Post by Kireon on Aug 10, 2014 0:57:49 GMT -5
I should have known.
Her hand barely whispered across the paper as her pen flowed simply, smoothly from one character to the next with a scratching sound so familiar and soothing. Bandages white as the clothing beneath her pine green surcoat wrapped their way around her palms and disappeared beneath the cuffs. Long white hair spilled over one shoulder in a plait that coiled against her lap, the light from the lanterns and lamps catching the pristine strands with a soft glow that cast soft shadows against her young face. Snowy lashes framed a pair of large, gentle brown eyes with heavy, dark shadows beneath them. They moved quickly, following the back and forth of the pen's tip against the page.
I should have known that this would happen. It's how it always plays out in all the stories and fairy-tales, even in the manga and anime and video games too... you can't run from it. You can't hide from it.
You can't escape from that which lives inside of you.
A month? Maybe more? I don't know how long I've been here now, but in the time I've been here, I haven't felt anything living other than those who reside here... and that... that isn't necessarily "living". It's not Earth, it's not alive.
There's only artificial light here.
I wonder if this is what plants that are grown in greenhouses, in warehouses feel?
Artificial light, man made soil... all chemical and artificial and a pale shadow of what they know instinctively is outside those walls.
Except... instead of the world they long for outside those walls, there's something worse out there. Endless desert. Endless night. Endless dangers. Endless, endless stretches of nothingness in this land of the dead who aren't dead. The scratching of the pen stopped for a moment, one bandaged hand reached up to hook a stray tendril of hair back behind her ear. Her eyes closed, brow furrowed as if pained as she opened them again and forced the words to flow again. They're not dead. But they're not living either. They're stuck in this in-between stage where they're suffering. They're in pain. So, so much pain and it hurts to just watch them sometimes. They're drawn to each other, to those who would destroy them, and to those they long to destroy because of that remaining sense of pain.
They're more human sometimes than actual human beings, and I don't know how to feel about that. I can't figure it out.
Little tremors tapping themselves beneath her feet and a sense of someone unfamiliar approaching caught her attention, threw her from her thoughts as effectively as a bucket full of frigid snow melt from a mountain stream. Her breath caught in her throat, heart thundering against her chest as bandaged fingers wrapped around the slender crystal pendant worn around her neck.
Brown eyes leveled themselves on the door way as she rose sharply from the table she'd situated herself on, diary forgotten in its opened up state with page and a half written upon in her small, neat hand-writing. She didn't recognize this person's signature, had already lowered hers as far down as she could possibly manage it. "Weakest Hollow I'd ever met" was what Takua had called the 'strength' left that she couldn't hide. Something she'd been relieved to hear; a small fry wouldn't be bothered with by Arrancar or other Hollow, not unless she wound up face to face with someone unexpectedly.
Her eyes darted to one of two entrances/exits, uncertain as to which she could possibly get to before, or even after, the unexpected guest entered. Causing a mess in Aya's tower didn't feel right at all, the Espada had been far, far too kind to her for any kind of destruction to happen. She already felt bad enough as it was about Takua's lab, even though he'd tried again and again and again to reassure her that it could be replaced with better things, that he'd been thinking of getting it remodeled and upgraded anyways.
Please just be passing through, she prayed silently, hands trembling. please be looking for Aya-sama or Takua-san. Please be on your way and not coming here. I'm not anything worth looking into, just a weak presence probably taking a moment to read something or on a snack break. That's all, nothing to see here. It worked a lot in movies and games and books. They would think that, hold their breath, and then the person would change their mind or just go about their business without looking.
If they asked, she was just finishing up some free time and had to go back to the labs as ordered. That would work, that would have to work. She could state a loss of time, having forgotten she had to do something important and thus simply couldn't stay to chat.
It would work this time, right?
...right?
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Word Count: 820
GP Earned: 16