Crashing (Angelique)

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Serrif believed in fate much the same way this woman did. Things just happened and sometimes they were in your favor; and sometimes not. And sometimes events were what you made of them. And he had stuck himself out; now was time to see what this Konti thought. She seemed to be stuck in a little disbelief at first. He looked over and she closed her eyes and seemingly counted to three. Then she opened them again almost stunned to see the reality before her. He looked back out to sea again. Was she going to deny him like Blythe had? Was she going to run from him? He couldn’t be sure about what was going on now. Emotions were surely a strange thing; they weren’t easily calculated nor predicted. He expected her to stand up and just run…just like Blythe had. But instead something far more unexpected happened. She asked him what he was trying to say. In his mind it was obvious. But did she want clarification. He didn’t want to repeat himself…This could go so horribly wrong for him again. Instead he began to shut down as horrible feelings flooded through him again. ‘Serrif…um…It’s getting late.’ He could literally visualize Blythe walking away from him. He could hear those words over and over again in his head as she stood up and walked away. He could feel the loss there. He still hadn’t seen her in some time now. Where had she gone? Was she ok? He ran a hand through his short length hair and took a breath as he gathered himself. She would be able to see how unsure he was. He placed a single finger across his lips ever so slightly as if he was hushing himself. She would be able to see the inner turmoil. He wanted to say something. Something deep and gathered. But he had nothing. He was fighting an inner battle. He wanted her to say anything; like maybe she was interested in him for once instead of him being just interested in her. But no; instead she asked for him to instead clarify what he had said. As if she was stunned by what he had said. She was indeed beautiful; and had caught his eye. But he didn’t know about her. He knew nothing of her. And that was what would really make or break the deal for him. But did she want to know him? Did she need or even want to know what he had been through? He sighed and then slowly removed the finger from his lips closing his eyes and then opening them as he carefully framed the words he wished to say. He had been hurt once before. She could see this by how very careful he was being. He was taking it slow and careful. Yes; he had been forthright in her catching his eye. But when she asked to confirm it was like she had thrown a wrench in his inner workings. “You Lady Angelique have caught my eye and hold my attention.” He admitted as he let that soak in before he then continued. “I…..don’t know what else to say.” He sighed again and looked out to the sea. Seemed he wasn’t any good at this. But he was indeed sincere. That was easy to say. It was like a weight was lifted off of him, but then placed right back on again. She could deny him…and walk away. It was odd for him to just come out and say anything about her. But at the same time he wasn’t lying. She had caught his eye…and why shouldn’t she?

[Angelique]

Her thoughts ran wild through her mind as she waited for him to answer her question. She knew she wanted to know everything about him that he was willing to share by this point, no matter what price she would have to pay later on. Angelique was now starting to believe that fate did have a hand in her coming to the beach, but she hoped it was not some sort of twisted trick. As Serrif finally spoke the answer to her question, she remained sitting there on the shore next to him. Why would she run from someone who did not have to talk to her when she showed up on the beach but did so anyway? The interesting marks on him which she had seen did not frighten her, or anything of the sort.The Konti now tried to search for the words to express her interest in him. She sat and carefully planned how to say what she wanted him to know. As her lips parted so that she could speak, she decided that it would be better to take the chance and know, then spend time wondering what if? “Serrif, please excuse me for saying this.” She started then paused for a moment. How do I tell him? What if he were the one to run? After all she would clearly live so many years after he is gone. She shook her head again for a moment, once again trying to rid the thoughts. “But I want to get to know you. Not just some things, but everything.” As she finished saying what it was she wanted to tell him her gaze shifted back to the ocean. Maybe I should not have said such a thing. She thought while watching the waves once more. She tried to hide the pain which her thoughts were now causing her from being visible upon her face. Sighing softly Angelique tried to change her train of thought to something other than the subject at hand and failed. Everything else she now tried to think of brought her right back to what was going on here and now. The Konti knew that her words were true and hoped that he would be able to tell that they were as well. While sitting there, she now started to feel as though she had possibly crossed a line that she may later regret crossing, but at this moment she was willing to do whatever it took to prove to him that she was telling him exactly how she really felt. All she could do now, was wait for his reaction to her own words.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

His feelings changed some to a slight bit of anxiety when she said she wanted to know him. He pondered just why anyone would want that. His life was by no means glorious or even normal. Every memory he had was something horrific; and dealt with another horrible aspect of life. He had seen things that still haunted him to this day; and he wasn’t even sure what he had done while there. There were so many times he was tortured somewhere and then woke up beaten bruised and dripping in blood that was not his own. He didn’t know everything that happened there; how could he. But it was now that he really started focusing on her. He could see her face contort some; as if she was in mental pain of some sort. He recognized that feeling. It was the same he had when Blythe walked away from him. Was she afraid that he would do the same thing? He didn’t understand her feelings but in all he was still new to this whole having feelings for someone else and them actually showing interest back. He was stunned that she would say such a thing and well he was a little lost as well. He couldn’t find the words to adequately say what he was feeling. “I…” He stopped as he framed the words one by one being careful where his words treaded. “I am not sure you know what you ask Angelique.” He warned as he looked to her and then spoke again. “What I remember of my life is not pleasant by any means. I’ve shocked one seer into near disbelief when she saw what I had endured…” He paused again to carefully construct words, growing more and more anxious by the second. “I don’t wish to do the same to anyone else. But her vision of my past was involuntary. Yours is. What I’ve seen could alter someone geminately. Especially someone who has known only peace and tranquility; not saying you haven’t seen hard times Lady Angelique. But I doubt seriously you have seen, heard or experienced anything like what I could convey to you.” He waited letting the words really sink in. They were a warning, that maybe she might want to think again about what she asked. Truth was he wasn’t sure why anyone would want to know him in depth. Maybe she was showing a real interest in him. It was indeed possible but at the same time to know him was to see what he had endured. And that past was indeed something that only one other really knew of. And he saw the effects it had on Blythe. He didn’t wish for his past to distance him from anyone. But at the same time he wanted someone to just understand what he had been through. It was difficult to explain and even more troublesome to chase away at night. But he wanted someone to know. And maybe just maybe she could be this person. “I tell you this only to warn you. Not to chase you away.” He added as he sighed and looked back out to sea. He was indeed a tortured individual, but he was getting better. Mura had helped the healing; but also opened up other wounds.

[Angelique]

Even with him warning her, she still wanted to know about him.It seemed that he may not be ready to share everything with her yet, and she could understand that. Did it bother her? A little yes, but she tried not to let it show. Maybe he will be more open to tell me such things over time if not now. Her thoughts once again silent as she sat there looking out over the water. How could she prove to him that no matter what he told her, no matter what it was that happened in his past she would still be there? Being a Konti who could see parts of the past in some people, she understood that there were things in people’s pasts that were not so bright and cheerful. Her understanding of this made it possible for her to be prepared for anything that she saw, or even was told by anyone. In some senses it made her a bit unlike most of the other Konti women on the island. How could she explain this to him. She had once seen in a passer by that he had brutally killed someone, but as she had come to know him, she realized that he was on the path of redemption. “Serrif, I know what I ask...” Angelique started to speak once more then paused as she thought of how to phrase what she wanted to say next. “However, I am not like most Konti women. I have come to understand in dealing with many people that there are things from pasts that tend to be dark.” Pausing again she hoped that he would understand her words. “But if you are not ready to share such things with me, I will not push you to do so. Perhaps when you feel ready to tell them to me, you will.” Angelique did not know what else she could possibly tell him, other than what she had just said. All that she could do now was hope that in time he would in fact open up to her, and that he would see that she was willing to wait for him to do so. She continued to look out over the water as a sigh pushed passed her lips. The Konti knew that now, after crossing the line and telling him that she wanted to get to know him better was a line she could not turn back from. She did not want to turn back from it. Why would she? He was the one who had made the first step. But now this left her to wonder where to go from here, as she waited for him to say something.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her; he was just tired of distancing himself from people when he told them what he was. Who he really was inside. He didn’t know where to start, but for him the beginning wasn’t that too far away in time. He didn’t remember much now. From what he had encountered so far not even a seer could see before his time in the slave camp. His past was far from simply not being cheerful and bright. No; he couldn’t even imagine what she would see of his past. Blythe had seen only a few minutes and her outlook on him had changed immediately. It was true he was on the path of redemption. He was trying to gather the pieces of his mind as well as his body; maybe once he had collected all the tiny little pieces he could make a clear decision on what he wanted for himself. But he did know what he didn’t want; slavery. He couldn’t understand it for the life of him how one could own another. How you could treat someone like that and justify it all in your mind. He couldn’t rectify it by any means. He had tried; he had walked every conceivable path in his mind to try and justify it. But every trial he could still come up with nothing that made it right. Not a single reason. He came around and was looking at Angelique as she looked out over the sea. It doubtlessly had the same calming effect on her as it did on him. But he could see her spirits drop. She wanted to know; it was actually almost like she needed to know. He pondered just why that was for right now. She lied to him and seemed to want to make him believe she could wait. But inside she didn’t want to wait at all. He was sure of it. Again he wasn’t sure she knew what she was getting herself into. She sighed, indicating that she was indeed likely frustrated as well as a little hurt. The same way he had felt about Blythe. He told her everything and more and yet she told him nothing at all. Not even a sliver of truth. She was still a mystery; but a mystery that he was tired of trying to solve. He wrote her off; she was going to do what she wanted. That much was completely obvious to him. But this Angelique… She was different she wanted to know; and not after some freak accidental trudge into his past. She wanted to know on his accord. That made things different. She wanted to know what he wanted her to know. Serrif gathered himself. It couldn’t hurt right? How many other people could he possibly distance himself from? He really didn’t have anything to lose right now. He was alone, painfully alone. He still carried the hurt from Blythe and the scars of his past like a mural of human suffering. So he figured he would just do what he thought was his only real option. He would indulge her. “I am a runaway.” He started as he looked back out to the sea not really wanting to see the emotion he was going to cause in her. “I am…” He corrected himself “was a slave.” He sighed a little carefully putting every piece into it’s appropriate place. “I was poisoned on an almost daily basis; then they experimented with antidotes on me. They made things worse far more times than they fixed anything. I believe that has much to do with the fact that I have no recollection of anything before the slave camp. Much like any camp they beat, humiliated and tortured us standard procedure really.” He took a breath and then nodded some as if that was all but then continued. “Three years went by, I remember because of the winters. We were left outside in cages like animals. And it snowed on us at night. That was when there was the most death. I escaped somehow and ended up here by ship. That’s really all I remember at this point.” His eyes ached for some reason. He couldn’t pinpoint why but it was almost like a somewhat throbbing headache. He grimaced some and then centered himself. “Except for specifics about what happened that’s all I remember.”

[Angelique]

She did not really expect him to tell her until he was ready to do so. Which is why when he had started to tell her of his past that he could remember, she seemed more shocked than anything else as she sat listening to him. Her gaze once again moved to Serrif as he spoke."Serrif, I am sorry that you had to go through such a thing. No one should have to go through that.” She paused as her thoughts shifted to what it meant to be a Konti. As she remembered what she had been taught growing up, her facial features seemed to soften slightly.She knew that some Konti women were enslaved just for the purpose of having more of her kind. Angelique had secretly hoped everyday of her life that she would never be one of the ones who went through that, but she knew that if she did not find someone, her chances of becoming someone’s slave grew greater. “I want you to know that you can tell me anything, Serrif. I will never run.” The Konti’s words were once again anything but false. As she spoke to him now, she tried to rid her mind of her thoughts that she may one day end up as a slave for the purpose of breeding.She knew that she was so much more than a machine that was there to make babies. She wanted others to see her that way as well. Sure she would eventually want to have a child, but just not with anyone. Angelique wanted to any child she brought into this world to come about due to love. However, if she never found that one, she would have to deal with what would sooner or later happen. The Konti was not sure how he would take her request of telling her anything, but she hoped that he would understand. Angelique also hoped that Serrif knew that he would never have to go through that again, at least not with her. She thought for a moment trying to find some way to tell him what was running through her mind. “Some of us Konti are enslaved. I have not been yet, nor do I wish to be, however if that is to be my fate, then it is a road I must cross.” Her eyes now seemed distant as she spoke about this matter. She was not expecting anyone to save her from her possible fate, not if they did not see her as anything but what she was possibly meant to be.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

“I’ve heard of such things. Another Konti said her mother was a ‘breeder’ of some kind. How she got to the island and got her child here I’m still not sure. But some things are again just meant to be.” He said stating the little he knew about the possible history Konti had with slavers. “But I also know that some Konti have the powerful ability to see accurately into the future to see what may be. This again could make them valuable advisors that could be enslaved and passed down through generations of leaders I would imagine. But in my time as a slave I never encountered a Konti of any kind. In fact if I had never seen this place myself I would never have thought it existed at all.” His emotion was neutral as he then measured her. She was being sincere with him. Completely honest for the first time he felt accepted completely. He couldn’t know her fears. How she was afraid of being someone else’s slave if she didn’t find love of her own. Was this the fate of Konti women who did not find a lover? He still didn’t know enough of Konti culture to know if this was true or not. But the fact that she could end up as a breeder slave was indeed a possibility. Like a sex slave but only you actually wanted to keep the results. The children could be powerful seers, healers and beyond he was sure. If one had a lifetime to perfect a task he was sure you could likely force a Konti to be an invaluable bodyguard or assassin. Sure that would go against anything that they taught on the Isle. But outside the isle he wasn’t sure what Konti were like. Especially if they were born into slavery. Sometimes life had a way of moving you past wants and hopes. For a minute he could actually see himself with this woman. This Konti women was indeed interesting to him in more than one way. He couldn’t begin to explain the elation he felt in the fact that someone could be interested in him. But for what reason? He couldn’t place a finger on anything really. All his life it was about what someone else wanted from him. It was never about him. He never got anything for nothing; or anything just because he actually deserved it. No, up until the isle everything had been stripped from him. Everything that had meant anything to him in any way whatsoever was stripped from him. Even his humanity had been taken from him nearly completely. He had little almost nothing at all. He didn’t even have hope. He remembered those dark deep nights. There wasn’t a way to even describe them in an honest way. He had not even the briefest of hopes that he could one day be here in the isle. In his mind there was no possible way for him to have a place like this. His wants were numbered; he just at one place in time wanted life to end. He wanted to stop breathing; but that courtesy wasn’t offered to him by any means. No they kept him alive for the function of being a test platform. He was invaluable because he was just so hard to kill. He wouldn’t die his spirit was strong there, he still wasn’t sure why. Maybe fate just has a way of bringing everything together. “I still think one day that I will wake up and this will be some elaborate dream. Something I have constructed in my head to get me away from the pain and agony of the slave camp.” He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “The truth is I am still expecting to wake up and find myself in that same oppressing cage I was always in. I'm afraid this is all a lie. ” He confessed as he then continued. "That you are a lie. That your simply a figment constructed by my head to show me what it would be like if someone actually understood and cared for me. To show me what the possibility of love is actually like" “Or maybe they will find me here. Kill me or take me back either way they would never simply leave me here. And none of you could ever protect me from that fate.” He admitted as he then shook his head and sighed. His entire life it had never been about his wants or desires. Everything he had ever had the inkling of wanting waws taken from him. If he wanted it he had to bleed for it. If he needed it he was likely never to receive it. Necessities were few and almost never present. He remembered the only necessity he got at the camp was a brown blanket, straw floor and loincloth. But that did nothing to protect him from the cold. nights, rain and snow. Nothing at all. Nor did they protect him from the whims of the slavers or their whips.

[Angelique]

“Those things of which you heard about are very true, however I do wish they were not.” Angelique stated as she nodded once. “Unfortunately, I have to agree. Some things are just meant to be.” The Konti was now looking at Serrif and listening to him as he spoke to her. “The Konti who have the ability to see what is in the future are those with more than one mark from the Goddess Avalis. I however can only see the past in people.” She paused for a moment. “But you, I am having problems seeing what was in your past.” Angelique finished and glanced back out to the water for a brief moment, then shifted her gaze back to Serrif. Serrif had her full attention as she continued to listen to him talking. She could still hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks, but now the sound was faint like a soft whisper in her ears. She did not seem to care about the waves now. Her main focus was the male sitting next to her. As he spoke she began to think of a way to prove to him that his being on Mura was not a dream, nor was she. The only way that she could think of accomplishing this, she was afraid would cause her to over step a boundary with the male so she refrained for now and decided that she would just tell him so. “Serrif, you are here in Mura.” The Konti paused once again, she allowed for her icy hues to lock on to his own eyes before she continued. “And I am real.” She stated as she thought of how she wanted to say what was on her mind. “As for those who had enslaved you before, I doubt they would even think to look here. After all the Island is hard to find.” Angelique finished. Her gaze did not move from him as she waited for his response to her words.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

All this swirled around in his head. He didn’t doubt that she was real in one way or another. She was having issues seeing his past. That was to be expected because even in his mind everything was all messed up and jumbled around. There was really no concept of time or when the events even happened. Just that they did. The amount of drugs, poisons and makeshift antidotes they pushed into his system messed him up permanently he feared. The more the thought on it the more he was sure he was going to be messed up for the rest of his life. This sickness he was going to carry it with him forever. He smiled as she explained he was here in Mura, and that she was real. “Oh we could have a discussion for hours on what is real and what is not.” He shook his head slightly. He remembered all those nights in his cage. The nights after he was heavily drugged. Reality slipped and he formed all kinds of figments of reality in his mind. But none quite this vivid. He remembered thinking he was a king of some strange island somewhere. Thousands of acres his and yet he wasn’t happy because he had no queen. This imaginary travel lasted days and when he woke he was right back in his cage again. “I wish I could explain this to you, but when you have seen and been through what I have it is hard to tell what is and isn’t real anymore. When you mind has been tricked again and again and been allowed to form it’s own world time and time again you just never know…until you wake up.” He said as he shrugged. “But if this isn’t real it sure is elaborate isn’t it?” He stated with a slight smile as he then figured he would address her not being able to see into his past. “Sometimes there is a better way to see the past Angelique. Maybe your senses are confused, too much input. You need to shut one off.” He stood and then offered a hand up. “Eyes closed.” She stood in front of him only inches away. She could smell the ocean on him. He did indeed live here full time. Whatever he decided to do now was her prerogative.

[Angelique]

At Serrif’s request she closed her eyes. Normally when someone would ask her to close her eyes she would feel some what afraid of what would happen, but for some reason she felt safe around him. Angelique wondered what he was going to do or even where he might be taking her if that was even the case. A smile crept onto her lips once again as she stood before him now with her eyes closed, waiting for what was to happen. She now started to wonder if maybe he was not planning on taking her any where, but maybe he was planning on making the first move. Ah. The first move she thought. The one that she contemplated making but was afraid to do so due to thinking she would over step some invisible line that may turn him away. “Now that my eyes are closed, what do you have planned, Serrif?” That was the only thing that the Konti could think to ask as she stood there waiting. Her thoughts began to run wild through her mind once again, like they had so many times before.“If this is a dream, I would have to agree that it is rather elaborate.” She finally stated.