fandomhigh | Detention, Depths of the Castle, Monday

Entry tags:

detention

Detention, Depths of the Castle, Monday

Morning had broken in Fandom, and another day in detention was about to begin, the same as every other day.

For the moment, things were as quiet as they probably ever got, while everyone was still resting on their cots, women on one side of the magical black cloth barrier, men on the other. Soon, those who had managed to sleep would be woken by the ever-cheerful voice of Dolores Umbridge coming from the loudspeakers, ordering them to rise. The barrier would disappear, and whatever bland, tasteless substance they were calling breakfast today would appear instead. After that, those in detention were free to do whatever they wanted ... if they could find anything to do that didn't break one of the island's rules, or that could be done while trapped away from everyone else.

But really, the days of those in detention weren't that slow. Soon enough, visiting hours would start, and there wouldn't be nearly as much boredom then.

[OCD is up, have at it!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I am being too predictable," Raven sighed. The first few times she'd done that had been much more satisfying. "But you hate it anyway. One day I will leave the door open, and you not even try to escape until it is too late."

//Keep telling yourself that. I've been down here for two... three? For years, now. If I haven't broken now, I'm not bloody well going to during your lifetime.//

He was a being of pure psionic energy.

And energy couldn't be destroyed. It was one of the fundamental rules of the universe. He could wait her out. He could wait everything out. The trouble was, not many other people down here could afford to.

"But you were already broken before you even came here," Raven said. "You were normal once, were you not? Before you became this monstrous half of a man you are now. How much did the flames rip away, aside from flesh? Friends? Family? Your future?"

She leaned in as much as she dared to bring her lips closer to his ear. "Love?"

Jonothon wasn't going to let her get to him. He wasn't going to dwell on what she was saying. He couldn't. But that word. That one word, and he was closing his eyes and shuddering bodily.

Gayle.

//Wasn't meant to be.//

He didn't believe that. He didn't believe that one bit.

Now there was a reaction she liked. "Maybe it was once, but who could love you now?" she said. "Who would wish to touch you? Well. Perhaps out of pity."

//Doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference, will it? Not if I'm going to be here for a while.//

A wrenching feeling through his insides. His flames shifted to blue and he couldn't quite look up.

//Don't want pity. Don't need it.//

"It does not matter if you want it, you have it, and you know it," Raven said, gleefully cruel as she seized on the shift in his emotions.

She gestured about the room. "Everyone here pities you. Their lives are unpleasant...but at least they are not you."

And if Jono had a jaw, he'd be clenching his teeth as he tried to grab hold of logic and reason with both hands and cling.

//Well, then I'm glad I can provide them that much,// he fairly hissed, balling his hands into fists. //If I have it that much worse than the lot of them and I'm still holding on, then they can do bloody near anything, can't they?//

Jonothon Starsmore, setting a positive example in a hideous way.

"You think they look upon you as an example?" Raven scoffed. "If it is not pity in their eyes when they look at you, then it is relief, at least, that you have so much of my attention. You are not an example. They are just glad to not be you. Do you want me to make you feel it? All the pity they have?"

//I don't know why you bother asking. If I say no, you'll just do it regardless.//

Bait the empath, Jono. Go right ahead. She was, at least, right about one thing. If she was standing here and tormenting him, at least she wasn't hurting anybody else.

//Let's see how much of a monster I am in their eyes, shall we?//

"Because I like to watch you squiiiiirm," Raven sang. "Even if you try to hide it, I can still feel it. And I told you, you taste delicious."

She cocked her head and pointed at him again, circling her finger as she gathered emotion to fling at him. But she changed her mind. No, he was braced for pity. Instead she took another route and sent him the feel of lips moving over his. Well. If he'd had any.

That was absolutely not what Jono had been expecting, and his eyes went wide at the sudden sensation of a mouth that wasn't there, his hands flying to where his lips would have been. No. No, it was all just scars and flames and emptiness, but that feeling, tender and familiar and a lifetime behind him like some sort of waking dream.

He jerked his hands away from his face as though they'd been burned, and then closed his eyes tightly shut, balling his shaking hands into fists. Nothing. It was nothing. It was just her, trying to twist his mind into knots. And it had felt so real, leaving him feeling dirty and desperate at the same time. Something he'd never feel again. But.

But it had been her.

Raven liked that, and she almost squealed in delight as she clasped her hands. Love was just another emotion, another tool in her arsenal.

"They may all think you are a monster, Jono," she whispered, sending him another gentle kiss. "But I do not. I can give you love. All you have to do is give in. I know you want to. I can feel it."

Another kiss, and Jonothon keened forward, eyes tightly shut, hands grabbing at flames in a desperate attempt to make it stop. She spoke of love...

//You wouldn't... know love if it walked... up t'you and took you in... its arms.//

Jonothon had been in love before. Whatever it was that this monster was talking about, it was only parody, hollowed out and filled with something that approximated passion. But it would never be love.

Raven just smiled, drinking in his desperation, ignoring the little voice in her head that was begging her to stop. But after a moment she did relent, not wanting to overdo it too soon.

"That is enough for now, I think," she said, sitting back on her heels. "Perhaps tomorrow I will be back for more."

She giggled again, just thinking of him dreading that.

//Don't keep me waiting,// he managed, even while his eyes were directed toward the floor, glowing orange with barely restrained rage. //Wouldn't want to toy with my heart like that, would you?//

If he'd been capable of spitting in her face, he would have.

"You do not have a heart," Raven said sweetly as she stood up. "But I can make you think you do. Goodbye for now, Jono. Pleasant dreams."

There was a veiled threat in her smile. If she ever managed to find him sleeping, she'd have so much fun in his dreams.

No better way, really, to ensure that Jonothon wasn't going to sleep tonight.

His only reply was silence. Silence, and the red-hot flicker of flames as he shuddered again, not looking up from the floor until he was certain she had left.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Detention, Depths of the Castle, Monday

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]

Re: Visiting Hours [07/23]