Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 2218758" data-attributes="member: 16760">[Here you go, Lela.&nbsp; Enjoy.]I was on the way home from a bad job.&nbsp; Really bad.&nbsp; Can't write about it yet.I paused to study my reflection in a store window.&nbsp; Big, check.&nbsp; Black, check again.&nbsp; Haunted dark eyes - best not to think about that.&nbsp; Dressed well, but understated.&nbsp; (He wouldn't have it any other way.)&nbsp; A scar along one cheek.&nbsp; Gotta be a story behind that.Wish I knew what it was.Sounds of a commotion, a scuffle, in the alley.&nbsp; I went to check it out.&nbsp; A little honest clean trouble wouldn't hurt anybody, much.&nbsp; Take my mind off the job.A drug deal gone sour, looked like.&nbsp; The guns were coming out.&nbsp; I hate drug dealers.&quot;Leave him alone,&quot; I growled.&nbsp; &quot;Stay out of this, a$$hole,&quot; one of them yelled at me without looking.&nbsp; For one thing, they're stupid.&nbsp; I advanced.&nbsp; &quot;My name isn't A$$hole,&quot; I informed him friendly-like.&nbsp; &quot;I think you have me confused with your girlfriend.&quot;That made him mad enough to shoot me.&nbsp; The bullet zinged harmlessly off my aura, but his eyes didn't really go wide until my probe caught him by the throat and picked him up off the ground.&nbsp; &quot;Ready to play nice now?&quot;&nbsp; The others started opening fire, their argument forgotten.&nbsp; Like I said, stupid.Never mind the details.&nbsp; I left them in a neat heap, still breathing, but without weapons, drugs, or money.&nbsp; Any of the above would just get them in worse trouble.&nbsp; See &quot;stupid&quot;.&nbsp; The first two of the three go down the nearest storm drain - I had to crush the guns before they would fit, but hey.&nbsp; The third...Ah, a church steeple, a couple streets down.&nbsp; That'd do.&nbsp; Gotta salve the old conscience somehow - even if it does make Him laugh.Old, dark, Catholic.&nbsp; As I'm putting the money in the poorbox, an elderly priest came up.&nbsp; He looked me up and down, and gestured to one of the confessionals.&nbsp; &quot;Been awhile?&quot;I tried to laugh, then tried to cry.&nbsp; Neither worked.&nbsp; I just looked away.&nbsp; &quot;You could say that, Father.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;No time like the present...?&quot;&nbsp; I started to tell him no, but there was something in his words that got under my skin.&nbsp; When he turned and doddered off purposefully toward the box, I found myself following him.&nbsp; Boy, will He get plenty of amusement out of this!&nbsp; I thought.&nbsp; But... what the hell.I knelt in the dark.&nbsp; Didn't have the faintest idea what to say, and I guess it showed.&nbsp; &quot;Need a hand?&quot; the old padre quavered at me.&nbsp; &quot;I guess... This was a mistake.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;No.&nbsp; I don't think it was.&quot;His aura - a pure white but otherwise unexceptional thing - flared like the sun, just for an instant.&nbsp; Throwing my hands up reflexively to shield my eyes, I knew terror as I haven't known it in a long time.&nbsp; I'd never seen anything like that except... Oh God.&nbsp; &quot;Forgive me, Mas-!&quot;&nbsp; &quot;NEVER CALL ME THAT,&quot; he hissed furiously at me through the grille.&nbsp; &quot;There are more games in town than your precious Council, boy.&nbsp; Remember that.&quot;Confused and terrified, I stayed quiet.&nbsp; He went on, &quot;I saw what you did tonight to that family..&nbsp; And what you did to the dealers after.&nbsp; You're not a typical apprentice.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;No,&quot; I wrenched out, tears forming at last and starting to fall.&nbsp; &quot;I try not to be.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Want to start over?&quot;&quot;More than anything.&nbsp; But He'll-&quot;&nbsp; &quot;No, he won't.&nbsp; I've been opposing the Masters for a very long time, boy.&nbsp; They haven't caught me yet.&nbsp; If you're careful, they won't catch you, either.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;But-&quot;&nbsp; &quot;But nothing.&nbsp; If you want to start over, drop your shields.&quot;That scared me all over again.&nbsp; With as much power as he'd displayed, he could do anything to me... anything at all.&nbsp; What finally decided me was that anything would be better than living this way.&nbsp; I would've ended it all long ago, if He'd let me.&nbsp; I lowered all my mental defenses and shivered as I knelt there.His light flowed around me, into me, through me.&nbsp; Warm, clean, soothing.&nbsp; Nothing like my Master's aura, that's for sure.&nbsp; When the sensation ended, I noticed with a lurch that the compulsions were gone.&nbsp; All of them.&nbsp; No, it's not possible.&nbsp; It's all a trick, a te-&nbsp; &quot;No, Titus, this isn't a test,&quot; he told me calmly, plainly reading my thoughts.&nbsp; &quot;This is the real thing.&nbsp; For your penance, devote your life to doing right with the powers you've developed.&nbsp; Oppose the Council when you can, run when you can't;&nbsp; I've damped down your aura to make that a bit easier.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;I don't know what to-&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Then don't say anything. Except 'yes'.&quot;&quot;Yes, I will,&quot; I whispered.&nbsp; &quot;Good.&nbsp; Now get out of here, and good luck.&quot;&nbsp; I started to rise, still shell-shocked, when he said, &quot;Oh, wait, I almost forgot.&quot;&nbsp; I braced myself, sure that the other shoe would now drop.&nbsp; &quot;What?&quot;&quot;Ego te absolvo, my son.&nbsp; Go in peace.&quot;So I did.&nbsp; Really.&nbsp; Life started over, right then.------------------------------------------------------------Not for the first time, either.My earliest memory is of pain.&nbsp; Unbelievable pain and loss.&nbsp; I screamed and wept and begged without shame.&nbsp; Couldn't seem to move.Finally it faded, and I was able to take in my surroundings.&nbsp; I was lying naked on a bed in a richly appointed room.&nbsp; I had no idea how I'd gotten there - or of anything else, really, except the pounding in my temples.&nbsp; I sat up, swung my legs over, when an assured voice said, &quot;Your name is Titus.&quot;&nbsp; I've always hated his voice.&nbsp; So smug, so confident, like nothing you can do or say matters in the least.&quot;And I am your Master.&quot;&nbsp; Thing is, see, he's right most of the time.&quot;F*ck you,&quot; I suggested, and got up in a hurry, aiming a punch at him.&nbsp; I ain't nobody's slave, thank you sir!He tsked and I howled, as agony lanced up my arm.&nbsp; &quot;Shut up,&quot; he said, and I did, though the pain didn't go away in the slightest.&nbsp; &quot;Stand up.&quot;&nbsp; I did that too.&nbsp; &quot;You were wrong just now,&quot; he informed me.&nbsp; &quot;You are someone's slave.&nbsp; Mine, to be precise.&nbsp; Right?&quot;I stood there and sweated and sweated, dying inside.&nbsp; Finally, I forced myself to say, &quot;Right.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Right what?&quot;&nbsp; The pain, impossibly, ratcheted up to a new level of torture.&nbsp; &quot;Right... Master,&quot; I gasped.&nbsp; &quot;Good.&nbsp; I'm glad our relationship is firmly established in your mind.&quot;&nbsp; The pain faded, and I hated him.&nbsp; Helplessly.&quot;Get dressed,&quot; he informed me brusquely.&nbsp; &quot;You have duties to perform.&quot;He didn't tell me anything else.&nbsp; It took me days to figure out the limits of my new existence.&nbsp; I couldn't try to oppose or disobey him in any way without paying the immediate consequences - it didn't matter if he was there or not.&nbsp; I could think bad thoughts about him (I later learned that he had the power to prevent even that if he felt like it - the fact that he didn't is one of the vanishingly few things I feel grateful to him for) but he would know.&nbsp; Most of the time he would simply be amused.&nbsp; The other times he would hurt me.&nbsp; Not always with the pain.&nbsp; Let's just say that he's got a really good imagination when it comes to degrading people, and leave it at that, OK?It took me weeks before I even learned his name.&nbsp; Osric.&nbsp; At last I had a name to put to the hatred, for all the good it did me.&nbsp; Weeks more before I learned anything about the Council.&nbsp;&nbsp; That was stunning enough, but I really lost it when he dropped the casual comment to another Master that he'd seen the fall of Rome.Finally, after several months, he felt I was broken-in enough to formally start as his apprentice.See, he'd read my aura.&nbsp; I have potential, lucky me.&nbsp; I have more of the Sight than even some of the Masters... though not the willpower or the training to go along with it, which made me irresistible prey.[In the old priest you get a glimpse of an old, much-loved character of mine, Brother Jordan.&nbsp;&nbsp; (Patron of the original Carlos.)&nbsp; I would have written more, but after I got to this point I realized that I didn't really want to explore it further.][Woulda been fun to &quot;see&quot; the looks on you guys' faces when Titus' story was revealed, though.&nbsp; It's a doozy. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Shadow, post: 2218758, member: 16760"] [Here you go, Lela. Enjoy.] I was on the way home from a bad job. Really bad. Can't write about it yet. I paused to study my reflection in a store window. Big, check. Black, check again. Haunted dark eyes - best not to think about that. Dressed well, but understated. ([i]He[/i] wouldn't have it any other way.) A scar along one cheek. Gotta be a story behind that. Wish I knew what it was. Sounds of a commotion, a scuffle, in the alley. I went to check it out. A little honest clean trouble wouldn't hurt anybody, much. Take my mind off the job. A drug deal gone sour, looked like. The guns were coming out. I hate drug dealers. "Leave him alone," I growled. "Stay out of this, a$$hole," one of them yelled at me without looking. For one thing, they're stupid. I advanced. "My name isn't A$$hole," I informed him friendly-like. "I think you have me confused with your girlfriend." That made him mad enough to shoot me. The bullet zinged harmlessly off my aura, but his eyes didn't really go wide until my probe caught him by the throat and picked him up off the ground. "Ready to play nice now?" The others started opening fire, their argument forgotten. Like I said, stupid. Never mind the details. I left them in a neat heap, still breathing, but without weapons, drugs, or money. Any of the above would just get them in worse trouble. See "stupid". The first two of the three go down the nearest storm drain - I had to crush the guns before they would fit, but hey. The third... Ah, a church steeple, a couple streets down. That'd do. Gotta salve the old conscience somehow - even if it does make [i]Him[/i] laugh. Old, dark, Catholic. As I'm putting the money in the poorbox, an elderly priest came up. He looked me up and down, and gestured to one of the confessionals. "Been awhile?" I tried to laugh, then tried to cry. Neither worked. I just looked away. "You could say that, Father." "No time like the present...?" I started to tell him no, but there was something in his words that got under my skin. When he turned and doddered off purposefully toward the box, I found myself following him. Boy, will [i]He[/i] get plenty of amusement out of this! I thought. But... what the hell. I knelt in the dark. Didn't have the faintest idea what to say, and I guess it showed. "Need a hand?" the old padre quavered at me. "I guess... This was a mistake." "No. I don't think it was." His aura - a pure white but otherwise unexceptional thing - flared like the sun, just for an instant. Throwing my hands up reflexively to shield my eyes, I knew terror as I haven't known it in a long time. I'd never seen anything like that except... Oh God. "Forgive me, Mas-!" "NEVER CALL ME THAT," he hissed furiously at me through the grille. "There are more games in town than your precious Council, boy. Remember that." Confused and terrified, I stayed quiet. He went on, "I saw what you did tonight to that family.. And what you did to the dealers after. You're not a typical apprentice." "No," I wrenched out, tears forming at last and starting to fall. "I try not to be." "Want to start over?" "More than anything. But [i]He'll[/i]-" "No, he won't. I've been opposing the Masters for a very long time, boy. They haven't caught me yet. If you're careful, they won't catch you, either." "But-" "But nothing. If you want to start over, drop your shields." That scared me all over again. With as much power as he'd displayed, he could do anything to me... anything at all. What finally decided me was that anything would be better than living this way. I would've ended it all long ago, if He'd let me. I lowered all my mental defenses and shivered as I knelt there. His light flowed around me, into me, through me. Warm, clean, soothing. Nothing like my Master's aura, that's for sure. When the sensation ended, I noticed with a lurch that the compulsions were gone. All of them. No, it's not possible. It's all a trick, a te- "No, Titus, this isn't a test," he told me calmly, plainly reading my thoughts. "This is the real thing. For your penance, devote your life to doing right with the powers you've developed. Oppose the Council when you can, run when you can't; I've damped down your aura to make that a bit easier." "I don't know what to-" "Then don't say anything. Except 'yes'." "Yes, I will," I whispered. "Good. Now get out of here, and good luck." I started to rise, still shell-shocked, when he said, "Oh, wait, I almost forgot." I braced myself, sure that the other shoe would now drop. "What?" "Ego te absolvo, my son. Go in peace." So I did. Really. Life started over, right then. ------------------------------------------------------------ Not for the first time, either. My earliest memory is of pain. Unbelievable pain and loss. I screamed and wept and begged without shame. Couldn't seem to move. Finally it faded, and I was able to take in my surroundings. I was lying naked on a bed in a richly appointed room. I had no idea how I'd gotten there - or of anything else, really, except the pounding in my temples. I sat up, swung my legs over, when an assured voice said, "Your name is Titus." I've always hated his voice. So smug, so confident, like nothing you can do or say matters in the least. "And I am your Master." Thing is, see, he's right most of the time. "F*ck you," I suggested, and got up in a hurry, aiming a punch at him. I ain't nobody's slave, thank you sir! He tsked and I howled, as agony lanced up my arm. "Shut up," he said, and I did, though the pain didn't go away in the slightest. "Stand up." I did that too. "You were wrong just now," he informed me. "You are someone's slave. Mine, to be precise. Right?" I stood there and sweated and sweated, dying inside. Finally, I forced myself to say, "Right." "Right [i]what?[/i]" The pain, impossibly, ratcheted up to a new level of torture. "Right... Master," I gasped. "Good. I'm glad our relationship is firmly established in your mind." The pain faded, and I hated him. Helplessly. "Get dressed," he informed me brusquely. "You have duties to perform." He didn't tell me anything else. It took me days to figure out the limits of my new existence. I couldn't try to oppose or disobey him in any way without paying the immediate consequences - it didn't matter if he was there or not. I could think bad thoughts about him (I later learned that he had the power to prevent even that if he felt like it - the fact that he didn't is one of the vanishingly few things I feel grateful to him for) but he would know. Most of the time he would simply be amused. The other times he would hurt me. Not always with the pain. Let's just say that he's got a really good imagination when it comes to degrading people, and leave it at that, OK? It took me weeks before I even learned his name. Osric. At last I had a name to put to the hatred, for all the good it did me. Weeks more before I learned anything about the Council. That was stunning enough, but I really lost it when he dropped the casual comment to another Master that he'd seen the fall of Rome. Finally, after several months, he felt I was broken-in enough to formally start as his apprentice. See, he'd read my aura. I have potential, lucky me. I have more of the Sight than even some of the Masters... though not the willpower or the training to go along with it, which made me irresistible prey. [In the old priest you get a glimpse of an old, much-loved character of mine, Brother Jordan. (Patron of the original Carlos.) I would have written more, but after I got to this point I realized that I didn't really want to explore it further.] [Woulda been fun to "see" the looks on you guys' faces when Titus' story was revealed, though. It's a doozy. ;)] [/QUOTE]

Verification