Finished (Once More)
Fifty sentences, one character, blah.
I think this was theme-set epsilon? *Exhaustion.*
#01 - Hood
It's better than nothing, and anything is preferable to that damned veil.
#02 - Buzz
She's not drunk enough, but that doesn't always matter; the mirror ripples toward her and she laughs, throws the bottle in its face.
#03 - Wish
And in that moment, she wants nothing more than to be seen wearing this gown, to be adored wearing this gown, to have the gentlemen making a racket over her.
#04 - Seasons
Oh, winter should suit her--she always wanted it to--but it's only in the heat and dust of high summer that she's warm enough, languid and hot, a little less uncomfortable in her own skin.
#05 - Threat
This, this she's good at, this she's best at; she'll rip every last one of them open and arrange their heads on his wall, and father will smile at her at last.
#06 - Portrait
Why she agreed to pose for this is beyond her, but the little sidewalk artist is dead pale, hands quaking as he reaches for his brush, and she knows this is the power Damocles felt; her smile is genuine.
#07 - Loud
It's not a thing she's had much practice being--seen and not heard, and not seen, if possible--but Baraka tends to bring it out in her.
#08 - Energy
When she gets going, she can run for miles; the ground is nothing under her feet, the suns are blurred daggers and the whole world is her own breath and heartbeat.
#09 - Purge
Now and again there's a little something wrong with her, and on such nights she orders up boiling water and does not wait for it to still before getting in and scrubbing until there's blood.
#10 - Mouse
It's in her hand and in her mouth and down her throat before she can think about it, tail and all; if she were a real lady she would throw up right this minute, but as it is, she's too frightened of the damn things.
#11 - Attic
She's never seen one--there isn't one, at the palace, and the rabble's taste runs to lofts and single stories--but she thinks they must be nice to have, stuffy, sultry nooks filled with dusty air and old trinkets.
#12 - Second-Rate
When the matches on the roster are changed for the evening and she sees her own name next to her sister's, it's like a revelation: no matter how she tries, this is all she will ever be.
#13 - Dash
To her it's a sprint, it's nothing--behind her their breath is heaving and ragged, a chorus of coughing--and she knows first prize is hers again.
#14 - Attitude
When she says, "At once, Sire," there are barbs in it; she hopes he chokes on them.
#15 - Wisdom
She felt sure she must have some by now--she was not afraid of death; she lived to learn things for their own sake, though this she kept to herself as much as she was able.
#16 - Sight
She was confused by most colors--red was piercing, overwhelming, but blue and green registered as mud and charcoal, which did nothing to improve her opinion of her companions.
#17 - Address
If only she could get out of here, leave this blasted palace and its cursed city, go feral somewhere in a cave and achieve divine madness; no one would look for her then.
#18 - Minute
She can track the grains of sand as they fall when she focuses--the bells in the tower above her groan out their idea of the hour, and she loses count.
#19 - Cotton
It's thin, but warm, milled by time and washing into softness beyond description or compare; she'll never get rid of this blanket.
#20 - Claw
This scrimshaw has always fascinated her--ivory with age, even nested inside reversal spells so deep they pull the air from the room--it's bewitching and strange, covered in gallant figures who puzzle her; there were never any dragons on Earth.
#21 - Limit
Just as the arena gates slam down, she remembers that the Shokanni have no honor code, and Kintaro has never liked her.
#22 - Unique
Not in her lifetime, nor in her mother's--not since her great-grandmother's mother was a child, and then it was for bare survival; there are no other halfbloods.
#23 - Gravity
A sea of darkling puddles, moonlight and tiles rush up to greet her--there's a dim commotion far off, behind and above her, and a rush of pain, and then nothing.
#24 - Yesterday
She wants so badly to be young again, for her sister to smile at her unguarded, but hope is worthless; it's always becoming tomorrow.
#25 - Jungle
This is without doubt or question the most vile place in all the Realms; for the first time in her life, Mileena contemplates open rebellion, and then it begins to rain.
#26 - Garden
Her little secret, a brooding patch of lilies that she pampers just to the edge of death by overwatering.
#27 - Question
She blinks in surprise, then jokes about her fangs; they adore humor at her expense, and this way she will never have to answer them.
#28 - Text
Her hands shudder as she slams the volume closed, and all she can think is, So, that's how they did it as her world ends.
#29 - Plastic
It's slick as glass and it stinks like nothing she's ever smelled before; only in Earth Realm would they ever need something like a waterproof tent.
#30 - Block
She knows how to take a punch, and won't be knocked aside now by mere words.
#31 - Escort
He's the very picture of a gentleman as he takes her arm in his with a little bow, and for a moment she feels positively courtly.
#32 - Insult
She laughs right back at them--damn them, anyway, their ignorance, a pox on the lot of them, a blight on their households--and thinks, just after, of leaping off the balcony.
#33 - Blood
A thread of scarlet slips down the inside of her wineglass, sweet as life and thicker than water; here's to family.
#34 - Gold
She's never passed up an errand that brought her more of it, but that glittering weight in her palm keeps its own worth and its own counsel.
#35 - Spot
She's tried everything--paint, powder, knives, irons, even fire--but that freckle remains.
#36 - Melt
There is only heat, only light; she can smell her own flesh cooking against the rocks, but it's faint, a distant second to the pleasure.
#37 - Guilt
Her young Edenian ensign with his shy, twisted smile was never the same after the surgeons took his legs; he begged for her help in the same worshipful tone he had asked to be bitten, and she shut her eyes and held his hand as she pressed the pillow down hard.
#38 - Duel
It will be over in two strokes of the blade, and then she can apologize to the boy's family and go home.
#39 - Stranger
It hits her fast and hard, leaves her cold: they're all staring; she's never been here without him, and she doesn't even know her own Clan-name.
#40 - Wait
She hates those moments between rounds, their staggering scramble, the stench of the arena and the crowd, droning and mindless as the sea.
#42 - Action
"Fight!" he barks, and she wants to laugh; no one ever had to tell her twice.
#43 - Chain
It's such a lovely bauble that she can almost forgive him the whisper of ownership in its design.
#44 - Bitter
Isn't Tanya charming, and isn't Jade adorable, and isn't he dreamy, this mincing moon-eyed poet in her sister's doorway.
#45 - Lock
The bar thunders down and the latch clanks into place; she waits for silence to press down heavy on her ears before allowing the tears to escape.
#46 - Order
Bath, undergarments, uniform, headband, boots, gloves: always the same way, right side first, and that other damned thing is always last.
#47 - Friends
The women cheat at cards and the men cheat at relationships, but there's always wine and rumors for the trading.
#48 - Prison
This is her sister's idea of mercy, of charity, of hospitality; there's been no food and no water since she ate the last guard for trying to rape her.
#49 - Journal
She fully expected to be caught with it one day, but never at four in the morning by their thrice-damned pastry chef.
#50 - Zero
...She cannot think of him as "Sub" without wanting to scratch her name into his back as he kneels.
Desperately tired. Still need committee. Going to the art museum tomorrow. And having a Naruto-and-Batman marathon. FTW, indeed.
I think this was theme-set epsilon? *Exhaustion.*
#01 - Hood
It's better than nothing, and anything is preferable to that damned veil.
#02 - Buzz
She's not drunk enough, but that doesn't always matter; the mirror ripples toward her and she laughs, throws the bottle in its face.
#03 - Wish
And in that moment, she wants nothing more than to be seen wearing this gown, to be adored wearing this gown, to have the gentlemen making a racket over her.
#04 - Seasons
Oh, winter should suit her--she always wanted it to--but it's only in the heat and dust of high summer that she's warm enough, languid and hot, a little less uncomfortable in her own skin.
#05 - Threat
This, this she's good at, this she's best at; she'll rip every last one of them open and arrange their heads on his wall, and father will smile at her at last.
#06 - Portrait
Why she agreed to pose for this is beyond her, but the little sidewalk artist is dead pale, hands quaking as he reaches for his brush, and she knows this is the power Damocles felt; her smile is genuine.
#07 - Loud
It's not a thing she's had much practice being--seen and not heard, and not seen, if possible--but Baraka tends to bring it out in her.
#08 - Energy
When she gets going, she can run for miles; the ground is nothing under her feet, the suns are blurred daggers and the whole world is her own breath and heartbeat.
#09 - Purge
Now and again there's a little something wrong with her, and on such nights she orders up boiling water and does not wait for it to still before getting in and scrubbing until there's blood.
#10 - Mouse
It's in her hand and in her mouth and down her throat before she can think about it, tail and all; if she were a real lady she would throw up right this minute, but as it is, she's too frightened of the damn things.
#11 - Attic
She's never seen one--there isn't one, at the palace, and the rabble's taste runs to lofts and single stories--but she thinks they must be nice to have, stuffy, sultry nooks filled with dusty air and old trinkets.
#12 - Second-Rate
When the matches on the roster are changed for the evening and she sees her own name next to her sister's, it's like a revelation: no matter how she tries, this is all she will ever be.
#13 - Dash
To her it's a sprint, it's nothing--behind her their breath is heaving and ragged, a chorus of coughing--and she knows first prize is hers again.
#14 - Attitude
When she says, "At once, Sire," there are barbs in it; she hopes he chokes on them.
#15 - Wisdom
She felt sure she must have some by now--she was not afraid of death; she lived to learn things for their own sake, though this she kept to herself as much as she was able.
#16 - Sight
She was confused by most colors--red was piercing, overwhelming, but blue and green registered as mud and charcoal, which did nothing to improve her opinion of her companions.
#17 - Address
If only she could get out of here, leave this blasted palace and its cursed city, go feral somewhere in a cave and achieve divine madness; no one would look for her then.
#18 - Minute
She can track the grains of sand as they fall when she focuses--the bells in the tower above her groan out their idea of the hour, and she loses count.
#19 - Cotton
It's thin, but warm, milled by time and washing into softness beyond description or compare; she'll never get rid of this blanket.
#20 - Claw
This scrimshaw has always fascinated her--ivory with age, even nested inside reversal spells so deep they pull the air from the room--it's bewitching and strange, covered in gallant figures who puzzle her; there were never any dragons on Earth.
#21 - Limit
Just as the arena gates slam down, she remembers that the Shokanni have no honor code, and Kintaro has never liked her.
#22 - Unique
Not in her lifetime, nor in her mother's--not since her great-grandmother's mother was a child, and then it was for bare survival; there are no other halfbloods.
#23 - Gravity
A sea of darkling puddles, moonlight and tiles rush up to greet her--there's a dim commotion far off, behind and above her, and a rush of pain, and then nothing.
#24 - Yesterday
She wants so badly to be young again, for her sister to smile at her unguarded, but hope is worthless; it's always becoming tomorrow.
#25 - Jungle
This is without doubt or question the most vile place in all the Realms; for the first time in her life, Mileena contemplates open rebellion, and then it begins to rain.
#26 - Garden
Her little secret, a brooding patch of lilies that she pampers just to the edge of death by overwatering.
#27 - Question
She blinks in surprise, then jokes about her fangs; they adore humor at her expense, and this way she will never have to answer them.
#28 - Text
Her hands shudder as she slams the volume closed, and all she can think is, So, that's how they did it as her world ends.
#29 - Plastic
It's slick as glass and it stinks like nothing she's ever smelled before; only in Earth Realm would they ever need something like a waterproof tent.
#30 - Block
She knows how to take a punch, and won't be knocked aside now by mere words.
#31 - Escort
He's the very picture of a gentleman as he takes her arm in his with a little bow, and for a moment she feels positively courtly.
#32 - Insult
She laughs right back at them--damn them, anyway, their ignorance, a pox on the lot of them, a blight on their households--and thinks, just after, of leaping off the balcony.
#33 - Blood
A thread of scarlet slips down the inside of her wineglass, sweet as life and thicker than water; here's to family.
#34 - Gold
She's never passed up an errand that brought her more of it, but that glittering weight in her palm keeps its own worth and its own counsel.
#35 - Spot
She's tried everything--paint, powder, knives, irons, even fire--but that freckle remains.
#36 - Melt
There is only heat, only light; she can smell her own flesh cooking against the rocks, but it's faint, a distant second to the pleasure.
#37 - Guilt
Her young Edenian ensign with his shy, twisted smile was never the same after the surgeons took his legs; he begged for her help in the same worshipful tone he had asked to be bitten, and she shut her eyes and held his hand as she pressed the pillow down hard.
#38 - Duel
It will be over in two strokes of the blade, and then she can apologize to the boy's family and go home.
#39 - Stranger
It hits her fast and hard, leaves her cold: they're all staring; she's never been here without him, and she doesn't even know her own Clan-name.
#40 - Wait
She hates those moments between rounds, their staggering scramble, the stench of the arena and the crowd, droning and mindless as the sea.
#42 - Action
"Fight!" he barks, and she wants to laugh; no one ever had to tell her twice.
#43 - Chain
It's such a lovely bauble that she can almost forgive him the whisper of ownership in its design.
#44 - Bitter
Isn't Tanya charming, and isn't Jade adorable, and isn't he dreamy, this mincing moon-eyed poet in her sister's doorway.
#45 - Lock
The bar thunders down and the latch clanks into place; she waits for silence to press down heavy on her ears before allowing the tears to escape.
#46 - Order
Bath, undergarments, uniform, headband, boots, gloves: always the same way, right side first, and that other damned thing is always last.
#47 - Friends
The women cheat at cards and the men cheat at relationships, but there's always wine and rumors for the trading.
#48 - Prison
This is her sister's idea of mercy, of charity, of hospitality; there's been no food and no water since she ate the last guard for trying to rape her.
#49 - Journal
She fully expected to be caught with it one day, but never at four in the morning by their thrice-damned pastry chef.
#50 - Zero
...She cannot think of him as "Sub" without wanting to scratch her name into his back as he kneels.
Desperately tired. Still need committee. Going to the art museum tomorrow. And having a Naruto-and-Batman marathon. FTW, indeed.