Post by Flare on Aug 7, 2016 15:08:29 GMT -5
Flare found herself laying in a large field of flowers. Poppies. She opened her eyes and got herself up to a sit. They were grandiose, with the plains of poppies whirling over hills and surrounded by trees. A gentle breeze swept over these trees and poppies in perfect waves. The flora was definitely of Earth descent but Flare couldn’t really remember visiting a place like this. The starry night above her combined with the glowing moon, bright and perfect poppy fields, and organized tree surroundings made it become apparent it was a dream.
“...”
She took her time looking over the beautiful petals of the nearby flowers. The fire elemi was in a trance due to their majesty. This was definitely a different turn from her past few nightmares, where she would always start out in a neutral setting. This was already turning out to be something nice. Give it enough time and her red eyes traced upwards towards a hill nearly in the middle of this wide and large field. This hill, centered perfectly in the field, had silhouettes of multiple figures upon its peak. From how far she was she could not make any out. The young flame got up to that, seeing as she could not control herself now, and made her way over to check it out. The flowers and grasses tickled at her knees and shins while the hill itself seemed to also come closer to her at the same time she walked to it. Yes, it was a dream after all.
These dark figures, even when close to them and under the light of the full moon, remained as nothing more than shadowy figures while she was there. Intrigued, Flare drew closer and tried looking them over. They seemed generic in height and form. The shadowy film surrounding them hid most all features. There were close to a dozen individuals she could make out in the clump. In the weary dreamy state of shadows some seemed to meld close to one another though. It was hard to actually count them even though they all stood still. While Flare still tried to have a look over these dreamstate figures she felt, well dreamt, of a sharp sensation in her torso. It didn’t exactly hurt but it caused her body to feel numb and paralyzed. Stuck in place from her torso down. She looked down and… a red sword had pierced her well beyond the tip.
“Eh?! The fuck?”
She didn’t seem otherwise impaired… maybe, psychologically though… The sword had went through her without making a sound and any move. It was almost as if the blade just spawned into existence inside her. What the hell was this? Flare HAD to start looking back.The moment the young flame tried looking back at the perpetrator was the moment who or whatever this was slung her swiftly off the blade. The movement slung her down to knees in a painful cry. This one felt like it hurt alright. Crimson spilt wildly across the moonlit poppies. She felt so weakened, so disorientated from the mere gesture that it took her forever to stop rocking on her knees.
“H-hnng… fuck...”
The bloodied elemi forced her eyes up to meet this man in grandiose armor. If it wasn’t for the red to back up the golden plates and gold-red sword she would have mistaken the guy for Jarvis. Maybe that was too insulting to this literal red-head? He sat back in this floating throne, again reminiscent of Jarvis. He was just giving a rather pompous smirk as he… burned the blood off his blade. He didn’t even have to look at it. Who the hell did he think he was just casually stabbing her? Better yet, who the hell is he to just pop up in a dream so vividly pictured? They had never met.
“The hell… are you?”
Flare spat out with a bit of blood aimed towards him and held under her chest where the wound was to apply pressure. She couldn’t exactly cauterize herself with flames. “No… seriously… I’ve never seen ya before.” It was that moment that the man, from his floating seat, just pierced the young flame again with the end of his blade. She was caught at the end of her words. This time, she was looking right at this bold man. So, what else was there to do other than snarl at him and attempt to awaken her super form? Ha, like her dream self would let that happen. She wasn’t in control.
“Even in your dreams you can’t help but snarl at your superiors. You’re a smart girl, but you act more like a saiyan. Pathetic.”
Again the guy pulled the blade harshly out of her in a single swipe which caused more of the elemi’s blood to be spilt.
“WHY! A-AGH!”
It all FELT real… Too real. She was back to her knees with a whimpering demeanor as she just tried to hold it together.
“Because you’re weak and I’m strong. This is the rule of the land, in the end. No matter how much societies advance in the universe this will remain a constant. But… you already knew that Flare.”
The man didn’t burn the blood this time in anticipation… He knew damn well she wasn’t going to stand there and take it. “Strength is more than just raw power, it’s knowing what your enemy will do. What your ally will do. Knowing weaknesses. Knowledge is a much more powerful tool, and it’s a shame your period-driven mess of your former self just wants to use my flames and put them to shame. How dull and inconsiderate.”
“Didn’t… didn’t answer my question, jackass… Who are ya?”
The young elemi hesitated to even move, what with the blade still fairly firm in his hand. “You call my strives to take back my life dull and pathetic? Excuse me!? I…-” She found herself caught up in this dreamlike state of coughing up more and more blood. Considering the dream wounds… Yeah, her lungs should all but be destroyed elsewhere. “-have had a stake driven through my life! And YOUR Flames? What!?” Again, even when she tried getting angry… nothing happened. No flames but this guy’s own that whipped around his blade.
“I’m Ragnarok. I AM the flame you possess. It has been rather exciting seeing your true power come forth, but you’ve always been shot down so… easily. By both a child and some mook who thinks he can pass off as a god. You’re a nerd, not a full-blooded fighter who trained their lives to being strong. You really think you can just walk into these things fists ablaze?”
Sword still gripped in his hand he’s wave to the shadowy figures still behind Flare. The young flame took a slow glance over at them. As she did that, they started coming clear into vision… From left to right: her foster Parents, Naomi and Jackson Jefferson, her adviser and old friend James Duff, Tabitha “Auntie” Duff, her maid and practical other mother, Scion, her former light martial arts trainer… And her old best friend. There was a little space between her and what came next. Her tiny robot, Jax, and the reclusive Ermine. Atsuko, Vaneera, Motet, and several other friends she had met recently were all bunched up over at the right.
“These, Flare, are the people you are or once were acquaintances, friends with, close to, or practically family. All of them which also either you got killed, betrayed you, resent you, don’t trust you, or is shocked by you. By the events you caused this past year. This all has in turn proceeded your turning into a Super Elemi.”
Ragnarok spoke about them as if he, too, was a part of this whole cycle. He didn’t seem to be lying at all about his status either. He didn’t have reason to. He was some sort of personification of her powers.
“But, wait…”
Flare looked over the group again with a frown before facing her head towards Ragnarok. “Shizen?” She turned her head back to get a look at this form of Shizen pop into existence on his lap. She looked the same, cut this red and fiery blindfold that covered her eyes. Ragnarok patted the blonde’s head with his free hand as he just smirked. Flare couldn’t help but snarl again and tried rushing the guy in the throne only to get a sword through her again. Aimed lower at her stomach. Flare, again, shrieked in pain at the sudden impalement. This time instead of pulling the blade out he lifted the blade up behind her and brought the impaled lady closer to both himself and the dream Shizen.
“You don't get it, do ya? I suppose that can’t be helped, you cannot truly understand my power without having the power yourself to control it. Was you wanting to know why you’ve been so easy to piss off as of lately?”
It made sense, in its own weird way. Elemi, to Flare’s knowledge, were like Saiyans on an emotional level, but couple it with just about anything. She remembered the flames still shone brightly when she sat crying in front of the breenchian girls. “I admire your passion and determination. It is befitting of a fire elemi. If only you could back it up. If you’re really so smart, you’ll start thinking rather than try and punch everything. My power or not, you’ll not live much longer if you don’t heed the advice of your ‘friends’. Even in your dreams you cannot mend what is broken. Go, fix it yourself, then maybe you’d stop getting into situations like this.” Flare tired hard to dispute this, but she couldn’t feel the ability to talk anymore. Not while she was like this. It was probably intentional in this dream to have her unable to speak any longer. It would assume control like this, like it had the other times she was there. After a moment of silence Ragnarok slung her off the blade again. She was made to sit down this time to view the figures from the shadows before. Some of them had started to look pained or hurt, others scared or angered. Probably because of her.
“These people were pyre. Fuel for you to understand my strength. Lose is a great tool for this.”
With another slash of his blade he aimed to ‘cut’ towards all the figures over her. Suddenly, those who were dead disappeared into cries of pain and horror. “Focus this anger and grief into something useful instead of just trying to butt your head against a wall.” Shizen, in his arm, seemed to start whimpering in his grasp. Still blindfolded. Flare wasn’t able to do anything but stare out at grandiose fields. The remaining figures turned back to the shadows they were once before and the moonlit poppy fields turned into sickening rolling grounds of fire beneath them all. Faces and bodies seemed to appear in the flames. They started cackling… screaming… laughing… Bunched up emotions that overwhelmed both herself and the Shizen on Rag’s lap.
“Now, go! For Shizen!”
Ragnarok commanded her to be let loose into the lands, like she had some sort of control over her dream. He reiterated a few times the same sentence, each one getting more and more fierce until he just reeled the sword back in his hand and aimed it towards Flare’s neck.
“-Before you lose your head!”
The moment the sword struck her in the dream she found herself gasping for air in her king-sized bed. The covers had been thrown off the bed, the curtains tangled and opened from around it, yet she was sweating a storm. What a mess… Flare’s crimson eyes scanned the room anxiously as she tried to grasp what had happened… Another nightmare. She felt on her face to wipe some of the sweat off and found she had dried tears up on her cheeks too. Her hair was all tangled and torn from the rough movement she must have been doing in her sleep. Her pillows beneath her were beaten to a pulp and covered in her sweat.
Yet, there wasn’t a soul around her. No Auntie to calm her down.
“A-ah…”
Flare sighed and got up from the bed. She was in her pink underwear and didn’t care for trying to put on much else. The floor underneath her tingled her feet that were suddenly sensitive. [“Odd.”] She thought to herself as she carefully stepped along the floor. The young flame felt like she was walking atop legos. “The fuck…? E-eh…” She pushed herself towards the bathroom in her room and flicked the lights on to it. Ouch, too bright. The young flame hissed and covered her eyes for good moment before she could readjust. It was… different. Her fire power, in essence, just spoke to her through a dream. Garnished in similar attire to the blue-haired prick. Considering it was a dream, there was meaning to that. A reason why he appeared in that form.
“Shower…”
It was super early in the morning, still dark outside. She couldn’t just fall back asleep though…. She had to clean up and get to work. Her rather exquisite bathroom held a huge bath that could accommodate several. Oh how she would have liked that now… After she climbed in alone Flare stripped down and took almost an hour in there. It took time to wash off these feelings and haunting dreams.
Rinse, soap up, rub in and rinse some more. Repeat. The young flame was being abhorrently slow in cleaning herself up. It was because she was in deep thought. Thinking it all over. Her memory of the dream she had already faded mostly, like almost every dream ever conceived, but she could feel something about herself come more into terms with the situation.
[“I have all these nice things.”]
Flare idly thought to herself in shower think as she glanced around her spacious shower and tub. [“The average human would be happy with all this. Heh, I’m not human though. Just some petty spoiled scourge who is half-looks half-brain. I don’t deserve this stuff.”] Flare then just turned her head down to the drain at her feet. All that water just spiraling down it. [“If that is the case... Then why aren’t I happy if I am that way? I’m lyin’ to myself if I think I can just forget about her. None of these material things. They do not compare to these strange feelings of love and compassion… Fuck, my life is like some cliche action romance. I really need to stop watching so much All My Tails.”] For a while she would be silent there. Cleaning herself up good for the coming day.
[“What I told Atsuko, about training. I’ll need to take this more seriously than everything I have in my entire life. To start that, I need to strain myself to my limits. There has got to be more to this control and power over my flames than what I’m seeing at face value.”] Some soap in her eyes caused her to jolt in pain and shut them hard. “Owowowow” She did her best to just rub it out and make sure to keep it from happening again by keeping a hand above her brows. [“Fuck… Ech, Maybe I should hurry it on up.”] She had probably thoroughly washed herself several times now. It was time to stop. With another episode of rinsing her body down she eventually stumbled out of the shower with a towel to pat herself down with. She went on ahead and grabbed some of her newer cloth and fully made it back to her own bedroom to see Auntie there. The young flame was still in the middle of dressing herself so the old lady got some nude action.
“AH! Hey!”
Auntie blinked and hid her eyes away whilst the young flame covered herself immediately and put the clothing on. “Auntie, ya need to knock!”
“Hohoho.”
Tabitha snickered at the distressed woman. She was back in her old jacket and battle robe. She knew that the young flame had gotten up and wanted to train some more. “Didn’t we tell you about straining yourself trying to reach that sort of power child?” Flare blinked at her again. Right, the mind reading thing.
“Oh, Auntie… I need to though, it’s the only way.”
Tabitha gave her child a lookover one more time with narrowed eyes before sighing. She just walked on over beside her girl and wrapped an arm around her back to start guiding her.
“If you really think so. Just make sure I’m there to be with you, child. Now come on, to the Gravity Chamber.”
So the two of them went to the chamber in the early hours of dawn. A few of the night maids were on their way out while it was expected the morning maids would arrive and the resident maids would wake up soon after. They greeted these few and just made their way straight to the large garage that held the chamber. With a flick of the switch the large lights illuminated the garage full of hovercars, robots, and miscellaneous gadgets. Centered in it all was that same chamber she used time and time again. They made their way on in and towards the main console centered in the gravity chamber.
“Times thirty gravity, deary. Gotta kick back into shape.”
Flare blinked and looked back at the old lady before she said anything.
“What? That’s where I last left off…”
Flare didn’t think the old lady could hold her own in that sort of stress. All the sudden Tabitha started raising in power. Something the old maid NEVER did. Once it had stopped rising… it was around half of Flare’s own effective strength. Considering the age and retirement? She was probably something to mess with. Tabitha shoved the young elemi away from the console for the moment and decided to set the gravity herself.
“Don’t be a wuss. I may be old but I’m no weakling. Ready?”
The door shut behind them on command and the machine started purring it's machine wurr. A mere second after that the gravity forced down onto the two with great strength. Even though Flare was not used to this high gravity she felt eased. This was not as hard as it was the previous times to get used to. She was able to keep standing unlike those other times with Ermine. Auntie? Ehh… She went to a knee and started gasping for air. Given a bit she would hoist herself on up in an old lady grunt.
“‘Don’t push yourself now, child.’”
Flare mocked Tabitha and stuck a tongue out. Auntie smirked at the elemi and just stumbled slowly on back to the console to put in an exercise of their choice.
“Now I know why you’re mouth costed ya, heheh.”
