queenofheartsrp | ００１ ☠ video/action;

Entry tags:

zinc | jemerite

００１ ☠ video/action;

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.]

[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?

[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.

What were they like, this someone? [If she can learn a little more about the Queen and those who work with her, she might know better how to deal with her.]

I have heard of it. The prison where they confine those who disobey. I wonder--how long did it take for them to take you away? [If there's a delay, that is of interest to her. She can accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time. Not that she's planning anything in particular.] Ridiculous to bring you there when you weren't even to blame.

She came, as soon as the storm calmed.

[Which had not been long. Perhaps if Zinc could have remained calm a little longer, no one would have been hurt at all.]

byhersword had a sword. [She shakes her head unhappily.] But I was calm, no one died. No one turned.

[It wasn't her fault. She whimpers in the back of her throat.]

Interesting. A matter of hours, perhaps? [Kuja doesn't think she'd try a direct attack, but it's something to consider. She doesn't fear weapons, but she's sure there's more to this servant than that.] Yes, you hardly caused any harm--I can see it all clearly. [Kuja says this as if she was actually there.]

Perhaps you shouldn't stay with these humans, if they can't understand you.

[Another keening little sound, the only outlet for her unhappiness that she has.]

They won't want me.

[Kuja will keep her, won't she?]

[It's easy enough to guess what Zidane would do in this situation. Zidane would help. She can't say why she even bothers thinking about him--so maddening--but he did help her, after everything she did.

It wouldn't be the first monster she'd taken in, oh no. Monsters can be useful, and Zinc makes such pretty pictures from the soil. She wants more of those. But she doesn't offer, yet.]

Then where will you go?

[She tucks her chin down against her chest, afraid to ask and so she gives a little shrug.]

...away from them.

Then you may come with me, if you are quiet and well behaved.

Did I not say I would care for you?

I can be.

[She promises this eagerly. She doesn't want to be left behind for Gabrielle to shoot her ;~; ]

Very quiet.

[Shooting someone under Kuja's protection could lead to far worse consequences than anything Zinc is capable of.]

That's good to hear. Or not hear, as the case may be. I do take in lost little birds, if their feathers please me. [She thinks idly of the princess, though Zinc isn't much like her.] Shall I bring you home with me?

I reside alone. There are the children living nearby, but they're not ordinary children.

[She nods, pushing up to her feet in the awkward splay-legged way she does, staggering upwards. She touches her bruises quietly.]

I'm not pretty, like this. I'm sorry.

[Kuja doesn't offer to help, unsurprisingly.] You're lovely enough in your way. Will you heal, in time? [There are creatures in her own world that are similar, if different in many ways from Zinc. Healing magic injures them, so she doesn't attempt that, but she isn't sure of the details of Zinc's condition.]

[She shakes her head.]

No. Barbet would... fix it. [He would scold her, ferociously, while he did it and he wouldn't forgive her for being so careless for days. She lifts her hands, to make the motions of an injection.] With the vaccine, in small amounts.

Vaccine. [Kuja doesn't know what that is, but she doesn't mention that.] Can you not use the soil to make some? You can't be expected to continue in such a state.

[She gives Kuja a curious look.]

I don't know. I wasn't... an immunologist.

[She could make the paintings because she knew them, perfectly. Or so she thought. She didn't know anything about the vaccine besides what it did and could be used for.]

I could try.

[However, as if summoned, because it kind of was, a snake slithers between them, dragging a little pouch behind it.]

[Kuja also has no idea what an immunologist is, but she accepts this without comment as well.]

One can make so many things here--

[She breaks off when she sees the snake, addressing it pleasantly. The animals here are intelligent enough for her to converse with easily, like her dragons back home.]

Good day. You're a beautiful creature. What brings you here? [She reaches down to stroke its lovely serpentine head as she listens to its reply, then glances at Zinc.] Its burden is for your use, apparently.

[She had read in Jessica's pamphlets about the snakes, and she accepts the little satchel as it is passed on, opening it to look inside.]

The antigen.

[She pulls out one of the syringes for Kuja to see. She looks at the snake curiously. She normally wouldn't do such a thing, but... with Kuja talking to it so casually, it's odd for Zinc not to say anything to the snake,]

Thank you.

Precisely what you wanted. The Queen can be accommodating sometimes, can she not? [Kuja says this with a trace of irony, no friend of the Queen's.]

These creatures are rather closemouthed and sly. I have the distinct impression they know something they're not telling us. [Yet she smiles down at the snake.] However, she's charming, so I can't fault her too much. [Kuja is fond of reptiles.] She appreciates your fine manners.

[Zinc gives the witch a conflicted look, sullen in the face of any mention of the Queen, but incredibly pleased to be considered mannered. She hadn't been well mannered, at all, when she had been alive, but it was something she had taken to in death, it was a matter of assurances. Pleases and thank yous were always used where food was involved, because she did not wish to be deprived of it.

And now she wishes to be assured of Kuja's good graces. If that means saying thank you to snakes, she's quite willing.]

Snakes? Do they have snakes, where you came from?

Yes, we do have serpents. We have beasts of many kinds, some quite clever and easy to talk to, and others less so. I've noticed that most of the people here come from worlds where humans are the only civilized race. That is far from the case in the world I am from.

[She eyes the vaccine, interested.] Will you take it now?

[Oh man, she gives Kuja a horrified look and shakes her head.]

All of it... will kill me.

[If she took a full dose of the vaccine, it could easily fight back the infection, return her to a human state. She had been a Reanimate for months, all her major organs were mainly unused in that time, left to do nothing but atrophy. She had been shot in the head besides. Her brain would do nothing if the virus stopped powering it.]

Barbet...

[She takes out one of the syringes to show Kuja. She can't do it herself, trying to control the delicate thing would end up with it broken in her fingers, or stabbed in her eye.]

Does little pricks.

Too much medicine may become poison, yes. [She smiles.]

You'd like me to do this, I take it? My knowledge of human anatomy is extensive enough.

[She would like it, if Kuja did it. She trusts the witch, but she didn't want to assume, no. That wasn't polite.]

It's messy.

[She admits that up front.]

It bleeds, with each.

[She knows, she had helped Barbet with the others, when she was alive. She would sit and wipe up the blood in between injections. Barbet would fuss at her if she wasn't quick enough, because she was holding up his delicate work.]

００１ ☠ video/action;

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]

[action]