(no subject)
Kicked someone's butt in MTG today and finally spoke with Marcus. I wish I did not have the need to procrastinate right now, but I must. In the meantime, put up with more of this bullcrap. Takes place in flashbacks/right after the previous one/before the recent post by Cassi.
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It returns and plays again, separated by gaps of an endless void, so that the memory never feels redundant, but more fresh, more emotionally raw with each turn. In a blurry fever vision once more, over and over: she clings to a wall. She hesitates. She runs inside another room. Looks around. It's raining outside, she can hear the mob battlecries. She lifts up the heavy leathern bound book. She runs through the grand hallway, little shoed footsteps clattering down the marble floors like thunderclaps.
"-Where are you going?" a dark voice oozes from a niche. As if materializing out of thin air, a tall antlered shadow suddenly looms up in front of her, blocking her way.
"Get back inside."
"Sorry Master Sektet." The little girl darts to the side, but the enormous creature blocks her path once again.
"My dear, it is far too late. There is nothing we can do to stop it."
"-But they aren't happy! I have to do SOMEthing!!"
"You are staying indoors."
"I will be right back-"
"You do not understand," Sektet uttered under his breath. "Our reign is over. Your time here in Vox, in this palace, is done. We need to hide. Now."
"NO!! I have to talk with 'em first!"
"Get back inside. You shall do as I say-" He reaches inside his robes, to pull out another syringe.
No. Not this time.
"LET ME THROUGH!!" she snarls angrilly, kicking him in the shins.
The creature hisses, and drops the needle to the floor with a clatter, bending over in arthritic pain.
"You-!!...you sickly little BRAT-You cannot fix anything! You are just a child."
"Just let me show you."
"TZAT-"
But she is already dashing away from his grasp.
"STOP!! THEY WILL KILL YOU."
"NO THEY WON'T!" she hollers obstinately, heading for the terrace.
"..........very well. You're on your own then my dear," he growls. Nearly smirking, the creature goes silently limping back into inky darkness.
* * *
"I seriously apologize once more," replied Arielei with an awkward attempt at dignity. "But I assure you, my dear ambassadors, this will never EVER happen again. And that this was an act not done out of any enmity towards your nation..." The two demons remained silent. They only stood with folded arms like statues. Even being accustomed to the cultural garb, Arielei was unused to being among others so blatantly naked or covered in so many vibrant tattoos such as this. Unlike the naturalistic and abstract henna marks belonging to her tribe or the Mystic peoples, these were brazen, highly elaborate markings, paintings in artificial inks and burnt on scars, drawn in striking dark ebony whorls and bright unnatural colors; silhouette images of thrashing violent depictions of plant monsters, thorns, and strange mythic beasts spread everywhere along every inch of both the male and the female demons bodies, so much ink work to the point it was almost difficult to discern what their REAL original skin hue might truly be- (he happened to be a dark green, while she a light pinkish hue that was nearly white.) Their horns were completely different, the male's pair were fairly sized and similar to a goat's horns, while the girl had enormous ones which more closely resembled a ram's, except there were 3. The pair continued only to stare at her blankly.
"I...do appreciate your coming here so rapidly. And in keeping this matter a secret."
Still nothing.
".....do you not understand me?" she asked gently. "Can. you. speak. Human?"
~Of course we can.~ replied a stony chilling voice in her head.
"Oh! I did not know that you-...how are you doing this? Is it something all demons can do?"
~Of course not. Only shaman priests can.~ replied the female, narrowing her eyes as if she were stupid.
~We prefer to keep our voices an anonymity,~ replied the male demon. ~In case you have any spies with cameras, or voice recording technology so we do not put ourselves at risk.~
~Oh...~ she replied confusedly. ~I do not understand what any of that is. I don't think we have such magic here in Kunona. You really have nothing to fear...~
~Such is what our queen believed.~ remarked the girl demon. The male demon gave her a calm warning sidelong glance, but made no other movements. Arielei tried desperately not pay any mind to the fact that underneath this girl's billowing poncho of white silk there was a hideous tattoo of a large gaping fanged mouth. Not much else. The male wore nothing but a furry loincloth, but that wasn't so unusual as the enormous dredlocks in his hair, or the amount of bones, teeth, and colorful beads he had strewn through it. In one hand he gripped an enormous staff, one which towered even above hers, and while it lacked all of its ornate beauty and precious materials, it was nothing a mere simple polished ancient branch in fact, Arielei could feel its vibrations echiong plenty of magic enough to just barely rival her own powers.
~I am Styaggho,~ the shaman replied, bowing his head respectfully. ~And this is Ivet.~
~Yes Desuynet told me your names before I completely sedated her. She said you were coming, that she sent for you in Wardred through her dreams.~
~Indeed. Where is she.~
~She's right over here,~ she said, leading them to a shady corner of the marble patio. ~There, lying in the hammock.~
~Is she asleep?~ asked Ivet, tilting her head. ~Her eyes are half open.~
~No,~ replied Arielei, tenderly lifting her up halfway. ~And Tzat is not awake either. I have placed her under a deep spell, that she may fully heal her wounds and be completely undisturbed, and better still temporarily invulnerable to most physical damage.~ Arielei kneeled down and fully picked up Desuynet in her arms. She hung loosely like a scarecrow, and leaned her white face against her shoulder blankly. A large white hibiscus flower stood sticking out from behind one ear, and it glowed with a pulsing emerald light. If one looked closely, you could see tiny veins of this luminous green trickling across her forehead, where underneath a single henna tattooed symbol of a leaf was drawn. Across Desuynet's pelvis one could see where the blood had stained, where the iron spear had pierced her clothes...
~She will remain like this for probably 1-3 days. When that flower withers and dies, her enchantment shall fade. Basically, I have convinced her body that she is a plant. All you must do is give her a little sip to drink of fresh cool water every once in a while.~
~Interesting charm indeed. Was this your idea??~
~ Yes. Well...I felt I had no choice. Her ladyship Desuynet's very.....uhm......energetic. It's not good for the healing process.~
~I see. Yes. Curiousity IS one of her strong traits,~ remarked Steggho wryly, as he took her delicately into his embrace. ~Tzat's mind is greatly troubled. It makes it difficult for her to lay still for very long.~
~Why is that?~
~Noone can really say,~ replied Ivet shrugging. ~The Otherworld might be having a sideeffect upon her.~
~Or maybe it's always been that way. Thank you for all your hard work, priestess.~
~Tis my duty and pleasure,~ Arielei smiled. ~Farewell, my honored friends. And to your majesty, I bid safe journey.~
Desuynet only stared back into her eyes. She did not say a word.
* * *
Then she ran onto the terrace. She held aloft the tome. The Book of Laws. The masses writhed and threw their futile bullets at her tower. But then, what was this? She was tearing out the pages. Ripping them to shreds. One by one. The people grew silent. A little girl, senselessly tearing out page by page of arcane holy law, laws that had set apart social classes based on the fact they came from mixed parentage, that set curfews upon those who were members of the undead, laws that forbade you to have sex with another male, laws that forbade you from kissing another species, laws that forbade the adoption of bastard children if you were already married, laws that forbade public musical ceremony and gambling, laws that told you that you must sacrifice your hands if you were caught ever stealing, laws that said anyone suspected of treachery was to be thrown out of a 40 story window, laws that forced you to pay taxes for things you did not want or need, laws that sentenced you to death if you decried the name of the king in vain, laws that gave you no rights and no stability and no rhyme or reason at all, built upon by each century by a lineage of spoilt humans, a species who barely made up 18% of the population with an unrealisitic superiority complex...and she was turning it all into confetti.
"Stop it!!! STOP IT. I don't want their laws!! I-...I don't want any of this," she spoke hollowly, more to herself than to anyone above the dying shouts. "I don't want any of their rules. I'm sick of rules. I AM SICK OF EM! I AM SICK TO DEATH WITH RULES. RULES for this, rules for that!! I hate being told what to do! Always being pushed around by stupid, stupid grownups who do nothing but boss me around every day!! Eat this and not that, no going outside, speak only when spoken to, no painting dark things, curtsy for the teachers, take your bath, sit up straight, go to bed, brush your hair, wear this not that, mind your manners, blablabla. Chaos. No wonder you hate rules so much. You don't prolly' want me to rule you, and I don't want to rule you either. I'm just a kid, I don't know anything. You all deserve better. I am no good. You deserve more than just one person, because...because...well one person just isn't good enough, to rule such a diverse, big, beautiful crazy place as we are. And I'm not the right one for the job...I am not a good person."
SHRRRRIP.
"I I I...I mean..Chaos Around. I mean, we're ALL bad persons somehow, right? Nobody's perfect. Why can't we just say that? Why can't we just say that about ourselves yknow? That we're all on some level bad, greedy people." RRRIP! "We try though. I know that, at least I TRY to do good. Maybe one person trying alone isn't good enough to rule. Nobody knows everything. But maybe more than one person, if we pull them all together, if we all put ourselves together, ALL OF US, even with all our badness, taking turns, so nobody gets tired, maybe we can at least make up one good person. Once in a while. Uhm..." SRRRIP. "Uhmmyeah. These rules are stupid. Do what you want with em. I think they're dumb. I think I was going somewhere with this...Look. You're all good people. Maybe you're not perfect, but you're smart enough to know what you all want. You can decide for yourselves who you want to rule. I'm sure you've done it before. You'Il figure it out. I want you to be happy. I want out. If that's what you all really want. I just want people to be happy...," she started to cry. "O-okay? I'm-....I am sorry...I love you, Wardred. I'm sorry. I wish you the best. Good luck. Be happy."
She turned away and went back inside.
The crowds were silent. After a few long seconds of tense silence, she ran back out.
"Seriously. BE HAPPY. You're all just standing there. Yer free now. Go away, go home. Or dance. Or something. It's freaking me out...Come on. LAUGH you silly people! WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING?!"
It was the most pathetic, idiotic, and strangely precious thing the masses had ever seen. A mere child, not barely even 8 years old, trying to get the whole kingdom to laugh at her.
"Laugh. Smile. Do anything. Please???"
"............."
What do I do now.
".....................MWAH!" she said, blowing them a kiss. "THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!!" She held up her arms in awkward forced joy. Then-
A light chuckle. Like a wave, it slowly gathered, until it became an uproar that filled the square below. Desuynet nodded satisfactorily and went back inside.
"DES-YUN-NET!!!! DES-YUN-NET!!!!"
"...I really haven't the foggiest idea why they are chanting YOUR name," growled Sektet from the dark pillars.
"I dunno either...:D"
"Trust me, they are definitely laughing at you, not with you."
"Huh? I don't understand."
"Precisly."
"...where's mother and father? They can come out of hiding now, yes?"
"They are gone, Tzat. They're not coming back for you."
"Oh..." she said, confusedly.
"Now, go to your room, please. This has been a very strange day," the old skeat sighed.
"...okay master sektet."