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Thread: What Once Was Lost

  1. #1
    Angela
    Guest

    Closed Roleplay [X-Men] What Once Was Lost

    Green.

    Vert. Verde. Green.

    Green apples. Green grass. Green jello. Spoon.

    Spoon.

    The young woman stared, eyes fixated on the lime gelatin and the plastic spoon she held in front of her face. Her mind was blank, save for a single train of thought, listing from concept to concept with no rhyme or reason. Time went by, unnoticed. The world trundled on, ignored. All that mattered was the sight before her: the shape, the colour, the way the light shone through in places, reflected in others.

    "Translucent."

    The word was uttered slowly, each syllable drawn out for added scrutiny. It surprised her; confused her; her brow furrowed into a frown. She twisted the plastic teaspoon in her fingertips, rotating it to perceive the surface that didn't behave the same way as the jello: transparent, not translucent; colourless, not green.

    Tilted too far, the jello slid from the spoon, returning to the mound from whence it came. A hint of disappointment tugged at her eyebrows; her fingers instantly released their hold on the spoon, letting it tumble into the bowl to join her dessert. She stared into it's emerald depths.

    Angela.

    It took a moment to realise that particular thought had come from outside her mind, not within. She turned, slowly, gaze falling upon the nurse who stood framed in her doorway. Recognition flashed in Angela's mind; her lips tugged into an approximation of the shape the nurse had made at her so many times, but there was no hint of the smile echoed in her eyes.

    "Angela, you have a visitor. Someone would like to see you. Is that okay?"

    Gaze lingering for just a moment longer, Angela's eyes fell away, focused on nothing in particular in the general direction of the floor. "Is that okay," she echoed, a statement rather than a question, her hand gripping at the loose fabric on the short sleeve of her white hospital gown. Her head approximated the nodding she had seen. "Visitor," she repeated back.

    The nurse turned back to the corridor, her voice a little quieter as she spoke to someone else. Angela didn't focus, but she heard the words anyway. She may not talk much, the nurse explained. May not. Would not. Could not. Should not. No talking. No speaking. No thinking. No sleeping. Be patient with her. Don't let her get too agitated. Agitated. Worked up. Wound up. Angry. Her fingers twisted the slack of her sleeve into a tight bunch.

    The other person spoke, a voice Angela didn't quite recognise. She didn't know if she was allowed to listen. She didn't. The nurse spoke again. I'll be right outside if you need me.

    From the corner of her eye, Angela saw the nurse walk away; saw a different figure take her place. She didn't turn, didn't look, didn't see in case she wasn't supposed to. Her eyes remained fixed on empty space a metre in front of her feet. "Visitor," she breathed.

  2. #2
    Lilith
    Guest
    "Yes, pumpkin... visitor. Of the bestest kind." An impish smile formed as Lilith watched the nurse close the door behind her. Silly silly woman. So sure of her little walls and doors. But who were they really keeping safe?

    As she turned back to the red haired girl though, that smile faded and a look of almost pain ghosted her features. Poor thing... broken, unwanted, forgotten. All because of him. Lilith could swear the simple thought caused her eye to twitch slightly. No no that wouldn't do. Best to keep up the happy face if for no one else than for the benefit of the other girl.

    "You don't have to hide, you know. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to make sure that no one hurts you ever again."

  3. #3
    Angela
    Guest
    Pumpkin.

    Not green. Orange.


    Her voice was different. She didn't say words the way that the other people who came into her room said them. She spoke them differently too: not slow, and soft, and gentle like when the nurses spoke to her; not hushed like when the nurses spoke to visitors; but steady and rhythmic like when the nurses spoke to other nurses, or to the man with the mop and the bucket who made music noises with his lips. The visitor was confused. She was doing things wrong.

    Don't have to hide, her words said. That was wrong too. Angela shook her head, and frowned at the floor. "Have to hide," she insisted. "Can't let them see me. Can't let them take me."

    Take me. The words stuck in her head. They meant something, though what that something was remained a long way away, off in the distance like a bird on the branches outside her window, flying away before she was ready for it to go.

    Something flickered, though: some glimmer of recognition, of memory. Her gaze turned to Lilith, a hint of sorrow behind her glazed eyes.

    "They took them," she said with soft insistence, as if it were the most important thing in the world. Her voice turned softer still. "They took them."

  4. #4
    Lilith
    Guest
    This whole trying to be strong and happy would be a lot easier if the reality of the situation wasn't so damn grim. She'd make them pay for this. All of them.

    "I know, sweetie, I know..." Gods she was rotten at this whole compassion thing. Maybe it was how she was raised. Maybe it was the fact that daddy never loved her. Maybe it was the fact that mommy never understood. But fuck's sake you'd think relating to another broken little doll would be easy! But noooo... hell, the whole thing almost choked her up. She might have actually cried if she could remember how to.

    A deep, yes even annoyed breath left her in a huff as she crouched down. This wasn't exactly going the way she had planned and it was infuriating.

    "I can fix it, you know. I can fix everything." Her words didn't come out nearly as fancy as she wanted as she drew little symbols in imaginary dust on the floor. Another smile was forced as she looked back to Angela. "Would you like that?"

  5. #5
    Angela
    Guest
    Her mind felt as if there should be questions. It felt as if it should race, swimming with concerns and possibilities. It remained blank though, save for one single word.

    It was a good word, though: a simple word, but one that captured everything. It was the one word that mattered in all of this, more than any other. The one word that, despite every barrier in her mind that kept rational thought caged beyond her reach, she knew with every fibre that she absolutely had to ask.

    "Why?"

    For the first time, it seemed as if her eyes focused on something real: on the visitor who had come from nowhere and suddenly offered everything.

    "Why would you do that?"

  6. #6
    Lilith
    Guest
    Ah there. Finally. Something Lilith knew how to respond to. It was always the eternal question wasn't it? Why are we here? Why did this happen to me? Why is the sky blue? Why did a cute little girl without a care in the world suddenly turn into a raging sociopath? Why Why Why. Lilith liked whys, they always lead to the most unexpected places.

    She couldn't contain the smile now. Which was great, she hated that feeling earlier like she was helpless and unable to control what was happening. The thought that anything was out of her control was just...awful. But now, now things were back in place. Hopefully one day Angela would appreciate it all.

    Slowly she looked back up at the other girl.

    "Because I want to. Because I can."

  7. #7
    Angela
    Guest
    Want. It was an answer, but not the answer; not the answer that made Angela understand.

    "No."

    The word struggled it's way out, stuttered and broken; but it wasn't right, wasn't the words she'd aimed for.

    "No one," she tried again, "Wants that." Her brows tugged downward in sadness. "No one helps. No one -"

    What was the word she was looking for? She knew it existed; knew the concept, though she had never experienced it. It was the opposite of what the world was to her: every action was obligation. Nurses did because they had to. Doctors did what they had to. The man with the food who smiled: that was for everyone, not for her. Nothing was for her: everything was because it had to be.

    She abandoned her words; chose new ones.

    "Why do I matter?"

  8. #8
    Lilith
    Guest
    Tear at heartstrings much why dontcha? There were so many many answers she could have said. Too many, really. I mean, she could have actually spent an entire day just sitting there explaining the ins and outs of why exactly it was that Lilith found herself in an insane asylum talking with one of its inmates who didn't seem to understand her very importance. Well, a wise man once said that truth was always the best lie.

    "Because, Angela, what they did to you was wrong. Angels earn their wings, they don't have them removed by people who are beneath them. They sought to destroy something beautiful and for that they need to pay."

  9. #9
    Angela
    Guest
    Angel. Beautiful.

    That was wrong. Those words were wrong. Those words were not the words that they had used. Not the words that they had called her.

    Monster. Freak.

    Those were the right words. Those were the words that she was. Those were the words that the white room with the bright lights whispered every time she closed her eyes. Those words were why the men with only eyes and missing faces had made her hurt, then made them gone. They said she was broken. They said they would fix her. They said she was helping, giving them answers, but they asked their questions with needles and knives and she didn't understand.

    More than anything, she didn't understand.

    Why was it broken to be able to fly?

    With a lot of effort, she compelled her fingers to release the bundle of cloth she'd been clenching. She turned, her motions cautious and slow, replicating something she only half-remembered. Her slender, pallid arms wrapped themselves loosely around the visitor's waist, her head propped awkwardly onto Lilith's shoulders.

    "My name is Angela," she said quietly. She didn't know what else to say.

  10. #10
    Lilith
    Guest
    Lilith froze. Okay so that wasn't supposed to happen. Not supposed to happen at all. It wasn't exactly unpleasant but...well... She couldn't quite recall the last time someone had bothered to hug her and it was making all sorts of fucked up brain issues that she was just sooooo not ready to handle at the moment. Only one crazy person admitted at a time thank you very much! But that was the trick of the moment, isn't it? Which one of them was it?

    "Yes it is." Damn it all, Angie. Why did you have to go and fuck the I'm-just-that-awesome act? It was almost perfect. A few tweaks were needed here and there but her audience wasn't exactly the type to criticize now was she?

    Oh to hell with it.

    Gently, since trying to predict what may happen was resulting in images of limbs being torn off, Lilith wrapped an arm around the other girl. She almost broke the promise she had made to herself. Just go and see her first, meet her, let her know she has a friend in the world.Busting her out now was a very very bad idea since it would involve all sorts of no-good things and by this point she had been seen by all sorts of nursing staff and security cameras. No. No Lilith. Trying it now would be a very bad thing and could only end up making things worse for people like Angela.... people like herself. Come back later. Wait for dark. Wait for the surprise. Besides, someone was waiting on her and if she brought Angela and a bunch of police with her... well... bad things would happen then too. No no, save the bad things for other people for later.

    But what about right now?

    "It'll all be okay from now on. I promise."

  11. #11
    Pythia
    Guest
    Outside the asylum, Pythia waited in a car. Not the car; not her car; but rather whichever car had been most convenient, and had looked the most comfortable.

    Pythia didn't own a car of her own. Most of the time, she did not need one either; there were few places she ever needed to go that she could not get to via other means. Unfortunately, today was one of those rare occasions where an automobile had been necessary; not for transportation, but for waiting. Not feeling that it was her place to accompany Lilith inside, she had found herself needing to be the parent waiting outside in the car, and thus had found herself needing the requisite vehicle.

    Fortunately, the parking lot provided many options; rather arbitrarily, she had selected a shortish black car with the part at the back which opened like an inverted drawbridge. She had heard it referred to as both a boot and a trunk, but she could not see how it resembled either, so chose to think of it as neither. She had no idea what type it was; the rear of the vehicle bore a logo that appeared to be four overlapping rings, but there were letters and numbers scattered elsewhere, and Pythia had no idea which of them were relevant, if any.

    Two things had determined her choice: it's proximity to where she had been standing at the time, and the fact that it's seats weren't wrapped in that ghastly beige leather that was apparently fashionable, or at least had been the last time she had found herself anywhere near a car. All it had taken was the right kind of hex on behalf of the right kind of mischievous entity, and the door had opened with ease.

    That had been fifteen minutes ago, and thus far all she'd managed to comprehend about the strange array of controls before her was that pushing the large round one next to all of the small rectangular ones caused her surroundings to unleash a hideous eruption of noise, accompanied by an unfamiliar voice explaining that he had a good feeling about the prospects of the night ahead, and uttering a lot of noises that didn't resemble any words that Pythia knew. It had been so abrasive and unwanted that out of reflex her fingers had unleashed a hex that turned the button and it's companions into a burned and twisted mess of charred plastic.

    Fortunately, Pythia had been saved from any further technological mishaps by the sound of the car door opening and then swinging closed with a clunk, a woman clambering into the car somewhere in between.

    Pythia didn't bother turning to face her. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

  12. #12
    Lilith
    Guest
    "Don't I always?" The words left her deadpan as Lilith stared straight ahead. No point in letting Mommy Dearest see that she had even been near letting her emotions get the best of her only a short while ago. There was a beauty in the way Pythia had phrased the question. Yes, of course she had found what she had been looking for, but it hadn't been what she expected, what she had hoped it would be. Lilith had known it would be bad, just not that bad. It hadn't changed anything though, not really.

    Her nose finally wrinkled at the smell of burning electronics and plastic and Lilith let a slow smirk spread across her lips. "Nice ride. Do we get to keep this one?"

  13. #13
    Pythia
    Guest
    Pythia considered the question. She had no idea how to operate one of these contraptions, though with a few uttered words and subtle gestures that would hardly be an issue. They had their uses, she supposed, but her every fibre protested their very existence. It had been devices such as these that had helped transform the world from one that lived in harmony with nature to one that swept it aside at every convenience. Were it up to her, she would transmute each and every one of them back into base metals, and unleash wild forests to tear apart the monstrous suburban wastelands that mankind had wrought.

    Alas, there was only so much that her powers could permit.

    "I'm afraid not, dearest," she said with a faint sigh, turning to look at her not-so-little-any-more girl with a hint of a smile. "There isn't enough space at home. Where would we keep it?"

    Wordlessly, Pythia reached for the door handle - even touching the greasy moulded plastic made her skin crawl - and escaped into the relative freshness of unconstricted air. She could taste mankind's damage on the wind, of course; feel the pollutants cloying at her skin. She rarely set foot in places such as these for fear of what they might do to her if she allowed herself to remain exposed, but this occasion was the exception. There were powers at work in this world, powers with plans and machinations that were difficult enough to understand let alone manipulate; and so Pythia seldom allowed herself to interfere, for fear of the repercussions. But the girl, imprisoned by concrete and by her own mind? She changed things. Powerful forces be damned: the right thing had to be done, no matter the consequences.

    But not today.

    Her gaze lingered on her child for a moment as they walked side by side, feeling a faint tug of sorrow from her and for her as they left the asylum behind. She didn't need spells or supernatural insights to know what she was thinking; she didn't even need to see the emotions that Lilith kept carefully hidden behind her mask of snark and mischief. She knew her every thought, every feeling, every idea just as swiftly as Lilith knew herself.

    "We'll make this right," she said, coming to a halt before an unremarkable looking doorway. Her fingertips gently brushed a curling golden wisp of hair away from Lilith's face. "You won't have to wait much longer."

  14. #14
    Lilith
    Guest
    It only took the small motion for Lilith to find her smile again. It had tried to run away, to hide somewhere back in the asylum with all it's doom and gloom and yet, like always, it wasn't ever really gone and it took only a few simple words from her mother to make it find its way home again. A wistful sigh settled the whole thing and a nod of her head drove the point.

    "I know." A small laugh left her as she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. "If for nothing else I'm sure as hell not giving it an opportunity to make me."

    She couldn't quite tell if Pythia rolled her eyes or simply looked away from her at that point. The next part was Lilith's favorite though. A small gesture was made, a sudden barely audible popping noise followed and then Pythia opened the door they had stopped in front of. What stood beyond was like a scene from a fairy tale, a interior of stone decorated by tapestries where light was only created by a broad inviting fire place that sent shadows from plush furniture arching up to the heights of a ceiling that could not be fathomed from their current view. To Lilith... it was just home. She still felt that giddiness she always did as she followed through the doorway. When she had been much younger she used to jump from one side to the other until told to stop. Even now she found it hard to avoid the urge.

    With an over-dramatic flair of well that was god damn exhausting she flopped herself onto the couch and stared upwards. "Do you think they have any idea what's coming?"

  15. #15
    Pythia
    Guest
    She felt a wave of relief wash over her as she stepped through the enchanted doorway and into the castle, the familiar freshness of the air and purity of the stone that men had spent hard work and effort to earn gently lifting most of what had been weighing on her shoulders. That brought the first hint of a smile to her face; her daughter coaxed it further.

    "My dear Lilith," she said softly as she passed behind the couch, pausing just long enough to stoop and place a maternal kiss atop her child's head. "Have you not learned by now?"

    Some strange blend of confidence, malice, and mirth sparkled in her dark eyes. "No one ever sees us coming."

  16. #16
    Sebastian
    Guest
    Ominous words left to hang in the air, Pythia slunk with a cat-like blend of sex and grace deeper into the castle, like some sort of Disney villainess swooping off to her evil tower of malevolence and misery. In truth, she was only headed to the kitchen in search of a sandwich; but as a streak of pale fur darted out from around the corner and swerved at high speed to avoid collisions with her legs, it liked to think that there was all that surplus evil going on.

    It made it so much easier not to feel bad about leaving dead animals in her shoes.

    Sebastian's paws padded across the stone floor, avoiding the wide run of carpet that ran down the broad corridor's centre. The woven red fibres were pleasant enough for people with people-feet to walk on, and the cushioned muffling effect did wonders for his stealth skills; but they always snagged on his claws when he ran too enthusiastically, and that meant he inevitably had to stop and attack said patch of carpet to remind it which one of them was in charge around here.

    In this situation, speed was everything, and so he sacrificed discretion and embraced the pitter-patter of his tiny feet as he scampered towards his sofa.

    His mistress was sitting on it, of course: not the cranky, moody one who didn't understand what it meant when he nuzzled into her shins with his face, but rather the more pleasant and playful one who quite clearly had two hands that were going to waste by not being used to give him affection. Her invasion of his couch domain was tolerated, but not without taxation.

    With a mighty leap, Sebastian pounced his way onto the sofa's cushions; and then suddenly froze, turning his head away indignantly as if he'd absolutely been heading there all along and his sudden appearance had absolutely nothing to do with his mistress arriving home. He hadn't even noticed her, he proved, splaying one set of claws and holding them up so he could casually groom the fur on the back of his paw.

  17. #17
    Lilith
    Guest
    As much as a good 'ol pep talk from Mom was awesome, nothing really cheered Lilith up quite like the ball of fluff that had decided to grace her with his presence. Bassy was probably the closest thing she had to a friend, which meant she was right on her way to becoming a Crazy Old Cat Lady. All she needed now was the shack somewhere over in the States with a shotgun in one hand and a cane in the other with which to wave at the neighborhood children when they came too close. Hell, maybe she'd even put on a glamour to actually look the part, she certainly felt it some days.

    Her hand reached out and ruffed up the fur on the top of the cat's head, making sure to end the motion by pushing it all the wrong way, causing small clumps to remain at strange angles that only made her smile all the more. "Not fooling anyone. You keep it up and I'm going to put more videos of you online."

    An evil little smirk overtook everything else as she sat up and reached both hands out to scratch that spot right where the back of his ears and his jaw seemed to meet. "You're all e-famous after that last one where you were staring out the window at that squirrel again. Not as good as the time you ran too fast down the hall and smacked into that door at the end, but that was something really special."

  18. #18
    Sebastian
    Guest
    Sebastian did the best approximation of rolling his eyes that his feline features could muster, and offered an irritated nip in the direction of the hand that was shirking it's head-stroking responsibilities in favour of messing up the carefully groomed fur that he had been working on for nearly two hours.

    It was all so uncivilised. Here he was, practically the epitome of evolution: an urban predator of devastating effect that had managed to manipulate humanity into catering to it's every whim. He was a thing of grace and beauty, and yet his mistress obsessed only on the occasional blunders and unfortunate accidents that seemed to befall him only when she was around. It was undignified, and if she had even a shred of decency she would destroy any and all evidence out of respect and affection, not plaster it across the internet for all the world to see.

    He turned his head, and looked her dead in the eyes.

    "Do so again, and I will leave headless mice in every single one of your shoes."

  19. #19
    Lilith
    Guest
    "Oh, like you weren't going to do that anyway." One more pet somewhere between rough and affectionate was given before Lilith heaved herself off the couch. If only she could just stay there the rest of the night. The thought was tempting but no, no no no... other things were more important than lounging. Mayhem first! Then lounging. Maybe with a glass of scotch. Mmmm... scotch. Celebratory scotch at that. Then maybe, just maybe she could see about getting her little dreamy friend over for a play date. Oh gods yes... But first - business.

    "So kitten mittens, you ready for tonight? I was right, you know. So that means we're at DEFCON... five. Maybe six." Lilith paused and looked back at the couch, at the tail that slightly swished from her feline companion before actually doing him the service of meeting eyes. "Am I even using that term right?"

  20. #20
    Sebastian
    Guest
    Kitten mittens?

    The indignity was overwhelming. A creature of his advanced years, reduced to mere pet names and other such crooning forms of address, robbed of all the respect and nobility he should have engendered by an overgrown child, scrubbing at his head like she was cleaning pans. Which, of course, she had probably never done because of how much her mother doted upon her.

    Well, that and the magic part. But mostly the completely inappropriate amount of doting. And the fact that it was sometimes just easier to expect Sebastian to take care of everything. Because yes, that seemed entirely fair, didn't it?

    He unleashed a tiny feline sigh.

    "You're using it backwards," he explained, with tired frustration. "DEFCON 1 is the highest state of alert; I'm not sure DEFCON 6 even exists."

    He hesitated for a moment, suddenly overcome with the overpowering urge to frantically lick his left armpit.

    "Besides, technically it means Defense Condition, and as the aggressors in this scenario it would make very little sense for us to be the ones declaring a Defense Condition. We'd need an Offensive Condition, an OFFCON or such I suppose, and -"

    He stopped; turned his attention to Lilith who was doing those eyes at him again. Another tiny sigh escaped. "What's the point in explaining anyway? You never pay attention, and you'll only just make the same mistake again the next time you decide to try and act clever."

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