Lady Norbert (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladynorbert) wrote2006-06-19 06:14 pm
ladynorbert) wrote2006-06-19 06:14 pm
Entry tags:
"I can see it in your damned blue eyes!"
Title: Contrition
Fandom: 'In The Mirror Darkly' - RPG
Genre: General/angst; set in the future, possibly AU
Character/Pairing: Tom Sawyer
Rating: PG
Notes: For this week's![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
quote_ficlets quote. Tom Sawyer is played by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clez and hopefully I've got him more or less in character; she's also the one who owns Rowan Bridges. Sid Sawyer belongs to siddyq, Evangeline Blake to shining_phoenix, and Elizabeth Quatermain to myself; they all appear by mention only. The fic makes reference to some things we've done in RPs which may or may not actually happen in the game.
Summary: Our wrongs remain unrectified, and our souls won't be exhumed. (Muse, "Sing For Absolution")
It had been, he would reflect later, almost like being born again.
He'd been born twice already. He couldn't remember the first time, of course, the mortal birth which had brought him into the world. The second birth, when he was 'born to darkness' as some of his kind liked to phrase it, was a lengthy process. It had taken some time for him to make the transition from human to vampire. In a way, it really was like a second one of him was born. The first him, the Tom that people knew and loved and were ready to die for (and in many cases, did die in the effort to save), seemed to become locked away in the mind of the new being. He called himself Sawyer, cut off his messy blond curls and dyed the short hair dark, and swore allegiance to the newly resurrected Dracula. Though the first Tom -- the real Tom -- could see and hear and feel everything that happened, he was powerless to stop it. His own body was obeying someone else's commands, and he couldn't even voice his objections. He watched, from the prison of his suppressed consciousness, as the new being called Sawyer helped murder his friends, left physical and mental scars on his brother and surrogate sisters, tortured the woman he regarded as his best friend.
This third birth was like nothing he'd ever expected to feel. With the final word of the incantation, Sawyer -- screeching, howling, protesting to the last -- was banished from the body they shared, and it was Tom who was again master of his own person. But it was and was not Tom as they had known him. Sawyer had left his indelible mark; now Tom needed blood to survive. He was, and would remain, bound to the night.
And now he was here, among creatures of sunlight, and he could practically smell their mistrust.
Sid loved him. In spite of everything Tom had done to his little brother, Sid still loved him and was glad to have him back. Elizabeth was much the same, or at least she was trying to be; but she and Sid were both so drastically altered by everything which had happened to them (everything I've done to them) that in many respects, they'd never be themselves again. He looked at Elizabeth sometimes, and remembered the soft-spoken, gentle-hearted girl who had never harmed another living creature, and compared her with the hardened, world-weary Lady Captain she'd been forced to become, who sliced a vampire's throat without wincing and only smiled at intervals. He looked at Sid sometimes, too, and remembered the eager, fresh-faced boy he'd been, the insatiable newshound who had tracked him clean across the planet in order to revive and renew their all-too-tenuous brotherly bond, and compared that Sid with the cold, fierce man who jointly led the new League, who wielded a pair of pistols with blazing accuracy and had refused to stop at anything which kept him from his goals.
Their love was constant, for each other and for him, and in some ways that was the hardest thing to accept.
The rest of the League feared him, possibly even hated him, and he couldn't blame them. Not after everything they'd seen -- and felt -- him do. He'd picked up Evangeline by her hair and tossed her down the street, moments before he'd pinned Elizabeth to a wall by running her through with his sword. He'd tormented and terrorized these people for months, and the mortals in the League weren't likely to forget it soon.
Neither was the only other immortal on the ship. Tom certainly had not been overly gentle with Rowan; on one memorable occasion he had gone so far as to shoot the werewolf with an arrow made of pure silver, and according to Sid's account of the incident, it had only been Elizabeth's medical skill which had kept him from death's door. Tom recalled how, when 'Sawyer' was still the dominant personality, he had vowed to kill the "mongrel," whom he had disdainfully regarded as Elizabeth's pet. Now that he was with the League, he could see that there actually was a shade of truth to the appellation -- it was generally understood by the League members that Rowan was something to Elizabeth, though pet was certainly the wrong word -- but that didn't make the thoughts and intentions of his darker self any more right.
He had, early in his return, made a very peculiar attempt at setting things right between himself and the werewolf. It hadn't been his initial plan, but Elizabeth had found him destroying his cabin in a furious rage -- his fury had all been with himself, but it had been the articles in his room which had suffered for it. He had begged her to kill him; she'd refused, of course; they'd actually gotten into a bit of a verbal sparring match, and he'd gone so far as to take her by the arms and shake her. The timing was poor, because Rowan (perhaps smelling Elizabeth's anxiety) had suddenly appeared in the doorway and immediately thrown him across the room. That had been no great discomfort; he'd simply dissolved into his cloud of bats, then reformed as Tom again.
Once Elizabeth had left the room (and not without a protest), the immortals had gotten into it. Tom, he had to admit, was trying to goad Rowan into killing him...and Rowan seemed like he was willing, but somehow unable. "Come on!" the vampire had finally shouted. "You want to kill me! I can see it in your damned blue eyes! Why don't you just do it?"
Though his eyes were still blazing their agitated lupine blue, Rowan, oddly enough, had turned almost instantly calm. "Believe me," he'd said with a trace of a growl in his voice, "I'm tempted. I don't like you, Sawyer, and I don't trust you. My wolf would like nothing better than to rip you to pieces."
"Then what's stopping you?" Tom had been almost frustrated by his inability to die.
"One thing. And one thing only." Rowan held Tom's gaze. "Elizabeth loves you. So for her sake I'll put up with you. But here's your only warning -- if you ever hurt her again, I'll reach down your throat and pull your heart out through your mouth."
Thinking back on that conversation, Tom sighed quietly to himself. The time has come to make things right, he mused. I just hope I can find a way.
The quote was "The time has come to make things right."
Fandom: 'In The Mirror Darkly' - RPG
Genre: General/angst; set in the future, possibly AU
Character/Pairing: Tom Sawyer
Rating: PG
Notes: For this week's
quote_ficlets quote. Tom Sawyer is played by clez and hopefully I've got him more or less in character; she's also the one who owns Rowan Bridges. Sid Sawyer belongs to siddyq, Evangeline Blake to shining_phoenix, and Elizabeth Quatermain to myself; they all appear by mention only. The fic makes reference to some things we've done in RPs which may or may not actually happen in the game.Summary: Our wrongs remain unrectified, and our souls won't be exhumed. (Muse, "Sing For Absolution")
It had been, he would reflect later, almost like being born again.
He'd been born twice already. He couldn't remember the first time, of course, the mortal birth which had brought him into the world. The second birth, when he was 'born to darkness' as some of his kind liked to phrase it, was a lengthy process. It had taken some time for him to make the transition from human to vampire. In a way, it really was like a second one of him was born. The first him, the Tom that people knew and loved and were ready to die for (and in many cases, did die in the effort to save), seemed to become locked away in the mind of the new being. He called himself Sawyer, cut off his messy blond curls and dyed the short hair dark, and swore allegiance to the newly resurrected Dracula. Though the first Tom -- the real Tom -- could see and hear and feel everything that happened, he was powerless to stop it. His own body was obeying someone else's commands, and he couldn't even voice his objections. He watched, from the prison of his suppressed consciousness, as the new being called Sawyer helped murder his friends, left physical and mental scars on his brother and surrogate sisters, tortured the woman he regarded as his best friend.
This third birth was like nothing he'd ever expected to feel. With the final word of the incantation, Sawyer -- screeching, howling, protesting to the last -- was banished from the body they shared, and it was Tom who was again master of his own person. But it was and was not Tom as they had known him. Sawyer had left his indelible mark; now Tom needed blood to survive. He was, and would remain, bound to the night.
And now he was here, among creatures of sunlight, and he could practically smell their mistrust.
Sid loved him. In spite of everything Tom had done to his little brother, Sid still loved him and was glad to have him back. Elizabeth was much the same, or at least she was trying to be; but she and Sid were both so drastically altered by everything which had happened to them (everything I've done to them) that in many respects, they'd never be themselves again. He looked at Elizabeth sometimes, and remembered the soft-spoken, gentle-hearted girl who had never harmed another living creature, and compared her with the hardened, world-weary Lady Captain she'd been forced to become, who sliced a vampire's throat without wincing and only smiled at intervals. He looked at Sid sometimes, too, and remembered the eager, fresh-faced boy he'd been, the insatiable newshound who had tracked him clean across the planet in order to revive and renew their all-too-tenuous brotherly bond, and compared that Sid with the cold, fierce man who jointly led the new League, who wielded a pair of pistols with blazing accuracy and had refused to stop at anything which kept him from his goals.
Their love was constant, for each other and for him, and in some ways that was the hardest thing to accept.
The rest of the League feared him, possibly even hated him, and he couldn't blame them. Not after everything they'd seen -- and felt -- him do. He'd picked up Evangeline by her hair and tossed her down the street, moments before he'd pinned Elizabeth to a wall by running her through with his sword. He'd tormented and terrorized these people for months, and the mortals in the League weren't likely to forget it soon.
Neither was the only other immortal on the ship. Tom certainly had not been overly gentle with Rowan; on one memorable occasion he had gone so far as to shoot the werewolf with an arrow made of pure silver, and according to Sid's account of the incident, it had only been Elizabeth's medical skill which had kept him from death's door. Tom recalled how, when 'Sawyer' was still the dominant personality, he had vowed to kill the "mongrel," whom he had disdainfully regarded as Elizabeth's pet. Now that he was with the League, he could see that there actually was a shade of truth to the appellation -- it was generally understood by the League members that Rowan was something to Elizabeth, though pet was certainly the wrong word -- but that didn't make the thoughts and intentions of his darker self any more right.
He had, early in his return, made a very peculiar attempt at setting things right between himself and the werewolf. It hadn't been his initial plan, but Elizabeth had found him destroying his cabin in a furious rage -- his fury had all been with himself, but it had been the articles in his room which had suffered for it. He had begged her to kill him; she'd refused, of course; they'd actually gotten into a bit of a verbal sparring match, and he'd gone so far as to take her by the arms and shake her. The timing was poor, because Rowan (perhaps smelling Elizabeth's anxiety) had suddenly appeared in the doorway and immediately thrown him across the room. That had been no great discomfort; he'd simply dissolved into his cloud of bats, then reformed as Tom again.
Once Elizabeth had left the room (and not without a protest), the immortals had gotten into it. Tom, he had to admit, was trying to goad Rowan into killing him...and Rowan seemed like he was willing, but somehow unable. "Come on!" the vampire had finally shouted. "You want to kill me! I can see it in your damned blue eyes! Why don't you just do it?"
Though his eyes were still blazing their agitated lupine blue, Rowan, oddly enough, had turned almost instantly calm. "Believe me," he'd said with a trace of a growl in his voice, "I'm tempted. I don't like you, Sawyer, and I don't trust you. My wolf would like nothing better than to rip you to pieces."
"Then what's stopping you?" Tom had been almost frustrated by his inability to die.
"One thing. And one thing only." Rowan held Tom's gaze. "Elizabeth loves you. So for her sake I'll put up with you. But here's your only warning -- if you ever hurt her again, I'll reach down your throat and pull your heart out through your mouth."
Thinking back on that conversation, Tom sighed quietly to himself. The time has come to make things right, he mused. I just hope I can find a way.
The quote was "The time has come to make things right."
no subject
no subject