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 Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:54 pm
Fauve's blue eyes got wide and she put both hands up to her mask. 'I don't understand.' She turned a little bit in her seat so she could look at Nika more closely. His mask had come off somehow, his question to her seemed to mean to her that he knew the way to take them off. If he did, why was he so hesitant to set them all free?
As soon as she thought the question she answered it for herself. 'You know how to take them off, but you don't do it because we might...' She thought about how to express the worry she felt inside. 'How are we supposed to know when we're ready? When they are taken off, the two worlds are going to collide again. Inside my head aren't they?' When she thought about what would happen, instead of feeling elated at being able to pull this horrid thing off, she felt unsure and a little scared.
'I... want it off. More then anything I want it off. How did you know when you were ready? Does it hurt?' She had so many questions and she dropped her hands from her mask to clench her hands together.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:16 pm
He admired how easy it had been for her to come to the correct conclusion. Fauve had always been a thinker, and he was proud of her for that.
"Everybody's passed out from the pain," he said slowly and with a nod of his head, confirming all of her other suspicions. It took him a moment to respond properly to her much more personal question.
How had he known?
"I didn't know if I was ready or not," Nika admitted with a shrug, "Sei found me one day, after a particularly lovely talk with my older sister. He helped me remember things that I'd thought I'd forgotten forever. Only then did he ask me the same question I've just asked you. It's a difficult decision to make. The flood of memories to your head might leave you a bit disoriented for a couple of days. It takes so long for me to choose for a couple of reasons." He opened the box to reveal a stunning purple stone wrapped in a blue velvet cloth. A low, rhythmic hum seemed to rise from the box and filled the room.
"Sei told me that removing the masks too soon could cause permanent damage, and this beautiful stone, which he made, needs some time to recharge."
Gee was nothing but a wallflower now, but completely oblivious to the fact. She preferred it this way. Hell, if she wasn't so completely enraptured by the site of the stone in the box, she would have felt like she was an intruder in her own home. "Sei called it the melody stone. Pick it up, if you're ready," Time told the Whimsy sister, and held the box out to her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:25 pm
Fauve was inexplicably terrified and fascinated at the same time. She looked from the rock back up at Nika and then back down at the rock. What would she remember? Would it destroy the feelings of self awareness and contentment she had now? Would she be the same person after she knew her past?
Fauve's blue eyes looked up and locked on Nika's face. He hadn't changed, not that she had noticed anyway. Sometimes there was a look in his eyes, she didn't recognize, and she wondered if it was because the veil the mask provided had been lifted. She reached up with her hands and touched the mask again, it had protected her, kept her separated from the pain.
'I want to think I am ready. I want more then anything to actually be ready. When you say damaged, do you mean I would go crazy?' Her hand strayed over to the edge of the box, and paused there. Her blue eyes still locked on his face, looking for answers there that she wasn't sure he could provide.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:39 pm
"I do not know what would happen," he nodded honestly, "as far as I can tell, nobody has experienced any negative consequences. Shiva still means everything to me and I love her so much that it hurts some times, even though the memories of my wife are more vivid now than they ever were before. Our pasts are like extended parts of ourselves. I'm still the same Nika I was before my mask was removed."
Time paused here to take a deep breath. It was crazy, how much all of them feared what their pasts might hold, feared being free. There were some unfortunate people all over the universe who would give their left knee cap and a whole set of teeth in order to be free of whatever limitations bound them to a certain, specific way of life. But, he reasoned, their situation wasn't quite the same.
"If it matters at all, I think you're ready, Fauve. You've proven it to me. Still, how you feel is more important."
This wasn't his decision to make, and he wasn't going to force her into it. That could be even more disastrous than anything else.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:46 pm
Fauve finally looked away from his face and she looked over at Gee for a moment. Mentally she called out to Merci, 'Merci, you might want to come up to Gee's cabin.' All she got in reply was a muffled grumble. The Whimsy girl couldn't help her eye holes curling up in a smile. Merci was likely sleeping, but she knew she would get up and come.
Her eyes moved down to the stone and her hand reached out to it. She curled her fingers around it gently and shut her eyes.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 5:57 pm
A smile lit up Nika's face when she finally curled her hands around the stone. He glanced at Gee, who was watching everything with her jaw hanging open on the floor, and resisted the urge to chuckle. In spite of all the fears and reservations that Fauve had expressed, he just knew that it was the right time for this. Waiting any longer would have been pointless.
The harmlessly little hum that whispered around the room earlier reverberated with a giant thrum that shook the entire cabin. Nika and Gee jumped simultaneously, and glanced around the room as the hum continued at a faster, much more intense rate.
A warm, tingly feeling that was so wonderful it was almost painful started at the tips of Fauve's fingers and spread higher at an alarming speed. It soaked into all of her limbs, and steadily climbed higher. Soon, the cheeks behind the Whimsy mask were flushed and warm.
Tentatively, Nika reached up and pressed his hands against the side of Fauve's face. He bit his lip in concentration and tugged forwards one time. The mask slid off easily, to reveal the oh-so-familiar face of a very grown up Whimsy girl.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:04 pm
Fauve felt woozy and she felt a tugging on her face. Just before her eyes closed she saw the back side of the mask, the part that had been pressed against her skin before she felt herself slip away into unconciousness, the pain of the memories made her whimper as she passed out.
Merci tapped the door lightly sheer minutes after Fauve passed out. The fox woman rubbed her forehead with her fingers and wasn't entirely sure why she couldn't feel Fauve anymore. She shifted from foot to foot before she cracked the door and peeked her head in. "Hello? Is Fauve here?"
Merci had been feeling waves of confusion, worry and even fear. She wasn't sure what was going on, when she saw the top of Fauve's head on the couch she pushed through the door and stopped dead where her daughter had been only moments before "What the hell is going on here?"
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