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Post by Trebias on Sept 7, 2009 23:07:58 GMT -5
Ira's statements seemed weighted, or pointed, or SOMETHING, but Elias couldn't make sense of them any more than he could divine what was in the package without actually opening it.
He was not optimistic.
He pulled at the flap of the package that was so conveniently crinkling and possibly ruining the papers on his desk. Oh no! He'd have to put that off until he could get a new form. What were those people thinking submitting paperwork in this condition?
Chuckling to himself, he thought of thanking Ira for inadvertantly lightening his workload. He finished undoing the straps on the package. Ira's excitement was actually cheering him up a little and making him forget. . .whatever it was he was angry about a few minutes ago. If he tried to remember he'd get mad again.
It took a moment for the reality of the package to set in. Gore. Meat. Membrane, pierced by rings. And definitely not attached to its owner.
"Ira." Elias had to count to ten - a few times - to keep his voice even as level as he managed. He continued in his strained voice. "What's this happening here?" His eyes were still on the wing.
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Post by Bee on Sept 8, 2009 23:46:03 GMT -5
He decided to stay where he was, for the moment. He felt very tired suddenly. Which he supposed made sense, given the long journey it took to get here, but it was still distressing. He normally...a good night's sleep would've made him feel good as new.
Now he felt hollowed out and heavy at the same time, his lame, dangling leg throbbing. His lungs burned. The buzzing in his ears was getting worse (his head was full of bees, he was covered in bees).
At least that he could pass off as a past filled with loud music; it felt strangely good to be able to attribute some part of his new decrepit state to something other than his new realm.
Just a minute to sit here. Then he would make sure the path was clear and continue his search. Yes. Just a minute.
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Post by seraaches on Sept 8, 2009 23:52:35 GMT -5
Ira beamed some more-- really everyone was filled with joy and cheer today-- as Elias opened the bundle and became the proud owner of a rather large yellow-membraned, golden-bronze wing with not only lovely stripes along the leading edge, but piercings still intact. He had done a very good job of removing them. The King of Hearts was quite proud of himself for his work.
Indeed, El seemed to be struck speechless in wonder and happiness at the present and the Josiggy stallion was pleased that El should be so appreciative. The question, therefore, baffled him entirely. "Well, it's a gift." He didn't say it, but his tone implied 'obviously'. "I have the other one and I'm fashioning a lovely gift for Sid out of the spine." His voice gave proof that he obviously expected to be praised for his cleverness.
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Post by Trebias on Sept 9, 2009 0:10:56 GMT -5
Elias fought the anger, nay, the rage that threatened to consume all in his mind.
There had to be a good reason.
"I can see you brought me a gift," El said. Like a cat dropping a dead mouse on the doorstep. Through gritted teeth the words forced themselves.
More than twenty years of planning, waiting, raiding, planning, biding his time: they weren't wasted on a whim. He taught all the kids better. They knew that there were more important things than what they wanted for that moment for themselves.
He'd tried so hard.
"What I can't see, Ira, is why you've killed and dismembered your brother now."
Twenty years of blood, eating poison, training Rai who felt so closely to how he did. Grooming him. Fathering him. Watching his son wasting away, crippled in body and spirit.
"So tell me, Ira. What happened that was so horrible that it was finally the last straw." It was the last straw. He was done with the whims of his foster children, maybe done with THEM. He just didn't know it yet.
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Post by Bee on Sept 9, 2009 23:41:40 GMT -5
Just a minute turned into several, of course, and before he knew it he had drifted into a light, uneasy nap that may as well have been a daydream. When he was again fully cognizant, he realized that he wasn't going to find Elyse wandering outside and needed to get inside the castle proper, which was risky business.
He thought for a moment of giving up, saying his goodbyes to Senka, and slinking back off to Torquehelm to die. It would be easier. It wasn't as though he weighed much. A couple days of forgoing food would be quick suicide.
(How sad it was, that his life had been reduced to a pathetic mental battle between crawling through a castle window and throwing in the towel. It was a window. It wasn't some epic infiltration for a rebel cause.)
He made his way slowly towards the nearest window.
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Post by seraaches on Sept 10, 2009 13:01:05 GMT -5
Ira's ears perked up curiously at Elias' strange tone. It sounded like he'd swallowed something unpleasant, which was really weird since neither of them were eating anything. Oh, though they could be. Steak, yummm. Of course, the kind of steak he'd really want couldn't be had here, but, eh. He'd been controlling his cannibalism for years and he would certainly continue to do so. Though on his way back out to Katarina. . . He gave a small, happy sigh at the thought.
Ira tilted his head at El and suddenly recalled their topic, though, for the most part it didn't seem as though his attention had even slipped. "Oh, he was trying to kill Sid. So Dre threw Sarai, but I think she missed, but it got him in the back, so I just used her-- and got the weirdest pain in my leg-- to make sure that he wouldn't actually hurt Sid. But then he was dead, so I remembered this REALLY great idea I had for a spine! So we're keeping him in the family now, since you'll have that wing, I'll have the other, and Sid will have the spine." He beamed cheerfully at Uncle El yet again.
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Post by Trebias on Sept 10, 2009 23:56:30 GMT -5
Se attacked someone. That was the last straw.
"But Ira. You can control Se. So can Iggy, and Dre, and half the court to hear it when they felt the need to let me in on the plan to have him challenge Whip. Could it be you were mistaken, and Se was dangerous?"
He took a step closer. Another. He fought to keep his hands at his sides, afraid to even gesture too wildly. It was in the back of his mind, this desire for control, but it was there.
He was speaking louder and louder, and the last words were thunderous in their rage.
"Could it be that you arrogant twits were wrong, and that more people were put in danger by letting that lunatic have a shot to run the Court of Hearts? Could it be that I judged both the crazy person and his father right? COULD IT BE THAT YOU THREE HAVE NOW WASTED THE LAST HALF OF MY LIFE?!"
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Post by Bee on Sept 11, 2009 21:05:06 GMT -5
Apparently he had picked a bad place to go. He was not directly under the window from which the noise was flowing, but he was near enough to hear some kind of outburst of rage, and he shrunk back as though someone were screaming directly at him.
He didn't need to be near that kind of commotion. He needed, in fact, to be far, far away, and he slid along the wall of the castle as quietly and surreptitiously as he could, a little worried now that his shrubbery-cover was not so thick. He needed some unattented opening, something quiet, something--he fought a sigh. He was going to be at this a long time.
Maybe he should've tried to find Hadyn, and asked him to get his sister--from what he had always understood, that whole family was a bundle of strained relationships, but it was a much safer option than what he was doing now.
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Post by seraaches on Sept 12, 2009 22:39:38 GMT -5
Ira tilted his head to one side, baffled by Elias' strange and unexpected reaction-- though at least the King of Hearts wasn't yelling random things back, as he otherwise had a tendency to do. As far as he was concerned Sid wasn't 'just' a person, and, besides that, they had controlled Se quite well. His confusion likely wasn't that difficult for El to see on his face.
Still, the one thing that Ira did catch was that El felt bad about wasting his life, but that was surely not the case! So he hurried to reassure his uncle-friend.
"You haven't wasted the last half of your life!" he exclaimed quickly. "You're a Queen in the Court of Clubs, after all, and have a nice son-- if a trifle dull-- and, of course, you still have me!" This was accompanied by yet another bright and cheerful smile which probably proved that he didn't realize his aside had been said out loud among all of the other likely frustrating things he'd just said.
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Post by Trebias on Sept 12, 2009 23:15:01 GMT -5
El didn't have time for the back of his mind to try and stop him from reacting. He struck out, not with a power, with just his balled up fist, and all the strength his rage could muster.
Ira didn't understand. He didn't understand?! How could he not get even pick up a hint of the pain he'd caused? He was as bad as Se. Or at least as bad as the freak was. Another snarling shout, and he stormed out. He couldn't even look at the stallion right now.
Ira was just as bad, but he didn't go around hurting people, so society let him be.
Why had Elias left the Marsh again? If he'd known things would turn out this way, he never would have.
Cursing silently, seething, he stalked down the hallway. He had half a mind to turn in his notice to Queen Aderlass now, grab Rai, and just go home to his cabin.
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