09-11-2019, 11:10 PM
/tw: flashbacks in italicized portions, mentions of death by punctured lungs in first two italicized lines, nosebleed mentioned in last four paragraphs
With another day came another sleepless night.
The starlight shining in through the lone window framed Rin in blue, while her green eyes remained wide open. She couldn’t focus, nor could she clear her head. Her body had, evidently, decided to forgo nightmares and opt instead for not going to sleep at all. She still hadn’t decided if that was better or worse than the alternative, waking up in a panic and having to check to make sure she hadn’t actually been slain.
Some creatures hoped to dream of their clanmates, but they were the ones who weren’t drowning in guilt.
With a sigh, she rolled over, got to her feet, and headed for the door. There was nothing useful about lying around and staring at the wall. Padding out into the street, she inhaled deeply. Summer air, perpetually warm, almost always humid, provided a sort of stability.
A smaller house, worn by time and weather, caught her eye. She knew this one wasn’t occupied, and she also knew it contained tools- having seen people carry pruning shears and similar objects out of its doors. Walking over and entering, she stifled a cough at the dust in the air.
Her eyes wandered the desks, until they fell upon a hammer and chisel. If someone wanted to carve messages or images into stone, that was great, but that didn’t help her much. She had been looking for...
...actually, maybe they would be useful after all. Not for the reason that she had originally come here, but the beginnings of a new idea were beginning to form in her mind. Rin stuffed the tools into her bag, then turned and left the building.
Her steps eventually led her out of the city and into the fields. She was well aware that hunting gods now, when they were on the precipice of war with the Pitt, was a terrible idea- so she might as well get to work on something productive until the raid was officially called.
This reasoning, while valid, didn’t make it any easier to step into the bounds of Starpool again.
Rin tried to keep her eyes to the ground as she approached the cliff faces surrounding the opening, but she instinctively found herself glancing up at the tree every now and then. Pendants, dozens of them, gleaming harshly in the moonlight. Moonlight… to think even now, the Huntress’ fury wasn’t completely gone.
They weren’t the only ones who had come to despise her.
Swallowing, she stopped a few feet away from the wall, then removed the hammer and chisel from her bag. She allowed herself to wander back into the recesses of her memory, things she’d tried to move forward from but never could. She needed names. All of them, in fact. She’d heard whispers, seen writings, but they were so long ago…
Months spent running from the past, and now she allowed it to catch up for just a moment. Just long enough to put it where it belonged. Their stories needed to be told- none of them deserved to be forgotten.
Telekinetically raising one object was simple enough; raising two at a time was not. She nearly lost her grip on the hammer when she raised the chisel along with it, her mind straining to split its focus between the two. Oh, well. She needed to learn eventually. Setting the chisel against the stone, she thought of the first name-
-and struck, his body slamming into the floor.
Cracking ribs, cracking stone, what difference did it make?
Inhaling sharply, Rin struck the hammer against the chisel, a steady beat to offset her unsteady heartbeat. Lines formed a letter, letters formed a name, a name formed a clan, a clan formed a member, a member formed a final survivor, a final survivor formed history. A first to die, recorded by the last to die, so she inevitably would be.
Starrynight.
As the final strike cemented his name, Rin staggered backwards, the hammer and chisel dropping to the floor. Her head was already pounding from the sudden stress, her face burning. Why? This was no more intensive than shooting, and she could shoot for much longer periods than this.
One name, hundreds more to go. Gritting her teeth, Rin lifted the tools back into the air and began carving another name into the stone, each strike growing harsher and harsher on her ears. She thought she could see sparks flying from the impacts, each a tiny echo of the fire, the fire that had-
-destroyed an observatory, a piece of history, out of spite. Planecrash, one she hadn’t met. That didn’t matter.
-brought out the best in those who remained. Phobeus, whom she hadn’t met either. History didn’t depend on her.
-struck fear into the coldest of hearts. Immortalhd, whom she had encountered once. History was for them, all of them- not for her.
-burst from one person, but obliterated an entire hospital, an entire home.
Her vision went dark, and she stumbled forward, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily. The hammer and chisel clattered to the ground beside her, none the worse for wear. Four names. Not enough to make a dent in anything except her own psyche.
”...I’m not strong enough,” she mumbled to herself, breathing in slowly. She smelled salt and iron and wetness. Reaching a paw up to her face, she ran it quickly over her nose, then looked down at it. Blood stained its white surface.
What was wrong with her? It was just four names. The Ascendants’ history went on for much longer than that. She owed them, didn’t she? All that effort expended on someone who struggled to do so much as record names or administer first aid.
Look at what you’ve become.
Grimacing, she lay down on the stone and curled up, waiting for the dizziness to stop. A nosebleed was nothing serious, she could continue to work with that, but if she couldn’t even stand, she couldn’t do much else.
With another day came another sleepless night.
The starlight shining in through the lone window framed Rin in blue, while her green eyes remained wide open. She couldn’t focus, nor could she clear her head. Her body had, evidently, decided to forgo nightmares and opt instead for not going to sleep at all. She still hadn’t decided if that was better or worse than the alternative, waking up in a panic and having to check to make sure she hadn’t actually been slain.
Some creatures hoped to dream of their clanmates, but they were the ones who weren’t drowning in guilt.
With a sigh, she rolled over, got to her feet, and headed for the door. There was nothing useful about lying around and staring at the wall. Padding out into the street, she inhaled deeply. Summer air, perpetually warm, almost always humid, provided a sort of stability.
A smaller house, worn by time and weather, caught her eye. She knew this one wasn’t occupied, and she also knew it contained tools- having seen people carry pruning shears and similar objects out of its doors. Walking over and entering, she stifled a cough at the dust in the air.
Her eyes wandered the desks, until they fell upon a hammer and chisel. If someone wanted to carve messages or images into stone, that was great, but that didn’t help her much. She had been looking for...
...actually, maybe they would be useful after all. Not for the reason that she had originally come here, but the beginnings of a new idea were beginning to form in her mind. Rin stuffed the tools into her bag, then turned and left the building.
Her steps eventually led her out of the city and into the fields. She was well aware that hunting gods now, when they were on the precipice of war with the Pitt, was a terrible idea- so she might as well get to work on something productive until the raid was officially called.
This reasoning, while valid, didn’t make it any easier to step into the bounds of Starpool again.
Rin tried to keep her eyes to the ground as she approached the cliff faces surrounding the opening, but she instinctively found herself glancing up at the tree every now and then. Pendants, dozens of them, gleaming harshly in the moonlight. Moonlight… to think even now, the Huntress’ fury wasn’t completely gone.
They weren’t the only ones who had come to despise her.
Swallowing, she stopped a few feet away from the wall, then removed the hammer and chisel from her bag. She allowed herself to wander back into the recesses of her memory, things she’d tried to move forward from but never could. She needed names. All of them, in fact. She’d heard whispers, seen writings, but they were so long ago…
Months spent running from the past, and now she allowed it to catch up for just a moment. Just long enough to put it where it belonged. Their stories needed to be told- none of them deserved to be forgotten.
Telekinetically raising one object was simple enough; raising two at a time was not. She nearly lost her grip on the hammer when she raised the chisel along with it, her mind straining to split its focus between the two. Oh, well. She needed to learn eventually. Setting the chisel against the stone, she thought of the first name-
-and struck, his body slamming into the floor.
Cracking ribs, cracking stone, what difference did it make?
Inhaling sharply, Rin struck the hammer against the chisel, a steady beat to offset her unsteady heartbeat. Lines formed a letter, letters formed a name, a name formed a clan, a clan formed a member, a member formed a final survivor, a final survivor formed history. A first to die, recorded by the last to die, so she inevitably would be.
Starrynight.
As the final strike cemented his name, Rin staggered backwards, the hammer and chisel dropping to the floor. Her head was already pounding from the sudden stress, her face burning. Why? This was no more intensive than shooting, and she could shoot for much longer periods than this.
One name, hundreds more to go. Gritting her teeth, Rin lifted the tools back into the air and began carving another name into the stone, each strike growing harsher and harsher on her ears. She thought she could see sparks flying from the impacts, each a tiny echo of the fire, the fire that had-
-destroyed an observatory, a piece of history, out of spite. Planecrash, one she hadn’t met. That didn’t matter.
-brought out the best in those who remained. Phobeus, whom she hadn’t met either. History didn’t depend on her.
-struck fear into the coldest of hearts. Immortalhd, whom she had encountered once. History was for them, all of them- not for her.
-burst from one person, but obliterated an entire hospital, an entire home.
Her vision went dark, and she stumbled forward, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily. The hammer and chisel clattered to the ground beside her, none the worse for wear. Four names. Not enough to make a dent in anything except her own psyche.
”...I’m not strong enough,” she mumbled to herself, breathing in slowly. She smelled salt and iron and wetness. Reaching a paw up to her face, she ran it quickly over her nose, then looked down at it. Blood stained its white surface.
What was wrong with her? It was just four names. The Ascendants’ history went on for much longer than that. She owed them, didn’t she? All that effort expended on someone who struggled to do so much as record names or administer first aid.
Look at what you’ve become.
Grimacing, she lay down on the stone and curled up, waiting for the dizziness to stop. A nosebleed was nothing serious, she could continue to work with that, but if she couldn’t even stand, she couldn’t do much else.
tags (06/13/20):