AN: So, this is the other half of the story writer posting at this time. My male counterpart decided to go MIA and leave me with some responsibility at this time and all that. But anyways, perhaps you'll recognize our different writing styles and whatnot. So you know, Eris is my character and for me personally, she is a work in progress, still working out her kinks, for she isn't exactly my easiest one. But she has a long road ahead of her, so hopefully you all will see her genuality and fall in love with her like I am beginning to. Like my friend always says, leave a comment or something, feedback is greatly enjoyed and preferred. How're we to get better if no one speaks up?
Eris stood amidst the Athena cabin and her spawn still catching her breath from the scene between 'the great victor' who outdid her at capture the flag last night. She hadn't laughed like that in such a long time, and laughing at another's expense only made it better. Krea had finally retreated back to her cabin after her and Onesimus' fiasco and left Eris alone. I suppose it's just me, myself, and I, Eris thought to herself.
She turned around and fell into a light jog as she scooped up her duffel from the grass. She wasn't in the mood for her normal routine. She decided she would abandon today's schedule and actually return to something she loved. SHe had been heading toward the Coliseum, but as her mind changed direction, her feet followed suite. she headed to the Art Studio on the grove beyond the Big House. As she arrived, she was lightly perspiring, but it was the perfect warm up.
She dressed out, trading her sweatshirt for a leotard and deciding to stay barefoot. She looked out one of the floor to ceiling windows and noted the change in the sky. It had become clouded and dark, silently boding a promise of rain and Eris only hope it would downpour. She would have no music. Only the fleeting notes of memories in her mind to lead her on her course. All of her contemporary routines began rigid and poplike as she contorted her way into positions that emphasized how much of a puppet she fealt like. As she landed a tornadolike leap into a fetal position, her eyes closed and she seemed to transcend from her body and see her rolled into her fetal position. She then saw herself spread herself like a starfish and pull her chest up off from the ground to mimic being on a string. she firmly took her arms and crossed them over her chest as if to fend off her invisible adversary but it was no use, she was a ragdoll to be controlled. Her moves continued stiff and seemingly unwilling, as if someone else possessed her. That's how Eris danced, she conveyed a story, her story, of which she was always very aware of her motions. It was poetry in motion. Every movement infused with emotion. It was possibly when she danced that, that was the only time she could ever be her most vulnerable.
Eris seemingly stopped in front of the studio mirror, but she aimed it to be part of the routine. She took her hand and brought it up to the glass afraid of what seemed to ber her own reflection. But within her mind, it wasn't herself she was fearing, it was the memory of feeling trapped behind glass doors as a secretary from her mother's ballet company dropped her off at an orphanage. She relived the moment intensely and as the memory enveloped her, her body froze...
She remmebered the far too sweet smell of the business car, the permanent silence that demanded to be left in the air, the itchy and uncomfortable pink dress the secretary had her put on before they left her mother's estate. It all was so vivid and clear in her mind. The secretary had pulled up to this unknown building that was in the suburbs of San Diego, California. When she was ushered in she was met with this heavyset squat old woman who had hands that resembled claws more than hands. The secretary pushed Eris into the woman with the clawlike hands and asked for the old woman's signature. The old woman scribbled on the paper haphazardly and shoved it back at the secretary. The secretarymerely adjusted her glasses and straightened her skirt to leave. Without a word she left, and as she looked into the old woman's eyes, she knew there was something there beyong humanity and she ran to the glass door as she watched the sweet smelling car that brought her here, leave, and abandon her.
She turned around and as her gut had said, this old woman was something far beyond humanity. Her hunched back that had her shirt taut, exploded in a flurry of feathers. Her wrinkly face began to grow a nasty beak and her arms began to wrinkle even more. She screeched a high pitch sound and before Eris even questioned what was happening, she unlocked the door and bolted onto the porch over the railing and took off down the gravel road. She chanced a look behind her and saw the creature start charging after her. By this time in Eris' short eleven-year-old lifespan, she had seen a lot and been through much, but she had never encountered this kind of thing. She kept up her sprint and tripped on a rather large rock in the road. Her hands automatically found their way to stop the fall, and her knees broker her landing as she skidded across the gravel. But she didn't stay down long, she kicked herself back into a run as she ran for what she feared was her life. She took a left down a street and came to a ravine that looked to lead to some construction area. she didn't hesitate to slide down the muddy ravine. But looking behind her, neither did the creature. It kept squwking and screeching at her as Eris ran.
Eris came upon great mounds of rocks and industrial dirt as she saw the bird thing start closing on her. Eris scrambled to the top of one the piles, ruining her dress even more. The thing was at the base of the pile and making its way up to Eris. The only thing Eris could imagine were its claws in her skin and beak ripping apart her entrails as it ascended. But what happened then, was a phenomenon to the common eye. Eris had picked up rocks to throw at the creature, but as she threw the few rocks in her hand, a jetstream from the adjacent piles channeled themselves at the creature. Not only pummeling her to the ground, but burying her as well. Eris, took a moment and stared at her hands and looked to the sky. And right above her head, was the bleached white skull in a golden helmet. It glowed brightly over her and when it finally began to fade, she heard a deep gutteral voice, I already claimed you once child, now twice, don't make me remind you who you are again. And with that, the voice went silent. I had no idea what it was, or what had happened. All I knew was, I needed to get away from here. And fast...
Eris returned to the present and looked at herself in the mirror. That was five years ago. She was different now, and stronger, and not nearly as naive and afraid. She knew who she was, she was the girl abandoned by her mother who was left at the doorstep of her immediate death. But, luckily for her, she wasn't easy to dispose of. Eris' hand balled into a fist and slammed on the glass despairingly. She began to drop to her knees as her head leaned onto the mirror as well. The tears wouldn't come, but her body became raked with choking sobs at the memory. She fealt so alone. As if none of her efforts really had any weight. And now she has a quest, a quest as if she was merely raised to be slaughtered.
She calmed herself slowly. It took time, and she figured it was probably time to return and adhere to some part of her original schedule. She changed quickly and headed back towards the Coliseum. She needed to burn some real energy.