Re: The Wretched Rite - Round One - The Rose Ring
01-12-2012, 01:36 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.
Vera was not one to question fate. The fight against the dragon had been remarkable only in its unremarkableness, when it had taken flight she had not been inclined to follow it and finish it off. At roughly the same time she had felt a compulsion to head towards the centre of town and without a second thought she had obliged. Her pace was measured and methodical; whatever it was that fate had in mind for her this time she knew she would arrive at the most opportune moment. The little attention she paid to the half human, half animal creatures that filled the once empty streets and the rush and panic evident in their hurry here and there left her mildly bemused. However, it was, of course, none of her concern. Even as the town began to rebuild itself she did little more than raise an eyebrow curiously.
--------
Putting together the pieces that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put back together again took little more than the flick of a pen. Alice stood at the cobwebbed old window looking out upon the town as it reconstructed itself. This was not really necessary. She was not exactly omniscient in the same way that could be said of a god looking down upon their domain, but she could feel somewhere on the periphery of her senses, more information than she could comfortably comprehend at any one time, vying for her attention. Ultimately it was not this semi-omniscience that would alert her to what she didn’t even realize she was looking for yet, but the simple sound of a polite cough behind her.
Standing in the doorway was Adelaide, a small pool of murky water having formed around the rusalka’s feet. Her gaze was affixed upon Alice herself, but there was no way she had not noticed the charred body of the former narrator laying in the middle of the room amidst the dust and the cobwebs and the stain of silvery blood. Her arms were folded across her chest, her dead lips set into a vague frown. She had no idea what was going on here, the sight of Alice, now enveloped in shadows, and of the body of some girl, was not enough to work out what the hell was going on, and moreover she wasn’t really sure what the was doing here after she had decided to go elsewhere. She told herself she was not here for the girl because fuck that, she was just some girl, but at the same time what else would have brought her here?
“What happened t’yer?” she asked, her voice more confused than concerned as she stepped out into the room proper.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Alice demanded furiously. “You made it pretty fucking clear that you didn’t give a fuck.”
“Yea yea, don’ flatter yerself. I’m not here fer you.” Adelaide replied dismissively. “But if yer could clear up what’s the deal with all of this…” She gestured to the shadows, and to Alice’s constant writing, to which her eyes could not help but be drawn. Adelaide might as well not have bothered saying anything at all.
Alice had been upset before, but being upset was just being angry for those who are weak. Alice had spent her youth building barriers, becoming bitter and profane as a way of shielding herself from a world that wanted nothing to do with her. To say that those with ill fates were not popular is something of an understatement. They were practically outcasts. Aside from her parents and teachers and others who were socially obliged to nobody had ever voluntarily engaged her in conversation. Even the other ill fated did not want to be her friend and after a while she became of the opinion that this suited her just fine. Nobody had ever wanted to be intimate with her, before today the thought of someone wanting to be with her had been laughable. In this kind of environment it is easy to build your defences up. It is a natural thing to become tough in opposition to the hostility that greeted you at every turn. But then she had met Adelaide, someone who wanted to talk to her, who wanted to be around her, who wanted… her. It hadn’t taken much for her to drop her guard. It had taken this pain, this hurt for her to realize that this world was every bit as hostile as her own.
They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. This is more than usually true in this particular case. Around town the reconstruction that had begun, began to undo itself as Alice’s mood soured. The earth trembled, the skies were obscured by sudden roiling dark clouds; torrential rain poured into the open roofs of crumbling and collapsing houses. Thunder boomed overhead.
“What the fuck do you care?!” Alice demanded, stomping towards Adelaide. “You bitch, you lying deceitful manipulative whore!” It was too little, the words were just words and as much anger as she could put into them, it wasn’t enough. It couldn’t express the hate and the hurt she felt and how stupid she felt for letting her guard down in the first place, for putting her trust in the rusalka. She was blind fury, primal rage, pure untempered anger unleashed upon an entire town. The walls behind the Tsote buckled against sudden gale force winds. For a moment they held, but they could not last against the persistent battering. Glass shattered and wood snapped and piece by piece the wall was ripped away, letting the rain and the wind and the cries of the terrified townsfolk into the dusty attic.
--------
As Vera reached the library the town was all but in ruins. Though minutes ago the town had been repairing itself; almost as good as new in fact, it was clear that fate had had a change of mind. To Vera’s mind this town was perhaps the most fate-damned place she had ever been and she didn’t need any special senses to tell her such. The earth beneath her feet quaked and above her, hurricane force winds ripped away one of the walls of the library. She was prepared to admit that maybe just this once she was a little late. Quickening her pace a little she stepped through the doorway. The spacious hall was occupied by a group of animal people gathered around a woman in a fashionable fur coat.
“Lizzen, I ‘av told you all ‘zat I know.” Fiorella implored the unsympathetic crowd. “I don’t know anyfink about…” she failed to find the correct word to summarize exactly what it was she didn’t know anything about, and so just waved her arms around vaguely and finished: “…zis.” There was a general murmuring of disbelief from the gathered animal people. Vera smiled; she was right on time after all.
--------
It was at that point that a lot of things happened very fast. M. who had been lurking in the stairwell, hesitant to get involved in what it had deemed ‘walker stuff’, chose this moment to shoot out to protect his swamp friend from the perceived threat of the shadowy walker. While at approximately the same time due to some strange quirk of fate, or perhaps simply unlucky timing, a nagging feeling that Alice had been vaguely aware of for some time was brought into sharp relief as Vera stepped into the building. Those senses that she hadn’t been paying any attention to were suddenly screaming at her, letting her know that one of her species was downstairs. It did not take a massive leap of logic for Alice to figure out who this person was, at least who she was in relation to her. She was momentarily shocked and unprepared for M. to pounce on her. As she tumbled to the floor under the weight of the plant the pen and notebook fell out of her reach. Adelaide, who was surprised by M’s sudden appearance but not as much as Alice, took the opportunity to grab the pen and clutching it tightly in her hand she dove into the puddle of murky water. M. quickly scrabbled off the fallen walker, its claws didn’t make much of an impact upon the shadows that clung, and quickly pounced into the puddle after Adelaide, just making it through before the puddle became just a puddle again.
Alice lay on the ground and felt the shadows receding, the power she had had ebbing away, wasted.
“I’m doomed.”
Vera was not one to question fate. The fight against the dragon had been remarkable only in its unremarkableness, when it had taken flight she had not been inclined to follow it and finish it off. At roughly the same time she had felt a compulsion to head towards the centre of town and without a second thought she had obliged. Her pace was measured and methodical; whatever it was that fate had in mind for her this time she knew she would arrive at the most opportune moment. The little attention she paid to the half human, half animal creatures that filled the once empty streets and the rush and panic evident in their hurry here and there left her mildly bemused. However, it was, of course, none of her concern. Even as the town began to rebuild itself she did little more than raise an eyebrow curiously.
--------
Putting together the pieces that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put back together again took little more than the flick of a pen. Alice stood at the cobwebbed old window looking out upon the town as it reconstructed itself. This was not really necessary. She was not exactly omniscient in the same way that could be said of a god looking down upon their domain, but she could feel somewhere on the periphery of her senses, more information than she could comfortably comprehend at any one time, vying for her attention. Ultimately it was not this semi-omniscience that would alert her to what she didn’t even realize she was looking for yet, but the simple sound of a polite cough behind her.
Standing in the doorway was Adelaide, a small pool of murky water having formed around the rusalka’s feet. Her gaze was affixed upon Alice herself, but there was no way she had not noticed the charred body of the former narrator laying in the middle of the room amidst the dust and the cobwebs and the stain of silvery blood. Her arms were folded across her chest, her dead lips set into a vague frown. She had no idea what was going on here, the sight of Alice, now enveloped in shadows, and of the body of some girl, was not enough to work out what the hell was going on, and moreover she wasn’t really sure what the was doing here after she had decided to go elsewhere. She told herself she was not here for the girl because fuck that, she was just some girl, but at the same time what else would have brought her here?
“What happened t’yer?” she asked, her voice more confused than concerned as she stepped out into the room proper.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Alice demanded furiously. “You made it pretty fucking clear that you didn’t give a fuck.”
“Yea yea, don’ flatter yerself. I’m not here fer you.” Adelaide replied dismissively. “But if yer could clear up what’s the deal with all of this…” She gestured to the shadows, and to Alice’s constant writing, to which her eyes could not help but be drawn. Adelaide might as well not have bothered saying anything at all.
Alice had been upset before, but being upset was just being angry for those who are weak. Alice had spent her youth building barriers, becoming bitter and profane as a way of shielding herself from a world that wanted nothing to do with her. To say that those with ill fates were not popular is something of an understatement. They were practically outcasts. Aside from her parents and teachers and others who were socially obliged to nobody had ever voluntarily engaged her in conversation. Even the other ill fated did not want to be her friend and after a while she became of the opinion that this suited her just fine. Nobody had ever wanted to be intimate with her, before today the thought of someone wanting to be with her had been laughable. In this kind of environment it is easy to build your defences up. It is a natural thing to become tough in opposition to the hostility that greeted you at every turn. But then she had met Adelaide, someone who wanted to talk to her, who wanted to be around her, who wanted… her. It hadn’t taken much for her to drop her guard. It had taken this pain, this hurt for her to realize that this world was every bit as hostile as her own.
They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. This is more than usually true in this particular case. Around town the reconstruction that had begun, began to undo itself as Alice’s mood soured. The earth trembled, the skies were obscured by sudden roiling dark clouds; torrential rain poured into the open roofs of crumbling and collapsing houses. Thunder boomed overhead.
“What the fuck do you care?!” Alice demanded, stomping towards Adelaide. “You bitch, you lying deceitful manipulative whore!” It was too little, the words were just words and as much anger as she could put into them, it wasn’t enough. It couldn’t express the hate and the hurt she felt and how stupid she felt for letting her guard down in the first place, for putting her trust in the rusalka. She was blind fury, primal rage, pure untempered anger unleashed upon an entire town. The walls behind the Tsote buckled against sudden gale force winds. For a moment they held, but they could not last against the persistent battering. Glass shattered and wood snapped and piece by piece the wall was ripped away, letting the rain and the wind and the cries of the terrified townsfolk into the dusty attic.
--------
As Vera reached the library the town was all but in ruins. Though minutes ago the town had been repairing itself; almost as good as new in fact, it was clear that fate had had a change of mind. To Vera’s mind this town was perhaps the most fate-damned place she had ever been and she didn’t need any special senses to tell her such. The earth beneath her feet quaked and above her, hurricane force winds ripped away one of the walls of the library. She was prepared to admit that maybe just this once she was a little late. Quickening her pace a little she stepped through the doorway. The spacious hall was occupied by a group of animal people gathered around a woman in a fashionable fur coat.
“Lizzen, I ‘av told you all ‘zat I know.” Fiorella implored the unsympathetic crowd. “I don’t know anyfink about…” she failed to find the correct word to summarize exactly what it was she didn’t know anything about, and so just waved her arms around vaguely and finished: “…zis.” There was a general murmuring of disbelief from the gathered animal people. Vera smiled; she was right on time after all.
--------
It was at that point that a lot of things happened very fast. M. who had been lurking in the stairwell, hesitant to get involved in what it had deemed ‘walker stuff’, chose this moment to shoot out to protect his swamp friend from the perceived threat of the shadowy walker. While at approximately the same time due to some strange quirk of fate, or perhaps simply unlucky timing, a nagging feeling that Alice had been vaguely aware of for some time was brought into sharp relief as Vera stepped into the building. Those senses that she hadn’t been paying any attention to were suddenly screaming at her, letting her know that one of her species was downstairs. It did not take a massive leap of logic for Alice to figure out who this person was, at least who she was in relation to her. She was momentarily shocked and unprepared for M. to pounce on her. As she tumbled to the floor under the weight of the plant the pen and notebook fell out of her reach. Adelaide, who was surprised by M’s sudden appearance but not as much as Alice, took the opportunity to grab the pen and clutching it tightly in her hand she dove into the puddle of murky water. M. quickly scrabbled off the fallen walker, its claws didn’t make much of an impact upon the shadows that clung, and quickly pounced into the puddle after Adelaide, just making it through before the puddle became just a puddle again.
Alice lay on the ground and felt the shadows receding, the power she had had ebbing away, wasted.
“I’m doomed.”
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Hang 'Em High | The Only Hope For Me Is You | Zero Percent | Early Sunsets Over Monroeville | DESTROYA | Demolition Lovers | To The End
Surrender The Night | Disenchanted | The Ghost Of You | Party Poison | Vampires Will Never Hurt You | The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You