Cantaloupe 16, Chocolate Chip Mint 20
Title: Nine Days
Story Continuity: Battle For the Sun extra
Prompts: Cantaloupe #16: pecking order, Chocolate Chip Mint #20: uncomfortable
Topping: Whipped Cream (Kristen is 14 in the first and second pockies)
Rating: PG-13 for references to sexuality and human trafficking
Word count: 99 + 92 + 99 + 100 + 100 (pocky chain)
Summary: Kristen's life, from her pseudo-kidnapping from her home in Strathclyde to her planning to escape her life in Daldain.
Note: Bonus brownie points for Team Inconvenient Fire Drill's pocky chain challenge.
Kristen woke up one morning to discover her life was over.
It wasn't an immediate discovery; she wasn't one for dramatic proclamations. Life had been going well; she'd recently been noticed by a handsome, interesting man she hoped would be her friend, in fact.
But then she woke up that morning, surrounded by darkness and strange, broken women, the grim, jaded acceptance stronger than any despair, and she wondered if her new friend was perhaps too interesting.
"They've got some young blood ordered special," a voice said. "I heard Reynaldo likes 'em...young."
She felt noticed. It wasn't all that.
* * *
Kristen learned quickly that anyone who brought undue attention to Reynaldo's empire got some undue attention themselves. Somehow, Kristen was the one who was noticed, even when it was Maarena's or Kendra's fault.
Kristen never thought she'd long for her parents' indifference, but after that first week she realized perhaps she wasn't a thinker.
Kristen demanded to be set free once only.
Reynaldo smiled kindly and showed her how much she was wanted there, how much she wasn't wanted elsewhere.
After that incident, Kristen hung back and allowed herself to be kept.
* * *
Kristen used to watch the stars for pleasure; now she watched them to keep sane.
On her back, she recognized Auto Eroticon 4 - she tried not to - and Beltanis, Cygnelius, Rin, Murkwan, Nessada, and Quena. The ones she didn't know she named herself. She saw them shine nightly, and she mourned that the world was seeing them too little, too late. She wondered which were dead, glimmering on light borrowed from memory.
She gazed above, and she ascended to serenity; yet she was here, amid chaos, and tried not to think what was happening here below. Or atop her.
* * *
When she first saw him, she saw only the way his eyes shone when he looked at her. The look that guaranteed many returns. She'd long ago stopped feeling ashamed of this.
He didn't come to her the first time. Or the tenth. But it was a matter of time.
The second month, she knew he would come; he was in the papers - Heathcliff Knight, the last survivor of the Knights.
And he came.
After, he looked at Kristen adoringly and said, "You don't deserve this life."
Ah, Kristen thought, here is somebody I can use.
And Kristen felt shame.
* * *
It took Kristen five minutes to realize Cliff had idealized her into a distressed damsel ripe for the rescuing. Only five seconds were needed to remember how to be sweet enough to fuel this belief.
At the end of nine days, it was barely an act anymore.
It took nine days to learn that Cliff really was golden. Nine days to discover goodness was not a daydreamy child's misconception.
It took nine days to remember life went on. It was just a matter of time until Kristen sought a better life.
She genuinely hoped Cliff would be there with her.
Story Continuity: Battle For the Sun extra
Prompts: Cantaloupe #16: pecking order, Chocolate Chip Mint #20: uncomfortable
Topping: Whipped Cream (Kristen is 14 in the first and second pockies)
Rating: PG-13 for references to sexuality and human trafficking
Word count: 99 + 92 + 99 + 100 + 100 (pocky chain)
Summary: Kristen's life, from her pseudo-kidnapping from her home in Strathclyde to her planning to escape her life in Daldain.
Note: Bonus brownie points for Team Inconvenient Fire Drill's pocky chain challenge.
Kristen woke up one morning to discover her life was over.
It wasn't an immediate discovery; she wasn't one for dramatic proclamations. Life had been going well; she'd recently been noticed by a handsome, interesting man she hoped would be her friend, in fact.
But then she woke up that morning, surrounded by darkness and strange, broken women, the grim, jaded acceptance stronger than any despair, and she wondered if her new friend was perhaps too interesting.
"They've got some young blood ordered special," a voice said. "I heard Reynaldo likes 'em...young."
She felt noticed. It wasn't all that.
* * *
Kristen learned quickly that anyone who brought undue attention to Reynaldo's empire got some undue attention themselves. Somehow, Kristen was the one who was noticed, even when it was Maarena's or Kendra's fault.
Kristen never thought she'd long for her parents' indifference, but after that first week she realized perhaps she wasn't a thinker.
Kristen demanded to be set free once only.
Reynaldo smiled kindly and showed her how much she was wanted there, how much she wasn't wanted elsewhere.
After that incident, Kristen hung back and allowed herself to be kept.
* * *
Kristen used to watch the stars for pleasure; now she watched them to keep sane.
On her back, she recognized Auto Eroticon 4 - she tried not to - and Beltanis, Cygnelius, Rin, Murkwan, Nessada, and Quena. The ones she didn't know she named herself. She saw them shine nightly, and she mourned that the world was seeing them too little, too late. She wondered which were dead, glimmering on light borrowed from memory.
She gazed above, and she ascended to serenity; yet she was here, amid chaos, and tried not to think what was happening here below. Or atop her.
* * *
When she first saw him, she saw only the way his eyes shone when he looked at her. The look that guaranteed many returns. She'd long ago stopped feeling ashamed of this.
He didn't come to her the first time. Or the tenth. But it was a matter of time.
The second month, she knew he would come; he was in the papers - Heathcliff Knight, the last survivor of the Knights.
And he came.
After, he looked at Kristen adoringly and said, "You don't deserve this life."
Ah, Kristen thought, here is somebody I can use.
And Kristen felt shame.
* * *
It took Kristen five minutes to realize Cliff had idealized her into a distressed damsel ripe for the rescuing. Only five seconds were needed to remember how to be sweet enough to fuel this belief.
At the end of nine days, it was barely an act anymore.
It took nine days to learn that Cliff really was golden. Nine days to discover goodness was not a daydreamy child's misconception.
It took nine days to remember life went on. It was just a matter of time until Kristen sought a better life.
She genuinely hoped Cliff would be there with her.