[PRP] Belated Demands (Professor Emrys/Amrita)

[Enoh Love]

Amrita was done. She was done. She didn't want to lose days anymore. She didn't want to have to say an embarrassing code words to prove who she was. She didn't want strangers recognizing her with the same familiarity her personal friends did. She didn't want to wake up to stories about the Wasp (as Hel affectionately called her). She didn't want to disappear.

Her burning resolve brought her to Professor Emrys' office. It made her slam her fist against the door in heavy, angry knocks.

"Professor Emrys," She growled out the name, trying to play nice through gritted teeth. "I need to talk to you." She continued to speak to the door, before knocking insistently again.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

The door opened on its own, only partially latched to begin with. The professor gave her bland look over his bowl of soup.

enoh love

 

[Enoh Love]

Her anger quelled in favour of surprise as the door swung open easily. That was…uh…interesting…sure… She stood in the doorway, her expression dumb for a moment or two, before a noise off to the side made her remember what she was here for, and why. First she turned, pointing towards the noise, just out of sight of the door. "You stay there." She ordered to the hallway, before slipping into the Professor's office, leaving the door open behind her.

"I want you to undo whatever you did to me." She informed him, crossing her arms across her stomach in a gesture that made her feel as protected as it did confident. "Please." It didn't seem to matter that he was eating.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

The professor blinked, then lifted his spoon, tongue briefly darting out to taste it but not actually sip. Placing the spoon back down, he answered, "Certainly. What will you replace it with?" A moment and then he added, "Assuming you wish for a continued existence, that is?"

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

Here, Amrita faltered. She clearly hadn't thought that far ahead, but since she was faced with the question now, she felt stupid for not considering it. Her expression changed rapidly, moving from surprise to embarrassment to pain in the matter of a few seconds; she did want to keep existing, of course. It took a great deal for her to not immediately respond with it doesn't matter, just do it. At least she had learned to not be as eager as she was before.

"I just want to be normal again." She started, redirecting her demands a little bit. "I don't want to lose myself to that -" She blanched, coming up with several choice words and even worse names for her alternate self. After another small falter in her attempt to scrounge up some words, Amrita decided to try again.

"You said I'd reach my potential. Mine. The - The Black Queen isn't me! She was a figment of Aymet's imagination who happened to look like me enough that the Horsewoman could sneak me in there to try and save him. That's all she was. You told me I would have to give up my future for my potential, but you didn't tell me I was going to die in favour of someone who never actually existed!" Her voice grew heated towards the end, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. She remembered waking from that initial dream, and wanting so badly to have what the Black Queen possessed; respect, love, strength, confidence and power. But they were all just desired traits both imagined and given to her look-alike in a sick young man's dream. They weren't her, or her future: if anything, she felt that the Black Queen was more Riley as she used to be, than herself in any capacity. She was being forced into a skin that never belonged to her; an amusing thing to happen to a noted body-snatcher.

"I don't want to become her. She was never me, and never real. And I didn't sign up to be a part of whatever you're up to." The dreams. The whispers. The vague memories of dark crystals and twisting vines...they were terrifying.

lizbot

sorry for the delay!

 

[lizbot]

"You did, though," Merlin sighed, abandoning the professor's posture and leaning back in his chair. "But there's no need to quibble over intentions and fine print." He waved her closer and went on, "I can remove my power from you, and you will die or find someone else to restore you at a similar cost. All of that, of course, won't remove her from you. I didn't place her there, and neither did your little friend. There were others whose existence brushed those kingdoms and their personas were discarded like a novel costume. But there are those who cling to them, who continuously breath life in those other selves. I did not create her," he repeated, eyes dark and snapping, something in his face growing near manic with satisfaction, "...and I did not keep her. I simply crowned her."

enoh love

hey speaking of delays....

 

[Enoh Love]

His answer seemed to resonate right down to the very base of her entire being. He could, but she would die. Someone else could try, but the result was the same. No matter what she did. No matter how hard she fought. She was going to die. The last threads of her hope seemed to snap in that moment, under the pressure of his words. It was what she had known all along, deep down.

The steady thump, thump, thump of multiple tails from the straggler in the hallway broke through her own brief misery. There was still something in this life she could strife towards, even while the rest of it crumbled around her. It reminded her that she had come here with a purpose. When she focused again, the false Headmaster's expression was turning manic. Perhaps she had kept her other self alive, all this time. In trying to avoid her, she only put more power into her. That thought was a dangerous one, and so she quickly did her best to shove it aside. Still, she shuddered involuntary at the thought and his expression, and dug her nails into her palms in an attempt to stop it.

"Crowned her?" She repeated, not quite understanding, though she had an idea of what that meant. "But why? To what end?"

lizbot

rofl you're fine!

 

[lizbot]

"I suggest you familiarize yourself with the game of chess. I'm sure there's some quaint local version of it." He makes a dismissive gesture, "Have you made your decision, or do you require more time?"

enoh love