Post by Helena Sawyer on Jul 31, 2017 2:37:45 GMT
We open on Helena walking through a forest at night, a small oil lantern the only thing providing illumination in the space around her. She wears a midnight black hooded cloak, pulled tight around her shoulders, and the breeze buffets the lantern's flame about, throwing shadows as Helena walks down a narrow, packed-earth path.
"IWF's not the same as it was when I first came here. No, something's...changed. Things are darker now, things are grimmer. The dragon may be slumbering, but we have monsters just the same. Monsters in men's clothing, like Kole Kaos. Stranger things yet, like Jason Sandman. And then there's the demon queen herself. I felt Balor's Gaze last week...and it burned me."
Helena grins, lifting the lantern again. As the shadows play over her face, on her jawline we can see what appears to be a smoldering impact point, the light playing over the burns before they vanish in front of our eyes.
"And it taught me a lesson. It taught me that no matter the targets, predators recognize predators. She showed me her wrath...and her respect. Respect for one who knows the value of pain. But then, Kathleen...you know all about the value of pain. Don't you? It's why you let me stay as long as you have. It's why when I wanted to return, the door was right there, beckoning me in."
She smiles, walking along the path, boots scraping against the hard dirt. As she passes through the trees, they seem to bend and twist behind her...tricks of the light, no doubt.
"Kathy, you've known as long as I have the value of a warped mind. It's why you've been so successful in making this division the place everyone wants to be. You appeal to everyone's flaws. My need to teach. Astrid's pride. Pandora's hedonism. The Garcia Twins' ego. Charity Crowne's vanity. We all have our sins, don't we? But you know...you know your sin. Just as well as I do. Your sin...is sloth."
Helena picks up her pace slightly, casting furtive glances at the woods around her as she walks. A flash of movement comes at the edge of her peripheral vision, and Helena takes her steps just that bit quicker.
"How do I know? Because I've seen what happens when you conquer it. I've seen the glory. The victories, the danger in your eyes...you could be so beautiful, Kathy. A bloody Diamond, glistening for all to admire and fear. But you never stay. You put your face in now and again, but you haven't committed yourself. Take it from experience: sometimes, being committed helps you find yourself."
Helena laughs at her terrible pun, her mirth echoing through the woods. She comes to a small clearing, setting the lantern down on a rock, and sits on a tree stump, crossing her legs and looking up at the night sky.
"It feels so good out here...away from the pretense, away from the lies. You're lying to yourself, Kathy, if you say you don't enjoy this. I saw what you did against Rowan. I saw the look in your eyes once your precious husband got kicked in the teeth. You were feral. It was beautiful. I want to see that from you, Kathy. Do I need to beat him up to get you that angry? Or do I have smaller fish to fry?"
Helena flashes a wicked smile at the camera, shaking her head and sighing as she throws her head back again, baring her throat to the wilderness. A pair of gleaming golden eyes can briefly be seen in the darkness as Helena speaks, kicking her feet lazily.
"Oh, that'll get you riled up, won't it? Good. I don't want the manipulator that sits behind a desk and moves people's lives like chess pieces. If I wanted that, I would have gone and found your husband. No, I want the fighter. I want the lioness. Fight me, Kathy. With all of your anger and all of your pain, fight me. Stop leading a double life. Embrace the violence, embrace your potential...or stop teasing and walk away forever. You can't be two people at once...trust me."
Helena winks at the camera again, leaning forward again. As her eyes roll forward in her head, for a moment they're jet black. She blinks, and when her eyes reopen, they're their normal color again.
"You can hide behind titles and committees, Kathy, but it doesn't change the truth. You're just as broken as the rest of us. You just hide it behind the image of being normal. A husband, two point one kids, a successful office job...but you're not like that. Not deep down. We all saw it in Switzerland. We've all seen it before. So hide behind your civilization for another week...I'm going to get back in touch with the Mother out here. We'll see who was right. Enjoy yourself, Kathy. I know I will...and I just can't wait."
She winks, looking over and snapping her fingers. The lantern gutters out, plunging the forest into utter blackness, and Helena's laughter echoes through the night as we fade away.
The phone rang, the sound of the dial tone echoing in the small hotel room. Grace paced back and forth, breath coming uneven and shot with emotion despite her best efforts. It was ringing. That was a start. For weeks, it had been straight to voicemail. She leaned against the wall, closing her eyes as she tried to brace herself for who would be on the other end.
The voice that picked up made her heart fall. It was so close, so close to what she wanted to hear, but the veneer of condescension over every word and the slightly sing-song rise and fall of the words told her everything. "You've reached the offices of Sawyer and Dearborn...how may I direct your call?"
Grace's free hand clenched into a tight fist, and she forced herself to speak, each word sounding like a labor. "Shelly. Please. Stop playing around. We need to talk."
Helena just chuckled. It was light, airy...it was so close to the laugh Grace had heard a thousand times before, but subtly, insidiously wrong. "Sorry, Michelle can't come to the phone right now. I can take a message if you'd like..."
Grace bit her lower lip, and she shook her head, a hard look in her eyes. "This isn't funny. I don't know why you're doing this..." she hesitates, choking up. "..but please. Stop."
Another laugh, with all the insincerity of the first, greeted Grace. "Stop? Why would I stop? I don't think you get it, Gracie. When I say Michelle's not here...I mean Michelle's. Not. Here. Full stop. Hold onto that letter you got back in Madrid, because it's the last thing you're ever going to hear from her." Helena trailed off into a snickering giggle, sighing.
Grace didn't respond, stumbling back and falling onto the bed. Her face was slack with shock, hand barely keeping its grip on the phone. Her jaw worked instinctively, tracing its way through half-formed consonants and vowels before finally managing to form the question that swirled in her mind. "Who...are you?"
Helena laughed, and her response carried with it an air of predatory warmth, almost hypnotic in its nature. "I'm the best imaginary friend you could ever ask for. I'm every urge, every want your dear Michelle has ever felt. I'm her need to learn, I'm her hate, I'm her love...I'm her, Grace. But better."
Grace's voice shot back immediately, choked with anger and frustration. "No you're not. I don't know where this is coming from...but I know you're not Michelle. I know you're not my girl. You're something using her voice and wearing her face. I'm going to find you. I'm going to get her back. And you're going to go away for a long, long time."
"Braver women than you have tried." Helena sighs. "I know you, Gracie. I know you just as well as she does. I know the nightmares that make you wake up in a cold sweat. I know the little things that drive you up the wall. I know just where to press to make you weak at the knees...or to drive you into agony. I'm two steps ahead of you, Grace, and you'll never catch up."
She forced herself to her feet, stepping off of the bed, and Grace found conviction welling up in her voice as she stalked towards the door unconsciously. "No. Fuck you. You're an act. Something Michelle made up. And the moment we're back together again, the moment I can be there for her, she can put you away and pretend you never existed. You're all in her head."
A chiding tutting of the tongue greeted Grace's resolve. "Tsk-tsk, Gracie. We both know it's not that easy. Of course I'm inside her head, Grace...but why on Earth should that mean I'm any less real? You lay back down on the bed and try to dream me away. I'll still be right here...doing what I do best and having fun. Good ni—" Helena's taunting sign-off is strangled in her throat, and all Grace can hear on the other end is a series of grunts and half-syllables.
"What's going on? Where are you? What's happening?!" Grace's composure fell away, replaced by concern and panic. A few seconds of silence pass, and Grace starts to shout into the phone. "Helena?! ANSWER ME, YOU SICK BITCH!"
After a few seconds, a weak reply came, its tone wavering but just warm enough to bring an overjoyed smile to Grace's face. "H...Helena can't come to the phone right now, and good fucking riddance."
"Shelly?!" Grace's joy flowed out of her, and her expression lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh my God! Are you okay? Where are you? Please tell me you're okay, please oh please."
Another coughing fit into the phone. "I...I'll live. Grace, I don't know where I am. By the time you got here, she would have moved anyway...she seems to like warehouses...Gracie, I'm scared. She blacks me out, and I don't know what I do. I'm pretty sure I'm hurting people. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Grief flooded Michelle's voice as she began to sob into the phone. "I fucked up. Please, don't get hurt for me. I'm not worth it."
"BULLSHIT you're not worth it!" Grace exploded back, anger tempered with worry. "You're the ONLY thing that's worth it! I wouldn't have come halfway around the world and chased you all over Europe if you weren't the most worth it person or thing I've ever met! You hold on tight, baby. That bitch can't kill you. I know you too well. We're gonna make it better, okay?" Grace forced a smile back onto her face. "Okay?"
The long silence that followed was broken again, and Grace's face fell as she heard the response. "You can say it all you like...that doesn't make it true. Now, as I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted!" Grace heard a dull thwack, sounding disturbingly like a skull on concrete, and Helena laughed again, her signature peal of laughter. "Good night, Gracie!"
The phone went dead, and Grace pulled it away from her ear, staring blankly at the screen. A low growl built somewhere in her chest, rippling its way through her sternum and tearing forth from her mouth as an infuriated half-shriek, half-roar that echoed through the tiny room before dying down into a rattling, moaning sob. Grace crumpled to the floor, pulling herself into a ball, and her body shook with sobs as she wept bitter, frustrated tears into her knees as we fade out.
"IWF's not the same as it was when I first came here. No, something's...changed. Things are darker now, things are grimmer. The dragon may be slumbering, but we have monsters just the same. Monsters in men's clothing, like Kole Kaos. Stranger things yet, like Jason Sandman. And then there's the demon queen herself. I felt Balor's Gaze last week...and it burned me."
Helena grins, lifting the lantern again. As the shadows play over her face, on her jawline we can see what appears to be a smoldering impact point, the light playing over the burns before they vanish in front of our eyes.
"And it taught me a lesson. It taught me that no matter the targets, predators recognize predators. She showed me her wrath...and her respect. Respect for one who knows the value of pain. But then, Kathleen...you know all about the value of pain. Don't you? It's why you let me stay as long as you have. It's why when I wanted to return, the door was right there, beckoning me in."
She smiles, walking along the path, boots scraping against the hard dirt. As she passes through the trees, they seem to bend and twist behind her...tricks of the light, no doubt.
"Kathy, you've known as long as I have the value of a warped mind. It's why you've been so successful in making this division the place everyone wants to be. You appeal to everyone's flaws. My need to teach. Astrid's pride. Pandora's hedonism. The Garcia Twins' ego. Charity Crowne's vanity. We all have our sins, don't we? But you know...you know your sin. Just as well as I do. Your sin...is sloth."
Helena picks up her pace slightly, casting furtive glances at the woods around her as she walks. A flash of movement comes at the edge of her peripheral vision, and Helena takes her steps just that bit quicker.
"How do I know? Because I've seen what happens when you conquer it. I've seen the glory. The victories, the danger in your eyes...you could be so beautiful, Kathy. A bloody Diamond, glistening for all to admire and fear. But you never stay. You put your face in now and again, but you haven't committed yourself. Take it from experience: sometimes, being committed helps you find yourself."
Helena laughs at her terrible pun, her mirth echoing through the woods. She comes to a small clearing, setting the lantern down on a rock, and sits on a tree stump, crossing her legs and looking up at the night sky.
"It feels so good out here...away from the pretense, away from the lies. You're lying to yourself, Kathy, if you say you don't enjoy this. I saw what you did against Rowan. I saw the look in your eyes once your precious husband got kicked in the teeth. You were feral. It was beautiful. I want to see that from you, Kathy. Do I need to beat him up to get you that angry? Or do I have smaller fish to fry?"
Helena flashes a wicked smile at the camera, shaking her head and sighing as she throws her head back again, baring her throat to the wilderness. A pair of gleaming golden eyes can briefly be seen in the darkness as Helena speaks, kicking her feet lazily.
"Oh, that'll get you riled up, won't it? Good. I don't want the manipulator that sits behind a desk and moves people's lives like chess pieces. If I wanted that, I would have gone and found your husband. No, I want the fighter. I want the lioness. Fight me, Kathy. With all of your anger and all of your pain, fight me. Stop leading a double life. Embrace the violence, embrace your potential...or stop teasing and walk away forever. You can't be two people at once...trust me."
Helena winks at the camera again, leaning forward again. As her eyes roll forward in her head, for a moment they're jet black. She blinks, and when her eyes reopen, they're their normal color again.
"You can hide behind titles and committees, Kathy, but it doesn't change the truth. You're just as broken as the rest of us. You just hide it behind the image of being normal. A husband, two point one kids, a successful office job...but you're not like that. Not deep down. We all saw it in Switzerland. We've all seen it before. So hide behind your civilization for another week...I'm going to get back in touch with the Mother out here. We'll see who was right. Enjoy yourself, Kathy. I know I will...and I just can't wait."
She winks, looking over and snapping her fingers. The lantern gutters out, plunging the forest into utter blackness, and Helena's laughter echoes through the night as we fade away.
The phone rang, the sound of the dial tone echoing in the small hotel room. Grace paced back and forth, breath coming uneven and shot with emotion despite her best efforts. It was ringing. That was a start. For weeks, it had been straight to voicemail. She leaned against the wall, closing her eyes as she tried to brace herself for who would be on the other end.
The voice that picked up made her heart fall. It was so close, so close to what she wanted to hear, but the veneer of condescension over every word and the slightly sing-song rise and fall of the words told her everything. "You've reached the offices of Sawyer and Dearborn...how may I direct your call?"
Grace's free hand clenched into a tight fist, and she forced herself to speak, each word sounding like a labor. "Shelly. Please. Stop playing around. We need to talk."
Helena just chuckled. It was light, airy...it was so close to the laugh Grace had heard a thousand times before, but subtly, insidiously wrong. "Sorry, Michelle can't come to the phone right now. I can take a message if you'd like..."
Grace bit her lower lip, and she shook her head, a hard look in her eyes. "This isn't funny. I don't know why you're doing this..." she hesitates, choking up. "..but please. Stop."
Another laugh, with all the insincerity of the first, greeted Grace. "Stop? Why would I stop? I don't think you get it, Gracie. When I say Michelle's not here...I mean Michelle's. Not. Here. Full stop. Hold onto that letter you got back in Madrid, because it's the last thing you're ever going to hear from her." Helena trailed off into a snickering giggle, sighing.
Grace didn't respond, stumbling back and falling onto the bed. Her face was slack with shock, hand barely keeping its grip on the phone. Her jaw worked instinctively, tracing its way through half-formed consonants and vowels before finally managing to form the question that swirled in her mind. "Who...are you?"
Helena laughed, and her response carried with it an air of predatory warmth, almost hypnotic in its nature. "I'm the best imaginary friend you could ever ask for. I'm every urge, every want your dear Michelle has ever felt. I'm her need to learn, I'm her hate, I'm her love...I'm her, Grace. But better."
Grace's voice shot back immediately, choked with anger and frustration. "No you're not. I don't know where this is coming from...but I know you're not Michelle. I know you're not my girl. You're something using her voice and wearing her face. I'm going to find you. I'm going to get her back. And you're going to go away for a long, long time."
"Braver women than you have tried." Helena sighs. "I know you, Gracie. I know you just as well as she does. I know the nightmares that make you wake up in a cold sweat. I know the little things that drive you up the wall. I know just where to press to make you weak at the knees...or to drive you into agony. I'm two steps ahead of you, Grace, and you'll never catch up."
She forced herself to her feet, stepping off of the bed, and Grace found conviction welling up in her voice as she stalked towards the door unconsciously. "No. Fuck you. You're an act. Something Michelle made up. And the moment we're back together again, the moment I can be there for her, she can put you away and pretend you never existed. You're all in her head."
A chiding tutting of the tongue greeted Grace's resolve. "Tsk-tsk, Gracie. We both know it's not that easy. Of course I'm inside her head, Grace...but why on Earth should that mean I'm any less real? You lay back down on the bed and try to dream me away. I'll still be right here...doing what I do best and having fun. Good ni—" Helena's taunting sign-off is strangled in her throat, and all Grace can hear on the other end is a series of grunts and half-syllables.
"What's going on? Where are you? What's happening?!" Grace's composure fell away, replaced by concern and panic. A few seconds of silence pass, and Grace starts to shout into the phone. "Helena?! ANSWER ME, YOU SICK BITCH!"
After a few seconds, a weak reply came, its tone wavering but just warm enough to bring an overjoyed smile to Grace's face. "H...Helena can't come to the phone right now, and good fucking riddance."
"Shelly?!" Grace's joy flowed out of her, and her expression lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh my God! Are you okay? Where are you? Please tell me you're okay, please oh please."
Another coughing fit into the phone. "I...I'll live. Grace, I don't know where I am. By the time you got here, she would have moved anyway...she seems to like warehouses...Gracie, I'm scared. She blacks me out, and I don't know what I do. I'm pretty sure I'm hurting people. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Grief flooded Michelle's voice as she began to sob into the phone. "I fucked up. Please, don't get hurt for me. I'm not worth it."
"BULLSHIT you're not worth it!" Grace exploded back, anger tempered with worry. "You're the ONLY thing that's worth it! I wouldn't have come halfway around the world and chased you all over Europe if you weren't the most worth it person or thing I've ever met! You hold on tight, baby. That bitch can't kill you. I know you too well. We're gonna make it better, okay?" Grace forced a smile back onto her face. "Okay?"
The long silence that followed was broken again, and Grace's face fell as she heard the response. "You can say it all you like...that doesn't make it true. Now, as I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted!" Grace heard a dull thwack, sounding disturbingly like a skull on concrete, and Helena laughed again, her signature peal of laughter. "Good night, Gracie!"
The phone went dead, and Grace pulled it away from her ear, staring blankly at the screen. A low growl built somewhere in her chest, rippling its way through her sternum and tearing forth from her mouth as an infuriated half-shriek, half-roar that echoed through the tiny room before dying down into a rattling, moaning sob. Grace crumpled to the floor, pulling herself into a ball, and her body shook with sobs as she wept bitter, frustrated tears into her knees as we fade out.
Well howdy there pardner.