one, but please let me say first... goodbye, Kiel. It still was good to see you again..."