Monday, January 3rd 2011

Time:?
Weather: Overcast and Chilly
Moon: Waning, 1 Day to New Moon (1/4), 16 Days to Full Moon (1/20)

[X] "I'm…I'm sorry for not recognizing you sooner…"

I could think about the circumstances that lead up to this later. For whatever reason, I'd gotten another chance to say what should have been said. I'd be an idiot not to take it. A dead one too, if I was exceptionally stupid.

For a brief moment, I'd been at a loss for words before they came to me. There was no rehearsal, nor any sort of prior memorization as to what was coming out of my mouth. But despite that, I just knew what words I had to say, what needed to be said. There wasn't any pretense or false meaning behind them. The only thing that came out of my mouth was the truth that I had weaved together over the course of my introspection.

"You weren't wrong when you said that I hate Dad," I admitted, slowly making my way towards her, "Maybe it's justified, maybe it isn't. But in the end, I still love him no matter what."

I paused for breath. The Shadow remained immobile, but there was something in her demeanor that suggested I continue.

"I'll admit that there are days when I want to end it all, even though I desperately want to live. It's hypocritical, but it's only human. And killing myself only proves them right, which is never going to happen."

I finally stood in front of her, no more than six inches away from her face.

"And...earlier," I swallowed, wincing at the phantom pain that clawed at my sternum, "You even admitted it yourself. Calling me a coward is subjective and possibly true to different perspectives, but we know that I'm still willing to give it my all.

"You said that you were everything I tried to bury," I said, gently pulling her into an embrace. "So I guess that means I'm you...and you really are me."

There was only a slight moment of silence before I felt her return my gesture. Unlike the cold chill that I had felt at her introduction, her hands were warm. "I've always wanted to be a hero," she whispered, with a tone of relief audible in her voice. "Thank you…"

The strength of heart required to face oneself has been made manifest. You have faced your other self, and emerged the victor despite the odds set against you.

A soft, blue light began to emit from her body. I released her and stepped back with wonder as I watched her float into the air. Before the radiance of the light grew too unbearable to look at, I could have sworn that there was a genuine smile on her face.

Instead of the monster that she had been before, she had become a flawless union of woman and spider. Gone were the motifs of brute force and inhuman strength; refined elegance and unearthly beauty had taken their place. The lower portion of her body came to resemble that of a black widow, sleek and black in its proportions and shape. An hourglass crest was easily visible on her flank.

Her chest came to meet where the spider's head would have been. The sleeveless raiment she wore was something out of a history textbook, right in the chapter of Greeks and Romans. She held a wooden loom in her hands, with threads of every color set upon the device. Soft brown hair came down to her bare shoulders, revealing a perfectly sculpted face of serene countenance and peace, free of any troubles the world had to offer.

"I am thou, and thou art I…from the sea of thine soul, I cometh…I am the Weaver of Dreams, Arachne…my Other Self…know that my strength shall be yours till the end of days."

Her gentle words had only faded in my head when she began to fade away. In her previous place, a card affixed with her image appeared from the light, and slowly came down within arm's reach. It came to land in my outstretched hands, dissolving into motes of blue light upon contact and filling my body with comforting warmth.

You have obtained the façade used to overcome life's hardships. The Shadow of your True Self has given rise to the Persona Arachne!

It didn't take long for the stress and exhaustion of the last few moments to catch up to me. The last thing that I was aware of before I gave into my body's urges was the sound of light footsteps approaching from a distance…

{Inverted World} - ?

The first thing I became aware of was the ascending melody of a grand piano.

It was a gentle, soothing piece. While it was bereft of any complex patterns that were usually in a pianist's repertoire, the notes were hauntingly simple, lingering in the air long after a phrase was complete. I felt a calm wash over me, a sense of peace and serenity that I had not felt in a very long time.

But it still hurt to move, even though the mattress I'd been sleeping on was quite comfortable. Even trying to open my eyes elicited an unrepressed groan from my throat. They closed out of reflex, still unaccustomed to the blue light shining in my face.

Wait a moment. I remember passing out, but where the hell did the mattress come from?

I forced myself to open my eyes, rubbed the water out of their corners, and focused my vision as best as I could.

The room could have been best ascribed to the lobby of a five star hotel. Sofas, couches and even what looked like a dry bar had been set up to the sides and edges of the wall. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, casting myriad shades of azure across the room. In the distance, I could make out a set of winding staircases traveling to an unseen floor above mine, and a single door tucked away to the side. The furniture, the carpet, the ceiling, even the mattress I was on, all of it was a deep blue.

It took me another moment to realize I wasn't alone. Across from the mattress and beyond a wooden table, there were three other individuals. The first ones that I noticed were the pianist and the singer, respectively a man and woman. Both were formally dressed, more so the woman with her elaborate dress and violet highlighter. To my surprised, the man was blindfolded, but I could hear his fingers strike the keys of his grand piano with pristine precision with his partner's echoing voice.

The last one was…

…was…

"Welcome," a smooth voice intoned, "To the Velvet Room."

…the last of the trio was an elderly man. He was distressingly thin, almost skeletal in his appearance, clad in an immaculately pressed black tuxedo with white gloves. Hunched in his seat at the end of a round table, he was completely bald save for the fringes of white hair on the sides and back of his head. I could have gone on about how his eyes were wide open and bloodshot, how the end of his ears came to form sharp points, or how unnaturally wide his smile was.

But perhaps his most noticeable feature was the long nose he sported. It's not a hyperbole when I say that it was at least a foot in length. It honestly resembled more like a flesh-colored beak than a sensory organ.

Something must have shown on my face, because his smile widened. "Do not be alarmed," he assured me with a light chuckle. "Though you lost unconsciousness while awakening to your power, your body is safely resting in the real world. So there is no cause to be distressed. You are perfectly safe here."

"Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Igor," he said with a slight bow, "And I am most delighted to make your acquaintance, young lady."

[ ] "Wh...where exactly is 'here'?"
[ ] "My…power?"
[ ] Write-in.