Post by Vyn on Dec 22, 2007 11:47:58 GMT -5
Characters: Xylia
Takes Place: In Corvistowne, when Xylia is around 18.
Word Count: 1120
As evening fell and Ophelia worked to clear away the dishes from the small dinner she'd shared with her two children that had yet to 'fly away', she found herself pausing more often than not to stop and watch Xylia move about in the kitchen. She had a look of one attempting to be sneaky despite the fact that she had not a disobedient or troublesome bone in her body. She was scavenging the left over food and shoveling it into a small container that had been rigged for easy carrying, and apparently trying in vain not to be caught. Ophelia watched until the young adolescent seemed satisfied with everything she'd gathered into the box and slowly looked away, shaking her head in bemusement.
It was no secret what the little doe was up to: she was taking dinner to Mephitisia once again.
For Xylia it was only one of many small tasks she'd picked up in order to compensate for Mephitisia's habit of getting engrossed in her studies. Mephit would forget to eat, forget to sleep and more often than not allow her abandoned manor to fall into complete and utter disarray. So Xylia took care of it all. She adored her sister's ambition and her scientific genius and in return Mephitisia took up a strange fondness for the black and green doe that she'd come to willingly name sister.
Now, with the sun setting swiftly over the cityscape of Corvistowne, Xylia made her last trip for the day and slipped into the shadowed halls of the old manor. At one point Mephit had come inside and cleaned the whole place top to bottom, ridding herself of the dust and the cobwebs before once again returning to neglect the home she'd established for herself. If not for Xylia, the spiders would've already moved back in. Humming softly to herself, Xylia immediately made her way to the one place she always knew she could find her sister: the lab. It was a great vast thing, almost eerily empty for poor Xylia but in which Mephit seemed quite at home.
"Oh Mephi, I brought you dinner!"
She called ahead jovially, but no reply came. Blinking in confusion, the doe pressed on until at last a strange sound reached her ears. Not her sister's chilling vocals but instead screams. Screams that were far too deep and masculine to be Mephitisia (a minor relief if nothing else) but screams nonetheless. Abruptly she picked up her pace, galloping smoothly to the laboratory door and nudged it open with her head..only to freeze short in her tracks.
A bipedal, 2 of clubs canine was bound to a table and writhing about as best he could, screaming in agony and plain terror. The fur on his left arm had been shaven and the exposed skin was black, his hand was limp despite the way he struggled and attempted to flail. She recognized the affects as part of the increasing potent venom Mephitisia possessed and loved to experiment on but never...never had she seen her sister use it on another person before! Worse yet, she had never seen the venom spread like it was now. The toxic black tint to his hand was swiftly spreading, engulfing his arm even as he shrieked for help - for an anti-venom...anything.
And there, watching it all, was Mephitisia. Her orange eyes were terrifyingly alive, bright with sadistic glee, and she was, Xylia simply couldn't believe it, laughing. She was laughing! Laughing as the point took its course, spread up through his veins from his hand to his shoulder and slowly but surely took its course to his vital organs. She laughed as his screams grew more agonized, as his breathing became more labored, as his body began to still to little more than grunts and mindless twitches. Even as his last breath fell harshly from his lips in the dying vestige of his final scream for help.
Xylia couldn't take it. Her stomach lurched, her mind reeled, and abruptly the container of Mephitisia's dinner fell to the floor with an audible thud. Mephitisia's gaze shot up just in time to watch Xylia's tail vanish from sight. Whether Mephitisia swore down in her lab turned torture chamber, Xylia wasn't entirely sure but the fanged doe did nothing to take pursuit.
Night had descended thickly onto the city when Xylia at last came to rest. Her weary legs gave out on her and despair weighted her body down until at last she slumped down on the edge of town. It was quiet and peaceful here, away from the sounds of the city and its inhabitants. It gave her time to think, and to contemplate the wrongness of what she had just witnessed. Her sister was not the person Xylia had once believed her to be. No, instead Mephitisia was everything she had heard the others calling her and everything that Xylia had always sworn wasn't true but with each passing moment her mind filtered through time after time when hints had been dropped all around her.
Adoration had blinded her and made a fool of her!
This wouldn't do. Xylia could not stand for such a terrible thing. Her sister was a monster, truly a monster, if she could stand idly by and watch such a terrible thing unfold. To watch a man die as he pleaded for life and to laugh at him while you held the anti-venom within his sight but so far out of reach. Mephitisia had left the realm of what Xylia considered science in that action and had become nothing more than a depraved killer. She had taken delight in murder, not science!
What had become of the world? Why had she never noticed these things before? How had she failed to realize how unjust and cruel the city she grew up in, thrived in, could truly be? Even though Mother never took an unwilling test subject or caused them purposeful harm during her experiments, didn't mean the rest of the city wasn't corrupt. No, in fact Xylia was beginning to remember all the old stories and warnings her mother had told her about all the cases of people who were not like her. Who went so far as to capture strangers and even children and do unwitting experiments on them. Terrible tales. Terrible truths.
Xylia rose up then, shaking her head as her mane fell against her face and tangled in the wetness caused by her tears. She knew now she couldn't stay here, couldn't stay among these unlawful people any longer. No, she'd go far away to the Capital and make a name for herself there. She would do good for people and, possibly even more importantly, she would no longer work to care for her sadistic sister.
Takes Place: In Corvistowne, when Xylia is around 18.
Word Count: 1120
Turning Points
As evening fell and Ophelia worked to clear away the dishes from the small dinner she'd shared with her two children that had yet to 'fly away', she found herself pausing more often than not to stop and watch Xylia move about in the kitchen. She had a look of one attempting to be sneaky despite the fact that she had not a disobedient or troublesome bone in her body. She was scavenging the left over food and shoveling it into a small container that had been rigged for easy carrying, and apparently trying in vain not to be caught. Ophelia watched until the young adolescent seemed satisfied with everything she'd gathered into the box and slowly looked away, shaking her head in bemusement.
It was no secret what the little doe was up to: she was taking dinner to Mephitisia once again.
For Xylia it was only one of many small tasks she'd picked up in order to compensate for Mephitisia's habit of getting engrossed in her studies. Mephit would forget to eat, forget to sleep and more often than not allow her abandoned manor to fall into complete and utter disarray. So Xylia took care of it all. She adored her sister's ambition and her scientific genius and in return Mephitisia took up a strange fondness for the black and green doe that she'd come to willingly name sister.
Now, with the sun setting swiftly over the cityscape of Corvistowne, Xylia made her last trip for the day and slipped into the shadowed halls of the old manor. At one point Mephit had come inside and cleaned the whole place top to bottom, ridding herself of the dust and the cobwebs before once again returning to neglect the home she'd established for herself. If not for Xylia, the spiders would've already moved back in. Humming softly to herself, Xylia immediately made her way to the one place she always knew she could find her sister: the lab. It was a great vast thing, almost eerily empty for poor Xylia but in which Mephit seemed quite at home.
"Oh Mephi, I brought you dinner!"
She called ahead jovially, but no reply came. Blinking in confusion, the doe pressed on until at last a strange sound reached her ears. Not her sister's chilling vocals but instead screams. Screams that were far too deep and masculine to be Mephitisia (a minor relief if nothing else) but screams nonetheless. Abruptly she picked up her pace, galloping smoothly to the laboratory door and nudged it open with her head..only to freeze short in her tracks.
A bipedal, 2 of clubs canine was bound to a table and writhing about as best he could, screaming in agony and plain terror. The fur on his left arm had been shaven and the exposed skin was black, his hand was limp despite the way he struggled and attempted to flail. She recognized the affects as part of the increasing potent venom Mephitisia possessed and loved to experiment on but never...never had she seen her sister use it on another person before! Worse yet, she had never seen the venom spread like it was now. The toxic black tint to his hand was swiftly spreading, engulfing his arm even as he shrieked for help - for an anti-venom...anything.
And there, watching it all, was Mephitisia. Her orange eyes were terrifyingly alive, bright with sadistic glee, and she was, Xylia simply couldn't believe it, laughing. She was laughing! Laughing as the point took its course, spread up through his veins from his hand to his shoulder and slowly but surely took its course to his vital organs. She laughed as his screams grew more agonized, as his breathing became more labored, as his body began to still to little more than grunts and mindless twitches. Even as his last breath fell harshly from his lips in the dying vestige of his final scream for help.
Xylia couldn't take it. Her stomach lurched, her mind reeled, and abruptly the container of Mephitisia's dinner fell to the floor with an audible thud. Mephitisia's gaze shot up just in time to watch Xylia's tail vanish from sight. Whether Mephitisia swore down in her lab turned torture chamber, Xylia wasn't entirely sure but the fanged doe did nothing to take pursuit.
Night had descended thickly onto the city when Xylia at last came to rest. Her weary legs gave out on her and despair weighted her body down until at last she slumped down on the edge of town. It was quiet and peaceful here, away from the sounds of the city and its inhabitants. It gave her time to think, and to contemplate the wrongness of what she had just witnessed. Her sister was not the person Xylia had once believed her to be. No, instead Mephitisia was everything she had heard the others calling her and everything that Xylia had always sworn wasn't true but with each passing moment her mind filtered through time after time when hints had been dropped all around her.
Adoration had blinded her and made a fool of her!
This wouldn't do. Xylia could not stand for such a terrible thing. Her sister was a monster, truly a monster, if she could stand idly by and watch such a terrible thing unfold. To watch a man die as he pleaded for life and to laugh at him while you held the anti-venom within his sight but so far out of reach. Mephitisia had left the realm of what Xylia considered science in that action and had become nothing more than a depraved killer. She had taken delight in murder, not science!
What had become of the world? Why had she never noticed these things before? How had she failed to realize how unjust and cruel the city she grew up in, thrived in, could truly be? Even though Mother never took an unwilling test subject or caused them purposeful harm during her experiments, didn't mean the rest of the city wasn't corrupt. No, in fact Xylia was beginning to remember all the old stories and warnings her mother had told her about all the cases of people who were not like her. Who went so far as to capture strangers and even children and do unwitting experiments on them. Terrible tales. Terrible truths.
Xylia rose up then, shaking her head as her mane fell against her face and tangled in the wetness caused by her tears. She knew now she couldn't stay here, couldn't stay among these unlawful people any longer. No, she'd go far away to the Capital and make a name for herself there. She would do good for people and, possibly even more importantly, she would no longer work to care for her sadistic sister.
