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Thread: [Nexus] Stories etc

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    Carrie / Agatha / Kynegetis (Alt-Canon)
    Spoiler: What Love Is: A Brief Musical in Six Parts
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    Spoiler: Chapter 1: All That Glitters
    Show
    Carrion Andrews has been a proud Selenite and follower of Ponera, Goddess of Envy, for six years. Ever since druids killed her parents, the Selenites took her in and showed her that the only way to survive is to become the fittest. When they told her it was time to make Vulpania pay, it was so easy to remind her that the enemy king was a druid. A druid with a big happy family...
    That bastard. That absolute bastard. Every moment she thinks about King Tobias, Carrie is driven to greater rage. He gets to be a king and have a loving wife, a son, daughters... and here she is. Sure, she has a gorgeous girlfriend and heaps of power and prestige, but every scrap of it she had to fight and backstab and blackmail and extort for. And it is never enough, it never makes her any happier.
    Some days she feels like she's trying to fill a bottomless pit with diamonds. But right now, straightening her tie and brushing ash from her suit, Carrie rides high on adrenaline and pride.
    ---
    Agatha has always wanted to be a seamstress. Just a seamstress; it makes her happy and she does good work and it's all she's needed... but for the trappings of her society. Even tailoring in the City of Envy is to be part of a war with one's competitors. Even though she knows some very valuable... techniques, she's always wanted to stay just below the radar and work without having to worry too much.
    And then she met a girl named Carrie. A girl with a taste for blood and a taste for suits and an eye for pretty girls with nice figures and dextrous hands. And so Agatha became attached to a beautiful rising star in Ponerian society...
    Or shackled to one?
    The door to their penthouse apartment opens and Carrie sweeps in, frock coat dramatically billowing behind her. Agatha charmed it to do that at her girlfriend's request, of course. Carrie seats herself in the plush lap of the other black-haired girl, amber eyes meeting icy blue as she kisses her. "Hiya, babe, brought you a little something from the battle." Atop the nice smooth fabric Aggie just ironed, she pours from her pocket a few fistfuls of the spoils of war. "Like it?"

    Aggie sighs and prods at the gold and pearls. "Yes, but I'd like them better if they weren't mussing up the satin." She brushes the loot off to the side of her workspace, looking at the dress order for a moment. The man who ordered the dress wants it as an anniversary gift for his wife, a revival of a dress she had and loved as a young girl but lost in a fire. Design notes sit side-by-side with old pictures... would Carrie do that for her? It seems all she does these days is bring back whatever spoils she's collected and... tug her toward the bed like she's doing now.
    Ah well.

    ---

    Carrie looks over her shoulder from the balcony to the bed, eyes flicking over her girlfriend. Standing at the railing stark naked, she knows how many people want to kill her right now. She also knows that they won't, because they fear either what she'll do if they fail, or what backup plans she'll have even if she should be killed. That's easy. But Aggie? Aggie doesn't look happy, even though she has an enthusiastic lover constantly bringing her gifts.
    "Aggs... what's wrong? Is it the gold, don't you like it? Do you want more? Do you want something else, like silver or platiinum? Girl, what's wrong?" She sighs.
    Killed you some Vulpanians
    No tricks at the wheel
    I don't fear anyone
    I won't even just pretend
    Honey, we're Ponerians

    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all Ponerians?

    Here's a golden hairpin
    Beat the owner in with a rock
    Thought it'd please my woman
    Why's your heart still bound with this lock?
    Aren't we just Ponerians?

    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all Ponerians?

    Honey, we're Ponerians
    Honey, I'd bring you the stars
    Jade combs for your hair and
    Sparkling gems from afar
    Honey, we're Ponerians
    Aren't we all Ponerians?

    Aren't we all Ponerians?

    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all Ponerians?

    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all just Ponerians?
    It's the state of the world
    I'm afraid I can't help it
    I'm afraid I can't
    Aren't we all Ponerians?

    I am a Ponerian


    Turning back from the evening view of the City of Envy, Carrie sees Agatha facing away, laying on her side, probably asleep.
    She makes a frustrated little sound and curls up beside her girlfriend, eyes sliding shut as she sates herself on dreams of glory over the Vulpanians...


    Spoiler: Chapter 2: The Other Side
    Show
    Kynegetis, Angela the Huntress, is understandably a hot item when it comes to Selenites. They all want a go at her, a chance to prove that they can defeat the totally badass daughter of the badass enemy leader, and maybe win her heart because they're super great and this is usually the point at which she has interrupted their train of thought by shanking them in the everything.

    And the creepy fanmail. Oh boy, they just keep finding new ways to get it to her, especially the followers of the god of pride... but this one's more unusual. Both in that a) it's from a follower of Envy's incarnation and b) it was delivered as a memory recording of the last moments of a Vulpanian soldier via his severed head.

    The beginning indicates he was tied to a tree; a girl in a dove-grey suit and paisley tie, black hair blowing in the wind, steps back from her terrified captive. "Now be a good boy and stay there... cripes, I hope this works this time. Ahem... greetings, Kynegetis. See these dead people I arranged in the shape of your name? Yeah, that's for you, doll. I've seen your work and it's hard not to admire... in a "totally hate you" way. So I felt like you deserved a personal message. I want to say... oh, how do I put it?
    Oh! Perhaps like this."
    Come on down to the other side
    Come with me through the gates of hell
    Where I'll drag you from where you are
    To where you belong

    Come on down to the other side
    Come with me through the gates of hell
    Where I'll drag you from where you are
    To where you belong

    There's so much
    To fear
    Your last breaths
    Are here
    This ship is coming down
    This ship is coming down
    This ship is coming down
    Coming down coming down

    You
    You are so precious
    A diamond in the rough
    And when you try to escape
    I'll be holding on

    And I can't sleep until this is done
    You're in my head, you're in my soul

    Come on down to the other side
    Come with me through the gates of hell
    Where I'll drag you from where you are
    To where you belong

    Come on down to the other side
    Come with me through the gates of hell
    Where I'll drag you from where you are
    To where you belong

    I'll
    Take you completely
    And everything you own
    From the cover to the cover
    The cover to the cover
    Your lover (to your brother)
    To your mother (to the others)

    You... you are so precious
    So won't you come my way?
    Your life is falling apart
    Under the waves

    And I can't sleep until this is done
    You're in my head, you're in my soul

    Through the gates of hell
    I know you

    This ship is coming down
    This ship is coming down
    Coming down...

    ...Down to the other side
    Come with me through the gates of hell
    Where I'll drag you from where you are
    To where you belong

    Come on down to the other side
    Come with me through the gates of hell
    Where I'll drag you from where you are
    To where you belong


    "... So. Heh. You know where you'll find me, babe, and you know what I want. As for my girlfriend, perhaps she could use you somehow---you could model her dresses for her, or at least act as a hatrack. Don't leave me hangin', toots."
    She giggled, advancing on the 'cameraman' with a sizzling hum from her right hand, orange energy coalescing into a blade...

    Kyne sighs.

    "... Dad, tell me I can make an example of this one."
    ---
    Agatha had gotten to see the woman's face when she tried on the dress in the mirror. The way her eyes lit up and then went straight to he husband... she looked happy, and it looked like the happiness came from her spouse. She had managed to maneuver them into staying just a little longer as she asked about their marriage, how long they'd been together. What seemed like innocent shop-talk hid a hunger, a jealousy, a yearning for what they had and she didn't.

    It's not fair, she thinks as she watches them go. She cares about Carrie, she really does, and she wants her to be happy... but doesn't she deserve to be happy too? Carrie doesn't make her happy, she just tries to solve the problem with sex and trinkets like it's all she knows to do. And perhaps it is all she knows... but she can't leave Carrie because, damnably, she does love the girl. And yet, the way the Blightwalker warrior acts, it seems doubful that she cares as much---so how long would she put up with being told of her deficiencies before she dropped Agatha like a hot potato?
    Trapped between a rock and a hard place with a girl who tries to substitute warmth with wealth.


    Spoiler: 3. Astonishing Panorama of Your Last Breath - No Longer Numb?
    Show
    The orange energy from Carrie's hands sharpens into blades as she cuts down another Vulpanian soldier. Grinning, she starts to loot the body before it's even cold, the tenth one today...
    She dives to the side a heartbeat before the knife hits the dirt, thus ensuring that's all it hits---rather than taking her right through the spine.
    A lithe, slim redhead drops from a dead tree---Kynegetis the huntress.
    "You called me. Here I am. Get dead."

    Carrie grins as they start to circle each other. "Oh, what an honor... I'm afraid you're going to be the one in trouble, sweetheart." Waves of black pulse across her sclera as her canines seem, for a moment, sharp; sinuous tattoos flicker up her bare hands away up the sleeves of her frock coat. Stepping forward, her speed starts to rival Kyne's. A flurry of silver and orange flashes and hisses between them as they begin their deadly dance.

    This girl's got a head like an atom bomb
    Hang you from the walls, show that I'm number one
    And I've been waiting so long
    To get it on

    Girl, I'm 19, but I'm still 12-gauge
    Wanna hang your daddy's corpse in a cage
    I've already written your last page
    It's the latest rage

    Violence for the people
    We always eat the hand that bleeds
    Violence for the people
    Give the kids what they need
    I'll kill your gods, kill your gods,
    Your family

    I've been purified by the sinner gods
    Burning through your dross like a revelation
    Let the jaws engulf you
    Like a puppet head

    Violence for the people
    We always eat the hand that bleeds
    Violence for the people
    Give the kids what they need
    I'll kill your gods, kill your gods,
    Your family

    This is what you should fear
    I am what you should fear

    Violence for the people
    We always eat the hand that bleeds
    Violence for the people
    Give the kids what they need
    I'll kill your gods, kill your gods,
    Your family

    Violence for the people
    We always eat the hand that bleeds
    Violence for the people
    Give the kids what they need
    I'll kill your gods, your family
    kill your gods, your family
    kill your gods, your family

    ---

    The two stare at each other, each exhausted, panting, and nicked here and there. Kyne glowers at this overconfident mortal, this prettied-up popinjay who thinks herself equal to the Huntress. But Carrie can't take her eyes off Kyne for different reasons---somehow, her lithe, sinuous body captivates her; her fiery red hair, her piercing eyes, just draw her in.

    She's so engrossed that when Kyne gets up and starts to back away, she only blurts out, "W-where are you going?"

    Kyne stares at her like she'd just asked to borrow her car for a few days. "... Both sides are pulling back. I am leaving, and so should you, idiot."

    "Oh... yeah, I guess they are. Um..." Carrie blinks; where's her usual rapier wit? "... Bye then." NO THAT WAS STUPID STUPID DUMB. She gets up and starts to back away, hoping the flush of exertion covers the sudden blush in her cheeks. What's wrong with her?

    ---

    Carrie comes home and Agatha is ready for posturing and lust and all the things Carrie does when she comes home with her pockets full of loot and her kill-count increased by a few handfuls.
    Carrie puts a handful of brooches and pendants and medals on the side of the work table, throwing her clothes on the bed with an uncommon lack of... energy. Not just fatigue---being physically worn has never stopped Carrie's antics---but something deeper.
    "Hi babe, 'm gonna take a shower..." She stumbles over to kiss Agatha's cheek, then walks into the bathroom. The pattering hiss of the showerhead starts up, the roll of the sliding glass door...

    Confused, Agatha walks through the bathroom door Carrie never bothered to close. "Hon? You okay? You seem really out of it..."

    "'m okay." Even at her most laconic, Carrie tends to be more polysyllabic than that...

    "... Well, I'm coming in with you, alright?" Agatha listens closely for the response.

    "'Kay."

    Unnerved, Agatha undresses and steps in behind her lover. Something's just... really, really not right.

    Hello? Is there anybody in there?
    Just nod if you can hear me
    Is there anyone home?
    Come on now
    I know you're feeling down
    Let me ease your pain
    And get you on your feet again
    Sweetie, you need to let me help you first
    Won't you let me in?
    Won't you show me where it hurts?


    There is no pain, it's just confusion
    And you are hazy 'bove the horizon
    You are only coming through in waves
    Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
    When I was out there, I had a feeling
    My heart felt just like a balloon
    Now I have that feeling even still
    I can't explain, I barely understand
    This is not how I am
    I have become no longer numb


    Carrie, don't tell me this is some trick
    It's just that you---(AAAAAAAAAHHHH!)
    That you sound a little sick
    Can you stand up?
    Sounds like your body's working, good
    Though your face has yet to show
    Why won't you just let me know?


    There is no pain, it's just confusion
    And you are hazy 'bove the horizon
    You are only coming through in waves
    Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
    When I was out there
    I caught a fleeting glimpse
    Out of the corner of my eye
    I turned to look but it was gone
    I cannot put my finger on it now
    The child is grown
    The dream is gone
    And I have become
    No longer numb.

    ---

    Carrie lies in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Agatha's barely gotten a peep out of her all evening, just mumbles and uncomfortable silence. The seamstress nestles in under Carrie's arm, an action that would at least earn her a half-joking eyeroll for being 'clingy'.
    Carrie doesn't react at all. Her thoughts are full of Kynegetis and the strange fluttering her heart does around her.


    Spoiler: 4. What Love Is - Nobody Home
    Show
    Each time she's seen Kyne again, Carrie has felt so strange. It's throwing her off her game; she's not bringing home quite as much loot for Aggie as usual, and that's probably why her girlfriend has seemed even more dissatisfied lately. Carrie resents and loathes the Huntress for doing this to her, however she's done it. She's tried killing extra Vulpanians to get back at her, but it doesn't feel as fun any more.

    And now she has her again, another one-on-one. Kyne is beyond words now, already moving to strike, and Carrie's glad of it---she doesn't know what to say other than the strange mess bubbling up inside, this confused collage of emotions...

    And suddenly, between knife parries and lunges, she starts to let it out, the words riding on the breaths between strikes. Something changes on the Huntress's face and Carrie brightens, thinking something she said has clicked and she's finally going to get some sort of answer that makes things make sense, and---

    Foot meets girl.Girl leaves ground. Girl meets tree trunk, reunites with ground.

    Kyne hunkers down a couple yards away, looking at Carrie with more than her usual disgust. Before she looked at her like she wanted to kill her. Now she looks at her like... like... trash? A stain on the carpet?

    "... You just came on to me. You just tried to come on to me in battle, and you weren't doing it just to annoy me---trust me, I know that well enough." She shakes her head, sighing. "I really don't get you... how can a person understand the whole relationship thing even more poorly than I do? You threaten my family, you kill my people, you mock me and bug me and strut and brag and now you turn around and suddenly you're pouring out your feelings to me?" She strides over, reaches down... and takes Carrie's pocket square.

    "I have a lot of trouble dealing with people and my feelings about them. It's hard for me to express what I want a lot of the time, even when I understand what I want, which is rare enough... but I still think that someday, I will find someone. I will raise a child with them, maybe more than one, and I'll try to teach my child or children to be good people. They'll achieve more in one day of growing and learning than I have in a year of fighting. But you? You don't seem to have the slightest inkling how this sort of thing works. What were you going to do if I had responded positively to your clumsy little overture?"

    "I---"

    "Elope with me? Convert me to the ways of glorious Ponera? Join the Vulpanians? Were you planning to bring a picnic basket next time so we could find a quiet spot on the battlefield and hold hands when nobody's looking?" Kyne tosses the soiled handkerchief back at Carrie, who cringes. "What's wrong with you? How broken do you have to be not to realize that your... your little crush, or whatever, means nothing?"

    Turning and starting to walk away, Kyne sighs. "I can't even feel sorry for you. It just makes me sick."

    ---

    Carrie watches her walk away, tears rolling down her cheeks. It's not the rejection that hurts---she's realized now that all she felt there was... lust? Idle infatuation? The hurt comes from what the rebuke made her realize.

    No kindness for a puppet
    And no warmth from a hunter,
    Cold and shivering, showered in gold and bangles.

    What I wouldn't give for
    A way to turn back time now
    Instead all I see is me, not seeing you
    Aching for love

    I've done everything wrong, my dear
    And I'm sorry,
    I'm sorry
    I let you
    down.

    No freedom for a soldier
    And no disobeying orders,
    Bruises on a broken neck from strangulation.

    Pain sears through my body
    Reminding me of my failure
    Is living like this better than fatal exsanguination?

    I've done everything wrong, my dear
    And I'm sorry,
    I'm sorry
    'bout the love I left you without.

    Yeah, I'm sorry I let you down,
    I'm sorry I'll skip town,
    but what good is sorry going to do now?
    If I could die for how I've hurt you
    And you'd find somebody else
    The best I can hope for,
    I hope to high hell,
    I should have never hurt you like myself

    Cold and shivering, showered in gold and bangles.

    I've done everything wrong, my dear
    And I'm sorry,
    I'm sorry
    I let you
    down.

    I've gone over the edge, my dear
    And if I've a right to regret, it's
    That I never loved you til now.

    ---
    Agatha turns as she sees Carrie coming in. "Sweetheart, you okay? You look really---" That's all she can get out before the other girl runs to the smaller guest bathroom, locking the door behind her.

    "... Carrie?" Agatha knocks at the door, baffled and more than a little scared. "What's wrong? What happened?" All she gets in response is the sound of sniffling, which increases to weeping, which increases to sobbing.

    Dinner comes and goes, Carrie's plate of chicken curry sitting under saran wrap in the fridge. Agatha's almost entirely sure she's heard Carrie retching in there. But she can't force the door or pick the lock.
    She sits down in front of the door, starting to work on a small dragon plushie. Beside her is a bottle of vodka.

    "You know, hon... there are couples out there that talk. They have fun, they laugh, and---get this---they hold each other. When one has a problem, the other comes and helps. What's stopping us from being those couples, Carrie, is this door between us... or, I guess, whatever's always been between us, and the door is just a concrete reminder of that." She sips her vodka and sighs.

    I've got a little black book with my designs in
    An apartment with lots of gold crap in
    I want to be held and you just bring me more things
    I've got elastic bands holding my heart in
    Got those swollen-eye blues
    Got thirteen kinds of crap you've brought me to choose from
    I've got electric light
    And babe, I've got insight
    I've got amazing powers of observation
    And that is how I know
    When I try to get through
    On the telephone to you
    There'll be nobody home

    I've got the obligatory gentle curves
    And I've got the inevitable sweet-nothing words
    All bottled up with no one to whisper them to
    I've got rings to adorn my fingers
    I've got a silver spoon on a chain
    I've got a pile of gewgaws to prop up my mortal remains
    I've got piercing blue eyes
    I've got a strong urge to fly
    But I've got no one to fly with
    Ooooh Babe when I pick up the phone
    There's still nobody home
    There's just a pair of your war boots
    And our flower has dying roots...


    ---

    Carrie opens the door a crack. She sees Agatha passed out on the floor, empty vodka bottle beside her and near-finished plushie in her hands. Smiling weakly, the swollen-eyed girl notices how even drunk and conked out, Agatha is still so lovely...

    Cradling her in her arms like a glass doll, she painstakingly tucks her into bed. A few minutes later, a small dragon plushie joins Agatha, and Carrie sits down at the desk to write.


    Spoiler: 5. Goodbye Cruel World - Wish You Were Here - Goodbye (Reprise)
    Show
    Agatha dreams of waking next to a tearstained Carrie, holding her tightly, calling her an idiot and never, ever letting her go.
    Agatha wakes next to a note on Carrie's pillow, her mouth tasting of vodka and an amateurishly-finished plush toy in her arms.
    Sighing, she pulls the letter over and opens it. Maybe Carrie's still in the bathroom being a melodramatic idiot...

    "Dear Agatha,

    Enclosed is an official document stating that in the case of my death, all my possession and titles will pass to you.
    I hope they, and being associated with one who died fighting the forces of the Black Fox, will help you find a girlfriend for real this time, not just a girl who leaves you shivering and unheld in a pile of stolen trinkets.
    This is the only way I can see to atone.
    I'm so sorry."
    Agatha bolts out of bed, scrambling to dress as she realizes what's going on in the mind of the idiot she can't manage to stop loving.

    ---

    Goodbye cruel world
    I'm leaving you today
    Goodbye
    Goodbye
    Goodbye
    Goodbye all you people
    There's nothing you can say
    To make me change
    My mind
    Goodbye.


    Carrie turns slowly, knowing Kyne will be behind her. She gives a weak smile, sighing. "It's a nice morning."

    The redhead stares flatly back. "What are you up to now? Another proposal? Or are you going to beg for forgiveness?"

    "No," the suited girl shakes her head, "though I am going to apologize for... that. But also I want to thank you---"

    "Oh, don't you start, you---"

    "---for helping me realize how badly I was letting someone down and the only way I could do right by her. Which... right now, is to fight you and die."

    Kyne blinks, idly twirling a knife. "Oh, and exactly why should I even give you that much?"

    Carrie steps forward, shrugging. "Not for me, but... if you could do it for someone I've been hurting for far too long, maybe?" She forms the orange blades from the Blightwalker energy of her hands, smiling weakly again. "Or whatever reason works for you."

    "... If you try to throw this fight, if you just let me kill you, I'm going to leave you here. Keep me engaged with a decent effort and maybe I'll be too focused to care about all the reasons I should just let you rot."

    Carrie smiles a little more, nodding. "That's all I needed to hear. Thank you, Huntress."

    ---

    Agatha has never really been cut out for battle. Oh, she's fit and she can take care of herself, but her talents have mostly been sartorial. Nevertheless, she did learn a thing or two about other uses for needles...

    A big Vulpanian lunges for the running girl, black bun coming undone to let her hair stream behind her. She ducks under his axe, plunging a needle into a spot between shoulder and neck, and his arm goes numb and limp. She doesn't pay him any more attention, just running. A boy who can't be any more than 17 shakily starts to get in her way, hands gripping his spearhaft with white knuckles. "H... Halt, Selenite scum! I---"

    She keeps running past him. He starts to run after her, baffled. "I said stop!"

    She skids to a halt, grabbing his sleeve to stop him with her. "Selenite girl in a suit, long black hair, not carrying any weapons. Have you seen her?" She snaps at him, making the teen recoil.

    "W-why should I t---"

    "GIRL. SUIT. WHERE?"

    Cringing, the boy numbly points; the woman lets go of his sleeve, pushes him away, and runs in the direction he pointed. "Sh-she's fightin' the Huntress, I heard! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

    Aggie doesn't care. If the boy had told her the Black Fox himself had been in that direction, she wouldn't have cared. The whole Vulpanian army couldn't stop her from reaching Carrie, her melodramatic idiot of a lover.

    So, so you think you can tell
    Heaven from Hell
    blue skies from pain?
    Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
    A smile from a veil?
    Do you think you can tell?

    Did you think you could sell
    The spoils of your war
    Buy comfort for me?
    Hot air for a cool breeze?
    Cold comfort for change?
    Did you exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a grave?

    How I wish, how I wish you were here.
    We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
    Running over the same old ground.
    What have we found?
    The same old fears.
    Wish you were here.


    ---

    Agatha finds them behind a low rise in the landscape. Flecks of blood dot the grass all around, shreds of pinstripe grey like fallen petals on the green.
    The Huntress lays on her back, chest heaving, eyes closed, still gripping a knife. A few yards away... Carrie. She's cut up worse than her foe, blood all over her, but she's breathing as she lays on her side.
    Aggie falls to her knees, panting and drenched in sweat, touching Carrie's hair with a shaky hand. "You... you idiot. Even when you realize how bad you messed up, you still wouldn't know love if it stabbed you in the stomach..."

    Slowly, painfully, muscles burning, she hauls Carrie onto her shoulders in a fireman's carry. Reaching into Carrie's shirt, she yanks off the chain bearing two little pendants---one Selenite, one Ponerian. Then she doffs her own, throwing them at the Huntress. They land on her bare arm, and the redheaded girl jerks. She levers herself up on on elbow, looking at them.

    Agatha doesn't look at her, just trudging away. "Good job, Huntress. You killed two Selenites here today, even if one of them was just a seamstress... and the other was just stupid."

    Goodbye cruel war
    We're leaving you today
    Goodbye
    Goodbye
    Goodbye
    Goodbye all you schemers
    There's nothing you can say
    To make me change
    My mind
    Goodbye.


    Spoiler: 6. Wedding Rings and Laughs
    Show

    [One Year Later]

    Agatha's always been a bit curvier than scrawny Carrie, not just from having a less active job. That might make it a bit of a task for her to be carried in the arms of her more thin lover, though offset by the latter being in pretty good shape from her frequent battles.

    But add to that the fact that Carrie now has trouble walking without a cane, the loss of her left eye, and a general decrease in the constant activity that kept her so toned... it's a pretty heavy ordeal.

    As she is carried in over the threshold of the mountain cottage, wearing the dress she designed and made herself, she can't think of a single complaint to make about Carrie's performance. And riddled with scars or not, her bride looks wonderful in a tux.

    She's grateful, for Carrie's sake, that their bedroom is on the ground floor---even she's not so dewy-eyed as to believe the injured girl wouldn't have trouble on the stairs, carrying a whole person and caneless. As she's laid down on the bed, she adjusts a scarf that's been draped around her neck all morning. It's of novice quality, knitted rather clumsily, and the "WILL YOU MARRY ME" on one side is barely amateur-level. Certainly less skillful than even the hastily-fixed knits and purls on the other side that read "YES STUPID".

    Carrie falls to her knees, a little shaky as she rests her head against her prone bride's shoulder. Down the length of her arm her single amber eye travels, stopping on the ring on her finger. Double shifts and overtime at her security job bought that; she couldn't give Agatha some ring she took off a foe. She'd wanted to leave all of their loot behind, in fact.

    Agatha had called her devotion to starting with a clean slate admirable and noble and all that, and then reminded her that this whole "starting a new life" thing required money and savings, and that it was better to leave the spoils of war all behind with someone else who would give them money for it.

    Climbing up next to the seamstress, Carrie drapes an arm around her and closes her eye.

    The Selenite is on the grass
    The Selenite is on the grass
    Forgetting schemes for wedding rings and laughs
    They cannot stray us from the path
    Vulpanians are in the hall
    Vulpanians are in the hall
    The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
    And every day the paper boy brings more
    And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
    And if there is no room upon the hill
    And if their heads explode with dark forbodings too
    We'll be here on the dark side of the moon


    The Selenites aren't in my head
    Vulpanians aren't in my head
    You braved the blade, we make the change
    We rearranged us to be sane
    We lock the door
    And throw away the key
    There's someone in my head; it's you, not me
    And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
    You shout and no one seems to hear
    And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
    We'll be here on the dark side of the moon


    This is a story written from an old idea FF reminded me about.
    Last edited by Beans; 2015-05-25 at 01:07 AM.
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