Logs:Union
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| RL Date: 13 April, 2015 |
| Who: Ulyana, Qhuluth |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: Grief breaks it all down. |
| Where: Close To The Ground Weyr, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 21, Month 6, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Unimportant |
| OOC Notes: Lyrics from: Lacuna Coil's "To Myself I Turned" and Zeromancer's "Lamp Halo" |
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| Ulyana didn't discover the wounds until the next day. Shallow gouges had been taken out of Qhyluth's shoulder. Claws. Teeth. She couldn't tell. He didn't know. A shuddery, grief-tinged flash of bronze tripped across the waters of his mind, visible for but a fleeting moment before the fog rolled in again. A feeling trembled through that water. A feeling that only made sense for one bronze in particular. Ulyana went about getting the tools to fix the injuries. She perched herself on his neck and set to work, one half of her mind doing what she's had to do his entire life; patch him up after some scrape or another. The other half retreated to the tower. I was born in another world strictly connected to a piece of my mind. The ice was thicker. The walls were taller. She stood in the highest part of that tower and looked down at the ice-rimed sentinels of stone that held the chains. Those chains lead into the not-so-distant waters, connected to the thing that resided within. She had lost the chains before and had to create something to keep them in check. The sentinels worked well. I am the princess in there, nothing wrong in my fantasy world. She looked beyond her narrow stretch of land and saw only fog. Somewhere within it, she caught a glimpse of red-tinged moons hanging low on the horizon. The waters were still and the fog was thick. An unearthly silence hung heavy and strange. Something was wrong. She pursed her lips. Moments later, she was on the mental shore between their minds, a long coil of chain caught in both hands. She began to pull. (In the land of flesh, Ulyana intoned a flat: "You will not do this. Do not fight me.") There's something inside that's freaking me out He fought, but it was not vigorous or lively. It felt as if she were pulling up dead weight. Ulyana gritted her teeth and began to pull. ("Do not fight me.") The water sloshed. The fog dissipated. The moons, still pale with mourning and kissed with red, threatened to wink out entirely. One great tentacle emerged and crawled along the shore. Then another. And another. She continued to pull. I am the king, the nation, no dictators or religions. Yet more and more of that unspeakable shape began to form, a silhouette against silver light tainted with red. The size was immeasurable; the shape indescribable. It defied all attempts she made to ascribe features to it and she staggered back a step, eyes wide. The chain slithered from her fingers and hit the ground with a wet thump. Please don't leave me alone. The beast lurched forward, illuminated from behind with a light that was beginning to pulse and quiver. She scrambled back, toward safety. Toward the walls and the sentinels. Toward the tower. As you see I'm the only survivor in this land. A great and squamous appendage finally dared to reach out. It seized her around the leg and she fell with an audible cry of shock. Ulyana struggled to wrench herself free, but the monster of the deeps, that Unspeakable And Shambling Horror, kept pressing. Kept reaching. When did I hear this wind before, change like this to a deeper roar? (And she shut her eyes and clenched her fists and her throat felt tight from tears that she refused to release) « She, She, She... » came the moaned plea - and it came not from the unseen sycophants, but directly from the beaked maw of the Tentacled Monstrosity that tried to pull her closer and closer still. Misery resonated in that splintered voice; grief wept in every echo that scattered across the water. Something inside me is wearing me out. She pried herself free from its desperate grip. Her skin was left cracked and bleeding. Weak. Yet. Her steps carried her not away, but toward the Thing That Writhed And Trembled With Uncomprehending Emotions. I'm starting to bleed another way. Ulyana buried her arms into the pulsing, formless flesh. Please don't. She burrowed deeper. Don't do it again. The tentacles wrapped around her and drew her in. Deeper and deeper still. She could dimly feel the water rushing around her/him/them, but all she knew was the unwholesome sensation of alien tissue and the taste of the color blue that burned on her tongue. I just need some time to complete myself. A lifetime passed. (Oil dripped from her fingers onto dark hide, the oozing wounds forgotten) She opened her eyes and beheld a Revelation. Doomed stars turned in their orbits beneath the water. Galaxies trembled uncertainly in their gyres. A universe of emotion yawned before her, littered with the fragments of what-could-be. Everything expanded for an eternity. Two. And all of it felt like it was too much. Twinkle, twinkle little star; you don't feel like you belong here. For the depth of Qhyluth's grief was inconceivable and she was drowning in it. This nature of time and space makes me sick of the situation. There was no way out. She was suffocating. Terrified eyes turned toward the Shape Of That Which Stalks Her Nightmares and she reached out with trembling hands. But it's your life. He pulled her in with a greed that briefly startled her. But then it all made sense. He folded around her, encapsulated her, and the hammering of the misery and grief grew weaker. Even though... And not just for her. I couldn't know if I... The pressure was there, but it began to ease. She buried herself in those abstract constructions that bore no earthly name and shut her eyes. (She slid down to the crook of his forearm, eyes shut and tears burning down her cheeks; he curled around her) It's not perfect. Another lifetime passed. They surfaced and he unfolded his psyche like a warped, cosmic flower. She sprawled out in the midst of it, gaze tilted toward the familiar constellations that wheeled above. Or were they but twisted reflections of what she saw below? Time unraveled entirely and reality slithered out of her grasp. If I will be strong enough for this. She said nothing. He said nothing. His grief, a nameless and terrible shape that lurked beneath them, was forced to retreat entirely. They drifted on that tide of troubled emotion. She with him. He with her. It's a life you can live with. I have to choose, do I want to live here? Together. |
Comments
Edyis (01:57, 13 April 2015 (EDT)) said...
So visceral. <3
Alida (05:20, 29 April 2015 (EDT)) said...
Just... yeah. Like Edyis said. Lovin' it. :)
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