first_darkness | 13 Black Feathers [Action]

[ Early in the morning of the 22nd, a figure can be found lying on the ground in the area between House 16 and the bridge. Said figure is slightly unconscious and wearing a new feather dress, but otherwise isn't too remarkable.

It takes about half an hour before she stirs. At first, Saten just pulls herself up to a sitting position, but after a moment she startles. ]

Wait! Where did you--?!

[ But before she can complete the thought, she gives a shout and grips her head in pain. Memories, so many memories come flooding back all at once, leaving her dazed and reeling. But as she regains her awareness of the world around her, one very important realization strikes her:

She was put in a white dress again.

Several seconds later, she's naked and making her way towards the clothing shop, a determined and frustrated expression on her face. Once she gets some new clothes to tide her over (not white, never white) she makes her way back to CH7 where she's going to hole herself up with her dead plants for a while.

The only consolation is that it didn't take another few millenia to come back to life this time. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just anger, then?

For now? Yes.

They'd better not expect any forgiveness.

[Saori nods, reaching into the folds of her dress and removing a notched stick. She adds another nick with a flick of her finger before folding it away again.]

No. They'll find none from me either. Mortal worms.

[ Saten only spares the stick a small glance. ]

You need to keep track?

It's just a means of telling me how many times I'm going to kill them when I lay hands on them.

[She shrugs]

The world provides a means to do it more than once, so why stop?

I wouldn't stop until they cease to return.

I'm not you. [She only repays things in full, not to excess. Of course, she's got at least forty marks on that stick, so maybe she's a bit touchy.]

[ But excess is so much more enjoyable! ]

After all this they don't deserve their lives.

[At times, yes. Yes it is]

But they delightfully return after a week. Though I suppose if we could find a way to break that cycle here, like some have suggested...

I wonder what would happen then? Would their souls return home? Or would they be trapped in this purgatory forever?

[A delightful little thought, that.]

It wouldn't matter. They'd be permanently dead. That's what's important.

[ But that's what opinions tend to be when your stance on the afterlife is "what afterlife" ]

But making them suffer longer is more...pleasant. [Saten, you're too apathetic.]

As long as it's the means rather than the end. Suffering isn't enough if they just walk away after it's done.

There are things worse than death. Much worse.

Such as?

[ Considering Saten had her own very unpleasant death... ]

Eternal torment, for one. Breaking someone's mind another. Any number of cruel things can be done, particularly to mortals.

[Gosh, shouldn't you know this, Saten? Saori's learned some nasty lessons on curses and such from family, but aren't you darkness incarnate or something?]

[ Darkness incarnate is still a creation entity at its core. It's why there's nothing she values more than her own influence, and nothing she currently wants more than to see Yuhel's influence gone. To her, that's what matters. The closest she naturally gets to destruction is overriding influences with her own. ]

Those both sound like more trouble than they're worth.

Not really. You just have to know the right curse. [Shrug?]

And you do?

[ She sounds skeptical, even if she's expecting Saori to reply in the affirmative. ]

Oh, I know a few. Not all of them. Just...things I picked up at home. But the barrier keeps me from using most, if not all of the curses I know.

[Just things like making eyes grow teeth to bite, or lightning to always strike the same person, or how to make a heart stop. No big deal.]

[ Scoff ]

In that case it's pointless. You can't trust in what you can't still do under these circumstances.

Well, we have to escape the barrier to get at them don't we?

[Outside, it's no problem...]

They've come in here before. And they might manage the same restrictions on us were we to get near them.

[ Though really she's mixing up who's who in the Malnosso, given that Bil and Molly are... special cases. ]

I'm aware. I did say we'd have to wait, didn't I? Till we've found a way to end the cycles of Newcomers.

[She was one of the lucky ones who had to deal with the General on the last special mission, and got a new viewpoint out of it.]

What good does waiting for that give us?

It means once we leave, there's no chance of returning. Or of other people being trapped here again.

[Action]

first_darkness - 2013-07-22 13:12 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-07-22 17:55 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-07-23 13:03 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-07-23 16:37 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-07-25 12:25 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-07-25 15:25 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-07-27 15:58 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-07-28 17:38 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-07-29 11:20 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-07-29 18:35 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-07-30 12:13 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-07-30 17:14 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-08-01 11:49 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-08-01 20:23 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-08-02 11:41 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-08-02 16:35 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-08-04 12:37 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-08-04 15:10 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-08-04 23:46 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-08-05 04:14 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-08-05 11:44 (UTC) - Expand

windandrain - 2013-08-05 16:18 (UTC) - Expand

first_darkness - 2013-08-05 23:32 (UTC) - Expand