All these WIPs are actually in my head instead of being written down. Because that's how I roll.
Work in progress meme! Stolen from immicolia!
Post a single sentence or more from each WIP you have, or from as many WIPs as you want.
Provide no context/explanations.
----
Why? Why did it have to happen?
After several weeks of peace-no fluctuations, no acting up, just when everyone thought that the project was going smoothly...it happened again.
Just when I had thought that perhaps I had finally atoned for what I had done...then the cruel mistress of reality had to come and lift the veil from my eyes. I would never be forgiven for my transgression. This was surely a sign of that.
----
But truly you don't mean to let him suffer like this? crooned the dark voice in his mind, the one that assured him that it was fine for him to let Yuusei go, the one that preyed on his doubts and fears, echoed them whenever he had a moment's time alone. That voice that, he feared, could be his true self, the self he had buried when he found out just how much he had hurt the others (hurt Yuusei) when acting that way. He could ignore it. Perhaps he could. After all, the younger man's inner demons were surely worse, surely...they must have been, if they had succeeded in reducing him to a shell of his former self, paled and sickly and barely able to string two syllables together. And yet he had rather let them reduce him to this barely-alive shell rather than give into them...
But that is just as bad... echoed the voice. Those imagined sins that lay unjustly on his conscience, his guilt for things that you should have burdened, his well-earned resentment of you...they're eating him alive, you know. The longer he stays like this, the weaker he will be. He is long past the point of saving and you know it.
You're killing him.
----
"There is no way around it," said the mother, looking down with eyes framed with bone. The bone that had molded itself onto her skin, was now as irremovable as any other limb of her body, was just as much her face as the skin that rested beneath.
Bone that soon, the child would wear. That, he knew. That soon, he would soon don his own mask of the bonekeepers.
"Our kind are those who are intimately familiar with death. We are the ones who watch over it, we are the ones who guard the earthly remains. That is our work. That is our role."
"But...but...Ma...you haven't said what it is...I don't get it...if you have to go, how do I know what Death is?"
"You will see. As I told you, we are intimately familiar with Death. What it brings...and what brings it."
----
There's a role he was meant to play, and he completed it. So now, what of him?
What of all the other things he had done, during that period of time where he had strayed from his path, had found a place that was never meant to be his, but had become it anyway?
What of that little niche, that life he had carved out for himself before? What then?
Did that him really exist? Did that separate existence...was that even meant to exist? Could he go back to it? Could everything still be the same? Even when he had surely changed the destiny of the one he could call his closest companion, had done just as he was bid by the God of Destiny, to make all chances equal? Had he created a future that had no need of him now that he had ensured that it would happen?
----
"I don't get what you're asking!" Kiryuu didn't raise his voice often. At least, not after those years. Hearing his own voice rise in pitch, in volume...it reminded him far too much of the days of old, when he would devolve into loud hysterical laughter, so utterly convinced he was right when he was very, very wrong. And now it was the same. He truly felt he was right on this account. After all, why would Tail, of all people, ask him to do that, of all things?
And yet, like back then, he could be...
"It's a simple enough request. I would think that a man of your intelligence would understand." The robed figure seemed to nod a bit in Kiryuu's direction, the action revealing a simple fringe of black hair just under the hood, the only thing that seemed even remotely human about Tail. How...how could he say something like this with the simple nonchalance and utter blandness that he said...everything?
...very...
"It's not that. It's just...there are plenty of other people you could ask, isn't there?" And then he felt like he had to retract his statement. The only one he could think that Tail was close to (if he was close to anyone) was Godwin, perhaps even Jeager or Mikage if he stretched the imagination a little. But even Kiryuu could see that Godwin...didn't seem to have played all his cards yet. Perhaps even to the point that even a (apparently devout?) follower such as Tail could be unwilling to trust him. Even so, he couldn't understand: why him?
"It can only be you." The way he said it irked him, just like the way he said everything else irked him. Methodical. Cold. No emotion behind it. And somehow so utterly quiet that it almost sounded like a very human whisper. It was infuriating.
"Why?! We barely know each other! And you-you're with them, you know about what I did, what I caused! You know I don't want to do something like that again, I can't..."
...very wrong...
Kiryuu looked at him desperately. He hated this. He hated being put on the spot, showing the weakness that he had tried to hide, showing how scared he was at any possibility of something like that happening again. Something like that happening because of him. Because he wasn't strong enough to keep that promise...Why would Tail purposefully do something like this, like he did all the time, said those strange things that sounded like inane comments to everyone else but hinted at something else to him, and then suddenly ask this out of him?
"Do you have some kind of vendetta against me? Do you hate me or something?"
At that, it was quiet between them. Tail had merely tilted his head seeming to think, the bandages hiding everything on his face that would have hinted at some kind of expression. The moment's pause felt like an eternity.
"Do you want me to hate you?"
And Kiryuu didn't know how to respond. As much as the man irritated him, he couldn't say with absolute certainty that he hated Tail, any more than he hated other annoyances. As unsettling as he was, there had been some aspect of Kiryuu that had gotten used to the odd man's company, resigned to the fact that the man was an ally in the war against the Dark Signers (or, Godwin had said so, at least, but if what Tail had requested him to do had a reason behind it, and with Tail, it probably did...) and had come to...accept him, for lack of a better term.
It didn't matter, though, as Tail seemed to continue on.
"Fine then." And then there was hesitation. Or...it felt like hesitation to Kiryuu. But that couldn't be right, it was probably just a pause. That wasn't Tail pausing to take a steadying breath he had heard. Tail didn't do that sort of thing. He was always perfectly composed, perfectly rigid...
"I hate you."
...so very, very, wrong...
----
I BET YOU CAN GUESS WHAT THEY ALL ARE. VIRTUAL COOKIES AND MAYBE A SKETCHDOODLE REQUEST TO WHO CAN GUESS ONE.
Post a single sentence or more from each WIP you have, or from as many WIPs as you want.
Provide no context/explanations.
----
Why? Why did it have to happen?
After several weeks of peace-no fluctuations, no acting up, just when everyone thought that the project was going smoothly...it happened again.
Just when I had thought that perhaps I had finally atoned for what I had done...then the cruel mistress of reality had to come and lift the veil from my eyes. I would never be forgiven for my transgression. This was surely a sign of that.
----
But truly you don't mean to let him suffer like this? crooned the dark voice in his mind, the one that assured him that it was fine for him to let Yuusei go, the one that preyed on his doubts and fears, echoed them whenever he had a moment's time alone. That voice that, he feared, could be his true self, the self he had buried when he found out just how much he had hurt the others (hurt Yuusei) when acting that way. He could ignore it. Perhaps he could. After all, the younger man's inner demons were surely worse, surely...they must have been, if they had succeeded in reducing him to a shell of his former self, paled and sickly and barely able to string two syllables together. And yet he had rather let them reduce him to this barely-alive shell rather than give into them...
But that is just as bad... echoed the voice. Those imagined sins that lay unjustly on his conscience, his guilt for things that you should have burdened, his well-earned resentment of you...they're eating him alive, you know. The longer he stays like this, the weaker he will be. He is long past the point of saving and you know it.
You're killing him.
----
"There is no way around it," said the mother, looking down with eyes framed with bone. The bone that had molded itself onto her skin, was now as irremovable as any other limb of her body, was just as much her face as the skin that rested beneath.
Bone that soon, the child would wear. That, he knew. That soon, he would soon don his own mask of the bonekeepers.
"Our kind are those who are intimately familiar with death. We are the ones who watch over it, we are the ones who guard the earthly remains. That is our work. That is our role."
"But...but...Ma...you haven't said what it is...I don't get it...if you have to go, how do I know what Death is?"
"You will see. As I told you, we are intimately familiar with Death. What it brings...and what brings it."
----
There's a role he was meant to play, and he completed it. So now, what of him?
What of all the other things he had done, during that period of time where he had strayed from his path, had found a place that was never meant to be his, but had become it anyway?
What of that little niche, that life he had carved out for himself before? What then?
Did that him really exist? Did that separate existence...was that even meant to exist? Could he go back to it? Could everything still be the same? Even when he had surely changed the destiny of the one he could call his closest companion, had done just as he was bid by the God of Destiny, to make all chances equal? Had he created a future that had no need of him now that he had ensured that it would happen?
----
"I don't get what you're asking!" Kiryuu didn't raise his voice often. At least, not after those years. Hearing his own voice rise in pitch, in volume...it reminded him far too much of the days of old, when he would devolve into loud hysterical laughter, so utterly convinced he was right when he was very, very wrong. And now it was the same. He truly felt he was right on this account. After all, why would Tail, of all people, ask him to do that, of all things?
And yet, like back then, he could be...
"It's a simple enough request. I would think that a man of your intelligence would understand." The robed figure seemed to nod a bit in Kiryuu's direction, the action revealing a simple fringe of black hair just under the hood, the only thing that seemed even remotely human about Tail. How...how could he say something like this with the simple nonchalance and utter blandness that he said...everything?
...very...
"It's not that. It's just...there are plenty of other people you could ask, isn't there?" And then he felt like he had to retract his statement. The only one he could think that Tail was close to (if he was close to anyone) was Godwin, perhaps even Jeager or Mikage if he stretched the imagination a little. But even Kiryuu could see that Godwin...didn't seem to have played all his cards yet. Perhaps even to the point that even a (apparently devout?) follower such as Tail could be unwilling to trust him. Even so, he couldn't understand: why him?
"It can only be you." The way he said it irked him, just like the way he said everything else irked him. Methodical. Cold. No emotion behind it. And somehow so utterly quiet that it almost sounded like a very human whisper. It was infuriating.
"Why?! We barely know each other! And you-you're with them, you know about what I did, what I caused! You know I don't want to do something like that again, I can't..."
...very wrong...
Kiryuu looked at him desperately. He hated this. He hated being put on the spot, showing the weakness that he had tried to hide, showing how scared he was at any possibility of something like that happening again. Something like that happening because of him. Because he wasn't strong enough to keep that promise...Why would Tail purposefully do something like this, like he did all the time, said those strange things that sounded like inane comments to everyone else but hinted at something else to him, and then suddenly ask this out of him?
"Do you have some kind of vendetta against me? Do you hate me or something?"
At that, it was quiet between them. Tail had merely tilted his head seeming to think, the bandages hiding everything on his face that would have hinted at some kind of expression. The moment's pause felt like an eternity.
"Do you want me to hate you?"
And Kiryuu didn't know how to respond. As much as the man irritated him, he couldn't say with absolute certainty that he hated Tail, any more than he hated other annoyances. As unsettling as he was, there had been some aspect of Kiryuu that had gotten used to the odd man's company, resigned to the fact that the man was an ally in the war against the Dark Signers (or, Godwin had said so, at least, but if what Tail had requested him to do had a reason behind it, and with Tail, it probably did...) and had come to...accept him, for lack of a better term.
It didn't matter, though, as Tail seemed to continue on.
"Fine then." And then there was hesitation. Or...it felt like hesitation to Kiryuu. But that couldn't be right, it was probably just a pause. That wasn't Tail pausing to take a steadying breath he had heard. Tail didn't do that sort of thing. He was always perfectly composed, perfectly rigid...
"I hate you."
...so very, very, wrong...
----
I BET YOU CAN GUESS WHAT THEY ALL ARE. VIRTUAL COOKIES AND MAYBE A SKETCHDOODLE REQUEST TO WHO CAN GUESS ONE.