View Full Version : The Cottage in the Brush [Closed]
(Participants: BlueGhostofSeaside, Moonberrycat)
For a while, Isylle had been a house-guest in the Mansion of Dreams in Tenger Jerhal. The mistress there was a best friend and they still regularly visited each other - until this latest trip to this world. Isylle had moved out once she had founded her own home: the Garden of the Sun. It was a vast field of flowers stretching as far as the eye could see. In the center of this garden was a grove of immense baobab trees surrounded by bright and cheery sunflowers. These trees grew so close together and had been so influenced by the flower fairy's power that they were effectively one merged body twisted into the shape of a house.
The Mansion of the Garden of the Sun was one of the great dwellings of Tenger Jerhal; the memories of it both swelled the pride in Isylle's chest and brought a hint of homesickness as she looked at the dry gully in the desert. It was a summer evening and the air was starting to cool rapidly towards the chill of night-time. This would be a good place for a temporary home.
With a flick of a finger, hardly disturbing the girl dozing in her arms, Isylle cast out a single seed from the boughs of her home. It hit the dry, dusty soil and instantly sprouted. In five minutes it was twenty feet high and five across. The inside was naturally hollow, so much as the term could be applied to anything exerted of Isylle's will. Sweat beaded on Isylle's forehead as she bent her will towards both growth and shaping.
In fifteen minutes and with much rumbling noises, the fifty-foot-high, thirty-foot-wide tree had finished. There were windows dotting the trunk, each shaded by small branches immediately above. A single doorway at ground level beckoned into the hollow interior, where the rooms were already laid out and furnished. A dense growth of yellow jasmines and purple passion flowers covered the huge trunk. The impossibly deep roots of the tree had reached straight down into the aquifier.
Panting, enduring a headache, and feeling the fatigue of seventeen years, Isylle trembled to keep one guest in her arms still. She turned and faced the second, "Welcome to my little cottage... haah..."
"Thank you." Ashla replied nicely. She looked around the "trunk house" Isylle made for her and Iris. She was amazed! To be able to sleep in one's house for the night, that was rare; to sleep in an enchanted place like this... that was very rare!
Ashla wanted to slip her belt off and fall on the floor to sleep! But she knew her manners, and instead looked to Isylle, "Where do I put my stuff for the night, I usually keep them right by me."
"You shall have the second guest room." Isylle paused to breathe. She stopped walking, too, and instead leaned against the doorframe.
"It is the fourth floor. Up those stairs." She tilted a chin towards something near the back wall. It was a staircase with round-edged steps spiralling all around the inside of the trunk and disappearing into a hole in the ceiling of this room. The wood of the ground floor was smoothed and the room had five windows, each facing a different direction. A table and three chairs, grown out of the tree itself, sat to one side of the room while shelves and a slowly-filling cistern occupied the other side. The air was filled with the scent of the flowers outside and the earthy smell of the living tree.
The second floor was, against all expectations, a rendering in wood of a bathhouse. There was a wide pool at least ten feet across. It was very slowly filling now, the water seeping out of a tan-colored ring of woody material set around the ring and. Against the far wall, there was what amounts to a privy, except that there was only a doorframe because it's quite difficult to grow a moving door, hinge and all.
The third and fourth floors were bedrooms, of a sort. There were shelves along the walls and a closet with no doors. The bed was a raised wooden platform, slightly concave, and a single enormous, living flower petal grew over it like a fragrant blanket. Moonlight drifted in through the windows, adding to the faintly phosphorescent glow of moss along the ceiling.
"Thanks, again," Ashla told her, as she trudged up the stairs to where her room would be. Fireleaf followed her. When Ashla got to her room, she right away threw her weapons to the the floor, right by the bed and flopped onto it. She didn't even bother to pull the flower petal over her; she was already falling asleep. It had been a very long day....
absentwizard
07-24-12, 11:56 AM
(Looks for Moonberrycat. We don't have quorum yet...)
Moonberrycat
07-24-12, 12:34 PM
(Oooops, sorry guys XP I saw this, but couldn't write in it at the time, so of course my ADD had to make me forget this all together right? :P)
Iris looked watched as Ashla went to her room. "Thanks Isylle, where am I to sleep?" She yawned, once more, her eyes drooped.
Ashla was already fast asleep with Fireleaf curled up at her feet. She would always wake up though, she highly appreciated the fact that Isylle was helping her and Iris, but she wondered why she was being this kind... Wasn't she a bit too nice? Or was something going on that Ashla needed to know about?
Her stomach growled.
Oops! She chuckled, I'm hungry! She giggled as she got out of her bed, now feeling more rested up. She wanted to leave Fireleaf be, but the cat uncurled from his sleep when she got out of bed. She ran over to her as she walked across the room to go downstairs and ask if there was anything to eat.
Isylle settled Iris in the first guest room, on the third floor, and barely managed to carry the load up the stairs to tuck her into the bed. The petal moved of its own accord and curled protectively around its inhabitant. The fairy gave one tired, satisfied smile before stumbling back down the stairs to wherever she had planned on resting.
---
This was the house that Isylle built. It was grown in defiance of the inhospitable sands of the desert. It was built in concordance with the desire for a comfortable shelter tonight and one whose rooms could be closed from one another. It was furnished in accordance with the tastes of the exhausted mind of its owner. That is to say, it was furnished rather sparingly.
One thing about being poorly furnished was that there wasn't so much as a larder or pantry in the house. Those weren't the sort of things that usually occured to Isylle as important parts of a house and she had entirely forgotten about them. She might even have apologized to Ashla and looked to see if she could gather her mind together to grow some fruit, if Isylle wasn't already fast asleep.
Ashla saw the scene before her all at once as she descended the stairs and into the second floor. The doors and windows had vanished, the wood grown in and closed out the chill night air of the open desert. The great pool that occupied the room had filled with sweet-smelling water; its surface had become dotted with white, open water-lilies and their pads. Neatly folded along the side of the pool was a a red, black-gridded vest, a similarly-colored skirt, a pair of tiny brass cuff studs, a yellow necktie, a white blouse, a pair of black hose, and a few other black, lacy unmentionables. In the center of the pool and entirely submerged under the water was Isylle. Hairy green vines or roots or something else plant-ish were entwined around her body, holding it down.
Her eyes were closed. Her lips slightly open. Her hair formed a drifting halo around her face.
There were no bubbles.
Ashla wondered if she should get Isylle above the water, she may not be able to breathe! But then again, she thought though, Well, she's a fairy. Maybe she breathes underwater... And she started looking around for any fruit barring plants. The teenager girl had a miss footing though, and fell into the water!
Brr!! It's cold in here!
She tried to swim to the surface, but before she could, something grabbed her ankle! Ashla's gaze sharply shot downwards; she couldn't see who or what had her; but it was pulling her down! Ashla knew that by now, she didn't have long to last, since she couldn't breathe underwater! Even though she had weapons, and only lungs, she acted by her fear before thinking and cried, "Help!"
Yep. that was a bad decision. Now she didn't have any air in her lungs at all! She knew she was going to die fast if someone didn't see her...
Moonberrycat
07-27-12, 04:22 PM
Iris hearinga scream, woke up. "I'll save you!" She cried in a mock heroic voice, just for the effect of it all. She ran out to where the sound was coming from, but then it just stopped. as in nothing, like a nothing in a nothing. totally dark, blank, empty. as if all life had been taken away from it. "Deer....are you-" her voice got cut off as she felt as if she was being dragged somewhere in the nothingness of the dark. She tried to yell out, but her voice was impossible to use, she couldn't move either. Holy carp....
Meeeeooooooowwwww!!!!
She thought she heard, then she flopped onto some table or something. She the felt a prick on her skin....and then...it went dark.
Isylle had just finished repurposing a growth of jasmine vines, which curled in through a window. The flowers had bloomed and shed. The ovaries formed into small, sharp-pointed bulbs, their tips wet with the floral-scented, complex mixture held in the seed-chambers. Little trigger hairs on the gently curving vine would cause it to snap shut and curl around whatever touched it - likely an ankle or calf given the way that Isylle had draped it carefully across the stairs outside of Iris' room. One jab, and Isylle will have a new toy.
She had immersed herself in this tranquil pool to recover from the strains of the day. The cool waters were infused with the enzymes and chemicals to leach the toxins of long activity from her flesh. The roots at the bottom wrapped around her, their hairs buried into her skin, connecting her being with that of the house. The flower fairy was simultaneously weak and strong here. Weak, because she could no more move her humanoid form than a deep asleep animal could lift an arm. Strong, because she was thoroughly connected with the massive baobab that is the temporary house and, through it, to the dry brushes nearby. Her consciousness stretched across much of-
There was a disturbance in the pool. The sensation of motion against skin outside conflicted with the sensation of motion in a cavity inside. Isylle was confused; she was blind and could only touch. Like exercising an interior muscle that you didn't know that you had, she felt her way around the pool and realized that the retaining roots had reflexively grabbed and was holding poor Ashla under. Isylle couldn't move to take advantage of the situation, and so she commanded the things to release; her attention was occupied elsewhere.
Iris had tripped the vine and the quick jab had done the job. She'll be out for a few minutes, have a bit of grogginess on waking up, and might find her new situation a little interesting. Isylle worked quickly, commanding a huge mass of jasmine vines to push through the windows in Iris' room and snugly wrap around the girl to pin her limbs. It anchored itself to a dozen places in the ceiling and suspended the leafy cocoon in midair. Leaves closed over her unseeing eyes, a pliant flower bud thrust itself into the slack mouth to ensure silence.
In this environment of total suspense, helplessness, silence, and darkness, the soporific in Iris wore off. And the powerful hallucinogen began to take hold. What terrible dreams would she have?
Moonberrycat
07-30-12, 12:49 PM
Iris coughed, and opened her eyes, only to see darkness. she tried to move, but something was holding her down. She started hearing voices, but she wasn't able to tell who's voice it was. Then she saw images, voices became words, and words became people. A scene. She saw her childhood being replayed again, a boy, beating her up on the playground. A girl, knocking her lunch on the ground, and ruining her clothes. Herself, playing alone being mocked by the others, running home with tears in her eyes, only to remember she really doesn't have a home. Older now, she's running, hand in hand with a boy, her old best friend. They stop by there favorite tree they woud climb up, instead, they watched it being chopped down. She ran away, it was his father who was doing it, she left him and never turned back once in regret....until now. She hears voices only now, pictures gone. "I HATE YOU!" a voice screamed at her. "Shut up! Your a nothing, a nobody!" A slap across her cheek. "Idiot, its THIS way." the boys friend filled her eyes teasingly. "Dunce...thats what you are, unable to learn anything!" A gruff voice muttered. It was about to get unbareable, each memory worse then the one before. She then heard a sound, soft, gentle, warm. She would never speak of who (or what) it was. Another memory, cutting herself on the edge of he bridge, her knife strayed towards her throat, then, a sharp light jolted her out of it, and she saw dark. Empty dark again. Nothing.
Meow?
Deer. Iris felt him by her side, she barely opened her eyes long enough to see the blurry version of him, then, her eyes shut. It went dark. Into a dreamless sleep.
Air! Ashla barely made it to the surface. She barely was staying cautious! She chocked up water, and staggered to her feet. She began to wonder where Iris. "Iris?" the girl asked. She decided to check her room. When she got there, she saw Iris out of cautiousness, being held to her bed by a mess of roots and vines.
Ashla drew her sword, "Iris!" And ran over cutting the vines. Iris's cat Deer meowed in worry for his owner. After Ashla had cut her way to Iris, she shook the girl violently with her free hand, "Iris! Wake up!! What on Althanas happened to you!?!?"
Moonberrycat
07-30-12, 01:29 PM
Iris coughed, she felt almost being shooken up, scared it was another vision, she opened her eyes violently. She saw Ashla and Deer, then she lost it. She started crying. Ok, she's had plenty of meltdowns before, but she felt shooken up. Her thoughts were starting to frighten her. She gasped for breath between sobs, she tried to speak, but she couldn't, everything hit her in a whirlwind it was crazy. "I....don't know..." she manged to gasp out. She started shaking, she had never felt this afraid since...that time before.
Ashla placed her hand on Iris's shoulder, "It's alright, Iris." She could tell Iris was scared, and wanted to help her so bad. She sat down next to her, put her sword back in her sheath, and hugged the poor girl. "You'll be okay." Ashla assured her, "I'm here with you." She let go of her and smiled. Iris wiped away a tear, but remained silent for awhile. She opened her mouth to say something, but they both heard a noise from the doorway. Fearing it might be danger, Ashla got up, placing herself in front of Iris, and drew her sword and long knife, ready for action. She tried not to show any fear, but she was starting to get a little scared herself.
One thought on what had happened was tugging at her mind. Is Isylle responsible for all this?
Moonberrycat
07-30-12, 02:05 PM
Iris found a bit of comfort from the hug. She was about to say that it was all just memories, but a sound by the doorway cut her off. She curled herself into a slight ball, out of fear of what could be there. One side of her said its just Isylle, she wouldn't hurt you, or Ashla! another side said Yeah right, she's fishy, and she could do somethin' bad, real bad
Isylle sedately dried herself on a big, fuzzy leaf, letting the waters purge themselves of that healing and extracting blend. The corky substance lining the pool shifted a little under her restored focus, letting the grafted-on properties of titan arum take hold. The water slowly began to warm, aimed towards the balmy warmth of human bodies.
She slowly slipped on her clothes and thought fuming, dark thoughts. Drat the girl. Drat the iron. Drat everything. Oh, how Iris had writhed in her grip as the nightmares took over! It was delightful, tasting the salt of the cold sweat as it leached into the vines and feeling the hot blood pulsing and coursing underneath that skin. That primal terror was so uniquely human, so uniquely enjoyable in its endurance and balanced intensity. And Ashla, that imbecile, had broken it all!
Isylle stepped into her shoes, and put on a warm, worried smile. The steps were deliberately slow but loud on the stairs; there was no need to surprise the girls and there was a little delicious tension to be milked from the thought of approaching doom. Just in case they were both thoroughly stupid, Isylle palmed a few rose seeds.
As with the rest of the house, there was no door in the smooth doorframe to Iris' room. She entered, empty-handed, and let her smile turn into a small frown of disapproval.
"Oh, shoo." The masses of shredded jasmine vines in the room dipped and retreated back through the window, leaving just the thoroughly-severed pieces to lay on the floor, where they began to graft with and disappear into the wood. Evidence dealt with, Isylle turned her attention to her victims. An expression of motherly concern (not that she's been one, in the strict sense of the word) settled in.
"You poor thing!" She restrained herself from walking over and giving Iris a hug, mostly because there was Ashla standing in the way with sharp pointy bits of metal in her hands. "Did you have a nightmare? I had set those vines to catch anything trying to come in through the window; I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd accidentally touch one and make it grab you! And-"
She cut off, looking with some shock at the dripping-damp Ashla, "How did you get- did you touch the water in the pool?" It was a question for show, but it was important to always put on a good show.
"You mustn't touch the water when I'm asleep in the pool! It makes a lot of creatures sick, and some of them deathly sick! It's an unfortunate necessity for me. Come on!"
Isylle waved her hands in Iris' direction with gentle urgency, "Come on, we've got to get those clothes off of you before you catch a cold or absorb any more of the extractives. I'm heating the pool now. Go and take a long soak, to get it off of your skin. Iris, dear, I'm so sorry that it happened! Why don't you go, too? I'll make a pot of something warm and soothing..."
In times of uncertainty and suspicion, it's important to push through with a force of personality and give people direction. Perhaps this way, they won't even notice that Isylle had noted the windows and doors were all guarded against access in either direction.
Ashla didn't believe her! She didn't believe Isylle! All the pieces placed each other perfectly, no matter how much Isylle played this game with them. Ashla put away her long knife, but kept her sword in her hand. She looked boldly at Isylle, "What do you want with us?!? Why are you doing this!? What did we do to you to deserve this???"
Moonberrycat
07-30-12, 02:49 PM
Iris nodded, she got up and went over to Ashla, she at the time was in no mood to speak at all, she needed to think.
The starlight went dimly on Isylle's face as she made her best attempt at a blank, confused smile. The response was undesired but hardly unexpected, though the wanton proliferation of pronounced exclamation marks and question marks suggested that Ashla was possibly not presently - or perhaps never was - in a proper, sane frame of mind. This was interesting. Isylle was beginning to learn that enough pain and terror mixed with enough kindness and benevolence would cause people to break, like a little piece of wretched iron bent back and forth many, many times. Experimentation was called for, and the first step was to make sure that the place was secure.
The doors and windows on the ground floor had been turned into solid wall so that nasty little animals like scorpions didn't find their way into the place. There were no windows on the second story because it was the bathhouse. Escaping by the third story windows would just result in a thirty-foot fall to their deaths. Trying to climb the vines covering the smooth trunk would result in them entangling and pinning the offender. Cutting away the vines would just result in the same thirty-foot-fall to death.
The cottage was secure. Isylle smiled serenely at the two and turned to go back out the doorframe, "The bath should be ready. Let me see about a few peaches, shall I? The soil's rather good for them here. Oh, and put a hot cup of tea..." her voice trailed off as she went downstairs, leaving the two to stew and come to a realization on their own. She slid a hand along the inside of the yard-thick wood of the walls along the way.
Quite secure indeed.
Moonberrycat
07-30-12, 05:15 PM
Iris looked at Ashla, "Should we go?" She asked, she was scared still, but slowly coming back to her senses. "I could use that cup of tea right about now" she added on, just because, well, it was the truth, and she bet the Ashla was just hungry and thirsty as well, but yet again, one never knew.
Ashla lowered her sword and sighed, she was tired right now I'm overreacting, she told herself. She went over to have some tea... Then realized that seeing Iris being wrapped up in vines and plants had made her lose her appetite. She put away her sword as she sat down next to Iris, and decided to start a conversation.
"Where did you get your cat?" Ashla asked her brightly.
Moonberrycat
08-02-12, 07:17 PM
Iris noticed that Ashla changed the subject. Ah well, you can't win 'em all So she tried for a smile, which more or less was only a hald-hearted attempt. "Well, he found me per-say. I was tooken to meanly by a someone who didn't want to give me something to eat or place to sleep for a night, so, as I was walking away, quite tired and flustered, she came over to me and meowed, I gave him some meat I had, and brushed his unkept fur to the best I could, and I ended up making a friend, one that i'm glad I made."
She nodded towards Ashla "How did you find your cat and how did you end up in Althanas?"
"Similar story to yours." Ashla replied, "Fireleaf came up to me, I gave him some food, and he stuck with me."
Ashla suddenly realized something, "You know, we have more in common than you think." Iris gave her a confused look; Ashla chuckled warmly, "We both have cats, we both are teenage girls, we both have no actual homes to call our own... we both apparently lost our parents at an early age." Ashla suddenly felt sad, remembering her father and uncle's deaths. She didn't remember her mother at all though, she died giving birth to her. We have a lot in common!
Moonberrycat
08-03-12, 09:39 AM
Iris blinked at her, she knew that Ashla had been through a lot, probably as much as she had been. She hugged her, she was now looking sad, and she hates it when her friends...well, aquaintices...well...she pretty much got the picture. "Don't be sad!" She said, in a lame attempt to cheer her up. I am soooo bad at doing this.
Ashla looked at her and smiled, she returned the hug, "I'll be fine." she replied, "I always end up that way. I learned to survive on my own in time..." Ashla should know! She escaped a bunch of cranky Morpholians and a band of crooks trying to capture her and make her fight for entertainment- though escaping the Morpholians was with a little help-
She chuckled looking back to some of those memories. She smirked, looking down to her sword and tapping it. She toughened up to becoming a fighter, one who was very good at hiding her emotions. That was probably why she sometimes seemed so... stern. Her harsh experiences also led her to have the urge to help everyone she saw- which got her into even greater dangers! She chuckled at that fact. I'm crazy, ain't I? she asked herself.
She looked to Iris, hoping she would say something that would continue their conversation.
Moonberrycat
08-04-12, 02:16 PM
"So....what kind of things do you like to do in your spare time?" Pretty lame, but it seemed to be worth its lot. It could provide something similer between the two girls. "I pretty much don't do TO much, I just explore in haunted houses and places people call scary or dangerous, I also visit orphanages as well, mostly to bring suplies and play with the children, though I have taken quite a liking to the babies and toddlers." She blinked, "But I do like to sing as well." she added awkwardly. She hardly admitted that to anyone, but she thought it was better to tell the truth.Man, she'll think i'm crazy! Well, I guess everyone is a bit insane...
Ashla chuckled at Iris, she sounded a little embarrassed by singing- Ashla couldn't tell why.
Ashla replied though, "Well... I too, like getting into chaos and other things. I also try to rest... I play with Fireleaf...I practice my swordsmanship... That's about it."
Moonberrycat
08-04-12, 07:17 PM
She blushed a bit as Ashla chuckled at her. "That's pretty cool. Mostly I just try to stay alive...and out of trouble" She grinned, Little Miss Mischief was starting to come out, it was her way of warning Ashla that she might get pranked sometime in the near future.
Ashla chuckled, Iris's smirk reminded her of herself. I really like her!
Ashla knew that something was after Iris and herself. She was ready to Iris and herself at all costs...
Moonberrycat
08-07-12, 02:52 PM
Iris laughed. Wow Ashla is really like me, I guess I'm not so alone in this world after all! "I'm really glad I met you Ashla, it's really nice knowing that someone is actully out there who isn't going against you and trying to hurt you or anything. Just having someone to talk to and understand that they've been through a lot like you and knowing the troubles and issues your going through and can understand really does help, it makes you feel like you belong actully." She took a deep breath, she's never actully told anybody this, and she was afraid that Ashla would hate her after telling her this. "Actully, for a time I was thinking about killing myself, I just couldn't handle life anymore, things took a turn for the worst and life just wasn't worth living anymore, I didn't have anyone besides Deer, and all that I really wanted was a friend. So, one night I actully attempted to kill myself, it didn't actully work as you can tell, but then I met you and the others and now i've got something worth living for now."
Ashla's eyes widened, Iris tried to kill herself! That's terrible. Ashla was so happy she was able to help her out!
"I'm... I'm glad a met you too..." She gave her a weak smile. "C'mon," she said, trying to change the subject again, "Let's go downstairs and see what Isylle is doing."
Moonberrycat
08-07-12, 03:37 PM
She gave her a weak smile back. "Yeah....ok, let's go." She said quietly. Oh gosh, now I scared the poor girl! Giving her head a shake, she left the room behind Ashla.
(* I think it's your turn Isylle :)*)
The first floor was in darkness, having lost all ingress for the moonlight and starlight. The only illumination came from the stairwell, sufficient only to create a a faint patch of silvery light at the landing.
Isylle didn't really need to see with her eyes, not in this place. It would be as ridiculous as needing to see in order to know how many fingers you were holding up. Her steps, each one just a soft tap, were swift and sure as she went around in the kitchen and collected the rest of the goodies basket, which was essentially synonymous with fruit basket.
It wasn't as if she had really considered another option. She was the flower master of the four seasons. Flowers turn into fruit. Everybody knew that. By the same title, it followed that the sheer unseasonableness of the contents of that basket was but the impression of a human opinion onto the complete spectrum of botanical existence. Yellow pears nestled next to pink peaches, hidden under a cluster of green grapes. Persimmons and dates rolled around a perfectly round hami melon. Coconuts banged together at the bottom. A watermelon the size of Isylle's own head followed her along, propelled by its own crawling vines.
It was this sort of incarnated cornucopia that melted out from the darkness, starting with the glowing red eyes and gleaming perfect teeth, and stopped at the bottom of the stairs to face the two oncoming girls. The teeth disappeared into that consistent, pleasant smile. The eyes almost disappeared, too.
"How nice to see you up and about. I had thought that one of you might have gotten hungry. You'll have to forgive me if the timing's wrong; I'm not very good with animals."
She had, of course, overhead the conversation earlier. It was a laughable little thing, human existence. They didn't have the constant threat of being suddenly and violently murdered because someone felt like it. They didn't have the problem of staying fed and warm while assured that, no matter what happened, they won't starve to death but will simply suffer on without reprieve. They didn't have to contend with immediate resurrection if they die, so that a bunch of bored fairies could catch you and torture you again for amusement. Suicide was a temporary solution to a permanent problem in Tenger Jerhal.
What small minds humans had.
Hello, guys. I'm sorry I was gone so long! I kept meaning to get back on, but I never had, up
till today! I'm sorry.
Ashla smiled, "Hello, Isylle, do you have anything to eat?"
Ashla wasn't really hungry though. The term of food just came up to her out of nowhere- maybe from her stomach! It suddenly growled like a lion! "Wow! Where did that come from?" She laughed, she was amused and embarrassed at the same time! "I'm sorry!"
Moonberrycat
08-25-12, 12:11 PM
Iris managed out a quiet laugh, she was still shooken up a bit from telling her darkest secret....not that she didn't have more, but that was her darkest, most untold secret ever. She didn't feel very confortable, and in fact felt very terrified. As if on cue, she remembered those dark, lonely nights she used her kinfe to cut herself, she secretly still did cut, but not as often as before. In fact, she hasn't in a couple days, and it was starting to take a toll on her, as in fear and insecurity. Not to mention suicidal thoughts started to swirl, which didn't help the fact she was already a bit dizzy from her other thoughts as it was. She stumbled to the side a bit, and grabbed something to steady herself, a peice of wood or something, she was to out of it to care, as long as she didn't fall over, it was good enough for her.
She saw spots appear and she realized quickly she was going to pass out. No! I have to stay awake...I can't give in, not now, not here. She blinked and moved her one hand on the other, and dug her fingernails into her skin, hoping the pain would keep her awake until she could calm her thoughts down. She dug in deeper, and noticed that she was making herself bleed now! It could be enough to keep her from fainting, if she calmed herself down, quickly. Taking deep breaths she told herself that everything was ok and rejected the suicide thoughts.
Gosh, I'm such a fool....
Isylle hefted the heavy basket of fruit, "Of course! There's nothing to be apologizing about. Hungry happens!" There was a little tremor in her voice, the only trace of her suppressing the urge to indulge herself in a little violence immediately. She pushed her way past the two and into the second floor, where she began to lay out the bounty all over the floor.
"Now, please don't try to kill yourself here. It would take all the fun out of things and then there would be such a mess to clean afterwards. If you really can't help yourself, I'll just have to help you. It is part of the duties of the host to make sure that the guests don't harm themselves~" There was a rattling noise like heavy wooden chains. Isylle held up four pairs of shackles apparently grown from a hard, black wood and linked with a few inches of chain. If those get clapped over the wrists, then surely Iris wouldn't be able to carry out those dangerous actions that could end the fun prematurely. Isylle very much disliked premature happenings.
She set aside the shackles in a rather prominent place. The basket was half-empty now and the floor barely had sitting room left. "Don't be shy! Eat, eat."
Outwardly, Isylle was smiling encouragingly. Inwardly, she plotted on how next to poison the both of them with something paralytic, to disarm them and then prepare them for the new games. Then-
A soft meow came from near the stairs.
Ah, right. And I have to kill those furry things somehow. While they watch, I think.
Moonberrycat
08-28-12, 06:45 PM
Iris rolled her eyes. "I wasn't TRYING to kill myself, that would be just plain stupid." She grabbed an apple to munch on, honestly, she wasn't hungry but she wanted to be polite, and the apples looked delicious anyways. I am such a horrible liar. She looked at Ashla, hoping she didn't scare the poor girl to much, she alreadly knew she was once suicidal, but it didn't mean she knew she still WAS. "You ok?" She asked, just in case, and not to mention, she wouldn't be a good friend without being concerned about her well-being.
She finished the apple in good time, and realized her stomach was QUITE empty at the time, and she grabbed another apple, they were good, and it was something to keep her busy. Iris found herself to get bored, quite easily if she didn't have anything to do, unless of course, she didn't want to do anything at all. She asked Isylle politely "How do you grow your fruit so well?" It was a easy topic, and one that Iris thought that Isylle would enjoy.
Ashla looked at Iris. She could just tell she was uncomfortable, but why? Ashla saw an orange on the table, I love oranges! took it and took out her long knife, I'm terrible at manners! But she started peeling it anyways- under the table so no one could see though.
After that, she placed her knife between her legs and went to take a bit of the orange. Right before she took a bite though, she noticed something green in it, a caterpillar? She looked to Isylle, "Ma'am, I think there's a caterpillar in this one?" I'm not going to use my knife again!
Moonberrycat
09-01-12, 05:16 PM
Iris blushed a bit, she knew Ashla could tell that something with bugging her. Eh, she doesnt need to know right now. She finished her apple and heard Ashla say "Ma'am, I think there's a caterpillar in this one?" Ashla HAS said it politly, but she could tell Ashla felt a little squirmy about the caterpiller. "Let me see it for a sec." She took the apple.
Well, there it was, plain as day a caterpiller in the orange! She grabbed one end of it and pulled it, nearly yanking it in half, but managed to get the whole thing out of the orange. Supressing a smile she said "It's protein!" With a shrug.
Ashla laughed, and then made a face, "Yes, but I still don't like them!"
Ashla didn't like creepy crawlies. Bugs tended to bug her. she remembered she used to like watching them when she was little though; laying on her stomach in the grass as she watched bees dance around on the flowers, or butterfly's flying in the air. Ashla loved it, things were so peaceful and right back in those days. She would sit on her uncle's porch and watch fireflies light up the night sky. Oh! how she wished she could just go back sometimes! It was when she felt this way though, that she reminded herself, You don't like bugs, remember?
Maybe that was why she didn't like them anymore; she kept telling herself that bugs were creepy to help hold back her own tears. She ached for the life she had before and grew to find a certain hatred for some of the reasons why. She would never hate her uncle! ... But she might hate everything else. Ashla looked at the caterpillar wriggling around in Iris's fingers, It's just a bug, leave it!
She took it from Iris- maybe a bit to violently- and placed it next to a tree, "Here, I hope I never see you again..." She turned away and went back to the table to finally start on her orange.
Moonberrycat
09-03-12, 12:46 PM
Iris smirked. "Ah c'mon, bugs aren't...." Her voice trailed off when she saw a peice of blank paper. She grabbed it and found the pencil she kept in her pocket, yeah, she knew that the paper was there for some reason, but her mind went blank when she saw one. It wasn't every day she could write poetry. She took the pencil and started to write:
Darkness lurks in the cleanest heart
Shadow's grow and leave there mark
Reaching out with no response
Alone just as you always was
Broken down and still fighting
Just wondering how your still surviving
Should've gave in when you could've
It would've been better so you should've
The war is only just starting
Run for your life
Don't look back
She folded the paper in half, then looked up.Oh right.... She blushed. "Bad habit....paper and I get along a little too well."
((OCC: Just to let you guys know, I made that poem up on the spot.))
Ashla chuckled, "That's okay, Iris. You should be proud of the skills you've got, like writing!" She smiled, and took a bite out of her orange. She looked over at the sound of a familiar "meow!"
Fireleaf ran down the stairs to her and jumped onto her lap, "Aww, kitty!" Ashla petted her feline as she continued to eat her orange, she looked up to Isylle, her face briefly looked... menacing... and dark. Isylle then noticed Ashla was looking at her and smiled sweetly as ever. Now what was that? She asked herself, suspicious.
Moonberrycat
09-05-12, 07:56 PM
Iris smiled, "Thanks, i've been writing poetry for as long as I can remember, whenever I got the chance." She reached over and petted Ahsla's cat. "He's such a nice kitty!" She then heard her cat meow. "Ah come here Deer!" She picked him up.
Ashla chuckled, "Cat lovers, aren’t we?" she smirked and turned her attention back to their host, she was getting more and more suspicious about... something that had to do wither her, but what?
She finished her orange and asked, "Isn't their any napkins?" she just hated the sticky orange juice all over her; yeah, as tom boyish as she may seem, Ashla was still a girl. She liked clothing, jewelry, cats, and she was such a sweet tooth! Then the cat jumped on the table and tried to eat the first fruit his eyes caught, "No! Bad kitty!" Ashla scolded.
Moonberrycat
12-11-12, 07:43 PM
Whoa. I am so sorry guys. I have been...busy to say the least, and forgot about this site! Let's countinue this shall we?
Iris smiled and nodded, her smile turning into a grin as she saw Ashla's cat try to get some fruit. "Oh, no, you don't!" Iris scolded the him, trying to pick him up. But, he was to fast for her, slipping out of her hands. "Blast." She muttered, glaring at him, now standing just out of her reach across the table, mocking her with his eyes.
Ashla laughed and started patting her lap, "Here, kittykittykittykittykitty! Come here boy!" she called in a friendly tone. Fireleaf looked at her and slowly crossed the table to get to his master. Ashla kept calling out to him to come over, and he starting prancing to her- then he was suddenly stopped by...
Your turn, Isylle
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