Post by indi on Apr 25, 2021 17:46:12 GMT -5
“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”
-Oscar Wilde
“Close your eyes and make a wish.” Indi spoke softly but plainly to the woman who stood behind her. The room seemed to tilt, lurching forwards and sucking them into what lies beyond the darkness. Have you ever been in an elevator when it drops between floors? Or a plane when turbulence comes to an end and the pilot descends a few feet with a straight fall? It’s almost the same feeling as you get on a rollercoaster; your stomach climbs to your throat and an acrid burn of stomach acid awakens your tastebuds.
With no solid feeling beneath their feet for a few seconds, it was as though they were floating. Drifting into the beyond until all at once? Things were righted. Feet on solid ground and stomach settling back in their abdomens. It was only once she was certain she would be heard over the rush of blood in their ears, that Indi spoke once more.
“Okay bud, open your eyes!” Indi tried to coax her temporary team mate into surveying the land. For it to be nothing but a mirror image would perhaps if made sense, but instead, it was a world that had been licked with that same paintbrush. Everything in the room had a film of black tar, sticky and moving with their every breath. Quite unlike the room they had left, in this one, their fears moved the mask of nothingness ever further back. “Moxie?”
Indi coaxed her again, wanting more than anything for her one time friend to open her eyes before her shadow reached the edge of her feet and they were forever one.
At the very last possible second, Moxie’s eyes blinked open. “What is this?” she asked. “Where is this?”
Because she was absolutely certain she hadn’t done drugs today yet… nothing made sense if she were sober. Indi inched closer, her eyes fixed on Moxie’s as she smiled. “You already know. I told you, we can’t run from ourselves.”
As she said those words, Indi spun on her heels to stare up at four shadows that stretched from floor to ceiling as they loomed, an ever present force, Indi waved.
“You’ve heard of shadow boxing right? Well, that’s kinda what we’re gonna have to do when the match rolls around. Two teams, one not a team at all and one that exists just to idle in place… on paper, they’re nothing more than a formality when facing two people who have the history we do. BUT!” She whips her head around to look at Moxie, pointing just over the young woman’s shoulder to where a bigger, darker, shadow loomed. “They don’t have the pressure we do, our own names, our histories, weighing us down. Forcing us into a battle where we somehow, are the underdogs.”
Finally her whole body turns and she locks eyes with Moxie once again, that serious look and hushed tone overtaking the galactic princess once again.
“You are not a loser Moxie James. Now prove it.”
Moxie swallowed hard, staring up at the shadow creatures. She wasn’t sure what Indi was seeing but she saw herself in the one closest to her. All of the dark, worthless, terrible parts of herself reflected there and shoved in her face.
She wanted to turn away.
She already knew that she wasn’t brave enough to face it. That was why her whole apartment was slathered in messy layers of black paint. It’s why she never left anymore. It was why she didn’t want to be here.
“I can’t do this...” The words were practically a whimper. “I’m sorry that you got stuck with me,” she said, backing up slowly as her eyes never left the advancing shadows. “I’m sorry that we’re going to lose against a team that’s named Tapp That Ass because that’s even more embarrassing than just losing to Cartier and Tapp outright.”
Indi watched as she backed up, her hand reaching out as though to stop her. But, all things are inevitable. “Moxie…” that same look began to overtake her features, Indi stepped closer as her voice rolled like a growl. “I’ve already lost too much, I have given too much of myself. I can’t allow this to happen. I won’t crumble at the feet of those people.. I’m sorry Moxie…” the apology tied with her hands gripping the shoulders of the terrified looking girl before her. One thrust, quick and without hesitation and she stumbled, she fell back into the shadow as it mawed and stretched, consuming her within itself.
There was a moment of fear, so sharp that Moxie James could taste it. It was dark and snippets of memory and voices that had once been so familiar to her danced behind her eyelids as she fell.
It felt like falling forever.
“Help,” she said, or thought that she said. But there was nothing to help her here. Pieces of her childhood swirled around her, those little internalized hurts. Those moments that had shaped her into the here and now. And then they fell away.
She screamed as she felt the Olivea in her burn away. She screamed as it felt like her bones were cracking and reforming. Lost within the shadows, she couldn’t see Indi any longer. Couldn’t ask her why.
Indi watched until the shadow spit her back out, Moxie James, the very person they both knew was needed. For a moment, she looked sorry. A flicker of regret on her pretty features. But all too soon that somber expression returned, a low laugh that rumbled in her chest preceded her speech.
“Ahh, there you are.” Her words seemed to touch the woman who stood there, drawing her attention, her very consciousness back into the moment. “What were you saying?”
Moxie’s eyes fixed on Indi, cold and flat like a shark’s. “You?” she said, questioningly as she tilted her head curiously. The implication in that one word hung heavy in the air between them. That Indi had been the one to push her once friend into the fire was… curious, to the creature on the ground in front of her.
What was once Olivea unfolded herself from the ground. “Not what I expected.” Indi leaned in close, her eyes peering into the void where eyes should be in Moxie’s face. A twitch of a smirk pulled at her lips and in that moment, it was almost like they communicated without words. As quickly as it happened it stopped, Indi straightening up and stepping back. “As I was saying, you’re no loser, Moxie James.” She turned and waved an arm towards the shadows on the wall, one for each of their opponents who were now, the only thing standing between them and the right side of the mirror.
“These are our foes; they think that our best days are behind us. They think we can’t be what we once were, that we’re destined to fall at this first hurdle… what do you think?”
The slick smirk that twisted Moxie’s full lips was almost feral. No, it was feral. “I think that nothing in this world or the next can prevent what’s going to happen here. Or there, in that ring.”
The chasm of what had once been blue eyes turned to the shadow figures that represented their opponents. One for Tapp. One for Cartier. One for Tommy. One for Zach. And beyond that, the mirror. Their way home.
The way to freedom, for the thing that had once been Olivea James.
“And once I help you defeat them?” Moxie asked, “Do you put me back in my box or are you going to let me out into the world like a plague?”
Indi smiled at the thing beside her, a wicked and excited smile. The kind that hadn’t been seen since she had set fire to the bus and tried, in her own way, to run from destiny.
“I am Indi Rhyder, the Galactic Princess, my path in life is to guide others to destiny. She speaks to me and I for her… she wanted you out, free, to show the world what truly lay beneath the fragile shell of Olivea James.” A flicker of panic, confusion, perhaps even regret, was swallowed back down in no time at all. “Help me best them, put us both back on our paths and the world beyond the mirror, is all yours.”
She held out a hand, wanting to shake.
Moxie tilted her head, evaluated those words for their truthfulness and found that Indi wasn’t lying. She really would lay the world beyond the mirror out on a platter for the thing that had once been Olivea. She would let her slip into the world undetected. The pathetic, sniveling creature that had once been Olivea James would take its place here in the shadow world.
The grin that split the creature’s face was disgusting. Predatory. She reached out her burning hot palm to touch Indi’s. To shake on this devil’s bargain. And then she turned years of pent up wrath on the shadow creatures in front of them. As the thing that was now Moxie James ripped apart the things that thought they could stop them. A sign of things to come.
And then, with fingers burned into one another’s palms, a deal that neither could ever forget. They slipped back into the world and without knowing why, the earth trembled at its centre.
A sign of things to come.
-Oscar Wilde
“Close your eyes and make a wish.” Indi spoke softly but plainly to the woman who stood behind her. The room seemed to tilt, lurching forwards and sucking them into what lies beyond the darkness. Have you ever been in an elevator when it drops between floors? Or a plane when turbulence comes to an end and the pilot descends a few feet with a straight fall? It’s almost the same feeling as you get on a rollercoaster; your stomach climbs to your throat and an acrid burn of stomach acid awakens your tastebuds.
With no solid feeling beneath their feet for a few seconds, it was as though they were floating. Drifting into the beyond until all at once? Things were righted. Feet on solid ground and stomach settling back in their abdomens. It was only once she was certain she would be heard over the rush of blood in their ears, that Indi spoke once more.
“Okay bud, open your eyes!” Indi tried to coax her temporary team mate into surveying the land. For it to be nothing but a mirror image would perhaps if made sense, but instead, it was a world that had been licked with that same paintbrush. Everything in the room had a film of black tar, sticky and moving with their every breath. Quite unlike the room they had left, in this one, their fears moved the mask of nothingness ever further back. “Moxie?”
Indi coaxed her again, wanting more than anything for her one time friend to open her eyes before her shadow reached the edge of her feet and they were forever one.
At the very last possible second, Moxie’s eyes blinked open. “What is this?” she asked. “Where is this?”
Because she was absolutely certain she hadn’t done drugs today yet… nothing made sense if she were sober. Indi inched closer, her eyes fixed on Moxie’s as she smiled. “You already know. I told you, we can’t run from ourselves.”
As she said those words, Indi spun on her heels to stare up at four shadows that stretched from floor to ceiling as they loomed, an ever present force, Indi waved.
“You’ve heard of shadow boxing right? Well, that’s kinda what we’re gonna have to do when the match rolls around. Two teams, one not a team at all and one that exists just to idle in place… on paper, they’re nothing more than a formality when facing two people who have the history we do. BUT!” She whips her head around to look at Moxie, pointing just over the young woman’s shoulder to where a bigger, darker, shadow loomed. “They don’t have the pressure we do, our own names, our histories, weighing us down. Forcing us into a battle where we somehow, are the underdogs.”
Finally her whole body turns and she locks eyes with Moxie once again, that serious look and hushed tone overtaking the galactic princess once again.
“You are not a loser Moxie James. Now prove it.”
Moxie swallowed hard, staring up at the shadow creatures. She wasn’t sure what Indi was seeing but she saw herself in the one closest to her. All of the dark, worthless, terrible parts of herself reflected there and shoved in her face.
She wanted to turn away.
She already knew that she wasn’t brave enough to face it. That was why her whole apartment was slathered in messy layers of black paint. It’s why she never left anymore. It was why she didn’t want to be here.
“I can’t do this...” The words were practically a whimper. “I’m sorry that you got stuck with me,” she said, backing up slowly as her eyes never left the advancing shadows. “I’m sorry that we’re going to lose against a team that’s named Tapp That Ass because that’s even more embarrassing than just losing to Cartier and Tapp outright.”
Indi watched as she backed up, her hand reaching out as though to stop her. But, all things are inevitable. “Moxie…” that same look began to overtake her features, Indi stepped closer as her voice rolled like a growl. “I’ve already lost too much, I have given too much of myself. I can’t allow this to happen. I won’t crumble at the feet of those people.. I’m sorry Moxie…” the apology tied with her hands gripping the shoulders of the terrified looking girl before her. One thrust, quick and without hesitation and she stumbled, she fell back into the shadow as it mawed and stretched, consuming her within itself.
There was a moment of fear, so sharp that Moxie James could taste it. It was dark and snippets of memory and voices that had once been so familiar to her danced behind her eyelids as she fell.
It felt like falling forever.
“Help,” she said, or thought that she said. But there was nothing to help her here. Pieces of her childhood swirled around her, those little internalized hurts. Those moments that had shaped her into the here and now. And then they fell away.
She screamed as she felt the Olivea in her burn away. She screamed as it felt like her bones were cracking and reforming. Lost within the shadows, she couldn’t see Indi any longer. Couldn’t ask her why.
Indi watched until the shadow spit her back out, Moxie James, the very person they both knew was needed. For a moment, she looked sorry. A flicker of regret on her pretty features. But all too soon that somber expression returned, a low laugh that rumbled in her chest preceded her speech.
“Ahh, there you are.” Her words seemed to touch the woman who stood there, drawing her attention, her very consciousness back into the moment. “What were you saying?”
Moxie’s eyes fixed on Indi, cold and flat like a shark’s. “You?” she said, questioningly as she tilted her head curiously. The implication in that one word hung heavy in the air between them. That Indi had been the one to push her once friend into the fire was… curious, to the creature on the ground in front of her.
What was once Olivea unfolded herself from the ground. “Not what I expected.” Indi leaned in close, her eyes peering into the void where eyes should be in Moxie’s face. A twitch of a smirk pulled at her lips and in that moment, it was almost like they communicated without words. As quickly as it happened it stopped, Indi straightening up and stepping back. “As I was saying, you’re no loser, Moxie James.” She turned and waved an arm towards the shadows on the wall, one for each of their opponents who were now, the only thing standing between them and the right side of the mirror.
“These are our foes; they think that our best days are behind us. They think we can’t be what we once were, that we’re destined to fall at this first hurdle… what do you think?”
The slick smirk that twisted Moxie’s full lips was almost feral. No, it was feral. “I think that nothing in this world or the next can prevent what’s going to happen here. Or there, in that ring.”
The chasm of what had once been blue eyes turned to the shadow figures that represented their opponents. One for Tapp. One for Cartier. One for Tommy. One for Zach. And beyond that, the mirror. Their way home.
The way to freedom, for the thing that had once been Olivea James.
“And once I help you defeat them?” Moxie asked, “Do you put me back in my box or are you going to let me out into the world like a plague?”
Indi smiled at the thing beside her, a wicked and excited smile. The kind that hadn’t been seen since she had set fire to the bus and tried, in her own way, to run from destiny.
“I am Indi Rhyder, the Galactic Princess, my path in life is to guide others to destiny. She speaks to me and I for her… she wanted you out, free, to show the world what truly lay beneath the fragile shell of Olivea James.” A flicker of panic, confusion, perhaps even regret, was swallowed back down in no time at all. “Help me best them, put us both back on our paths and the world beyond the mirror, is all yours.”
She held out a hand, wanting to shake.
Moxie tilted her head, evaluated those words for their truthfulness and found that Indi wasn’t lying. She really would lay the world beyond the mirror out on a platter for the thing that had once been Olivea. She would let her slip into the world undetected. The pathetic, sniveling creature that had once been Olivea James would take its place here in the shadow world.
The grin that split the creature’s face was disgusting. Predatory. She reached out her burning hot palm to touch Indi’s. To shake on this devil’s bargain. And then she turned years of pent up wrath on the shadow creatures in front of them. As the thing that was now Moxie James ripped apart the things that thought they could stop them. A sign of things to come.
And then, with fingers burned into one another’s palms, a deal that neither could ever forget. They slipped back into the world and without knowing why, the earth trembled at its centre.
A sign of things to come.