[PRP] The Unfound (Temperance & ???)

[The Semblance of Unity]

The mannequin fell again, and she discarded her thoughts of the beast for it. She ran over, slipping again on the mud and muck under her unshod feet. Placing her hand on the mannequin, she spoke, watching the shifting of its face.

"What can I do to help you?" Keeping her right hand on him, she fished around in her pocket for something - ah, nothing. taking her hands off of him briefly, she tore a neat strip off of her shirt, grateful that the worst of the mud had slicked her legs. Temperance felt a near-hysterical laugh bubble in her throat and swallowed it back down. She moved her hands over the ichor, wishing she had more than a bundle of gauze. Normally, she'd try to pinch wound edges closer, then bind them... but were they even flesh? She had to try.

Her hands moved quickly; she made sure her back was not to the beast.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Strange eyes were there briefly, blinking at her as she tried to help. Fingers pressed to her skin. Nothing, we will heal in time. A pause. Thank you.

Though her efforts would close the slashes but then-

These marks left behind would be familiar to her. Hadn't she seen them before?

The beast had fallen silent, the barrier no longer a barrier but a small ... cage?

It was hard metal and the smoke cleared away. Unconscious within it was now a small chipmunk. The tallest of their number, the one in a business suit, was joined by another just like it and approached the cage to pick it up.

The emblem had disappeared.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She paused, thinking, looking down at the half-faceless mannequin on the ground. "Please refrain from putting undue strain on the affected areas until you heal." Then, she raised her head to look at the cage. Of course it would be just as before.

"How... how many of those.. Dee... destroyers are there?"

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

One of the faceless in business suits came to her. It lowered down to look at her. Hair was there, eyes as well, but they faded in and out of view in a soft glow. Fingers touched her cheek; it was a gentle, soft touch.

There is only one. It's head tilted, studying her. Were there more, there would be too much death.

The faceless she helped touched it's face before it simply nodded, the movement strangely fluid and smooth, before it was picking itself up to slip back amongst the crowd of them that had come.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She breathed out a sigh of relief. Too much added up for it to be another, but still, Murphy's Law. "Will you keep it in the theater again?" Her blue eyes were wide and shell-shocked, but that was a feeling for later. Temperance knew now that it had to be controlled, that it was cruetly and, she swallowed, some measure of cruelty deserved it in turn? She shook her head.

"Why... why do you have and not have a face?" She was very studiously not thinking about the way Per's body had looked as he was dashed into the air and then eaten.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

Those who could into their power see the collective consciousness for what it is. It inclined his head towards her, as if this was a given.

You are out of place, it said a moment later. This is not where you should be but you were meant to be here. The Destroyer will be kept where the most of us gather.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She frowned at the first sentence. Temperance knew the faceless were pretty weird, but that just made them sound like Borg. She wondered how he'd react if she called him Locutus.

Shifting uncomfortably, she glanced at the cage. "If I... were meant to be here, Per would not have been... killed." She shouldn't have been here, that was correct.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

You misunderstand, the voices spoke to her kindly, this is what must be. You were meant to see this and the little ones were meant to not make it this time.

There was a brief expression visible. Sympathy. All things, Temperance, have an end as much as they have a beginning. Nothing lasts.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Meant to be... Her expression twisted. Fate. No, she thought. Fate and 'meant to be's were false; they lied and said no one was at fault, no other outcome. They took away responsibility and the possibility of change. Fate was grief's counselor and religion's dependent and it was fake.

"Nothing lasts, but they didn't have to die." Dee had been right in some things, one thing: this was on her. She'd been pushing off the realization, but now Temperance let it settle across her shoulders like a cloak. There were acceptable ends and unacceptable, preventable ones. She knew which one this was.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

And some other time they might have but not this time. What is, is. A shake of it's head, fingers squeezing Temperance's. Would you honor their memory, perhaps?

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Knowing there was some alternate universe where they survived did not make the guilt she felt lessen. Temperance swallowed.

"How can I do that?"

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

A hand flicked out and one of the other faceless walked forward and dropped something in the business suit's hand. It was then pressed into Temperance's, her fingers closed over it.

What remains. You must look after it.

Within her hand, when she looked, was the small crystallized skull of a squirrel.

The Semblance of Unity

you now have ...

per's impermanence

this small crystallized skull is all that remains of the creatures that lived in other ashdown park. within other ashdown a small, shadowy squirrel shaped familiar will take form around the skull and is able to carry out small tasks for temperance. it is not capable of speech, much like any pet, but seems to understand temperance just fine. within ashdown it can only be summoned for a limited amount of time (a couple hours at most) and is harder to see.

congratulations, you've got a haunted squirrel skull.

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Slowly, she opened her fingers. When she saw the skull, Temperance almost dropped it out of surprise. "I... I..." A skull. Tiny, it looked fragile but it was crystalline. A reminder.

"I... okay. I-I will," She closed her fingers around it again.

ashdown whaler

 

[Ashdown Whaler]

That is all you can do, dreamer. The faceless looked up once more, it's face constantly in flux, and then back to Temperance.

We will make a way back for you. This is not your place and you must return it. With a flick of it's hand, a portal flared to life between an archway made of broken tree limbs. Temperance was nudged to walk through.

The cage with the Destroyer in it was already gone, only the faceless in a business suit remained.

Once through she would find herself back in Ashdown, not long after she had left it to cross over.

The Semblance of Unity

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