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Post by Erik on Sept 23, 2008 9:02:47 GMT -5
Erik fell back, as if dealt a physical blow.
Freak.
The sense memories had not faded over the years, even if the triggers had been few and far between. Now the noise and heat and hatred of those crowds bubbled around him and he was a child again, a young man, a shell to hold the mockery and Schadenfraude of others.
His daughter, his own flesh, was like all the rest.
"Erik was right to lock her up," he said, his voice like steel on a whetting stone. "He never should have let her have you, to twist against him, to be taught to think as ordinary men do." The feral snarl was barely suppressed. He wrenched open the door, his towering rage contained within like a tornado cloud that has not decided yet where to strike. "If you insist upon thinking as ordinary men do, then you must throw yourself upon their tender mercy and live among them. Erik tried to protect you, and this is the thanks he gets?"
The crowd of memories pressed against him, jostling and laughing as he felt the one last shred of his borrowed humanity slipping away. He ripped off his mask, his yellow eyes livid and his jaw working spastically.
"Yes, take your one last look and begone!"
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Post by Pina on Sept 23, 2008 14:35:06 GMT -5
*She flinched back when he entered the room, afraid for a moment that he would hit her. But he didn't, and so she stood glaring at him for several seconds.*
"Fine."
*She picked up her bag, closed it, and marched out of the room with her head held high. He just didn't get it. He probably never would. Good riddance, then. She was going to go off into the world and be a real person, instead of hiding in some dank dark basement all her life.*
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Post by Erik on Sept 23, 2008 14:39:41 GMT -5
He turned as she left, reaching out instinctively, his fingers splayed in a pleading gesture.
"Pina, don't!"
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Post by Julian on Sept 23, 2008 14:41:49 GMT -5
*Julian watched in shock as she hurried past. She was like a stranger, nothing left in her of his princess. And in that realization, something inside him died. And something new was born of its ashes. Something darker.*
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Post by Pina on Sept 23, 2008 14:46:54 GMT -5
*She pushed past them, detirmined not to look back. She couldn't help it, though.
A final glance back- her father pleading, desolate, and Julian, who never looked quite completely human, looked darker now. More off.
A chill passed through her. She'd done that. To both of them. Struggling to keep her face emotionless, she left the house on the lake, and started her long climb back up to the world.*
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Post by Erik on Sept 23, 2008 14:52:08 GMT -5
The two men were left alone but for the sharkman out in the lake, shunned by that which they loved and thereby made even more fully into that which they had been condemned for being. Erik's hand reached out blindly, seeking something to hold on to, something real that did not shout "Freak!" at him.
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Post by Julian on Sept 23, 2008 15:04:52 GMT -5
*It took a moment for Julian's attentions to shift, but when they did, he caught Erik deftly, wrapping his long arms around him, desperate to shield him from the rest of the world.*
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Post by Erik on Sept 23, 2008 15:49:59 GMT -5
Erik was trembling, still seeing the mocking faces everywhere even as Julian's arms rooted him to the present.
"Don't leave me," he said in a broken whisper.
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Post by Julian on Sept 23, 2008 16:13:12 GMT -5
"Never." *Julian promised blindly. As if he could. He held him tightly, his promise made more concrete with his body's affirmations.*
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Post by Erik on Sept 23, 2008 16:49:38 GMT -5
Erik seemed to receive strength from Julian's embrace, the memories receding even if the pain did not. "Why must they all leave?"
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Post by Julian on Sept 23, 2008 16:55:13 GMT -5
"I don't know." *Julian breathed, his embrace constant and unyielding.*
"I don't think I will ever understand..."
What it is to be human.
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Post by Erik on Sept 23, 2008 18:02:14 GMT -5
"Why should you?" Erik demanded. "There's no constancy in the lot of them. No real love." He shuddered against Julian. "Where did Erik go wrong, my boy?"
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Post by Julian on Sept 24, 2008 6:21:03 GMT -5
*Julian's eyes softened (always an unnerving sight on him) as he cupped Erik's face with his hand.*
"You know that there is better. Where they are complacent in their frivolities, you crave for something more. Something honest. The truth."
*He tried to support him soothingly.*
"I have yet to meet one of them that does not fear true love."
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Post by Erik on Sept 24, 2008 9:05:55 GMT -5
((Julian is the ultimate enabler.))
"I do," Erik agreed gravely, Julian's words calming him by virtue of confirming his own convictions. "But they will be sorry, won't they? Oh, Erik will not go after them. But they will recall what they have lost... and be envious."
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Post by Julian on Sept 24, 2008 9:24:24 GMT -5
((Yeah well...pretty much. But who better to play the Devil?))
Yes. That is better.
*Julian stroked his back gently.*
"I will stay. I will see you loved." *He promised softly.*
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