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 Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:01 am
The first day back didn't feel like she had gone home. A lot of stress, a lot of hardship, and no relief in sight. Not even the comforting view of Halloween made her feel any better, not while trying to care for an unresponsive, morose Igor. The voices in her head were the cherry on top; everything wrapped up into a tight little ball of undead stress, and there was constant background noise to make her second guess every little word or gesture.
She couldn't do it any more. She couldn't sit in a room with someone who barely looked at her, or who sometimes wouldn't even allow her to try and comfort them. Christof wasn't the only one who needed comforting, and she was starting to realize that particular truth; Amrita was pushing herself for the sake of her friend when all she really wanted to do was cry and scream.
So when she realized she needed an out, she mumbled her leave to Christof with a promise to return and simply walked away, tightening the shawl around her still broken throat and chest one handed as she walked away from the Undead dorms, letting her feet take her wherever they wanted to go; before she knew it she was at the Demon Dorms, and not long after that, Lizzy's door.
Sucking in a hoarse breath she reached out, rapping on the door with her knuckles, her other arm wrapped around her middle to hide her stump under a trail of shawl.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 10:27 am
She had visited Xiu - and met up with Shun and Mitsu at the same time, due to fate. It was... A bittersweet reunion, but at least she had a clearer picture of what exactly happened on the ex-Horsemen Islands now. Of course, she had other things on her mind as well - for example, a visit to Amrita and Malodore... Which was why she was surprised to find the former at her doorstep.
After all, she had expected the ghoul to do what she had done after the last field trip - lie down on the floor of her room, and stay there for a few days.
"Amrita?!" Her eyes widened as she looked at her friend, simply staring at how worn out Amirita looked, before instincts finally kicked in and she leaned in for a hug - which was when she realized that something was wrong. The undead's torso felt weird, and she immediately leaned back to fiddle with the shawl that was covering her chest, only to find that her chest had been cut open. Even more fiddling with the shawl revealed that her throat was also in bad shape.
"No... No! You should... You should be at Nurse Cricket's! Not here!" She was on the verge of panicking, and her voice had increased several pitches, "Come, let's get you stitched up!" She took hold of her hand, and attempted to tug her along.
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 10:59 am
Oh, Amrita wanted to lay down. Her entire body felt like lead. But she pushed through, keeping herself moving no matter what rigor tried to settle on her. Relief flooded her expression when Lizzy opened the door, but the look quickly turned to panic as the Demoness started to inspect her. "Aah! Liizzyy~!" She tried to stop the ghoul, but she was too tired and too caught off guard; before she could do anything but vocally give away the extent of the internal damage where her voice was concerned, the shawl was up and her wounds exposed.
Well, at least her hand hadn't been noticed! Just in case that arm was tucked behind her in the confusion, definitely hiding that if a chest wound had this sort of impact.
"Liizzyy! Liizzyy nooh--" Amrita pleaded, stubbornly planting her feet to make her friend's job even harder. She didn't want to go to Cricket! Cricket needed to heal the actually wounded, not someone whose unneeded body had taken a beating. "Iii aam fiine!" She insisted, her voice still carrying it's rasping wetness with a distinct second tone to it; an androgynous voice, her real one. Lizzy's tugging had forced her to take a few awkward and heavy steps, but on the whole she fought back with whatever strength she had. There was no way she was going to Nurse Cricket; no way. "Pleeease! Pleeease doon't...Iii doon't..." Suddenly, her voice was breaking again, but this time because she was trying to not cry.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 11:00 pm
"Amrita..." Lizzy had stopped the tugging, but only out of shock from the fact that the ghoul sounded like she was about to cry, and that usually meant that she was in need of a hug. Or two. Or a hundred billion. Hesitantly, she let her go, and gathered her up in her arms instead, one hand moving up to brush through her hair, "Alright, alright... No nurse Cricket..."
She leaned away a bit, grimacing as she looked at Amrita's body again, wondering how she got the wounds... When most other students came back looking physically well, "Come inside? You can lay down on my bed if you want!" She released her from the hug, and took her head, leading her back into her room.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 11:21 am
Lizzy stopped trying to drag her to Cricket, and Amrita relaxed visibly. She didn't want to go; she was already sick of everything telling her to go. She was fine, she didn't need to be healed, she needed to be fixed; so it meant more to her than Lizzy could fathom when she dropped the subject. Even moreso when the Demoness gathered her up in a much needed hug.
The Vetala curled into her slightly shorter friend, wrapping her arms around her to desperately return the hug, nuzzling her face into Lizzy's shoulder. She shivered as she bit back tears, refusing to let herself outright cry no matter how much she wanted to. Knowing that there wouldn't be any dragging back to Nurse Cricket, Amrita allowed the inspection by Lizzy, her gaze solidly fixed on the floor.
"Iii woould, pleease...!" She murmured, allowing herself to be lead into the room and to the bed, sitting down heavily on it's soft surface. Laying down wasn't in her interests and so she just slouched where she was, wrapping her arms around her middle and tucking her stump into another fold.
"Teell mee a happyy stooryy?" Amrita asked, glancing up at Lizzy. Too much dwelling on the bad. Too many voices, too many hours of suffering; it was time for some good, and something she needed to hear clearly from someone else, not her own voice in her own head.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 12:04 pm
She closed the door behind her, and got onto the bed after Amrita, sitting down beside her. While Amrita made herself comfortable, she stared... And stared... And when she was asked for a story, Lizzy paused, giving the ghoul several head pats before gently patting and stroking her hair, "It's alright if you want to cry now," She smiled, "You have to cry all the sadness and grief and bitterness out before anything else can go in... And then I'll tell you a happy story. Or as many happy stories as it takes to make you happy."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 2:06 pm
The headpats, the gentle brushes through her hair...it was nice, very nice. She missed this. It calmed her down, but it started to set alarms in the back of her mind; if she relaxed too much she'll sleep, and if she sleeps, she'll be out of commission for days. No, no that was bad! She couldn't bring herself to ask Lizzy to stop, so she settled to give herself this one thing to enjoy; one thing, while she fought off whatever sleepy that tried to take over.
The permission to cry caught her off guard, and her head snapped up to stare wide-eyed. The stare lingered for a moment or two before lowering again, looking at her lap. Could she cry...? Would it be a weakness to cry? No, it wasn't a bad thing...and there wasn't anyone else here. Just her and Lizzy. No upset Igors, no friends suffering from PTSD that needed looking after...there was a twinge of guilt over considering crying in front of Lizzy because she hadn't been there, but that was thrown out the window. It didn't matter, Lizzy gave her permission; clearly, she didn't mind.
She already felt the tingle behind her eyes, already felt the tension bubbling.
"Iii...'m ss-sso tired..." Amrita hiccuped, drawing in a few shuddering breaths. "Iii d-doon't knoow whaat t-to dooo...a-aanymoore." Her already broken voice became worse and worse as she began to outright cry, lifting both hand and stump to press against her face, her vines wriggling against her skin. She cried out of exhaustion, she cried for uncertainty, for hardships and a great many other things.
She had a lot of reasons to cry, and now she finally allowed herself to do so.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 9:57 pm
Although Lizzy very much wanted to ask about the hand, and the fact that she had plants growing out of her, since she had allowed Amrita to cry, she figured that she might as well let her cry in peace. The questions can come later; it sounded like Amrita had enough things on her mind to worry about.
"There, there," She didn't say anything else, only because she didn't have the context of why Amrita felt that way. Instead, she put her arms around the ghoul, and patted her back gently, still wary of the giant wound; she wasn't sure if excessive hugging and back patting would aggravate it, but Amrita was in need of these right now, "Do you want to tell me about it?"
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 10:20 pm
Amrita had done enough moving in the last few days to practically dry out almost everything that could seep from her chest; the shawl did spot the smallest bit, the darkness of the fabric hit it decently enough. Not that she ever noticed; she was too busy crying her eye out, leaning into whatever hugs came her way but never letting go of her face. Talk about it? Talk about what? There was so many things to talk about; she needed it to be narrowed down. There wasn't just one thing that triggered her reaction, after all!
"Aa-aaboout whaat?" Amrita strained to get out, her dual voice echoing sadly. "H-Hoow I acciidentally attaacked my friiendss? Howw the voiices..." She trailed off with a hiccup, wriggling uncomfortably in her own skin. "Oor hooow thosse Huunnters..." She shook her head, leaning forward even more, curling further into herself as her arms slid past her face to practically hold her head, her fingers and stump burying into her own messy hair.
"Oor...hooww I haad to tell Chriisss thaat...th-thaat...Riiley's..." As soon as the name left her mouth she began to pray to Jack that Lizzy already knew. Please, please let Lizzy know! She didn't want to have to break the news to anyone else; it had been hard enough the first time, and even then she had Calder with her to help her. This time she'd be alone, and she couldn't do it again.
Please know already, please don't make her have to say it a second time.
Amrita wanted to say this out loud, but all that came out with a choking sob.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 8:55 am
"Riley..." She muttered, lowering her head; she had cried about that. Thrice. That was enough crying for her, and now, all that remained was a heavy sadness that weighed on her chest. She had tried very hard to massage it away, but it never did leave her alone; she was fine as long as it wasn't brought up, but once it was... Fortunately for Amrita, her prayers had been answered; after all, from the way Lizzy acted, it was quite obvious.
She had already heard about what happened to Riley. She had even seen the statue, just before it was taken away by the Bogeymen.
"You can talk about anything and everything," She replied softly, closing her eyes, holding Amrita close and gently rocking her from side to side, "Get it all off your chest."
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:03 am
And so Amrita told Lizzy all the things.
How War was HEIGHTS EVERYWHERE, how there was all that running and fighting and forests - but that Calder was there for her and gave lots of cuddles at night to make sure they wouldn't topple over the edge. Also that Shun wouldn't accept her eyeball which she noted wasn't a bad thing, but something she felt Lizzy needed to know for some reason.
How Conquest was too fancy and disapproving - but that diplomacy game was good, she noted inbetween breathy attempts to bite back sobs. She won lots of favours from people she'd never met before...and from Riley. Despite mentioning the mindflayer, her voice was starting to clear up and was now less choked with sobs while being as even as it could be with broken vocal cords.
How they were told they had to stay there instead of go home, that she ran into Aymet, Calder and Mort; that they jotted down information but later on she got it all covered in blood because she's a terrible person and Hunters were stupid. Oh but on the subject of information, Shehk told her there was a book in War about 12/31/1999 but she couldn't find it, but did find some burnt pages that said 'Apocalypse' on them; at least that's what Calder and Aymet said.
Then she moved onto Famine and how it was one giant battle with vines, which was now the vines got into her body in the first place through the wounds; she even told Lizzy how Riley had contorted and heaved at the end before disappearing. After that they were all kind of thrown onto a floating area, where the isles EXPLODED and the floating land fell and the phoenix and the Hunters attacked and how one Hunter opened her from sternum to chin and stuck his hand in her chest - but she noted there that it was okay because she choked him with his own damned scarf and managed to keep said scarf, it was in her room right now.
But from there the hitched voice and crying started to pick up again; the Phoenix, the voices in her head that were still there, how the fog came back; all the details she could remember of the battle to keep the insanity from Halloween. Upon their return there was the quarantine and Calder patching her up as best as he could. Immediately following that she'd been the one to tell Christof about Riley and how he didn't believe her at first. Cruel, he had called her as if she was messing with him. Of course he did eventually come around and destroyed things, but still...he thought she was lying to him, and that just...that just really hurt. Badly. The last day or so she'd been trying to take care of him, but he was so unresponsive and so distant...she didn't want to leave him because he might need her, but she couldn't handle staying there anymore with someone who didn't often remember that she existed; that she was in pain too, both mental and physical. Exhibit A: She was still in dire need of repair, on top of all the stress she had been through.
She didn't want to go to Cricket though; she wasn't sick, she just needed a mend.
Her story kind of filtered off there, her good hand gripping the bedsheet beside her so tightly her knuckles were turning colours. She hadn't actually rested since Conquest, and between that and the voices she wasn't very well off; a very broken little doll by all standards.
"Iii aam...juust sooh tiireed." She breathed out finally, slouching forward once more.
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:44 am
And Lizzy listened to all the things, nodding and going 'mmmm' once in a while to show that she was paying attention. When Amrita started to become distressed again, she continued holding her, rocking her a little as she stroked through her hair, hoping to make her feel better; it was alright... She believed her. Every word. She was her little Amrita, even if she wasn't so little anymore, she was still little Amrita to her.
"You can rest here," She muttered, "You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others, you know... So it's okay, Amrita. You can rest now... Even undeads need their rest. I'll tell you a story, okay? A happy story with a happy ending."
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 9:24 am
By the time Amrita finished her story, she was absolutely exhausted. She didn't want anything to do with anything, and her body was starting to fail her. Sitting up was a chore, curling up was even worse, and more than anything she just wanted to sprawl on the floor and not move for weeks. Though even getting to the floor was looking like a chore now too; there was a bed here, and a Lizzy beside her, and plenty of room for her to just flop.
When Lizzy offered Amrita didn't even question it, she just leaned over to flop on the bed, curled up on her side with as little effort as possible. She didn't even say anything to Lizzy's offer, but she did lift her eye to stare at the Demoness almost expectantly through eyes hat were nearly as dead as she was. Tired, so tired...but she wanted a story. Needed it, even.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 11:45 am
"Once upon a time," She brushed her fingers against Amrita's hair, smiling as she stayed beside the ghoul, "There was a mean, and grumpy Reaper boil by the name of Ander. He could be nice, but often chose not to - especially with demons. You see, he disliked demons of all kinds, and would rather not have anything to do with them. One day, on his way to find a friend, he mistook someone else for him - it was a Demon ghoul by the name of Eliza. Deciding that he needed someone to show him around, he was friendly to her. However, his words were harsh, hurtful, and biased, and he made her cry."
She continued to pat her hair, her voice going a little softer, "One day, while Eliza was out walking a minipet, she ended up going into a pond to save it from drowning. Unfortunately, in her panic, she forgot that she had no idea how to swim. As she passed out in the water, someone dove into the water to save her... When she woke up, the only clue her savior left behind was a green coat, laid out on her to keep her warm." Her smile widened, "She tracked the owner of the coat back to Ander, who denied that he had anything to do with it - because he wanted nothing to do with a Demon. Again, he managed to make her cry - but he managed to distract her with a scareon. Deciding that he was secretly kind, she decided to give him the nickname of 'Scareon', and they became friends... Then they became better friends, but he did a bad thing by kissing her, and taking it back. It all ended well though, because they worked things out, and became a couple... But relationships are hard, and Eliza is a little tired by it at times, due to various reasons. Still, she feels that as long as Anderis happy, she will be happy... So let's hope they have a happily ever after, shall we?"
She peered at Amrita, wondering if she had already fallen asleep; she looked so tired... So worn out...
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 1:44 pm
It did indeed work!
Despite that it was a love story and love was not quite working out in her favour right now, it was a decent enough one. It sounded almost familiar actually, but she couldn't place her finger on it; not that she tried very hard, thinking wasn't something she had an immediate interest in doing after all. As the story continued on the voice telling it became more and more distant, the room becoming darker and darker; before it was even finished her eye was closed entirely, her body still and cold as death itself.
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