Record: 37

[esoteric_rose]

*this is written furiously, in red ink. Exactly sixteen seconds pass and it is struck out.*

Yes. My power...my creation...I'm an artist, the most natural precious red my paint.

It works.

Flawlessly.

Like the Lady Lilith.

Giving me my second sight.

*the only legible parts are "artist", "flawlessly", "Lilith", and "sight"*

Comments

[ice_echani]

Juliet, what is this?

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

I got a new memory.

[ice_echani]

I see... would you like to speak about it?

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

Yes...when you have the time.

[ice_echani]

Very well. Do you wish to wait until the price of the crystal wears off?

notice the avoidance of the word "crystal"

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

...The price of the memory...I have a feeling it will not wear off until a while from now. It is nothing that will adversely affect me, so whenever.

ohohoho... she doesn't notice that 'cause she fails rhetoric

[ice_echani]

I see. I can see you now, if it is convenient. Where would you like to meet?

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

...The park, if you don't mind.

quicklog

[ice_echani]

I will be there shortly.

[And she heads there, looking around for Juliet.]

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

{Jules is sitting on a bench again, toying with the sleeve of his jacket. It's warm, but he needs to hide the bandages on his arm.

He notices Handmaiden and stands up.}

Handmaiden?

[ice_echani]

[She nods... and does notice that he's fiddling with his sleeve, which is not a habit she's noticed from him.]

Hello, Juliet. What was in your memory?

[Her tone is calm and neutral rather than suspicious, since she is trying to keep close to mind what she said about not judging him.]

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

...Again, there was a woman. She screamed...I was so irritated. Another prostitute...the boy and his butler showed up. There were a lot of breaks...possibly my name. I tried to deny it, but it was obvious. So I gave up my disguise, and showed my real face. Angelina showed up, and then it ended.

The only good thing is that my memories are beginning to fall in line.

{His security depends on his acting. She can't know the price or his real feelings.}

[ice_echani]

[She listens as he talks, still ever observant of body language. He's fidgety, nervous... and there's something else about him. He seems to be shifting, even though he's standing in one spot, and then she realizes that the energy around him is what's changing. She can feel it.]

And what conclusions have you drawn from them?

[Now her tone is more driven. There is more that he's not telling her, she's sure of that. His words start in the middle of a story too... did he know the beginning, or is he hiding it?]

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

{He is completely unaware of the energy shifting, but it is. Violently.}

...I was Angelina's assistant for the murders and her butler. After I killed her...somehow I got beat up within an inch of death, and was then put in the white room in my dream. That's what I believe.

{That's the storyline he sees. He doesn't mention how violent the murder was, how much he enjoyed it...and unconsciously he grips his wrist, trying to watch his words.}

[ice_echani]

[It is doing so quite violently and it's making her edgey as hell. She has definitely got A Bad Feeling About this.]

So you were an assassin for this woman before you killed her.

[Her eyes flick down to his wrist. He is still not being completely open, she can tell. Her next words are blunt and direct; she will have an answer.]

There is more that you are not telling me.

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

Yes...like her memories showed.

{At the question, he jerks. His arm is instantly hidden behind his back.}

...Only how I felt.

[ice_echani]

[...How he felt.

He doesn't want her to know that? That would be a very good basis for the bad feeling, yes. And while she isn't the best at reading words, she can make a guess as to what feelings he wants to hide. Especially remembering what she saw in the elevator.]

You enjoyed the killings.

[Oh hey there more revealing body language.]

What is the matter with your arm?

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

I wasn't trying to enjoy them! It-

{At her question he pales. He's too freaked out to hide it.}

Nothing. Nothing.

[ice_echani]

[Something about this is... familiar. As though something had taken hold of him, caught him up before he could realize it and swept him into the darkness?

But his blatant lie about his arm comes first.]

It is not nothing. Do not lie.

[She steps close and takes hold of his wrist--gently because his arm may be injured--and pulls up his sleeve to see bandages.]

What happened.

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

{...Bloody hell. She has his arm. And she saw.}

An experiment.

...And this was the price for my memory.

[ice_echani]

[She stares at the bandages, thinking. An experiment? Did he do something to a memory crystal? "An experiment" is really not a sufficient answer.]

Juliet, please tell me what happened to your arm.

[She really does want to help him fight off the darkness from his past, but she can't do that if he hides things.]

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

{He wouldn't be so secretive if he didn't feel compelled to be so.

The inner fight shows on his face. He manages to speak.}

My scythe, it works like I saw it do.

It...brought back memories.

{He's afraid that she'll tell, and he'll be locked up again. And take away the scythe...

...why is he suddenly pinged by that?}

[ice_echani]

[...2+2.]

And you used it on yourself?

You are fortunate you did not lose a limb. But... I believe I can understand why you would do so.

[She's not sure what to do about the scythe, really. Using it on himself is a horrible idea in her opinion and she doesn't like the thought of him using it on others. But on the other hand, it's his, and she's sympathetic to that. And she isn't going to betray his confidence either--not until she has reason to do so.]

You said you did not mean to enjoy it. Was it... [She has to pause to figure out how to put it into words.] Was it as though the passion of the moment swept you along, before you could stop it?

[esoteric_rose.livejournal.com]

If there was a way...a reliable way for getting back memories instead of random crystals...I wanted to try. It's healing already. I can bear the pain for truth.

{At her question, he stares.}

...Exactly...

[ice_echani]

It seems a very dangerous way to me. But it is your weapon, and your past. Please be careful with it--and I do not think it would be a good idea to use it on another person.

[...Now if only she could remember what that's called. But she knows what it is, which is more important than the word for it.]

Passion is... dangerous. It sweeps in so easily, with so much power that you lose control. And that is what leads to darkness....

[She's not saying it like a lecture, but as something she both understands and does not understand. She knows that there is passion in her and in the life energy of this place, passion and darkness. But there is more about it, a specific warning that lies out of reach of her mind.

This would be so much better expressed through a fight, but obviously she can't do that with Juliet's arm injured.]