Throw Off These Bindings [Closed]

[Shinigami]

Helen strolled serenely down the street of the rather run-down-looking town, the pall that hung in the air giving everything a tired, lackluster appearance that seemed to drag even the cheeriest mood down. In the heart of Torquehelm, the apparent "curse" that everyone believed in ran rampant, and the few children she'd seen so far did nothing more than listlessly nudge the dust around. This was the place where the bindings tended to be the heaviest, as the Torquehelmites warped their bodies as they warped their minds, pulling themselves further and further into their own misery, until they could barely see for all they'd wrapped themselves in their own chains.

That was what made the doe's appearance so very strange. When she'd been a fawn, she too had worn bindings, though none quite so extreme as those she saw in this town. The star manacles had kept her from moving in any form other than a walk, or a strange bizarre hop. Then, when she'd grown older, she had simply...removed them. There was no need for them, and she wasn't even quite sure why Maxwell had screeched in utter horror at the sight of the chains lying abandoned in her room, left behind by careless hooves.

Her odd coloring drew even more attention to her, for not only did she sport the black and purple that was traditional to Torquehelm, she also was marked with vivid, neon green, a terribly bright hue in the doldrums of the town. The gold on her back was noted with mild curiosity, but it wasn't as shocking as her lack of bindings - even the fact that she didn't sport wings wasn't too bad, for with her mixed blood, it was merely assumed that they had been subsumed by the Corvistowne.

Despite the gloom of the town itself, it didn't stop various residents from coming to gawk at the strange doe who walked through the town, lavender eyes glassy and blank, necklaces swinging, bonds long forgotten.

[Shade]

Lucio strolled down the streets of Torquehelm, shakeing his head slightly, and puzzling over how he had come to be in this downtrodden city. It was no secret to him that his long journeys often brought him to strange things, but what had him confused was his decision to come into the city proper and now just stay on the fringes of town like he normally did when came into a new Realm. It made him sad, all these souls, tied down by their bindeings and a belief in a Curse he did not fully understand. Drawing out a long sigh, he continued down the street before suddenly stopping in his tracks. Blinking his eyes a couple of times, he slowly turned around. He had not been mistaken. Standing there was a doe....who had not only electric green markings, but no bindings. He was at first suspect that she was a visitor like himself, but her darker markings pegged her as hailing from the region. He knew it was terribly impolite, but Lucio could do nothing but stare and wonder at this exception to the Torquehelm rule.

[Shinigami]

It seemed that Lucio's utter difference from the norm in Torquehelm caught her attention as well, because bright blue was even more uncommon than black-purple-green-gold. At least the black and purple was expected in the area, and there were even the occasional rumors of gold. Okay, so green was odd, but still. Completely blue was just plain weird. Both Helen and Lucio were being regarded with suspicious eyes, outsiders, strangers who didn't understand the Curse of Torquehelm. Or something.

Absently Helen turned her head toward the winged Card, eyeing him thoughtfully as he stared at her, and she slowly walked toward him, purple hooves drifting lightly over the ground as she approached him. One step followed another, and she placed each of her hooves in the prints of the previous ones, just because she felt like it. Then she stood before him, looking the Ranger over from nose to tailtip, before nodding to herself.

"Have you found the secret of this place?"[/b] she said, her voice sing-song. "They wish to laugh and dance, and instead struggle like little wiggly worms on fishing hooks, because they think that they're worms, and worms don't dance."[/color]

[Shade]

Tilting his head, Lucio considerd what the pretty Doe had just said..and then his eyes began to slowly widen as, what he belived to be the meaning of her words, sank in.

"Do..do you mean to tell me the curse of this land is all in..and with this he gazed out over the crowds in the street,their minds? That this land is cursed, because the people belive it is? And that if and when someone realises that, the curse has no power over them anymore? And, if that is so, how did you come to realise it when so many, for so many generations, have not?"

Inhaleing slowly, Lucio blinked a couple of times and started again. "Or, am I completly off base on all of this, and misconstrued the meaning of what you said all together?
"

Looking at the Doe, Lucio's face was one of utter confusion and hope.

Oh! he exclaimed. I am forgetting my manners. Dipping his head slightly he said "I am Lucio."

[lonelypony]

Miko wandered the dull streets of Torquehelm with contempt. He had hated every living thing in the place ever since he was created, and that wasn't that long ago. His muzzle uder his bindings was itchy and there was little he could do besides bury his face in his claws and try and reach under them, giving little relief. It was often itchy under his bindings as fleas and ticks often retreated in the area, knowing he couldn't reach them. Even so, he tried his hardest and was often left bloodied and even more frustrated with himself when he finished. His mother had binded him when he was just a day old and for that, he deeply resented his whole family. He didn't understand the curse, no one knows what it did to them, only the foolish and daring tried to escape it, he wished he were braver, so that he could try.

Still crawling along the dirt road he absentmindedly scratched his bindings and reopened an old scab near his delicate whiskers. Miko gave an angry mutter and looked up to see a strange sight, a doe with the appearance of a Torquehelm with the legs and muzzle of something else- without any bindings and a bright blue creature which clearly didn't belong. He waddled as fast as his little legs could carry him to the two Cards and started mumbling an angry rant which of course they couldn't hear due to his size and bindings.

[Shinigami]

She stared blankly at him as he looked about, examining each bit of their surroundings in light of whatever it was that she had just said about them, looking more and more excited about it all the time. Helen allowed him to ramble on, and took the opportunity to study his wings as he spoke. Hmm, interesting. Could he fly with them, maybe? Take off to the skies and fly away? Or was he as ground-bound as the next wingless person, like herself? She'd taken away her own wings, though, bright neon green like her father, but she hadn't needed them, not really.

Finally, her wandering attention circled back around to Lucio, who was obviously waiting for some sort of reaction from her.

"...what?" She leaned closer to him, glassy eyes examining. "Sometimes a worm is just a worm. Sometimes it is a complicated metaphor that is intended to implicate something far beyond the understanding of the mortal ken. Which was that? And I took off my chains because they got in my way. I couldn't run, and running is very fun, but I had to lose my chains to do it. Mother screamed for days, though."[/color]

Then there was a short waddling figure that came up out of nowhere and started ranting incoherantly, and she turned her attntion to him to stare for a long, long time.

"You don't look much like a worm. Wiggly, wiggly?"

[Shade]

Noticing her attention on his wings, Lucio ruffled them a bit uncomfortably. They were so natural to him, he often forgot that they were a mutation and not common to his breed. He often wished he could fly, but was certainly happy with the bit of gliding they allowed him. Blinking and bringing his focus back to the girl, he tilted his head in confusion..

"..Just a worm or a metaphor for something beyond understanding..?" It would have to be the latter, wouldn't it? Certainly she was no worm.. Oi. He was just going to have to pay better attention he supposed.

"You just..took them off? So you do understand a bit more about the curse, or whatever it is, that effects the people here. Or their minds at least? I would think that if any of the people here knew they could take off or remove their bindings, just because they got in the way, there would be a lot less bound folk..wouldent there?"

Turning to look at the crowds again, he continued "I mean..take any of them out there. If they knew they could just..." and with that, Lucio noticed a distinctly unhappy looking hamster making his way toward them. It was obvious the smaller fellow was trying to say something, but the binding around his mouth obviously was making it quite difficult for him to speak.

Looking back up at the doe, Lucio made his best attempt to quirk and eyebrow and started again. "So..Do you suppose this chap here could remove his binding..just because it gets in the way of his talking, and it is something he wants to do?"

[lonelypony]

Miko glared at the doe. Why didn't she speak normally? Oh well, he was used to dealing with the ramblings of Torquehelms, no matter how strange they were.

"No, I am not a worm, I am a hamster, " He replied to her weird question loudly and slowly, wriggling his tail to prove his point, "I think the curse is affecting your mental capacity or something, you better put your bindings back on quickly." The blue character was talking about him like he wasn't even there, the nerve. Miko tried to sink his teeth into the his tail but that reopened an old injury and he pulled back, wincing but immediatly recovering so as to conceal his pain. Instead he looked to the ground.

[Shinigami]

"It's a curse, of course. A terrible, ancient curse that goes back forever and ever. At least, I think so. Maybe there was a time when it didn't exist, or was only in the planning stages? How would you plan for something like that, anyway? Did some ancient general sit at his table of war, and mark Torquehelm out upon his map, and then point his sorcerers at it and say, 'Look upon this, ye wielders of magic. Look upon this place, and tell me of what ye can make of it, be it dark or light?'" As she spoke, her voice drifted into the patterns of a story-teller weaving a scene for an audience. "And did they to him and say, 'We wield the dark far more easily than the light, for the dark wishes to be used by all, while the light refuses the touch of almost anyone who might come upon it, for we are a cruel folk, and the light will not touch such beings willingly.' Or maybe this whole place was just an accident."

When Lucio refered to the hamster before them, talking about removing his bindings, she shook her head, and answered both his question, and the hamster's demand. "I was born with a touch more light than other people, and I embraced it rather than shun it as others would. Or maybe I simply didn't care enough to choose the darkness, and that was good enough for now. You," she told the hamster, "live in the darkness, and know nothing else, and wish to know nothing else. No wonder you are so bothered by the light."

[ooc: ...no, I have no clue what she's talking about either. On a different note: Lonelypony, dictating that Miko actually managed to bite Lucio, let alone almost draw blood, could be considered power-playing. ^^;; You could say that he attempted to do it, but not necessarily that he actually suceeded.]

[Shinigami]

[ooc: Officially closing this thread, since I haven't seen any activity from either person in quite some time.]