Calliope screamed.
At first it was because of the dreams. Since her dreamself had died, not too long ago, the wonderful flying dreams of Prospit were replaced by something far, far more terrifying. That she knew what they were did not make things any easier to accept: if anything, it made them even more frightening and maddening.
But it quickly turned into a pathetic, pained wince, as her body woke up enough to realize that someone had been doing some damage while she was asleep, the nerve endings starting to reach her brain to tell her of this. Chain rattled as the leg was reflexively pulled close, hands clutching the deep gash, bleeding lime green all over the hitherto pure red.
By the time she started to unchain herself, the fingers were slippery and mind passing out again, and she had to try four times before the shackle would finally get off. She lost her footing on the slippery blood and hurt her elbow on the floor pretty badly, hurrying to her renewed stash of medical supplies, which she had put on display next to the computer after his first stunt like this: she had assumed, correctly it would seem, that she would need them.
But they would not be enough for a wound this bad.
The bandages soaked through within seconds of her putting them on, and held barely none of the blood on the other side, or helped to heal the injury or comfort her mood in the slightest. Some parts of the gauze were thoroughly soiled with blood even before she could put them on. And any attempt to disinfect the wound would be entirely out of the question. It was getting harder and harder to work with her shaking hands, going cold from the blood loss.
She had been wrong. Her brother WAS mad. It was no secret he wished to end her life, of course, but to go to such lengths... to endanger his own body to get rid of her as well... no. He could not kill her this way without losing his own life. He would not go that far. He did not think it was worth getting killed himself. Fuck, she really was passing out... she was in the middle of her room, without her other chain. If she passed out here...
Is this what he wanted all along? She could not lose consciousness. She had to keep going. She had to stay up. She had to...
What did she have in her sylladex...? Worth a look. Perhaps she had stored something good in there, just in case? Perhaps... she could not remember.
There was something there. She did not remember what it was, or when she had put it there. There was a small jar. And a note... it did not look like she had written it... oh, right. It was her brother. It was him who had left these things here, not her. That's the way her modus worked. Silly.
She was becoming delirious - never could tolerate much pain, nowhere near as much as her brother - and had to really concentrate to be able to read what it said:
SOME TROLL STuFF.
YOu'RE A FuCKING JACKASS. BuT.
I DON'T WANT TO GO ALONG WITH YOu. NOT QUITE FuCKING WORTH IT.
Yeah, that seemed real legit. If she were not dying on the floor, she would not give it a second thought, but as things stood she was kind of running out of options. Perhaps this delirium was making her a little bit crazy in her own right.
She opened it. Inside, though it was mostly empty, there was a bit of ointment left in the bottom, enough for a couple fingertips maybe. If this was anywhere near the stuff she knew the troll Medictators had, then she knew it would be enough. That stuff was awesome. Could patch up anything, save lives.
Scooped it up on her index and middle fingers. Prepared to spread it over the injury. As she did so, she started to think about something. Something with this stuff, that she had forgotten. Couldn't remember it. Maybe it wasn't anything that impor-
"Augh!"
Oh, right. It fucking HURT.
Trolls. She liked them, but... damn.
But okay. She was... she did not feel like she was passing out anymore. This is good. Breath was returning. The wound... still hurt, it hurt like hell, especially with the ointment, but it no longer bled. She probably would be okay.
Nap time... no. No nap. Not here. Bad place for nap. Back to bed. Sarswapagus.
She managed to stumble herself somewhat upon the thing, and even place the shackle on her foot, before she finally allowed herself to lose consciousness.
When she woke up again, surprisingly, nothing much had changed. Her injury had not been disrupted, thankfully, and instead left to heal properly for now: it appeared that even a world-class idiot such as himself realized, barely, when he had gone just a little too far. She had recovered plenty of strength, and was set in a better position on the bed... sarswapagus. It did still hurt, though.
Calliope spent a couple minutes right where she lay, to gather strength and think what to do next, before she got up, unchained, and limped to her computer. Unsurprisingly, a bunch of messages was waiting for her.
undyingUmbrage [uu] began jeering uranianUmbra [UU]
uu: SO I AM uGLY. SO FuCKING WHAT?
uu: YES IT APPLIES TO ME TOO. BuT THE THING IS.
uu: I DON'T FuCKING GIVE A SHIT.
uu: I AM WHAT I AM. I DON'T PuT ON A FACE PAINT AND HORNS.
uu: TO TRY AND CONVINCE MYSELF I'M SOMETHING ELSE.
uu: HAVE I EVER TOLD YOU. HOW ABSOLuTELY PATHETIC THAT SHIT IS? I MUST HAVE.
uu: ANYWAY.
uu: JUST WHERE DOES IT SAY. IN OuR GAME. "I CAN'T RIP MY LEG OFF TO FREE MYSELF FROM MY CHAINS."
uu: I'D LIKE YOu TO SHOW ME.
uu: WELL?
uu: I AM LOOKING THROuGH THE DOCuMENTS OF THE GAME. HMMMMMMMMMMM. CAN'T SEEM TO FIND IT.
uu: SO FIRST YOu TRY TO CONVINCE TO YOuRSELF I WOuLDN'T DO IT. TO WIN OuR GAME.
uu: THEN YOu CLAIM IT IS AGAINST THE RuLES? YOu REALLY ARE A COWARD.
uu: I SHOuLD HAVE KILLED YOu OFF SWEEPS AGO.
uu: FuCK THAT NOISE. TIME FOR ONE MORE REMINDER. MAYBE NOW YOu WILL REALIZE I AM NOT PLAYING ANY GAMES HERE.
uu: I MEAN. FuCK. I AM PLAYING GAMES.
uu: BuT YOu KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
undyingUmbrage [uu] ceased jeering uranianUmbra [UU]
undyingUmbrage [uu] began jeering uranianUmbra [UU]
uu: OW. FuCK.
uu: MAYBE THAT WAS A LITTLE BIT TOO MuCH. CAN STILL FEEL IT.
uu: BuT NO MATTER. I THINK THE POINT WAS FINALLY MADE. HuH?
uu: STILL THINK YOu CAN END THIS WITH BOTH OF uS ALIVE?
uu: COOPERATE OuR WAY THROuGH SBuRB?
uu: FuCK THAT. I'VE TOLD YOu BEFORE.
uu: I PLAY TO WIN. AND I WILL WIN.
uu: YOu'RE A COWARD THAT CAN'T EVER ACCEPT THE REALITY.
uu: JuST LIKE YOu CAN'T ACCEPT THAT YOu'RE A CHERuB. INSTEAD SPENDING YOuR DAYS PRETENDING YOu'RE NOT.
uu: WELL. FuCK THAT. IT'S OVER.
uu: KILL ME!
uu: OR I.
uu: SHALL KILL YOu!
undyingUmbrage [uu] ceased jeering uranianUmbra [UU]
uranianUmbra [UU] began cheering undyingUmbrage [uu]
Fuck cheering. She was furious. And far more scared than she would have wished to admit.
uu: have yoU gone completely oUt of yoUr mind?
uu: yoU nearly killed Us both!
uu: yoU're a horrible person, and so very overboard with this shit right now. i can't even.
uu: bUt okay. i'll give it to yoU. yoU can withstand a lot of pain, and yoU just might be bUll-headed and daft enoUgh to bite yoUr own leg off.
uu: so i'm just asking. is there anything, anything at all, i coUld tell yoU to change yoUr mind? convince yoU that this really isn't the kind of a game we might want to play together?
uu: or maybe yoU're just messing with me? okay, fine. yoU got me. i am messed up. and i will most definitely not cUt off my own leg. yoUr plan is a sUccess. yoU win. it's a good game we had!
uu: can we jUst go back to chess or something now? maybe something entirely different? if yoU have ideas, i woUld be happy to consider them.
uu: make believe time is over. okay?
uranianUmbra [UU] ceased cheering undyingUmbrage [uu]
Almost immediately after the messages were sent, Calliope regretted them. Showing weakness to her brother would never end up well for her. But even now, calming down a little, she had absolutely no idea how she could get out of this situation, without showing weakness, being defeated, or doing precisely what she was being dared to do.
Her eyes briefly glanced at the rusty instrument of murderpuzzles, lying against the wall. It made her shudder.
But as much as she wished it was not the case, that it was just an utterly retarded notion that would never happen, the thought was really starting to make sense to her. If she just prepared herself well, get some more of that Medictator Grubsauce Seasoning, she could do the deed and patch up the wound before bleeding out. She could then go to her brother's side, grab his juju and anything else of particular note or interest, and... yes, she would not even need to kill him! She could force him to work for her, blackmail him to play the game properly... he could not chew out the other foot anymore, at least not for a long time, until he finished up another of those artificial legs... yes.
No.
Absolutely not. She couldn't do this. The very idea was revolting. She would just have to convince her brother to leave the whole stupid case behind. Hopefully admitting defeat and that he had succeeded in scaring her was enough, instead of just convincing him to go through it all the more. She did not feel like the odds were well in the favor of the former.
She found herself shaking. That was not good. She could not remember being this terrified before in her life, except perhaps just after her dreamself had died. She had to do something.
Finally, all she managed was to open another pesterlog. For a long time, even saying two words was something she could not bring herself to do.
uranianUmbra [UU] began cheering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]
TG: oh hi thar! :D
TG: been a whlie since we talked the last tiem
TG: *while
TG: *item
TG: w/e
TG: so whats up
TG: ...
TG: helloooo? u there?
TG: ummm
TG: idk maybe u opend a chat by mistake?
TG: can you hear me?
TG: i have this pling noise that goes of when some1 posts me
TG: you got something like that mayb
UU: hold me.
TG: oh there u are!
TG: um
TG: wat
UU: nothing, jUst, please. i have had an exceedingly bad couple days, and i do not know how mUch longer i can take this. u_u
TG: oh
TG: tis ur brother again?
UU: 'tis definitely my brother. bUt i don't want to talk aboUt it. i really, really don't feel like talking aboUt it.
TG: k
TG: uhm
TG: *hugs*
TG: is this ok?
UU: yes. it is perfect.
UU: thank yoU. i knew i coUld coUnt on yoU when it mattered.
TG: ur wellcome! :D
TG: its wut firends are for
TG: *frends
TG: whatevs ill just shut up now
TG: *hugs moar*
Calliope often enjoyed pretend. It was the one sort of a game she loved while her brother didn't. For the most part, it amounted to pretending she was a troll: wearing horns and a hairpiece, some face paint and gloves, strolling around like that and creating herself a trollsona... it was always a good amount of fun, and naturally she had her full makeup on at the moment, too, if only to try and distant her mind from the troubles and laments she was going through at the moment.
But this was also the first time she was pretending to hug someone.
She pretended, as hard as she could, that there was a warm cuddly human girl wrapped in her arms, comforting her with her presence and whispered words of calm, telling her it was all going to be all right and she was never going to abandon her. She had her eyes closed and own arms tight around her body to maintain the image. And it worked... a little bit. She was still shaking, and she would have cried if her species was capable of such... but the mere presence of another person, even if only through pesterlogs, was enough to actually successfully cheer her up a little, keep her from falling into true despair.
Perhaps it would have helped even more had she known that Roxy was doing the exact same thing. Pretending to hug, holding herself, and whispering words. Words which the cherub soon found on the screen:
TG: sshhh
TG: its okay
TG: im here for you
TG: its okay