Neophyte Redglare (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
acrimsongaze) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
checkin2015-05-22 04:25 pm
acrimsongaze) wrote in checkin2015-05-22 04:25 pm
Entry tags:
II ♎ video [hypnos]
{ooc: warnings for lots of murder, character death, and the obnoxious homestuck coloured text. oops}
[it's funny to think that the songs for children say dreams are wishes your heart makes. that your dreams are what you truly want. perhaps for humans, that's the stories they tell their young, to ease nightmares, to make sense of nonsense.
trolls, though, never get that solace.
on alternia, they link together, all dreams are the same dream, a hivemind, a flurry of bloodshed and terror, drowning, being ripped apart, watching people you love die a thousand times. a gruesome warning to the young, a tragic memory for the old. dreams are never dreams. they are only nightmares.
and yet, for her, here, there is a gentler haze-- she is human, after all. she may dream of loves never had and smiles never shared. except you don't see any humans. none. the sky is cloudy, violet and indigo and full of stars, with two moons hanging in the sky, one pink and the other green, and from where you are perched you can see a city, bustling, alive in the darkness, thousands of people (aliens. trolls...) mulling about below, flashes of grey and yellow and so many other colours... beyond it is a black ocean, with ships painted blue and violet (and a few in teal) sailing away. there are two people in front of you-- one an enormous terror with hair and hands to match, and horns that spiral towards the sky. the other, though, is a young woman, holding her canesword across her lap, and cup in the other.
it's redglare. but redglare as she used to be, a monster, a beauty, and so young and full of hope. why she's on the roof with her boss-- the grand highblood-- well...]
--and then she looked at me, with the most incredulous expression I've ever seen, and said "'Rectum?' Damn near killed 'em!"
[there's a honking sort of laughter from the larger troll, and triumphant giggles from the smaller, and once the two of them settle down, the grand highblood gives a grin to his subordinate.]
Fuckin' perfect... Goddamn glorious. Does she do that motherfuckin' often?
More than you know, Kurloz. Talking to her is like putting East Alternian through Troogle Translate and hoping for something intelligible.
[he laughs again, and takes a sip from his own (very tiny in comparison to him) cup.] Motherfuckin' incredible. [a pause.] I keep tellin' you, you'd be a wicked laughsassin. You'd fuckin' blow all these chucklefucks right out of the water. And I wouldn't mind workin' with your fine ass more. [redglare just stares at him, even as he laughs, and eventually she smiles with him.] Leave those fuckin' stiff as shit barkbeasts, Latula. You could do better.
[she looks back out across the ocean, taking a swig from her cup.] I wish I could. But there's something I want to do, and I have to be here to do it... I didn't come to this city to give up on it because someone keeps dragging me up to the roof to shoot the shit.
But you motherfuckin' like it.
Did I say I didn't? I will, though, if that means you'll let me do my work and actually get out of Neophyte rank! At this rate, I'll be bottom of the barrel for a thousand sweeps!
Not if I put in a hella good word for you. I've seen your... credentials. [she punches him in the arm, and he laughs again as she turns a bright shade of teal.] I could fuckin' do that for you.
No, don't. They already think I'm on your bulge just to get ahead. [and before he can say anything further, she stops him.] And no, I'm not getting on your bulge for any reason... right now.... [shit.]
Well, maybe I can make you change your fuckin' mind... [he turns towards her, grinning, and right when their lips are about to touch--
it changes to another scene, one of a disaster, a city on fire, and next to an even younger redglare (who doesn't even have her "red glare" yet) is a gigantic white dragon, restraining the young troll who is watching the flames, trying to move towards the people trapped in the fire, but the dragon keeps nudging her back.]
We have to GO!
We can't! We have to help them! [their conversation is understandable, but it sounds decidedly different than hers with the grand highblood.]
They will burn whether or not you burn with them!
But Dad--!
[she can't say another word before her lusus tosses her on his back, and flies towards the sky, fast and without ever looking back. but redglare does, tears in her eyes, her first exposure to the terrors of her kind truly breaking her heart.
the haze moves again, revealing an older redglare, very close in appearance to the one in the hotel, sitting around a fire with other trolls, fiddling with a charm around her neck.] You know, he assigned me to the Mindfang case.
You're kidding. Did he really?
Mhmm. I leave tomorrow. He said I was the best for the job.
Will you be back?
Of course. There's still work to be done here.
The Sufferer [several trolls hush the one speaking.] He would be glad to know of your devotion.
I can only hope so... And hopefully he'd condone what I'm about to do.
Well, if he doesn't, we do!
[there is laughter amongst them, and only hers continues as it changes to an arena, dozens of dead and wounded trolls around a teenage redglare covered in multicoloured blood. her sword true is to her targets, as she's unafraid of what her testers are willing to throw at her. they could send his honourable tyranny himself to her, and she'd fight him too. and even as more come at her, she doesn't give up, snarling and laughing the whole time, until there is a loud "HALT!" from up above, and she holds still, staring at the magister, a jury of other legislacerators, and the grand highblood. across her eyes is maroon blood, her red glasses long since broken, her gaze intense as she waits for their verdict.]
Latula Pyrope, The League of Legislaceration accepts you into its ranks, and thus grants you the title of Lady Redglare.
[the grand highblood sneers at her, and the rest are surely expecting thanks, but she only bows to them as she exits the arena, not even moving to wipe the blood off her face.
the haze follows her, then transforms the scene one last time, to one where she doesn't win. this time, it's the trial, facing off against mindfang, and she is prepared for victory.]
Any last words, Marquise?
No need, my dear. Perhaps you should prepare yours instead.
[and then the crowd goes silent, their minds being taken over by mindfang. redglare feels the prickles of an invasion in her own brain, but it doesn't hold. when she looks up again, she can see mindfang grinning, and the lowbloods approaching her, hungry for someone to swing from the gallows.
and it's then she knows it's going to be her.
quickly unsheathing her sword, she's prepared to kill every last one of them, but there's too many. the sword is ripped from her hands, and is passed to mindfang as the lowbloods restrain redglare, while her opponent twirls it in her hand, then points it at redglare's throat, the smile she was wearing turning to a dangerous snarl.]
You should have known better, Neophyte, than to wage a war against someone out of your league.
This isn't over, Mindfang! [her voice is desperate, terrified, fighting for a chance to make it out of this alive.] It's not going to end like this!
Oh, but my dear. It is.
[and she walks away from redglare, who is still screaming, clawing, punching, kicking at the crowd, being led to the gallows and having the rope fitted around her neck. Her last words are the Sufferer's final sermon, a prayer for herself, that perhaps she will be granted a kind afterlife.
mindfang turns around one last time to watch them string redglare, prepared to see her enemy fall through the trapdoor.
and you see redglare fall, rope around her neck as she falls, but its gone when she lands, face down on a musty hotel room, transformed from troll to human, eyes closed but alive, unaware of her second chance.
the haze returns once more, but this time, it is to end the feed.]
[it's funny to think that the songs for children say dreams are wishes your heart makes. that your dreams are what you truly want. perhaps for humans, that's the stories they tell their young, to ease nightmares, to make sense of nonsense.
trolls, though, never get that solace.
on alternia, they link together, all dreams are the same dream, a hivemind, a flurry of bloodshed and terror, drowning, being ripped apart, watching people you love die a thousand times. a gruesome warning to the young, a tragic memory for the old. dreams are never dreams. they are only nightmares.
and yet, for her, here, there is a gentler haze-- she is human, after all. she may dream of loves never had and smiles never shared. except you don't see any humans. none. the sky is cloudy, violet and indigo and full of stars, with two moons hanging in the sky, one pink and the other green, and from where you are perched you can see a city, bustling, alive in the darkness, thousands of people (aliens. trolls...) mulling about below, flashes of grey and yellow and so many other colours... beyond it is a black ocean, with ships painted blue and violet (and a few in teal) sailing away. there are two people in front of you-- one an enormous terror with hair and hands to match, and horns that spiral towards the sky. the other, though, is a young woman, holding her canesword across her lap, and cup in the other.
it's redglare. but redglare as she used to be, a monster, a beauty, and so young and full of hope. why she's on the roof with her boss-- the grand highblood-- well...]
--and then she looked at me, with the most incredulous expression I've ever seen, and said "'Rectum?' Damn near killed 'em!"
[there's a honking sort of laughter from the larger troll, and triumphant giggles from the smaller, and once the two of them settle down, the grand highblood gives a grin to his subordinate.]
Fuckin' perfect... Goddamn glorious. Does she do that motherfuckin' often?
More than you know, Kurloz. Talking to her is like putting East Alternian through Troogle Translate and hoping for something intelligible.
[he laughs again, and takes a sip from his own (very tiny in comparison to him) cup.] Motherfuckin' incredible. [a pause.] I keep tellin' you, you'd be a wicked laughsassin. You'd fuckin' blow all these chucklefucks right out of the water. And I wouldn't mind workin' with your fine ass more. [redglare just stares at him, even as he laughs, and eventually she smiles with him.] Leave those fuckin' stiff as shit barkbeasts, Latula. You could do better.
[she looks back out across the ocean, taking a swig from her cup.] I wish I could. But there's something I want to do, and I have to be here to do it... I didn't come to this city to give up on it because someone keeps dragging me up to the roof to shoot the shit.
But you motherfuckin' like it.
Did I say I didn't? I will, though, if that means you'll let me do my work and actually get out of Neophyte rank! At this rate, I'll be bottom of the barrel for a thousand sweeps!
Not if I put in a hella good word for you. I've seen your... credentials. [she punches him in the arm, and he laughs again as she turns a bright shade of teal.] I could fuckin' do that for you.
No, don't. They already think I'm on your bulge just to get ahead. [and before he can say anything further, she stops him.] And no, I'm not getting on your bulge for any reason... right now.... [shit.]
Well, maybe I can make you change your fuckin' mind... [he turns towards her, grinning, and right when their lips are about to touch--
it changes to another scene, one of a disaster, a city on fire, and next to an even younger redglare (who doesn't even have her "red glare" yet) is a gigantic white dragon, restraining the young troll who is watching the flames, trying to move towards the people trapped in the fire, but the dragon keeps nudging her back.]
We have to GO!
We can't! We have to help them! [their conversation is understandable, but it sounds decidedly different than hers with the grand highblood.]
They will burn whether or not you burn with them!
But Dad--!
[she can't say another word before her lusus tosses her on his back, and flies towards the sky, fast and without ever looking back. but redglare does, tears in her eyes, her first exposure to the terrors of her kind truly breaking her heart.
the haze moves again, revealing an older redglare, very close in appearance to the one in the hotel, sitting around a fire with other trolls, fiddling with a charm around her neck.] You know, he assigned me to the Mindfang case.
You're kidding. Did he really?
Mhmm. I leave tomorrow. He said I was the best for the job.
Will you be back?
Of course. There's still work to be done here.
The Sufferer [several trolls hush the one speaking.] He would be glad to know of your devotion.
I can only hope so... And hopefully he'd condone what I'm about to do.
Well, if he doesn't, we do!
[there is laughter amongst them, and only hers continues as it changes to an arena, dozens of dead and wounded trolls around a teenage redglare covered in multicoloured blood. her sword true is to her targets, as she's unafraid of what her testers are willing to throw at her. they could send his honourable tyranny himself to her, and she'd fight him too. and even as more come at her, she doesn't give up, snarling and laughing the whole time, until there is a loud "HALT!" from up above, and she holds still, staring at the magister, a jury of other legislacerators, and the grand highblood. across her eyes is maroon blood, her red glasses long since broken, her gaze intense as she waits for their verdict.]
Latula Pyrope, The League of Legislaceration accepts you into its ranks, and thus grants you the title of Lady Redglare.
[the grand highblood sneers at her, and the rest are surely expecting thanks, but she only bows to them as she exits the arena, not even moving to wipe the blood off her face.
the haze follows her, then transforms the scene one last time, to one where she doesn't win. this time, it's the trial, facing off against mindfang, and she is prepared for victory.]
Any last words, Marquise?
No need, my dear. Perhaps you should prepare yours instead.
[and then the crowd goes silent, their minds being taken over by mindfang. redglare feels the prickles of an invasion in her own brain, but it doesn't hold. when she looks up again, she can see mindfang grinning, and the lowbloods approaching her, hungry for someone to swing from the gallows.
and it's then she knows it's going to be her.
quickly unsheathing her sword, she's prepared to kill every last one of them, but there's too many. the sword is ripped from her hands, and is passed to mindfang as the lowbloods restrain redglare, while her opponent twirls it in her hand, then points it at redglare's throat, the smile she was wearing turning to a dangerous snarl.]
You should have known better, Neophyte, than to wage a war against someone out of your league.
This isn't over, Mindfang! [her voice is desperate, terrified, fighting for a chance to make it out of this alive.] It's not going to end like this!
Oh, but my dear. It is.
[and she walks away from redglare, who is still screaming, clawing, punching, kicking at the crowd, being led to the gallows and having the rope fitted around her neck. Her last words are the Sufferer's final sermon, a prayer for herself, that perhaps she will be granted a kind afterlife.
mindfang turns around one last time to watch them string redglare, prepared to see her enemy fall through the trapdoor.
and you see redglare fall, rope around her neck as she falls, but its gone when she lands, face down on a musty hotel room, transformed from troll to human, eyes closed but alive, unaware of her second chance.
the haze returns once more, but this time, it is to end the feed.]