Completed Collapse of a Web

[Cassidee Junipher]

Symenos|Common|Thoughts|

3rd of Fall 514, Junipher Web House, Near Dawn.

“Cassidee” A single simple word pierced through silk veil that shielded Cassidee from the rest of the web. It carried enough force to shake the girl from her sleep. Squeezing her eyes shut, she attempted to banish the word from her domain, and return to the realm of sleep. A futile effort since the silk wall had already been breached. “Cassidee Junipher” Two words swooped through like invaders intent to bar any return kingdom of dreams.

Reluctantly, eyelids slowly rose like the portcullises of some ancient castle. Eyes as golden as the approaching dawn reluctantly embraced the coming day. Capillaries swollen red with blood decorated the eyes’ white dress as if lace or spiders thin web. Around each eye billowed a cape of deep shadows granting them prominence over the surrounding pale gray skin. Slowly the eyes turned their attention to the breached green wall that now glowed from the light of an opalgloom.

“Can you be helped?” The battle was joined as the girl’s words thoughtlessly raced out to avenge the lost kingdom. Their edges where sharpened by anger and tempered by annoyance. After enduring three endless nights of shrieking, she was none to eager to cut another night short. They carried enough force to reach the ears of the person calling out to her but not enough spread throughout the entire house.

Without a doubt Cassidee’s words struck a nerve, a sensitive nerve on an already perturbed monster. “Yes, and we are going to talk about it now” A loud return volley echoed throughout the small stalactite and indiscriminately invading every niche. Now the whole web had been drawn into the battle. It however did not occur to Cassidee’s that this fight might now be listened into. Biting her tongue, she fought back the words that threatened to spill out like angry hornets. Her hands tightened into balls as she kept any stray word from escaping.

Her sharpened nails pricked into her skin, but the pain redirected her anger and slowly still her words. A silence fall between them. An uneasy and nervous silence. The type of silence that comes between two fighters as each is sizing the other up. “If that is your desire Sasandra-mabda” Cassidee’s word broke the silence with an attempt to back down and cold the rising tempers. However her anger and annoyance ceased this moment to escape and focused their remaining spite into the suffix of her aunt’s name. Such a simple thing changed the statement from one of respect to one of mockery.

[Cassidee Junipher]

NPC|Symenos|Common|Thoughts|

Like an arrow loosed, the words slipped forth and all that was left was to wait for the aftermath. Cassidee’s gut fluttered like a nest of silk moths had been disturbed and her anger faded to a smoldering ember in the back of a hearth. A small trembled shook her hands as she wiped the hair form her eyes. Gulping, nervously a thought passed through her mind. Should not have said that…I should not have said that. A myriad of apologies passed through her head, but none of them made it through her tightening throat.

The first sounds that reached her was the steady tapping. Tap….Tap….Tap….Tap….Tap. Each sound caused Cassidee to wince. Tap…Tap..Tap..tap. The tempo began to increases as if counting down to something. Her hands shook worse, as she fiddled with her hair more. Precious oxygen, like her words caught in her throat. Taptaptaptap. The tapping began to reach its crescendo. Cassidee’s tongue tripped and tangled up itself as she tried to form some kind of apology. Suddenly the tapping stopped. Not pleasantly, but with an eerie foreboding silence right before a disaster

“I see I am dealing with a child, and here I thought my niece was a grown woman.” Each word was coated with a venom as potent as any produced by a Symenestra. Behind the venom lurked a dangerous anger of one very close the edge of rage. Cassidee felt a burning in her chest, but air just would not pass through her throat. Her heart pounded in her ears making it hard to understand the words. “Setting that to the side. You behaving like a child makes it all the easier. One does not have to ask a child to do anything, just simply tell them.” The next words seemed oddly calm, devoid of the pervious venom or anger. "Cassidee, prepare your things. You are going on a harvest.

All thoughts on Cassidee’s mind stilled. The words flowed over her like a bucket of water or perhaps oil. Every word she could have said drown in that command. It was as if her stomach had suddenly opened up in a bottomless pit. Then the oil touched the smoldering ember of anger and resentment. An inferno of rage burst forth from her burning away any thought of apology or compliance. “NO” the words resounded through the house as if spoke by a giant. These words did not sound angry, not they were beyond that. They were rage incarnate, burning away anything that dared stand against them.

“NO, and a thousand timed no.” Cassidee felt the words flow form her body propelling it into action. Without knowing how or why she had left her niche to stand before her aunt. Every muscle in her body tenses, and mismatch strands of hair flittered in front of her eyes. She towered over her short aunt even hunched over. “It matters not what tricks you try to play, nor what state of exhaustion you catch me in. I shall not partake in a harvest.”

[Cassidee Junipher]

NPC|Symenos|Common|Thoughts|

“I will give you the benefit of the doubt” The words rose like those of a rabble-rose. They were A burning torch thrown into a bakery. Her bare feet flex and pressed down against the stone as if waiting for the explosion “I will assume that your memory is failing in your old age, as such do not recall having ask me this before. Therefore I shall elucidate to you the reasons why You not want me to perform a harvest.“ Pausing she took a deep breath, but her eyes remained firmly place on her aunt. The golden iris twinkled in the dim light of the opalgloom like the first two lanterns of a gathering mob. Their intensity threatened to erupt anew and thus caused Cassidee’s aunt to hold her tongue.

“The first and most obvious reason you do not want me to become a harvester is sometime you well know as you have criticized me for it at every given chance.” Cassidee straighten her body and flipped her hair out of her face. A pointless effort as the strands fell back immediately. Even behind the veil of hair she could see her aunt cringe. One side of her air fell consistently below her cheeks while the other ended just below her eye socket. Consistently could only serve to describe her hair ironically. it looked as though someone had cut her hair with a jagged knife. One strand would almost touch her chin while a neighboring strand would only fall at half that length. “You prattle on about my hair, my skin, and callouses on my hands. None of this would magically change when I leave.”

“The next reason is beyond my general appearance, though you have also commented about it endlessly.” Such pointed words still egged on a fight yet did not contain the same senseless malice as with the pervious statement. THUD. Suddenly she let herself fall to the ground with an audible crash. Crossing her legs she sat there and stared back up at her aunt. The shock of her sudden action brought silence again. Putting her hands on her knees, she learned forward.

The anger in her began to burn with less intensity. A cold, bitter spear generated from the truth of what she was about to say pierced the armor granted by rage and she felt her lips tighten. Silence feel again as Cassidee tried to force the words out of her mouth. A silence thick with anticipation. With another breath she was able to free them. “I do not endear myself to others well. I think this should be painfully clear in our relationship. However you are purposing I go forth on a quest that relies heavily on such a skill. That is a foolish and meaningless effort.”

Cassidee paused for a longer period now letting the words sink in and take root. Why would you trust me as a harvester? The thought burned through the anger, and planting seeds of doubt. This pause long enough for such thoughts to begin to bloom. With the anger fading, she felt confusion beginning to take its place. They want me gone. The answer bloomed with from the seeds of doubt into full blown suspicion. Almost her own surprise, she did not feel anger. I want me gone too. The thought brought a coldness with it that stilled her anger.

“The last thing if perhaps the most important.” Cassidee’s words no longer held the same edge, but rather almost had a bitterness to them. “Even setting aside all the other things that I have just said. The idea of going on a harvest runs counter to everything I believe in and I have no desire to cultivate the skills needed for a successful harvest.” These words where followed by a lopsided apologetic smile. “So I would like it if we could put this whole thing behind us and you can tell me what you really want.”

[Cassidee Junipher]

NPC|Symenos|Common|Thoughts|

Returning her smile to a neutral but stern position, Cassidee watched her aunts face. Her stern look turn upward into a faint smile at the look and color of her Aunt’s face changed. At first her aunt’s jaw opened slightly and normal grey skin paled further. Slowly that pale grey brightened into a burning red and her mouth opened wider gasping at words that where not coming out. A small snicker escaped Cassidee’s lips. Why is this funny? She wondered confused where her own anger or fear had gone. Her attention left her aunt, as she focused on this odd feeling of inevitability and apathy that had replaced all of her worry.

Thunder crashed through Cassidee’s ears. A burning pain rose on the side of her face, followed by warm trickles tracing their way down her face. A bright light blinded her vision for a few ticks before fading back toward normal. The first things, she saw was the raised hand of her aunt and the second was knifes she glared at Cassidee. Each of the woman’s breaths echoed in in Cassidee’s ears as if she where breathing directly into them. Feeling her own fist tighten, she fought to control herself. Stop it The rational part of her mind screamed at the raising hand.

A blow with so little experience behind it was easily caught by the other woman. With strength that Cassidee could not hope of resisting, her aunt twisted her arm behind her back. Pain exploded in her arm overriding any from her face. Whimpering, Cassidee vainly clenched her eyes tight against the pain. She was sure her arm was going to break. Digging her heels in, she tried to keep her aunt from pushed her forward, but only earned another twist and another eruption of pain. Giving into the pain, she stumbled forward till her arm was released. Another push sent caused her to stagger forward till her stomach collided with something solid.

Tears clouded her vision, but she could feel the change in the air. The small breezes present in the main cavern but not in the house. Slowly, the city of Kalinora became clear in her vision. Her hand ran over the guard rail pushing into her stomach. It dawned on her that she was one step away from having fallen to her death. A small chuckled left her mouth before she recovered enough to turn around. “You could be less blatant about killing me.” She accused an empty door way.

With a thud, a backpack landed at her feet. “Don’t come back without a surrogate.” The stern but now emotionless voice of her aunt demanded. Looking down at the bag Cassidee just stood there. It lingered on the bag for half a mark. Looking back up, she opened her mouth to protest but the door slammed in her face. Hesitantly she reached out for the bag. Her fingers lingered around its silk straps. Picking it up, she turned slowly to the roped leading away from her home. In a daze, she climbed away from the place she had called home all her life.

[Neologism]

XP:

• Rhetoric: +2 xp
• Brawling: +1 xp

Lore:

• You will never participate in the Harvest
• Aunt: Passionately hates you
• Your web wants you gone

Injury:You may need to pay a visit to the Place of Purging for you injuries. Due the the frailty of a Symenestra, your injuries are more pronounced than that of a human. You should have significant bruising on your face for about ten or so days before it starts to subside. Your muscles are not as frail as your bones, and skin, however a twist like that on your shoulder will make you sore for a few days. You also left a few injuries on your aunt, but I don't think those are entirely relevant.

Notes: Thsi was beautiful. I enjoy your writing and I think you gave a wonderful snippet of a (dysfunctional) Sym family. It was a little violent, but as long as you pay attention to your injuries, it was perfect! Don't forget to edit your post in the request forum as 'Graded'.