this is the memory that leaves him nauseous. fei du is covering his mouth by the time that it's over. it's nothing against ylfa, just conditioned reflex, but the vividness of it has him as white as a sheet. the hunger, the blood, of making the choice she couldn't come back from, the stark contrast of the red riding hood tale so many children grew up on from the beginning making an eerie dichotomy of fairy tale and reality. eat or be eaten, eat and continue to eat.
(how it feels to be forced into doing something to survive. how it feels to be forced into choices in basal desperation how it feels to be one step from letting those choices consume you - how easy it could be to keep going, to find the huntsman.)
fei du takes a moment to compose himself when it's over - swallows, pushes back the reflex that he conditioned himself to have, and takes a deep breath, and then says, very quietly: ]
...Ylfa. [ he'll let her take the stage, talk first if she wants to talk first. ]
Sorry, I know it's gross and I know you don't like blood.
[she sounds genuinely concerned. the blood and gore doesn't bother her. but it's very strange to be back in that emotion, in that feeling. remembering how, once upon a time, not actually all that long ago, she was a very innocent little girl chasing butterflies in the forest, a girl who didn't believe she was capable of lifting an ax, let alone burying it in the skull of a wolf. her conviction in who she was and what her story was about was a function of being a fairy tale, perhaps, but also not so different from how most children feel. there's the person you are, or think you are, and the way the world is supposed to work. innocents are spared, heroes arrive and save them. or even when they aren't spared, it's a tragedy, the story of a perfect little victim.
but hunger doesn't care if you're a very cute and nice little girl who listens to authority figures and respects her elders. the wolf doesn't care, the world doesn't care. trying to hold onto that doesn't do anything but prolong the inevitable.]
[ he shakes his head, finally pulling his hand away from his mouth. ]
No - it's alright.
[ it's not her fault, anyway, and he doesn't want her to feel concerned about it, considering everything he just saw. the dissociative part of him is reminded, beyond the blood, of a little girl he once knew, too. a nine year old, who couldn't have been more opposite than ylfa, but carried her qualities all the same. a little girl whose life wouldn't let her be innocent, who took it with her and let it rot, let all the ways the world hurt her lash out at all the people she felt were wrong. the dichotomy of the two, combined with the memory from before about choice and agency, about trauma and tragedy, is striking.
his hand taps the inside of his arm now that he drops it - one, two, three, four - and for someone who claims he doesn't have feelings, his expression is soft and thoughtful and quietly understanding, brows pinching. if anyone understands the world that doesn't care, it's him. ]
...You held out for a long time. [ soft. ] Is this the story you went back to? In the first.
...Yeah. But not because I was being brave or anything.
[she'd never thought about the need for courage in her life. she just couldn't imagine doing this. it was like being told to survive she needed to breathe underwater. she didn't hold her breath because it was brave to. she just didn't think the alternative was possible.]
That's right. The first time, I went back home to my family. And that went really, really badly. But the second time, same thing, but I also killed the woodsman.
[ the word comes out quiet and almost rueful. no, he understands. that's not about bravery at all.
he doesn't extrapolate. instead, fei du listens to the explanation, and thinks about the two memories together - slotting the pieces together, holding onto that strangely layered feeling underneath. ]
... How many times have you done a version of this?
[ ... and when this memory ends, fei du's usually collected face is completely shattered. he coughs, violently, collapsing in on himself like he's still choking, hands flexing. ]
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 02:47 pm (UTC)this is the memory that leaves him nauseous. fei du is covering his mouth by the time that it's over. it's nothing against ylfa, just conditioned reflex, but the vividness of it has him as white as a sheet. the hunger, the blood, of making the choice she couldn't come back from, the stark contrast of the red riding hood tale so many children grew up on from the beginning making an eerie dichotomy of fairy tale and reality. eat or be eaten, eat and continue to eat.
(how it feels to be forced into doing something to survive. how it feels to be forced into choices in basal desperation how it feels to be one step from letting those choices consume you - how easy it could be to keep going, to find the huntsman.)
fei du takes a moment to compose himself when it's over - swallows, pushes back the reflex that he conditioned himself to have, and takes a deep breath, and then says, very quietly: ]
...Ylfa. [ he'll let her take the stage, talk first if she wants to talk first. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 03:07 pm (UTC)Sorry, I know it's gross and I know you don't like blood.
[she sounds genuinely concerned. the blood and gore doesn't bother her. but it's very strange to be back in that emotion, in that feeling. remembering how, once upon a time, not actually all that long ago, she was a very innocent little girl chasing butterflies in the forest, a girl who didn't believe she was capable of lifting an ax, let alone burying it in the skull of a wolf. her conviction in who she was and what her story was about was a function of being a fairy tale, perhaps, but also not so different from how most children feel. there's the person you are, or think you are, and the way the world is supposed to work. innocents are spared, heroes arrive and save them. or even when they aren't spared, it's a tragedy, the story of a perfect little victim.
but hunger doesn't care if you're a very cute and nice little girl who listens to authority figures and respects her elders. the wolf doesn't care, the world doesn't care. trying to hold onto that doesn't do anything but prolong the inevitable.]
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 03:17 pm (UTC)No - it's alright.
[ it's not her fault, anyway, and he doesn't want her to feel concerned about it, considering everything he just saw. the dissociative part of him is reminded, beyond the blood, of a little girl he once knew, too. a nine year old, who couldn't have been more opposite than ylfa, but carried her qualities all the same. a little girl whose life wouldn't let her be innocent, who took it with her and let it rot, let all the ways the world hurt her lash out at all the people she felt were wrong. the dichotomy of the two, combined with the memory from before about choice and agency, about trauma and tragedy, is striking.
his hand taps the inside of his arm now that he drops it - one, two, three, four - and for someone who claims he doesn't have feelings, his expression is soft and thoughtful and quietly understanding, brows pinching. if anyone understands the world that doesn't care, it's him. ]
...You held out for a long time. [ soft. ] Is this the story you went back to? In the first.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 03:24 pm (UTC)[she'd never thought about the need for courage in her life. she just couldn't imagine doing this. it was like being told to survive she needed to breathe underwater. she didn't hold her breath because it was brave to. she just didn't think the alternative was possible.]
That's right. The first time, I went back home to my family. And that went really, really badly. But the second time, same thing, but I also killed the woodsman.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 03:28 pm (UTC)[ the word comes out quiet and almost rueful. no, he understands. that's not about bravery at all.
he doesn't extrapolate. instead, fei du listens to the explanation, and thinks about the two memories together - slotting the pieces together, holding onto that strangely layered feeling underneath. ]
... How many times have you done a version of this?
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 03:31 pm (UTC)[it's not that dark, at least.]
We got better at combat after that. We all died, in that first fight. But after, no one died.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-15 03:43 pm (UTC)...Well, good. [
however it's 11:42 before trial and i wanna get this out so the pig does another lap. ]
[ ... and when this memory ends, fei du's usually collected face is completely shattered. he coughs, violently, collapsing in on himself like he's still choking, hands flexing. ]