００１ ☠ video/action;

[jemerite]

[She has not moved from the place where the Labyrinth finally spit her out, lying in the grass curled into herself. The vine has come to investigate, now that she has been returned to the Garden. Where has she been? Has she learned her lesson? Perhaps.

She's filthy. Her hair lank and knotted, her clothes muddied and ripped. With her arms wrapped around herself, she claws at her skin with blunted nails, keening miserably. She has hardly ceased since the storm ended.

She rocks back and forth, her forehead pressed into the dirt, and as she falls onto her side, the vine follows curiously. Her face is bruised and crusted with blood, wounds she had not felt at the time, and truly she does not feel them now.

The vines slithering finally draws her attention and she makes a low whimpering sound. Her face is dry of tears, at least. The dead do not cry in such a way, even if her mouth is trembling.

She stares at the vine a moment longer before she draws herself up and tries to slink away from its gaze, but it follows her. She gives up eventually, sinking back down at the base of a tree and hiding behind her drawn up knees. That same piercing little wail eventually begins again, muffled from within her protective huddle.]

Comments

[action]

[existwithoutme.livejournal.com]

Look, a lost little bird, fallen from its nest. [Like a bird herself, Kuja descends to earth, watching Zinc dispassionately.] What transpired to reduce you to this state?

[action]

[jemerite]

[She looks up with a trembling expression. The lack of concern is not strange to her, is almost preferable to Barbet's impatient.]

Ku-kuja.

[She tries to control the whine in her voice and fails, crawling forward to sit at the witch's feet. She's already been told not to touch, but she wants to be closer.]

It wasn't... my fault.

[action]

[existwithoutme.livejournal.com]

Certainly. Of course not. [Kuja can easily see how Zinc might not be to blame for certain actions on her part. She doesn't move away as Zinc approaches.] I wouldn't think so for a moment.

What did happen? [She is curious, if not particularly compassionate.]

[action]

[jemerite]

[She's relieved that Kuja believes her, stares up at her with adoration.]

I was too... too hungry. And they were scared. I couldn't-- couldn't help it.

[She lifts her hand to rub away some of the blood that's crusted to her face. Not all of it is hers, very little of it, in fact, is her own.]

They made me, go with them. And then they... punished me for it.

[The labyrinth had been terrible. She had enough misery inside of her own mind without phantoms of it appearing before her eyes. There are scratches all over her skin, from her neck, down her shoulders and back. She had put them all there herself, trying to claw herself out of her skin.]

[action]

[existwithoutme.livejournal.com]

[More accustomed to the close company of monsters than humans, Kuja understands.]

It's your nature, isn't it? These foolish people don't comprehend things that are unlike them. Always taking things for granted and underestimating danger, when they're so weak, in the end, so easily damaged. [Unlike Kuja, her tone suggests.]

That you should be reprimanded for that... [Her expression darkens as her sentence trails away.] Who punished you?

[action]

[jemerite]

[Yes. It wasn't right. It wasn't her fault. She was an animal, Barbet knew better, he kept her caged and tame. There was no one here to look after her that way, no but Kuja and she hadn't been there either.]

Someone, someone for the Queen.

[They had obvious not deigned to introduce themselves to an animal, and she feels disgusting for it, resentful and hurt. She lowers her head, mouth thinning.]

I hated... hated that place.

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[ebony-bone.livejournal.com]

You're still crying.

video;

[jemerite]

[She flinches at Dominique's voice with a whimper.]

video;

[ebony-bone.livejournal.com]

Stop it. You knew that madness was there. You hurt people. You have nothing to cry over.

video;

[jemerite]

[She doesn't stop, at all. She didn't want to hurt anyone, least of all Gabrielle, but now they would all want to kill her. Her fingers curl more furiously against her skin, like she could claw her humanity back out from beneath the filth, but she can't.]

video;

[ebony-bone.livejournal.com]

Stop it.

[You should recognise that tone, Zinc. It's the same one that echoed through your mind when you attacked her, the one that actually stopped you, working from the inside out.]

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

[ Amanda is out for a walk, now that the storm has passed; she was cooped up inside the Pagoda, has been for a while now, but the sense of confinement had started to make her feel uneasy. She can mostly walk without the cane now, if slower than before she injured her leg, and so she left it behind when she went out.

Self-absorbed she may sometimes be, but she has a sense of compassion. And so when she sees the woman under the tree, she pauses a moment, watching her. The piteous little noise she makes is finally enough to coax Amanda to walk over to her.

Up close, the other woman is dirty, covered in scratches, but Amanda is a doctor and that hardly fazes her. ]

Hey. [ She touches Zinc's shoulder, very lightly so as not to startle her too much. ] Are you all right?

[jemerite]

[She flinches initially, but the woman does not sound nor smell familiar, and Zinc looks up at her with her bruised and dirty face. This woman does not know her, will not hate her.

She shakes her head. No. She is not all right, she is alone, she has gotten herself into trouble, and she is ugly. These bruises will not heal on their own, she needs Barbet to make it right again.]

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

[ If Amanda knew what she'd done, maybe she would have a different opinion, maybe she'd be more cautious. But she doesn't. Carefully, she crouches down next to her, tries on a small smile intended to be reassuring, practiced from years of having to deal with patients.

Her lips press together as she thinks, one hand lifting to push a strand of her own hair behind her ear, and then she decides to start with something relatively easy. ]

I'm Amanda. What's your name?

[jemerite]

[She stays mostly curled up, less out of fear of Amanda and more out of self-pity.]

Zinc. They call me Zinc.

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

It's nice to meet you.

[ Self-pity is a thing Amanda has more than a passing familiarity with herself, though she doesn't yet recognize it in this woman. She's tilting her head slightly to get a better look at the cuts and bruises, instead. ]

Can I do anything to help? I'm a doctor.

[video]

[mnementomori]

[it's such a terrible sound that Xion grips the mirror with both hands, her stomach nearly turning over.]

Z...Zinc? What happened!? You got hurt--...I, I can heal a little bit, I'll come find you--

[she doesn't know that in this case her magic is more likely to harm.]

[video]

[jemerite]

[Zinc doesn't know either 8'| They're in for quiet an adventure.]

Xion.

[She whines miserably, definitely wants all the cuddles.]

[video]

[mnementomori]

Stay--stay still, okay? I mean--unless you're in danger--was it the storm? [she peers frantically at the scene, trying to figure out where Zinc is, then looks around for a cat to lead her.]

[video]

[jemerite]

[She shakes her head in agreement. It was the storm... sort of.]

But... only Barbet can fix it.

[video]

[mnementomori]

Ah...who? Are they here? [She has a feeling the answer is no, but she may as well ask.] Did they do something...special?

video::

[typeright.livejournal.com]

( She stares at the Vine for a long time, not thinking, barely breathing. She's been trying, trying desperately to forget about it, forget the torn flesh of her arm and bruises on the back of her head, dappled down her back.

When she does speak, her voice sounds strange. It's someone else talking, she's certain, the voice sounds wrong and her lips are numb; there's no way she could move them, force the words out even if she wished it. )

Why are you crying?

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[jemerite]

[She whines at Jules's voice, ducking lower down into her knees. If Jules just wants to yell at her, she can go away.]

video::

[typeright.livejournal.com]

( There's no yelling. She's too shaken for it, drawing her knees up and resting her chin on them. A few times she opens her mouth, tries to carve words out of her silence, but there's nothing for clusters of seconds that unravel, stretch out into minutes.

Finally, Jules exhales, breathing shaky and unstable as her fingers dig into her shoulders. ) Why?

( Quiet, face turned away from the mirror. )

video::

[jemerite]

[Zinc hisses in frustration. Why? There's no point in explaining. The people in her own world would never have put her in such a situation, would have shot her in the head long before they accepted her as one of their refugees. She was kept alone for a reason. Barbet didn't even like her to have the company of other docile Reanimates.]

Hunger.