JULY PRE GAME HYPE

Silk holed up in her makeshift shelter just outside the boundries of Crystal Creek. Spending her days making busy with cook prep and reading she patiently waited till the next trade meet. There had been a few visits with her dear Lulu over the break, but she wanted to give the girl space, she needed it to heal from her ordeal.

She toiled endlessly, it seems, creating mindless busywork for herself. With no one to talk to and no one to fight, or extort she was bored beyond reason. She had set herself up a miniature bathhouse, since she couldn't go anywhere without a fine bath. Perfumed, dressed in her sequins and glitter, she considered herself the cream of the crop.

The trade was coming soon, and she had a dark cloud hanging over her head. Her family needed mending, but sometimes broken things needed the bad bits cut off before they could heal, as a doctor, she had seen this frequently amongst her patients. Her family had become soiled with traitorous tendencies, and needed a return to proper values. She would help them learn, and teach others. Whatever it took.

JUNE PRE GAME HYPE

She had been wandering for months now. Far from the smoke of Bravo, separated from her family, the lost Maven let her feet trail in the dust behind the caravan. She had caught it somewhere outside Star City, and they were heading east. Good as direction as any. There was a trade meet soon in the Riverlands, and maybe she would run into some family there, if she could still count on them. The caravan hit a pothole and her stomach turned, grabbing to the edges of the truck she lurched forward and anything she had eaten in recent memory emptied itself. She could hear the driver in the background "I'm not stoppin for ya pretty" and her eyes narrowed. She wiped her mouth and turned. "Excuse you. You will stop if I need you to." The Merican just laughed into his hooch. "And why would I do that?", Silk straightened her skirts, and climbed up the bed of the truck, putting her face right near his. "Because I am Silk Fortuna D'Lux, Maven of my house and I can either pay you to stop or kill you and find a new driver. Please choose." She placed the knife to his back and the brass in his lap. "Three seconds, make your choice, I need to freshen up and I am pretty sure this sweet remnant who has been carrying my bags can drive." A moment passed and the Truck pulled to the side of the road, Silk smiled. "Thank you kindly, I will just be a moment," she said, climbing out of the caravan.

She leaned against a tree, finding her bearings and letting the warm summer envelop her before she walked back to the truck. She felt nauseated, she shouldn't have worked so much on that bomb, it was worthless anyway, everything was right now. She looked a mess and had so much to do. At least there was nothing left to throw up. She straightened her hair, and tried to redo her makeup, but the soot was a semi-permanent fixture until she found a bathing facility, and climbed back into the truck.

Here we come, Crystal Creek.

Miles to go

Poem featured is "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost" The rest of the writing is my own.

Whose woods are these I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

She fed him a broken bit of cookie from her dirty apron. The wastes were such a messy place. 

“Pogo dear, this merchant, he seems a bit messy, perhaps you can wash him up a bit with that fine soap of yours?”

"Hm, yes, that does seem prudent"

My little horse must think its queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year

The traveling salesman wasn’t moving much, sweet Pogo took his arm and the herbal scent of rosemary wafted up, she poured water from a canteen and the water washed over his skin, rust colored water washing over him as she scrubbed the small cuts.

“Maybe ask him again where he is?” Silk absentmindedly put some cookie into the merchant’s unconscious mouth.

He gives his harness bells a shake, 
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

A smile crossed the remnants face, so sweet, the little feather and furred girl had a sadistic streak a mile wide.  Without the tiniest bit of prompting she pushed him over and dug her hand into the open wound on his back, leaving him to choke on his chocolate chips, and leaned over him “where is he?” 

The merchants eyes flew open and he let out a stuttered scream, and tried to answer, maybe he would have said anything at that point, before his last crumb laden breath left him bleeding on the ground. 

“Oh well.” Silk shrugged and dusted herself off, standing up, helping Pogo off the ground. 

“Keep going?” Pogo smiled.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

Writing Prompt: "Has that scar always been there?"

"Has that scar always been there?"

I had been humming quietly in the bath, and the voice startled me. I preferred to bathe alone, very few people saw me like this. I preferred my body painted and adorned, naked I was nothing but a broken doll.

I pretended not to hear. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah, those? She gestured to my arms, chest and back, have you always had those?"

Oh...yeah. Since I was a child.

"The story we told family is that one of the older bathhouses collapsed, a candle caught and burned, I was barely rescued in time."

She looked incredulous, "And the truth? scars like that look like a pretty severe....beating maybe?"

"We never spoke of it again."

Everyone dies alone

"The world has gone to shit and its still so beautiful up there"

Silk laid her head on his shoulder, ear to ear laying opposite directions in the sand. In the distance she heard shouting. Just moments ago Dandy had called her over and beckoned her into the private rendezvous. With one hand on her weapon, she heard him talking,

"You can still see the oldcestor satellites sometimes."

"Some people say they live up there, in the sky"

They fell silent, and she heard his voice in her ear,

"This disease, it's going to take me at the bells if I don't do something-- and I won't have that. Other people dying have drowned in their own fluids."

Silk laid silently, waiting for what was next. She wasn't an idiot, but she let him talk.

"That's why I called the meeting. I am going to die on my own terms."

"What's the point of that?"

"I don't want to be alone when I go, I want to be with family. I want to be with you."

"Everybody dies alone." As soon as the words left her mouth, they felt cruel, but she only received compassion as a response.

"I want you there. When I go in and when I come out. If I come out."

"You will. I'll be there"

"I may not... be myself"

She heard her words like an echo in her head. This man who she was laying under the stars with, she knew she didn't know him, and shouldn't trust him, and yet, she did. She put her lips on his neck as he continued to speak. He confessed to her, his truth and his life, and she promised to look for him, and never stop, no matter how the gravemind changed him.

They stared at the stars and she let the sand pass between her fingers, pressing her hand to the ground, certain that if she tried hard enough she could make glass, stop time, something. Why did she care? Mother had warned her against this, and she had always been shit at following directions.

He got up first, and they climbed out of the pit, walking back to kiva. She knew he was holding her hand but it felt numb.

"I am going to gather family, when I get enough I will find you."

"What is enough?"

"You."

He heard him speaking to people, telling them to meet him, but the words were hollow. At some point she felt her anger flare, and she disconnected from him and walked into Kiva, and walked up to Ayrian, "come to the meeting that Dandy is calling" Ayrian looked stunned and said he would try, and then the call came. It was a mess. Someone yelled that it was septics. Where was he? She saw Dandy run off into the darkness, and knew it was over, that his careful plan was shit. "Medics in the center!" She hunkered down with the medics by the fireplace in Kiva, and proceeded to do her job, until soon enough, there he was, brought and laid, dead in front of her.

She had never been so mad, she thought. No thats a lie. Never so mad since she came to Bravo. Outbursts of emotion were impolite, uncouth, and had she the impropriety she would have screamed at his lifeless body, hit him with her rage. Instead she simply quietly muttered "You idiot" over and over "you idiot you swore I would be there" as another doctor checked him out. The doctor confirmed he died by poison to her, and Silk knelt in absolute stunned silence and anger, tears welling in her eyes. Next to her, she heard a voice, "Do you have anything to write with?" It was Harper, and she handed her her inkpen. Harper took his arm and wrote something....Silk only caught a bit of it, but it was right.

She watched him sink into the floor, and wanted to go search for him, but knew it would be ages before he reappeared, and who knew when he would show up. She began to notify family, her sister, Rajah, who was distraught but then quickly distracted by something else, as she usually was, Ayrian, who was otherwise occupied, Max, who was off in his own world. As far as she could tell, no one cared but her that he was gone.

Running up the steps to Kiva Singer stopped her. Hoarse as always "He died saving me" her voice was a rusty squeak. "I would be gone if it weren't for him." Silk nodded numbly.

She knew he had his outs, she still trusted the doctors opinion, and liked Singer. He died stupidly, and she was angry. She would still wait for him, if only to say it to his face. He should have been in her arms when he went through with his foolhardy plan.

----

Still doctoring, throwing herself into her work, it was a flurry of death and blood. Silk was using Singers crash kit to save people as quickly as possible while Doc Bravo knitted limbs back together next to her.

She thought she heard a Valkyrie cry outside, and yelled again "bring the hurt to us!" Throwing herself into her work right now was the only thing she could do. Wrist deep in blood and glitter, shocking people to life, knitting them together and sending them back out was all she could do to distract herself from the situation at hand.

Out of the corner of her eye Whip came inside, a familiar figure slumped over his shoulders. Silk continued her work, no, if they needed help they would have been in front of her, live for the living. Miitheifs called her name, and motioned her over, and then she stopped everything.

It was Rue.

Silk began to try to save her, knowing it was futile.

"Shes gone" one of them said.

"I came out of the woods as soon as I heard her scream, but it was too late." Whips voice.

Tears welling. No. Vegasians don't cry. She sat with her, hand on her lifeless body, and wrapped her hand around her sword, thirsty, "You need this with you sister." Silence. Chaos reigned around her and she looked over to the medics, who were beginning to become overwhelmed without her.

"Sister, you can't hear me, but I need to live for the living." She looked at Whip, "Please stay with her?"

With that, she walked off and stitched people together until she couldn't anymore. The attack thinned, and she felt utterly, completely, alone.

----

She left early the next day, after searching all night, and getting knocked out by the Scarecrow and left in the woods by her family and friends she had had enough excitement. She still hadn't found Dandy, and would figure that out later. As she hopped the early caravan out of Bravo, she said goodbye to the settlement, and good riddance, at least for now.









"Please find me."

The bottom of the bottle

I could hear a door creak on its decayed hinges. Any other day, any other time, I would care, jump to attention. Anything could be coming through the door and I wouldn't be any wiser. My head was pounding and light poured through the broken windows of our room. Everything was in a state of dissaray.

"What are you doing."

I heard her sharp voice as I sank lower into the cast iron tub, only a few inches of lukewarm water left, not serving any real purpose for cleanliness, a metallic scum floating on the surface, what was left of my usual painted self, exposing my hidden flaws. I reached for the bottle, my fingers just not quite long enough to reach.

She was there in an instant. How did she move so fast? I could still smell the cold on her, back from Dedstop so soon? How long had I been out? She ripped the bottle away, her voice too loud in my ears, ringing.

"I told you you could drink about it, but this is enough."

"No...I can't"

"Yes. You can. You are Silk Fortuna D'Lux, not some common drunk and you will not act like this."

There was no warning before the hooch poured over my head, stinging my eyes and my raw skin. I tried to scream and shuffle out of the way but I was far too inebriated.

"And this?" she held up the bottle. "This no name bullshit? You are better than this, I know where you are from, I was raised in the shadow of the Black Pyramid myself, you do not lower yourself to this trash"

And with that, I felt myself hoisted from the tub, I tried to whine, and squirm, and kick, I put an elbow in her rib and she, always a better fighter than me, simply clocked me over the head and threw me out the front door. I awoke a second later, head throbbing, ugh, that would leave a mark. I saw her throw something at me, a ragged towel "you might need this" and I realized I was naked and outside.

"You are a bitch Rue"

"I know but you love me anyway"

"Let me in"

"Not until you act like your damn self"

I sat there for hours. Wondering if I even cared, and then I heard something in the dark, shamblers maybe?

"Rue seriously. There's something out here"

"I know, but trade is a day away and I can't very well have you showing up like this."

"So you want to kill me instead?!"

"I didn't say that. Just that you need to figure this out, decide you value yourself"

"But....I want to see her again."

"Be here for the living," her voice echoed through the door.

The zed were getting closer, and I stood there, I am not a brave person, but I missed her and needed to know.... would she be there? But Rue? My family...

I screamed as they hit me, falling to the ground after a few hits, I couldn't. I screamed again, kicked the door.

"Rue, I don't know what I'm doing but please don't let me die. I'm not ready."

Wordlessly, like the valkyrie she was, she was there in an instant, pushing me behind her, her blade, aptly named thirsty slicing through the shamblers like they were made of nothing.

I watched from the ground, she looked like a dancer as she fought, fur and blood and warpaint in deadly choreography. When they were done, she dragged me back inside and stared at me for a long second.

*SLAP*

"What was that for?"

"All of this. Now lets get you cleaned up."

And with that, she started heating water and helped fill the tub with clean water. She gently washed my hair and forced me to drink some bitter tea that she swore was "good for me." It was as if she was never angry at me, though I could feel her sternness, and I knew she was still looking over my shoulder.

Who are you here for?

Something wasn't right, it hadn't been right all trade. Slink offered to help lead people to boot hill, a place I had personally avoided since my coming to town, but on this night, I agreed to accompany. Grabbing Rue's hand, I told myself I was going to be supportive of those who had lost others. Walking down the trail we heard the quiet rustling of leaves and eventually saw the lights of Boot Hill. The quiet lent a peace to my mind I hadn't felt in a long time, and the lights were a beauty I didn't understand how to behold, floating in the trees, glowing blue orbs surrounded us. Rue pulled me back and we began to walk back to town.

Ghosts would come, we had heard. And they did. The mourners cried after their loved ones so loudly, and Rue tightened her grip on my hand, they were a mass, following like a parade of sadness. As our small group split between them, Rue and I tagged onto the end. "I am only going to investigate, the gravemind is an interesting curiosity, I told myself."

"This is selfish, never do this for me." I heard Rue say beside me. 

"What?"

"It is selfish. Never come to this place crying for me if I die. Let me go. Listen to these people crying, they cry for themselves, for their own comfort, it is selfish. Never come here for me. Promise me."

"Probably...I won't" 

Rue was my only friend, could I make that promise? I mean, this outpouring of sadness made me uncomfortable, I did not know how to have these emotions these people were expressing around me. 

As we walked into Boot Hill I allowed the morbid beauty of the situation to overtake me, the mourners and ghosts swirled about, cries so loud I could no longer hear nature and the glowing orbs floating through the trees.

I could hear the mourners and ghosts alike, I did not know who was who... I hadn't been here long enough to tell. I clustered next to Xero, if anything, he would keep me safe if anything were to happen. 

I waited... I don't know what I was waiting for but I saw friend after friend find lost lover, child, friend. Lil ran crying to someone, and Xero grabbed my shoulder before I could comfort her, "No, its personal" He says, and I let it go, but watch her intently, such emotion! I hear someone crying for a lost son, "Timothy!"

Why am I still here? Why am I drawn to this place? Why did I NEED to come here?

"Who are you here for?' The blue man is on my shoulder, asking me.

"I...I don't think..."

"Who are you here for?"

"I lost an infant child, but she could not come out here."

"Speak her name. Call it out." He nudged me forward, pushing me out of my protective circle, I gripped Rue harder.

"Loess..." It was practically a murmur. I couldn't bring myself to be louder.

"Louder, who was she to you?"

"Loess" bolder this time. "My daughter.... are you in there?"

"More, tell more, how old was she"

"She was a baby...there is no way I can see her again..."

"What do you remember about her?

"So little." I was shaking, was this really happening? Could I see her again?

"She was so little... blue eyes..." I called out again "Loess, my baby, are you there, my daughter?"

And then it happened, I felt faint and I do not honestly remember if Rue's hand was still in mine, the world swirled around me and all I saw was her. As beautiful as I could have imagined and remembered, my baby, grown into a woman. I could feel the push behind me to step forward, and with every bone warning against it and trembling, and every instinct telling me to run, I stepped forward. 

"Mom, I grew up."

I never thought I would hear anyone call me mom, not after I lost her, and tears began to fall. "My baby is that you? Is that really you?"

"yes"

"Does it hurt?"

"No mother, I am fine."

I cried so hard, I could hear people calling at me to go and I couldn't care, I just wanted to hold her hands and hug her forever. Rue was patiently beside me, not saying a word.

"You are safe, you are fine?"

"Yes mother, you don't have to worry about me anymore."

And with that, I hugged her and it was everything I hoped. I cried and heard the coaxing and calls of people urging me to leave. "Be safe, my Loess, my sweet girl" Tears were falling like I didn't know they could, I did not understand how to process this, how to feel this, and yet, here it was. 

At the urging of all others, I allowed myself to be pulled away, back out to the road, and walked silently back to town. Tears streaming, and fell into a bottle of hooch for the rest of the night.

-Silk-