DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Alternate Reality PHX: Phoenix Reform Academy Carpe Tenebris ‘Anne’

The hard slap to her face caught her off guard, the intensity of those gimlet eyes staring into hers from mere inches away, her gloved hand resting at her throat completed the job. As was always the case when mother was angry, the object was like a rabbit in front of a hungry wolf.

Mother was terrifying when she ...

Mother was terrifying.

“Tenebra, my darling. You weak lit-tle ~worm~. I do be-lieve I told you to do something for me. I believe my exact words were. ‘Oh Tennie, do be a dear and dispose of that man for me.’ Yet he still moves. Why does he yet move, lit-tle girl?”

Her mother’s sing-song breathy tone was chilling. As was the expression on her face. She much preferred it when the mask was on. At least then all she could see were the eyes - which were disturbing enough.

The man wasn’t even anyone ‘important’. It was some random man on the street corner. Some person whose only crime was being down on his luck and out of a home, no doubt. But for whatever reason, for some reason, mother had chosen today to make a point. But ...

There was a crackling at Nyx’s fingertips and a greasy feeling in the air - The unsettling and sickening feeling in the air of wrongness when she invoked nature’s inescapable law of Enthropy and imbued it with malignant purpose.

And also pain. Tenebra’s heart skipped several beats, a tightness in her chest and the panicked feeling came that always came with the ‘Gaze of Nyx’.

‘Speak, child. What say you, lit-tle girl?’

Temebra

She was too slow to respond. She wasn't sure why it bothered her, why she didn't drain the man automatically as she had been trained to do. It was what her mother wanted, and she so wanted to please her mother. Anything other than what offered immediate satisfactory answer met with swift retribution. Nyx disciplined by a mercurial use of a big stick, her touch.

[OOC: Leaving a spot here for mom to respond with an appropriate loving encouragement.]

Nyx

The resulting voice was almost a hiss. Reminiscent of nothing so much as a wild animal growling.

"Girl!"

Her face is so close that Tennie can almost feel the vibrations from her speech, her eyes locked into hers.

One gloved hand rests on Tennie's throat and squeezes, just slightly. It is a strange sensation feeling like your flesh is failing you. Like it is almost rotting, decaying.

"Are you witless? I asked for an answer not cowering."

Tennie had watched Nyx kill people with hardly a second thought. Concentrate on someone until they crumbled to dust, and then watched them blow away.

Tenebra

Against someone else she might have raised her own hand and defended herself. She could have caused a normal person great pain. Her mother knew that. Tenebra knew that. Yet, she didn't raise a hand. There was no fighting against her mother's will. They both knew that. That was the only reason she was alive of that she was sure. Tenebra couldn't count on Nyx's compassion because the woman had none.

Finding her voice she said in a soft whisper that quivered as much as she felt fear "the man is nothing. Why does he have to die? He doesn't matter? You always have a purpose, a reason. Just killing him makes no sense."

A slow smile.

Girl, you are a god he is an animal. You need learn that, child.

The back of her hand caresses her cheek in a mockery of gentleness before grabbing her chin again, and turning her face to look at the man, then reaching out with Her other hand and pointing. The scream was sickening on a primal level. The sight was almost worse, aging on an accelerated rate. Finally, at some point he ... crumbles enough that the screaming ... stops.


The she stick the hand on her front and Tennie feels a sharp jolt, like a red hot ice pick through her chest, and an almost choking feeling in her throat.

She then lets go and stands up.

“Clean up that mess, girl. You can do that, yes? Oh. And do make sure to record the metro concert at nine. I will be busy then. Things to do.”

Tenebra

She clutched her chest at the pain. It was an involuntary reaction. Yet she felt shame at it. "Yes mother," she agreed when she could speak again. Hopefully before there would be any additional reprisals.

She went to the man. She knew he was dead without looking, but she had to check. She had to be sure. She would have to dispose of the body.

Almost as disturbing as the rest was the pat on the head and the brief tousling of hair on the way out. One perhaps couldn’t help but flinch.

“You might want to see the news tonight, girl. There will be fireworks. Things are going to change. Perhaps you can learn your place then. I shall forgo further lessons tonight. Too much to do ...”

And she sweeps out of the room like a hurricane. Leaving Tenebra alone with her thoughts for the moment. And presumably alone in the house, save the servants.

Tenebra

Not for the first time she wondered if she could run away. Would it matter? How far would she get before her mother stopped her heart or did something worse?

She had been living a grueling apprenticeship. Body disposal was not something she ever put she had ever considered to put on a resume. So many thing she had done recently.

What was Nyx going to do? The world was going to change? It couldn't be for the better. She wondered what she would be called on to do? Tenebra had already failed her mother by not killing. That was certainly coming.

Her mind went to running away again. Where could she go? What could she do? It was like touching something and killing it was a useful job skill. Not like "hi, welcome to Walmart." Let me touch you so that you die instantly, or slowly and painfully. She shook her head.

One of the servants cleared her throat slightly.

‘Miss? Lady NyX seems t have dropped this.’

She is holding a piece of paper.

Implied is that she really was not particularly eager to follow her.

‘Only I don’t think she really wants it.”

Implied is that she didn’t want any more exposure than needed.

Tenebra

"I can take it. I will make sure she gets it." She stuck out her hand to accept it and relieve the woman of the unpleasant duty. "What is it?" She asked without even thinking about it. She wasn't going to ask that, she didn't have to ask it, she was going to have the paper. She could look. But curosity got the better of her mouth and her tongue engaged before her brain could stop it.

“Ma’am. I don’t know. I don’t want to know HER business. Knowing her business is a good way for me to become her business. All I know is it is something to do with an appointment tonight.”

Tenebra

"I will take it to her." She says firmly. Well with more conviction than she really felt at the moment. But her mother had taught her appearance was half the battle. So she showed confidence and a little bit of poise, with her hand outstretched.

“Yes’m.”

She hand the paper over and gratefully scampers away. Servants in the House of Nyx wanted to be unseen.

Once unfolded, the piece of paper contains an address, a date, and a time.

The address is in Halcyon city, and would in fact have to be near the government district. The time was 8:00. The date was tonight. She recognized the writing as belonging to Alchemy. She had seen that writing often enough.

Tenebra

She folded the paper up and stuck it in a pocket. She moved to the room to go to her closet and grab dark clothing. She had no idea what to expect out there. Most of the time she went with her mother, or she was with a servant. But she did know how to drive, and she did know how to defend herself. Nyx had made sure of that.

She glanced at the clock to see what options she might have for transportation. Who was she kidding a cab would get her there easily enough. He looked up a building in the area that might still serve people, a restaurant, or store. That is where she would take the cab to. Get dropped off and make her way to the address. She was curious what Nyx and Alchemy were going to do together that would change the world as her mother had said.

Soon enough she found herself deposited at a Chinese restaurant in Halcyon proper, some several blocks away from the address. As she came closer, she realized she was entering the governmental districts. And as she came yet close, she saw the unmistakable shape of the Maximum security supervillain person, ‘The Black Hole.’. In all, she had a solid thirty minutes before the time on the note.

The sight of the prison was perhaps unsettling. It sat on the horizon like a lead weight, seeming somehow heavy in a way that defied its normal architecture.

Tenebra

She had been just walking looking for the address. But the sight of the prison caused her steps to slow and to falter. She just hadn't expected to be so close to it. The worst of the worst were in there. That is wherethey would put her mother if they ever caught her. Regardless of her mother's point of view that most people were insects to be walked on, it still caused a shiver in Tenebra's spine.

With effort she continued to move forward looking for the address. She wanted to know what her mother was up to more than ever.

The address was the administrative office right next to the prison. The top floor.

Tenebra

She went to the building and tried to find a way in. She would prefer not to be seen by security if she has an option. Then she had to get to the top floor and see what was going on.

She was surprised how easy the trip up was. It seemed amazingly devoid of security. That was, in itself, possibly and indicator of ... something. Very quickly she found herself almost at the top floor.

This was too easy. Much too easy, really.

Tenebra

She slowed her approach. If it were cleared of security then it had been set up. Was it a set up? Was her mom going to get captured doing something stupid? She was crazy enough to do it regardless of the risk.

Tenebra tried to find a good vantage point where she could investiage things without getting caught in whatever set up was in place. Something wasn't right, she knew that. She could feel it in her bones.

She found a nice hidden spot, out of sight ... and shortly thereafter she saw Alchemy - she knew who that was, even if she had not directly talked much with her - walk by And through one final door leading to the roof. From that door she heard sickening screams.

She was quite familiar with their provenance. After all, she had heard similar earlier that day. And then she heard sounds. Loud sounds. Sounds of battle, perhaps? Something was going on out there besides the screaming.

Tenebra

The loud sounds scared her more than the screams, as sick as that sounded to her own mind. She decided she wanted to learn more. She crept forward and tried to get through the door to investigate.

She sticks her head through the door just in time to see a child - a child - crumple into something that thankfully was no longer alive in Nyx's hands, at which point she throws it aside like a limp doll which was shaped wrongly and reaches for another of those cringing against the wall. She sees Alchemy concentrating intently, doing ... something. Something which took extreme concentration, and that concentration was on the prison below.

Tenebra

She didn't even think. She didn't know what was going on. But killing children, was unconscionable. She screamed and ran forward. She had to stop Nyx. She didn't know how. She didn't even think of that thing as her mother at that moment.

She charges forward, as thunder rolls in the sky, and both Nyx and Alchemy look over, just in time for the world to go mad. There is a flash.

A dark spot appears below Alchemy, and then explodes into a rift, almost a tear, like a canister of silly string being opened, black whips and tendrils roil out like growing roots. There is a screeching, almost growling sound as of twisting metal. The rift opens wider in jittering stops, twisting the ground underneath it, chunks coming out of the surroundings, everything looks as if it is bathed in an eerie purple light.

Then reality shatters and goes black.

She awakens to a face



Leaning over her and a hand reaching down.