Keb @brookkeb - Tumblr Blog

Emptiness

lephantomerik-deactivated201406

Keb resembled a similar forlorn expression to Erik’s own pitiful thoughts. He wondered for the first time since their return, if there were others that endured the same suffering he had. If Keb’s feelings were anything like his, Erik knew that bringing up such news wouldn’t comfort her, not unless she shared her sorrows first. Instead he addressed the secondary topic, which Keb adequately brought to light.

"Ah yes that," Erik said, somewhat absent-minded. "There is no need for you to worry about such things right now. Given the circumstances, I would say my fee is a thing of the past. Consider it a gift for being so gracious from our last happenstance."

He tried his utmost to avoid saying her name, but it was difficult not to. With Keb standing before him, aside from their music lessons, the only other connection he had with her was Anastasia. It made Erik long for the life they had before. It was far from perfect, but he felt far less lonely than he did now.

brookkeb

Something in her teacher's voice caught Keb's attention, and she turned her dark eyes to gaze at him intently. She saw the loss and anguish she was feeling reflected in his own haunted eyes, and pressed her lips together. She had never understood Erik and Anastasia's romance, but she had similarly found it difficult to understand how Bali could love her the way he had. "I doubt I could be as gracious as you've been," she started, turning her eyes away again.

"Something happened during the missing year, didn't it? To you, too? Is she--did she come back to Storybrooke? Bali...Bali hasn't." Her fingers reached for the pendant that wasn't there anymore, a phantom memory.

#lephantomerik #para #rp #ouat rp

brookkeb

Emptiness

lephantomerik-deactivated201406

Erik woke with searing pain pressing against his forehead. He tried to rub away the discomfort he felt, but to no avail. This was a night of many where he had woken in such a fashion. These restless nights had begun during his time in Paris, after the curse had been broken, and continued until he had visited the Underground with the Goblin King. It was Jareth who restored Erik’s memories. Since then, Erik had been determined to reunite with Anastasia. Willing to give up his old life, Erik persuaded his friend to send him to the Enchanted Forest so that he may find Anastasia.

However, a year of memories were once again taken from Erik for recollected nothing of his visit to Anastasia’s world. Had he successfully reunited with his beloved? Or was she lost to him again? That much worried Erik to the bone. The severe stress of it all was clear on his face and seemed to have aged him another decade or so.

Erik peered down at the white dress shirt he wore and eyed the creases and wrinkles with disdain. Halfheartedly, he drug himself from the piano stool and made his way to the showers where he thoroughly soaked his exhausted body.

Deciding that he could no longer linger in the darkness of the opera house, Erik dressed in a fresh set of clothes and ventured off into town. There was no enthusiasm in his step, no music in his head. What beauty he saw in Storybrooke seemed to have dulled since he last remembered. The reality of losing yet another love tore at him constantly until he was numb.

Finding himself at Granny’s, Erik ordered his usual: some bread and a cup of today’s soup. He drank a single glass of red wine, as was his ordinary beverage, and sat down at the bar for once. It was there that a head of familiar brown hair caught his eye.

"Lady Keb?" Erik inquired, some life seemed to return to his voice. It shouldn’t have surprised him to see her in Storybrooke, everyone else seemed to have return. Well, almost everyone. But still, it brought some light back into his eyes as he addressed the young woman sitting next to him.

brookkeb

Keb was startled by the address--it brought her back to the real world, with mixed memories of all the years lost and all the years that felt so strangely close and distant at the same time. Her hand slid to her belt, seeking the reassurance of the heavy gold ball she kept in a pouch there; it remained in place. She turned to Erik with an expression that blended both fear and a touch of relief.

"Maestro," she said softly. Then she glanced around in sudden concern that Anastasia would be there as well--but there was no sign of the redhead. "I--I never got to pay you for my last lesson. You know, before..." Her eyes fell to the countertop, her fingers playing with the ends of the strings that closed the pouch at her waist. So much had happened, and she didn't even know what.

"I--I can get you the money, of course," she said, stumbling over her words. She felt her heart breaking all over again; she didn't need singing lessons now, not if--not if he wasn't there to hear her.

#lephantomerik #para

Emptiness

When Keb woke up in Storybrooke 2.0, she had been back in her old apartment. All the things that she'd taken to Bali's house--were back in their old places. The ring he'd given her, the pendant--there was no trace of them, though in her mind she'd been wearing them only moments before.

And she couldn't understand it, any more than she could understand why she was back in Storybrooke, when the breaking of the curse should have meant she was in Anura. What did it mean that she didn't have the things Bali had given her? She'd driven out to where his estate had been--there was nothing. She began to hear rumors of a missing year, and she wondered what had happened to her beloved in that time. Had Odin changed his mind? Was Bali safe at least? Something in her heart told her he was. The music shop he'd once had in town was quiet and dark, and she couldn't stop the tears from coming as she passed it on her way to Granny's.

She sat down at the bar and ordered some water, feeling like she could never fill the pit of grief in her stomach and it would be dangerous to try.

#open #come play #once upon a portal #ouat rp

A Whole New World || Open

It had been some time since her visit to Aurora's castle, and Keb still had no direction--just a vague drive to keep to herself as much as possible, protect the kitten she'd rescued, and hopefully reunite someday with Bali and her siblings. But it all seemed impossible, and the inexplicably intense emotions she'd felt since Bali had made her immortal--combined with their separation and a return to a world that was strange and new to her now--made her feel far less in control of her magic. She clung to her treasures now, the things that kept her magic at bay, as lifelines.

And she stayed in the woods mostly, avoiding human contact as much as possible. It was easier that way--she wouldn't hurt anyone.

But there were times she had to dart into a town for food or supplies, and today was one of those times. She did not look a lot like a princess in the now rather worn blue dress she wore; it had been picked clean of its pearls and jewels to help pay for things on her journey. She still had a few coins left, though, and entered an inn with a hungry look--a hot meal for her and the cat, a little bit of shopping, and she'd be gone again. Or so was her plan as she sat at a table.