halfbrokenwings | 005 [Open- backdated to a day after the tower exploration]

005 [Open- backdated to a day after the tower exploration]

The first sensation she registered was a growing burning sensation in the middle of her back. It was uncomfortable and quite quickly growing unbearable. Eyes opened and she scrambled to a sitting position. She did not know why she was in the room, or even who she was, but she knew that something was wrong with her wings. Instincts made her unfurl them to ease the hurt, like an eagle spreading his in a stretch before a flight.

What came unexpected was the sudden explosion of pain from her left shoulder. There was the sound of bone grinding on bone and a scream tore it's way from her throat. Between one second and the next she very briefly lost consciousness and ended up on her side. Her wings were bound in some contraption and something was wrong with at least one of them. She didn't know why. Tears of pain clouded her vision and she clawed at the buckles of the bloodstained harness that bound her body and wings. The bone in her shoulder resettled at an unnatural angle and caused more pain-filled whimpers.

Frantically she yanked at the straps around her body, crying out occasionally. She fought like a wild animal that was caught in a trap- against a contraption she didn't understand but with the driving force to be gone and away from the thing that was causing her so much pain.

[[_{ooc: She died ...if so inclined you'll hear a scream throughout the barracks and possibly right outside of her window.}]]

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"The same?" She looks at him in equal parts of disbelief and curiosity, "You know me? It was always like this? "

A memory of wind came unbidden. She remembered flying, was it a dream then?

.........

"W-what do you mean 'you know me?' Of course I know you!"

.......

"Oh." She blinks. "But, I don't ... remember."

Sollux's face falls. She doesn't remember? What doesn't she remember, just him or her time in this place or what? Its probably better that she doesn't remember dying, but...

He takes a deep breath. "That's okay, the crocodile probably chewed on your sponge or something, but its alright. I'll help you if I can."

What she said made him sad. That was something she had not intended to do, not in the least. So he knew her and w-

"What?" Eyebrows almost meet in the middle of her face,"What is crocodile? Where is my sponge now?"

She had a sponge? It was so confusing! But, he was trying to help. She shakes her head to try and clear some thoughts and looks up to him, "You know me, yes? Who am I?"

Oh god, she didn't remember ANYTHING?! Sollux has no idea how to deal with that or if anyone could help.

He takes another deep breath. Don't panic here, that'd just make things worse.

"You're IB--Isabella. We're in a place called Holloway's Keep. We're kinda stuck here but its okay sometimes."

"IB Isabella." She tried what apparently was her name out. It still felt unfamiliar. She looked at him and tilted her head, "What are you called?"

The rest was completely beyond her. She had no idea what a 'Holloway Keep' was or what being stuck was since they could move around freely. More pressing matters were at hand of course when her back twinged as she shifted on the bed.

Clear images of seeing the ground below and buildings and trees under a partly cloudy sky flashed across her mind's eye, "Is the flying, not-real? A- " She searched for the word, " a m'xeic ? A dream?" If he knew her and her wings were always like this, was she so confused she was making things up? The sight was so very vivid though, if only she could stretch them out and leap into the sky-

"No, no, your name is just 'Isabella.'" God, why did he add that nickname? Nice fucking job thinking, Sollux, you were doing just great here.
"I'm Sollux, and...I don't really know. That woman threw you, but I don't know when or how your wing got that way. Its just been like that the whole time we've been here."

"Oh! Isabella is my name.Umm, What does IB mean? " That was an unfamiliar word and she has a lot of words in her head between the two languages. She offers a smile to him, his name was also as unknown as his face but, she was glad he was here, "Sollux, thank you."

There was a thinking pause. A headache was beginning to form between her eyes the more she heard," A woman threw me?" She grew quiet. She wracked her brain for more images, something she could use but it was blank, "H-how long have we been here?"

"Its just a nickname, forget about it."

He rubs his head. "Its kind of a long story, we can go over it later.
"We've been here a few p--" No, no, that wasn't the word. What was it the humans used? Well, he wasn't sure if she was some weird type of human, or angel or something else entirely. "A few moon cycles, I haven't really counted."

"Oh!" She had a nickname too! That's interesting to know.

So much more information. Yes, that certainly was a headache forming. "M-moon cycles, "Something tugged here, something important about it. "The moon..."

She trails off for a moment, calm and trying to capture what it was that was just out of reach.

"I don't think the amount of time we're here really matters. Our universes don't exhist so its not like we're missing anything."

Shit, wait, that could panic her.

"And I guess we don't really know if they are gone, the staff here just says the lord of the castle is keeping us here until he remakes them or some shit."

Sollux kept speaking and she idly turns to him to listen, she wasn't paying him complete mind because he was making very little sense to her. Universes, and existing. A lord and staff. Remaking- what? She couldn't keep track of it.

But in her mind's eye the sight of a cold white disk nagged at her. It would not leave her alone and she shakes her head at Sollux, "There is something about the moon. The cycles of it, do you know? I... I think it's important."

So very frustrating.

"The moon? Um...I don't think I know anything important about it. Why? Do you remember something?"

He hadn't actually noticed that the moon was full the night Alex attacked. It didn't seem important enough to remember, and she might have some other issue with it anyway.

She buries her head into her hands. A whimper escapes as her wings shift but that was only a minor pain compared to the headache that blossomed.

"I don't know. I thought I did, it was there. There was something important and now, I just. I just don't know!" She sounded both unbelievably helpless and frustrated at the same time. "Nothing makes sense. I thought it did, with the moon. It connected to-"

Then it hit.

Fangs. Claws. So many shades of grey in fur and stripes and spots and colored coats. Muzzles with long noses, short noses and full of teeth. A myriad of faces transformed before her. Bodies changed from people to creature and back. All tied to the moon and the path it took in the sky. When the moon was full-

There was blood. It painted the halls black in the moonlight.

Sounds of a hunt outside a locked stone room. No window to tell if it was day or night. Left alone to listen to it all as they hunted the cattle that was brought into the grounds for their meal.

She shudders from head to toe. Her eyes were unseeing and her voice was shaking,"They said it was to keep me safe. I saw what they had done, I saw them! The body on the ground. Blood- so much blood..._Lycanthropes."

Sollux flinches as she shudders. He reaches towards her, but stops and draws his hand back.

He had NO IDEA what to do or say here. He couldn't tell her everything was safe here, as far as he knew Alex was still at the keep.

"I..." FUCK, what does he do, what does he do?! "I'll protect you, okay? You don't have to worry."

The words are spilling out of his mouth without pause to think first.

Sollux spoke.

It pulled her out of the past and into the present. She looks up at him with hope written all over her face, Isabella wanted that. There was this feeling of being completely alone that accompanied all of the memories so far and here was someone to share with and who would protect her?

"Y-you will?" Her eyes might be shining a little more than they usually do. "Th-Thank you!"

"Yeah, I will...or I'll try at least." Because he really hadn't done a very good job of it under the tower. "So you don't need to break down or anything, I'll help you get through this and I'll make sure everything's alright."

...He didn't believe that for two seconds, but he'd try, damnit.

Well she believes you. That's what counts, right?

She is moved. She knows, with the first bits of certainty that she's felt since she's 'awaken'- that there was more locked behind the wall that held her memories. That if they were as vivid as the memory of lycanthropes she would be in trouble doing this alone.

She stands, biting her lip against whatever was wrong with her wing, and hugs Sollux with a smile. She couldn't think of more to say than that.

Sollux freezes as she hugs him, but he doesn't react to it quite as badly as he did last time. He awkwardly reaches up and pats her back a little before just...waiting for it to be over.

She lets him go and sits back down with a smile, even if it turns in a grimace for a moment.

"It, means a lot. I am a bit... enixem ...scared of all of this. I don't know what happened, or will happen, or can happen." She sighs. "I can't think, i've ... blood on me. Are you sure?"

"None of us really know what's happening here, and nobody has any idea what can or will happen." He sits down next to her, careful to remain far enough away not to sit on the wings or anything.

"You'll probably be able to think more better when the shock has passed. The blood looks old, its probably from..." Er, no, bringing up her death is probably not a good idea. "...well you don't have to worry about it."

He stifles a yawn...bed is comfy and he's still exhausted from everything he did the other day. "What do you mean am I sure?"

"Are you sure ... to protect me?" It sounds odd to her, but the first question had been so natural it slipped out. "Do you know if I am a lycanthrope?"

There, that is a better question.

It would explain the blood.

She rubs her forehead, "My head also hurts from all of this. So much happening in such a erox'z zace... short time? Is this normal?"

"Of course I'm sure, I said so didn't I?" Actually if he'd thought before speaking he probably wouldn't have said that, but he wasn't about to take it back. That'd look bad, and it seemed to mean so much to her.

"No, you aren't.
"Uh...I can't say about the headache, sorry."

She gives him a smile. He was so nice. Isabella hopes that she can find the memories that have him soon, she would like to know for certainty who she was speaking with.

She puts her head in her hands. She didn't want more memories but one came anyways, just one- not a massive press like the lycanthrope memory, where it seemed to spawn everything connected at the same time. This was just a simple time.

"I think... I can ... remember music."

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