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Post by Lillith on Aug 23, 2011 21:00:10 GMT -5
::Far away from the trouble they had just escaped, Lillith, Oliver, and now Clive and Iole had regrouped with Shaft and Kenny in the Chocobo forest. The Inquisition was docked precariously in a clearing, and they had set up a sort of camp near it until Lillith could determine if it was safe for them to return to Leah Garden yet. At the moment, the sorceress was just finishing up a conversation into her scrying mirror::
So it's pretty clear now that I was never there, right?
Headmaster Cid: You should have seen the look on her face when the security footage only showed her speaking to a crow.
But of course, you'll continue to investigate.
Cid: Of course. Can't very well leave all these loose ends now can we.
Wouldn't dream of it. Thank you Cid, I owe you one.
Cid: No, Garden and Rainii owe you. President Loire has been trying for some time now to get us to start investigation of Triceutical, but there was never any evidence to warrant one. Now we have our in, though not quite for the reason we were expecting.
It was my pleasure.
Cid: One thing that does have me wondering though, how exactly did Balamb Garden get the jurisdicition over this investigation?
::Lillith smiled slyly::
Miss Bardi was right about one thing. Clive is very good with computers.
Cid: I didn't hear that.
Hear what?
Cid: That's my girl. Cid out.
::And with that, the mirror went blank::
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Post by Oliver on Aug 23, 2011 21:21:26 GMT -5
There in the Chocobo forest, Oliver stood aloft, awkwardly. Once again, things hadn't gone nearly as planned - this trend was beginning to trouble him. Planning was never his expertise but this was starting to seem like a grand joke, he was better than these near-failures. He kept himself busy during their brief break by working on equipment, prepping for anything else that may come their way. After a short while he spied Iole wandering about and choked up - she didn't appear happy.
He debated for a time if he should approach her and say something - after their last time together, he was hesitant. She could be a frightening woman when she was upset. He swallowed his fear and pride, stood and approached.
"Uh... Iole?" He called, coming up behind her like a beaten dog to their master. "About Triceutical tower - I... I was curious about - about 'ow - about 'ow." He kept rambling, trying to find the right words.
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Post by Iole on Aug 23, 2011 22:35:10 GMT -5
::Iole's back had been turned to him with her arms folded. She turned slowly, and when their eyes met they were as still as lakewater, just as they had been in Triceutical. The tension in the air hung heavy, like choking mists in a forest. Oliver felt dizzy suddenly, and the ground slammed into his shoulder. As his senses slowly returned, the taste of blood in his mouth was what made him realize her fist had split his lip. He looked up at her as she shook her knuckles off. And when she spoke, her voice was cold enough to freeze his blood:: How what? www.youtube.com/watch?v=v83gu2bvZfE
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Post by Oliver on Aug 26, 2011 15:41:03 GMT -5
He grabbed and rubbed his jaw, mind jarred and ears ringing. It was if he had just gotten hit by a truck. He looked up to Iole with a little trickle of blood dribbling out from the side of his mouth. He had not expected her to strike him. He didn't know domestic abuse was in her vocabulary, least nothing to this degree.
"Eh! Not t'at I probab'y didn't deserve t'at. But w'y ya 'it me!?" He cracked his jaw back into its sockets. "T'at 'urt." He shook his head, trying to get back his senses. "I was ask'in 'ow ye got into Triceutical - but forget it. Ooww." He moaned out.
Clive watched, snicerking. "Ohhhhhh, got a two-seven-three-David in progress." He said under his breath
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Post by Lillith on Aug 26, 2011 16:00:09 GMT -5
::Lillith stepped to Clive's side, placing a hand on her hip, her face full of motherly concern that had come so naturally to her over the years. She sighed::
I'd better let them work this one out themselves.
Come on Clive. They need to talk, and it would be best if they did it alone. In the meantime...
::Her eyes narrowed suddenly as her hand shot out of nowhere and clamped hard onto Clive's ear, pulling his face closer to her::
I think you and I need to have a long talk of our own wouldn't you say?
::She dragged him away promptly to another part of the clearing, her ears deaf to whatever protest he raised::
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Post by Iole on Aug 26, 2011 16:13:08 GMT -5
::When Oliver was back on his feet, Iole was fuming. He wasn't sure if the blow to the head was making him imagine things, but to him it looked like smoke was coming out of her nose. Despite that, he also managed to catch that her eyes had begun to swim, and she was using everything she had to hold the tears back::
You leave me in Freya for over a year, carrying your child, to go off on another suicide mission, and you have the nerve to ask me why I hit you?!
::With each emphasis, she landed an additional punch to his arm. Not as forceful as the first one, but enough to make him shrink away from her a little. And he could feel them getting less forceful with each one::
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Post by Oliver on Aug 26, 2011 17:55:59 GMT -5
Iole could be downright frightening when she was angry and, strangely, Oliver liked that about her - even if it did result in bruises and the constant threat of being incinerated. It was endearing, really. This however was a time to try and watch his words, something he was never good at. He tried to redirect the argument.
"Ya' an' imagine my surprise w'en ye cut me an' Clive out of t'at vent?" He winced everytime she punched his arm. "Speak'in of w'ich, w'ere is my c'ild?" He rubs his forehead with two fingers. "I 'ad planned to be back before t'e birt'. I'm sorry, A stórín - t'ings didn't go as planned w'en that bitc' in b'ack s'owed up." He knew there was no point in fighting or justifying himself, but he couldn't help but try. "An' it wasn't a suicide mission. I wouldn't put ye t'rough t'at again and we already 'ad been over t'is before I left."
((There, Iole now has a cute little endearing pet name from Oliver that keeps with his theme.))
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Post by Iole on Aug 26, 2011 18:15:17 GMT -5
(OOC: I think I missed what you were implying there. The accent is really heavy in that post)
::He reached for her in his attempt at an apology, but she quickly batted his furry hands away, holding her own up defensively::
Don't touch me, and don't pretend to care now.
::She lowered her hands, and he could visibly see some of her strength leave::
It's too late for that now.
::She had failed to hold back her tears at this point. Nevertheless, she looked him in his one remaining eye::
Your....
::She began harshly, but she stopped and her voice became low and sad::
Our child died in my arms the night I gave birth.
::She couldn't meet his gaze anymore. She lowered her eyes to the ground::
It was a boy if you wanted to know. He had your eyes.
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Post by Oliver on Aug 26, 2011 21:00:18 GMT -5
The moment those words left Iole's lips 'Our child died', Oliver's world died away. It was as if his insides suddenly begun to rot, his brain turned to mush, and his entirety left him. He gasped for words as anger and sadness budded inside him. He wanted to strike out and hit Iole, blaming her for what happened to his son, his son of all things. Everything he had done, he felt, since he left had now been for naught. What horror this news brought, and he staggered back, falling to his knees in defeat. He tried to cry but tears wouldn't come, all he could do was exhale soft, strained 'no' of disbelief. His stomached curled in horror, and sank into himself in disbelief. He couldn't move, just lay there on his knees like a corpse. A lifetime of dreams that he had built up since first hearing the news washed away into a nightmare. It was made worse by how Iole seemed so detached from it, as their son meant nothing. He didn't know what to say, he didn't know what to do, all he could do was stare up at her in utter shock and disbelief. His one eye staring straight into her soul, begging for forgiveness and comfort. Though he never knew the child, his son, he felt as if a piece of him had been ripped away, trampled upon and mocked.
"How..?" His voice begged and pleaded, quivering.
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Post by Iole on Aug 27, 2011 0:20:13 GMT -5
::Iole's eyes were streaming now as the same emotions that were rollicking through his being spun around in them; grief, heartache, guilt, and pain::
It was me. I couldn't nurse him. He wouldn't let me. There was no other way for him to eat. I... I'm sorry.
::He saw her reach for him, her hand quivering to touch him, to wrap her arms around him, to bury her face into his chest like he had missed every day he had been away from her. But she didn't follow through. Instead, she turned and walked back into the Inquisition::
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Post by Oliver on Aug 27, 2011 0:52:57 GMT -5
Oliver sat on the ground, wallowing in the grass and dirt. He was struck dumb, completely detached from everything around him. All he could do was retreat into his mind, into memories he wished to happen, watch them play out in his mind. Everything he wished he could of done with his son, everything he was denied by his own father's death. He beat himself up inside, saying that had he been there, he could of done something, saved him. And what struck him most was how callous Iole was. He didn't make any sense, or did it? The strange mixing of genes, he never even thought it could happen in the first place, perchance it couldn't and the pregnancy was just a fluke. A horrible joke played on both of them.
He watched her walk away, unable to speak other than to mutter some garbled words that made little sense. He so desperately wanted to be angry; at her, at himself, at anyone, as if it would make this more palatable. From this moment on, he felt things would never be the same. The history he had planned with her and their child shattered and now laid before him like a broken mirror.
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Post by Iole on Aug 27, 2011 1:00:44 GMT -5
::Iole reached the Inquisition's gangplank and Shaft greeted her courteously::
Shaft: Good to see you again squirt. How have you...
::But she brushed past him without a word::
Shaft: Or... not.
::Inside, she headed straight for the galley, tore open the fridge with such force she shook it, and grabbed something without even looking at it. It was meat and that's all she needed to know. Then she slammed the fridge shut, pressed her back against it and sank to the floor. She took the meat in both hands and bit furiously into it, tearing it apart in her jaws as tears streamed down her eyes. When she couldn't supress the sobs anymore, she nearly choked on her third mouthful. Her whole frame began to shake with her sobbing now::
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Post by Lillith on Aug 27, 2011 1:05:07 GMT -5
::Lillith was the first to find Oliver::
Alright, we're clear to get back to Leah Garden, and Clive has an appointment in my office every thursday for the next three....
::She stopped when she saw his state::
Oliver?
::When he didn't respond, she reached for his the same way Iole had. She placed her hand on his shoulder::
Oliver, what's wrong?
::Again he wasn't speaking to her. The more non-responisive he seemed, the tighter she pulled him to her, bringing her fingers into his hair, and rubbing his back, concern bordering on fear making her short of breath::
Oliver, say something. What's the matter?
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Post by Oliver on Aug 27, 2011 1:20:11 GMT -5
Oliver didn't respond, he just stared off blankly into the treeline. Caught up in his own regret and horror. Boiling self-loathing bubbling up inside him, if only he could of held him, even briefly - given him his name and soothed him however he could. He could almost believe that this was Yersinia or the Internal Affairs doing, to take everything good in his life away. He remained silent for a few moments longer, then just begun to mutter incoherently and monotone.
"'e's dead... I can't be'ieve it. Never even - dear gods... w'y? I s'ould of known, w'y didn't I feel somet'ing? 'e was a'part of me... an' I didn't feel a t'ing. W'y wasn't I t'ere - I mig't of been able to do somet'ing, anyt'ing. I'm sorry... so sorry." He wanted to cry, but he couldn't, he didn't know how - not for something like this. It was a pain beyond measure for him. He fell over, forehead hitting the ground. His claws dragging into the grass and soft soil, clasping for a sense of reality. Then came a horrible shriek, unearthly, ungodly, a wail that only the morning could produce. It was ear piercing and horrible. He banged his fists into the earth as the shriek waned away, till it become a soft whimper and Oliver spoke no more, just sputter inconsistencies and regrets.
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Post by Lillith on Aug 27, 2011 1:27:39 GMT -5
::What little she could piece together from his words, and the unearthly sound of his grief was all that she needed to understand what had happened. Perhaps it was because she and Oliver were so close. Maybe it was because she was a mother herself. Or maybe it was just that sound, that unmistakable sound that even the trees seem to droop in the wake of its inconcievable morning. Whatever it was, Lillith knew what had happened, and now she couldn't think of anything to say. She bent down and took his arm, slinging it over her shoulder and helping him to his feet. His weight made the already vertically challenged sorceress a few inches shorter::
Come on Oliver. Let's go home. It'll be alright, I promise.
::But tears began to spill from her eyes at the hollow sound of her own words. Would she believe it if it had been her son? It was far from being alright. And it would be far from alright for a long long time::
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Post by Oliver on Aug 27, 2011 1:40:13 GMT -5
Oliver didn't speak, but allowed Lilltih to take him up by the arm and lead him into the Inquisition. He didn't speak and the wail had ceased, he just stammered on beside Lillith into the vessel, like a zombie - distant and stale. It was as if his soul had given up on life but his body lagged behind, moving autonomously through the world.
Clive, on the other hand, was quite rambunctious. He had wandered back inside before Lillith and Oliver and was combing the vessel for anything he could scrounge - namely gil left in on odd places and items of use left in even odder places. In his search, he happens upon Iole, he sits, quietly sobbing as she chows into a hunk of meat - it was slightly unnerving.
"Think I'll just check another deck-" He said, slowly backing out of the galley.
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