< Police Brutality | Ex Pulplogs | Duelin' In Great Forks >
ST As Carmine drifts off to sleep in Corve's arms the night before his duel, her mind wanders away from her body. She dreams many nights, normal dreams of nonsense and things that have happened. Nothing to rouse her curiosity, nothing important enough to remember. But tonight she feels as if she is drifting away, lost in the clouds.
ST Corve disappears first when she feels his arms around her go cold, then misty, then fade away to nothing. Then the bed under her becomes a block of ice that quickly melts away. Even the ever-present feeling of Eminence turns cold and drifts off into the dream, leaving Carmine all alone.
ST In fact, Carmine is unsure why she is thinking of herself as Carmine. That isn't her name. It's pretty enough, but it isn't hers. Why would she call herself Carmine?
ST The woman who is not Carmine stands or drifts in darkness. Her only company is the occasional wisp of shadow or patch of ebony-black, darker then the darkness.
Carmine looks around herself ... or around the woman that is not herself, wondering why she is here, trying to light herself.
ST The woman who is not Carmine wonders why, if this is a dream, light does not come when she wills it do. But whatever the reason, it does not. A voice comes, however, from the darkness. A voice that seems familiar. She can almost see the speaker standing before her...
ST "We can work it out, love. There won't be any problems. I've been listening to the Teacher for days, everything he says makes sense!"
ST It's a man's voice, the woman is sure. And it warms her heart to hear that mellow baritone, so well suited to singing. She can almost remember his favorite song to sing to her...but then it flies away, like everything else did.
Carmine "The Teacher?" she questions, so sure she should know who he is, who is speaking to her now. Shouldn't she? That was ... right ... wasn't it? She knew this man, knew what he spoke of.
ST "Of course, the Teacher. He's said we can go with him when he leaves and we'll be able to take the tests. They'll let us in! He promised me."
Carmine took a step towards the voice in the darkness, to try and get closer, to try and see who speaks. "The tests ..." she says, testing the phrase as she does. "I don't think I know how to pass them..."
ST The voice laughs, a rich sound of mirth and love that fills the woman's head and makes her smile in spite of herself. "No worries, love. You can pass, you can do anything you want to. I'll be there to help you."
ST The voice fades away, not into the silence between speakings but the way everything else has. It is gone and somehow the woman knows it will not return.
ST A bit of her heart turns to ice and melts away into nothing at the knowledge that the warm baritone will not return. That she will never hear it again. But the woman can not quite remember why her heart feels heavy or why there is moisture in her eyes.
Carmine No... no! Come back! ...come back, damnit. I want to know ... why ... it's ... so ... heavy ... now.
ST "I'm sorry my dear, you can't see him now. He isn't well at all." Another voice, a woman's, comes from the dark. It sounds sad, comforting someone in pain. But the woman who is not Carmine can hear the falseness behind the sympathy.
ST "No, my dear, I simply can not let you into his room. You just go have something to eat. I'm sure he will be better later. It will all be fine."
Carmine "Let me in!" she looks around, for something to .... she doesn't know how the not carmine should react. She curls up around the ice, the sorrow.
ST "That won't do any good, dear. He's dead, I'm sorry to tell you. He died in his sleep. There was nothing to be done." The woman tries to put sympathy and kindness into her voice, but clearly she has little practice.
Carmine "No ... he can't be ... he told me he would be there for me ... he told me ... He ..." he ... he's gone.
ST There is a faint moment in which a male face appears in the darkness, a laughing face with bright eyes and brown hair, bright white teeth showing against a beard. The face disappears in a splash of blood, leaving the woman alone in the darkness again.
Carmine is reducing to simply waiting for the next thing, the next visions, the next memories ... if they are such... she starts to walk.
ST A voice that brings a bad feeling to the woman's heart comes next, from the darkness. A man, his voice oily and soothing and false as a Nexan's promise. "You are ready now. There are no distractions, nothing to take you away from your journey to be with us. Once you are with us, he can come back. He is only waiting for you to bring him back."
ST For a moment, the woman in the darkness remembers a bright light and a voice...man? woman? she isn't sure. But the light burns and then freezes her mind. "You'll thank me later, I do pray." And with a sudden plunge into frigid waters, Carmine is awake.
Carmine pants into the darkness next to corve, reaching out to him, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him close to her, needing to feel that he is real, that he is solid, that he won't fade away.
Manu pries his eyes open and awakens, turning slowly in the bed to look at her. "Carmine..? What..." He tries to push himself up on his elbows, hand stroking her hair to sooth her. "What's wrong..?"
Carmine continues to run her hands over him, kissing him softly "...I dreamt I wasn't me..."
Corve blinks, still pretty drowsy. Dreamt she wasn't... "...weren't you? Who were you?"
Carmine "...Me. But ... not."
Corve nods a little, running a hand through his forehead and sighing gently, his fingers stroking her hair. "Maybe... who you were before?"
Carmine seems to relax a little as she's stroked "I...think so. I ..."
Corve smiles, kissing the top of her head. "And what did you do in the dream, love?"
Carmine "...I lost someone."
Corve raises a brow. "Lost someone? Who?"
Carmine "...I don't know." she burries her face in his shoulder, and he can feel hot tears.
Corve reaches over to wipe the tears away, shushing her gently. "Alright, love... it was probably just a nightmare..."
Carmine shakes her head "... It was too real for that."
Corve "How do you mean?"
Carmine "I knew him ... I knew who he was ... I knew. and now I don't..."
Corve "Huh. Odd. Well, do you recall what he looks like?"
Carmine "No." she whispers softly.
Corve nods softly, kissing the top of her head gently. "Well, what was so real about it?"
Carmine "...My heart."
Corve raises a brow slowly. "I... see. Well, what happened, aside from losing someone..?"
Carmine "It ... ... ended then."
Corve "Ah. Well, it's over now," he says, stroking her hair gently and kissing her. "Relax. I'm here, alright?" This is why he's so protective. It's not that he thinks she'll get hurt physically... but, there's a scertain frailty to the rest of her that makes him nervous to leave her be.
Carmine nods, and presses up closer to him, resting her head on his chest, relaxing slowly, drifting back to sleep.
Corve just lays there, confused for a while, before falling worriedly back to sleep.
Stryck Wiki