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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 11:33:52 GMT -5
It was one of those days. Those days that were like syrup dripping down a spoon, one moment stretching into the other until it was finally late enough to fall asleep. And maybe you would wake up the next day to find that the syrup had turned to sweet water that was running away so refreshingly fast that you could feel it sweep you away. But it wasn't the next day, and this day was still syrupy and Serena was bored. She had read every book she had, the library was closed, Ash was nowhere to find, Gabriel was away on business and Adam did somewhere, something, for the Reverend. There wasn't a sermon she could sing at, and the cult seemed to be pretty empty on the whole. So Serena had taken up an old habit that she hadn't followed for a long time. She was exploring. She was, to be more specific, exploring the seemingly endless dimensions of the further back parts in the mansion that housed most of the Cult members. The Area she had come to end up in looked nice, like it was made to live in, but then someone had forgotten about it, and now there was a layer of dust on everything and the carpet ate every sound that broke the thick, warm silence that hung above everything like a heavy blanked. Serena's Wheels squeaked a bit as she rolled down the empty corridors. Sometimes she opened a door left and right to look into rooms that had once been made to not be empty. That was until she noticed a widening of the hallway. The walls seemed to grow around her, until finally, there was a lofty doorway that led into a large room with couches and shelves and a fireplace. There was a similar one, she recognized, in the more lively part of the mansion. A common room. All the way back in a corner, in front of a window sat a figure illuminated by the soft, golden light of the sinking sun. She couldn't quite see who it was. The contact lenses Gabriel had given her helped a great deal, but her eyes just weren't used to the conditions they were faced with. At least she didn't have to wear the heavy glasses anymore. She hadn't liked them. Now, curious about the stranger, she wheeled closer to the other end of the room - and stopped with a sudden jolt as soon as she had identified whom exactly she had found. Silence was filling the void between thoughts and words until Serena finally said "The Puppeteers are gone. Didn't you go with them?" She tilted her head a bit, so that long white strands of hair poured over her shoulder as she looked at @tea .
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 11:47:33 GMT -5
Tea was wearing the same clothes he had been the day before. He was utterly relaxed and downing a great deal of tea to keep up the pleasant high that had befallen him. Finding a quiet space to relax had been fortunate, and he was lounging on the couch and sighing contentedly. It was a good, lazy day. He loved days like this.
Then he heard that question and just like that the welcome fog in his mind dissipated and his stomach flipped. His eyes slid open and he clamped his mouth shut before looking over to the siren who had addressed him. Closing his eyes again, he let out a more anxious sigh as he searched for the words to answer her.
He finally gathered the courage to speak and offered, "No. I did not." His mind flashed back to the month he'd spent healing in a coma. A month he could not remember. "Tapi didn't allow me." She'd kept him right here. As free as he had ever been. He sighed once more and tried not to let his wandering mind take over. He tried to think of how well things had been going instead.
He was too afraid to say anything else to the siren.
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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 12:01:40 GMT -5
"Why not? Aren't you evil?" Serena asked, her head still tilted. She didn't seem afraid. Maybe mildly concerned, and she spoke in her usual, quiet, but blunt manner. Rolling closer she wheeled closer to the couch Tea was laying on, then around it to position yourself on the other side of a small table "Would you mind me staying and talking a bit? Nobody else seems to be around today. And it is nice here. Quiet." She said, as if what she had asked before wasn't a reason to stay away at all. And well...it wasn't to her. Tea hadn't hurt her. He had hurt others, but she had found out that people tended to hurt themselves and others all the time. And if Tapi wanted him to stay, she figured there was a reason.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 12:06:18 GMT -5
Tea didn't answer immediately, nor did he protest her staying. Eyeing her, he searched her face and posture before reading her energy with his own. There was no malice in her questions. That was . . . odd. But she had been blunt. He supposed bluntness was all it was, and not anger at him.
His brow furrowed as he thought about her inquiries. "Define evil," he decided to prompt her before he tried to formulate a real answer. Maybe he could dodge some of the embarrassment that had befallen him while coming clean to other cultists.
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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 12:12:50 GMT -5
"I guess you betrayed your friends. That is considered evil I think. You worked with the ones that where hurting us" There was something of a shadow on her face, like a bad memory, crawling out of the depths of her thoughts "...enemies?" She was still figuring out the finer details of society and the fitting terms for certain things. Serena had watched him, watching her, observing her. And then she had tried to connect what she saw with what she new about body language. She hadn't quite been able to place it at first, but as another beat of silence ensued, it clicked "Are you afraid of me?"
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 13:17:58 GMT -5
Tea's stomach flipped again and his heart sank. Yes, by that definition he was evil. According to the little he knew of his heritage, he was evil in its purest form for the acts he had committed against kin and companions. "Then I am evil," he concluded. A bitterness rose in his mouth and he had to set the cup of tea aside before he just let it slip from his hands. "I'm afraid of you in the sense that I'm dreading what you have to say to me." While he deserved it and perhaps more, he knew it would still cut him deeply. Especially after the openness of so many other cultists towards him. He thought he might get sick with dread. Even though several had assured him the takeover had not actually been his fault, he had still neglected to protect all of them. He had aided in their destruction. He had failed them all.
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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 13:30:29 GMT -5
And while all of this was true, the Siren did not feel spite against the other member. Indeed she felt confused that she was expected to judge at all, yes, did not even understand what exactly it was she was expected to say. She thought about it quietly for a moment, her eyes cast downwards into her own mind. Then she lifted her glance to look at the and asked with a frown "But I don't have anything to say to you. I'm just curious. I don't understand why you helped them. You seemed to like a lot of people here. You didn't seem to like the humans very much. So why would you help them?" Of course the later was just an assumption Serena had made. She hadn't seen too much of Tea during the time of the takeover. She had mostly been confined in a laboratory. But that wasn't Teas fault. Tea wasn't the one who had captured her, and he wasn't the one who had....researched her.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 13:37:22 GMT -5
Tea was stunned by her almost innocent questions. Blinking several times, he stammered, "Um . . .," should he be careful of what he said? Should he be honest? Or lie? Pursing his lips, he looked at her with narrowed eyes. He decided on honesty. "I didn't like them," he spoke truthfully. Well, not truthfully enough. He'd hated them. He'd feared them. Above all else, he'd belonged to them. "But I was a puppet. Whether I liked them or not meant nothing." To emphasize, he turned his head to reveal to her his brand, cut in half by a black scar that circled his neck.
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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 13:46:28 GMT -5
There was a part of Serena that wanted to stretch out and touch the mark. But then...Maybe Tea didn't like that. People often didn't. A hand wandered to her belly. She wouldn't like it. casting her eyes down, she frowned, thinking, and then looked up with an expression that was carefully pitiful, like she wasn't sure if it was the right thing to feel. "That must have been....hurtful. Did you do it because they forced you? Trough the mark I mean. Or did you...did it fell...save?" She bit her lip "I don't know a lot about this, but....I...uhm, I read a lot. And there is this thing were people go back to bad situations because they know them. Because freedom can be scary. That's why I'm asking. Maybe that's weird.." She shrugged. "I never quite now."
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 14:06:26 GMT -5
Tea knew what she was saying and understood. She was right. For a long time being a Puppeteer had been easier than comprehending a life as anything else. Then he'd been assigned to watch the Candle Cult. So much had changed because of them.
He decided once again to be truthful. It was . . . helping. Or perhaps the tea had left him high enough he was alright with speaking. "I came of age in the Puppeteers. When they saw I wasn't fully human, my life as a Toy ended and my life as a puppet began. I was given no choice." Liam had wanted him, and he had refused to let him go to the very end. Or so he had been led to believe. "In all honesty, if not for . . . many . . . of my current companions," three of whom were still Puppeteers technically, "I probably would seek out a situation similar to what I had." Except he was desperate never to live under another's thumb as he had. To be used as he was.
He shut his eyes against the pain that flickered at the edge of his mind.
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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 14:27:11 GMT -5
"That means you lived their philosophy for most of your live, doesn't it?" Serena asked, and then slower "It must have felt...wrong to not be human. Did you feel betrayed by them, or by yourself? I mean...you believed what they did was right...where you even angry when they wanted to make you a Puppet?" She looked at him curiously, noticing the closed eyes and the pained expression. "Tea?" she asked quietly, wheeling closer. "I'm sorry...am I hurting you?"
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 14:42:02 GMT -5
He shook his head. No, she wasn't the one hurting him. Sucking in a long breath through his nose, he admitted, "I joined when I was ten. They sheltered me from their true brutality until they made me a puppet. Then, everything changed." He'd been destroyed. He'd lost everything. Everything left he'd once had. What little it was. "I tried running. I tried dying. I even tried killing my master. In the end, I couldn't escape without the help of someone else." Without Tapi, he would still be a puppet. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. "I didn't want to uphold their philosophies. But I did." He had had no other option. "You say I'm not the one who brought you in. But I'm still someone who took away the shelter the cult had become. I am guilty of that." He felt the tears spill and quickly wiped them away. Eyes darkened from the emotion, he said, "For that I'm sorry."
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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 14:48:39 GMT -5
Serena didn't say anything during the whole time Tea talked, and for a while after wards. At some point she just wheeled closer, placing her Chair in front of the Couch, and pulling herself from her chair onto the soft cushions. Then, slowly, she extended a hand and grabbed Teas top, carefully pulling him towards her until he was resting against her side and she could hug him, always leaving him the chance to pull away. "It's okay." She finally said, her voice calm and quiet.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 15:00:51 GMT -5
Tea regretted being so open. His insides were twisting. He was crying on someone else. He thought he was over this, but sometimes it just hit him. How wrong he'd been.
He didn't sob like he'd once done. He just shed a few tears and choked up slightly. Leaning into her, he felt the sincerity of her desire to comfort.
It wasn't so hard, accepting comfort. Now that there was more distance between himself and what had happened, he wasn't so reluctant to deny those who wished to help him. He appreciated the kindness. Kindness he could feel, that wasn't faked or seated in darker intentions. "I'm sorry," he stuttered out of habit.
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Post by Serena on Nov 11, 2015 15:15:49 GMT -5
"Don't be. Everyone makes mistakes." Serena answered, quietly. "Mistakes can be made better. The cult will be a shelter again." she said, stroking steadily over Tea's back. She did not know what else to do. It was a mystery that she ever got that far in comforting tea, even though her posture was still a bit awkward. And after a while, as the silence grew longer, Serena quietly said "I think your tea is getting cold." Because she didn't know what to do else.
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