- Joined
- Jul 19, 2013
- Messages
- 864
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__She focused on the rock, her brow furrowing, all of her mental concentration honed in on that single, fist-sized stone. Unsurprisingly, and for what felt like the hundred-millionth time that day, it did not budge. It did not waver. Not a single movement could she elicit from that damnable pebble.
__Her fist clenched, and she wanted to turn 'round, let the anger in her face show. But she didn't. She knew what her punishment would be if she did. Calm, discipline, control. These were what she knew, what she must master. Her usually pink hair was tinged with a dash of crimson, a color not given by any dye. Her stomach slowly expanded as she drew in a deep breath through her nose, her hair color returning to normal. Even if she did burst out, nothing she would do would call anyone there. She was alone, she thought, as alone as the pebble that lay at her feet. It stared at her, mocking.
With a flash, she jumped up from her sitting position, the red returned to her hair in full force, and she rounded on the forest, darkness flashing in her eyes. The lines of trees were inscrutable as always, which only served to exacerbate her anger.
__It took the entirety of her remaining will to not strike out against the stoic sentinels she stood in front of, and as she let her hands relax, the blood-red locks of her short-cropped hair began to fade back to a lighter shade. She opened her mouth to speak, but she knew that none would hear, so she abandoned her efforts and closed it once more.
__The girl turned to face the rock again, flopping onto the ground, her legs crossed beneath her. The wind whistled past, stirring what leaves remained on the trees. Those trees never stopped rustling, even when their branches were entirely bare, and when no wind could logically penetrate their inner cores. As she gathered her mind's energy, she began to focus on her hatred of those unending droves of bark-clad sentinels, directing that emotion towards the rock. As her eyes bore into whatever soul the pebble had, it trembled for a split-second, and before she could register her accomplishment, it shot off into the forest, disappearing between the trunks, without striking a single one.
Elated, she leapt up, throwing her fist into the air, her hair turning a golden-yellow, stark against the white trees that surrounded her. Certain that she had accomplished her goal, she waited for him to appear. When he did, he arrived as he always had, without a word, greeting, or any noise at all.
__The young woman was still celebrating her victory when she realized he had come. She turned towards him, expecting to see something akin to pride, or perhaps satisfaction. His face was as masked as the trees' as he said, "Failure State: Achieved." His robotic, monotone voice did not fit his appearance, but as the grove and the forest faded around her, his disguise flickered. "Simulation: Offline." The voice now matched the bearer, and before her stood a suitably-mechanical being, a silvery-grey droid who bowed to the young woman.
__"I wish you didn't say I achieved failure," she replied. "It sounds so... sarcastic."
"You know I would never be sarcastic, Miss Ethiel." If she hadn't been so accustomed to picking up on the slight tonal variations in the droid's voice, she might have thought he was being sincere. Of course, she was aware of them, and so she didn't think he was. With a cursory salute towards the gunmetal automaton, she strode off, a stripe of scarlet creeping back into her locks.
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