Solo Refracted Reflections

[Asterope]

23rd/Autumn/517

Aster almost missed the run-down looking building. It was late afternoon, almost evening, the sun slowly edging towards the horizon, the stars not just yet visible in the sky. She'd gone searching for Navi; on those days she ventured out on her own, the dog usually found her way back to the Cubacious Inn sometime during the night, Aster usually still awake to hear her paw at the door and to let her in. But last night had come and gone without sight of the mutt, and when she hadn't ventured back to their temporary home during the day, Aster had begun to worry slightly.

Intent on the task at hand, she only caught the building out of the corner of her eye as she strode past. Curiosity slowed her step, and she swayed for a moment on the street as an internal debate raged in her before turning to go investigate. While some of the buildings in Alvadas were old and in disrepair, almost all of them were clearly lived in or used. The ones that weren't tended to group together, so the clearly abandoned building was out of place.

Asterope approached, brow furrowing slightly as she read the sign affixed to the door. Do Not Enter. What is that supposed to mean?, she wondered, eyeing the door. A wary curiousness rose in her; was this just one of the city's illusions, and she'd enter the door to find herself in some poor stranger's home? Or worse, she'd fall into a pit, or perhaps the building was really housing a pack of ravenous wolves. Then again, curiosity was as often rewarded as it was punished in this city. Perhaps past the door she'd stumble upon a bush filled with rare herbs, or maybe she would find Navi waiting patiently for her.

In the end, despite her caution, Aster couldn't help herself. She pushed open the door gingerly, the wood creaking, and peered inside. A long, dim hallway was behind the door, a full-length mirror standing at the end. Seeing nothing alarming, Aster tentatively took a step inside, holding her breath, and when nothing happened she allowed her fingers to slip off of the knob, the door swinging shut.

Instead of being plunged into darkness, Aster found the hallway suddenly brightened with some unknown, unseen light source, revealing that the walls were also lined with mirrors, not a single gap between them. Her own startled face stared back at her from all directions. Peeking back over her shoulder, she found the front door had been replaced with yet another mirror. The muted light of the hall bounced off the gilded surface of her horns, casting spots of golden light across the mirrors, reflections dancing off of each other, creating a dizzying number of bright, glittering spots.

Aster moved forward, the lights jumping with her movements, and let out a small 'oof' of surprise when she hit a cool surface. Taking a step back, she frowned at her reflection, her dissatisfied expression looking back at herself; the mirror had seemed so much further than that. Outstretching one of her hands, fingers extended cautiously, Aster trailed the tips of her fingers over the glass surface until she met thin air, and began to move in measured steps in that direction.

While perhaps a slight annoyance, especially given the reason for her outing, a sense of amusement was washing out any of the previous concern or worry she had felt. A maze of mirrors seemed like a fun little distraction, probably meant more for children, but there was no reason she couldn't enjoy herself. Getting annoyed would hardly help her, in any case.

Watching her reflections move around her coupled with the spinning, dancing spots of light made her feel almost dizzy as she maneuvered the mirrors, her footsteps echoing in all directions, forcing Aster to rely almost entirely on touch. More than once she found herself in a dead end, all ways forward surrounded by mirrors, and had to backtrack, hoping she wasn't taking the exact same route she'd just come down. There was no way to tell where she had already been, especially with the front entrance having completely disappeared.

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

[Asterope]

Aster wasn't sure for how long she attempted to navigate the walls of mirrors when her ears suddenly picked up something different about the sounds echoing around her. Her footsteps seemed louder than before, and had a strange, overlapping quality to them. Aster stopped moving, arm still outstretched before her, which was beginning to tire slightly from being held aloft without break.

The sound of echoing footsteps, albeit much fainter, continued.

Suddenly the atmosphere seemed much less amusing and much more foreboding, but Aster tried to shake it off. Someone had probably just entered the building as well, and she was hearing them closer to the entrance; though if that was true, it begged the question of how long she really had been wandering the mirrored halls.

"Hello?" Aster called out, tentatively. Her voice echoed back at her from all sides, almost mockingly; hello, hello, hello. The sound of the footsteps stopped, and a chill ran down her spine, raising goosebumps on her flesh. If there was another person in there, why wouldn't they answer her?

Aster waited, muscles frozen, with baited breath for the footsteps to resume, but they didn't. Perhaps it was just the mirrors playing tricks on her, then. A maze of them was bound to be full of the city's illusions, to tease and taunt visitors.

Swallowing hard, Aster began to walk again. This time, only silence greeted her. Her footsteps made no sound, and her quiet breathing and the faint whisper of her dress over her skin seemed deafeningly loud in the thick, muted air.

It's just an illusion, she told herself firmly, the sudden hush unnerving and spiking her anxiety. She had to bodily resist the urge to peek over her shoulder and at the mirrors in the corner of her eyes every few moments, as if someone was lurking behind her just out of her sight. It certainly felt as if she was being watched, but where was there to hide in a house of mirrors?

Her blood ran cold, however, when she saw something move sharply in the mirror to her right, just out of her peripheral vision, too fast to have been her own reflection. Her mouth felt dry suddenly, and she clenched one of her hands into a fist tightly, her knuckles turning white, dropping her other arm to her side. Inhaling deeply, she gathered her courage and spun around.

Only her reflections greeted her, all as equally pale-faced and wide-eyed as she was. Her eyes darted around, and suddenly her fear dissolved into feeling foolish. "Illusions," she reminded herself out loud, breathily; though none she had encountered in the city so far had seemed so eerie or been cause for such fear. So wrapped up in calming herself, she missed the fact that the reflection directly in front of her did not open its mouth as she spoke.

"Illusions," her voice bounced back to her several moments too late, sounding distorted and muffled, and Aster stared in shock at the reflection in front of her as it opened its mouth and spoke as she had done mere seconds ago.

The fear returned swiftly, gripping her throat in cold, vice-like claws, rendering her mute as she looked on in horrified awe. The reflection tilted its head, looking back at her. It was identical to all of the other ones and to Aster herself, auburn hair hanging in loose waves, golden horns curling about her head like a glass crown. But there was something off about it, too. Her full, soft mouth was pursed, and her amber eyes were narrowed with a malevolent gleam that had never been present in Aster's own eyes. It chilled Asterope, and her heart pounded in her chest, blood rushing in her ears as she stared unblinkingly.

The reflection raised its arm suddenly, hand splayed, an echo of how Aster had been navigating. The Eth's muscles were frozen, paralyzed in fear, and she let out all of her breath at once, gasping in relief when the reflection's hand stopped suddenly, blocked by the mirror. She had been, for a very real moment, terrified that the reflection would reach out past the mirror and grab her.

The reflection's face twisted into a grimace of rage, morphing Aster's features into something demented and ugly, and a sudden unearthly howl pierced through the silence, ringing in Aster's ears. She cried out, her voice lost in the screech, and clamped her hands over her ears. The mirror in front of her trembled, then rattled, then suddenly shattered, shards exploding outwards, barely giving Aster enough time to flinch away.

Silence descended once again. Aster straightened up after a long moment, slowly, cautiously, wincing slightly. A few of the glass shards had nicked her arms, so forcefully had they exploded outwards. She felt something wet running down her cheek, and raised a hand hesitantly, her fingers coming away red with blood when she touched her face. Glancing into one of the mirrors, she saw a long but narrow slice that followed her cheekbone neatly, beads of blood slowly rolling down her cheek.

Pressing her hand back to the cut, she focused for a moment. Her fingertips and cheek tingled, glowing for a brief moment, and when she dropped her hand the cut had scabbed over, as if she had given it a day's worth of healing time. The cuts on her arm could be dealt with later; they seemed less severe, blood welling but not quite dripping.

Inhaling shakily, Aster swayed for a moment. She was tempted to sit down, but the crunch of glass beneath her feet reminded her that wasn't the best idea. She'd never been subjected to such malicious illusions before, and she wanted to leave the house of mirrors right then and there. Of course, she had to find the exit first.

She glanced down to the pieces of shattered glass strewn about her feet, scrambled reflections staring back at her, and on a whim bent to pick one up between her fingers, mindful of its sharp edges. It was about palm-sized, if slightly smaller, shining innocent and harmless in her fingers. After a moment of hesitation, Aster pocketed the shard before turning her back on the wooden panel that had once held a mirror, ready to move one.

Wary of her reflections now, her eyes darting around restlessly, she flexed her fingers as she took the first few steps nervously, as if waiting for something else to jump out at her. The acoustics of the building seemed to have returned to normal, and it gave Aster a much needed burst of determination to find the exit and get out.

She couldn't help but glance back over her shoulder as she began to walk away on still faintly trembling legs; despite the glass shards on the floor as proof of the mirror shattering, and the weight of one in her pocket, another mirror was sitting in the panel that had been empty mere moments ago, as if nothing had ever happened. Something seemed...not right, however, and after a moment Aster realized that the new mirror held no reflections in its surface. Turning away quickly, Aster stuck her arm out and walked as fast as she dared, taking the first turn she could in order to put that particular mirror as far behind her as possible.

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

[Asterope]

The more she walked without incident, the more Aster found the tenseness in her shoulders receding and her posture relaxing, her nervousness slowly ebbing away. Any amusement the house of mirrors had once held had disappeared, but she was no longer as afraid as she had been. Every so often, her hand drifted to the pocket of her dress, brushing over the shard of mirror to make sure it was still there, as if to reassure herself that what she'd seen had truly happened.

She rounded another corner, and was greeted with a reflection that threw her slightly off balance. In front of her stood herself, but in a different form. Aster's mortal form stared back at herself, hazel-green eyes wide. That's not right, Aster thought, with a small frown, echoed by the pale, freckled figure in the mirror that was her but not quite.

It had been evening when she entered the building, but she would have felt herself shift forms, would have noticed the faint and brief glow. Now that she peered closer at the reflection, she realized it wasn't eye-level with her, either. Just another trick. To reassure herself, Aster moved a hand up to her head, and her fingers found the curl of her horns; she wrapped them tightly around the smooth, faintly warm surface, grounding herself in reality.

After a moment she kept walking, but the pale face of her mortal seeming followed her. Laughter echoed somewhere in the depths of the mirrored halls, barely audible; laughing at her, surely, and her increasing distress at seeing her mundane self in every mirror. Aster's hand kept flying up to press her fingers against her horns, a constant reminder that temporarily soothed her.

A few turns later, Asterope found herself in a dead end. The tittering laughter returned, still faint, so distant she could have simply been imagining it. She knew she wasn't. All at once she felt the fear and stress returning, tensing her shoulders, frustration building in the pit of her stomach. Her hand gripped one of her horns tightly, knuckles going white. "Leave me alone," she snapped out at the open air, her voice vicious and desperate as her nails scratched over the smooth, polished surface of her horn.

Her outburst only seemed to fuel the laughter. Aster dropped into a crouch, tucking her head between her knees, never letting go of her horn as she hid from the reflections. Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced in a deep breath, holding it for a moment before exhaling roughly. You haven't changed, and even if you have, the sun will rise again, she repeated her mantra to herself.

"Pathetic," a voice whispered out, cutting through her thoughts, jarring Aster into opening her eyes. She lifted her head, peering at the reflections crouched around her. They all looked the same, nothing so unsettling about them that it would spark such an intense fear in her again, yet they still seemed off.

"Abandoned," the same voice sighed, false sadness in it. "Dropped like nothing and left behind by the one you love most." Syna. "Forgotten by the one who took you in." Nara. "You'll never be what you once were." The voice hissed, malice overrunning its mocking, and Aster realized belatedly that it sounded like her own.

"That's not true," she whispered, her grip loosening, hand dropping to her side. More laughter.

"Isn't it?" More mockery as the voice, her voice, slid over her skin, twisting into her mind with insidious little laughs.

"It's not," Aster insisted, weakly.

"You know it is, A̶̡͜͜s̵͟t҉̶͞é̢r̴҉̴͡ơ̸͟҉̴p̸̧e͘͡͝." " The voice spoke her name. Her true name, the one that couldn't be spoken, the one she could only think to herself at night when her body felt too tight. She froze in place, a million thoughts racing through her mind. That's not possible, was the fiercest, but it was quickly buried beneath grief.

She didn't stop to consider that it was truly impossible, that the illusions were forcing her mind to hear what they wanted her to; or perhaps she simply couldn't, because hearing the impossible syllables in her head made her heart feel as if it was rending in two. Tears dripped from her eyes, sliding down her cheeks and landing heavily on the floor beneath her. She felt overwhelmed with grief and loneliness. Despair settled over her like a crushing weight, and beneath it all sparked furious anger. She pressed her hands to her face, choking on a sob. They were right.

Word Count: 752

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

[Asterope]

Aster crouched on the floor, head tucked down between her knees and her shoulders hunched, hands pressed against her face as she sobbed brokenly. The frustration and grief, the anger and loneliness, confusion and despair; the blend of emotions expanded in her chest until she felt as if she couldn't breathe and her ribs would burst from the pressure of it all.

Dark thoughts began to creep in, gnawing traitorously at her mind; what if she wasn't good enough to be one of Syna's chosen? What if she had only been a nuisance to Nara? Why had they deserted her?

It wasn't fair, they were wrong, they had betrayed her.

Aster grit her teeth hard, parting her fingers slightly, and caught a reflection out of the corner of her tear-filled eyes. It was her; completely and truly her, as she was now, broken and hurt and angry. Red hair spilled down over her shoulders, golden horns catching the dim light and glinting in the glass. She stared for a long, hard moment, her breathing hitching as her sobs slowly died away. The reflection stared back, eyes red, a thin scab sweeping up along a cheekbone, small cuts still barely oozing blood on her arms.

Something quiet stirred low in her stomach, and she swallowed. The thought that she would need to clean the cuts, shallow as they were, crossed her mind distantly. The feeling in her stomach tightened, intensifying. Because otherwise they might get infected. Nara taught you that. Suddenly, she recognized the feeling for what it was; plain stubbornness, a deepseated refusal and blatant denial of the shadowy thoughts creeping across her mind.

The knowledge to help heal others and herself, the otherworldly beauty that carried itself deep within her...they were remnants of those who she had cared about; and who had surely cared about her as well.

Nara did care about you. She taught you how to help others. Syna too, she let you fall but she gave you gifts to remind you of where you truly belong. The realization hit her abruptly, as if she had been slapped in the face, causing her to blink once. She wasn't hated; she was loved, and she loved in return. The world was harsh and unforgiving and she was lost, trying to find her place and understand why she was there; but it was so beautiful too, so full of vibrancy and people that loved fiercely and did so many amazing things.

Denial welled up inside of her, along with a new sort of anger; anger at the voice that had gone silent for daring to try and convince her otherwise, and at herself also for allowing such a moment of weakness that she believed it. Uncertainty and doubt still hung at the back of her mind, and her chest still ached, but they were feelings that had haunted her since she had fallen. Feelings that had lessened in intensity, slowly and faintly but noticeably; and that's what made their presence alright.

Aster raised her head, standing slowly on unsteady legs. "You're wrong," she spoke fiercely, not quite shouting but almost. Her voice echoed back to her, seeming to get louder before fading away. Around her, her reflections all showed her as she truly was, the illusion of her mortal form having faded.

With that, she broke into a run. It was slow and borderline clumsy at first, as she shoved a hand out, not wanting to bump into any mirrors, but she never made contact with any. Her confidence grew, and she dropped her hand, her feet thumping on the floor as she pushed herself forward, one foot in front of the other, arms moving at her sides.

Suddenly, ahead, there were no more reflections; instead, a wooden door sat unassumingly at the end of the hall. A wordless cry of relief left Aster's lips, and she practically barreled into the door, flinging it open and landing in a heap on the ground outside of the building, in the same spot she had entered. The street was still empty, and above her, the sky was still creeping towards indigo. She knew she had been in there for at least a bell, if not more, but it seemed that no time had passed at all.

Abruptly, a bark sounded to her right. Turning her head, Aster had no warning before she was greeted with a faceful of dog fur. She laughed, breathless, and blinked back a fresh wave of tears as she threw her arms around Navi, burying her face in the dog's thick, soft fur.

She sat there for a long moment, collecting herself. She was still bitterly homesick; she was still lost and confused. There was still a deep hurt in her soul, confusion and anger simmering beneath the surface. But it somehow felt easier, if only a little bit. She existed for a reason, even if she may not know it, and she could help others when they needed it most. She could touch the lives of others with her love and experience it in return; and what had she found so far that had been more lovely than that? She couldn't think of anything.

Content in the knowledge that she wasn't abandoned, though she may be lost, Aster stood slowly. She wiped tears and a few loose strands of dog fur off of her face, inhaling the early evening air deeply. She was nothing if not stubborn; she would keep going, even when her doubts and fears inevitably resurfaced. "Come, Navi," she called the dog quietly, and set off down the street to find her way back to the inn.

Word Count: 944

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!

Asterope

Skills

• Gambling: 1xp
• Investigation: 2xp
• Observation: 3xp
• Meditation: 1xp
• Logic: 2xp
• Running: 1xp

Lores

• Location: House of Broken Mirrors
• Eth horns: a good reality touchstone
• Lore of mental breakdown
• Lore of self-worth

Awards & Retribution
+Piece of mirror from the House of Broken Mirrors

Notes
Still one of my favorite threads from last season! There was lots of character discovery and healing in there, and all in a setting that tickles the part of my brain that's still scared of the dark. What a great read!

If you're wondering, I gave you gambling for that thought process about wether it was worth betting that the door would lead to something worth while, or if the risk was too great.

PM my if you have questions, or if I missed something. Happy new year!