Who wouldn't turn to destruction at that age, after what's happened. [ even though karma was already This Way. the point stands. ] Kate deserves...
[ anyway, maybe it's because he's getting worked up a little for once, or because i owe you a memory oops, but the scene changes abruptly. one reason for all the dead inside-ness. cw: drugs, vaguely alluded child abuse
When you're young, your sister tells you not to go to the mountainside by yourself.
Her concern, while unnecessary, isn't without cause: compared to clan's other children, you are particularly frail. Slower and weaker and more suited for books, your hands better at tending to plants and little sprouts than dealing injury. Your sister is older, and has always been strong. Fighting comes naturally to her, and so she insists on going with you whenever you go to forage, for fear of monsters, poachers, traffickers.
In the end, this is just the sort of relationship you have. Your sister will likely go on to complete assignments for your village, the secluded little hamlet of Karm that excels so famously (infamously) at what it does. And you will support her, learning medicine to keep her alive, and sweet, painless poison to kill her targets. You don't question any of that. Most of the time, you don't even mind listening to her, even through the fussing. You spend time in the shade of Karm's trees and by the cool lakes on sticky days and you laugh and fight and listen to her.
But today is different: today is her coming of age ceremony, and you want to get her something nice.
So you slip away to the mountains near dawn, off to chance upon some rare flower, or a lotus in bloom, or tree nuts that she favors. Your sister, in the meantime, will be undergoing the same ceremony as others her age: take some of the clan's most potent drug, and maintain control through the dosing. It is intimidating on paper, and dated, but simple in practice. Through your research, you know it would take an excess of Trancensia to cause neurological issues. No one has ever catastrophically failed their rites.
You are also distantly aware that the leader's son, ████ is participating. He is a little younger than you, and not meant to be there, but the clan leader has something to prove. You think little of it. You do feel bad for ████, because the adults seem afraid of him and he's not allowed to come out and play with any of you, but you figure—as a child might—that there's a good reason for it. You find some nice flowers, and head back to your village before your family can realize you've snuck away.
But all that awaits you is—noise. Screaming.
Cutting above it all is a shriek you'll remember forever. A young boy, abused and enraged and baleful, his mind utterly overtaken by grief and chemicals. Or maybe it's simply because he's too strong—the drugs your clan uses push mental and physical boundaries, and ████ has always been so incredibly, ferociously quick and powerful, even for a child. As high as he is on Trancensia, he is stronger than the clan leader, the veteran warriors, and the people in your village—your parents, your sister, absolutely everyone and everything.
And so, in his madness, in the face of your clan's utter hubris, he kills all of them. It's not that you're anything special for surviving. You're weaker than the people you watch him cut down, tearing into them with just his nails and bitter hurt and mindless fury. You are a small, violently trembling shadow in the brilliant light of ████'s ability. The truth is: he just happens not to see you amidst the trees. Your sister was wrong. The mountainside was less dangerous than he is.
So you live. So you run. You don't have anywhere to go, your family and everything you've known left dead at your back as you trip along tree roots and your own feet, lungs burning and mind racing, but you run all the same. ]
no subject
Who wouldn't turn to destruction at that age, after what's happened. [ even though karma was already This Way. the point stands. ] Kate deserves...
[ anyway, maybe it's because he's getting worked up a little for once, or because i owe you a memory oops, but the scene changes abruptly. one reason for all the dead inside-ness. cw: drugs, vaguely alluded child abuse
When you're young, your sister tells you not to go to the mountainside by yourself.
Her concern, while unnecessary, isn't without cause: compared to clan's other children, you are particularly frail. Slower and weaker and more suited for books, your hands better at tending to plants and little sprouts than dealing injury. Your sister is older, and has always been strong. Fighting comes naturally to her, and so she insists on going with you whenever you go to forage, for fear of monsters, poachers, traffickers.
In the end, this is just the sort of relationship you have. Your sister will likely go on to complete assignments for your village, the secluded little hamlet of Karm that excels so famously (infamously) at what it does. And you will support her, learning medicine to keep her alive, and sweet, painless poison to kill her targets. You don't question any of that. Most of the time, you don't even mind listening to her, even through the fussing. You spend time in the shade of Karm's trees and by the cool lakes on sticky days and you laugh and fight and listen to her.
But today is different: today is her coming of age ceremony, and you want to get her something nice.
So you slip away to the mountains near dawn, off to chance upon some rare flower, or a lotus in bloom, or tree nuts that she favors. Your sister, in the meantime, will be undergoing the same ceremony as others her age: take some of the clan's most potent drug, and maintain control through the dosing. It is intimidating on paper, and dated, but simple in practice. Through your research, you know it would take an excess of Trancensia to cause neurological issues. No one has ever catastrophically failed their rites.
You are also distantly aware that the leader's son, ████ is participating. He is a little younger than you, and not meant to be there, but the clan leader has something to prove. You think little of it. You do feel bad for ████, because the adults seem afraid of him and he's not allowed to come out and play with any of you, but you figure—as a child might—that there's a good reason for it. You find some nice flowers, and head back to your village before your family can realize you've snuck away.
But all that awaits you is—noise. Screaming.
Cutting above it all is a shriek you'll remember forever. A young boy, abused and enraged and baleful, his mind utterly overtaken by grief and chemicals. Or maybe it's simply because he's too strong—the drugs your clan uses push mental and physical boundaries, and ████ has always been so incredibly, ferociously quick and powerful, even for a child. As high as he is on Trancensia, he is stronger than the clan leader, the veteran warriors, and the people in your village—your parents, your sister, absolutely everyone and everything.
And so, in his madness, in the face of your clan's utter hubris, he kills all of them. It's not that you're anything special for surviving. You're weaker than the people you watch him cut down, tearing into them with just his nails and bitter hurt and mindless fury. You are a small, violently trembling shadow in the brilliant light of ████'s ability. The truth is: he just happens not to see you amidst the trees. Your sister was wrong. The mountainside was less dangerous than he is.
So you live. So you run. You don't have anywhere to go, your family and everything you've known left dead at your back as you trip along tree roots and your own feet, lungs burning and mind racing, but you run all the same. ]