wolfs_daughter: (Conversing)
wolfs_daughter ([personal profile] wolfs_daughter) wrote in [community profile] birthright_rpg2013-12-20 06:37 pm
Entry tags:

Second Impressions

Cian's note had caused Echo to shake off the vestiges of the weird mood she'd been in since the night she'd seen the meteor, and she put the stone he'd left for her where he'd directed her to. Just knowing it was there made her feel more secure.

She'd gotten up at her usual early hour, then had breakfast and did her exercises in the front yard. Sometimes she wondered if her nearest neighbors, the Snyders, ever saw her out there, and if so what they thought of it. Then again, if they thought she was weird, they'd never mentioned anything. That was strangely comforting.

After she did some tidying up, she picked up the keys to the van and locked the trailer up behind her. She wanted to go up the highway to Vegas and catch the Strip before it got crowded. If it was ugly without all the neon, that would make her drawings better, more realistic. She was always looking for ways to expand on her talent, and urban landscapes were good for that in her opinion.

The roads were deserted because of the early hour, and when the hybrid reached the city she parked her vehicle in a metered spot. Dropping coins into the slot, she studied the street. Where was the best vantage point to start from?
primordial_visitation: (Default)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-21 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
"I remembered your smell..."

It came from up above. A solid whiimp against the street lamp indicating the figure now clutching to it must have leapt from the nearest roof. A long-haired brunette who had been met twice before.

"After the laughter went away, I remembered it. You tried to hurt me. My legs."

It was the woman from the crater impact. And, before that, the shop. The woman-who-wasn't. And one who hadn't forgotten what took place during their first encounter, by the sounds of it. Sabra letting herself drop to the sidewalk, feet-fiirst, in front of her.

"But now I remember your face, too."
primordial_visitation: (Suspicion)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-21 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
There was a tightening of muscles, Sabra tilting her head slowly over to one side, like an animal gaining a slightly different visual perspective to work out the solution to a problem.

"Yes..."

She was walking now. Up to, around and then past her. Eyes keeping track. A small sniff being made.

"I disliked it. Heavily."

An implied threat? A warning? Mere observation? Whatever it was, the woman looked away, then back again.

"You don't smell like the others."
primordial_visitation: (Disbelief)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-21 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
There was an honest to goodness growl from Sabra, low in the throat. Not overly aggressive and only just audible, like a vampire's, but it was there. Albeit, momentary. The woman's facial expression, though, was remarkably stoic - right up until what looked like a snarl of disdain and sudden looking away, gesturing to the Vegas crowd.

"No... And that I must be, that I must learn their ways... It frustrates me. But you..." Sabra turned back. "You don't have to. And you have strength... Why lower yourself? Why live as they do?"
primordial_visitation: (Consider)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-21 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
"Half..."

Sabra looked at her with a renewed perspective now. Things made more sense, even if they were not to her liking. There was a logical foundation.

But the new question directed her way gave the elder brunette reason to pause. To think. To try and remember, even if she could not.

"Different," she supposed. "In the dark... Another realm. There was a... Lure. I was pulled through. This body... It became my home, but it isn't mine."

She was looking down at her hands when she said it. Forearms. Considering them. The mortal whose life experiences must have shaped them.

"The ones who did this... Who summoned... They did not expect me. They had the minds of children, to try what they did," she observed with distaste. "And now I am trapped."

A slow shake of head.

"I remember... Little of the time before. But I know I am different. That the dark things in this world are tainted in ways I am not... That I have a purity of blackness they do not. That this body houses me - it does not become me."
primordial_visitation: (Default)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-21 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
"No. They won't be doing that."

The way Sabra looked at the girl as she said those words... There was something ominous about the way she phrased it. The self-assured confidence which which she felt safe enough to make that declaration. Either those responsible had been scared off or Sabra had ended their curiosity in a more permanent way.

"I appointed myself a guide. Slayer of the undead... She calls herself a Valerie. She advised me... Said I should learn more of these mortals' ways before making this place my kingdom. It was wise... But I am unsure what further lessons there are."
primordial_visitation: (Default)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-21 10:18 am (UTC)(link)
"I hadn't decided," the primordial visitor openly declared in what could almost have been a purr of contemplation. "Things are different here... Confusing. Light, like... Hissing feathers. The heaviness is gone."

Had she been of a more scientific mind, there would have been an allusion to a lower frequency of atomic vibrations. The eighties brought with them increased use of microchips and other technologies in medical hardware and near-death experiences were being more commonly reported to researchers. Not all of them, however, were positive. Those which spoke of darker places infested with horrifying entities, often also gave testimony to a much heavier atmospheric pressure and of loneliness being a horridly tangible sensation - save for the things which could be sensed stirring in the darkness or screams of sheer agony from... Other places.

For those who had truly visited hell, it was a genuinely terrifying place and those lost souls who found themselves there were to be pitied.

And this was a denizen of it. A creature used to thriving in a climate of the damned, than the streets of Vegas.

What kind of mentality could be homesick for a place like that?

"But the undead and others of your world are nutritious enough."
primordial_visitation: (Suspicion)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-22 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
"It's a place..." Brow furrowed. Sabra attempting to remember the informal name Valerie had given for it; 'motel'. Not quite able to. It wasn't a really phrase she had reason to use. "For those who travel - a collection of dwellings. I shall need somewhere bigger. It restricts me."

As did the body. Even human vocal chords were still taking some getting used to. It sometimes led to a feeling of needing to... Not lash out, exactly, but a desire to test physical limitations, like a cat which had been cooped up inside a small box for too long.

And shoulders reflexed with discomfort, externalising that very quality.

"Sabra," the woman stated with disdain. "Even my name is lost to me... I must use the one who owned this body. It offends me to be forced to do these things."
primordial_visitation: (Surprise)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-22 06:35 am (UTC)(link)
"The stars have not warred since ages past," Sabra replied, incredulously. Her head instantly looking above, searching the heavens. Deciding she may have missed the signs of intermittent cosmic battle and that this was, indeed, worth seeing. A few paces forward didn't seem to change the panorama much.

She looked back down at the hybrid, seemingly dissatisfied.

"They seem tired of battle," concluded the entrapped demoness. "You would rather have been male?" A pause. "Too many things here are not changeable... Gender often seems one of them."
primordial_visitation: (Disbelief)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-22 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
Did Sabra understand the concept of a film? She just stared at the girl for a good few moments and it was difficult to tell if she was mentally processing or finding the suggestion somehow offensive. After a moment, though, there was an, "Oh... The spidercrabs and beasts from many fathoms down. I've seen these... Village-dwellers and their pitchforks."

Creature features from the fifties? There were probably more. Weird to imagine, maybe, but late-night 'junk food' TV like that would be regarded with a sense of nostalgia in years to come - and here was a demonic woman who seemed to be incorporating it into her entertainment diet. Or possibly education, which would be even stranger. This was the era of increasing media hysteria about 'video nasties', yet Sabra was the proverbial real deal.

"Restrictive," she observed, upon being informed about human society's expectations of gender. "And confusing... That you cannot achieve what you desire. That your lives are fraught with dissatisfaction: The noble years for the freedom of farming, the peasant craves the life of a merchant, the merchant..." A slow shake of head. "Yet, when one reaches out and takes what is yearned for, your culture judges them in disgrace. This is not how it is in my realm."
primordial_visitation: (Annoyance)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-23 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
"There's already chaos," Sabra had countered. "Some just like to disguise it better..."

Chaos, itself, was a matter which could actually be debated with a being like this. Sabra might no longer have full recollection of her time before, but the amnesia wasn't total. She knew a good few things - some accidental, some not.

When Echo said she was sorry, however, that produced quite the facial reaction. It seemed to veer somewhere between surprise and confusion. "'Sorry'...?" She repeated, as if the word were an alien concept. Sabra's eyes narrowing as she spoke it aloud. "Apologies should be..."

It was quite the unexpected response. Sabra seeming to completely ignore the question asked of her, for she appeared on the verge of saying 'forbidden', 'banned' or 'punished'.

"Your kind's constant exhibition of weakness is..."

At that, Sabra turned, silently fuming. She seemed... Frustrated. Angrily so. Had a completely different set of cultural interpretations. Paced in one direction and then the other, growling a little. then stormed back to Echo, proverbial fury in her eyes.

"I should..."

Head tilted, quickly, to one side, like a giant insect. Sabra balling a fist. The apology seemed to have set off a feeling of offence within her. Of being insulted. Or at least, that was how she was externalising it.

She needed to think of something else. Probably more than was realised... This was an actual demonic being getting fired up with anger. Something like that had severe, alarming consequences. Still, though, Sabra seemed to comprehend at least the need for thinking more clearly.

"Sugar," she decided. "Upon flesh... I like that. And the coyote who chases the bird in moving pictures... He hungers, but cannot die. I think he is cursed."
primordial_visitation: (Solace)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-23 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes," Sabra answered, a corner of her mouth flexing back a little, as if in the beginnings of a sheepish grin. It wasn't, though. Sabra may or may not have the capacity for some variety of humour, as evidenced at the crater, but it would probably be a different one, if so, to what Echo might recognise. It was just... Muscular reconfiguration, like someone who had been yelling in an argument and was taking a breather, relaxing their aggravated posture. "He's 'dumb'... And does not deserve our support."

Eyes quickly glanced over the surrendered bag.

"They are your possessions?"
primordial_visitation: (Default)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-23 07:18 am (UTC)(link)
"There is art. Not like yours, but there is art."

It was probably for the best that Sabra wasn't pressed for clarification on that point.

"We have strength and dominance. There is enslavement of the weak. Pleasure can be taken from them... It is where conflict, oppression and suffering are given form. Do you pleasure yourself with slaves, Echo?"

A perfectly acceptable question. If, that was, you didn't come from contemporary Western culture. Technically, there were still a number of places around the globe where slavery still existed - and would continue to do so for a very long time to come.

"I miss it," the demoness admitted. "And then I remember... Here, I am strong. Here, I could change this place... Remake this world as once it was."
primordial_visitation: (Consider)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-24 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Echo's assumption about sex was understandable, but where entities like that came from, there were a whole host of ways to gain pleasure from another without sexuality ever coming into it. Then again, Sabra hadn't exactly spelt it out. It was quite possible that was exactly what she was referring to. The thing was, most of those other varieties of pleasure would likely sound a whole lot more horrific than she was prepared for.

And a few, a lot more amusing, too.

"Yes. Your weddings are spoken about. They're... Different."

A look of what seemed genuine puzzlement settled over Sabra's features when she said that. 'Different' was probably the best compromise of verbal distinction.

"It depends on the species..."
Edited 2013-12-24 02:20 (UTC)
primordial_visitation: (Query)

[personal profile] primordial_visitation 2013-12-27 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
"No... You don't."

It was spoken as brutal common sense. Either Echo was being polite for the sake of it or, if genuinely friendly, she would likely still reverse course on that expressed sentiment after she had time to think about it. To hope an entity like this would easily adapt to Earth? At best, it was something expressed without fully thinking of the consequences. Especially in light of Sabra's repeated assurance that she was inclined to reshape Vegas as the start of some kind of netherworldly kingdom.

Whether or not something would happen to make Sabra reconsider or even throw her lot in with the mortals, was another question. So far, she was at least helping to rid the streets of its vampiric population.

"You should take slaves," the parting Sabra observed. "They could undertake such works for you."

But with that advice, she was already turning, stepping away. With Echo having declared the need to go, Sabra's cultural inclination was to do just that in an almost robotic fashion. The day she exhibited anything close to genuine warmth, let alone prospective friendship, would be a... Very interesting time.