Metal Hearts Are Melting

Agony.

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:01:50 GMT

She whimpered in agony, pleading for her wounds to heal. Her own flesh would have loved to listen, but it hadn’t the ears or ability to do so. Aijelle had never succumbed to such pain, not as she did this night. The pain was minuscule, but her heart made it strong and ever-present.

On top of losing Shark, she had to lose her homeland as well. Her home may have as well been her very skin. At least she acknowledged consciously how she felt about her skin.

The silent Joku watched, noting primarily her instability. He turned a blind eye to her as the updates on her reconstructed body came through. He would be relieving her of her present body very soon.

He regretted not what he’d done to her; Shark was after all a very important figure. Joku was positive that ownership over Aijelle was what brought about his demise, it had to be, and her suffering was justified in his eyes.

At this point, neither of the two truly knew what had led to his assassination, even, his execution. Shark Blue’s homeland wouldn’t have been shocked. Phrance however, only time would tell how the masses would react. Aijelle wondered if she would ever come to know of their consensus.

Naming Aijelle

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:27:47 GMT

Dilemma mused, “You must have paid him vastly to let me attend an academy elsewhere.”

“Or one at all.” Shark replied tersely.

He laid back, resting against his seat in the two person cabin. Shark couldn’t help but feel an attachment to the enhanced sitting next to him. He blamed the sentiment on guilt, which was wholly correct. She had, after all, been the only person he’d shot without the possibility of being killed himself.

He thought back to the date of his father’s death, imaging that he might have been executed as Dilemma should have been.

Dilemma detected him sighing softly, then shrugged and closed her eyes. Her hearing was keen, and there was little doubt that he was purposely making his temperament known to her.

“I’m renaming you.” Shark said quietly. “I don’t like the name you were given.”

“Dilemma, a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.” Analyzed she, “It was a sign of the times, I suppose.”

Shark shook his head as he spoke, “Satie didn’t think of you as a dilemma. That word has nothing to do with you.” He watched Dilemma, ready for a reaction. “You’ll be an Aijelle.”

Dilemma thought for a bit. “Named after knives?” She cocked her head to the window. “No.”

Let Mercy Come And Wash Away

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 09:48:51 GMT

    And so it came to be that Lantis got a hold of the long sought after piece of ribbon. Joku had paid a great sum of money for it. For what reason, neither he or Aije would ever know. It was sent to Lantis so that Aije would finally possess something of Shark’s. Traditionally this was a privilege granted to the killer of such a man, but Aije held Shark’s memory in a different segment of her mind than a killer would.

    Joku might have been making an opinion clearer by placing the blame of Shark’s death on Aije by bestowing this gift unto her, but his intention mattered not, only the way she would receive it.

    She was once again sitting on her bed staring at the doorway but watching all other things. She gracefully turned her cheek to Lantis as he took up this space. Her collar bones stood well defined with her neck twisted this way, it was quite artful but in no way welcoming.

    Lantis, now accustomed to her coolness, made his way into the room. He sat next to her and grasped her shoulder. She was small enough in comparison to him that it only took his palm to cover it but there was no way that he could ever break her. His strength did not waver.

    She spoke in a hushed manner,

    “Joku sent you something today; I presume it concerns me. What is it?”

    “It’s something he bought for you, don’t ask me how though."

Not Again.

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:05:27 GMT

Aijelle held her palms against her eyelids and stretched backwards over the chair. She filled her lungs with air that failed to suffice.

“I would very much like it to see you in person to give you the news.” Queenie said, sitting now in Aije’s mind. She cocked her head to one side and smiled.

Her hair was adorned with beads that made it heavy and fall in straight lines around her face. The beads clicked as she caSEDRGFSDTREY

As she spoke and straightened her neck the characteristic enthusiasm in her voice dissipated.

“I have my messengers but this is much too intricate in the detail of emotions to speak through another vessel. I must say it. I must see you react before me.”

Queenie leaned forward slowly.

“Darling girl, you have ten days in my time to meet with me.”

The Tube

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:46:34 GMT

Tripit leaped over the back of the couch, being opportunely agile, and landed on her side. Her long limbs created a graceful illusion for her. She hit the cushions without a flinch or a wince, yawning even. She reached out across the coffee table for the television remote and was caught off guard by the television powering on by itself.

Propped on her elbow, she looked back over the top of the couch. She spotted Aije seated on a stool at the kitchen counter peeling an orange.

Aije didn’t look over at Tripit but her raised eyebrows were meant to tell Tripit to speak up.

Being only the top of a head and a pair of eyes floating over the backrest of the couch, Tripit had little to say. She slipped out of sight from where Aije sat, and was yet out of sight.

She reached again for the remote.

“Why do you insist on using that?”

Tripit rolled her eyes in response to the voice in the back of the room.

“It’s quite a redundant object isn’t it?”

“Only if ya' have the technology to do it yourself.” Tripit sighed and changed the channel (with the remote).

“So then it’s needless for dolls to use it also?”

“You know what I’m saying.”

Aije looked up from her orange and at the clock. She licked her teeth and shook her head.

“You could be the remote if you wanted to.”

Back To Life

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 13:49:35 GMT

Queenie motioned to the left of Aijelle and curled her chromed nails into her palm.

The mechanical snake that convoluted and unwrapped itself around Queenie’s ankles slipped out from her skirts and zigzagged towards one of the columns of the room. Aije turned her head and watched its scaly silver body wind up the pillar.

From behind it, an enhanced stepped around.

Male. Tall. Shark.

Aijelle registered him in bits. Her skin tingled instants before she had to restrain her body from trembling. He was Shark. There wasn’t a doubt in the shorter blonde hair or the smug look on his face.

He raised an empty glass in his hand to her and bowed.

On Phrance empty glasses were stored away in the average dwelling of a soldier in hopes that they would be used to toast a future leader one day. To toast someone was of the highest honors for the toastee and for the toaster.

To Aije, it was anything but.

“I want you to meet,” Queenie annunciated, “Lace Shark.”

Aijelle didn’t look away from him; her handicap of having her cameras removed before meeting with Queenie left her seeming impolite.

“He’s your Elite.”

He stood up.

Aije repeated the word ‘Elite’ while looking at “Lace’s” face.

“-Or first of a few.” Queenie amended. “I’m intent on sending you to Calose as my representative.”

Suza Getrum

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:53:00 GMT

There she lay on the fencing auditorium floor. Suza Getrum, a perfectly normal looking enhanced with gleaming silver armor plates on the outside of her arms and shoulders, classic modifications. She was thrown onto her back with blood pooled around her in a butterfly shaped splatter.

Queenie stalked around the enhanced in a circle and a half. Her skirts dragged behind her but never wandered into the range of the puddle.

She looked into the enhanced’s face and followed its gaze to the glass ceiling. She stood there looking up for a second or two and looked back down. The enhanced had not moved in the instant she looked away.

”I don’t want to get rid of Aaron Genro.” She said, lifting a curled set of fingers to her chin and resting her elbow in her other hand.

Queenie’s eyebrows twitched an instant but she never frowned.

Shark was in the auditorium near the entrance watching her. His hands were in his pockets and he sucked the inside of his cheek.

”Blue, go and tell him he’s not going to be an instructor in the academy anymore. Make sure to remind him that he doesn’t have the choice of going to Hatray, either.”

”Not an issue. What of the cleanup?” He made a pop-sound on the P in cleanup.

This was cause for Queenie to frown. She stared at him.

Calose Hearts

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:23:01 GMT

The two sat for some time in the main room where Jaroam used to have enhanceds play out future and favorite matches.

Often he would pair up Mirror Androids to transform their flesh and produce familiar faces from Phrance. Since Jaroam had the legal clearance he once or twice had an Aaron Genro and Blue Shark fight there; a fight that would have proved long had it really occurred. Shark won every time his face was reborn.

There were no Mirror Androids that day, and only one or two earrings rolling on the floor.

Galroad couldn’t take his eyes off the singular hoop that flew into the wall when he kicked it. He meant for it to strike Aije. His eyes were cast down onto it and he was sick with remembrance of his brother.

By the hoop, Aije was with her hands were folded on top of her drawn knees. She stared at the glass ceiling, at the stars in permanent rigor mortis.

Neither of them looked at the other, with eyes or with cameras.

Aije was anything but ashamed, yet, her location imposed a respectful silence upon her. She knew nothing about the man who Galroad referred to as his kin but the sharpness of his katana.

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:47:07 GMT

The wind rushed in and blew Aaron’s hair away from his face. He turned towards the open window and began tying a bun on the top of his head.

Aije sat on the couch and waited. She yawned and adjusted her belt; one borrowed from Tripit with a rainbow color pattern going all the way around. She had unhooked her holster and placed the gun and all on the coffee table as soon as she walked in, but wasn’t going to leave the gun on its own.

Aaron stood still, crossed and uncrossed his arms to pull his hair out of the bun and into a plain ponytail.

Hijacked

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:06:40 GMT

Lantis stepped into the room half expecting to find Aije with her head stuck out a window pointing at some stray animal on the sidewalk.

Her voice had slithered under both their doors and all he could make out was his own name until he was in the room with her.

Aije was propped on her knees close to the far wall from her bed, just next to where she left her various firearms, with hands searching the floor sporadically.

“Lantis, I’d appreciate it if you got over here.” She said with no sound of interest. Her wide eyes defied the air of frustration she spilled into the room.

“Right…” Her host hesitated. “What is it?”

The enhanced’s fingers bumped and rushed up the wall next to her. Her cheeks puffed up a bit as she blew out cold air, almost in a whistle.

“Dammit, Lantis, I do hope that you’ve at least heard me.” She said. “I can’t hear you if you’re there…”

“Sarcasm?” He felt the trickle of fear make down into his stomach.

“He’s not here.” Aije continued tracing her hands along the wall. “Useless.” her voice, angled towards it, scratched at the paint with airy nails. “I’m going to miss this like hell when I get out…”

”Miss this?” Lantis murmured as he stepped closer to her. “What are you saying?”

Luckily Aije could sense the floor vibrate under Lantis’ feet. An instant ‘Thank You’ flashed in Aije’s mind to an unknown cheap carpenter for an instant. She reached out and Lantis took her by the wrist and pulled her up.

”Lantis! I’ve been- I’m being hijacked. I can only feel, see? See?” She squeezed his hand. “I’m being shown Phrance... I know it isn’t real because I’m-” Aije’s voice changed from a steely observation to a whimper. “I’m standing in front of Shark.”

Aije’s other hand on his cheek gave Lantis a chill.

”You’re beautiful even if you are just a flash movie.” She smiled at Lantis, not seeing his frown or his messy brown hair, but what used to be Blue Shark.

Aije shut her eyes and retracted her claws.

”Get me out of here.”

May the ocean stay... Blue.

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 04:16:02 GMT

Shark took her by the shoulders and let go. He placed his hands on her arms instead.

Aije didn’t react much but look at him.

He leaned to face her with his breath unsteady and skin warm. His teeth even chattered twice before he clenched his jaw. Shark was close enough that Aije could have noticed the chatters without having her ears enhanced.

“If you learn one thing from me.” Shark paused, eyes searching for something in hers’. He didn’t find it.

He repeated himself.

Aije frowned. She’d learned much from Shark in her years. She was certain that he knew as much. Shark was being dramatic, Aije thought. He was putting emphasis on something yet to be said.

Yet, Aije was impatient so she sent her camera in the direction from whence he came. Someone had caused him to act in this way. Someone must still be there.

She had lost focus of him completely and he shook her for it.

“Don’t make enemies.” He said. “Don’t make enemies, Missette”

They stood there for some time looking at each other. Both were silent; Shark with his back aching and Aije with her lack of expression.

From a screen nearby blue light was cast into the hall. Shark’s color was drenched over everything as he was in sweat.

He pulled close to Aije and embraced her. He was practically at his knees with his chin on her shoulder.

The embrace was tight and Aije hadn’t the chance or idea to stiffen. She closed her eyes and held fast to him.

If Aije had given anything back to him for all those years of attention then it was this singular hug.

Shark had always complained about displays of affection. Truthfully, he missed them.

A curl of his ponytail brushed Aije’s cheek.

To Aije, Shark’s hair smelled human. He felt human to her.

Aije couldn’t find the other person in the apartment.

Intro to Part 3

Thu, 11 May 2006 04:06:19 GMT

There were many secrets born and expired on Calose.

Aije used to irritate her wounds at night when she was alone. She would press on the bandages and cause them to bruise, throb, and bleed worse.

Any other enhanced would have shut off certain nerves around the injuries and moved on with their lives.

Aije was preparing herself for the next time she’d be beaten down. She used to fear pain, those days.

Then she got shot.

Galroad lost a father without ever having one and gained a sister which caused anyone’s clue about a family portrait to be adulterated.

He played videos in his head of his favorite ways to kill Aije. A special folder was saved in his head for “Creative Assassinations”.

His was a common breed: vindictive and even obsessed.

No one ever found the love.

Lantis used to be able to save the world.

He was quick to take a fighting stance back then. He’d be ready when he was eating, working, talking, sleeping; oftentimes he was wary in the men’s room.

Now he’s left alone to walk the sandy landscapes of Calorrior in search of one he thought he knew.

Aaron Genro, our king in arms, used to be most unfailing of soldiers.

He almost killed his queen.

He, accompanied now by the greatest of Queenie’s casualties.

Appetizers.

Thu, 11 May 2006 02:59:40 GMT

Aije adjusted the Oakley’s so they sat low on the bridge of her nose. She moved them a few times during their sitting; she wasn’t used to having something sitting on her nose that way.

Their waiter brought the sampler platter and nervously smiled at Aije in the sunglasses. She stared at the appetizers.

“It’s all good stuff, you should try some.” Lantis reached and popped a whole mozzarella stick in his mouth. While chewing he made a relatively coherent sentence around the food, “The cheese gets all stringy if you try to bite only a little bit off.”

“Do you know you speak in such a way that you can be misunderstood easily?” Aije noted offhandedly. She rested against the backrest of her booth seat. “Is all of America like this?”

Lantis shook his head. “Not really.” He swallowed. “Most snobs speak like you do, though.”

“Snobs really?” Aije knew well enough that Phrance did crawl with them. She wasn’t sure yet if she too had their unbecoming traits.

Lantis wasn’t sure if Aije was offended or amused. “But not to be better understood, Missette.” He said with a tinge of regret. “They do it to show off how intelligent they are.”

Sounds like your generic Academy student. Aije mused privately.

She felt odd hearing her first name spoken out loud. Despite the chill going up her spine she nodded, “So they’re dumb?”

“Some.”, said the other with a shrug. He took a sip of his Coke. “How long do you think you can go without eating?”

“However long my shots last me.” She pulled her bag across the booth seat and reached inside. “I’ve got enough for…”

Lantis could hear the sides of the bag hiss around her hands. She didn’t have much.

Disappointment was evident on her face. “A week.”

Oh sleepy.

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:57:31 GMT

Aije spent the night with her face covered carefully by her sheets. No one was supposed to walk in on her but under the current circumstances she was not about to be humiliated by having to explain the huge gash on her cheek. It was hot but being uncomfortable wasn't a huge price to pay for dignity.

That same night Lantis kept close watch of enhanced entering the state. He had contacts in other counties that every hour or so would give an update on who's new. Aije met someone and Lantis was intent on discovering their identity and motives. By no surprise was Lantis the very protective sort. Tripit thought it was cute, Sennia depended on it, and the rest just knew it. He was the perfect big brother, even suitable for Aije who had no interest in a body guard.

The morning came and so did a knock on the door. Who else but Tripit would knock? Aije sat up in her bed and groaned rather loudly in the direction of the door. She held her hand to her face to cover the bandages and barked for Tripit to enter.

"Want some tea?" The 'dreaded' one asked.

"You want some what?" Aije grumbled in return.

"Tea, ya' make it with leaves… and water."

"Do whatever you want." With that Aije fell back into her sleeping position.

L & B

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 07:30:17 GMT

The pixels on Barmelotholemeu's wall were set to white this time. There was one figure in the room. He was leaning against the wall with a look on his face as if he were counting the seconds passing eternally into the nothing. His hair was growing out in waves, a surprise to him as much as it was for Lantis who had just stepped in. Both men exchanged acknowledging looks but said nothing. Barmelotholemeu left his wall and gestured for Lantis to take a seat on the floor since there was no furniture left in the room. He had it removed for the day. Lantis was wise not to question the arrangement; he assumed that he wouldn't understand the reason behind it.

Lantis sat with one leg bent over the other and clutched his shin. He slouched whilst Barmelotholemeu took his time in dropping to an Indian style sitting position facing him. He was visibly in no hurry and watched the thinner man intently. He waited for Lantis to get in the first word.

Instead he held out a metal strip with a lengthy number raised on it.

"I found this code in the floor" He stated. "It's a video clip from one of Aije's collections…"

Barmelotholemeu looked at the number and saved it somewhere in his head. Automatic organization wasn't a big deal for him so he set it off in his OS settings.

"I'll look it up later." He said. "It's new?"

Lantis shook his head, eyes planted on his ankle. "Definitely not."

"Then I've seen it. What's in it?"

"It has Lace, Aije, you, and me." He paused.………………………………I'm too tired to write more. I'll pick this up tomorrow.

Miss White, a description in the works for Flimr.

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 03:34:55 GMT

Miss White was literally an ice statue woman. She moved somehow breaking past her restrictions as a frozen creature. Her ice flesh melted in the places that moved like muscles and she had a grace about her that was refined to the maximum. Movement for her should have been awkward; it was anything but. She was beautiful in her clear existence. Her voice was sharp as a fork hitting a glass and her words were annunciated flawlessly. No one in the audience misunderstood the lyrics of her songs for a moment. When on stage the audience as a whole was mesmerized by this glassy, icy thing.

She's made of ice, somehow- don't ask- it's all part of Flimr. I don't know if I should leave her properties vague or add on to them. Input, please?

The Lioness Is Dangerous.

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:38:37 GMT

There was a breeze the night Aije felt confident enough to look under her bandages. She sat on the railing of the apartment balcony and slowly peeled the gauze and tape from her cheek. The free moving air felt strange against her skin. She paused before sending her camera flying in front of her face. Her right eye showed an inverted reflection of a flawless powder face. With a deep sigh she went into her registry and set her skin to fill itself in metal when broken, her default setting. She figured that a scar anywhere but her face would be acceptable. Aijelle was doing anything to deny self consciousness and convinced herself that to have a metal scar on her face would make her look too much like Lioness.

She tossed the old bandage into the wind and started to signal search awhile only to find countless numbers of wireless home networks from other apartments in the building. No Aaron Genro yet. Had they both been Dolls chances were that they'd never see each other again. Luckily they were human and a half.

A great depression came over her and she slid off the railing to set her feet on the tile with hands held tight to the rail top besides her. She wanted nothing now but to pick up on the offer Aaron gave her. After training with him she'd head straight to Bellum's to exact her revenge. Her pride was shot since Bellum sent Syphe to attack her and cause those nasty wounds she spent so much work on healing naturally.

Aije brushed her cheek with her fingers, reflecting on the event. Someone slid the door to the apartment open and she focused in with her camera, feeling too down to lift her head.

Sennia walked out onto the balcony and nodded to Aije. She closed the door with one hand smoothly and moved next to Aije to lean on the rails, her back arched for comfort. She wore a flannel pajama set. Its print consisted of poodles and Volkswagen Beatles on a navy blue background. Her hair bounced in thick white blond coils from a high-placed pony tail. In Aije's opinion she adapted to Doll life too well.

Sennia licked her lips and looked down at the streets below.

"It's pretty chilly with this wind." She said.

"Yes." said Aije in return. "Not like we need to get used to it, though." She folded her arms and turned her head to Sennia. "We can just make our bodies burn more calories faster to make us warmer, can't we?"

Sennia nodded. "Sure we can, but that means we'd have to eat more."

"We could shoot up some calories. I brought cases of those nutr-"

"You won't find him, you know." Sennia declared, icicles dangling off her words.

"Excuse me?" Aije quarter turned to the other enhanced. Her gut felt as if someone had stuffed her with pigeon feathers.

"He won't recognize you without blood stains all over your clothes." The blonde pushed off from the rails and stood to her full height, a good sum of inches above Aijelle's head. "Not to mention with skin still on your cheek."

Talking... fun...

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:18:55 GMT

"There she goes again." Tripit pointed with her lazy index finger at the sidewalk outside of Virgin. She reclined further back in the passenger seat so Lantis could see past her and opened the window. "Aije, you don't need to buy CD's. We'll just pirate th-"

Lantis covered her mouth. With one hand on the wheel he came to a stop as Aije approached.

"The quality is better on CD's though." Aije beamed.

"Get in." Lantis offered. "You shouldn't have to walk home."

Tripit giggled as Lantis moved his hand away and onto the wheel. She reached back and pushed to button next to the sliding door to open it for Aije. Aije ducked her head and sat in the middle of the back seat. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the shoulders of the other's seats. They re-entered traffic in an awkward silence.

"I remember most walked on Phrance." Aije stated with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

"No cars?" Tripit shortly asked.

"A few; I was only in one once." Aije reached to the dash and grabbed one of the iPods to connect it to the car stereo. "I drove it well."

"You were programmed to drive?" Lantis interrupted Tripit as she produced one singular syllable. He nodded to her in apology.

"So it seems." Aije sighed. "I'm programmed for a lot of things… although it's better to learn them. Don't ask me why or who paid for the software, I'm yet unable to access the files that say who made or sent for me."

Hello, hello, good to be back.

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 07:27:50 GMT

He picked her up off the couch with hesitation. She was so soft; not a skeletal, skin on bones creature and she felt warm against him. Lantis had never laid a finger on Aijelle and with good reason.

When they'd met he held out his hand to shake hers but she instead produced a small handgun from her belt and placed it into his. She thought he wanted her unarmed. He had politely laughed and gave it back to her explaining her mistake.

There was another time when Tripit had patted her on the back and she'd dropped down and squarely swept Tripit off her feet. This was a feat in itself, since Tripit was known for her fast stepping on a DDR machine. Aijelle then pounced on top of her barking,

"The child wants a fight?" quite a few times.

Tripit was laughing for hours, partly out of nervousness and honest amusement. Aije spent the rest of the day with a pouty look on her face.

It was a new concept to Lantis that the enhanced he was harboring could seem such a normal, fragile girl. There she was in his arms, Missette Aijelle of Phrench fame packaged into an almost standard girl. He couldn't believe the thoughts he was entertaining about having a relationship with her he'd have with any doll in America.

Shot through the heart, and you're too late.

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 03:10:28 GMT

"Just bleed all of your memories away, little Aijelle." She said victoriously standing over her clone's body. "I carry them within me; you need not worry anymore!" Aijelle, actively pretending to be Miss, bent over Miss's body, which all the others thought was her, still holding the javelin Bo staff that stuck through her torso. Her lips brushed the clone's ear. "Honestly child, I'm sorry I had to use you this way." She whispered so low that even Aijelle herself couldn't hear.

So that other enhanced's could never realize their error in calling Missette Aijelle the shortened name of her copy she made sure to make the registration on her second operating system public instead of her first on both their bodies. Both women came up as Barmelotholemeu. Aijelle never switched her public ID back to her own after leaving Callorrior so she applied Barmelotholemeu on Miss to confuse. Technically both were hers since they were legit; one on either OS. The truth behind the name, Aijelle was troubled to admit.

She stood to full height as she watched Miss cough out her final mouthfuls of blood. Lace approached her slowly; he bent down to one knee when close. Aijelle repressed the urge to order him to bow in the Phrench manner instead, but knew not to blow her cover. He raised his head and let her gaze upon his sheet white face. In turn Aijelle turned her face way, as she had seen Miss do in the week before. Miss preferred much more than Aijelle to watch others with her right, camera feed receiving, rather than her organic left eye.

Galroad came behind Lace, his arms folded.

"You've actually beat my sister." He managed to say this more gleefully than he did surprised.

Aijelle almost choked at the fact that he admitted to their relation. She snickered instead. It seemed that the only time when he could acknowledge something shameful was when the party involved was long gone. If only he knew he was still speaking to her.

"Sure have." She nodded slowly and sighed.

"Something wrong?" Galroad asked as he walked around the kneeling form of Lace. He came uncomfortably close to Aijelle, most likely to inspect her authenticity. "You've got no reason to look bored. You've just killed a queen."

"That's exactly it, brother." Clone or not, she was his sister.

Beautiful Dream

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:09:46 GMT

Flimr Pt. 1

It was summer and the Rosenbaum theatre was starting up its annual summer course in film, acting, and song. Gavenia's parents had enrolled her for the summer program early that year after they heard rumors that the theatre had an unorthodox deal with 20th Century Fox. It was a deal that had influenced the 'coincidence' that most of the budding new stars those days had studied at the Rosenbaum. It took quite a long time for rumors to surface, considering that the theatre had the deal in place for some years already.

The Rosenbaum was in reality a regular movie theater. The only difference between such a nice looking joint and the next was the studio complex beneath it. Each year the summer group of adolescents would film a surprisingly (to those who had not yet heard about the studios) professional looking movie, that would play for about two months in one of the theaters inside. During the course of filming and classes casting directors were free to walk in and take their picks for whatever movies were to come. The actors were advised to keep quiet about the agent's regular visits.

Gavenia counted on the visits more than she did the classes she was about to take. She had been in summer programs since she was 13 and wanted out into the movie world at a ripe 17. She was surprised to find that this year the Rosenbaum had built a new theater amongst the others for live performances, a real theatre. She didn't know what to think. She could have been angry that finally when she got into a place that offered on-screen courses she was hauled back onto a stage or she could have been excited that the directors figured that they had made something great. It was push and tug the moment she walked into the new portion of the building.

She was about 5'5 and her skin was whiter than most. She hated the contrast with her skin and shoulder length cinnamon hair. Everyone wondered why she didn't dye it blond. She said it was because of her freckles. Now, these freckles were impossible to see if you were not Gavenia herself, who would lean extra close to mirrors and scrutinize her face regularly. After a few tries to convince her that her freckles weren't an issue most people gave up. Gavenia was set on burning them off with lasers and running off with the stars.

She too, was set on playing Ms. White in the new play at the Rosenbaum. It was to be called 'Flimr' and it was going to be about 'fairy tales and superheroes', the newspapers reported.

"A strange combination." thought most.

"And with a strange name" Gavenia would point out in an average conversation.

Those were not the only strange things about this play. The directors themselves were rather odd. They liked to call themselves Number One and Number Two. #1 was an openly gay fellow with lank proportions. #2 was a fat man with a fat opera singer's voice. Their real names were lost amongst the words of a lengthy report as Señor Gustav and Mister Gallo. #1 and #2 wore grey pinstripe suits religiously. Together they wrote Flimr and this was their 5th year in the Rosenbaum.

These are from my personal LJ. Nothing more like this will be posted there; it'll go into this LJ.

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:10:31 GMT

Saturday, December 31st, 2005
Like the deserts miss the rain.

No one was ready for it when Lantis got the news (Lantis had to be the first to know, of course, because of his eminent need for her.) that Galroad had seen Aijelle.

She had come to Callorrior too. Aaron had inherited her place though and excelled where she had not. Then again, she didn't have a chance to prove herself a worthy queen; not with Galroad and Jarome causing a stir. Galroad seemed to block Aijelle at all she did. He stopped her from ruling over Calose and, more recently, from approaching Aaron. He didn't do this alone as one may see, not in either case. He was pushed by Jarome and the everlasting memory of the man.

Jarome's many points were proven the moment Aije struck him down. Galroad wanted then after never to be associated with her in the public eye. He, too, wanted to protect Aaron, whom he sought out as a brother, from her: his genuine biological sister.

She was out over a dune with a crowd of enhanceds dressed in the military flair of Callorrior. They watched the developments from there; most of them had eyes with zoom built into their mechanics. Their leader wore an altered version of the uniform and, on the other hand, had her trusty cameras flying around closer to Aaron, feeding the starving optics of her left eye.

Aaron didn't seem to catch on as quickly as Galroad did. Galroad sensed a shift in the air particles flowing around them. He knew this faint change well even with the breeze. He ordered a few swarms of sand swooping past him to stop and flow apart so he could see without shielding his eyes from the wind. His distraction from the haggling over a new kind of metal for skeletal repairs was what flagged Aaron of their audience. Aaron could not alter the movement of any trillion atoms so he simply snapped on some goggles he had hung around his neck to look into the desert. Alas there they were the little bunch.

Friday, December 16th, 2005
Inflation Prices.

Aije's skin was slick with gasoline. She shook her head and gas flew off her hair in beads of harmless and pure seeming crystal.

"It cost me a pretty penny to drench you in that." Bellum pointed out.

"I can only imagine." Her lips tingled with the poison. The smell burned inside the bridge of her nose. "It's a waste that the fire it will be burned in won't last long."

Bellum was far from the puddle of gas that the other enhanced kneeled in. On command her earshot covered a smaller area around her to listen for Syphe to make a move. Aije began to breathe through her mouth. Her back shook as if she was laughing. Bellum watched, thinking that perhaps Aije had finally cracked.

"A weatherman- I saw him on a television- he said it would rain here soon." She chuckled in a low tone. "I actually watched a television, Bellum" Her voice quirked high on the other woman's name and she looked up at her. "A television! As if I were a normal person!" Aije laughed in saying this, joyful as more gas shook from her clothes.

Bellum widened her earshot and heard the last bit of this, missing completely the news of rainfall to the south. She bent foreward and finished ajusting her implanted eardrums.

Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
Bad news on a bad day.

"'Sitting on the curb, her hair's in her face that way…that way. She's really grown into something hasn't she?" He cleared his throat and tried to hear over the static on the call. "Queenie?" Nothing. Shark cursed and ended the feed by flicking his right ear from the back. He pocketed his hands and walked the distance to Aijelle.

"She's calling you a lot, isn't she?" Aije asked, her expressions hidden by her bangs. Her voice was rough, possibly worn from having unleashed a verbal attack on Lioness earlier. Her back was what rose in a long breath; she was bent forward, holding onto her shins.

"Veemei wants something new from me, not just my loyalty." He sat next to her, leaning back, propped up on his palms. "Seems she wants me to-"

"Queenie wants you dead." Aije spat.

"You don't know that, Missette."

"I know enough. And I know that Queenie is bad news when she gets close."

"Close to what?"

Aije turned her head and stared up at Shark. "To people?" She nodded and rested her cheek on her knee.

Saturday, November 12th, 2005
Oops he died.

Agony was pure and stretched out into her voice. She called out dozens of times for him with no response but the screeching and clapping waves. Clapping for the performance of tragedy she had given them it seemed. No trembling cry was eminent before tears rolled from both eyes and joined the waters below. Human, solely human shock filled her mind and body. She lay slumped there on the edge of the world, the edge that lay before the ten miles of river that divided all of Calorrior in half.

However many feet down it was from the summit might as well have been in the millions. Aaron was gone.

Lace approached in the silence his boots allowed on the orange dust surface. Walking he knocked a rock absently into Aije's back. She didn't move to stop the stone, just laid there with her right arm over the edge, waiting for her man to take it again perhaps. Her camera floated before her, she paid no attention to the feed. She couldn't see anything but the event that had just crushed her, playing over and over in her memory and her other, her digital, memory. Two perspectives unlike each other: one mental and selective, the other electronic and exact.

Friday, November 11th, 2005
Aije vs. Yorkie

Calmly typing at the keyboard Lantis bent over the desk. He had been awake for so long his contact lenses were beginning to feel as if they were glued to his eyes. His hair was stiff with sweat from running home; his bangs were still on his forehead. He would raise his head and then eyebrows to see what he was typing on the screen and his bangs wouldn't move; much unlike the Yorkshire terrier that he brought home that day, which would blink and her fur would swish all about her sweet face.

The dog yapped and he turned from the desk blinking himself.

"God knows what Missette will say about you, pooch." He replied to the pleading yap.

The enhanced Aije moved from her room on a rolling desk chair, being lazy that day apparently. She pushed herself through the living room in route to Lantis' office but was intercepted by the dog.

"I knew I should have been watching this room with my camera!" She bolted off the chair and back into her room shouting, "What the hell is that?" in Phrench. Lunging out she produced a compact version of her Precious. She still had to work some more on the original Gunblade, this was the only item that would work at the moment. "LANTIS!"

"It's a dog, Aije." He said with his eyelids at half mast, standing over her now.

Now, after a month on Earth Missette Aijelle had yet to encounter any mammal other than a human. She saw birds of course and was often bothered by insects but a thing so inhuman and so large had not yet crossed paths with her.

She was propped on her left shoulder, holding the Gunblade out, ready to fire at the shaggy little target. Already she had her camera set to follow the creature; she was literally keeping and eye on it with her left. The marks around the pupil design of her screen encasing shifted counterclockwise and the clockwise as she focused on the dog.

Sunday, October 30th, 2005
I love Queenie.

For http://s14.invisionfree.com/MetalHeart/index.php?showtopic=10&st=0&#last

"This is very strange." a pair of fine glossed lips speak as a pair of metal doors swish open before the woman with the lips walks in. She walks calmly through the scientists, approaching the gel filled bubble. Two of the surgeons working on the to-be cyborg part enough for her to watch over the operation. She wears no protective gear but none of the scientists or surgeons seems to mind or care. "Very strange, indeed." she says again with a low quirk. Turning from the bubble she approaches the female scientist, mindful of the holo-pad in her hand.

"You are all dolls?" she questions with those moist lips.

The scientist pockets the holo pad, straightening her posture and looking the woman in the eye. This woman leans forward, her nose almost touching the scientist's.

"You…" she squints, her eyes painted in black as the Egyptians did eons before. "Why are all the scientists here dolls?"

"It's just more economic, mam."

"What is?" The Egyptian mimicker does all but stutter, in great contrast to the scientist.

"The Doctor is cheap." She smiles with nervousness. "He wants us to have organic eyes, so that he doesn't have to pay for the screens that shift shapes over the grids."

The woman raises her eyebrows and leans back. A glimpse of her bright blue eyes is caught by the light-using organic eyes of the scientist. She finds herself at a loss and glances at the doors her queen just came through.

"When will he come to oversee the operation?" Queenie smirks and shakes her head, putting her hand up to shush the scientist before she speaks again. "Don't tell me. He is too cheap to waste time. You know what they say about time don't you?" Her lips part and she scoffs before laughing shortly. "To think he could just use one of those exoskeletal frames. The spliced armor looking things with all components of a frame on the inside part of them."

"The ones that cut you up all over and sew you back together again." The scientist nods, her calm tone coming back to her, she is stern with this statement. "I know the ones."

"I have some left from the incident," Queenie strains the word incident with almost a purr, "on E.C. if he wants any." She reaches up and pushes a few braids of white gold from her cheek and places them over her ears, their contrast vivid against her ink black hair. She grins, her ivory teeth immaculate. Her eyes are drawn to the bubble and surgeons. "I'll just watch until he comes if you don't mind, Mianeita."

The scientist is humbled by the use of her surname, reminding her of her days in the Phrench Academy when professors would simply find your name coded in your computerized brain and refer to you that way. Queenie had a certain ability of finding a way of getting at people just the way she needed to to get them out of her way.

Sunday, October 2nd, 2005
Maybe I Should Write a Screenplay of My Story.

Lantis: Shot in the chest and up the next day, right Aijelle?

Aije: That's right.

Lantis: Bullshit, I remember on Earth when you caught a cold and were out for a week.

Tripit: Aye.

Aije: Don't believe it then. There aren't flues on Phrance, you know.

Lantis: I remember there being flues. I had hundreds of vaccinations before Queenie even thought about letting me enter the academy.

Aije: You never told me you dealt with Queenie.

Lantis: I didn't; everything was done through Blue Shark. Besides, I never got in.

Aije: If Shark had lived… boy, I'd have loved to see the look on his face when you lost that game for Phrance. I remember that like it was yesterday.

Tripit: What are you talking about? You can replay the footage any day you'd like.

Lantis: Look, I panicked, alright?

Aije: Yeah, those nerves of yours, boy, got you sent to Earth.

Lantis: You aren't any different.

Aije: No, but my nerves saved my ass.

Lantis: Once.

Aije: That's more than I can say for you.

Tripit: Enough with the Phrance-talk. So is it true?

Aije: About me being up right after I was shot?

Tripit: Yeah.

Aije: Depends on who you ask or whose footage you see.

Lantis: In other words, you and I both know that it isn't true.

Aije: Be that way.

Lantis: Oh come on, chicky, I saw how that shot blew your-

Tripit: I don't want to hear this.

Aije: Me neither.

Lantis: What?

Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
WRITERS BLOCK

Meryleasa stood up in all her glory: golden charms dangling all about her form, golden curls reminiscent of Lioness', her fine gold blade protruding from her forearm and the transparent green eyes glowing from behind her bangs of golden chain. She produced a small smile. Her teeth were unveiled by her soft red lips and proved to be made of ivory. Her frame was immaculate, her body was faultless, and whoever must have built her frame ought to have been the most particular person ever born. Meryleasa was obviously an Original. She knew it herself and behaved with more of an imperial charisma than Aije could ever have.

Missette Aijelle, standing opposite of the golden queen bowed in her Phrench manner. She did not care to ask if this was allowed on E. Calissannine, but she bowed fully, arching her right arm over her head swiftly and artfully extending it across her midsection, bending forward with her left arm out from her body.

"I didn't know there were two Aijelles" Said Meryleasa.

From around the bend of the archway came Miss Aijelle. Apparently she had already begun to digress from her sponsor's habits; she had a stiff walk unlike Aije's and preferred to keep her eyes closed at all times. One might find the urge to say that she had Aaron-syndrome but without the blindfold. She, though, preferred to admit that her cameras gave her better visuals than the eyes planted in her skull. It was an accepted opinion and not even Aije chose to differ from her clone's ideas.

Her heels sang their way across the steel floor until she too stood before Meryleasa. Her bow was as refined as Aije's, and they did appear to be just clones. Both stood from the stance and gave each other a look.

"Meryleasa," Began Aije as she stretched out her right arm, palm up, "I do know that I am on your grounds but I at least expected a bow of the head, child."

Sunday, August 28th, 2005
Bling. Bling.

Aijelle clung to Shram's coat in her shaking hands. Her software was giving up on her; she was unable to command any part of her frame to stop the trembling. The man moved around her in his usual silence, wrapping her up in his arms. Aije could feel the gears near her shoulder blades shift, snap, and lock to keep her wings from sprouting and killing her friend. He rested his chin on her shoulder and tilted his head so to kiss the side of her neck.

"Good job, Missette." He whispered against her skin, "You have full control over your wings again. I'm glad."

"These wings are temporary… you have mine." She held the coat to her body, over his forearms. "I don't have any control over these things… I would kill you now if the software cooperated with me."

"You lie, child; your heart's pounding is telling the gears what to do."

"My heart.... that damned thing should have exploded by that shot from your gunblade when Aaron had fired it all that time ago on Calose" She pouted and leaned back against him.

"But, you saved yourself." Barmelotholemeu raised one hand to rub her shoulder gently, soothing her. "My girl, it was your gun then and your carelessness to lose it. I frankly wouldn't have let Aaron, Veemei, or Syphe anywhere close to Merrelle." He pat her arm lightly and stood up from his position of resting against her. "In any case, I'm going to bed now."

"Night…" She turned to look up at his anemic face. "Furulongsen'stah'toh." She suggested he try to get a good night's rest.

"Yeah right" he demurely replied in a deep tone of voice. With a smirk he spread his arms out and disappeared as a silhouette of Christ in a hailstorm of silver diamond shaped flats. Aije sighed and bowed her head. Her tone lowered.

"New technology, aye my boy? Able to fall to pieces as I had once done... but even more… flashy." She shook her head once. "The cocky bastard."