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Post by The Jenn on Nov 21, 2007 21:20:14 GMT -5
((OOC: This is a private quest thread for Kazivel. Feel free to watch, but please don't interfere. Thanks much. <3)) Her pale, ghostly white form padded through the dark trees of the Tulgey Wood. Home, beloved in its strangeness, its aura, its power. She had no desire to visit the outside world, nor even to look upon it. All she needed could be found withing the confines of the Wood. Everything. ...except, she hadn't yet found the one thing she searched for most desperately. It disappointed her, but didn't leave her disheartened. She would find it eventually. She just had to keep looking, which was the only reason she walked this path within a mile of the forest's edge, not liking her proximity to the outside world but unable to walk the paths sometimes used by others. One village she hadn't yet searched was located not too far from here, aboveground so as not to attract undue attention from foolish wanderers who knew not what they were about. Flight would have been convenient, but she possessed no wings, only her sturdy paws and superior balance. She wished the trees were bare with winter. That would have made traveling through their branches a better solution to her current trek. A long, bushy squirrel's tail waved behind her, twitching in time with her thoughts. Rose-tinted eyes, bright and sparkling, gazed ahead. She didn't bother to look around or behind. If someone wanted to bother her, it would happen. Then she could punish them for being so foolish. Most people she came across, which were few and far between, could recognize a young Queen of Spades as tricky prey. No one had yet tried to stay her path.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 21, 2007 21:35:14 GMT -5
 He couldn't remember how he had made it here. He couldn't really remember much of anything. He knew that he had done some horribly things shortly after leaving his home, but beyond that he didn't remember exact details. He remembered faces, names, bits and pieces of things. Kazifel knew it was because he wanted to forget. He looked up at the trees. What was this forest? It looked rather intimidating, but nothing seemed to be wrong with it. He couldn't imagine many people came to these woods. Then he caught a glimpse of something moving. It was small in the distance, but closer than he would have liked it to be. Something white with a bushy tail. Kazifel's eyes widened. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? He couldn't remember stories or rumors about this place. He couldn't remember anything about residents who lived anywhere near these woods. Was this one of them? Was this something else entirely? He shook his head. He had no reason to be afraid. Even if it was dangerous, he couldn't feel anything anymore. |
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 21, 2007 21:45:46 GMT -5
The squirrel stopped her walk a moment to turn and fluff her tail. Travel did awful things to it sometimes, but she endeavored to keep it clean, even with burrs all about this part of the Wood. They kept people out, which she was all for supporting. Still, they could be so stubborn when they got tangled in her fur.
As she pulled out the last visible bit of offending plant residue, she straightened and caught sight of something through the trees. Something not-white, which was surprise enough. In fact, it was black and red. Very not-white. She stared for a moment, pink eyes widening, trying to decide what it was. It looked rather like a human from this distance, but it had dark hair. Certainly not of the Wood. A bit of gold in there as well, she thought.
Whoever they were, they didn't belong here and if no one else was going to take care of it, she would. And then continue on her way. She slowly assumed her bipedal form, which did wonders to show off her semi-emaciated frame and its stark, uninterrupted paleness. Only her ranking, dark as ebony against ivory fur, could be seen to disturb the white. She took a few steps forward, then a few more. The closer she got, the more she wondered. This didn't look like a normal Person.
In fact... as she got very, very close, within perhaps ten or so feet... it looked like a Doll. A walking... breathing... staring doll.
She took in the brilliant golden eyes, the long black hair - and wouldn't it be nice to stroke through, so shiny and pretty - the handsome face, the tattered clothes...
Tattered clothes? Who had let such a beautiful doll wander around with tattered clothes?! She stared at him intently before quickly shaking herself in a squirrel-like shiver. To anyone else, an aura of 'strange' would be emanating from every pore. "Who are you?" she whispered, voice mature but very feminine and young-sounding.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 21, 2007 22:05:24 GMT -5
He was frozen, wide eyed. She, it was quite obviously a she, and a Queen at that had just come up to him. In the middle of a forest. In the middle of nowhere a girl asked him who, not what he was.
Kazifel was unsure. Was this actually happening to him? If he could take a deep breathe he would take one to clear his head. Something wasn't right here, but he wasn't right either. Ultimately everything was wrong.
Her voice through him off completely. He expected something else from a Queen of Spades. A Queen. A Spade. The two made him feel number than he already was . He wanted the past back... it wasn't the time for that. Not at all. "I'm Kazifel. You would be...?" he managed to say in a whisper. His voice was quieter than it should have been. He didn't like it at all. Being timid around higher ranks was just so natural.
How pathetic. He was just has cowardly as that Heart girl.
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 21, 2007 22:13:17 GMT -5
The Woods were good at hushing people beneath the weight of their own presence. The trees almost seemed alive at times, waving in a nonexistent breeze as a warning to all who thought themselves brave enough to enter. All of them were naught but fools. This one, however, was different. This one was a Doll. A Real Doll. She could hardly believe it to be true. All this searching, and here, in this nowhere place on this nowhere path, she might have finally found what she was looking for?!
"Kazifel's a pretty name," she whispered again, a small smile peeking at the edges of her muzzle. It was a nice smile, a happy smile... a creepy as fuck smile coming from some random Tulgey Queen at the edge of the Woods. "It suits you. My name's Femi."
She stared at his eyes for a moment, examining them as if they would reveal the secrets and mysteries of the universe. Was this doll maybe afraid of her? Oh, she couldn't have that! Not when she'd waited so long to finally meet him. She moved forward, reaching out one small paw, and carefully ran her fingers through what hair she could reach by his side. Then she reached out with the other one and touched his face, so very lightly. It felt like wood beneath her paws.
This was no dream. He really was a doll. A wooden, ball-jointed doll from the looks of him, and one of the prettiest boy-dolls she had ever seen. "I like your hair..." she breathed, enamored. "I've been... looking for you. Kazifel..."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 21, 2007 22:29:09 GMT -5
No. No. No! He didn't like this at all! He didn't like this strange girl touching him. She could compliment him all she liked but he didn't want this! His hand snapped up to grab hers as it reached for his hair. The word came to his head, as he stared at her. Loss. It was the only word that could come this his mind as he panicked.
His eyes widened as he realized what he was dealing with. A Queen. A Queen could easily brush off his powers as nothing. This was bad. This was very very bad. How could he find the words to defend himself? How could he respond to that? Why was she looking for him? What was she?
Kazifel couldn't run. He had made a bad move and he had to stay put. Even if he could escape he would suffer. "I... I think you're mistaken, Miss Femi." His voice was not clear. It sounded broken. It sounded lost.
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 21, 2007 22:40:48 GMT -5
Femi blinked in complete surprise as the pretty doll man caught her hand before she could feel what those shining strands of hair had in store. She knew they were softer than those of any doll she'd ever touched, could almost feel it so close to her fingers.
An almost-coldness seemed to spread over her limbs, startling her into blinking and pressing her palm flat against his face in an attempt to regain the sensation of touch she had just lost. What... what? Was he doing this, whatever it was? Could pretty Kazifel stop her from touching him, one way or the other?
No. He couldn't. Her eyes narrowed with hurt as she looked at him, pink meeting gold. "Of course I'm not!" she said loudly, the sound sudden and breaking the hushed silence of the woods almost like a thunderclap for its unexpected volume. The feeling of cold, of numb, seemed to leave her limbs the more hurt she felt and she fed that feeling, the hand on his face smoothing back until it could thread through the hair at his scalp. Her other hand twisted to touch his wrist. "You're mistaken! I know you now, I know who you are, and I don't want to hear anything to the contrary."
Her face suddenly moved in to meet his, staring. "I collect dolls, you know," she whispered, voice suddenly quiet... though not soft, not at the moment. "I know what to do when they misbehave. I know how to break them."
The hand in his hair tightened and the wood of his skin splintered beneath her touch, cracking and fraying and loosening its hold to the rest. Similarly, the joints and wood around his wrist began to splinter as she shifted the hold to grip at him.
He was... a doll. There could be no denying it now. Wood disintegrating beneath her touch, joints so beautifully inhuman. She made a soft, crooning noise in the back of her throat as he continued to break, one slow, painful-sounding crack at a time, beneath her touch. "I think I love you."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 21, 2007 22:56:35 GMT -5
Kazifel was horrified as the tried to move away. He heard the cracking sound resonate as loud as her voice did in the silent forest. He could not feel the pain, he could not feel what was happening to him. He just heard the terrifying sounds.
He wanted it to stop. He didn't want to be broken again. He he could cry, he would have. Kazifel would have fallen to the ground in a heap and begged for mercy. What was she talking about. She collected dolls. Would she try to collect him?
She said she loved him. Why would she love him? Why was she doing this to him! "P-please stop!" he begged as he tried to pull away. It made things worse. Running. He couldn't run. He could only whimper and beg. "I don't want to break again. I don't want to break again!"
This was what everyone was afraid of, wasn't it? It was a nightmare. If only she would stop...
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Post by The Jenn on Nov 21, 2007 23:09:40 GMT -5
The cracking spread down through his forearm, a giant split down the middle followed by hundreds of small, splintering bits, and the back of his head began to crumble beneath the weight of her power. Femi stared into his beautiful, terrified eyes, her own misting up a little. She didn't want to have to hurt him, really she didn't. But he wasn't letting her touch him. And that just wasn't right.
His first plea made the tears flow, dampening the fur around her eyes and trailing down her face. She took a deep breath, hands like iron grips until the rest of his words hit her. She gasped, eyes widening, and stopped the splintering almost immediately. Her hands moved to cradle the unbroken parts of his face and she moved forward, hugging him tight and 'encouraging' him to the ground with her, the weight of her body pulling at his in such a state probably enough to have him down and pressed against her.
Her mind whirled and she rocked him back and forth. "Someone else... someone has broken you?" she finally gasped, voice the epitome of pained, sympathetic horror. "Oh you poor dear. Poor Kazifel, oh no... that's simply horrible. No wonder you were so confused. Did they even bother to fix you? I don't think they did. Most people can't fix the dolls they break."
She clutched him to her chest and kissed his hair, still crying tears of shared pain. "Oh, but I can," she whispered, kissing his hair again. He felt so soft against her, that hair and the fabric. For all that he was wood, that was fine. She was used to that. Wood or porcelain or stuffed plush... it was all fine. "Let me fix you, Kazifel? Please, let me fix you? I love you. Oh please, I have to fix you! No one should leave a doll broken, a beautiful, wonderful doll... let me... just a moment..."
Closing her eyes against his soft, glossy hair and shattered wooden scalp, she took a deep, tear-choked breath and began to mend. Mend him, fix the splintering, restore the beautiful limbs to their previous perfection. She pet him and whispered nonsense things and waited for it to be finished. When it was, she opened her eyes and turned his face to look up at her with both hands, stroking his cheeks. "Don't make me do that again. Please, I don't want to hurt you. I never want to hurt the ones I love. Don't do that again, dear Kazifel, I don't want to break you... but I promise, if I do, I'll always fix you." She moved to kiss his forehead. Everything was restored. "I always fix the ones I love."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Nov 21, 2007 23:26:40 GMT -5
He whimpered. That's all he could manage to do. He thought about Cassiel. She had never completed him. Then he had... things just got worse. No one every fixed him, he had to fix himself. It wasn't working. And then this girl. This girl, Femi. She broke him far worse than anyone had before.
But she fixed him. She said she loved him? She broke him but she fixed him. It didn't make sense. It didn't make any sense to him! Kazifel looked at her with still terrified eyes. She was crying. He involuntarily twitched at the sight of it.
"Fix me?" he asked. "You can really fix me?" His eyes were pleading now. She was the only one who had ever offered to fix him. Everyone just shunned him. Could something had gone right for him? For once in his life had something finally gone right. He just wished that he could feel her hands. "Do you really love me?" he whispered. Only two people had said that to him before. And they were gone.
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