erantmind:
‘ i can speculate as to what scares you so bone-deep that you seek not to rebuild what once was your empire within the larger empire. ’ he watches her reactions and sighs. he had grown up being told of her like: that filthy vernacular and those anger-ridden, scarred hands are meant to be the thing of nightmares for young boys of the abbey: fear them wisely and heresy shall never take hold of your heart. the very corner of elia’s lip twitches, before his expression falls calculatedly flat once more. ‘ …black sally has always been but a horror story to boys like me. i care not for her. rather, i would see the woman in front of me sleep a full night in peace. if she would only stop fearing every unknown thing that crosses her path in her dreams. ’
‘ ya’ know, ellia, when i was a kid... i could do this little card trick, ‘ sally begins, morose and with fingers tucked beneath her chin. she licks her lips as she thinks and a strange, thick energy sticks to her every syllable. she is an echo, a shadow within a shadow -- faded, dark, ever distant. ‘ it started out innocent enough; i would spin my tricks for a spare coin behind the whorehouse, ‘ a sneer, that strange shiver only she can feel, ‘ and then like vultures, the watch would swoop in, take whatever we had ‘round the back alleys. didn’t matter if we were starvin’. they took it all. ‘ her fingers unfurl, long save for her right pinky, they fan out across the grime coating the table that lay bare between the both of them. ‘ so one day, i starts to get real sick of starving -- and at this point, i’m also fuckin’ sick of cards. so that night when the watch comes ‘round i get real curious. and it just so happens that if I take my knife -- and use it.. no one will suspect a thing from a kid like me. ’
she sighs and there is a long pause. sally takes a good look at the brand; it is burned into her skin yet somehow she doesn’t remember the pain. all she remembers is that fear, the kind that burns deep down inside. ‘ and that’s all i knew growin’ up -- blood and coin. that’s all it was to me, killin’ and fuckin’ and squeezin’ folks out of their last meal; sure as hell didn’t deserve a second chance, don’t know what the fuck to do with it anyhow -- but here I am to ruin it all over again; and I don’t even remember my fuckin’ card trick. ‘
