Aurora - Rean Heart

[awakenerd]

You float in a void--darkness around you, above, below, in every direction, nothing. You stand on nothing, you even breathe nothing. But you do not feel in danger, you are not suffocating. You are simply existing in… Nothing.

Crow | Towa | Dusk | 80H | Rufus

Comments

[voreaciously]

"What is this curse? Can it be excised?"

[awakenerd]

"It is... Let's just say I and it are intertwined. We're the same."

[voreaciously]

"So trying to untwist it would be harmful to you."

[awakenerd]

He goes a little gentler.

"Think of me as... Part of a filtration system. I'm charcoal and the curse is poison. It's impossible to extract that poison now, I've absorbed it. You'd have to break me into so many pieces you'd never fit me back together to even separate us.

Yes. It would destroy me.

But someday I will destroy it, and I will still be me. Until then, it's better if I am here."

[voreaciously]

She ponders this. "You had better."

NOT THAT SHE CARES!!!!

but she looks out to the corpses.

"This, though...what would happen if I buried the bodies? I am not trying to erase your actions, but..."

[awakenerd]

"...I don't know."

[voreaciously]

"If you'll excuse me for a little while."

She tries to will the scenery into giving her a very good shovel!

[awakenerd]

If all she wants is a shovel she gets it. Anger just watches her, looking more depressed than pissed, slumped on his throne.

"Isn't that going to be a lot of work?"

[voreaciously]

"It should be, do you not agree?"

She could easily will the setting different, but that feels...not right. Flippant. Like these lives weren't worth as much.

[awakenerd]

"....Yes... It should.

But it shouldn't have to be your work."

[voreaciously]

She shrugs, an elegant roll of her shoulders.

"I'm being selfish, I admit. I simply just do not care for this scenery."

Again, something she could change easily, and even though she says that, she clearly does nothing to shift it.

"You have enough work to do as it is. Since I take umbrage with it, I should take some responsibility and change it, myself."

[awakenerd]

"....You aren't fooling me."

[voreaciously]

"Pardon me?"

[awakenerd]

"Talk of being selfish or whatever. You can't propose to take on something like this and pretend it isn't being kind."

[voreaciously]

Without missing a beat.

"I most certainly can, because it is. I am simply not someone who rests on her laurels. That is all. I will be seeing you when I am finished, Instructor."

And she's off. She doesn't really get tired in the traditional sense, and since she believes she shouldn't, that should be even less of an issue in this heart, but she is going to seriously dig graves for.

Every.

Single.

Body.

It won't take as long as a human, but she is still only one (not-)person, so it's still going to take a long time.

[awakenerd]

He doesn't say anything as she works, but he does watch her. Because she believes she can do, she can do it. But there are hundreds of thousands of dead to dispose of.

It takes a long time for one woman.

At first it also doesn't seem to do anything really. There's so many corpses that one or two or a dozen or a hundred or a thousand make no dent int the piles of the dead.

Make no dent in the atmosphere.

But, slowly, very slowly, there begins to be a shift. And as she finally finishes about halfway, the light seems to get better, less gloomy.

[voreaciously]

She's used to being in places where time shifts oddly, so spending weeks or months doing this, really is not a big deal to her.

Yes, it is terrible, but it's supposed to be.

Every time she finishes a grave, she wills gladiolus and white heather flowers to leave behind.

But knowing she is having an effect only makes her more determined, and she keeps at it.

[awakenerd]

When she is two thirds done, Rean starts crying. It's silent, but he doesn't stop.

By the time she has buried the last corpse and all that's left is the bone throne, the blood to mop up, and Rean, he's curled in on himself sobbing.

And yet now, every step is lighter and heavier, the light is not bright here but it is gentler, and the flowers bloom on every grave.

Obviously most of the graves have no markers, but some do, small stones with a name. Just as most of the corpses had no faces or even genders. Some did.

1/2

[voreaciously]

She does use her magic to wash the blood away in a pure tide, not out of laziness or disrespect, this is simply the power of water. To cleanse and rejuvenate.

She is immensely powerful, but the fact that it stretches so far...is that something she could do normally or simply because she is using the power of belief in this place?

Perhaps it does not matter.

"The gladiolus flower signifies remembrance while white heather symbolizes protection and indicates that wishes will come true," she starts, as she finds him when her work is finally, finally finished.

[voreaciously]

"Are you crying?"

oh no OH NO? Is he gonna LOSE CONTROL? why is he upset??

[awakenerd]

He's just gonna like, sob here it's fine.

[voreaciously]

Her face softens and she imagines something very specific: that, at least for now, the chains don't disappear, they simply change. He is still bound, but they become several rings around her fingers, instead. He still will retain his emotional control, the curse will remain sealed as long as these rings exist, and they will continue to exist until she explicitly wills them otherwise.

She believes this with all her heart.

Then, and only then, will she close the distance to wrap her arms around his head and neck.

[awakenerd]

For now that does not seem to trigger any kind of murder? Maybe it did work.

What is definitely happening is Rean crying against her in great sobbing hiccups, keening and seeming like he might never stop.

[voreaciously]

She gently, patiently pets his hair and does not hush him. She imagines there's so much he needs to let out.

She will wait for as long as it takes.

[awakenerd]

It takes a while. She isn't wrong. There's a lot to cry about, and when he's done he looks worn with red rimmed eyes and dark circles, just leaning on her shoulder in exhaustion.