Fixing Things No Longer Broken

[Faith Augustin]

1st Ymiden, 719

"It won't fit," the slave girl said, looking up at the other slave, who was also her. "We're going to get into trouble." They were standing over the coffin which they were making and, quite obviously, there was something not fitting together in there. The two of them - twins - worked together but it just wasn't happening. She sighed or, rather, they did. In unison.

"Oh you 'ave got to be kiddin' me?"

That exclamation was from a small, chalk-drawn outline of a bunny. PB, Faith's constant companion in dreams since she began having thoughts about freedom, "Wot the pog is goin' on 'ere then? Faith?"

Both slaves looked at him, neither one of them apparently comprehending. PB, however, was part of Faith Augustin and he recognised it when she was being difficult with him, teasing him. "You in there, Betty?" PB had never, as far as Faith could remember, called her Betty before. He was a most odd little creature and she could not hide the smile. "Yes. It's me. But I'm stuck here. I think it's what we saw. That was Alistair, you know," Faith spoke to PB and he nodded. "Whatever he once did for me, whatever he has done, that was murder. Or the attempt at it. He ... what has he become, PB?"

"Well, love," PB hopped up on to the coffin and lifted the sheet which was covering the corpse. "Malcolm Krome? Really? Still?" Faith shook her head, "This is an old dream," she explained. "Go on." PB nodded and let the sheet drop before sitting, looking at her. "It's simple, love. An' it's right complicated, but mostly it's simple. Alistair made choices. Looks to me like quite a lot o'them are bad ones, you know?" Faith nodded, thinking about it and she sighed. "He was kind to me, PB."

"Yeah, so were Tristan, but he still owned you, an' got you to hang yer own manacles, love. In between beddin' ya an' letting you know when you could eat with him. I know! I know!" One paw raised in defence before Faith spoke. "I'm jus' sayin', kind is relative. An' considerin' your relatives, I'm not one bit surprised that you feel like Alistair an' even Tristan to an extent, are good people. Tristan might well be, but we saw Alistair try to kill a god."

Faith looked at PB and raised an eyebrow, then her hand dropped to the key around her neck. They both knew what it was, what it represented. It was her instruction from Qylios to kill Faldrun. "That's different that is, and you know it. That kid were sleepin' an' he's Vri's son. I mean, he's a jackass, but he's Vri's son, too." Faith nodded. She knew where her loyalty lay in terms of that whole situation, and it wasn't with Alistair. Absolutely not. "It's just ... he's with Ellasin, so close to her judging by what Patrick showed us, and now this. It's like I was blind, you know?" PB shook his head.

"You couldn't know, love. I wish you weren't so hard on yerself."

Faith smiled and motioned to the other her in the room. The version of herself which was working to fix the coffin. "I need to sort her out, I think, there's no getting out of here otherwise." PB nodded.

"Oh good. Lets hope she's not angsty, then, shall we? I can't bear those."

[Faith Augustin]

1st Ymiden, 719

Ignoring PB's obvious dig, Faith turned to her twin. "Are you Morana?" She asked the waif like creature, dressed in ill fitting clothes and with her eyes downcast. The girl shook her head and Faith sighed. "No, of course you aren't. You're Faith?" The representation, the clear and vivid memory of who she had been, nodded her head. Faith nodded. "I thought you might be." She looked at PB and he shrugged. "You were never really that talkative when you were like this. Sometimes, I thought they'd really broken you. Certainly had you believin' all that 'i belong here' crap. Thank Vri for Paddyrags, eh?" Faith glared at him but she couldn't deny that he was right. That was what made him irritating, of course. Or at least, it was part of it.

"So, this is Malcolm, yes?" Faith looked at the slave version of herself and the girl seemed shocked. Truly shocked. "Lord Krome, yes." Faith could not help the smile which lifted her lips. "She's me. That's as clearly a defence of him as could be from her. Alright. Well, then, Faith, you and I need to fix this, don't we?" Dream-Faith nodded her head and Faith was rather taken by just how much she did not recognise this woman. Had she been looking in a mirror, this was not who she would see looking back at her. When she had lost all her memories, thinking herself back five arcs or more, Faith had not recognised the person she saw in the mirror, and now that was happening in reverse. "Well, we need to anoint him, make sure that he is taken care of and ready for Vri."

The slave-Faith nodded and held up a most oddly shaped bit of wood. "I can't fix this, I'm sorry." Faith frowned slightly. "We don't normally make the coffin around the body, do we? I mean, unless I've been doing it wrong all these years, it's more a make the coffin, put the body in it sort of deal?" The slave version of Faith looked utterly confused and shook her head. "That's nonsensical isn't it?" Faith frowned and looked at her. "No. We make the coffin, we tend to the body, we put the body into the coffin and then prepare them." The slave-Faith considered this and, as she did, a piece of the wood seemed to almost flow into itself, fixing the coffin just a little. "I agree," she said and Faith frowned.

"Here's the thing, PB," Faith spoke softly, but in serious tone. "I think that perhaps it isn't the coffin that I have to fix."

The bunny tilted his head and looked at her with interest. "Wotcha mean, love?"

"I think it's her," Faith said, gesturing to her slave-twin. "I think I have to fix her."

"Ohhhhhh," said PB with a slight hopping bounce. "That's interesting"

[Tio Silver]

"Well that sounds like a very profound and delicate thing to be doing. I'm in!"

Like the unwanted spear of broccoli sneaking onto a plate full of delicious sausages, Tio was suddenly just there. No invitation, no forewarning, not even so much as a polite knock on the door to herald his arrival. Just suddenly there, wreathed in such a palpable aura of smugness you could almost taste it. With all the subtlety of a giraffe on an ice rink he looked back and forth between the PB and the two incarnations of Faith, either not at all clueing on to the fact that he was intruding on a private conversation or deliberately pretending he wasn't.

"You know when I need to fix something I usually find that copious amounts of glue is really helpful." He stage whispered, holding out a hand and conjuring a big bucket of glue and a paintbrush into existence. "Here's the plan: you two hold her down, and I'll tip the glue on her. Though I gotta say she doesn't look like she's missing any pieces. Two arms, two legs and one head is the standard amount of body parts right? He gasped as a realisation dawned on him. "Unless she's a centaur! Of course! I guess we'll need to find two more horse legs around here somewhere then right? Any ideas where we should start looking?"

He dropped the glue and paintbrush and began to look around for any horse legs, but stopped halfway as another realisation came to him. "Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet have I? Sorry, memory's not what it used to be. I'm Tio, and I'm some kind of a mostly unhelpful guide for all you kind folk who're dropping in to fix my dimension. Kind of like a genie that can only grant wishes you don't really care about having fulfilled. Anyone want a slice of cake or something?"

[Faith Augustin]

PB had a strange definition of interesting, Faith thought, but did not say. This was all far too much like deep reflection and, really, she just wanted to make sure that she could get to Padraig and ensure that he wasn't being plagued by those damn beasts through the barrier. That was her purpose of being in the dreaming tonight, and she was growing concerned about him. But, it appeared, whatever else she wanted to do, she needed to sort out this particular situation. Slave-Faith was brushing Malcolm's hair and Faith looked at her with an almost-pained expression and then she turned and glared at PB as he started to literally howl with laughter.

"Oh, oh... my chalk-drawn sides. But that was a perfect example of 'what in the name of Famula's knockers was I thinkin' right there in yer face. Oh.. oh you are priceless you are." Faith looked at him with a calm, if somewhat irritated expression. However, she couldn't hold the irritation for any length of time and her smile soon emerged. "You're not helpful." It was all she was saying, because she couldn't tell him he was wrong. "Alright, so. Let's take a look at this. What are you doing?" Slave-Faith looked up as Faith asked the question and she answered in her soft, barely above a whisper, voice. "I'm taking care of the dead," Faith shook her head and then, stepped forward. "No, you're stuck here. Looking after the corpse of someone who probably isn't dead, who you really don't have feelings for and, frankly, wasn't as kind to you as you think." Slave-Faith looked at the real Faith with a shocked expression. "That isn't true. Lord Krome and Lady Elyna have been lovely to me."

Faith nodded. "They have. Did they tell Tristan to free you, or did Alistair? Necromancer, by the way, but still it's the truth." As the slave raised confused silver eyes to meet an identical ~ and yet very different ~ gaze, Faith felt a sudden rush of irritation. "They just haven't been awful to you. The got Tristan to loan you to them, when Elyna was due to give birth and the baby was born. The borrowed a human being because they were busy. Lady Elyna gave you contraceptive, but didn't tell you that it was wrong of Tristan to be using you in that way. They let you cook, and clean, and do all that you did as a slave and they never once raised a finger." Faith stepped forward and she looked at the slave-Faith with a stern expression.

"You have to learn that there is a different between someone not being cruel to you, and someone being kind. And more than that, you need to just ...." She was angry, Faith realised. She was angry. At this woman. At this stupid, stupid woman who took everything at face value, who did as she was told. "You're wrong. Just plain wrong," Faith said and the slave-Faith looked at her and smiled.

"Then why am I still here?" she asked. Faith stared as the slave-Faith continued. "Why do you come back here? Not let me go. Not let them go, see them for who they are?" The slave lifted her head and then, of all things, there was someone else there.

"What?"
"What?"
"Wot?"

"Tio? Tio... I saw you. You were with Alistair. You caused this. You learned from my husband, alchemy? Padraig. This isn't your realm." Faith said, frowning as she did. "This is a private thing. I was just.. I used to be her. And there's a little bit of me that still is. It's... look, you're intruding and it's rude. Please, go away, I was just making a realisation."

"Yeah," said the chalk-drawn bunny. "She was."

Off Topic

LOL!! I had SO nearly finished my post! I hope that's ok where I've gone - let me know and I'll edit?

[Tio Silver]

Tio winced as Faith accused him of causing the destruction of Emea. It was clear that that was a bit of a sore point. "I mean... kinda. But it wasn't like I meant to; it really was an honest accident. And the whole reason I'm popping up to lend a hand to all you folks trying to fix things it to try and make up for that. That has to count for something right?" He tilted his head curiously to the side as Faith went on to mention Padraig, and then snapped his fingers as the memory came back to him. "Oh, that's right! We met before at Baron Smoogle-something's murder mystery night didn't we? But damn, that was about a dozen arcs ago wasn't it? You've barely aged a day." At the last point about Emea not being his realm however he gestured out to the lifeless scenery around them. "Well there's nobody else around is there? Nobody but me. Until things are repaired and people start moving back in then I have the run of the place, so it kind of is my realm really. Of course it would be a bit more enjoyable if I had a little bit more than dust to rule over, but what can you do?"

When Faith told him to go away, Tio recoiled as if struck and put a hand over his heart, gasping over-dramatically. "Ouch. Alright then, I'll go. I know when I'm not wanted. I'll just go over there a cry deeply." He replied, mock-feigning hurt. With his head hung low he began to sulk away, but as he left he spun back around to look at them one more time. "By the way, one little piece of advice." The jovial tone of his voice disappeared, leaving it unusually cold and factual. "Just shouting 'you're wrong' isn't going to convince anyone, let alone yourself. If you want to truly move a person's heart you need to use more than just words, you have to prove them with action. Common knowledge I know, but no less helpful to your situation. This world is malleable Faith: use it! Paint your thoughts onto this landscape, and show your old self the things she doesn't want to hear. Good luck."

[Faith Augustin]

"All we can ever do is try to put right what we have done, fix what we have broken. Sadly, things do no unfix because of wishing they would, so, yes. It counts for a lot," she said with a small (if somewhat tense) smile. Normally, she would be more inclined to chat, to discuss things, but Faith was very aware of what had happened, and considering what was going on in her life - and the whole war thing - she felt that this was really not something that she could talk about with Tio. But she nodded her head when he remembered her. "Yes, that's right. With Baron Smooglenuff," she said, quietly. As for how long ago it was, she considered, "Less than two arcs, just about, and thank you." She felt like a very different person but then, somehow, Tio seemed like one, too. There was something about him then which had reminded her of an eager Labrador puppy yet now? That was gone and replaced by something more .. fundamental.

His heart-clutching theatrics caused a raised eyebrow from the young woman, but she didn't argue with him or ask him to stay. And when he spun around and spoke, Faith's eyes turned to him with an expression of abject sadness in them. Because as he spoke, he forced her to realise something. "It's not her I'm persuading," she whispered. "It's me. You helped. Thank you, Tio. You really helped." Her smile was grateful, if rather sad. Because he was right, absolutely right. There was nothing to be gained at shouting at herself. At that past version. When Tio arrived, Faith had been getting irritated, angry even.

At herself.

She turned back to the slave who stood, watching the conversation between her and Tio and Faith. "It's the things I don't want to hear," she realised and turned from Tio, taking a step towards the slave-Faith. "How may I serve?" the slave asked and Faith shook her head. "I need to apologise to you. I'm angry at you, at me for being you." The slave lifted her eyes, taking her gaze away from the floor as she tilted her head, curiously. "I thought... you think that this is your place, that this is right, and that.. it hurts him." Faith shook her head, slightly. Slave-Faith spoke, then, "Padraig? But he loves me, too." Faith nodded. It was true, she knew it. And that, for her, was part of the problem. She didn't want to be this person, not for him. She wanted to be better than that.

But that was her fault, not the responsibility of this slave.

"You're nearly there, love," PB said, softly. "Just another step."

Faith glanced at him. "But, then, I'd be standing in the same spot as her." PB nodded, solemnly. Glancing at the chalk drawn bunny, Faith frowned slightly. Then, her face cleared. "I am her. I'll always be her. And she? She'll always be me."

She knew it, but there was more... just that next bit. "She'll always be me. This was me, then. It will never be me again, but it was. I accepted it." Faith reached out and touched the slave version of herself; as her pale white hand reached out to touch a thin and scrawny arm, the two of them smiled. And the coffin was whole, complete and beautifully made.

And empty.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Thread Rewards

Faith and Tio

Overview

I found this thread really interesting and spent a long time reading and re-reading it. "She'll always be me. This was me, then. It will never be me again, but it was. I accepted it." The tread seems to be about a dream where Faith meets herself as she was in the past, is angry at herself for how she once was but finally accepts it. “Kind is relative,” she says and points out how the would-be-good people who were in charge of her life in the past exploited her as a slave. Only one was kind to her and wanted her to be set free. She owes her freedom to a person she decides to think evil, just like she once decided to think her owners good. The Emean space pirate Tio pops in and it seems like it’s a surprise bomb, which is quite cute. Good writing by both of you of course. Enjoy the rewards!

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