Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Magenta Square (CLOSED)

Hollow blinked a few times until her eyes finally cleared away all the sleep goo. Even without the goo blocking her vision the pale young woman couldn't see very well. It was the dead of night with the moon barely visible through the ominous clouds. How did I get here?

Her legs wobbled a little as she stood up and use her outstretched arms for balance. I'm in Magenta Square. Hollow was barely dressed for such a chilly autumn night; a black nightgown to her knees and wool socks covering her feet. A girl could get very ill exposed to such temperatures. Hollow decided not to question how she got outside so late without any recollection. It was probably one of her many curses acting up again. Something to be concerned but nothing new.

However, one step forward caused the cement bricks of the road beneath Hollow to groan. Balance failed as the ground shook violently and suddenly gave way underneath her. The girl shrieked just as her hand caught onto a weak brick, scraping her skin raw as she held on tightly. There was a very frightening cavern filled with black tar waiting to swallow her up and Hollow very desperately want to get home to her safe, warm bed. "Help me!" Cold tar reached up and tugged on her slim ankle causing fear to fill her eyes. Why must the curses torment me so? Both legs submerged into the persistent tar until her fingers nearly slipped off the brick. She let out a gasp and stretched out her arm far into the air hoping to reach something, to wake up from this very real nightmare.

Like Hollow, Yuu wasn't dressed in anything suitable for a chilly autumn night. A potato sack found its way forged into a dress and wrapped around her body, draping over it loosely. Normally, the creature didn't like going through towns because she knew if she was seen, someone would probably throw something at her and that was something that frightened her. Emotion still wasn't something she knew, but she understood that particular danger because it had happened so many times.

There was no such thing as sneaking when it came to her. Her body moved in ways that seemed very unnatural and slow. It wobbled as if balance wasn't something the body was used to, legs failing to find an appropriate spot to land as she stepped forward. She was twitchy.

Her attention was stolen by the crumbling of brick and the words of a girl yelling for help. She wasn't sure what she said because she didn't understand language at all, or even most fear. Still, she went to investigate because she wasn't thinking and the noise was simply attention-drawing. When there, she found the girl was down below, struggling to get up!

Yuu wasn't a very strong individual, but she would sit at the lip of the hole and reach down. There was no real reason why she did that, as she felt nothing when she did, but perhaps it was some fragment of humanity that was left over after the ritual? Some part of her that knew Hollow was in danger and sought to help? Regardless, the present Yuu didn't seem to notice what she was doing, or care. But hopefully Hollow would be able to use the creature to get up and out of the hole.

Just before the strange figure appeared at the mouth of the gaping hole, Hollow managed to kick off a huge glob of heavy tar. The swinging motion brought her closer to the surface of the hole in which she gripped the edge with both hands with elbows now pressed against the stable bricks. The girl caught her breath but knew she still had to pull herself up with her own strength.

However, the sight of a frightening young girl startled Hollow so badly both hands slipped from safety. Her skin scraped and she fell into the tar pit with a sickening plop. She did not scream, for she could not scream. In fact, there was no need to scream. Hollow was perfectly safe.

The tar faded away revealing the girl in a black, yet transparent tar bubble. The bricks reformed the road back to perfection. The figure no longer sat at the edge of a gaping hole, but rather looked like she simply fell down in the middle of a road. Hollow sat inside the bubble, hovering off the ground just in front of the stranger's face. Hollow kept her eyes on the girl, curious, as she reached out to place her hand on the inside of the bubble. The bubble popped and Hollow fell about a foot to the ground rather roughly. She rubbed her aching hip. Then again her gaze returned to the girl.

"Are you a hallucination? Because, I really need these curses to leave me alone and let me go home." Hollow spoke with an enchantingly soprano voice. If a doll a had voices they would closely resemble it. Slightly disturbed by the girl's lack of reaction Hollow reached out and touched one of the horns sticking out of the girl's head.

Yuu wasn't able to catch the girl it seemed, but she wasn't sad because of this. She didn't know it was bad to fall. Even the strange occurrences that followed didn't seem to startle the creature, but instead sent her into a bout of curiousness. She wondered what it felt like to the touch, what it tasted like. She lost her balance somewhere in between catching the girl and the girl falling, so she had fallen back on her rump.

When things slowly returned to normal in the odd way that they did, Yuu simply gawked at the girl. She was not easily frightened except by other demonic creatures, so she wouldn't scurry away when Hollow would come forward, speak to her, and then touch her horn. Finally, she spoke.

"You... Cination...!" she yelped. It was quite obvious she was merely mimicking the sounds she heard from Hollow, and the creature wasn't at all intelligent. When her horn was touched, a strange laughter came from her. It was innocent and happy, though sounded twisted with maybe two or three voices, one human, one rough and high pitched (which was the voice she normally spoke in), and a low gurgling coming from the back of her throat. She didn't know she had horns it seemed, because now she was touching them rather constantly, giggling in that same pitiful, disturbing way.

At the sudden outburst Hollow recoiled, landing on the palms of her hands and sitting on her legs. Her eyes never strayed from the strange being touching her own horns. The sounds were remarkable and drew more curiosity from the girl than fear. Hollow compared the sight to a how a terrifying monster would sound if tickled in the right spot. Such a sight was ... endearing? Hollow swallowed and her throat stuck a little.

The girl got to her feet and took a couple of steps back, hands wrapped around her torso for warmth. The chill only got worse the longer the two were exposed to the weather. Hollow desperately wanted to seek shelter, but somehow leaving this terrifying stranger felt wrong. Teeth chattering, Hollow knelt back down to gently grasp onto the girl's hand and would lift her gently back to her feet saying "You must be cold."

Yuu did not do much other than a slow tilt of her head when Hollow recoiled, her laughter abruptly cutting short and her expression neutral. The girl's body was shivering, but she didn't seem to realize what was happening or what it was for. There were goosebumps all along her flesh and her teeth were just barely chattering. A potato sack did nothing for warmth.

"Cooooold," she repeated, her voice quiet and drawn out. She then began to repeat the word in varying octaves and pitches. She was singing.

A strange feeling took root inside Hollow, one that she couldn't explain, only act upon. Helping the girl to her feet Hollow felt another bitter cold breeze cut through to her bones. The two of them had to seek shelter or freeze off toes and fingers.

"Cold. Cold, yes." Hollow confirmed and gently lead the singing girl in the direction of her cozy cottage home. There, they could warm up. Hollow wanted to know more about the bizarre potato sack girl and why she seemed to be in a child's mental state. She seemed to be able to mimick words but and act on her own, but something was very wrong. Disturbing.

Yuu followed, still singing her little song about the cold, not yet knowing where they were going or why. Movement was something she was used to, though perhaps this night she did a bit too much of it and was no longer in her own home area.

When inside the cottage, the warmth that welcomed them was a pleasurable experience, causing the girl to giggle as she had before in an almost hysterical way. Like this was the first time she felt such warmth. If left to her own devices, Yuu would walk around the house touching random things, picking them up and likely dropping some things as others caught her eyes.

Sorry, Hollow. Your house was probably going to be wrecked. She'd never seen the inside of another building before!

The cottage was simple in design. Once through the front door they both were in the living area. It had a large fireplace to cook and heat the place, a wood table for dining, animal skin rugs and shelves of leather bound books. There were also trinkets everywhere. Hollow found her coat rack and put on a wool shawl, then placed one on the curious girl. She had a clock in her hand and looked ready to drop it on the floor. Hollow quickly took it from her and set it out of reach. It was impossible to keep all her things out of harms way. A boot hit the floor, along with a few pretty dishes causing Hollow some alarm.

"What am I going to do with you?" She asked herself as she took a seat by the fire. She didn't have anything truly expensive so she let the strange girl carry on. It was like watching a newborn experencing things for the first time.

The wool was pleasing and she didn't seem to object to having the shawl put on her. Her observing the house and all its knickknacks went on for a good while until she noticed the fireplace. How she didn't at first, no one could know, but her short attention span withdrew her from her current tasks and pulled her in. Fire is also something she'd never seen before.

The house she lived in was dank and cold and still had the body of the man who did this to her in the basement, rotting away because she thought that's what bodies did. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Thank goodness everyone was too afraid of her to go inside and check things out, otherwise she'd be barred a murderer, even if his cause of death was natural.

Now in front of the fire, the girl would actually reach out a hand to the flames. It was warm! And she wanted to hold the warmth.

Exhaling air from her lungs, Hollow sank deeper into the chair and closed her eyes. She wasn't sure how she got outside at this hour. Her curses often made unfortunate things happen but this time it felt worse. It was like an attention seeking illness that only got worse as she pretended that nothing was wrong.
Hollow was small, thin and very pale. Life took a beating to her often and all the girl wanted was for some peace. Peace ... and...fire?

Hollow opened both her eyes to find the strange girl sticking her hand into the fire. There was a pleased expression on her face as the fire roasted her flesh. Horror filled Hollow's face as she jumped up and yanked the girl back by her wrist.

"No! Fire hurts! It hurts when too close!" She shouted and let go of her hand. With an grunt she got up to fetch some healing ointment and bandages; no doubt the skin would blister and crack. She returned and gently wrapped up the burnt hand. Hollow stared at her bewildered. She wondered who she was and why she acted and looked so strange.

Perhaps it took longer than normal to register what was happening as pain. At first, it was a comfortable warmth, something she could barely notice. But as it carried on, especially when she was yanked away, the cooler air settled on the blisters and pain began to settle in.

If one thought her laughter was odd, her crying would be ten times as shocking. That same voice echoed out in quiet wails, globs of black ichor dripping down her face from her eyes, making a mess of her clothes and of the floor. It wasn't a lot though, at least from her face. From where the skin had burst open on her hands, she was dripping the same fluid in a much larger quantity. It was trailing back toward her elbow, since she held the arm up, and dripping down onto her lap.

Eventually, Yuu brought her legs up and writhed them gently, keeping her head buried into her knees and her arm elevated. It had even dripped in her hair at this point! Augh, poor Hollow.

Hollow dropped the bandages she was carrying and scrambled away from the screaming girl. The noise was terrible. She covered her ears and tried to avoid the liquid spilling all over the floor. What has she gotten into bringing such a strange looking person into her home? What could calm her?

Suddenly she thought of something. Quickly Hollow ran up a short flight of stairs that curved into a small room big enough for only a bed. On the mattress was an object vaguely human shaped. She snatched the object and returned to the screaming girl. The liquid had spread.

"Hey, hey, now. Now now wwww.....urrrr" Words would not form correctly in her mouth. It was like a very sticky glue slowly sealed her lips shut. Her mouth disappeared leaving her mute. Still, Hollow crawled near the girl with the doll in hand. The doll was thin, wood, and slightly cracked. It was kind of terrifying but for some reason Hollow loved it. She placed it in front of the girl and hoped she would look up.

Yuu would likely continue to cry whether Hollow was present or not. Her words didn't phase her, though, but her actions did. The appearance of the doll left her tears stifled and her attention on it. She reached forward, hoping to grab it with the hand that wasn't injured if Hollow would let her. If allowed, she'd hug it tightly against her.

Hollow's half blank face didn't alarm Yuu like one might have guessed. She thought it was normal, so she wouldn't grow frightened or anything. She had to be taught what was normal and what wasn't, sadly.

Releasing the doll to the girl, Hollow let herself smile. It was quite a sight to see her hugging the doll so earnestly. "Doll." She stated, hoping the word might stick. "Doll." And with that she turned to fetch a mop. She didn't want the black liquid to stain her floors. Cleaning was her least favorite thing to do but it had to be done.

The liquid came off the floor easy enough and dyed the bucket water black. Carefully lifting furniture and getting into pesky cracks, Hollow didn't like to do a job poorly. Once she was finished she took the bucket and dumped it out a window into the hedges. "There, all clean."

Kneeling down in front of the girl, she decided that it was time to get to the bottom of everything. She had to figure out who this girl was and what happened to give her such a frightening appearance. From a nearby drawer she pulled out a plain wood hand mirror. Carefully she offered the reflection for her to see. "You."

The word would stick! Yes! For once! So while Hollow was busy cleaning up her bloodymess, the teary creature sang a sad little doll-song, tears still pouring but a smile on her face. Her burned hand lay limp at her side.

The creature looked up to see Hollow approach with a mirror. When she saw her reflection, she brought the hand that held the doll up to touch the glass. To her surprise, it was smooth and cold and unlike flesh! So instead of getting the hint, Yuu leaned her face in real close until her cheeks touched it, leaving behind a small black smear. Finally she realized that it might have been herself, and she reached up to touch one of the horns she saw in the mirror. Oh! So this is what she looked like.

"You," she repeated.

The success startled Hollow, though relief quickly followed. This creature wasn't stunted intelligently in anyway. There could be away to get inside her head perhaps. Encouraged by the mirror success, Hollow gently reached for Yuu's hand and had her point out towards Hollow. "Hollow."

(Thinking of a Disney movie perhaps? Haha.)

The cottage was very warm and with the creature finally calming down Hollow was able to function curse free temporarily. Stress always made her curses act up and the worst ones hadn't even surfaced yet.
"Hollow."

(Haha, maybe a little! )

The odd woman repeated Hollow's name when she was introducing herself. As she repeated in a calmer way, her voice mellowed out into something less inhuman. When that was through, she looked back to the doll and fought to remember. Finally, she did.

"Doll...," she mumbled, moving the doll around. "Hollow. Doll. Hollow. Doll." But what was she to be called? A nickname had been given previously, but... it wasn't something that stuck with her too much after all. She didn't remember it!

Hollow was on the same wavelength of thought at this point. If this odd girl couldn't communicate well, how was she supposed to figure out her name? What should she be called? For a few moments she watched they way she handled the doll. Questions filled her mind. would it be right to just pick a name for her? Or perhaps the girl would gain more knowledge and name herself. It was all very puzzling.

"Whatever happened to you." She whispered. The girl seemed to have evil written all over her, but inside she seemed like a harmless child. Her heart went out to the girl.

Those two words were shuffled back and forth for a while until Hollow spoke again. Her eyes came up to glance at the woman, head canting a little. For a moment, it looked like she was trying to make eye contact, like she felt empathy when she received those words and almost understood what they meant. She looked a little distant and sad now, movements becoming slower and words fading into nothingness. Eventually she stopped dancing with the doll and singing that "song."

"Tever," she whispered, only using half the word "whatever." She looked up again. "You."

She was trying to talk but didn't understand words. Just feeling. And this, she noticed, was not normal. It wasn't something she was used to. Happiness and neutrality was all she felt on average, feeling like she "matched" someone emotionally was odd, even though she didn't understand that that was what had happened.

To be frank, even if the creature could speak, she wouldn't be able to recall what happened to her. Just what happened when she "woke up" on the altar.