mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
It's past dark, but when you need the outhouse, you need the outhouse.

Isabel picks her way across the yard of her father's house in the moonlight, hoping to sneak back into bed without waking him.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
A silent shadow descends from the sky in a long swoop. Enormous talons close on her shoulders. With one beat of its great soft wings, the giant owl carries her off into the sky.
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
All hope of not waking her father evaporates. She screams.

But of course her father cannot do anything.

"Put me down! Let me go!"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The giant owl either cannot hear her, cannot understand her, or does not care. It flies higher.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
Isabel does her best to reach up despite the grip on her shoulders and pick at its talons. She doesn't want to fall, but if she could somehow - climb its leg, maybe, pull out its feathers till it lands -
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Until now it has been holding her quite gently.

Now it tightens its grip, slowly, until its talons pierce her skin and she starts to bleed.
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
Isabel shrieks. Owls can hear well, can't they? Maybe it will find her too annoying to carry if she just screams and screams - maybe it will at least hold her gently again if she screams when it squeezes.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
It eases off again. They're traveling quite fast; already the countryside zipping past far below is nothing she would recognize.
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
Isabel quiets her screams when it lets go of her. The scenery would be amazing, beautiful, if only she could fly over it herself - instead she feels like she might throw up.

She does throw up.

It doesn't really help.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The owl flies on, covering what must be hundreds of miles of strange land. They pass over forest, river, farm, lake, another forest, another farm, another river.

Another lake.

There is a castle beside this one, a lonely-looking place with high walls and higher towers. Along the nearest shore, a cluster of young women in white dresses huddles under the owl's shadow. It swoops low, low enough for Isabella to see their frightened faces looking up at her, then drops her on her feet a quarter of the way around the lake.

And then it is not a giant owl at all, but a man in a long feathered cape, his hands digging into her shoulders as he spins her around and scowls thunderously into her face.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
Isabel stumbles when dropped, but his grip won't let her fall. She looks around in bewilderment at the lake, at the owl-man looming over her. "Where am I - why did you take me - what's going on -?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Silence," he growls, shaking her by the shoulders.
mute_pen: (stop)
Author: mute_pen
"You can't just kidnap me -"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He gives her a shove that sends her sprawling across the dewy grass.

"I am the Baron von Rothbart," he says, "and I can do what I please with you, Odette."

That is not her name.

But the word crackles in the air, and the talon-marks in her shoulders sting like they've been immersed in something noxious, and no other name is available to her anymore.
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
Odette shrieks - it hurts, she's afraid - and clutches one hand at one shoulder, one at her head, her name, her name -
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The sting fades. The talon-marks are gone. So are her clothes; she wears a white dress of feather-patterned lace, like the other girls who are now just barely visible a long way off behind the Baron.

"Listen to me," the Baron commands. His voice fills her ears. "This is your new home. When the sun rises, you will leave this shape and live as a swan for the day. When the sun sets, you will go ashore and live as a woman for the night. When I summon you, you will come to me. You cannot escape. You cannot drown yourself. There is but a single way to free you: if you win an unclaimed heart - if one who has never loved before swears to love you forever - then the curse will be broken. Until then, my swan—" He smiles and gathers his cape around him. "Welcome home."

The giant owl hoots softly, then takes off.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Odette sits.

She touches her uninjured shoulder, gingerly, then with greater puzzlement.

She runs over his words, committing them to memory; she has nothing to write with here.

She gets up and she stumbles towards the other girls.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The other girls are all huddled together on the shore, a few minutes' walk from where the Baron dropped her. None of them is speaking or doing very much.

There is a certain physical resemblance between all of them, her included. Their height, the colour of their skin and hair, the shape of their faces.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"H-hello," says Odette.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
No one says anything. They look at her uncomprehendingly.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I'm -"

Odette.

That's not her name - she doesn't even seem to be able to make something up, though, can't tell them she's called Bianka or Ingrid or Verena, it won't stick, the sentence won't happen.

She is almost too stunned to be angry, but she is angry enough to be twisty about it. She's not going to go by Odette. She's - she's going to nickname herself, that's it.

"I'm Etty. Who are you?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
One of the women opens her mouth and makes a birdlike whistling sound.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Can... you understand me?" Etty asks, stepping forward, frowning. "Nod if you can't speak."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
A different woman squawks and edges nervously backward.

No one nods.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
"What happened to you?"
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
It should be fairly clear at this point that no coherent answer is forthcoming, and indeed there isn't.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
Yeah, Etty's getting that.

Keeping a half an eye on the... flock of girls... she starts a circuit of the lake, venturing away from shore into the surrounding forest periodically, scoping out her - new home, pessimistically; starting point from which she'll venture to rescue, optimistically. She wants hiding places in which to stash things she may acquire; sources of food, like nuts or berries, because she has no idea what she'll be fed or how regularly; and any interestingly shaped rocks that could allow the creation of tools. Or weapons. Maybe she can alternatively break the curse by stabbing the bastard.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
There are some interestingly shaped rocks around, and plenty of trees and bushes, some of which are indeed the sort that produce nuts or berries. In fact there is even an orchard next to the castle, surrounded by a wall but with the gate unlocked.
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
Etty takes inventory of the orchard, and takes some fruit for right then - food helps one to stay awake, and if she's going to turn into a bird at dawn, she's going to be as nocturnal as possible to make the most of having hands. She's also going to try flying away, of course, but if that worked -

Then there probably wouldn't be a flock of braindead girls who look so much like her at the lake, now, would there.

On the other hand she can easily believe that none of them were particularly clever about less straightforward means of escape. Maybe she can cut his cloak and he won't be able to fly and then - well, she'll have to think this through now, even without that he'll be easily able to overpower her. She'll think.

She wishes she had paper.

She finishes her circuit of the lake and goes back through the orchard to investigate the castle itself.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The front door of the castle is enormous, forbidding, and closed.

There are other doors.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
Etty... considers the value of information very high right now.

She tries a side door.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The side door creaks rustily open.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty slips in with as little creaking as she can manage, judges the wind gentle enough not to slam the door shut if she declines to re-close it, and proceeds into the castle cautiously.
growcrooked: (⑮ caught in my)
Author: growcrooked




In the distance, someone is crying.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
...

Etty follows that sound.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
It leads her, with a few acoustic detours, to a room at the top of a tower. It's a beautiful room, containing beautiful furniture and a beautiful canopied bed, and in the bed is a girl who may or may not be beautiful under normal circumstances but is currently red-eyed and tear-streaked and cocooned in a tangle of beautiful sheets.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"...Hello," breathes Etty.
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
She blinks and sniffs and looks at Etty.

"Oh," she says, her voice wavering. "You must be the new one."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"...I guess."
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
The girl wipes her face distractedly with one hand and swings her legs over the edge of the bed, not particularly bothered that her sheet cocoon is gradually sliding off.

"Did he bring you just now?"
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Tonight. I don't know how many minutes. I walked around the lake first."
growcrooked: (⑫ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
She nods.

"Why'd you come up here?"
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"I was - exploring - and I heard you."
growcrooked: (⑨ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Nobody else ever did that."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"They can't have all been so - despairing as to not even look for tools to get away in the obvious places. Can they? Whatever they are now." A shudder of fear goes through her. "Will that happen to me?"
growcrooked: (⑦ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"It takes years," says the stranger. "Years and years. I don't know how many. And then when you're too far gone he'll find another one."
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"What are we for?"

And -

"They all look my age."
growcrooked: (⑪ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"So do I," she snorts. "It doesn't mean anything. You're for the Baron. I don't know what he does with you; I've never looked."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Who are you, why are you here?"
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
"The Baron is my father."
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen




"Oh."
growcrooked: (⑫ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"I hate him," she adds. "I want to kill him. But we're both immortal, as long as there's a flock..."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"He told me how to break the curse, for some reason, but even if I assume he's telling the truth..."
growcrooked: (⑦ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Of course he did. He's not going to let you do it. The last time a man fell in love with Odette, he wrapped me in spells and made me go seduce him."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"And now I suppose he's made it even harder to. Meet people, than it was then," murmrs Etty. "- Don't call me Odette. I can't remember what it should be instead, but. Etty."
growcrooked: (⑤ all we need is spark)
Author: growcrooked
"Don't call me Odile," says the girl, smiling crookedly. "But I can't think of anything I like better."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"...Do you want me to think of something?"
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"If you want," she shrugs.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"I'll think about it," Etty says. "...Is it safe for me to be here? Do you ever come out to the lake?"
growcrooked: (⑪ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"I've never done it before. I don't know what he'll do if he finds you here. Probably not anything you'll like."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"That would be in keeping with the trend. Does he come to this room much?"
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
"Plenty."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Etty considers this.

She looks around the room for hiding places.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
Under the bed is probably the best prospect.

Not-Odile watches her curiously.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I'm trying to figure out where to hide if he comes up the stairs while I'm here."
growcrooked: (⑪ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
The sheet wrapped around her shoulders has been falling off all this time; it finally drops away.

"He'll know you're here, I bet," she says. "He always knows where I'm hiding."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty - looks a moment longer than really seems prudent, then drops her eyes.

"How does he do it? More magic?"
growcrooked: (⑫ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"Probably," she says, declining to cover herself.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Are - you sure you wouldn't rather - put on some clothes -?"
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"...Why?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Most people prefer it, in company."
growcrooked: (⑨ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't think you're going to fuck me, so what do I care?"
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty swallows. This person is the only friendly individual remotely accessible. If she wants any help getting out she'll have to accommodate her, at least on minor subjects. "As you like."
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
"...Something wrong?"
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"Apart from my having been kidnapped and cursed?"
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
She shrugs. "Guess not, then."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"So someone managed to claim an unclaimed heart before? How did that happen?"
growcrooked: (⑫ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"Some prince was out hunting and almost shot her, then she turned human and he was smitten on the spot, apparently. He was very sweet to her. When the Baron sent me to him it was the best a man has ever treated me."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"- Then what happened?"
growcrooked: (⑪ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"He found out I wasn't really Odette and panicked and went to her and they threw themselves in the lake. When they died it loosed the flock and the Baron had to run and get another one to get his immortality back. I wish I'd killed him when I had the chance."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"He specified that I couldn't drown myself."
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
She snorts.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I haven't tested it," Etty adds.
growcrooked: (⑦ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Are you going to?"
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"Things would have to be worse than they have been so far. Or I'd have to be able to accomplish a lot by dying that I couldn't do any other way."
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
She shrugs.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"You really don't know what he's going to do with me?"
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"I hear him shouting at them sometimes," she offers. "He does that a lot. To me, too."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"Why? What about?"
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"He tells me I'm a baron's daughter and I need to act like it," she says. "You, he named after my mother, so maybe he'll scream at you for leaving him."
mute_pen: (stop)
Author: mute_pen
"He named me after your mother?". Etty does not have words for how twisted that is.
growcrooked: (⑫ leave me alone)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know if he'll want to fuck you, but it wouldn't surprise me," she adds.
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
"I - I - thank you for warning me," whispers Etty.
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter shrugs.

"You're welcome, I suppose. Me, I wouldn't wager that it helps to know ahead of time."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Perhaps, but - it would not be a pleasant surprise."
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
"True enough."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Do you know - any details about how the curse works? If I am the first to do something so obvious as walk through an unlocked door there might be hope."
growcrooked: (⑫ leave me alone)
Author: growcrooked
"Less than you do, I think. Except - when the Baron sent me to seduce that prince, I was supposed to make him say he loved me."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"Something about the unclaimed heart. Probably. If he said he loved you then his heart wouldn't be properly unclaimed for his Odette?"
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"I guess. He didn't give me reasons."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"You said man, earlier - he didn't specify - his omission or were you just supposing...?"

Etty has known about herself for years and kept quiet, but here there is information to be gained and so little to lose.
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"There's only ever been the one, and he was a man."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"But as far as you know the curse doesn't care."
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know at all."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Mm."

There is a question to ask of this (stark naked) girl, but it could offend; Etty will save it till she's sure there is nothing else she needs from her.

"Do you know what's the first thing to go when Odettes - deteriorate? And - is there any way I could get something to write with, and on?"
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know anything about the early times," she says, shaking her head. "I can give you pens and inks and books, that's simple enough -" and she gets up, abandoning her sheets, and rummages in the drawers of an enormous oak desk.
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"Thank you," says Etty, heartfelt. "...What do you know about the later times?"

She thinks of blank staring faces. And swan sounds. And shivers.
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
"I've been to the lake when he was out looking for a new one," she says. "I've seen what they're like when they're all used up."

She returns carrying a blank scroll, a pen, and an inkwell, all of which she hands to Etty.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"...Yeah. So've I. Do you think it's sudden or gradual?"
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
"Gradual. That's how the magic works," she says. "If he took them all at once he couldn't use them to make us immortal."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"...So if I break the curse you're going to die."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Not right away," she says. "Unless I try to kill him and he kills me first. I just won't be young and beautiful forever anymore. But I'm tired of being young and beautiful."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Of being young and beautiful," murmurs Etty, "or just of the circumstances you have to do it in?"
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
She snorts. "It's the same thing, isn't it? I don't really think I can kill him. I just know I'm going to try, next chance I get."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"What makes him hard to kill besides the part where he's immortal?"
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"He's twice my size, a trained swordsman, a sorcerer, and sometimes when I look at him I can't think for screaming?"
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"...Those are all things that might make someone hard to kill."

Etty thinks.

"How does one learn sorcery?"
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know. I've tried. I've picked up a few things just living with him, but when he caught me with one of his books—" She shakes her head. "I catch fire if I try the library door, now."
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
Etty hisses a sharp indrawn breath. "Eegh."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"So I can light candles and freeze raindrops and make my rooms tidy themselves, but I can't do anything useful."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"I take it the spells for candles and raindrops won't work on a person. At least not him."
growcrooked: (⑫ leave me alone)
Author: growcrooked
"You think I've never tried lighting his beard on fire? He put it out. I suppose I could freeze a drop of his spit but I don't see how it'd help."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"I was thinking freezing his blood. Or the fluid in his spine, or his brain."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"One raindrop's worth at a time, when I can't see any of it? Stabbing him would be surer."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"A small ice crystal in the heart could - well, if it were sharp, otherwise I suppose it would just melt harmlessly," muses Etty, nibbling her lip.
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
"You've a vicious turn of mind," she snorts. "I like that. But he's by far a better mage than I am. If I try a little trick like that, he'll catch me, and then he'll be on his guard and it'll be that much harder to get him on the next try."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"I didn't have a vicious turn of mind until a few hours ago. Adversity makes me creative."

And:

"Pardon me if I offend. But. I don't suppose by any chance you have never loved before?"
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
"Not once."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty lets the obvious conclusions hang in the air for a moment.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Do you want me to try loving you?"
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"Absent other ways out. If you could."
growcrooked: (⑤ all we need is spark)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know," she says, perching on the edge of her bed. "I've never tried."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I don't think I'm unlovable. Although I've tried to avoid - attention - from men in my village, and doubt any women would have dared tell me if they were interested any more than I cared to chance whispering to them."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Avoiding attention," she says. "Isn't that a dream."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Perhaps we'll be out of here soon. Or if not me," she shrugs, "then - the next, I suppose, or the one after, if this goes on indefinitely, and you'd still have the chance to save yourself and all who'd have come after."
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
"I'll try with you," she decides. "You, I like."
mute_pen: (private)
Author: mute_pen
Etty smiles a little bit. "Let me know if I can do anything in particular to help."
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"Well, tell me about you," she suggests. "I hardly know anything about who you are. Maybe princes can fall in love with just a pretty face, but I think I need a little more to go on."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty sits on the floor and pulls her knees up to her chin. "I grew up in Astgabels. In Diotaland - are we even still in Diotaland? I have little enough sense of geography that I don't know how far he carried me. My mother died when I was small so it's just been me and my father, Carl. He's the sheriff. I kept house, but I had time to read - I was friends with the bookseller's daughter; she'd loan me things - and write. I mostly write about my own thoughts. I spend a lot of time in my head. That's what I wanted this for," and she lifts the blank scroll. "Especially since now I must fear forgetting - everything. Not just slippery brief thoughts."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"We're in Diotaland," she says. "Though my knowledge of geography isn't much better. I've only ever left the lake that once."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"I have not often traveled either. To a few neighboring towns, to buy things, not otherwise. But unworldly though I may be, I am puzzled about why the Kaiser calmly tolerates a baron who has been routinely kidnapping and draining the minds out of girls."
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
"Doesn't know, doesn't care, couldn't do anything about it if he did?" she suggests. "One of those, or maybe all three."
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"Perhaps. Although - if it takes years to drain each, if the flock I saw is the second - there may have been more than one Kaiser since this began. I have heard that the royal court employs a sorcerer. Perhaps he is not a very good sorcerer, or the rumor was mistaken."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"Oh, it's been lifetimes," she says, nodding. "When the prince came, it was his mother who ruled. That must have been fifty years back at least. Maybe more like a hundred."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"You haven't been counting," observes Etty.
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
"What would be the point?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"To know. To have an idea of how much the world outside the lake and the castle might have changed since the last time you had a look."
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"I'm probably never going to see the world outside the lake again. I don't have anything to look forward to except my father's death or mine, and after the prince I was sure I'd never see either, until you showed up. Now - " She sighs. "I have no idea."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Carl must be frantic. I'm sure I woke him when I screamed or he might have gone without noticing till dawn, but..."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Is he likely to make trouble about you? The baron might have gone to kill him, if so."
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"Sorry," she adds.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty covers her face with both hands and attempts to cry very quietly.
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
For a few seconds, she just watches.

Then she picks up a blanket and wraps it gently around Etty's shoulders.
mute_pen: (stop)
Author: mute_pen
Etty tucks the blanket in around herself and continues to weep. "I know your father is - is who he is - but mine, I love him, and he would make trouble, does the Baron know that? How would he know, when he just picked me up out of the yard...?"
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"He would've been watching you first," she says. "He does that. He's gone for months, sometimes, when he's looking for a new Odette. Has to find just the right one."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
Etty whimpers.
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter leads her gently to the bed and sits her down and hugs her.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty cries on her shoulder, quite effectively distracted from the nudity at this point.
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
"You can cry all you want," she says, "I don't mind."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"I think," sniffs Etty, "I'll be done soon. It won't help him if I cry. Or me, or you, or anyone."

There's an odd creeping warm feeling up her back. Sunrise approaching, maybe, she has no idea what it feels like to turn into a swan, but when she lifts her head and wipes the blur out of her eyes the sky out the window is as dark and starry as before.
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter hugs her some more. "I know what you mean," she murmurs. "But sometimes I cry anyway."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I know," says Etty ruefully, and she hugs back.
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
Hugs. Snuggly blankety hugs.
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"I am so afraid of losing my mind," Etty murmurs. "Of writing so carefully so I don't forget and one day looking at the scroll and not remembering what it's for, or not being able to read it."
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"I know," she says. "It'll be years, at least. Years and years."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Depends on what goes first. I don't know why he cares if Odettes have minds left, but it's probably not for our literacy or our introspection."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't think what the Baron wants matters that much to how the spell works, or there wouldn't be a way to break it like there is."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"Did he just - find the entire curse in a book, or is part of how you build spells a matter of obeying restrictions like allowing a way to break them?"
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
I'm supposed to know?" she snorts. "I just know he wouldn't have made it like that if he'd had a choice."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"No," agrees Etty, sighing, "I suppose he wouldn't. How do you light candles and freeze raindrops?"
growcrooked: (⑤ all we need is spark)
Author: growcrooked
"With magic," she says, leaning her head on Etty's shoulder. "I don't know how to teach it; I've never tried before."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"But - what do you do, are there steps or is it just like lifting your arm?" Tentatively, thoughtfully, Etty lifts her hand to rest it on the other girl's hair.
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
She snuggles up a little, smiling.

"I just look at the candle," she yawns, "and make it burn. It takes a little time, but it's more fun than the other way."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Hm."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Hm?"
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"...It's not almost dawn, is it? I feel - odd."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't think so. The sky's still dark."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"That's what I thought. There's this odd warm feeling. But if I'm not about to turn into a swan I don't know what it could be."
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"I have warm feelings too," she offers.
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
Etty blinks. "Do you think it's the same thing?"
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"...Mm?"
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"My odd warm feeling and your odd warm feeling. Do you think they're related or were you just saying?"
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
"Mine's not odd at all. It's nice, I like it."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Mine's - nice, I guess, it's just confusing, it's like someone's laid their arm against my spine and has their hand on the back of my neck. And I don't know why that should be because that's not where your arm actually is."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Oh. Mine's not like that," says the baron's daughter.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"What is it, then?"
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Warm," she says. "And nice. Do you want to come into bed with me?"
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"We're already sitting on - I - what do you mean?"
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"I mean do you want to come into bed with me and share my blankets and hug like we're doing," she says. "I'd like that."
mute_pen: (private)
Author: mute_pen
Etty thinks about this, then nods and repositions.
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter crawls under the blankets with her and snuggles up, tucking her arm around Etty's waist and putting her head on Etty's shoulder again.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
This is comfy.

And Etty has been up all night.

"I might fall asleep," she mumbles.
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
"Is it bad if you do? I could pinch you to keep you awake," she offers.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Well," says Etty. "Soon enough I'll turn into a swan. I don't know if I'll start out knowing how to fly, so I might not like to be put out the window."
growcrooked: (① allow me the pleasure)
Author: growcrooked
She laughs.

"I'll carry you out the gate."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"You think he's - away, then. Going back to Astgabels."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know where he is, but he's not here."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"All right. Am I going to think like a swan when I'm a swan, do you know?"
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
"If you do, I'm going to have a hell of a time getting you out of my room," she giggles.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Yes, probably," says Etty with a weak chuckle.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter hugs her.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Hugs.

Etty really may fall asleep.

She closes her eyes.
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
Snuggle snuggle.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Sleepy and warm and sleepy -

Etty drops off into sleep and begins murmuring soft words.
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
It's sweet. She smiles.

Eventually, dawn comes, and the baron's daughter is cuddling a white swan with beautiful soft feathers.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
The transformation doesn't wake Etty; she sleeps a few hours longer.

And then she opens her eyes.

Being a swan is strange. It doesn't hurt - it doesn't feel like she's been mangled into this shape - but it's not fully natural either; she's the bird equivalent of an infant who can't find her toes. (Though she is a grown swan, not a cygnet. She figures this out in the course of learning how to operate her spectacularly flexible neck; her wings and feet are quite pinned in the cuddling.)
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter sleeps on.
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
She really is very pretty.

Etty bends her neck every which way, which takes a long while given all the options, and then she starts trying to extract a wing.
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
The blankets aren't so tangled as to make escape truly impossible.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
With her wings out, Etty manages to fumble her way across the bed so she won't disturb the baron's daughter as she experiments with the new joints and the sensation of wind resistance when she moves. Her feet also take some figuring; the knees bend the wrong way and she's got the wrong number of toes.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter wakes.

"Oh, you," she murmurs. "Aren't you pretty."
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty dips her head.
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
"You are," she says, delighted. "D'you want the window or the door?"
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
Etty's pretty sure she can't really walk, let alone fly - though she's definitely going to try flying, soon - and she turns her head in the direction of the door.
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
"Okay."

She walks over and picks Etty up, and then she carries her out of the room and down the tower stairs.
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
Etty nestles comfortably in her arms for this trip. But halfway down the stairs she finds her voice and peeps a soft swan noise.
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Mm? What is it?"
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
Can swans give withering looks? This one is going to try. She cannot answer the question. But she can lift her head up and look over the baron's daughter's shoulder back the way they came.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"Okay," she says, puzzled, and she carries Etty back up.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty points her beak at the scroll and ink and pen.
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"Oh, that," she says, and puts down her armful of swan, and frowns thoughtfully.
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
Etty looks up at her. Surely she can just make two trips if she can make one? But she can't ask.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I'll bring it out to you later," she says, and picks Etty up again.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty nods and settles her head on her own back for the ride. (It's kind of fun to do that once she's gotten over the concern that she will injure herself doing it.)
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
Down they go.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty waits to be put down. Not particularly impatiently. The baron's daughter is pleasant to be held by.
growcrooked: (④ takes a little friction)
Author: growcrooked
Just outside another of the side doors, the baron's daughter puts her down, then leans down and kisses her on the beak.
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
This surprises a little sound out of Etty.
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
She grins.

"Can you get in the orchard?" she asks. "I'll leave your things there."
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty is not sure.

She tries walking a step.

It doesn't work very well, and she's not used to catching herself when she's working with wings instead of arms.
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"...Can you get in there when you're human, though?"
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
Etty nods.
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
She shrugs. "Okay. Then that's where I'll put it. He hardly ever goes there."
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty nods again, then tries walking some more. She's not very good at it; if she thinks through each step in full detail she overbalances halfway through and if she tries to speed up she forgets how her joints work.
growcrooked: (① allow me the pleasure)
Author: growcrooked
She giggles.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty clacks her beak at the baron's daughter. She stumbles over to the water, where at least she can expect to float if she forgets how to work her legs.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter goes back inside.

A little while later, she hides pen and ink and scroll in the orchard.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty divides her day between napping - so she'll be able to stay up all night - and figuring out how swans work. She can flap her wings by the end of the day, but hasn't worked out how to actually take off.

She sits on the shore when the sun starts going down.
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
The other swans all cluster on the shore by the castle as the sun sets.

There is a definite warning - a heaviness in her limbs, a fizzing in her bones. It goes on for a little while, as the sun sinks below the treetops; when the glow is fading from the western horizon, the change finally happens. All at once, she's a woman again, complete with pretty white dress.
mute_pen: (transforming)
Author: mute_pen
Well -

Strange sensation, that, not something she'd do recreationally, but it could be worse.

Etty gets up and heads for the orchard.
growcrooked: (⑤ all we need is spark)
Author: growcrooked
The orchard is right up next to the castle, and of its four walls, the one that it shares with the castle grounds is thick enough to walk on.

Someone is standing on it.
mute_pen: (not broken)
Author: mute_pen
Etty waves.
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
The baron's daughter waves back. She appears to have put on clothes of some kind.

Then she climbs over the edge of the wall and drops to the floor of the orchard. It makes an unpleasant sound when she lands.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Etty blinks.

Then she moves - at a brisk walk; she knows how these legs work but that doesn't mean they work well - around to the gate and into the orchard.
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
She walks up to the orchard gate not long after Etty steps through it.

The clothes are her fathers - is her father's, a shirt and nothing else. It hangs loose, half-buttoned. She isn't wearing shoes. If the fall injured her, she shows no sign of it.
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"- Are you okay? That's - a drop."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I'm immortal," she shrugs. "And the Baron thinks scars are unladylike, so I heal clean."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"But doesn't it hurt?"
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"Not that much. I've had plenty worse."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"I heard a noise, it sounded like you broke a bone."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Yeah, my ankle. It's all better now, see?" She twirls, moving lightly on both feet.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"...I guess you got used to it after however many decades?" ventures Etty uncertainly.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"Breaking bones is nothing new," she agrees.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"Why are you dressed like that?" Etty asks next.
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"I hate wearing my dresses, but it's not comfortable being out here naked."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"What's wrong with your dresses?" She has many complaints about her situation, but her white feather dress isn't really one of them.
growcrooked: (⑫ leave me alone)
Author: growcrooked
"He makes me wear them."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty looks down at her own outfit. "I haven't even been yelled at yet, and yet if I were to list the sources of my displeasure the fact that I did not choose this dress would not rate highly."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"That's you," says the baron's daughter. "I'm me. We're not the same."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"That is true."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"And you might not care about wearing dresses, but I care that my father beats me when I wear clothes he doesn't like, so I do it whenever I don't think he'll catch me."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
Etty nods.

"I thought of some name ideas, today," she says. "While I was trying to learn to work wings."
growcrooked: (① allow me the pleasure)
Author: growcrooked
She smiles.

"Tell me!"
mute_pen: (private)
Author: mute_pen
"My favorite is 'Nona', but if you don't like it I have second and third choices."
growcrooked: (④ takes a little friction)
Author: growcrooked
"Nona's pretty. What are the other ones?"
mute_pen: (private)
Author: mute_pen
"Verena. Saskia."
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
"I like Nona best," she decides, and she gives Etty a hug.
mute_pen: (flight)
Author: mute_pen
Hugs!
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
Hugs. Cuddly snuggly warm lovey hugs.
mute_pen: (private)
Author: mute_pen
"That odd feeling is back. Well, it didn't leave, but it's changed," observes Etty. "I think it has something to do with you."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Maybe it's the spell, telling you I love you."
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"- Do you?"
growcrooked: (④ takes a little friction)
Author: growcrooked
"I've never done it before, how should I know? But I like you plenty," she says, snuggling her some more.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
Hugs.

"...If the curse tells me, does it tell him, too?"
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know. But I think he would've come roaring back here already if he knew."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Etty nods slowly. "Makes sense."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
Nona shrugs.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Maybe I should pay close attention to when the sensation changes."
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"What for?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty decides to summarize the reason as: "Impatience."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"What's that supposed to mean?"
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"If it's giving me useful information about what's helping, with the cursebreaking - then I could do more of whatever helps," shrugs Etty. "If it's smart feedback, anyway, it might not be."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"What exactly breaks the curse, anyway? Or do you not know?"
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"He said that if someone who has never loved before swears to love me forever, then the curse would be broken."
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"...Do they have to mean it?" she wonders.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"He... didn't say. I suppose you could just try reciting a sentence to that effect, to see."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
She shrugs. "I promise to love you forever," she says.

The curse gives Etty a cold shiver.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"...The spell doesn't like it," Etty reports.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"So I guess I have to mean it," she says. "...How do I mean it?"
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"I don't know. I've never been in love before at all."
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"Well, have you ever kept a promise?"
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"Yes - of course. Little ones."
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"How do they work?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Someone asks me to promise something - Carl asks me to promise to be careful walking in the rain, Annika asks me to have a book back in three days - or seems unsure about something I might do - the butcher's not sure I really only left my coinpurse at home and will pay him tomorrow, the neighbor's not sure I'll tell Carl about needing to repair the fence -" She swallows a little when she mentions her father. "And I say I promise, and it means that I will try particularly hard, that as long as it's in my control it will happen and that I think it is in my control."
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't think loving you is very much in my control," she says. "And forever's a long time."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"It is a very long time," agrees Etty.
growcrooked: (④ takes a little friction)
Author: growcrooked
"I promise I'll do my best to love you forever," she tries.

It's not unpleasant, this time, but it definitely didn't work.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Didn't work," Etty sighs. "Not as - cold, though."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I guess that's better?"
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"I guess."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"Sorry," she says, and hugs her again.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Hugs.

"Where did you hide the paper and pen?"
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"Over here."

She leads Etty to a corner of the orchard where some big loose rocks are piled. The end of the scroll is just peeking out of the gap between two of them.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"...If I leave it here even after writing on it, are you going to read it?"
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know. Do you want me to?"
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"No."
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
"Okay, then I won't." She grins. "I promise."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"You seem sufficiently confused by the concept of promises that I'm not sure what to read into that."
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"Well, you just explained them, didn't you?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"Yes, I suppose I did." She chews her lip. "Don't take it personally if I decide to move it anyway - sometimes I'm paranoid."
growcrooked: (⑤ all we need is spark)
Author: growcrooked
"Okay," she says agreeably.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
It's going to be hard to write in the dark, but she has all night every night to let her eyes adjust, Etty supposes. She starts looking for a flat rock that will be suitable for writing on.
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
There's one on top of the pile that should do nicely.
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
Excellent. And she's not going to be able to see any letters she puts down, yet, and Nona's standing right there, so it is not yet time to do her processing. "Is he still away?"
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I guess he is. He usually goes to the lake first, when he comes home from something."
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"Maybe Carl is hard to kill."
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
"Maybe!"
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"But probably not."
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked


Nona hugs her.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
Hugs.
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
Hug hug.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
"I'm afraid," murmurs Etty. "Of what will happen when he comes back."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"It's scary," says Nona, hugging her. "I'm sorry."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Why is he like this, what happened - or has it always been this way?"
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't remember it that well," she says. "I was - well, about the age I look, when Mother left. A little older when he finally brought her back."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"I'm seventeen," volunteers Etty after a silence.
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't remember how old I am."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"Do you know what year you were born?"
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
She shakes her head.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"It's 1878 now."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
Nona shrugs.
mute_pen: (private)
Author: mute_pen
"Transforming isn't as bad as it could be, and being a swan isn't terrible except that I can't talk - or write," Etty comments idly. "I didn't figure out how to fly today, but I might tomorrow."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"I hope you do," she says. "I bet it's fun."
mute_pen: (transforming)
Author: mute_pen
"I bet it is too."
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
Nona grins.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"I guess you don't turn into any kind of bird."
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
She shakes her head.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"What do you do all day," wonders Etty, "if you can't go into the library anymore?"
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"Eat. Sleep. Cry. Climb things. Fall off of them. Tidy the castle. Fuck myself."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
Etty permits herself a blink at that last.
growcrooked: (⑤ all we need is spark)
Author: growcrooked
"What?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I don't usually hear people talking about that."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"You asked me what I do all day. I do a lot of that."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"I suppose you do have to occupy yourself somehow." She chews her lip. "...Is the bit about catching fire in the library just you, or could I go in?"
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know. But if you catch fire, you might not live through it, so I wouldn't try it if I were you."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"So us swan types are only eternally youthful, and not invulnerable," concludes Etty.
growcrooked: (⑫ leave me alone)
Author: growcrooked
"He could've changed something after the prince, but if he did, I don't know about it."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I'll only try it if I become so bored or desperate as to risk immolation, then."
growcrooked: (② turn out the lights)
Author: growcrooked
"Okay."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"People say burning is the worst death. Are they right?" asks Etty.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"It hurts a lot. I don't know if it's the worst death; I've never died."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"I imagine the dying part is roughly similar in all cases."
growcrooked: (⑩ not that kind)
Author: growcrooked
"I've done a lot of things people die from, but it's different when you're immortal. I've been set on fire and beaten and raped, and I've jumped off the top of the tower and tried to drown myself in the lake and eaten rat poison and broken glass. Fire hurts the most while it's happening, but it doesn't last as long as some of the rest - but I don't know if it'd kill you faster or slower."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty shivers.
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"What?"
mute_pen: (stop)
Author: mute_pen
"It's - gruesome."
growcrooked: (③ write it in your diary)
Author: growcrooked
She laughs.

"That's my life."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Well, maybe it's fixable."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Maybe."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Do you think you could teach me to light - does it have to be candles, or could I burn leaves and tinder and the like? I think I can adjust to this level of moonlight and be able to write, but the moon will wane, and I don't know how - how long it might take to break the curse."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"I have no idea," she says. "But if you light anything, he'll see it from the castle. And there'll be hell to pay if he sees you doing magic, I bet."
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Even if I go deep into the woods? Or as deep as I can, anyway, I don't know yet what's keeping me from walking or flying away but it must exist."
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"Maybe not. And I guess he can't hurt you as bad as he can hurt me, or you'll die and he'll have to find a new flock again."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"Do you know if I heal - clean, like you do? If he breaks my legs or something - for that matter what happens when I transform, if I'm hurt?"
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
Nona shrugs.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
"Well," sighs Etty, "no need to hasten the experiment, I'm sure to trip and scrape my knee soon enough."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"Do you do that a lot?"
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"I'm very clumsy. Even when I'm not adjusting to an unfamiliar body."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Oh." She shrugs again.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty's hands twist together. "Do you suppose it will help," she says, "if I fall in love with you?"
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know. It might. Do you want to?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"- There are reasons to want to. Overall I haven't added them up yet."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"Okay."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox


All of a sudden, the curse gives Etty another inexplicable feeling.

This one is very insistently directional.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
Etty stiffens.

"I think I have to go," she whispers, and she lurches to her feet and stumbles in the direction of the gate.
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
"Good luck," Nona whispers back.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
Etty's shaking by the time she exits the orchard. She trembles her way in the direction the curse pulls her.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Baron is waiting by the lakeshore, wearing his owl-cape.
mute_pen: (stop)
Author: mute_pen
Etty slows down as she gets closer.

She does not - quite - stop, till she's about five feet away.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He beckons her closer. The curse doesn't have anything to say about that.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
She considers asking him what he wants.

But it's clear - at least in terms of what she is meant to be doing right at this moment - what he wants.

And she'll find out the rest of it.

She edges closer, shuffling step by shuffling step, keeping wary eyes on him.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Are you comfortable, my swan?" he inquires.
mute_pen: (stop)
Author: mute_pen
There are so many ways she could answer that.

She swallows, considers which ones will have the least effect on her ability to experiment with others effectively later, and says, "Yes."
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He nods, as though he expected that answer.

"Come up to the castle with me," he says, offering her his arm.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Etty has settled on a general strategy of pretending that this is some kind of civilized and appropriate behavior to which she does not strenuously object. This might make things go smoothly; if it doesn't she will assuredly have opportunities to try other things.

She links her arm with his, swallowing.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Baron smiles, a not especially pleasant expression, and leads her to the main gate. It swings open silently at their approach, and just as silently closes behind them.

They proceed in this way up to a dining hall, where he seats her on his right; he, of course, takes the seat at the head of the table. At a careless wave of his hand, all the dishes fill themselves with food.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
So she's not going to be consistently obliged to live on fruit from the orchard, nor will she have to work out what swans eat. That's - well, she'll decide how good it is after he's done with her. She watches him, waiting for instructions or an example to follow; she has never eaten at a noble's table, let alone this one's.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Eat well, my swan," he says, and starts in on his food. He does not at least seem to hold himself to any high standard of table etiquette.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty concludes that she can serve herself, so she takes samples of everything and tastes them.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
It is mostly delicious and entirely expensive.

The Baron also doesn't seem inclined to make conversation over dinner.
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
This is reasonably likely to be the pleasantest part of the whole evening. Etty makes sure she's got enough food in her to last, and then slows down but diligently continues to interact with her meal.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Eventually, the Baron finishes eating. He claps his hands sharply, and the remaining dishes clear themselves; then he stands and offers Etty his arm again.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
She gets up.

She accepts the offered arm.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He nods approvingly.

"You see, my swan, it is so much better when you keep to your place."
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty ducks her head in a manner that could be interpreted as acknowledgment.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He smiles.

And leads her up a different tower than the one she visited before.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
She follows him.

One of her bare feet slips on the step and she stumbles.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He catches her, holding her steady with his hands on her shoulders.

"You must be more careful, my swan," he murmurs.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty gulps, and nods, and replaces her feet where they are meant to go.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He keeps walking, now with more of his attention on where she puts her feet.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
She doesn't fall again on the way up.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
In that case, they reach his rooms without incident.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Etty is not a perfect actress.

She drags her feet a little, as they go.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Baron frowns.

"Are you shy tonight, my swan?"
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen


"Shy?"

Her skin is crawling, she wants to hide in a closet somewhere forever, and neither person in this room knows her name.

Perhaps this adds up to "shy".
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
He closes the door.

"There's no call to be nervous," he says, putting his arm around her shoulders and steering her toward the bed. "You'll do just fine."
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
"I - I -"

What was her plan if she found herself trapped in a situation where she had to actually marry? She didn't have a good one, really, mostly she'd been hoping desperately for Carl to live to be a hundred. Some combination of feigned illness and unfeigned foul temper and - possibly, if she were very, very lucky - telling the truth. She supposes.

She is not lucky.

Technically her strategy calls for letting him do as he likes - it will least interfere with trying to put him off in this way or that, later, and give her a baseline by which to judge her success or failure - but -

"Not - not tonight - please?" she squeaks.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Shhhh," says the Baron.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
"Please," breathes Etty.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
"Shhhh, my swan."
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
She is not a good enough actress to be his swan according to plan right now.

She hugs herself and bows her head and weeps.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The Baron... does not let that stop him.

He is gentle, but he is not kind. He doesn't seem to expect that she get anything out of it. When he is finished, he kisses her and calls her his swan again and goes to sleep, ignoring her completely.
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
Etty lies still for a minute, paralyzed, and then she gets up and she grabs her dress from where it's crumpled on the floor and she clutches it to her chest and she runs, out the door, down the hall, down the stairs -

She slips.

She falls.

She tumbles and she lands and something breaks and she chokes out a sob.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
Nothing at all happens for at least an hour.
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
Her legs are bruised but not broken. Etty lets herself be a crumpled whimpering heap for fifteen minutes and then she drags herself to her feet by her good arm and steps more carefully to the door.
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
The main doors won't open; the nearest side door is far enough that by the time she finds it, Nona is not far behind.
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
Etty looks at Nona, and opens the door, and goes out into the orchard, and finds a tree to sit under and curl up and go on with her crying.
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
Nona follows her out and curls up next to her.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
This might take a while.
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
That's okay. They have time.
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
Does Nona want to sit there for the next hour listening to Etty sobbing and pretty much ignoring her?
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
Sure.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Then after this hour she will be rewarded with dubious eye contact.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
She doesn't really know what to do.

But, well, here she is.
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"It'll be worse if I don't go next time," whispers Etty. "Won't it."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Yeah, probably," says Nona.
mute_pen: (captive)
Author: mute_pen
"I don't know if I can go, even so."
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"I know," says Nona.
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
"He was pretending such civility. I thought I could put him off. I couldn't."
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
"He does that."
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Does he really think on some level that I - that we - that -" She can't finish the sentence.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't think he cares. About anything. He just wants us to play along, and if we don't, he makes us."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
Etty wipes her eyes with her good hand.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"I'm sorry," she murmurs.
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
Etty bows her head.

"I can't even write. Not left-handed in the dark."
growcrooked: (⑨ all revved up)
Author: growcrooked
"I'm sorry," she says again.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"Tell me what I need to do," Etty says in a low voice, "that you can promise and mean it - tell me who I need to be -"
growcrooked: (⑪ just some heartache)
Author: growcrooked
"...I don't think I can do that," she says. "You're already yourself, and I love you, don't I? I just don't know how to make promises about it."
mute_pen: (stop)
Author: mute_pen
Etty drops her forehead onto her knee and sobs again.
growcrooked: (⑭ love hurts)
Author: growcrooked
Nona curls up a little closer.
mute_pen: (maybe broken)
Author: mute_pen
When they touch, Etty flinches back with a strangled squeak.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
She settles back a little and doesn't say anything.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
"I'm sorry," whispers Etty.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"Why?"
mute_pen: (exhale)
Author: mute_pen
"For - I know you're not him."
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
"Me too. It's okay."
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
Etty scrunches in on herself a bit more.

"I hope my wing is okay in the morning," she murmurs, cradling her hurt elbow.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
"I don't know if it will be."
mute_pen: (hair)
Author: mute_pen
"I don't either. But if it is I can -" She shakes her head ruefully. "Try flying."
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
"I bet flying is fun."
mute_pen: (escape)
Author: mute_pen
"I bet."
growcrooked: (⑬ get ready for the lady)
Author: growcrooked
She sighs.
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
Etty holds her arm in place and is quiet.
growcrooked: (⑧ i am your specialty)
Author: growcrooked
They could probably stay like that for a while.
mute_pen: (diminished)
Author: mute_pen
They could.

Etty's certainly not going anywhere.
growcrooked: (⑦ in the air)
Author: growcrooked
And Nona doesn't want to leave her alone, and she's slept in worse places. So.
mute_pen: (lake)
Author: mute_pen
Etty doesn't fall sleep.

She doesn't usually have nightmares, but there's no time like the present.
growcrooked: (⑥ i'm your black swan)
Author: growcrooked
Nona does fall asleep.
mute_pen: (Default)
Author: mute_pen
Etty sits.

And cries, quietly, intermittently.

And at dawn she looks at the sun.
growcrooked: (Default)
Author: growcrooked
The change comes.

Her wing is whole.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
That's good.

At least she isn't in physical pain anymore.

She tries the wing.

She makes a few false starts, getting lift and then not knowing what to do with it -

And then she's in the air, wobbly but aloft, and she smooths her flight and does her level best to travel in a straight line, away.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
It goes well enough, for a little while, and then - is that the lake up ahead?

It is.
mute_pen: (cygnus)
Author: mute_pen
Etty doesn't understand.

She turns towards the rising sun, flies that way, keeping it ahead of her -
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
And after a few minutes, she comes upon the lake again.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
She tries all the cardinal directions.

To approximately the same effect.

She half-lands, half-crashes into the lake in despair.
pythbox: A book. (Default)
Author: pythbox
The other swans are mildly startled by her splashy landing.
mute_pen: (swan)
Author: mute_pen
Etty ignores them.

She floats.

She puts her head on her back.

She closes her eyes and she sleeps.