I am the daydream, bring you faith and conviction
I am the nightmare you've been crawling through
Lucinda isn't entirely sure why she's still in Delumine and not back in the embrace of the sea. Perhaps it's because of the man with the devilish smile who she met by the shore. There's a part of her that hopes their paths might cross again and another part of her that still wants to rip out his throat. (Though, who is to say that she wouldn't want to do that anyway? He should be honored then, to be Chosen in such a way)
The kelpie has wandered to their meadow and she soon realizes it's a mistake. It appears this Court is holding their own autumnal festivities. Everything is so disgustingly tranquil and happy here that it makes her sick. From the way the flowers light up like stars to all the couples with their kids smiling from ear to ear. How lovely it would be to break this all up with a little bit of chaos. Unfortunately, she is a little out of her realm here so far from the sea.
Abraxia follows beside her with a similar expression of disgust. She can feel how restless the dragon is through their bond. How easy it would be to light the meadow up in her green fire. For now, she gently pets the creature's head with the tip of her wing. Her eyes briefly glance at the strange markings cut out of the grass, but she dismisses it as some strange Court custom.
Among all the happy families, Lu notices someone who is alone. She decides to walk towards them and wonders if they might feel the same about this celebration (or whatever it is they're calling it).
"How tragic, really," she says to the woman upon her approach. Her green eyes seem to glow even brighter among the not-stars. "How little they know of the real world." She watches as one child braids another's mane and puts flowers in with it.
Oh to be a child again and not know of all the horrors and the monsters lurking in the shadows. Lu no longer remembers how it felt to be so innocent and so unchanged by the world. Her scars still sting sometimes.
Her knees are frosted in stardust. She feels it itching her skin as if she is the fabric of the universe and the stars wish to burrow deep, deep into her endless soul. All of the meadow glows, it shines beneath the bruising blue sky. The wind blows and the lamp light dances over the long dusted grasses which glimmer like diamonds.
This place is too beautiful, too pure for Sereia. She feels it, in the way her body feels too sharp, too jointed. Her eyes flutter shut. How long? Her kelpie asks as it writhes and wants and hungers. How long until her tongue will bear meat into her throat? How long until her chains come loose and at last she can wrestle control from Sereia and gorge and live and thrive?
Eternity.
Sereia would lock the monster away within her for an eternity. If only she could. She breathes, slow, slow. She keeps from the crowds who amble the meadow with fairytales in their eyes and hope and love blooming in their chests. She stays where she cannot so easily smell them, where the taste of flesh dulls and it is no longer a lance into her belly.
It’s tragic… The words slip like ink out of the dark. They slide into Sereia’s ears as readily as a serpent down a hole. Another kelpie looms out of the dark. She is raven black and her eyes aglow like the deepest depths of the ocean, where creatures swim lit by their own lamps. Initial glances may suggest Sereia is fragile, a dove with a broken wing - helpless. But she is not. The kelpie presses closer and her own stirs within. It prowls along her ribs as the sight of the stranger, it darkens Sereia’s eyes.
“It is.” She finds herself agreeing, her voice low and soft and terribly sad. The children laugh and weave each other’s hair. “Innocence,” She murmurs, “Sometimes it feels like it was only ever a dream.” Beneath the fan of her thick lashes, Sereia peers at the stranger. “What would you tell them of the real world?” The girl asks, soft as the butterfly wings a girl weaves into another’s hair.
@Lucinda <3
She wore her hope like a crown, an unspoken soliloquy of dreams
nnocence, yes, it's something childish. It's an illusion for them, a facade. Maybe a dream too, as the woman says, but Lucinda would think of it more as a nightmare they choose to ignore. The real world is full of them, but the children don't know it yet. The parents would rather clutch their kids close and shun away anything too wicked for their precious eyes.
Oh what they would do at the sight of her.
This girl is quiet, but Lucinda knows better. She knows she's a kelpie, perhaps by some predatory instinct that picks up her likeness. Again she thinks of Anandi (as surely Lu can't be the only one she's turned), but then there is also Boudika, turned by a man she's never heard of. There are so many more of them out there and so many more makers. Yet, she feels compelled to meet them all. Perhaps simply to pick out the ones who might share even the slightest bit of ambition that she does.
"I would tell them about monsters," she replies, her lips curving to a smile and she can't help but show her sharp teeth. "Especially the kelpies. I would tell them that nothing is as it seems and there is no point in hiding. I would make them face the world and the demons within it."Just like I had to, she thinks.
Lucinda looks the woman over and wonders what her own story might be, but she figures she'll save those questions for later. "And you?" she asks, almost wanting to add "or are you one of the softer ones" but hopes she won't be disappointed like that.
✦
i wanna taste the way that you bleed, oh
you're my kill of the night
I would tell them about monsters. Especially the kelpies. I would tell them that nothing is as it seems and there is no point in hiding. I would make them face the world and the demons within it.
Oh.
Sereia watches the children as they continue to laugh and weave petals and butterflies into each other’s hair. The gesture is innocent. It is dissonant with the kelpie’s words beside her. Yet more than that, the words are fitting not just for the children, but for her too.
Each word strikes her bluntly, forcefully. It strikes hard truths so deep into the slim girl’s body that she feels the bite in her soul and in her bones. There is no point hiding. Kelpies are monsters. Sereia is a monster.
Her eyes close. Anything to guard her from the pain of those words. All of her life has been spent in denial, trying to change who she is. She hides and hides until she meets those who look too close, who lift up her protective shell and press upon the soft of her exposed body. They know her for what she is. This other kelpie does too.
“I would tell them the same.” Sereia breathes, her lips downturned. Sadness, defeat, blooms in her chest. It is harrowing. Oh, she falls apart beneath her self-loathing. The swan-kelpie cuts herself upon the other’s sharp toothed smile. She feels the savage bite, her body aches. Her eyes close and she turns away, barely able to confront what she is.
“But i would tell them to run from us.” Sereia whispers, still watching the children. The scent of them is sweet as sugar upon the air, their skin as welcoming as fresh baked bread. “Do you ever wish to not be what you are?” Tentatively she turns her gaze to the other kelpie. She both dreads and welcomes the answer. Already she knows none of her sisters share her beliefs. Anandi offers her meat at her every meal. Each day she hopes her sister will one day succumb to the reality of what she is.
But Sereia is stubborn. She fights her agonising fight and dies a little more each day. There is no other path. She would not have it any other way.
@Lucinda
She wore her hope like a crown, an unspoken soliloquy of dreams
he woman seems sad, but Lucinda can't understand why. After all, they're not the ones who should feel that way. Maybe for those children who don't know any better because they're so sheltered from the world. Even then, she doesn't feel that sad for them.
But then the woman says she would tell them to run from them and this surprises Lu. Although it's always fun to scare others, she wouldn't tell them to run first. She'd enjoy the look of fear in their eyes while she shows her fangs or cuts deep into fresh kill for a meal. Yes, she is a monster, but she's not ashamed of it.
Apparently, this woman is.
"Absolutely not," she replies, wondering if maybe Anandi had turned her too in a fit of rage. Of course, Lu didn't want any part of it before she had been turned. It sounded like some kind of cult where she had to answer to Anandi only. Now that she had been forced into it, she realized it had been the purpose she needed in this new life. However, she would never thank Anandi for it. She's much too prideful for that.
"Why do you hate what you are?" the ebony mare asks, a hint of disappointment in her voice. There is curiosity too though as she wonders what her story is. "Did Anandi change you too?" She almost didn't ask this, but she just had to know if it's true. She's seen that flash of darkness and anger for a moment in the woman of gray. She knows it's buried deep within her just waiting to come out. Had Lu been the only one to break that composure or had more mistakes been made?
✦
i wanna taste the way that you bleed, oh
you're my kill of the night
The answer comes and Sereia gazes back at her. Wonders what makes this ebony girl so content within her skin, her monster’s body. “So you enjoy it?” the sea-girl whispers as the other asks why she hates herself.
Sereia turns from her, looks out across the sea and remembers how she has hunted and binged and thirsted for more blood than she ever should. SHe remembers the shattering of bone between her teeth, the spill of blood across her tongue… Why does she hate what she is? “Because it is violent, becuase no life is worth less than mine. Why should I live if another has to give their life for it.” Now Sereia’s ire rises, it blooms like a black rose and claws its thorns as it grows wild roots within her breast.
Did Anandi change you too?
The question stops Sereia, surprises her. She turns and her golden eyes gleam bright and gold. “No,” The kelpie whispers, a small harsh laugh slipped across her lips. “Anandi is my sister.” It was never a secret that Anandi changed others, she had seen it, heard of it. But oh she hated it, as much as she did when her sister offered her a carcass to share. Anandi never shared, it was always a test, waiting to see if Sereia’s control would crumble that day.
Sereia sighs and looks back to the black woman, “She turned you didn’t she.” Her ears fall to her skin, anger, despair pouring like poison through her veins. “I am sorry.”
@Lucinda
She wore her hope like a crown, an unspoken soliloquy of dreams
t becomes clear to Lucinda just how weak this other mare is. She hates who she is, who they are, and is ashamed by their very identity. In reality, they are far above the average horse and most predators of Novus. They could rule the world if they tried hard enough, but it's kelpies like this one and Anandi that are too simple minded to do so.
It disgusts her.
"I enjoy every moment of it," she states, her eyes looking very closely at the woman as she tries to decide how to move forward. She wants to teach her a lesson, but she's not so sure this is the proper place to do so. "Violence is our nature. We are meant for greatness." This mare's clear fear of their kind just makes her even more disappointed.
Somehow, it's not surprising that Anandi is this woman's sister given her responses thus far. Lucinda just shakes her head. It would be so beautiful to tear her apart now in front of all these children and their families, but then she could never use the woman as leverage. No, maybe she could be useful later against Anandi. Reluctantly, Lu stays back.
"Don't say that. Never say sorry for who we are or who we are made to be," she growls, baring her teeth. It's a point she wants to make, to remind Sereia that this is what they are. "Anandi is no friend of mine, but she did change me."
Maybe she should be grateful, but she isn't. She never will be. The bond they share is just a burden, but one she intends to hold over Anandi's head for as long as they live. If the gray woman is immortal like Lu, then she's in for an eternity of suffering. For Sereia, it sounds like she won't last very long in this world.
Lucinda no longer has any patience to try and get through this woman's thick skull, so she turns to leave. First, she looks back at the girl, anger clear in her face. "You're a kelpie, get over it." And then she leaves. No goodbye, no say hi for Anandi for me. Just one last bit of harsh truth that the woman can do what she wants with.
At least now Lu has information that might become useful in the future.
✦
i wanna taste the way that you bleed, oh
you're my kill of the night
Sereia has always experienced the confusion and rejection of her own kind when she has rejected them. Lucinda’s words come as no surprise and even after all these years it should not hurt like it does. Yet the kelpie’s ire is a lance into Sereia’s side. She blinks as if to clear the hurt, as if her eyes might be a shutter behind which she can seek shelter. Yet, even as she blinks, she lays herself out, a sacrifice upon the table of her mission to never hurt another creature.
The ebony woman speaks of violence, of greatness and the joy she feels. Sereia takes a small breath and watches as the other kelpie bristles. She watches how her lifestyle, her famine draws lines between her and her kind. The division is as deep as a canyon, the distance impassable. She remains impassive as she watches Lucinda rage upon the other side.
Get over it, the black woman hisses and Sereia’s chin tips up, defiant. It is such defiance that has stretched her skin too thin over protruding bone. It is this stubbornness that brings her to knock, knock, knock upon death’s door.
But then the other kelpie is gone, she shudders a breath and hears as the silence breaks the laughter of children tumbling back into her ears. The starved kelpie turns to look upon the youths. Her eyes linger, upon their pulses in their neck. Then she is gone, fighting her hunger, racing to find her sister. To leave the beach and the kelpies who judge her.
@Lucinda
She wore her hope like a crown, an unspoken soliloquy of dreams
