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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 3, 2015 5:19:44 GMT
she's out of element, mind reeling from words and actions that seemed so out of character for her. she doesn't know what caused it, the mindset, what changed and she's left to think and think and think until—
watch where you're going, crude words from a crude man. anger on his face, alcohol on his breath and etta thinks, what a cliche, of all things, the so-called goddess must have a twisted sense of humor. it's dark, late, they're alone in darkness, but etta does not fear him.
he says it again, watch where you're going. then he gets close, up in her face, hot breath, dirty breath fans across her face. you're pretty cute, he says. she holds her face, steady and neutral, you're pretty fowl. she says, faint smirk on her lips.
his anger burns quicker, she's touched something chemical, something flammable. he draws a blade, she steps back. her body is not invulnerable, she is not immortal, she is not strong. but she will not back away from a fight she's caused herself, the man lunges and she dodges. his arm swings in her direction, blade slicing through her glove, across her pale skin.
and then she's seeping red. it smears against her palm, and the man looks at her with wide eyes. monster, he says before lunging again. the other glove, more red, deeper cuts. where is your speed, she asks herself as she dodges. i don't know, she answers as the man grabs her arm, grip tightening, hurting.
pain, how long has it been? how long since you last came to terms with your morality? with your frail, fake body? fear clouds her mind, the crazy eyes of this man make her question, what has brought her to this point? what can she do now? she rationalises, just this once she tells herself.
she yells, loud, her voice twisting into something more sinister than the one she uses to sing. something akin to the screech of her fellow sirens, his grip tightens, he pulls her close.
you're not getting out of here alive, monster.
CAMERON GUERIN, fml
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Mar 4, 2015 3:01:23 GMT
he steps quiet through the dark, cloaked, discreet. in lower town, in his natal streets, it's an easy affair to slink through shara's coiling underbelly unnoticed. if he keeps his head down, no one guesses at the glint of the imperial emblem pinned on his chest, nor at the scabbard on his hip.
an inhuman shriek rends the air, stops him dead in his tracks. it spawns a momentary terror, an irreality—he's transported to the lightless corridors of his nightmares, feels the primal dread swell in his chest—
cameron runs to it. if he turns his back it'll be the monster that hunts at his heels. if he turns his back he'll only face it in his dreams.
at first the scene is all too common, a drunkard and a victim. but it warps before his eyes with every new detail he notices—a blood wet blade, blood wet hands, fingers that taper to claws, a victim that becomes a monster.
he unsheathes his sword, holds it straight out, and presses the point into the man's hunched back. "step aside," he orders. his voice is clear, his mind distant.
ETTA
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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 4, 2015 4:22:11 GMT
etta knows that voice, she knows it all too well she finds. of all people, of all the imperial soliders and possible heroes and wannabe protectors that seem to roam the city, it's this fake one that comes to her rescue.
the drunk man lets go of her at his words.
eyes glance at the solider over his shoulder as he walks slowly towards etta, away from the pointed tip of a metal sword. he takes off in a run, surprisingly well for a supposed drunk man.
etta holds her hands behind her back, her gloves torn and tattered on the ground. she has no need for them now, she can feel the blood seeping, dripping, it hasn't stopped, clotted up to keep her from dying yet. she doesn't know when they will. she hopes soon as her eyes meet the gaze of the one solider that seems to find her, time and time again. she doesn't say anything, but she doesn't leave either.
she feels bare, her talons feel bare, like she's let out some secret she's been hiding for so long. the coldness of the night against them and it feel so odd, so unnatural, so uncomfortable. they should be tucked away, hidden from the world just like her beliefs, just like everything she stands for, just like who she is. she is not meant to be laid bare in front of anyone, unless they're dying.
and as she meets cameron's gaze, she finds herself questioning if she'd have the resolve to do so.
CAMERON GUERIN
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Mar 7, 2015 1:22:03 GMT
all the man's liquid courage evaporates with the touch of steel, all his threats and vows dissipate like smoke. he turns tail and runs, leaving an evacuated mass where his body had fit in between blade and girl (monster, cameron corrects). but the empty space still weighs heavy, oppressive. in silence cameron does not lower his sword, the trajectory of its point falling somewhere between her breastbone and heart. they watch each other; then he speaks first with bizarre familiarity.
"so this is what you meant by your body," cameron comments, referring to a conversation she may or may not remember but he recalls very well—"you're not human." there's no tone or emotion in the statement, nothing to give away what he might or might not do.
ETTA
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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 7, 2015 4:35:35 GMT
vaguely, she remembers. broken buildings, a broken man and an almost broken her. but her escape was quick, easy and painless. no extra suffering to go through, she left before she let herself fall undone, but here she is.
the seams of everything she's ever protected falling apart under the darkness of night. her hands find each other, interlocking talons, as she feels the blood seeping still. she wants it to stop, everything to stop but she is no magician, stopping time does not come as a talent.
"no i'm not," she says. "are you going to kill me?"
she doesn't ask out of worry or concern, but out of acknowledgement. she has always known, once found the jig is up and your life is to be finish. what a sad life for a monster, she thinks to herself, being grouped together and executed on the belief they're all evil. perhaps she slaughters and kills, but doesn't do it for fun (not always) she does it for survival.
she wonders how her survival and human survival are any different.
CAMERON GUERIN
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Mar 8, 2015 3:52:21 GMT
"do you want me to?" he doesn't particularly care, either way—neither for senseless murder nor for compassion that stirs the heart, blinds reason. he's deaf to bloodlust, and passion, and higher callings. maybe the goddess has decreed death upon the heads of every monster, every unnatural creature, but all cameron sees is a face and a name.
still, his stance remains cautious, suspicious, blade ever-present. cameron is not so ignorant to believe in the defenselessness of taloned things. he studies her body language for a sign, any signal that etta means to rear and strike. "would you fight back?"
ETTA
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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 8, 2015 4:28:19 GMT
she thinks, figures words in her head. writes sentences and sentences in her head until she finds one she wants to say. she wonders why it took so long, simple words and a simple sentence, but then again maybe that's why. "no, i'd like to live to eat another day," she says, and then she answers his other question. "i would, if you attacked first." a statement, as if to say that action would be the most obvious action for one to take in this situation. "wouldn't you as well?"
CAMERON GUERIN
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Mar 9, 2015 13:28:15 GMT
the most obvious action to take, the most basic precept of human survival—fight back when attacked, flee when outfought. it’s not so different for monsters, he supposes, but then, where does the difference lie?
“i guess.” slowly he lowers his sword, until the point scrapes against the ground, producing a rattling, defeated sound. cameron shrugs, begins to smile because there’s nothing laughable about this situation. just strange, and coincidental, and labyrinthine, like so many of his dreams.
“we don’t have to fight. you’re not the monster i’m fated to kill, and i’m not the champion fated to kill you.”
ETTA
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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 9, 2015 14:11:15 GMT
"fated," etta repeats, steady and still. it is not a question, she doesn't know this phrase, doesn't understand the meaning behind the word, but she doesn't want to know. this human thing of whatever 'fate' is, is not one that concerns her. "if you're not going to fight me, can i leave?" her hands drops from behind her back, light-headed, missing blood, weak.
she asks herself, when she become so weak.
CAMERON GUERIN
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Mar 12, 2015 0:39:35 GMT
blood drips steadily from her hands, her talons. he watches the beads curve over keratin tapered to a point, irrigate the ground where they stand. he thinks it strange etta should ask for permission when she has claws that rend, and for a moment, cameron tries to meet her eyes, wonders at what emotion he might find there, holding sway over her, weakening her.
their positions were reversed once. "you didn't ask the last time." and he adds, as if it were some curious, new revelation freshly unearthed, "you're bleeding."
ETTA
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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 14, 2015 1:03:24 GMT
she remembers, unfondly of their last time. perhaps she wished to forget it, especially right after the inceident, but it leaves a print in her mind. a soft one, but one that feels like it'll last forever. it seems cameron does this to her, leaving imprints where they do not belong. weakness, she figures, weakness is growing deep inside of her and she's slowly becoming weaker. that's her mindset. "last time i wasn't what you now know i am," she says rather simply.
everything's simpler when people believe you're human, everything's simpler when you almost talk yourself into believing you're human as well. but etta can't deny the feeling as it builds up in her stomach and sits still in the pit of it. "i am," she says. "never seen a monster bleed?"
CAMERON GUERIN
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Mar 15, 2015 18:54:51 GMT
he smiles, thinly. "i have. they didn't look so human as you do." the sword slides back into its scabbard with a resounding clang like an ultimatum. cameron moves forward to close the distance, stops to stand in front of the wounded monster, tugs one leather glove off and then the other between clenched teeth.
he holds them out. "here. you'll have to cover your...claws."
ETTA
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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 15, 2015 19:26:40 GMT
"i could change my appearance, would that make you more comfortable?" she says, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
she thinks about it. the comfortable transformation from human to siren. she remembers the feeling of wings tearing her skin, feet hardening, toes becoming talons, her leaks turning to proper parts of her body, but this is a public space in front of a man who will not stop himself if you show him yourself despite all appearances.
"they're talons," she corrects as she wipes the blood from her palms on her pants. she takes the gloves carefully, watching cameron from the edges of her gaze as she puts them on. "are you this nice to all monsters?" she asks, as her hands settle into the unfamiliar gloves.
her head is clearing.
CAMERON GUERIN
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Mar 15, 2015 20:11:30 GMT
"nice? no, not to anyone." kindness, it's a foreign concept. kill them with kindness, his mother preaches, but he has learned she says and believes what the hanged men all do, grasping for straws, skinned ankles. there are no kind touches, only ones that bruise, and no kind words, only ones that deceive.
he's stopped hiding this sort of festering cynicism in front of etta at least. maybe he derives a gloating sort of pleasure from knowing her monstrous side is so easily exposed, with the flick of a wrist. but then it's just as easily covered up—with the slip of a glove she looks human again, if bloodied.
"come with me. i haven't decided whether or not to turn you in to the empire." that's a lie.
ETTA
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Monster
siren
50 years old
singer
played by nitah
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Post by ETTA on Mar 15, 2015 20:19:22 GMT
she thinks about it for a moment and then decides on, "why should i?" as her answer.
CAMERON GUERIN
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