Jecca Mehlota (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jecca_mehlota) wrote2006-12-24 07:52 pm
jecca_mehlota) wrote2006-12-24 07:52 pm
Using the wrong computer again
We're going to restore it soon (because, wow, it's a completely new level of "doesn't work"), which means I'm looking through the old files and pulling out the ones I want to keep. This is the one that can't send email (or do much of anything, really. I'm not sure why the internet works on it, to be honest), so, uh, yeah. 'Nother file transfer post, here.
Stumbled upon a thing I wrote a while back (don't remember when) featuring the original character of a friend of mine. (Incidentally, the same one I was up all last night writing about. Creepy coincidences get along well with her. Go away, Silent Hill / OC crossover.) (Jade is my character, but the main person here is not. (un?)Fortunately, Hotaru's creator allows me to do pretty much anything I want with her.)
Nightmares
Hotaru sighed and shook her head. Where in the world had Jade gotten off to? Only a moment ago she'd been not five feet ahead, muttering something about how much she hated prickly underbrush. The woods weren't especially dark or thick, so it seemed unlikely that Jade had wandered out of sight. Maybe she'd blacked out? But Jade, despite her outward gruffness, wasn't one to leave a companion alone in the middle of the forest unless she had good reason to. Usually, Jade would just yell until she snapped out of it. Was this some sort of joke, then?
There was a whisper behind her and she spun around, preparing a retort to whatever sarcastic statement Jade was probably about to throw at her. She blinked when she opened her mouth to reply to the birches and brambles. Hotaru tilted her head and drew her glaive before she, as cautiously as possible, stepped forward. It hadn't better be a pack of bush leapers, because the last thing she felt like dealing with were the vicious little carnivores.
But, no, even after she poked relentlessly at the brush, nothing appeared. This was, she decided, quickly becoming a little too weird. Maybe Jade had gone back to town while she was out? She had done that once... It wasn't like they'd gotten very far, anyway. Shrugging, but not putting her weapon away, she started back toward Adsin.
The light was starting to dim, she noted. She had to hurry if she wanted to make it back before night. While the forests were relatively safe in the day hours, assuming one had a weapon they could effectively wield against the leapers, at night, with the nocturnal animals out, they were anything but. In a group one was generally fine, but solo travelers were notorious for vanishing. She shuddered faintly, unable to forget the first time she'd run across a night lizard. Jade had appeared, drawn by the noise, but if she hadn't, Hotaru Okame would have only been one more name added to the list of the missing.
Another whisper caused her to glance over her shoulder, more as a precaution than any expectation of seeing anything. She was surprised again when she found herself staring at a small girl.
"Hey," Hotaru started, before noticing in the all-too-quickly fading light that the girl's eyes were dull. A spirit. Or a hallucination. She smiled sadly at the image. "Are you lost?"
Sometimes they could respond. This one either wasn't able to or didn't want to. She only stared. Hotaru had become accustomed to it years before. Jade pretended Hotaru didn't see things; it was a subject she understood not to address, ever. Snap her out of her trances, but don't ever ask. Yes, there were times when Jade's lack of curiosity was a blessing. Hotaru smiled at the girl again before turning back towards the town. There was light visible ahead now, so she knew she must be close.
As she drew nearer, though, she could smell smoke, and realized in horror that the town was ablaze. A snap and a glance behind her revealed the spirit girl still standing there, now with blood seeping from numerous scrapes on her body. Hotaru grimaced, then bowed. "I'm sorry if I've walked through your grave site, spirit. Please leave me in peace." Without waiting to see if her plea was granted, she burst into a quick dash for Adsin.
Something roared ahead of her, and she tripped over a root. Odd, she noted vaguely, as she fell. Normally this path was fairly obstacle free. She was surprised when, instead of dirt, she fell into a patch of ferns. Somehow she'd wandered off the path! She frowned. No wonder Jade had left, if she was that out of things today. Still, the town was just ahead! She could see the bridge that led to the gate now, could see the flames just beyond it! She struggled up and kept running and soon pounded her way across the sturdy wooden bridge before remembering that the only town that was entered via bridge from the land was Endtil. How in the world had she managed to cross the plains of Andrith? Jade was waiting in Adsin! ...Jade, she thought cynically, probably thought she'd been eaten alive and was celebrating in a dark corner somewhere. She stopped in the middle of the street and started weaving a water spell over the closest fire, pleased by the way steam hissed up and mixed with the smoke already hanging in the air. The smoke was making breathing hard, she realized, and bit back the urge to call the wind to blow it all away.
People were screaming up ahead, and she hurriedly finished dousing one flame and started on the next. She watched as the little fire sprites shrieked in anger and pain and warped out of existence to be replaced by laughing water sprites, gleeful in their victories. The two forms almost seemed to be playing a game, and she was mesmerized by the way they chased each other, creating brilliant flashes and sounds along the way.
Suddenly, there were too many fire sprites, and she fumbled for her glaive. If she could use it as a focusing point, her spells would become more powerful. She gasped as she realized she didn't have it. She must have left it in the ferns when she fell! Townspeople started running towards her, angry that she couldn't help them. They stopped several feet away, glaring, and she tried to apologize, but the fire and water sprites stole her words and used them to create even grander explosions. Several of the people drew long strings of rope, and she stepped back in shock as the situation became clearer.
The town wasn't burning! They had lit bonfires! The shouting wasn't made in terror but in celebration! She had been ruining the fun, so of course they were angry! She backed up a little as they came closer, and then she turned and walked quickly for the bridge, a bit afraid. She reached the end of the road and looked across the bridge into the gloom beyond.
The little spirit girl from before was standing in the middle of the bridge. Her hair was dirty and her clothing was in tatters. There was another roar, and a massive, dark colored lizard stomped its way into view on the far side. Hotaru stopped and realized in horror that this was no ghost at all, but a real little girl. The girl smiled at her faintly and the lizard roared again and started onto the bridge, sensing an easy snack. The girl seemed unaware of the danger she was in and Hotaru stepped forward to warn her.
Someone grabbed her arm roughly, and she turned to meet the angry face of one of the townspeople. Another one grabbed her other arm and she turned back to the scene at the bridge.
"Let me go! Can't you see she's in trouble! She'll die!" They didn't listen and instead started to tie her arms behind her back. "Stop!" She struggled, but more people cam forward and held her still, and soon her legs were bound as well.
The lizard roared again, and this time the girl turned and shrieked in terror. She stared to run to the town, but the lizard was too fast and pinned her under one heavy foot. The crowd moved away until only two men remained, one on either side, holding her up. Hotaru screamed at them to let her go and spit at them, but neither so much as blinked.
She turned back to the girl, who had ceased her screaming and flailing. The little girl looked up and straight into Hotaru's eyes and something dark and terribly seized Hotaru's insides. "Kirichi!"
The lizard was quick and in one harsh movement took off her sister's head. Blood went everywhere, and clumps of dark hair fell onto the bridge. It was raining now, somehow, and the blood and the hair and the smoke and the water all ran together until Hotaru wasn't sure she could see anything anymore. The lizard finished and headed back into the forest. Someone behind her was laughing, and one of her two main captors picked her up and carried her into the center of town, where the largest fire yet was burning.
The people around her started chanting something, and her eyes stung. None of what they were saying sounded like any language she knew. She made a note to ask Jade about it. The rain made cruel hissing noises as it fell on the bonfire, and she felt the heat of it as she was brought uncomfortably close to the flames. The man set her down on the ground and the group started chanting louder. The man, she thought, looked an awful lot like her father had when she was young. A woman came forward; her face was covered by a veil. With incredibly strength, she pulled Hotaru's head up by her hair and, with a small blade, gouged both of her eyes out. It hurt, and she screamed and screamed. Then something soft was pulled roughly over her head - some sort of robe - and someone picked her up again, but now she couldn't see who. She had a faint sense of vertigo before she landed with a loud crash on her right side in the middle of the fire.
Immediately her face and body caught flame, and she couldn't remember any spell to save herself, couldn't save Kirichi, couldn't save the water sprites... She struggled as best she could and the ropes holding her arms burned away, but she couldn't feel her fingers anymore. She tried to scream again but she couldn't breathe at all, and for some reason her right cheek stung more than anything else.
Something snapped loudly and Jade glared down at her, left hand raised and reddened. Hotaru gasped loudly, trying to take in oxygen, but neither said anything. After a minute, Jade dropped her arm and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, and headed back to her own room. Hotaru sat up and pushed the blankets off herself. She roughly rubbed at both her eyes, and one hand stayed on her cheek, which was still sore from the slap Jade had given her. She stood, smoothed out her nightgown, and padded softy over to the window. She forced it open, even though it was almost winter now, and rested her elbows in the sill, still breathing too deeply. She stood there for the rest of the night, staring down at her own hands and ignoring the sounds of Arlinson as the port city prepared for another busy day.
~-~-~
Notes:
This was supposed to be vague and weird. Hotaru is having one of her dreams (as the title probably implies) and, as usual, doesn't realize it, even though things are a little off and she's noticing things she normally wouldn't (like "watching sprites" while she's trying to save the town). Mostly I'm trying to get an understanding of some of Hotaru's more realistic (*cough*) ... vision/nightmares. The lack of description ("yeah, and it hurt when her eyes were gouged out, but whatever") is meant to show that she's really not all thereever sometimes.
The townspeople are actually speaking in English (or whatever generic language doubles as English in that world), but I have the odd sense that whenever Hotaru starts losing it, she stops thinking in that language and moves into the direct magic language, which, because of her incredible abilities, she would know (probably without even realizing it).
Also, Jade slapped her twice. Hotaru woke up after the second one. YES THIS IS COMPLETELY IMPORTANT REALLY. >.>
And now I must accompany my mother to her Christmas Eve church-thing. By "now" I mean, in an hour.
Edit:
Hotaru? Look, I'm terribly sorry, but as you no doubt know already, I had a nice chat with your creator tonight, and she fully endorses your jaunting through Silent Hill. What's more, she even rather liked the bits that I showed her from the story.
Guess you're stuck with this.
...And if anyone could explain why I suddenly find myself writing characters into Silent Hill scenarios on Christmas / Eve, I'd... greatly appreciate it, really. I mean, of all days.
Stumbled upon a thing I wrote a while back (don't remember when) featuring the original character of a friend of mine. (Incidentally, the same one I was up all last night writing about. Creepy coincidences get along well with her. Go away, Silent Hill / OC crossover.) (Jade is my character, but the main person here is not. (un?)Fortunately, Hotaru's creator allows me to do pretty much anything I want with her.)
Nightmares
Hotaru sighed and shook her head. Where in the world had Jade gotten off to? Only a moment ago she'd been not five feet ahead, muttering something about how much she hated prickly underbrush. The woods weren't especially dark or thick, so it seemed unlikely that Jade had wandered out of sight. Maybe she'd blacked out? But Jade, despite her outward gruffness, wasn't one to leave a companion alone in the middle of the forest unless she had good reason to. Usually, Jade would just yell until she snapped out of it. Was this some sort of joke, then?
There was a whisper behind her and she spun around, preparing a retort to whatever sarcastic statement Jade was probably about to throw at her. She blinked when she opened her mouth to reply to the birches and brambles. Hotaru tilted her head and drew her glaive before she, as cautiously as possible, stepped forward. It hadn't better be a pack of bush leapers, because the last thing she felt like dealing with were the vicious little carnivores.
But, no, even after she poked relentlessly at the brush, nothing appeared. This was, she decided, quickly becoming a little too weird. Maybe Jade had gone back to town while she was out? She had done that once... It wasn't like they'd gotten very far, anyway. Shrugging, but not putting her weapon away, she started back toward Adsin.
The light was starting to dim, she noted. She had to hurry if she wanted to make it back before night. While the forests were relatively safe in the day hours, assuming one had a weapon they could effectively wield against the leapers, at night, with the nocturnal animals out, they were anything but. In a group one was generally fine, but solo travelers were notorious for vanishing. She shuddered faintly, unable to forget the first time she'd run across a night lizard. Jade had appeared, drawn by the noise, but if she hadn't, Hotaru Okame would have only been one more name added to the list of the missing.
Another whisper caused her to glance over her shoulder, more as a precaution than any expectation of seeing anything. She was surprised again when she found herself staring at a small girl.
"Hey," Hotaru started, before noticing in the all-too-quickly fading light that the girl's eyes were dull. A spirit. Or a hallucination. She smiled sadly at the image. "Are you lost?"
Sometimes they could respond. This one either wasn't able to or didn't want to. She only stared. Hotaru had become accustomed to it years before. Jade pretended Hotaru didn't see things; it was a subject she understood not to address, ever. Snap her out of her trances, but don't ever ask. Yes, there were times when Jade's lack of curiosity was a blessing. Hotaru smiled at the girl again before turning back towards the town. There was light visible ahead now, so she knew she must be close.
As she drew nearer, though, she could smell smoke, and realized in horror that the town was ablaze. A snap and a glance behind her revealed the spirit girl still standing there, now with blood seeping from numerous scrapes on her body. Hotaru grimaced, then bowed. "I'm sorry if I've walked through your grave site, spirit. Please leave me in peace." Without waiting to see if her plea was granted, she burst into a quick dash for Adsin.
Something roared ahead of her, and she tripped over a root. Odd, she noted vaguely, as she fell. Normally this path was fairly obstacle free. She was surprised when, instead of dirt, she fell into a patch of ferns. Somehow she'd wandered off the path! She frowned. No wonder Jade had left, if she was that out of things today. Still, the town was just ahead! She could see the bridge that led to the gate now, could see the flames just beyond it! She struggled up and kept running and soon pounded her way across the sturdy wooden bridge before remembering that the only town that was entered via bridge from the land was Endtil. How in the world had she managed to cross the plains of Andrith? Jade was waiting in Adsin! ...Jade, she thought cynically, probably thought she'd been eaten alive and was celebrating in a dark corner somewhere. She stopped in the middle of the street and started weaving a water spell over the closest fire, pleased by the way steam hissed up and mixed with the smoke already hanging in the air. The smoke was making breathing hard, she realized, and bit back the urge to call the wind to blow it all away.
People were screaming up ahead, and she hurriedly finished dousing one flame and started on the next. She watched as the little fire sprites shrieked in anger and pain and warped out of existence to be replaced by laughing water sprites, gleeful in their victories. The two forms almost seemed to be playing a game, and she was mesmerized by the way they chased each other, creating brilliant flashes and sounds along the way.
Suddenly, there were too many fire sprites, and she fumbled for her glaive. If she could use it as a focusing point, her spells would become more powerful. She gasped as she realized she didn't have it. She must have left it in the ferns when she fell! Townspeople started running towards her, angry that she couldn't help them. They stopped several feet away, glaring, and she tried to apologize, but the fire and water sprites stole her words and used them to create even grander explosions. Several of the people drew long strings of rope, and she stepped back in shock as the situation became clearer.
The town wasn't burning! They had lit bonfires! The shouting wasn't made in terror but in celebration! She had been ruining the fun, so of course they were angry! She backed up a little as they came closer, and then she turned and walked quickly for the bridge, a bit afraid. She reached the end of the road and looked across the bridge into the gloom beyond.
The little spirit girl from before was standing in the middle of the bridge. Her hair was dirty and her clothing was in tatters. There was another roar, and a massive, dark colored lizard stomped its way into view on the far side. Hotaru stopped and realized in horror that this was no ghost at all, but a real little girl. The girl smiled at her faintly and the lizard roared again and started onto the bridge, sensing an easy snack. The girl seemed unaware of the danger she was in and Hotaru stepped forward to warn her.
Someone grabbed her arm roughly, and she turned to meet the angry face of one of the townspeople. Another one grabbed her other arm and she turned back to the scene at the bridge.
"Let me go! Can't you see she's in trouble! She'll die!" They didn't listen and instead started to tie her arms behind her back. "Stop!" She struggled, but more people cam forward and held her still, and soon her legs were bound as well.
The lizard roared again, and this time the girl turned and shrieked in terror. She stared to run to the town, but the lizard was too fast and pinned her under one heavy foot. The crowd moved away until only two men remained, one on either side, holding her up. Hotaru screamed at them to let her go and spit at them, but neither so much as blinked.
She turned back to the girl, who had ceased her screaming and flailing. The little girl looked up and straight into Hotaru's eyes and something dark and terribly seized Hotaru's insides. "Kirichi!"
The lizard was quick and in one harsh movement took off her sister's head. Blood went everywhere, and clumps of dark hair fell onto the bridge. It was raining now, somehow, and the blood and the hair and the smoke and the water all ran together until Hotaru wasn't sure she could see anything anymore. The lizard finished and headed back into the forest. Someone behind her was laughing, and one of her two main captors picked her up and carried her into the center of town, where the largest fire yet was burning.
The people around her started chanting something, and her eyes stung. None of what they were saying sounded like any language she knew. She made a note to ask Jade about it. The rain made cruel hissing noises as it fell on the bonfire, and she felt the heat of it as she was brought uncomfortably close to the flames. The man set her down on the ground and the group started chanting louder. The man, she thought, looked an awful lot like her father had when she was young. A woman came forward; her face was covered by a veil. With incredibly strength, she pulled Hotaru's head up by her hair and, with a small blade, gouged both of her eyes out. It hurt, and she screamed and screamed. Then something soft was pulled roughly over her head - some sort of robe - and someone picked her up again, but now she couldn't see who. She had a faint sense of vertigo before she landed with a loud crash on her right side in the middle of the fire.
Immediately her face and body caught flame, and she couldn't remember any spell to save herself, couldn't save Kirichi, couldn't save the water sprites... She struggled as best she could and the ropes holding her arms burned away, but she couldn't feel her fingers anymore. She tried to scream again but she couldn't breathe at all, and for some reason her right cheek stung more than anything else.
Something snapped loudly and Jade glared down at her, left hand raised and reddened. Hotaru gasped loudly, trying to take in oxygen, but neither said anything. After a minute, Jade dropped her arm and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, and headed back to her own room. Hotaru sat up and pushed the blankets off herself. She roughly rubbed at both her eyes, and one hand stayed on her cheek, which was still sore from the slap Jade had given her. She stood, smoothed out her nightgown, and padded softy over to the window. She forced it open, even though it was almost winter now, and rested her elbows in the sill, still breathing too deeply. She stood there for the rest of the night, staring down at her own hands and ignoring the sounds of Arlinson as the port city prepared for another busy day.
~-~-~
Notes:
This was supposed to be vague and weird. Hotaru is having one of her dreams (as the title probably implies) and, as usual, doesn't realize it, even though things are a little off and she's noticing things she normally wouldn't (like "watching sprites" while she's trying to save the town). Mostly I'm trying to get an understanding of some of Hotaru's more realistic (*cough*) ... vision/nightmares. The lack of description ("yeah, and it hurt when her eyes were gouged out, but whatever") is meant to show that she's really not all there
The townspeople are actually speaking in English (or whatever generic language doubles as English in that world), but I have the odd sense that whenever Hotaru starts losing it, she stops thinking in that language and moves into the direct magic language, which, because of her incredible abilities, she would know (probably without even realizing it).
Also, Jade slapped her twice. Hotaru woke up after the second one. YES THIS IS COMPLETELY IMPORTANT REALLY. >.>
And now I must accompany my mother to her Christmas Eve church-thing. By "now" I mean, in an hour.
Edit:
Hotaru? Look, I'm terribly sorry, but as you no doubt know already, I had a nice chat with your creator tonight, and she fully endorses your jaunting through Silent Hill. What's more, she even rather liked the bits that I showed her from the story.
Guess you're stuck with this.
...And if anyone could explain why I suddenly find myself writing characters into Silent Hill scenarios on Christmas / Eve, I'd... greatly appreciate it, really. I mean, of all days.