FIRE IN THE SKY (SLAUGHTER)

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

By now they had drawn the attention of the crowds and a circle had formed around them. No one knew what to make of the ordeal, or too many people didn't care. Two hybrids scrapping it out? As long as one ended up dead the world was a better place, right? T.R. noticed them as darkness crept at the edge of her vision, the oxygen to her brain being deprived. She didn't care about death, but a new fire burned inside of her that wanted to make all these people suffer.

Then she could breath again, and the body under her was gone. Teleportation. T.R. immediately identified it, but she reflexively coughed and rasped as she regained the air in her lungs. Her gaze turned to the girl standing not too far off with a sword handy, confusion running rampant on her face. T.R. giggled again, though it was broken by a cough in the middle. There would be a bruise around her neck, but T.R. didn't care. If she didn't care at all about her own death why would she care about such things as bruises?

With a whirl of body movements she was on her feet with that deadly bladed hoop of hers in her hand. She spun it on her arm a few times before digging it into the ground in front of her, her foot stepping on the inside as she leaned right against the blades. Of course she knew that they wouldn't hurt her, but it didn't fail to draw a gasp or two from the onlookers. T.R. didn't care as her gaze focused on the Oocca hybrid, as she was now identified, standing directly across from her with a katana in hand.

"Why what?" she cooed with that innocent tune she so perfected over the years. I was merely acting out of self-preservation, deary, or a natural urge to make sure whoever kills me is killed themselves. I'm not sure which. You were the one who started to choke me. Up until then we were having a grand time. Few people get that close to me, you know, and most of them would kill for the treatment you got. So maybe I should ask you why. Why did you start trying to kill me?" she asked with a pout, leaning against her hoop and resting her chin on her crossed arms.

[Slaughter]

"I-I thought you were going to hurt me," Slaughter stammered nervously, feeling desperately unwanted tears building up behind her eyelids.

And that was the name of the game, wasn't it? Hurt before you are hurt. Kill before you are killed. If Slaughter ever felt like she was threatened in any way, she immediately saw red. "When you began t-touching me, I thought you were going to . . . I'm sorry," she muttered softly. So she had mistakenly made another false assumption. That was nothing new.

Fall apart, all alone.
Run away, run away.

Slaughter refused to bring down her weapon, unrelenting, untrusting. Why was her life so precious anyway? Why did she take such care to guard it? After pondering for a few moments, she ultimately came to the conclusion that in fact, it wasn't valuable at all. Yet still, something compelled her to keep her blade up-- that unnecessary human emotion bestowed, or rather cursed, upon her at birth: fear.

"I never wanted to hurt you."

Slaughter stayed quiet for a few more moments, before opening her mouth again to speak. Her voice was shaky, and the tone uneven.
"I'm vulnerable. Is this what you wanted? Somebody to toy with, somebody to play with? Well, here I am.

And you're right. You're right about everything. I am a nobody looking for that something to make me somebody. I am hurt and I want a place to run to! I do! I want somewhere to call home. So congratulations, you're smarter than I let you think. Though I am sure you didn't need the reassurance from me."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

T.R. eyed the apparent breakdown her prey was having. Her head tilted to the side as she let Slaughter have her say, and then she broke out in giggles once more. That was her default state of being, it seemed, and if T.R. wasn't giggling then something must be really wrong. She lifted her head from her crossed arms and lowered her foot from the inside of the hoop to the ground before gripping it and pulling it out of the ground. The thing was a lot heavier than people thought, but then T.R. was much stronger than one would think just by looking at her.

With one heft of her arm the hoop flew upward. Before it could finish the arc it disappeared entirely and wasn't seen anymore. It wasn't necessary. Still shaking with giggles T.R. began forward toward the girl and her little sword. She stepped inside of Slaughter's reach, the back of a single clawed finger running down the blade and pushing it gently aside as she grinned maliciously at the girl. "Oh my, oh my, aren't you a poor little thing," she said as her lips pressed close to Slaughter's ear before she walked onward, behind her.

"You don't realize, do you? You're not important in this world. You're nothing. Hybrid scum just like me, looked down upon by all these people," she cooed, turning and pointing her arm over Slaughter's shoulder so the girl could see, waving her hand toward all the people who were gathered around. If I wanted a toy I could have one in each and every one of these ignorant peons. If I wanted a toy I could make one out of any single person at my whim." T.R. possessed a mentality that easily overwhelmed people. There'd once been a therapist who'd tried to know her mind.

The man's brains colored the cobblestone not a week later, from his own doing.

"You're vulnerable and that's what I wanted, yes, but not so I could toy with you." T.R. said soothingly, turning her back to Slaughter as she examined the tree idly. "My dear I'm trying to help you, to strengthen you. In order to do that I must break down those feeble walls you call defense until you are helpless and help you craft a veritable fortress from the ruins. In order to help you become stronger, to prepare you for the future when the hybrids will rise I must see the true you, without your defenses, and gauge your strengths, help you clear the confusion and set you on the right path," she concluded, turning around and giggling innocently.

[Slaughter]

"Y-you'll help me?" Slaughter echoed breathlessly. She wasn't even sure what this woman was going on about. All this talk of hybrids rising up-- rising up to do what? Slaughter wasn't sure about the mechanics of this grand scheme that this woman seemed to obsess over; all Slaughter knew was that Tabula Rasa was offering her help and a plan-- a set course of action. Something that she desperately wanted. Slaughter wanted a meaning, she wanted a divine path to follow.

"What do I have to do?" Slaughter asked, lowering her katana about an inch or so. She wondered what Tabula's plan entailed, and of course she couldn't help but second guess herself. Slaughter never thought of herself as the gullible type, and that was why she was somewhat of a loner. She didn't trust others, she didn't follow anybody or give into any of their temptations. But here she was now, wanting nothing more than somebody to cling onto.

Slaughter nervously began to bite down on her lip; she had to think this through in a calculating, logical flow of thinking. Surely if she kept her wits about her, Tabula wouldn't be able to rope her into anything she didn't want to do; meanwhile, she could discover some things about the world around her, and maybe she would even come to see eye to eye on Tabula's plan.

"Tell me more."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

Logical thought only worked with logical thought. Trying to put logic into T.R.'s methods would totally boggle the mind, as she was entirely illogical. Who tries to help someone by harming them? To be fair T.R. never once actually harmed Slaughter, but those claws had come close. She knew exactly how much pressure it required to break the skin, and how to gauge just how delicate that skin was. T.R. had been doing this for a long time, and though her methods seemed to work, there was no rhythm to her madness.

"Do? Why, my dear, there isn't a lot to do just yet but get stronger. I have seen the vessel and the vessel is fit. It won't be long before fire rains on Hyrule and the hybrids are brought to justice, to balance the injustices we've had to face all our lives. Until his coming we must wait, be patient and grow stronger. But until then, too, there is no reason for us to suffer injustices we don't wish to suffer. These people still gawk, even as I bring attention to their gawking. They look away when I look at them, because they know exactly what injustices I speak of."

T.R. stepped forward and lowered her voice to a whisper so that only Slaughter could hear. "Each life is worth only what is put into it. Each life is worthless if squandered. But a single life could easily radiate stronger than a dozen if handled right. Your life is just as valuable as mine if you want it to be and work hard at it. Right now there is nothing for you to do but add value to your life that when the fire rains down your injustices would be seen to personally."

She giggled wildly and did a little pirouette. "In the meantime you need to strengthen that will, that resolve. Would you really have cut me down? No, definitely not, you barely know which end of that sword to hold. You would hurt me, you would struggle to survive, but when the time came that you could deal the final blow you would hesitate and that would be your downfall. Tell me, my dear Slaughter, when your hands were around my neck would you have continued to hold them there after I lost conscious and you could've pushed me off?" A wide, devious grin spread across T.R.'s face. "Perhaps that should be our first step. Perhaps I should help you live up to that name."

[Slaughter]

Slaughter continued to hold her katana out as she listened to the string of words that came out of Tabula's mouth, one after the other. She pursed her lips, before a giggle of her own escaped from them.

"That is where you are wrong," she said, almost in a whisper. She considered everything that the other female had told her, but it still didn't make sense to Slaughter. She wasn't laying out any concrete plans before her, and instead spewing a bunch of grandiose pseudo-prophecies about Hybrids getting revenge. Revenge for what?

Slaughter sighed, wondering if she was going to get a straightforward answer from the girl.

"I would have killed you."

Tabula didn't need to believe Slaughter. Talk was ever cheap, and bluffs dominated language. For some unknown, incomprehensible reason or another, Slaughter valued her insignificant life; she didn't know why, but she would safeguard it until she found an answer to that question.

"What is it that we need to get revenge for?" Slaughter posed the question, anticipating nothing but word salad as a response, but it didn't hurt to try. She wondered if Tabula Rasa's idea of becoming stronger was simply nothing more than desensitizing yourself to logic, and also to feeling; it was a road that Slaughter was quickly losing interest in. Slaughter didn't want to lose what little she had left of her pathos; she wanted to salvage that last little bit of relatability she had with those around her.

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

You try to rescue someone from the brink of destruction and what do you get? Skepticism. All well, it wasn't her loss. While T.R. did see the value in each hybrid life, if that life was squandered on ignorance then it might as well be considered forfeit. She'd rather not waste the time of day preaching to those that didn't wish to understand. She watched Slaughter carefully, and saw all those familiar signs. T.R. could only sigh. Somewhere deep within that mess of thought and unthought that was her mind there was a part of her that had hoped this one would be different.

"When we drew our weapons what happened? People gathered around. But were they going to stop us? No. And do you know why? We're hybrids; our blood is no more valuable to them than the dirt. They saw us draw our weapons on one another and suddenly took interest because it was a free show. Those are the injustices that we face on a daily basis. I have seen you, I know you've faced them. Your mixed blood was a factor in every decision ever made for you as a child, it worked its way into every aspect of your life. But why? Why should that be?

"It scares them, you see? We have the potential for greatness, we have the potential to become better than them. And the fact that it's often hard to discern a hybrid from a pure-blood on appearances alone makes us all the more terrifying. We could be anywhere, and they don't like this fact." T.R. paused as she was working herself up with her own words; this was a message she believed at the core of her being. "There is tell of one blessed by Din herself, a hybrid just like us, from long ago. Tell that he will rise once more and bring fire down on the unworthy, to purify the world of the injustices the hybrids face every day."

T.R. paused. She'd already said this much. "He exists within the mixed blood of another, and I have seen this other myself. He bears the signs. The time is coming. You can either be there to greet him and receive compensation for your faith, or be one of the many who deny. Either way you will be saved, I can assure you of that, though on what scale is a different question."

[Slaughter]

Slaughter stayed silent for a few passing moments, just trying to digest all the information that Tabula had divulged. She couldn't help but be skeptical. All of the plans and accusations against others had no real foundation to them-- at least not to Slaughter. Though it may have been due to her rather sheltered life living at home in a small village with her human father, Slaughter had never experienced any noteworthy injustices against her just because she was a half-blood. She couldn't be sure that it wasn't to happen though now that she was on her own. Especially when she finally reached the City in the Sky. Would the Oocca there be friendly to her? Would they welcome her? Or would she be cast out and ostracized because of the circumstances under which she was born?

She wasn't sure what she should do, so she just stood there in that same spot for a bit longer; her arms were beginning to get tired.

"I would like to meet him," she finally said.

She wasn't exactly sure what this person Tabula mentioned was like, but if there were others who believed as strongly as she did about this message, then perhaps it was worth checking out. Of course, she figured this seemingly celestial being, would not be quite so easy to get in contact with.

"Who is the person that he resides in?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.