Post by Helena Sawyer on Sept 18, 2017 4:55:06 GMT
We open on Helena Sawyer's grinning face, looking down the lens of her camera as she walks through the pews of an ornate Catholic church, vaulted ceilings looming overhead. She whispers conspiratorially into the microphone, eyes a familiar, sickly yellow-and-red. "Hey there IWF! Unfortunately, I've got a bit of a cough this week, so if I sound strange...well, that's why. Now, we're going to do something that's not very nice: we're going to go screw with a priest." She giggles. "It's gonna be great! Now, you keep it down, and I'll see how long we can string things along." She walks to the front of the church, sliding into one of the pews, and pulls up the hood on a hoodie she's wearing, bowing her head and beginning to pray quietly.
After about a minute, the sound of footsteps comes from behind Helena, who flashes a grin but continues to pray. A warm, comforting female voice echoes in the church. "My daughter...what troubles you? Why do you offer such voluminous supplication to our Lord?"
Helena manages to suppress a giggle, voice wavering with false worry and emotion as she mouths "NUN!" to the camera. "I...I've done some really terrible things, Sister. I've done a lot of terrible things...and I'm going to do a lot more. And it scares me. It really does."
The voice, presumably that of a nun, echoes warmly in the nearly-deserted halls of the church. "There is nothing He cannot help us overcome. Come, tell me what troubles you."
A hand reaches in from off-camera towards Helena's shoulder, and she jumps down the bench, shaking her head as her breath catches. "D-don't touch me." She pauses, taking another deep breath. "S-so...there are...these two girls, okay? And they're...not bad people. They're really not. But...they're not as good as they think they are. They're really not. And I kind of hate them, and it's hard for me to put my finger on it..."
"Maybe if you talked about it?" the priest offers. "Sometimes, talking through things helps you understand them." Her hand reaches over, resting a comfortable distance from Helena's on the bench.
Helena takes a deep breath, nodding. "Okay, so...the first girl. She's got all this...baggage...about how she grew up. And I guess I just...I hate how much she bangs on and on about how nobody understands, how she's fought for everything and nobody supported her, and it's like...w-we all have hard lives, and she just doesn't stop whining about it!" Helena pounds her fists on the bench futilely, sighing. "And I've shown people again and again that I'm better than her at our work, but they keep showering her with all this affection, and...it's like, she's just not that special. She keeps coming runner-up, and she acts like she's owed first place, and...the entitlement just bugs me. And it makes me want to see her fail all the more, and I KNOW that's selfish, but...I wanna win. And I wanna win at her expense."
"I see." the nun muses thoughtfully, fingers drumming the pew as he hums to herself. "Well, she sounds like the kind of young woman that could use this kind of conversation. Maybe you could send her my way? I try to help those who can't help themselves, and her self-confidence seems shot through to the core."
"She'd probably start smoldering the moment she crossed the threshold." Helena snarks, grinning where the priest can't see her. "And then there's the other girl I'm...we're on separate teams, right? And the girl working with the ego case, she's just...she's this obnoxiously chipper go-getter spunky so-and-so...like, it's so insincere. We can all tell, everyone that works with her, that she's putting up this front and is super-scared. Like...I just showed her up in this head-to-head competition thing, right? But she's still got this really great position. And she doesn't even recognize how she's slipping. It's so blind. No self-awareness."
The nun nods again, chuckling slightly. "She tries so hard, hm? I think if you want to really do something for her, take her aside and ask her to take a real critical look at herself. Make sure she's performing to the standard she was at when she got that position you were talking about. True brotherhood and sisterhood under Christ means not being afraid to tell others what they need to be better...even if it's not particularly easy."
Helena nods, sniffling and wiping her nose as she waggles her eyebrows at the camera, face still hidden from her companion. "And...I've got to work with this other girl, who I'm...we're competing for the same job, right? Even better than that other one we were talking about. Like...we're working together this week, but next week we have this big...thing where we have to make our case for who deserves the job more, and...I don't want to work with her, I don't want her to know anything more about what I do than she does. And she's just...the worst, the ACTUAL worst. But I agreed to work with her for this, so I can't back out...she's so cruel. She's so vicious, I think she's an actual monster, Sister, and I'm s-scared." Helena injects an extra level of vocal wobbling into her words, sniffling again.
The nun sighs, reaching over and comfortingly patting Helena's shoulder. Helena flinches under her touch, subtly angling the camera so it can catch the nun's face. She's an older woman, cheeks rounded and flushed, giving her a warm, matronly appearance. Her eyes twinkle with her smile as she addresses Helena. "You seem like a lovely young woman...a bit shy, but that's no sin. I've heard many stories like yours, fraught with worry and lesser impulses. The important thing is that you remain confident in yourself. No matter what these other girls can do, none of them are you. None of them can do what you can do, and that is something you will always be able to cherish. You will succeed at whatever you put your heart and soul to it. I can hear it in your voice. You are a young woman of great determination and character, and do not let the slings and arrows of self-doubt weigh you down." She smiles again. "Can you do that? For me, for you, and for the Lord?"
Helena nods, sighing, and her voice loses all of its put-upon worry, reverting to its usual sibilant, barely-stifled manic glee. "Ohh Sister, you DO know just the things to say to make it all better." She looks up, throwing her hood back with a huge smile on her face, and the nun gasps in horror, scrambling back on the bench. Helena tilts her head to the side, eyes flashing wide with a grin. "God bless you."
The nun lets out a shriek of terror, scrambling up from the pew and fleeing into the back of the church. Helena breaks out in a peal of laughter, cackling with sadistic joy as she shakes her head and stands back. "Ahhhh...nuns. No sense of humor." Helena shrugs at the camera, winking. "I should probably go soon, before she comes back and tries to drown me in a basin of holy water. Keira, Shea...I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. And Rowan? A deal's a deal...and you had better remember that." Helena winks again into the camera, blowing a kiss. "I'll see you soon! Ohh...I just can't wait!" With that, she turns and begins sprinting between the pews again, camera clicking off as her laughter echoes throughout the church, filling the space with her mad cacophony as we cut to black.
Slowly and with deliberate purpose, Rowan extended a scarred hand. Helena eyed the hand warily, gaze slowly moving up to meet Rowan’s…
Helena took a deep breath, muttering under her breath “I hope I don’t live to regret this…” Warily, she reached out, taking Rowan’s hand. Rowan’s grip clamped down instantly, her power deceptive and crushing. As the handshake was pulled tighter, Helena felt an unusual warmth from Rowan’s palms, not that of a high temperature but something altogether more...threatening. Helena pumped the handshake once before letting go and settling back into her chair, looking around. “Well, that was nifty. Can’t remember the last time I made a deal with a demon. Is that what I have to do to get some SERVICE AROUND HERE?!” Helena picked up her voice on the last three words, shooting a pointed glare at the kitchen.
Rowan let out a chuckle. “Don’t be so hard on them. They’re having a challenging evening.” She raised her hand and made a small gesture, beckoning the waitress over. The waitress, a trembling young woman, walked closer, shaking like a leaf in a windstorm as she slowly extended a pair of menus to the seated monstrosities.
Helena waved her off, a saccharine smile playing across her face. “I know what I want. Spaghetti, meat sauce, meatballs, and a double order of garlic bread.” She looks over to Rowan, smirking. “I need the protein. Got a big week ahead of me.” Helena leans back again, locking eyes with Rowan. “And what’ll it be for you...champ?”
Rowan’s eyes flashed with no small amount of mirth. “I already ate.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.
Helena shook her head, huffing. “Really? Nothing? You psychologically abuse these poor people, drag them out here in the middle of the night to cater to the whims of a couple of sadistic bitches, and you won’t even eat their food? Do you know NOTHING of hospitality?! At least try the garlic bread.” She rolled her eyes, looking to the waitress, who appeared to be concertedly attempting to drill through the restaurant’s floor through the power of nervous vibration alone. “Oh, and bring me the house red. I think tonight’s going to be a full bottle kind of night…”
Rowan looked unimpressed. “You just think you want to see what’s under the mask.”
As the waitress walked away, Helena’s expression became scandalized and annoyed. “You think I’m that shallow? THAT transparent? That this would be such an obvious ploy? Maybe I want you in form for our match. Demonic possession does a number on the digestive tract…” Helena coughs, glancing around. “...or so I heard.”
Rowan rolled her eyes. “In every conceivable way. But fine. If you’re just going to be insufferable about it…” she glanced at the waitress. “The steak alfredo. Raw. And a glass of water.”
“No wine?” Helena cocked her eyebrow. “This place’s wine cellar is reportedly amazing.”
Rowan gave her a glare. “I’m 19.”
Helena threw her hands up in the air in utter bafflement. “So kidnapping? Fine. Torture. Door prize! Murder? Heavily implied if nothing else! But underage drinking, nooooooo, THAT’S where the demon draws the goddamn line!”
Rowan chuckled. “It’s important to keep you all on your toes.”
Helena groaned, shaking her head as her voice takes on a whining quality. “But I didn’t take balleeeeet...oh, fine. If you insist. So, on my toes. Got it. What’s next?”
As if on cue, the lights flickered and went out, plunging the block into darkness. When they came back up after a few seconds of confused darkness, Rowan’s seat was empty. Helena looked around, an irritated expression settling across her face. “...ah. I see. All this pomp and circumstance, all this blue-balling, and not only do I not get to see what’s under the mask, I get my shot called AND I don’t even get my dinner?” she crossed her arms, huffing.
The lights flickered again, and when they came back up, a heaping plate of spaghetti and meatballs sits in front of Helena, along with a bottle of wine. Helena looked around, blinking. “And no garlic bread?” Pausing for a moment, she sighed, shaking her head and beginning to eat.
As she ate, footsteps sounded from behind her. Helena looked back, eyebrow raised, and locked eyes with Dean Harper standing behind her. Dean clears his throat, smiling politely down at Helena. "So how are we splitting the check?"
A long pause followed, and Helena stood up, grabbing the bottle of wine and shaking her head as she walked away from the patio and down the street. Dean watched her walking away, rubbing the bridge of his nose, and as he shook his head, Caleb Lockwood quietly walked up behind Dean, tapping him on the shoulder. Dean looked back, and Caleb jerked his thumb back at the plate of food. "...are you just gonna throw that out, or...?" Dean sighed, shaking his head and waving his hand dismissively at the plate. Taking the cue, Caleb sat down, beginning to eat with a contented grin on his face as we fade to black.
After about a minute, the sound of footsteps comes from behind Helena, who flashes a grin but continues to pray. A warm, comforting female voice echoes in the church. "My daughter...what troubles you? Why do you offer such voluminous supplication to our Lord?"
Helena manages to suppress a giggle, voice wavering with false worry and emotion as she mouths "NUN!" to the camera. "I...I've done some really terrible things, Sister. I've done a lot of terrible things...and I'm going to do a lot more. And it scares me. It really does."
The voice, presumably that of a nun, echoes warmly in the nearly-deserted halls of the church. "There is nothing He cannot help us overcome. Come, tell me what troubles you."
A hand reaches in from off-camera towards Helena's shoulder, and she jumps down the bench, shaking her head as her breath catches. "D-don't touch me." She pauses, taking another deep breath. "S-so...there are...these two girls, okay? And they're...not bad people. They're really not. But...they're not as good as they think they are. They're really not. And I kind of hate them, and it's hard for me to put my finger on it..."
"Maybe if you talked about it?" the priest offers. "Sometimes, talking through things helps you understand them." Her hand reaches over, resting a comfortable distance from Helena's on the bench.
Helena takes a deep breath, nodding. "Okay, so...the first girl. She's got all this...baggage...about how she grew up. And I guess I just...I hate how much she bangs on and on about how nobody understands, how she's fought for everything and nobody supported her, and it's like...w-we all have hard lives, and she just doesn't stop whining about it!" Helena pounds her fists on the bench futilely, sighing. "And I've shown people again and again that I'm better than her at our work, but they keep showering her with all this affection, and...it's like, she's just not that special. She keeps coming runner-up, and she acts like she's owed first place, and...the entitlement just bugs me. And it makes me want to see her fail all the more, and I KNOW that's selfish, but...I wanna win. And I wanna win at her expense."
"I see." the nun muses thoughtfully, fingers drumming the pew as he hums to herself. "Well, she sounds like the kind of young woman that could use this kind of conversation. Maybe you could send her my way? I try to help those who can't help themselves, and her self-confidence seems shot through to the core."
"She'd probably start smoldering the moment she crossed the threshold." Helena snarks, grinning where the priest can't see her. "And then there's the other girl I'm...we're on separate teams, right? And the girl working with the ego case, she's just...she's this obnoxiously chipper go-getter spunky so-and-so...like, it's so insincere. We can all tell, everyone that works with her, that she's putting up this front and is super-scared. Like...I just showed her up in this head-to-head competition thing, right? But she's still got this really great position. And she doesn't even recognize how she's slipping. It's so blind. No self-awareness."
The nun nods again, chuckling slightly. "She tries so hard, hm? I think if you want to really do something for her, take her aside and ask her to take a real critical look at herself. Make sure she's performing to the standard she was at when she got that position you were talking about. True brotherhood and sisterhood under Christ means not being afraid to tell others what they need to be better...even if it's not particularly easy."
Helena nods, sniffling and wiping her nose as she waggles her eyebrows at the camera, face still hidden from her companion. "And...I've got to work with this other girl, who I'm...we're competing for the same job, right? Even better than that other one we were talking about. Like...we're working together this week, but next week we have this big...thing where we have to make our case for who deserves the job more, and...I don't want to work with her, I don't want her to know anything more about what I do than she does. And she's just...the worst, the ACTUAL worst. But I agreed to work with her for this, so I can't back out...she's so cruel. She's so vicious, I think she's an actual monster, Sister, and I'm s-scared." Helena injects an extra level of vocal wobbling into her words, sniffling again.
The nun sighs, reaching over and comfortingly patting Helena's shoulder. Helena flinches under her touch, subtly angling the camera so it can catch the nun's face. She's an older woman, cheeks rounded and flushed, giving her a warm, matronly appearance. Her eyes twinkle with her smile as she addresses Helena. "You seem like a lovely young woman...a bit shy, but that's no sin. I've heard many stories like yours, fraught with worry and lesser impulses. The important thing is that you remain confident in yourself. No matter what these other girls can do, none of them are you. None of them can do what you can do, and that is something you will always be able to cherish. You will succeed at whatever you put your heart and soul to it. I can hear it in your voice. You are a young woman of great determination and character, and do not let the slings and arrows of self-doubt weigh you down." She smiles again. "Can you do that? For me, for you, and for the Lord?"
Helena nods, sighing, and her voice loses all of its put-upon worry, reverting to its usual sibilant, barely-stifled manic glee. "Ohh Sister, you DO know just the things to say to make it all better." She looks up, throwing her hood back with a huge smile on her face, and the nun gasps in horror, scrambling back on the bench. Helena tilts her head to the side, eyes flashing wide with a grin. "God bless you."
The nun lets out a shriek of terror, scrambling up from the pew and fleeing into the back of the church. Helena breaks out in a peal of laughter, cackling with sadistic joy as she shakes her head and stands back. "Ahhhh...nuns. No sense of humor." Helena shrugs at the camera, winking. "I should probably go soon, before she comes back and tries to drown me in a basin of holy water. Keira, Shea...I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. And Rowan? A deal's a deal...and you had better remember that." Helena winks again into the camera, blowing a kiss. "I'll see you soon! Ohh...I just can't wait!" With that, she turns and begins sprinting between the pews again, camera clicking off as her laughter echoes throughout the church, filling the space with her mad cacophony as we cut to black.
Slowly and with deliberate purpose, Rowan extended a scarred hand. Helena eyed the hand warily, gaze slowly moving up to meet Rowan’s…
Helena took a deep breath, muttering under her breath “I hope I don’t live to regret this…” Warily, she reached out, taking Rowan’s hand. Rowan’s grip clamped down instantly, her power deceptive and crushing. As the handshake was pulled tighter, Helena felt an unusual warmth from Rowan’s palms, not that of a high temperature but something altogether more...threatening. Helena pumped the handshake once before letting go and settling back into her chair, looking around. “Well, that was nifty. Can’t remember the last time I made a deal with a demon. Is that what I have to do to get some SERVICE AROUND HERE?!” Helena picked up her voice on the last three words, shooting a pointed glare at the kitchen.
Rowan let out a chuckle. “Don’t be so hard on them. They’re having a challenging evening.” She raised her hand and made a small gesture, beckoning the waitress over. The waitress, a trembling young woman, walked closer, shaking like a leaf in a windstorm as she slowly extended a pair of menus to the seated monstrosities.
Helena waved her off, a saccharine smile playing across her face. “I know what I want. Spaghetti, meat sauce, meatballs, and a double order of garlic bread.” She looks over to Rowan, smirking. “I need the protein. Got a big week ahead of me.” Helena leans back again, locking eyes with Rowan. “And what’ll it be for you...champ?”
Rowan’s eyes flashed with no small amount of mirth. “I already ate.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.
Helena shook her head, huffing. “Really? Nothing? You psychologically abuse these poor people, drag them out here in the middle of the night to cater to the whims of a couple of sadistic bitches, and you won’t even eat their food? Do you know NOTHING of hospitality?! At least try the garlic bread.” She rolled her eyes, looking to the waitress, who appeared to be concertedly attempting to drill through the restaurant’s floor through the power of nervous vibration alone. “Oh, and bring me the house red. I think tonight’s going to be a full bottle kind of night…”
Rowan looked unimpressed. “You just think you want to see what’s under the mask.”
As the waitress walked away, Helena’s expression became scandalized and annoyed. “You think I’m that shallow? THAT transparent? That this would be such an obvious ploy? Maybe I want you in form for our match. Demonic possession does a number on the digestive tract…” Helena coughs, glancing around. “...or so I heard.”
Rowan rolled her eyes. “In every conceivable way. But fine. If you’re just going to be insufferable about it…” she glanced at the waitress. “The steak alfredo. Raw. And a glass of water.”
“No wine?” Helena cocked her eyebrow. “This place’s wine cellar is reportedly amazing.”
Rowan gave her a glare. “I’m 19.”
Helena threw her hands up in the air in utter bafflement. “So kidnapping? Fine. Torture. Door prize! Murder? Heavily implied if nothing else! But underage drinking, nooooooo, THAT’S where the demon draws the goddamn line!”
Rowan chuckled. “It’s important to keep you all on your toes.”
Helena groaned, shaking her head as her voice takes on a whining quality. “But I didn’t take balleeeeet...oh, fine. If you insist. So, on my toes. Got it. What’s next?”
As if on cue, the lights flickered and went out, plunging the block into darkness. When they came back up after a few seconds of confused darkness, Rowan’s seat was empty. Helena looked around, an irritated expression settling across her face. “...ah. I see. All this pomp and circumstance, all this blue-balling, and not only do I not get to see what’s under the mask, I get my shot called AND I don’t even get my dinner?” she crossed her arms, huffing.
The lights flickered again, and when they came back up, a heaping plate of spaghetti and meatballs sits in front of Helena, along with a bottle of wine. Helena looked around, blinking. “And no garlic bread?” Pausing for a moment, she sighed, shaking her head and beginning to eat.
As she ate, footsteps sounded from behind her. Helena looked back, eyebrow raised, and locked eyes with Dean Harper standing behind her. Dean clears his throat, smiling politely down at Helena. "So how are we splitting the check?"
A long pause followed, and Helena stood up, grabbing the bottle of wine and shaking her head as she walked away from the patio and down the street. Dean watched her walking away, rubbing the bridge of his nose, and as he shook his head, Caleb Lockwood quietly walked up behind Dean, tapping him on the shoulder. Dean looked back, and Caleb jerked his thumb back at the plate of food. "...are you just gonna throw that out, or...?" Dean sighed, shaking his head and waving his hand dismissively at the plate. Taking the cue, Caleb sat down, beginning to eat with a contented grin on his face as we fade to black.
Well howdy there pardner.