maidhem | Recolle Inbox

Sorry. I need to say this in person.

Are you home?

[It must have been really serious, if Pen was avoiding the phone...]

I am. Come right on over.

[And about 5 minutes later, she's knocking on the door, the airship hovering outside.]

[Felicia answers it-- and immediately pulls Pen into a hug before her friend can get a word in.]

Pen!

Come on inside, if that's what you want. I've got drinks and snacks for us.

[And they were alone. Light had moved back in with his family-- but that left Felicia with an open apartment and nothing to fill it with but herself and her friends.]

[Pen lets herself teeter into that hug, burying her face in Felicia's shoulder and trying not to break down again. She looks exhausted and haggard, drained of color, and almost like she's going to burst.]

Thanks. Sorry...it's short notice. But I can't keep this in anymore. I need to tell someone, but you have to keep it to yourself.

[Felicia ushered her friend inside and closed the door with a snap, locking it from the interior deadbolt as well just to ensure that they would have their privacy, and led Pen over to the sofa where they could get comfortable.]

I promise I won't tell anyone, [she swore.] And don't worry about being a bother. I told you, you're welcome any time.

[Pen sagged onto the couch when she got there, and let out a long, slow breath. This was hard, but better than holding it in.]

...Okay...

[Deep breath.]

...Freya's dying.

[The words were like a hammer coming down to shatter the delicate glass of her reality. While Felicia couldn't say she was close to Freya in any extent of the word, she appreciated everything that Freya did for Pen and was content to live quietly with that sentiment in her heart.

The words also cracked her clean, sparkling belief that Bad Things Would Not Happen, despite Retrospec proving time and again that the game they were playing was nothing if not dangerous. The real danger was always someone else's ordeal, not one that would be faced by anyone she knew.]

...What is it? [Felicia asked quietly.] Cancer? Or Retrospec?

[Pen took another one of those deep breathes, folding her hands in her lap. It'd shaken her to hear it. And it shook her again to think it, and nearly cracked her when she said it to someone else. Her mind had become a fragile thing, so wrapped up in people, that just the thought of losing one made her skitter away in fright. But she couldn't keep it in. She needed support to make it through this, and without Vaan, she had Felicia.]

...it's neither.

[Her folded hands gripped her pants, crushing the fabric between needy fingers.]

It's a curse. Something put on her in a past life by some insane...I don't know...god? It showed up, and she's going to die unless she goes to some place that doesn't exist and destroys it.

....You mean?

[It was bizarre to even consider that those memories, those recollections of past lives, could have a much further reach beyond memory and the physical changes they were all receiving. The fact that something as deep and complex as a curse could be transferred was itself astonishing.]

You mean that they're able to bring something like that into the city too? More than just magic and hair color?

[Not that she had her doubts. There was something she couldn't speak of, or face a curse herself.]

I do. Well. I think it's just a side effect, more than something they are actively doing.

[Pen scrubs her hands over her face, trying to keep her voice steady and failing miserably. Tears start to leak out into her palms as she comes apart, just thinking about it bringing back scads of horrid memories.]

I should've known things...were getting too good when I got this body. Equal...good to go with equal...bad.

Oh~ don't say that!

[Upon seeing Pen's tears, Felicia pulled the other girl into a tight embrace once again.]

Sometimes bad things just happen. It's not a price for anything.

...Besides, if it's a curse then there's got to be a way we can try to stop it. Has she mentioned anything like that?

She didn't know. Doesn't know.

[Penelope sags into that hug, face buried in Felicia's shoulder, tears staining her clothes.]

It goes away if she can destroy some place that doesn't exist...but that would make her a monster all the same...

[Felicia rubbed her friend's shoulders, hoping to convey support and encouragement with the gesture. If tears were needed, then it was perfectly all right to cry.]

Then... we need to find another option.

[She said quietly, with an odd firmness to her words. She knew a little about lands that shouldn't exist. Even if she couldn't speak of it to anyone, it was still a commonality.]

There's got to be some way that doesn't involve destroying something that doesn't exist and becoming a monster. That's unreasonable. A curse always has a loophole, or they would be impossible to break.

[Tears were needed. she hadn't let herself cry enough lately, and had restrained herself in Freya's presence to a point. She didn't want to drive the curse to work faster, after all. Knowing she was making it worse was more than she could bear.]

I...don't know if their is one...

[She's cut off with a sudden, shuddering sob.]

Felicia...I'm sure that whatever did this...it's like Mateus. It just...it wants to hurt people...

You stopped Mateus.

[She said with certainty, recalling the demon and it's unrelenting desire to bring pain to those that Pen cared about.]

I'm sure this one can be stopped, too.

That...that was different. It was here, and I could punch it.

[Here's the sinister thing.]

This time, I'll have to fight Freya. She'll become the monster...

[Felicia pressed her lips together, and squeezed Pen tighter as those words sunk in.]

...She's a strong person, Pen. I don't think she's the sort to just let something like that beat her.

That isn't how this works.

[Pen shakes her head, holding tight to whatever cloth she can.]

It's a timer. When it runs out, if she hasn't finished her...I don't know...mission...I guess? She turns. And someone has to stop her. She might come back to life, like anyone on Retrospec might, but...I don't think there's a way to break the curse.

She doesn't remember it.

[To that, Felicia pressed her head against Pen's.]

Then... we just have to be there for her, as much as possible, [she said quietly.] And, when that time comes, do what you think she would want you to do.

To stop her from hurting anyone.

[That is obvious, Pen.]

No matter what. I don't want to, but...I know that's what she'd want.

Edited 2018-04-29 01:08 (UTC)

Then... the only thing anyone can do now is honor her wishes and stay by her side.

I don't know how to help, Pen. But, if you need me anywhere at all, I'll be there.

You...I guess you can be on standby?

No matter what, I'm going to come out of this pretty battered. Physically and emotionally. And there's nobody better at fixing me up than you.

Standby... okay.

[She nodded, and squeezed her friend tightly.]

I'll keep patching you up and stop you from falling apart again. Just... don't isolate yourself like you did before, okay?

I don't know if I could do that again. It...well, it nearly destroyed me when I was 18.

Now I have an audience, people that rely on me...and a tomato.

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maidhem - 2018-05-02 22:18 (UTC) - Expand

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mincingminuet - 2018-05-03 06:01 (UTC) - Expand