Nightshade Fuck, I loathe this house
07-12-2021, 07:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-25-2021, 09:53 PM by Kaida Tsumura.)
3:12AM
outfit
The bitch was right.
Kaida'd felt the oppressive haze hit her mind as soon as she'd crossed city limits. Reignhart was claimed. Yuna'd done it, formed her clutch. And a quick google search for Reignhart burlesque houses told her exactly where. That same shitty club name she'd used in New York. So fucking in love with her poison powers, her crane, and her goddamn flesh-peddling.
She hadn't seemed to understand the problem with it. She hadn't seemed to understand anything. Mothers' prerogative. Well Kaida was kind; she'd clarify.
Maybe it was stupid to choose tonight, with clandestine plans in the works, to forgo her typical gothic black ensemble for a colorful dress. This seemed less certain to draw attention though. And she liked it. Sometimes she wanted to wear dresses, fuck you.
She'd loitered nearby, avoiding the club itself, hanging out in some shittier dive down the way. Not hunting, just killing time. Waiting for last call, for the doors to shut. When it happened, then she'd taken to an adjoining rooftop. And waited.
It was past three when at last she moved, the street largely cleared and ideally not even employees left inside. Two hours or so until sunrise, and she wanted to be home before then. Worst case, she could run as a cat. Four more hours should be enough to get somewhere sheltered.
She didn't descend, only floating through the night sky to alight on the offending business' roof. Predatory nightvision showed her the rooftop entrance quickly enough, a hatch into it didn't fucking matter where. Inside. She could find her way from there.
Except when she pulled it open, carelessly snapping any lock, an alarm started blaring. Goddammit. Breaking and entering was not really among the suite of skills she'd picked up since leaving Tokyo. Well, she could be in and out before any police arrived, so whatever.
Bursting into supernatural speed, she tore through whatever backroom employees only section she'd emerge into, looking for the main floor, the main stage. Clutching the can of white spray paint, she held fast to her plan.
07-12-2021, 07:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-31-2021, 11:24 AM by Yuna Tsumura.)
outfit minus shoes
The club had closed for the evening, but that did not mean Yuna was not still here. She had lingered, intending to get work done in quiet, and not bring it home with her. And quiet it was, with only her private selection of music playing over some of the speakers. Something classic. But not classical. There was a distinction to be made.
Of course, it had to be disrupted. The blare of the alarm was startling! Nearly pulling her directly into bloodlust. However, she only bit her tongue harshly as she reeled away from her desk, her gaze snapping to the door of her private office. Her phone ignited with a shrill ringing, the security company notifying her of the trip. She snatched it from her desk as she rose, deciding swiftly that whatever had happened, it was something she would handle herself.
She answered, jaw tight as she exited the office and made her way down the corridor, listening to the spiel, supplying the verification password, assuring that the alarm was accidentally tripped.
By the time she reached the main room, she'd slipped the phone back into her pocket, and was prepared to determine the source of the tresspass.
07-12-2021, 09:38 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-12-2021, 09:40 PM by Kaida Tsumura.)
Bless the priorities she couldn't know were being executed. It gave her time. Kaida was hardly pulling a Banksy here. She had one color, one message to send, and she made it concisely.
Yuna would enter just in time to see her disavowed daughter in the air, completing the second vertical—more or less vertical, the work haphazard and wavering against the gathered material—bar of an H.
F I L T H, scrawled in stark, somewhat blotchy white across the crimson velvet of the stage's main curtains. Higher than she could've reached without flight.
Despite the alarm cutting out she'd still meant to make a hasty retreat, not the least interested in a second round of being outnumbered if this meant the clutch was on site. But Yuna was immediately spotted and focused upon as she turned.
"Clear enough now?" she spat as she touched down to the floor, discarding the can with a sideways throw, careless of where it landed or any further mess made.
Yuna would enter just in time to see her disavowed daughter in the air, completing the second vertical—more or less vertical, the work haphazard and wavering against the gathered material—bar of an H.
F I L T H, scrawled in stark, somewhat blotchy white across the crimson velvet of the stage's main curtains. Higher than she could've reached without flight.
Despite the alarm cutting out she'd still meant to make a hasty retreat, not the least interested in a second round of being outnumbered if this meant the clutch was on site. But Yuna was immediately spotted and focused upon as she turned.
"Clear enough now?" she spat as she touched down to the floor, discarding the can with a sideways throw, careless of where it landed or any further mess made.
07-13-2021, 05:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-13-2021, 05:51 PM by Yuna Tsumura.)
What could it be? A petty thief? A foolish employee? An enemy, gathering the courage to make a strike against her?
It was none of those things. It was worse than all combined.
It was filth.
It was a stain on her life she could not remove, for blood never came out cleanly.
It was Kaida. It was the fallout of their last encounter, finally making its impact.
The sight chilled her. There were a thousand questions to wonder, and yet she thought none of them.
Filth. The filth she wallowed in. Yuna's jaw set like concrete, gritted against a surge of wrath that roiled. Kaida, defacing her property with petty street tactics, boldly invading, as if the last time they spoke had not made it clear what was inevitable if she did. Yuna thought of the promise she had made to Sigfrid, to the Clutch as a whole.
If Kaida brought them harm, she would kill her.
She could tell herself as much. She knew she could act upon it. She could rush her right now, tackle her to the ground, remove her head. It was the smart thing to do. This vampire that existed as an antithesis to what she intended for this city and her Clutch. She was the exact depiction of what Yuna swore to eradicate.
So, why was it that she was anchored into place?
"This?" The only word she could conjure on her lips as it dawned. This was the filth. This place. "This is what you call filthy?"
It was none of those things. It was worse than all combined.
It was filth.
It was a stain on her life she could not remove, for blood never came out cleanly.
It was Kaida. It was the fallout of their last encounter, finally making its impact.
The sight chilled her. There were a thousand questions to wonder, and yet she thought none of them.
Filth. The filth she wallowed in. Yuna's jaw set like concrete, gritted against a surge of wrath that roiled. Kaida, defacing her property with petty street tactics, boldly invading, as if the last time they spoke had not made it clear what was inevitable if she did. Yuna thought of the promise she had made to Sigfrid, to the Clutch as a whole.
If Kaida brought them harm, she would kill her.
She could tell herself as much. She knew she could act upon it. She could rush her right now, tackle her to the ground, remove her head. It was the smart thing to do. This vampire that existed as an antithesis to what she intended for this city and her Clutch. She was the exact depiction of what Yuna swore to eradicate.
So, why was it that she was anchored into place?
"This?" The only word she could conjure on her lips as it dawned. This was the filth. This place. "This is what you call filthy?"
07-13-2021, 07:47 PM
She'd already fucking known that this would be news. A revelation. Fucking eye-opening for the woman who'd saved her. Made her. But hearing the surprise—the anger didn't even matter, just the goddamn surprise—had fury coursing through her atrophied veins all over again.
"Yes, this," she shot right back, slowly taking steps forward while hands wrung and gestured. "Of course this!" She wasn't speaking quietly. What did it matter with the alarm already having ripped through the night's illusion of serenity? Kaida'd never spoken more important words, so she wasn't quiet.
"How can-?" She veritably snarled, losing all coherence for a moment. How could Yuna not see? She wasn't the stupid, thoughtless moron Kaida'd frequently declared over the years. That was what made it so appallingly frustrating. It was so obvious, but she'd never seen.
The approach abruptly ceased, gold and lavender dress falling motionless against a body still as death. She didn't tremble, she needn't breathe, but gradually moisture rimmed and spilled in little trickles down her cheeks.
"How can you not see...?" she barely whispered.
"Yes, this," she shot right back, slowly taking steps forward while hands wrung and gestured. "Of course this!" She wasn't speaking quietly. What did it matter with the alarm already having ripped through the night's illusion of serenity? Kaida'd never spoken more important words, so she wasn't quiet.
"How can-?" She veritably snarled, losing all coherence for a moment. How could Yuna not see? She wasn't the stupid, thoughtless moron Kaida'd frequently declared over the years. That was what made it so appallingly frustrating. It was so obvious, but she'd never seen.
The approach abruptly ceased, gold and lavender dress falling motionless against a body still as death. She didn't tremble, she needn't breathe, but gradually moisture rimmed and spilled in little trickles down her cheeks.
"How can you not see...?" she barely whispered.
07-13-2021, 09:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-13-2021, 09:16 PM by Yuna Tsumura.)
general tw on this post, it covers very unpleasant things regarding sex trafficking in the first paragraph!
Yes, of course. As if it were obvious. As if they stood in a reeking building that was spilling with vermin. As if she had rooms with stained, unwashed futons. As if she had a cage outside her doors packed with fifteen ten-year-olds in bright kimonos, faces smeared with toxic paint, not yet to have their periods but still bleeding between their legs.
That was filth.
Yuna watched, but could not move, as Kaida approached. She was prepared to fall into action, to set aside her thoughts and her mind, and let her body do what was necessary to resolve the problem. But there was no combustion of fangs and claws. It was only Kaida, above her on the stage, crying. Calling the building around them, the efforts she'd made in the past century since her death, filthy. Vile. No better than the horrors they'd both endured.
Red lights blurred in the edges of her vision, her eyes glossy of their own accord.
"This..." She said, head shaking, hands drifting out to encompass the expanse of... everything. All she stood for. Her agency, her stewardship, her dignity. It all was here in her work. In the care she took in reclaiming power. Over one's body, one's mind, one's capabilities, and limits and boundaries. She fostered it. She protected it fiercely. "This is mine. Kaida." She decided, jaw square, eyes nearly level with the other vampire's.
"This is not the same. I am not the same."
07-14-2021, 01:19 AM
Hateful. She was power. She was perfection.
She was sobbing. She would have fallen if the muscles of her legs cared about her nervous system. Hateful.
But she could barely speak. Feelings she'd carried for eight decades poured from her staring, narrowed eyes. Watching intently at those of her mother, even through the haze of tears. "Isn't it?" she rasped, fighting to stem the flow.
"The men who come here, who gawk and leer and would grab and grope-" Here she nearly choked on her own tongue, feeling thick and clumsy in her mouth. But she pushed on, one foot slipping forward along the elegant flooring. "If given half the chance."
For a moment she stilled again, a porcelain statue, looking nearly as fragile. "We should be ripping their fingers free of their grasping hands." Fragility vanished, Kaida's mouth opened wide, jaw threatening to unhinge, fangs popping momentarily low from her already sharp cuspids. Between this and the continued fervent weeping, the words came out scratchy and rough. "Using them to puncture their ogling eyes."
But her jaw snapped shut, some passions swallowed, and she stiffened again. The tears remained. "But no. They come here, and you serve them drinks."
Direct eye contact, daring the same in return. "They come here and you profit and they leave. Are you not the same?"
She was sobbing. She would have fallen if the muscles of her legs cared about her nervous system. Hateful.
But she could barely speak. Feelings she'd carried for eight decades poured from her staring, narrowed eyes. Watching intently at those of her mother, even through the haze of tears. "Isn't it?" she rasped, fighting to stem the flow.
"The men who come here, who gawk and leer and would grab and grope-" Here she nearly choked on her own tongue, feeling thick and clumsy in her mouth. But she pushed on, one foot slipping forward along the elegant flooring. "If given half the chance."
For a moment she stilled again, a porcelain statue, looking nearly as fragile. "We should be ripping their fingers free of their grasping hands." Fragility vanished, Kaida's mouth opened wide, jaw threatening to unhinge, fangs popping momentarily low from her already sharp cuspids. Between this and the continued fervent weeping, the words came out scratchy and rough. "Using them to puncture their ogling eyes."
But her jaw snapped shut, some passions swallowed, and she stiffened again. The tears remained. "But no. They come here, and you serve them drinks."
Direct eye contact, daring the same in return. "They come here and you profit and they leave. Are you not the same?"
07-23-2021, 06:32 PM
Her face twitched at the counter. Isn't it? No. Yuna would not hear it. Would not let Kaida twist what she had built for herself into the same den of horrors that she'd crawled up from. That she had pulled Kaida free from. Kaida knew nothing. Nothing of what she did here. Kaida had been gone for fifty years, she had not been here to see the evolution. To see the rise. And yet she spoke as if she knew. As if she, of all people, knew best how to solve problems. How to react to the things that victimized her.
Her solution was violence. It was always violence. Her solutions demanded blood and chaos. They were degrading and risky. They abused power, spent it freely and without true care. And so it was made more feeble. More fallible. There was no fortification, no growth.
Yuna was not the same. She could not be the same. Her strength and power were hers alone. She would not cheapen them, not let the world force her to. Not anymore. She would not turn her wrath upon the world for it to open a greedy maw to and swallow inconsequentially. She would sneer at the things that once made her weaker, and take them into herself. Become bigger than the poison that burbled from the blackened lips of the world. Wield it.
"I have spilled that blood." Yuna said cooly, rigidly. Not loud. Had Kaida forgotten what she had done to the man that had brought her so close to death? Did she not remember how Yuna had delighted in poisoning him, slowly, agonizingly. Then draining him dry, and tearing him into pieces. "I have drunk it. I have ripped that flesh and I have broken those bones." She took a step toward Kaida, chin level, eyes just above the other vampire's gaze.
"And I will again if I must." She promised. She would not hesitate. If a man; if anyone; touched anyone she protected with malice or misconduct. She would rend them to meat or ash, or any manner in between. Not even the girl that stood before her was exempt. For Yuna had made a promise, and she did intend to keep it.
She continued, "But it is different here. Different now. There is a choice here." She gestured to the glaring red walls, the stage. No one was here against their will. Everyone within these walls, performer or vampire alike, was here because they chose to be. Because they valued themselves enough to be here, and not settle for the feeble, wicked things the world deemed suitable. "There is respect. It is demanded. I profit so that I can offer it to people otherwise without it."
Her solution was violence. It was always violence. Her solutions demanded blood and chaos. They were degrading and risky. They abused power, spent it freely and without true care. And so it was made more feeble. More fallible. There was no fortification, no growth.
Yuna was not the same. She could not be the same. Her strength and power were hers alone. She would not cheapen them, not let the world force her to. Not anymore. She would not turn her wrath upon the world for it to open a greedy maw to and swallow inconsequentially. She would sneer at the things that once made her weaker, and take them into herself. Become bigger than the poison that burbled from the blackened lips of the world. Wield it.
"I have spilled that blood." Yuna said cooly, rigidly. Not loud. Had Kaida forgotten what she had done to the man that had brought her so close to death? Did she not remember how Yuna had delighted in poisoning him, slowly, agonizingly. Then draining him dry, and tearing him into pieces. "I have drunk it. I have ripped that flesh and I have broken those bones." She took a step toward Kaida, chin level, eyes just above the other vampire's gaze.
"And I will again if I must." She promised. She would not hesitate. If a man; if anyone; touched anyone she protected with malice or misconduct. She would rend them to meat or ash, or any manner in between. Not even the girl that stood before her was exempt. For Yuna had made a promise, and she did intend to keep it.
She continued, "But it is different here. Different now. There is a choice here." She gestured to the glaring red walls, the stage. No one was here against their will. Everyone within these walls, performer or vampire alike, was here because they chose to be. Because they valued themselves enough to be here, and not settle for the feeble, wicked things the world deemed suitable. "There is respect. It is demanded. I profit so that I can offer it to people otherwise without it."
07-28-2021, 09:28 PM
The inference was easy to make. The night Kaida was born. The night some weak and worthless whore died. The night they'd extracted vicious payment from her murderer. She remembered.
It was when she'd first caught a taste for retribution, for blood, for inflicting agony she'd previously only endured. Things she had never let go of, but from which Yuna had evidently grown weary. It wasn't enough. It was never enough.
Yuna used a lot of words, nearly all of them meaningless. It was the rooftop all over again. Continued insistence of her own uprightness, how she held to the true path and Kaida strayed. Speaking as though she sincerely believed that this gaudy place held respect and choice, when all it did was line her pockets. As it had done in Tokyo for decades. What difference was there to see? Her promises of vengeance if things grew out of hand?
No, even that was as it had always been. She would wait until her clients went too far, then act once the damage was already done and imagine that set everything right. In all ways deeper than the skin, this was identical to where it had all begun.
Kaida had no words. It was unspeakably infuriating that even with it laid plainly at her feet, Yuna would not see how she had long since become the thing she claimed to hate. Asao's death? No, she'd been mired in it since before that. Kaida's own existence spoke that damning truth. It was easy to let that fury, that frustration, come to a focal point just beneath her mother's jaw. Stronger than it appeared, but still delicate enough. Claws could pierce, fangs could rip. She had the strength to simply pull upward and see an end to a century of blindness.
But that was not why she was here. She'd waited. She'd practiced. She'd not give in to the fury and brazenly tear into the woman who'd created her, funneling all her fury into Yuna when it was only her blindness that offended.
"I don't know why you can't see, why you've never been able to." Now she was quiet, tone soft and sad. She'd continued to slowly approach, barely more than arm's length away. "Why you can't free yourself from this world." Her eyes fell, blinking, their flow finally slowing. Hands went for the slim purse strung across her chest by a golden chain.
"Shikashi, watashi wa anata o sukuu tsumoridesu, okāsan. Anata ga watashi no tame ni shita yō ni." A battered metal cigarette lighter, taken from some nameless mongrel, was in her hand.
It was when she'd first caught a taste for retribution, for blood, for inflicting agony she'd previously only endured. Things she had never let go of, but from which Yuna had evidently grown weary. It wasn't enough. It was never enough.
Yuna used a lot of words, nearly all of them meaningless. It was the rooftop all over again. Continued insistence of her own uprightness, how she held to the true path and Kaida strayed. Speaking as though she sincerely believed that this gaudy place held respect and choice, when all it did was line her pockets. As it had done in Tokyo for decades. What difference was there to see? Her promises of vengeance if things grew out of hand?
No, even that was as it had always been. She would wait until her clients went too far, then act once the damage was already done and imagine that set everything right. In all ways deeper than the skin, this was identical to where it had all begun.
Kaida had no words. It was unspeakably infuriating that even with it laid plainly at her feet, Yuna would not see how she had long since become the thing she claimed to hate. Asao's death? No, she'd been mired in it since before that. Kaida's own existence spoke that damning truth. It was easy to let that fury, that frustration, come to a focal point just beneath her mother's jaw. Stronger than it appeared, but still delicate enough. Claws could pierce, fangs could rip. She had the strength to simply pull upward and see an end to a century of blindness.
But that was not why she was here. She'd waited. She'd practiced. She'd not give in to the fury and brazenly tear into the woman who'd created her, funneling all her fury into Yuna when it was only her blindness that offended.
"I don't know why you can't see, why you've never been able to." Now she was quiet, tone soft and sad. She'd continued to slowly approach, barely more than arm's length away. "Why you can't free yourself from this world." Her eyes fell, blinking, their flow finally slowing. Hands went for the slim purse strung across her chest by a golden chain.
"Shikashi, watashi wa anata o sukuu tsumoridesu, okāsan. Anata ga watashi no tame ni shita yō ni." A battered metal cigarette lighter, taken from some nameless mongrel, was in her hand.
![[+]](/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
translation
08-02-2021, 06:39 PM
They were at a standstill. Their proverbial antlers locked, neither willing to relinquish any ground to the other. Kaida was so adamantly blind to the idea of growth. Her idea of moving on was to tear everything down. To burn it and try to make something from the ashes. Yuna refused to sit upon a throne of ruin. If she was to rule; over herself and others; then she would do so above a dominion that she conquered herself. Not rubble that crumbled underfoot, but something tangible that she had the power to control.
And here Kaida was, approaching her with a declaration that she would save her. As she had done for the husk of the girl before her. Yuna's eyes darted down to the hand. The lighter. Her chest tightened, and whatever had softened within her in the face of this confrontation turned solid. A wall of adamant fortifying around her heart, her mind. This had gone on too long. Kaida had convinced herself of this one final act of reckless resolution.
Yuna stilled, jaw tight, disgust coiling in her gut. She had made a promise. To her companions and to herself, she had made a promise that she would not let the girl continue on this path. She would not let her destroy what she had built. Did that mean, in turn, she must destroy this thing she had tried and failed to build? Was this the one crumbling pillar upon which she could not stand? Kaida threatened to topple it all.
She could not let her. But, could she kill her? Her gut bottomed out. She could physically do it. It would be so simple to strike now, to knock the lighter out of her hand, and reach up to rip her head from her shoulders. It would take seconds. It would break something within her to do so, but she could do it.
"Watashi wa sukuwa reru hitsuyō wa arimasen." She hissed tightly, taking a half step back as her will waivered in the face of a lighter. A promise of certain death if she was not fast enough.
Kill her now. Kill her now. Kill her.
"Iku. Watashi o wasurete. Iku." Words like venom in her mouth, a last-ditch attempt to spare whatever was left of the Kaida she'd known. If she wished to be rid of her, she could go and never return. Yuna would not follow.
And here Kaida was, approaching her with a declaration that she would save her. As she had done for the husk of the girl before her. Yuna's eyes darted down to the hand. The lighter. Her chest tightened, and whatever had softened within her in the face of this confrontation turned solid. A wall of adamant fortifying around her heart, her mind. This had gone on too long. Kaida had convinced herself of this one final act of reckless resolution.
Yuna stilled, jaw tight, disgust coiling in her gut. She had made a promise. To her companions and to herself, she had made a promise that she would not let the girl continue on this path. She would not let her destroy what she had built. Did that mean, in turn, she must destroy this thing she had tried and failed to build? Was this the one crumbling pillar upon which she could not stand? Kaida threatened to topple it all.
She could not let her. But, could she kill her? Her gut bottomed out. She could physically do it. It would be so simple to strike now, to knock the lighter out of her hand, and reach up to rip her head from her shoulders. It would take seconds. It would break something within her to do so, but she could do it.
"Watashi wa sukuwa reru hitsuyō wa arimasen." She hissed tightly, taking a half step back as her will waivered in the face of a lighter. A promise of certain death if she was not fast enough.
Kill her now. Kill her now. Kill her.
"Iku. Watashi o wasurete. Iku." Words like venom in her mouth, a last-ditch attempt to spare whatever was left of the Kaida she'd known. If she wished to be rid of her, she could go and never return. Yuna would not follow.
I do not need to be saved.
Go. Forget me. Go.
08-13-2021, 07:24 PM
I do not need to be saved. The cry of the prideful drowning. It didn't surprise her to hear. With everything else Yuna couldn't recognize, surely her own sad decent—trapped in the trappings of elegance draped over torn mattresses stained with fluids worse than blood—completely escaped her.
This was nothing new, and the claim deserved no response. Arguing with the wind. No, it was the other thing, the urging that Kaida leave. That was what hurt. That was what renewed the sting in her eyes, the clench of her jaw.
Not offense. She'd long since steeled herself against being hurt by her mother's skewed perspective. But this keyed directly into a conclusion Kaida'd come to, and it struck her with something hatefully uncomfortable and rare.
Guilt.
"Watashi wa tameshita," was managed through a trembling lip, the breath that followed to ready more words shuddering and broken. She stepped back, sideways. She needed to get around Yuna.
"Watashi wa sore o surubekide wa nakatta." A difficult admission. Kaida did not like to be wrong. And she wasn't wrong to have gotten herself out of this trade. But.
For only a moment she looked back to her mother's eyes. "Gomen'nasai." She was wrong to have abandoned Yuna to it.
And she was moving, eyes only on her target as she stepped past her savior and failure. Eyes on the bar, the strongest bottled contents she could find.
"Nidoto."
This was nothing new, and the claim deserved no response. Arguing with the wind. No, it was the other thing, the urging that Kaida leave. That was what hurt. That was what renewed the sting in her eyes, the clench of her jaw.
Not offense. She'd long since steeled herself against being hurt by her mother's skewed perspective. But this keyed directly into a conclusion Kaida'd come to, and it struck her with something hatefully uncomfortable and rare.
Guilt.
"Watashi wa tameshita," was managed through a trembling lip, the breath that followed to ready more words shuddering and broken. She stepped back, sideways. She needed to get around Yuna.
"Watashi wa sore o surubekide wa nakatta." A difficult admission. Kaida did not like to be wrong. And she wasn't wrong to have gotten herself out of this trade. But.
For only a moment she looked back to her mother's eyes. "Gomen'nasai." She was wrong to have abandoned Yuna to it.
And she was moving, eyes only on her target as she stepped past her savior and failure. Eyes on the bar, the strongest bottled contents she could find.
"Nidoto."
1
08-13-2021, 08:46 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-13-2021, 08:49 PM by Yuna Tsumura.)
Kaida had tried to forget when she should not have. She had left when she should have stayed. Yuna had stretched herself thin in her pursuit. And Kaida was sorry.
Too late. She was sorry too late. For Yuna had built something in the absence of the daughter she could have ruled with. She had forged with her own hands something of strength and in defiance of the vile, unspeakable things done to her and others like her. That Kaida could not see it was no fault of Yuna's. She had been gone, been running. It did not matter that she was sorry for it now. What mattered was that she had stopped running, had turned to see that Yuna had fortified and grown and was content to stay that way, to let her continue to run. She had shirked the offer to join her, to grow together again. Instead, she was trying to break it.
No matter what way you hit it, glass always broke the same way. The point of impact, and then the splintering cracks that shot through the once unblemished surface. It could be a slow, spidering web that could only be watched and not stopped, or it could be a shattering so quick that it was imperceptible to the eye.
Like the glass, placid and rigid, Yuna could only withstand so many blows before she shattered. These words were not blunt, bouncing objects. They were sharp and arrowed, gilded with an honesty that was blinding. They struck, and she shattered.
Like the splintering cracks, her tears broke her face into shattered panes that glistened as she wheeled to keep her eyes on Kaida. She saw now. She saw what Kaida intended. It was only a building, but the blow would be buckling. It was not just a nightclub and not just a home for her Clutch. It was many things, it was a reflection of Yuna herself. And Kaida wished to burn it down to cinders.
If not for the Clutch and the duty she bounder herself to, she might have let it burn. She might have let her daughter ruin her completely. She might have buckled to the floor in a weeping mess and let the walls crumble around her, let the flames lick her skin and reduce her to ash. Or perhaps she would have clutched at Kaida's skirts, begged for her to understand, or for Kaida to help her understand. Anything to preserve the last shred of the bond between them. But she had more on the line than her own gasping, choking maternity.
There was more to lose than ever before. And she would not let Kaida take it.
She was in her space in the breadth of an inhale, her hand shooting out to clasp the wrist of the hand holding the lighter. It took everything in her to force herself near it. One click, and she was in flame. Her grip was firm and halting, but not cruel and twisting. It was cowardice alone that kept her from wrenching Kaida's head from her shoulders. She could do it, she had told herself. Yet, the time had come and was quickly passing her by. It was growing foolish to prolong it.
When they came, her words were not the venomous hiss of the viper before. They were bubbled with grief as if wetted by the tears that streaked her face. She looked everywhere and nowhere into Kaida's face, not as careful as she should have been to avoid her gaze. "Watashi wa anata ga nozomu mono o anata ni ataeru koto ga dekimasen. Shikashi, anata wa watashi kara kore o ubau koto wa arimasen." Her voice was a tinny rush, thinned by the swell of grief and sorrow and pure, hot anger within her.
Too late. She was sorry too late. For Yuna had built something in the absence of the daughter she could have ruled with. She had forged with her own hands something of strength and in defiance of the vile, unspeakable things done to her and others like her. That Kaida could not see it was no fault of Yuna's. She had been gone, been running. It did not matter that she was sorry for it now. What mattered was that she had stopped running, had turned to see that Yuna had fortified and grown and was content to stay that way, to let her continue to run. She had shirked the offer to join her, to grow together again. Instead, she was trying to break it.
No matter what way you hit it, glass always broke the same way. The point of impact, and then the splintering cracks that shot through the once unblemished surface. It could be a slow, spidering web that could only be watched and not stopped, or it could be a shattering so quick that it was imperceptible to the eye.
Like the glass, placid and rigid, Yuna could only withstand so many blows before she shattered. These words were not blunt, bouncing objects. They were sharp and arrowed, gilded with an honesty that was blinding. They struck, and she shattered.
Like the splintering cracks, her tears broke her face into shattered panes that glistened as she wheeled to keep her eyes on Kaida. She saw now. She saw what Kaida intended. It was only a building, but the blow would be buckling. It was not just a nightclub and not just a home for her Clutch. It was many things, it was a reflection of Yuna herself. And Kaida wished to burn it down to cinders.
If not for the Clutch and the duty she bounder herself to, she might have let it burn. She might have let her daughter ruin her completely. She might have buckled to the floor in a weeping mess and let the walls crumble around her, let the flames lick her skin and reduce her to ash. Or perhaps she would have clutched at Kaida's skirts, begged for her to understand, or for Kaida to help her understand. Anything to preserve the last shred of the bond between them. But she had more on the line than her own gasping, choking maternity.
There was more to lose than ever before. And she would not let Kaida take it.
She was in her space in the breadth of an inhale, her hand shooting out to clasp the wrist of the hand holding the lighter. It took everything in her to force herself near it. One click, and she was in flame. Her grip was firm and halting, but not cruel and twisting. It was cowardice alone that kept her from wrenching Kaida's head from her shoulders. She could do it, she had told herself. Yet, the time had come and was quickly passing her by. It was growing foolish to prolong it.
When they came, her words were not the venomous hiss of the viper before. They were bubbled with grief as if wetted by the tears that streaked her face. She looked everywhere and nowhere into Kaida's face, not as careful as she should have been to avoid her gaze. "Watashi wa anata ga nozomu mono o anata ni ataeru koto ga dekimasen. Shikashi, anata wa watashi kara kore o ubau koto wa arimasen." Her voice was a tinny rush, thinned by the swell of grief and sorrow and pure, hot anger within her.
I can't give you what you want. But you won't rob me of this.
hit
08-25-2021, 07:43 PM
The both of them carried a wound. The ugly penetration of a toxic blade that neither had wanted, that neither had even been old enough to understand when first their blood was spilled. Too often such pernicious injuries proved fatal. They had in these cases. And yet each persisted. Kaida, after Yuna's intercession, bore a scar. Hideous. Jagged, it marked her and colored everything else in her world.
Still. That toxicity had bled from her wound for half a century, ever since she'd ripped the blade free. It tainted everything she'd touched since, had driven her into destructive impulsivity. Kaida recognized it, recognized her worst aspects and the scar from whence they stemmed.
But tonight a little less. Every night forward, a little less. She was healing.
Yuna... Yuna had never removed the source of her wound. Her flesh had merely halfway mended around it. She held fast, both hands on the hilt while she boasted how she now wielded it as her own weapon. As though the poisoned edge did not remain buried within her. As though it did anything but keep her weak, keep her infected with its vile influence. She could not heal and she could not face the pain of tearing the hooked blade loose that she someday might.
Kaida would do it for her. Kaida was kind.
Her only possible response was to seal the lighter inside her fist, closed and harmless to either of them, safe from being pulled away. She needed it. It would heat the blade that it could slide smoothly free of her mother, but she was unwilling to risk a clumsy mishap that would see one or both of them ignite.
Yuna would fight her at every step. She accepted this, wasted no words. Shuttered behind lightly shaded lids, her eyes went red as she willed herself forward while curling inward. The ceilings were too low to pull up and free, so instead she set herself on a course hurtling for the bar and drove both feet toward Yuna's middle, hoping to kick off for added momentum and an opportunity to reach the means of burning this hellish place to cinders.
Still. That toxicity had bled from her wound for half a century, ever since she'd ripped the blade free. It tainted everything she'd touched since, had driven her into destructive impulsivity. Kaida recognized it, recognized her worst aspects and the scar from whence they stemmed.
But tonight a little less. Every night forward, a little less. She was healing.
Yuna... Yuna had never removed the source of her wound. Her flesh had merely halfway mended around it. She held fast, both hands on the hilt while she boasted how she now wielded it as her own weapon. As though the poisoned edge did not remain buried within her. As though it did anything but keep her weak, keep her infected with its vile influence. She could not heal and she could not face the pain of tearing the hooked blade loose that she someday might.
Kaida would do it for her. Kaida was kind.
Her only possible response was to seal the lighter inside her fist, closed and harmless to either of them, safe from being pulled away. She needed it. It would heat the blade that it could slide smoothly free of her mother, but she was unwilling to risk a clumsy mishap that would see one or both of them ignite.
Yuna would fight her at every step. She accepted this, wasted no words. Shuttered behind lightly shaded lids, her eyes went red as she willed herself forward while curling inward. The ceilings were too low to pull up and free, so instead she set herself on a course hurtling for the bar and drove both feet toward Yuna's middle, hoping to kick off for added momentum and an opportunity to reach the means of burning this hellish place to cinders.
miss
08-31-2021, 11:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-31-2021, 11:21 AM by Yuna Tsumura.)
She watched her words land. She held her breath and waited, hoped that they had struck true, that they would combust within Kadia and shatter her resolve to do this. Instead, they seemed to bounce against her steely walls, and ricocheted back toward her in an explosion. An explosion of movement. The wrist in her hand was wrested away as Kadia left the ground, denying her pleas and gravity in one devastating move.
Yuna reeled away as her heart broke for the final time, narrowly missing the strike toward her. Kaida had made her decision, and now Yuna must make hers. But, it was already made. Already made years before she had ever turned Kaida. Perhaps even before she had been turned, herself. Made when she had taken the chains that had bound her, and resolved to make a noose from them, fashioned for anyone who sought to use, abuse, or stand in the way of her efforts to do so.
Kaida sought to break them now. But Yuna had grown comfortable wielding them. They were serpents whose poison did not harm her.
The sound her heart made as it shattered within her chest resounded from her throat as she moved after her daughter. A tearing, echoing sound that drowned the music that drawled from overhead. There was no pulse within her veins to roar in her ears, but a clamoring warble still roared in her mind. The sound of all of her love and resentment, her pride and her cowardice, all shattering to piercing splinters that spurred into her skull.
She was all movement and turmoil as she leaped after Kadia, lunging from the floor and toward her, arms outstretched as fingers flexed and nails elongated into piercing claws. When they wrapped around Kaida's thighs and hips, they sunk past bright fabric and into flesh. As she was dragged along, her bare feet scraping the ground, her jaw parted unnaturally wide as her body manifested her rage. Suddenly, there was no noise within her mind. Only the silent, tangible hum that choked the air after an explosion.
Yuna reeled away as her heart broke for the final time, narrowly missing the strike toward her. Kaida had made her decision, and now Yuna must make hers. But, it was already made. Already made years before she had ever turned Kaida. Perhaps even before she had been turned, herself. Made when she had taken the chains that had bound her, and resolved to make a noose from them, fashioned for anyone who sought to use, abuse, or stand in the way of her efforts to do so.
Kaida sought to break them now. But Yuna had grown comfortable wielding them. They were serpents whose poison did not harm her.
The sound her heart made as it shattered within her chest resounded from her throat as she moved after her daughter. A tearing, echoing sound that drowned the music that drawled from overhead. There was no pulse within her veins to roar in her ears, but a clamoring warble still roared in her mind. The sound of all of her love and resentment, her pride and her cowardice, all shattering to piercing splinters that spurred into her skull.
She was all movement and turmoil as she leaped after Kadia, lunging from the floor and toward her, arms outstretched as fingers flexed and nails elongated into piercing claws. When they wrapped around Kaida's thighs and hips, they sunk past bright fabric and into flesh. As she was dragged along, her bare feet scraping the ground, her jaw parted unnaturally wide as her body manifested her rage. Suddenly, there was no noise within her mind. Only the silent, tangible hum that choked the air after an explosion.
Hit
09-23-2021, 01:10 PM
She'd always been reactionary. Kaida, not Yuna.
Well no, Yuna too. She just hid it better. Fought it better. Kaida did none of that. This was already the most deliberate and steadfast night of her life, but it didn't keep her from responding as she must to the sudden swell of pain in her leg. The threat her mother now pressingly represented.
Not in kind. No claws grew, no ugly too-wide splitting of her lips into a feral snarl. Yuna was beyond reason now, deaf to all arguments, all persuasion. But she'd already known that. Already realized. This changed nothing, and she didn't need her leg in order to be mobile enough to accomplish her task and get them both away. Not if she kept her head.
So she kept her head.
The same metaphysical force that elevated her sought to wrap around the bloodlusting vampire and fling her away. Kaida'd have preferred to keep her still and helpless in the air, to then be towed away like a helium balloon once the blaze was set. But she needed those killing claws away before they latched somewhere vital. Yuna would kill her, Kaida held no illusions otherwise. Not like this. She couldn't let that happen.
Well no, Yuna too. She just hid it better. Fought it better. Kaida did none of that. This was already the most deliberate and steadfast night of her life, but it didn't keep her from responding as she must to the sudden swell of pain in her leg. The threat her mother now pressingly represented.
Not in kind. No claws grew, no ugly too-wide splitting of her lips into a feral snarl. Yuna was beyond reason now, deaf to all arguments, all persuasion. But she'd already known that. Already realized. This changed nothing, and she didn't need her leg in order to be mobile enough to accomplish her task and get them both away. Not if she kept her head.
So she kept her head.
The same metaphysical force that elevated her sought to wrap around the bloodlusting vampire and fling her away. Kaida'd have preferred to keep her still and helpless in the air, to then be towed away like a helium balloon once the blaze was set. But she needed those killing claws away before they latched somewhere vital. Yuna would kill her, Kaida held no illusions otherwise. Not like this. She couldn't let that happen.
miss
09-24-2021, 07:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-24-2021, 07:34 PM by Yuna Tsumura.)
In many ways, it was easier like this. There was no weighing of options. The scales had been tipped, the balance of risk and reason dashed into the fire of senseless violence.
Here, she was all wrath and impulse.
It became less clear what her intentions were. The implications of what Kaida was doing were only distilled into the promise of flame. There was fear above all, and it drove her to double down on her efforts.
There was no finesse in fighting an airborne thing. She was a cat that had leaped to snatch a bird from the air, but now that she had her in her claws, she was sorely aware of how stunted she was off the ground. Her only option was to sink her claws in deeper, hold on tighter.
A hand shot for the one holding the lighter, unforgiving now in how she wrenched the wrist in her grip. The power in the way she twisted went unchecked. If she ripped the entire hand off, that mattered little. She would rip more away. She would rip Kaida to shreds to stop her and the threat she posed.
Here, she was all wrath and impulse.
It became less clear what her intentions were. The implications of what Kaida was doing were only distilled into the promise of flame. There was fear above all, and it drove her to double down on her efforts.
There was no finesse in fighting an airborne thing. She was a cat that had leaped to snatch a bird from the air, but now that she had her in her claws, she was sorely aware of how stunted she was off the ground. Her only option was to sink her claws in deeper, hold on tighter.
A hand shot for the one holding the lighter, unforgiving now in how she wrenched the wrist in her grip. The power in the way she twisted went unchecked. If she ripped the entire hand off, that mattered little. She would rip more away. She would rip Kaida to shreds to stop her and the threat she posed.
Hit
Warning 1
woozy
09-24-2021, 09:11 PM
Nothing. God fucking dammit, this thing had been failing her so much lately. Now perhaps for the last time.
Mortality was knocking, and Kaida huddled on the other side of the door, hand on the knob. For many years of her own inflicted drama between them, she'd been convinced Yuna wouldn't end her. Couldn't. Maternal compassion, or whatever dark parody she'd held. She wasn't proud to recognize that it had empowered some of her worst behavior, her disinterest in ever explaining, her brazen disrespect. Why should she respect this woman? This pretender to strength, with her idiotic notions of having transformed her victimhood into a weapon. She was only perpetuating the system.
But what the fuck was strength anyway? How weak was it to foolishly hold to the door while only her own ashes waited on the other side? Weaker still to flee? To abandon yet again...
She'd been so sure Yuna'd never raise a hand. Then the slap on the rooftop. The degradation that preceded it. Now here she was trying to save the frothing bitch, and might die in the effort. She might have laughed.
Instead her distracted thoughts and worthless metaphysical efforts had her careening flight slamming the both of them into the wall of bottles behind the bar. Shards of glass, a rain of mixed libation, and an inglorious pile of struggling necrotic flesh hit the ground. Somehow Yuna'd kept hold of her wrist through the staggering impact. For the moment Kaida couldn't see, couldn't tell directions, how much of the room temperature fluid flowing down her face was liquor, how much her own congealed blood.
But she needed that wrist free. Whatever came next. So she tugged and twisted, trying to break the hold and shove her mad assailant away. And opened her hand to blindly flick at the wheel of flint, get a little flame going to be waved about. Maybe that would win her some space.
Mortality was knocking, and Kaida huddled on the other side of the door, hand on the knob. For many years of her own inflicted drama between them, she'd been convinced Yuna wouldn't end her. Couldn't. Maternal compassion, or whatever dark parody she'd held. She wasn't proud to recognize that it had empowered some of her worst behavior, her disinterest in ever explaining, her brazen disrespect. Why should she respect this woman? This pretender to strength, with her idiotic notions of having transformed her victimhood into a weapon. She was only perpetuating the system.
But what the fuck was strength anyway? How weak was it to foolishly hold to the door while only her own ashes waited on the other side? Weaker still to flee? To abandon yet again...
She'd been so sure Yuna'd never raise a hand. Then the slap on the rooftop. The degradation that preceded it. Now here she was trying to save the frothing bitch, and might die in the effort. She might have laughed.
Instead her distracted thoughts and worthless metaphysical efforts had her careening flight slamming the both of them into the wall of bottles behind the bar. Shards of glass, a rain of mixed libation, and an inglorious pile of struggling necrotic flesh hit the ground. Somehow Yuna'd kept hold of her wrist through the staggering impact. For the moment Kaida couldn't see, couldn't tell directions, how much of the room temperature fluid flowing down her face was liquor, how much her own congealed blood.
But she needed that wrist free. Whatever came next. So she tugged and twisted, trying to break the hold and shove her mad assailant away. And opened her hand to blindly flick at the wheel of flint, get a little flame going to be waved about. Maybe that would win her some space.
hit
09-24-2021, 11:13 PM
Few things could strike true in a mind barricaded by the teeth and claws of bloodlust. Words were feathers against steel. Actions were battering rams against fortified walls, only sometimes breaking through. But the vengeful blade of certain death could sunder the barricades and pierce through the shields.
Fire. It gleamed in wild, glassy eyes, drawing them sharply into focus.
The impact into the shelf had shocked her into momentary slowness, her body acting on its own accord to try to stay poised atop her target. The world seemed to be moving around her, inconsequential past what immediately stood in her path.
But the flame sparked true terror within her. It was an instinctual aversion, a bodily reaction to recoil. A wholly inhuman hiss roiled from the vampire's chest as she slunk away, hardly registering the strikes that battered her for the space.
Away. She had to get away, to create as much space between herself and the fire as she could. She moved as far as she could before the bar was at her back, and she was braced against it.
Fire. It gleamed in wild, glassy eyes, drawing them sharply into focus.
The impact into the shelf had shocked her into momentary slowness, her body acting on its own accord to try to stay poised atop her target. The world seemed to be moving around her, inconsequential past what immediately stood in her path.
But the flame sparked true terror within her. It was an instinctual aversion, a bodily reaction to recoil. A wholly inhuman hiss roiled from the vampire's chest as she slunk away, hardly registering the strikes that battered her for the space.
Away. She had to get away, to create as much space between herself and the fire as she could. She moved as far as she could before the bar was at her back, and she was braced against it.
09-25-2021, 12:47 PM
Thank fuck, a moment to gather herself. Though she couldn't see it, her own scrambling path mirrored Yuna's, using all available limbs to drag her corpse the other way until she felt something solid behind her.
Three limbs, one hand dutifully holding the flame away from... fucking everything. She couldn't tell what all they were soaked in. Alcohol had never been much to do with Kaida's life; it was never wasted on her when she breathed, and held no appeal once she'd stopped. But how readily even basic liquor would burn, this she knew too well. Maybe they'd mostly hit mixers, liqueurs, bullshit like that. The smell suggested otherwise.
Free hand wiping gingerly at her eyes as she pressed her back against the shelf beneath the bar, Kaida was pleased—relatively speaking—to find more in the way of acrid fluid than piercing fragments of glass. She blinked furiously, peering at the momentarily cowed monster through eyes reddened by more than just her power. Uncertain her leg would support her after the jagged tears it'd been gifted, she lifted from the floor by force of will alone and briefly alit in a seat atop the bar. A second's respite, teeth gritted through the pain of her serious wounds and annoying nicks alike, all of them splashed with searing alcohol.
Fucking bloodlust, the source of all her goddamn problems. Usually from her own lapsed control, but not tonight. Tonight she was iron.
Her rest couldn't linger. Yuna wouldn't cower long. If the ravening vampire fled... Well, it was better than if she attacked, but far from ideal. Perhaps incinerating the place and leaving to let Yuna sort out her next move was an acceptable early iteration of the plan, but now...
No, she wanted to take her away. Forcefully if necessary. Certainly she couldn't light this fucking gutter up with Yuna in the middle.
Again she levitated, off the bar and towards her mother. The flame remained, held out and steady, knowing it was the only thing keeping the beast at bay. She didn't approach too close, keeping out of easy reach. That was all she'd fucking need, for Yuna to swipe feverishly and knock the lighter to the ground. Goodbye cruel world.
"Watashiwomite," she commanded, bleary eyes on Yuna's dark own. There was some vague hope the woman's native tongue would more readily pierce into her primal mind. Kaida suspected this move was a waste of time, but she had to try. She had to fucking try.
Three limbs, one hand dutifully holding the flame away from... fucking everything. She couldn't tell what all they were soaked in. Alcohol had never been much to do with Kaida's life; it was never wasted on her when she breathed, and held no appeal once she'd stopped. But how readily even basic liquor would burn, this she knew too well. Maybe they'd mostly hit mixers, liqueurs, bullshit like that. The smell suggested otherwise.
Free hand wiping gingerly at her eyes as she pressed her back against the shelf beneath the bar, Kaida was pleased—relatively speaking—to find more in the way of acrid fluid than piercing fragments of glass. She blinked furiously, peering at the momentarily cowed monster through eyes reddened by more than just her power. Uncertain her leg would support her after the jagged tears it'd been gifted, she lifted from the floor by force of will alone and briefly alit in a seat atop the bar. A second's respite, teeth gritted through the pain of her serious wounds and annoying nicks alike, all of them splashed with searing alcohol.
Fucking bloodlust, the source of all her goddamn problems. Usually from her own lapsed control, but not tonight. Tonight she was iron.
Her rest couldn't linger. Yuna wouldn't cower long. If the ravening vampire fled... Well, it was better than if she attacked, but far from ideal. Perhaps incinerating the place and leaving to let Yuna sort out her next move was an acceptable early iteration of the plan, but now...
No, she wanted to take her away. Forcefully if necessary. Certainly she couldn't light this fucking gutter up with Yuna in the middle.
Again she levitated, off the bar and towards her mother. The flame remained, held out and steady, knowing it was the only thing keeping the beast at bay. She didn't approach too close, keeping out of easy reach. That was all she'd fucking need, for Yuna to swipe feverishly and knock the lighter to the ground. Goodbye cruel world.
"Watashiwomite," she commanded, bleary eyes on Yuna's dark own. There was some vague hope the woman's native tongue would more readily pierce into her primal mind. Kaida suspected this move was a waste of time, but she had to try. She had to fucking try.
09-27-2021, 08:56 PM
Like the cornered animal she was, the vampire moved in time with the threat. She did not dare to move closer, only turning her body in a low set crouch so that she faced the flame wherever it went. Glass crunched beneath her bare feet, slicing the skin with stinging pain that hardly registered. Inconsequential, when she was facing down with certain death.
The time that elapsed were a series of tense moments in which the vampire's mind worked to sort out a plan. Basic, impulsive actions flickered through her mind. Up over the bar, across the floor, through the door. Away from the flame. That was where she needed to be. Yet the flame loomed like an unspoken promise, held quite literally over her head as the wielder rose above. Could she outrun the fire? The girl holding it?
A seething, rattling hiss snaked through her ghoulish sneer as she watched the flame. Action. She needed to do something. Her body was coursing with momentum and fury, and being cornered only stoked the flame. The flame. She did not move her eyes from it. Not until the command was spoken, and she shifted her inhuman gaze to the face gilded with firelight. It was only for a moment that she looked, long enough to spit another viper's hiss at the girl. Long enough for more words to be uttered, no matter if they would fall upon ears deafened to reason.
The time that elapsed were a series of tense moments in which the vampire's mind worked to sort out a plan. Basic, impulsive actions flickered through her mind. Up over the bar, across the floor, through the door. Away from the flame. That was where she needed to be. Yet the flame loomed like an unspoken promise, held quite literally over her head as the wielder rose above. Could she outrun the fire? The girl holding it?
A seething, rattling hiss snaked through her ghoulish sneer as she watched the flame. Action. She needed to do something. Her body was coursing with momentum and fury, and being cornered only stoked the flame. The flame. She did not move her eyes from it. Not until the command was spoken, and she shifted her inhuman gaze to the face gilded with firelight. It was only for a moment that she looked, long enough to spit another viper's hiss at the girl. Long enough for more words to be uttered, no matter if they would fall upon ears deafened to reason.
09-27-2021, 10:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-27-2021, 10:04 PM by Kaida Tsumura.)
That brief flicker of eye contact, less steady than that of the little flame in her hand. There wasn't time to thoroughly consider, Kaida's mind latching impulsively onto a hateful memory and delivering a terse command, just trying to get it out before Yuna's feral facsimile looked away.
"Ugokanai de," was spat at the cowering beast, Kaida grimacing even as the command left her lips. Shameful, violating. She knew too well the humiliation of it. But she poured every ounce of power she could into the words. This was not, "Oh, if this doesn't take I'll have to find a meal elsewhere or resort to violence. How inconvenient." Not even merely a serious matter. One—possibly both—of their lives hung in the balance. Yuna's very soul, if she really wanted to be fucking dramatic about it. This had to goddamn stick.
"Ugokanai de," was spat at the cowering beast, Kaida grimacing even as the command left her lips. Shameful, violating. She knew too well the humiliation of it. But she poured every ounce of power she could into the words. This was not, "Oh, if this doesn't take I'll have to find a meal elsewhere or resort to violence. How inconvenient." Not even merely a serious matter. One—possibly both—of their lives hung in the balance. Yuna's very soul, if she really wanted to be fucking dramatic about it. This had to goddamn stick.
Oops, permanent success 0:)
09-27-2021, 10:24 PM
It was as simple as that. The spark of tension that'd been lit by the flame was suddenly snuffed out. Her body stilled, turned to stone by the gaze of her daughter. If her mind had been free of the fizzling wick of her bloodlust, then she might have seen the irony.
But as she remained there, frozen in unknowing eternity, she only saw red.
But as she remained there, frozen in unknowing eternity, she only saw red.
09-28-2021, 09:36 PM
Paranoia was a fucking bitch. It almost had Kaida's eyes narrowing in suspicion, wary that the sudden stilling was a ruse meant to lower her guard. But no, she had a sense for this, for when her mind successfully crushed another. And god did this one crash through like a freight train.
Yuna was struck, stuck. Instead of squinting, Kaida's eyes briefly shut. She'd not die tonight. Nor would she have to murder her mother to prevent it. This was not what she'd intended when coming, never capable of sticking to a plan really. But it had worked out...
Not ideally, but better than could have been expected.
The lighter was flicked shut and she drifted lower. She remained in the field of view as she maneuvered, but not directly where that feral gaze stared. It was surreal, the parallel. She disliked it. "I wanted this to go differently," came a defeated murmur, shame coloring her tone for the first time in... she didn't know how long. Arms uninjured save the odd minor laceration, none of them deep enough to cause real damage, she was able to snake one around the crouching woman's waist and carry her almost effortlessly into the air.
"You're broken," she accused. But softly, regretfully. It hurt to lift her legs enough to drift over the bar, back into the main seating area of the club. God, she'd be limping from those gouging claws for a while. Maybe Devin knew a healer. "At one time I thought you had been since Asao." She held her mother close, pulled tight to her side. "But it goes further back than that. You were always broken, like me. But you never healed."
The claws remained. Probably Yuna's mind was locked away behind rage and thirst, in addition to whatever other delusions she'd built up for herself. It made Kaida's words extra pointless, but she let them spill regardless.
"I wish I understood why you've never stopped cowering in the dark." She touched down on her good leg and fell into a crouch to avoid putting weight on the injured, laying Yuna gently on the floor. "But it doesn't matter." Briefly her eyes lifted to the rough letters across the bundled crimson curtain that had been the entirety of her initial plan. She grimaced.
Rose again to stand carefully on the one foot she trusted. Reignited the tiny flame. She gazed at the battered metal a moment. It had been her first little trophy, a keepsake of her first local triumph. An ugly thing, like this place. A fitting end for it.
A look both compassionate and imperious dropped to the prone vampire, before Kaida turned and tossed the lighter the way they'd come.
"I'll carry you into the light." It wasn't so flashy as a manufactured accelerant. Gasoline or kerosene or whatever. But the abundance of hard alcohol caught all the same, flames initially blue as they licked and spread up the fine lacquered wood of the bar, the painted wall behind. They turned orange quickly enough.
Bending low, she scooped her frozen maker up into a loving cradle and floated toward the exit.
Yuna was struck, stuck. Instead of squinting, Kaida's eyes briefly shut. She'd not die tonight. Nor would she have to murder her mother to prevent it. This was not what she'd intended when coming, never capable of sticking to a plan really. But it had worked out...
Not ideally, but better than could have been expected.
The lighter was flicked shut and she drifted lower. She remained in the field of view as she maneuvered, but not directly where that feral gaze stared. It was surreal, the parallel. She disliked it. "I wanted this to go differently," came a defeated murmur, shame coloring her tone for the first time in... she didn't know how long. Arms uninjured save the odd minor laceration, none of them deep enough to cause real damage, she was able to snake one around the crouching woman's waist and carry her almost effortlessly into the air.
"You're broken," she accused. But softly, regretfully. It hurt to lift her legs enough to drift over the bar, back into the main seating area of the club. God, she'd be limping from those gouging claws for a while. Maybe Devin knew a healer. "At one time I thought you had been since Asao." She held her mother close, pulled tight to her side. "But it goes further back than that. You were always broken, like me. But you never healed."
The claws remained. Probably Yuna's mind was locked away behind rage and thirst, in addition to whatever other delusions she'd built up for herself. It made Kaida's words extra pointless, but she let them spill regardless.
"I wish I understood why you've never stopped cowering in the dark." She touched down on her good leg and fell into a crouch to avoid putting weight on the injured, laying Yuna gently on the floor. "But it doesn't matter." Briefly her eyes lifted to the rough letters across the bundled crimson curtain that had been the entirety of her initial plan. She grimaced.
Rose again to stand carefully on the one foot she trusted. Reignited the tiny flame. She gazed at the battered metal a moment. It had been her first little trophy, a keepsake of her first local triumph. An ugly thing, like this place. A fitting end for it.
A look both compassionate and imperious dropped to the prone vampire, before Kaida turned and tossed the lighter the way they'd come.
"I'll carry you into the light." It wasn't so flashy as a manufactured accelerant. Gasoline or kerosene or whatever. But the abundance of hard alcohol caught all the same, flames initially blue as they licked and spread up the fine lacquered wood of the bar, the painted wall behind. They turned orange quickly enough.
Bending low, she scooped her frozen maker up into a loving cradle and floated toward the exit.
1
09-30-2021, 07:27 PM
She could not move. All that Yuna could do was watch her through the lens of a vengeful monster's rage. Everything within her willed her muscles to loosen, her joints to unstick from where they'd been rusted tight by magic. But the rage burned on and on, razing her from the inside as Kaida spoke words she hardly heard, let alone made sense of. Her body ached to reel against the arms slipping around her, every instinct commanding her to turn her head and sink her teeth into the throat that was so near now.
Instead, she fell limply in the hold. Her body was not her own. She was rendered doll-like as the world continued to move around her, yet she remained in terrible stasis. She was no more than a corpse with a burning mind trapped inside of it. Her ears rang, the words her daughter spoke warbling in and out. The flames licked at their confines, finding solid steel walls all around. Without a place to go, they began to sputter, choking themselves on their own smoke. Her rage suffocated, guttering without a means to be wielded.
As her body slumped onto the floor, the fire began to fade. Her jaw slacked, the teeth receding, her hands going limp as the claws slipped away. Her head lolled, the eyes that were fixed in a furious glare now settling on the vampire above her. Still, as she drifted back to herself, Yuna could not move. She could not look away as the words found their sense and Kaida stepped away from her. She watched with glassy eyes as the lighted flicked to life once more.
It's light danced against her dark eyes. A languid waltz of menacing promise. It enraptured her, and she knew that she could not have looked away from it even if she had control of her eyes. Terror swelled in her as the realization dawned on her. She was paralyzed, the means by which she was unsure. The last minute was a blur of fury and movement.
She only knew this moment. Prone at the feet of the girl she had saved and then lost. Utterly helpless, stripped of every right to her body, to her mind. Her healing. It had been stolen from her, taken by someone she had only ever wanted to gift the very same thing to. And now the flame and the girl looked down upon her bloody body, and a promise was made. She would be carried into the light. And the light would rend her to ash.
She could not even close her eyes against what was next to come. She could not wail her fury that all that she had worked to reclaim within herself was being so easily tossed into the flames. As if nothing she had done had ever mattered in the end. It would always end in ash.
Yuna could only feel the tears that spilled over her frozen cheeks and watch as the flame was lifted into the air.
And then it was sailing away from her, out of sight from her vantage point. She only heard the clatter of metal and glass, and quickly smelled the acrid combustion as it roared to life. She was not the one in flames. It was just the building in which they stood. Confusion scattered her mind, the next fleeting moments spent reorienting what was happening. Would Kaida leave her here to be swallowed by the flame in her own building? No, she was being lifted once again. Her body was taken, her mind a captive, being dragged away from the manifestation of all she had accomplished.
Kaida was not killing her, but she was just as well turning her to ash.
Instead, she fell limply in the hold. Her body was not her own. She was rendered doll-like as the world continued to move around her, yet she remained in terrible stasis. She was no more than a corpse with a burning mind trapped inside of it. Her ears rang, the words her daughter spoke warbling in and out. The flames licked at their confines, finding solid steel walls all around. Without a place to go, they began to sputter, choking themselves on their own smoke. Her rage suffocated, guttering without a means to be wielded.
As her body slumped onto the floor, the fire began to fade. Her jaw slacked, the teeth receding, her hands going limp as the claws slipped away. Her head lolled, the eyes that were fixed in a furious glare now settling on the vampire above her. Still, as she drifted back to herself, Yuna could not move. She could not look away as the words found their sense and Kaida stepped away from her. She watched with glassy eyes as the lighted flicked to life once more.
It's light danced against her dark eyes. A languid waltz of menacing promise. It enraptured her, and she knew that she could not have looked away from it even if she had control of her eyes. Terror swelled in her as the realization dawned on her. She was paralyzed, the means by which she was unsure. The last minute was a blur of fury and movement.
She only knew this moment. Prone at the feet of the girl she had saved and then lost. Utterly helpless, stripped of every right to her body, to her mind. Her healing. It had been stolen from her, taken by someone she had only ever wanted to gift the very same thing to. And now the flame and the girl looked down upon her bloody body, and a promise was made. She would be carried into the light. And the light would rend her to ash.
She could not even close her eyes against what was next to come. She could not wail her fury that all that she had worked to reclaim within herself was being so easily tossed into the flames. As if nothing she had done had ever mattered in the end. It would always end in ash.
Yuna could only feel the tears that spilled over her frozen cheeks and watch as the flame was lifted into the air.
And then it was sailing away from her, out of sight from her vantage point. She only heard the clatter of metal and glass, and quickly smelled the acrid combustion as it roared to life. She was not the one in flames. It was just the building in which they stood. Confusion scattered her mind, the next fleeting moments spent reorienting what was happening. Would Kaida leave her here to be swallowed by the flame in her own building? No, she was being lifted once again. Her body was taken, her mind a captive, being dragged away from the manifestation of all she had accomplished.
Kaida was not killing her, but she was just as well turning her to ash.
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