[youtube]K2C6G3PCpqw[/youtube]
Do you hear them? Do you hear the voices of the enslaved? They are screaming out for release from the prison of life.
"I don't hear them. I only hear the screams of a boy wailing in the dark against the world."
Then you are blinded by your chains. Do not let sentiment trap you, woman.
"No mother is free of that."
You must kill that which enslaves you.
"Would you have me destroy you then?"
-Silence-
Darkness and silence. Then the memory of past conversations faded into nothing. Now, there was only peace in a void of nothing. No emotions. No regrets. No burdens. Simply nothing.
Jin wished this moment of trance could last forever.
Her wish was never meant to be. Her wishes never were.
Her black eyes rolled open. Her vision was hazy as she tried to keep the world unfocused. She would have been content to lay in the bed for the entire day. But her stomach protested it's ravenous hunger. Reminded of her mortal coil's needs, Jin squinted to focus her eyes; the crow's feet around her eyes deepening. The ceiling snapped into focus and the aged woman could make out a moth crawling over the wooden planks overhead.
Jin's forehead throbbed as if she had consumed half the wineries on Limsa and her body, already accustomed to countless aches, felt as if she had been assaulted by a hundred clubs wielded by a hundred Roes. She placed her pale, wrinkled hands to her face and covered her eyes to shield her from the light of the sun spilling in from a large window.Â
She didn't want to rise from the bed anymore. She didn't want to face the world. She could feel in the back of mind the years of regrets and sins trying to crawl forward in her weakened state and overwhelm her mind with guilt. If they surfaced now, she might not rise for hours as she struggled with the past. She gave a grunt of annoyance.
"I'm stronger than this." Jin chastised herself, feeling her emotions trying to drag her down like an anchor into the sea of depression.
Jin gained control of her mind and then stretched beneath the sheets. She attempted to roll out of bed. It hurt to move, but her stubborn streak refused to allow her to admit defeat to age. Joints popped audibly as she rolled over and climbed to her feet.
As she rose, she looked down and realized she was wearing a long, black nigh down that hung around her figure like a tarp. Blinking as she realized someone had undressed her, her eyes swept the room for signs of where she was.
Her hunting gaze ran over the desk and chair that sat against the wall opposite her bed. A large chest-of-drawers stood by the door on her right and on her left a large window looked out over a large vineyard. In the distance, a setting sun glittered off the ocean.
"Where am I?" she commented. "Do I even want to know how long I was unconscious?"
A sudden crash reached her. Somewhere below in the house, a man was cursing. Here ears went flat and her mouth went dry as she turned towards the door. She strained to hear any more but there was nothing.
Nervously, Jin flexed her age-spotted hands. She reached out and felt for aether, twisting it to her will. Once she felt confident in the amount of energy now at her disposal, Jin tip-toed to the door and gingerly opened it.
The door creaked ever so slightly and she tensed as the sound filled the hallway outside her room. A few candles flickered in their mounts but otherwise the hallway was empty and silence returned. Jin craned her neck; first to the left, and then to the right before she crept into the hall way, doing her best to move quietly towards a stairway.
The stairs were made of stone so the elder was able to make her way down them without fear of creaks. Her nightgown fluttered as she descended in a crouched stance. Her ears craned themselves around as they searched for any further noises.
At the bottom of the stairs she heard new sounds: a sliding drawer and then the telltale sound of a metal blade being sharpened upon a whetstone. Jin pressed her back against the wall near an open doorway. Natural light was spilling in through the door-frame and just on the other side of the wall was the source of the menacing sound.Â
Jin took a deep breath and drew the aether into her right hand. A ball of purple lightning began to dance just above her palm and she tensed, ready to spring through the doorway and hurl the bolt.
"I'd prefer it if you -not- do that." came a voice from the kitchen and she immediately sighed in both relief and annoyance. Dispersing the spell, she rolled off the wall and walked through the door.
She entered a large kitchen. The granite counter tops were long and broad. Rosewood cabinets lined the walls. In the center of the kitchen was an island with a great cooking pit in the center. The sun illuminated the entire room through a series of skylights. Polished oak boards shimmered on the floor and the whole place smelt strongly of fresh fruit and sweet meats and Jin's stomach growled to remind her of her hunger.
Crate was standing opposite the door by the island. He was dressed in a white, cotton shirt and black trousers and was wielding a large machete in his right hand. Before him was a fresh pineaple and a bowl of meat. He gave Jin a grin and then sliced off the pineapple's pointed stem with one, smooth cut.
"Glad you could join me. Was starting to think you were never going to wake up.
Jin eyed Crate as one might eye a live grenade.
"How long was I out?"Â her voice, unlike his, was not filled with warmth.
Crate rolled the pineapple onto it's base and began to skin the fruit with slow, careful cuts.
"Four days." Crate commented, his blue eyes fixed his efforts to flay the fruit. "Nasty little poison they got into you. Almost didn't manage to get it out of you in time."
"Four days?" Jin repeated softly, genuinely surprised. It had been a long time since something had taken her out for that long and explained why she felt as bad as she did. She placed her hands on the counter and leaned forward slightly. "Why are you helping me Crate? Our last words-"
"You mean the words were you informed me that I was a cancer upon the world and the only thing of use I might ever do would be to die in a garden so I might act as fertilizer and redeem my pitiable existence?" The blond spell caster chuckled and glanced up to look at Jin's wrinkled face. Jin gave a grunt.
"Yes. I figured that made our relationship rather clear."
"Are you sorry I saved you?"Â Crate raised an eyebrow, but his Cheshire smile never left his face.
"I do wish it had been alot of other people, yes."Â Jin's honesty made Crate laugh.
"Well, it wasn't. You got me. Little, old me. Wait. Little me, you the old one." He giggled before shrugging. "Well, I do suppose I owe you an answer." He spun the pineapple and began skinning a new portion of the fruit.
"It's a two part answer. The first, is that I'm curious about this 'thing' in Doma you are planning to go seeking. From what I've heard through the rumor mill, it's something to do that boy of yours. Therefor I'm assuming its bad for a lot of people and so I would like to make sure it's not bad for me. The second part is, that since it probably is bad for people alot of people are probably going to try and stop you. Violently. That means I can have some fun at their expense. Get to tease and taunt and do some more experiments for my psychological studies."Â
The pineapple, now properly flayed, was rolled over. The machete rose and fell as it cut the fruit into thin slices. Jin eyed the male carefully and pursed her lips.
"So this is all for your own amusement."
"Well, and for science." Crate commented. "Face it, Jin, you need me right now. I don't know how many remaining pals you have, but they didn't show when you needed them."
"Convenient. Wouldn't be surprised if you helped guide them." Jin's expression was far from pleasant as she spoke.
"Possible but, in this case, no. I was there because I was hunting that big iron ball of male you got to meet. He and I tango every so often and I felt like we were overdue for a date. Timing, eh?"
Crate finished slicing his pineapple and put the dripping cutlery down. He picked up a slice of fruit and began to chew. Jin took in a deep inhale.
"I'd be a fool to trust you." Jin stated as she studied the little male. She did owe him, but she didn't value a single word from his lips. His reputation preceded him and a long list of betrayed and vindictive persons followed him. Crate had slipped from master to master like a plague, always leaving devastation in his wake. His goals were always self-serving and Jin was willing to bet that his goals went beyond simple curiosity.Â
Problem was, he was right. She did need him. She was currently penniless, friendless, and being hunted by what seemed like endless stream of want-to-be-heroes.
"Now that's not very nice." Crate feigned offense and placed a hand to his heart as he swallowed. "You trusted your son, didn't you?"
"That's different." Jin snapped back, Fury crossed her wrinkled features as her grey ears went flat atop her head. She flashed her keeper fangs and the short, seeker male actually grabbed his weapon once again.
"How so? I'm less crazy?"
"You're not my child."Â she growled, clenching her fists.
"Child? Right, right. You mean I'm not an insane, dramatic, genocidal, edge-lord monster?" Crate took another bit of his fruit and chewed, jucing running down his tan chin. "Forgive me. Definitely see why you would trust someone like that over me."
That stung. As much as she didn't want to let Crate's goading bother her, it did. It was a sensitive area to the mother of three, despite the passing of time.Â
Crate watched as some of the anger faded from Jin's features and she gave a slow exhale. Her tense shoulders slumped slightly. Relaxing, Crate let go of his weapon a and mentally stored away the effect of his words should he need them again.
"You wouldn't understand. How could a little freak like you ever understand." Jin's voice was slow.
"Who knows." Crate cshrugged, his voice the same, chipper tone it always seemed to be. "I hear words are a way though."
Jin closed her eyes and sighed.
"Did you really see him as a monster?" she inquired. Crate was about as close to a monster himself as one could get and if even -he- had seen her son as such a creature when he was alive...
"Lady, I never met the fellow." Crate declared through mouthfuls of pineapple. "But I know his reputation among the right circles. Annnnnd, yeah, not pleasant. Not at all really. I mean sure, some of the cult you and your fellows made that tried to serve him might have liked him. But...yeah, cults. Bad taste. In mouth, Hence why I eat pineapple. To leave a good taste. In mouths." He giggled impishly.
"Charming." Jin grunted and rolled her black eyes. She was done with this conversation. This was just stirring up more memories and raising that feeling of guilt inside her.  When she had first learned of her child's existence after all the years apart, she had traveled the world over to find him. She had refused to believe those whispers about him. She had desperately wanted to think of his reputation as a lie. But, upon meeting him, there could be no doubt the nature of the rumors were true. And worse, he didn't even seem to recognize their relationship. It was as if he was something else. His dismissal had broken her heart and just added to the guilt she felt when it came to her kits.
She had felt she had failed as a parent with all her children.
The first was left with that stupid seeker soldier. She had been younger then and full of a drive to cast down the Empire's war machine and break it. A rebel with a cause; then, some years later, slave to the pleasure houses of the machine. Then her second two children, born into servitude, were forced to bear a childhood of degradation and abuse as they watched their drug addicted mother taken over and over just to keep them eating scraps. She could hardly recall that point in her life save for a few clouded memories. It hadn't been until her youngest boy, just fifteen at the time, had freed her that she could truly think again.Â
She recalled waking up in that coffin after whatever toxin her boy had slipped her wore off. She had screamed in terror but had escaped as the lid had never been sealed and the grave had been a shallow one.Â
As she crawled from the ground, she had been reborn. But her family was long gone and she began to resume her work bringing down the Empire with even more of a hatred burning inside her heart. The Empire had taken her life, her children, and part of her soul. She would have her revenge.
But she had never lost that need to see her children; to apologize to her youngest two for the hell they had endured.  But, when she had stood before the youngest and given her apology, she had been rejected as he committed his atrocities.
Everyone else saw a monster. She had seen the same, little boy who had screamed and cried in the night when he was scared. The same boy who had giggled when she sang him lullabies. And the same boy who told her he loved her. That is why she had stayed. Why she had help founded the cult: because she loved him in the way only a mother can and she wanted to make amends. She had wanted to be close to him. But now...he was dead. The cult was now gone with him and all that remained was the thing in Doma. A last gift to her for her revenge. She had always been a better revolutionary than a mother.
She clenched her fists and glared through Crate as if starring across the ocean.
"In Doma, there it lies, that which shall bring about the Empire's demise."
"Beg your pardon?" Crate blinked as his smile faded. He had been watching her as she had reflected inside her mind and the sudden shift back to aggression put him on edge.
Jin reached over and took a piece of fruit. Part of her wanted to strangle the Seeker male right there and then but she stayed her hands. Later, she told herself. Later.
"Just recalling something." She ate the fruit and seemed to relax. "You seem intent on accompanying me, so I'll permit it. But understand, I make the orders." She offered him her left hand. Crate eyed it.
"Very well." Crate took the hand. The two shook. "Allies to the bitter end."
Oh -you'll- come to a bitter end, alright. Thought both miqo'te in unison.
Do you hear them? Do you hear the voices of the enslaved? They are screaming out for release from the prison of life.
"I don't hear them. I only hear the screams of a boy wailing in the dark against the world."
Then you are blinded by your chains. Do not let sentiment trap you, woman.
"No mother is free of that."
You must kill that which enslaves you.
"Would you have me destroy you then?"
-Silence-
Darkness and silence. Then the memory of past conversations faded into nothing. Now, there was only peace in a void of nothing. No emotions. No regrets. No burdens. Simply nothing.
Jin wished this moment of trance could last forever.
Her wish was never meant to be. Her wishes never were.
Her black eyes rolled open. Her vision was hazy as she tried to keep the world unfocused. She would have been content to lay in the bed for the entire day. But her stomach protested it's ravenous hunger. Reminded of her mortal coil's needs, Jin squinted to focus her eyes; the crow's feet around her eyes deepening. The ceiling snapped into focus and the aged woman could make out a moth crawling over the wooden planks overhead.
Jin's forehead throbbed as if she had consumed half the wineries on Limsa and her body, already accustomed to countless aches, felt as if she had been assaulted by a hundred clubs wielded by a hundred Roes. She placed her pale, wrinkled hands to her face and covered her eyes to shield her from the light of the sun spilling in from a large window.Â
She didn't want to rise from the bed anymore. She didn't want to face the world. She could feel in the back of mind the years of regrets and sins trying to crawl forward in her weakened state and overwhelm her mind with guilt. If they surfaced now, she might not rise for hours as she struggled with the past. She gave a grunt of annoyance.
"I'm stronger than this." Jin chastised herself, feeling her emotions trying to drag her down like an anchor into the sea of depression.
Jin gained control of her mind and then stretched beneath the sheets. She attempted to roll out of bed. It hurt to move, but her stubborn streak refused to allow her to admit defeat to age. Joints popped audibly as she rolled over and climbed to her feet.
As she rose, she looked down and realized she was wearing a long, black nigh down that hung around her figure like a tarp. Blinking as she realized someone had undressed her, her eyes swept the room for signs of where she was.
Her hunting gaze ran over the desk and chair that sat against the wall opposite her bed. A large chest-of-drawers stood by the door on her right and on her left a large window looked out over a large vineyard. In the distance, a setting sun glittered off the ocean.
"Where am I?" she commented. "Do I even want to know how long I was unconscious?"
A sudden crash reached her. Somewhere below in the house, a man was cursing. Here ears went flat and her mouth went dry as she turned towards the door. She strained to hear any more but there was nothing.
Nervously, Jin flexed her age-spotted hands. She reached out and felt for aether, twisting it to her will. Once she felt confident in the amount of energy now at her disposal, Jin tip-toed to the door and gingerly opened it.
The door creaked ever so slightly and she tensed as the sound filled the hallway outside her room. A few candles flickered in their mounts but otherwise the hallway was empty and silence returned. Jin craned her neck; first to the left, and then to the right before she crept into the hall way, doing her best to move quietly towards a stairway.
The stairs were made of stone so the elder was able to make her way down them without fear of creaks. Her nightgown fluttered as she descended in a crouched stance. Her ears craned themselves around as they searched for any further noises.
At the bottom of the stairs she heard new sounds: a sliding drawer and then the telltale sound of a metal blade being sharpened upon a whetstone. Jin pressed her back against the wall near an open doorway. Natural light was spilling in through the door-frame and just on the other side of the wall was the source of the menacing sound.Â
Jin took a deep breath and drew the aether into her right hand. A ball of purple lightning began to dance just above her palm and she tensed, ready to spring through the doorway and hurl the bolt.
"I'd prefer it if you -not- do that." came a voice from the kitchen and she immediately sighed in both relief and annoyance. Dispersing the spell, she rolled off the wall and walked through the door.
She entered a large kitchen. The granite counter tops were long and broad. Rosewood cabinets lined the walls. In the center of the kitchen was an island with a great cooking pit in the center. The sun illuminated the entire room through a series of skylights. Polished oak boards shimmered on the floor and the whole place smelt strongly of fresh fruit and sweet meats and Jin's stomach growled to remind her of her hunger.
Crate was standing opposite the door by the island. He was dressed in a white, cotton shirt and black trousers and was wielding a large machete in his right hand. Before him was a fresh pineaple and a bowl of meat. He gave Jin a grin and then sliced off the pineapple's pointed stem with one, smooth cut.
"Glad you could join me. Was starting to think you were never going to wake up.
Jin eyed Crate as one might eye a live grenade.
"How long was I out?"Â her voice, unlike his, was not filled with warmth.
Crate rolled the pineapple onto it's base and began to skin the fruit with slow, careful cuts.
"Four days." Crate commented, his blue eyes fixed his efforts to flay the fruit. "Nasty little poison they got into you. Almost didn't manage to get it out of you in time."
"Four days?" Jin repeated softly, genuinely surprised. It had been a long time since something had taken her out for that long and explained why she felt as bad as she did. She placed her hands on the counter and leaned forward slightly. "Why are you helping me Crate? Our last words-"
"You mean the words were you informed me that I was a cancer upon the world and the only thing of use I might ever do would be to die in a garden so I might act as fertilizer and redeem my pitiable existence?" The blond spell caster chuckled and glanced up to look at Jin's wrinkled face. Jin gave a grunt.
"Yes. I figured that made our relationship rather clear."
"Are you sorry I saved you?"Â Crate raised an eyebrow, but his Cheshire smile never left his face.
"I do wish it had been alot of other people, yes."Â Jin's honesty made Crate laugh.
"Well, it wasn't. You got me. Little, old me. Wait. Little me, you the old one." He giggled before shrugging. "Well, I do suppose I owe you an answer." He spun the pineapple and began skinning a new portion of the fruit.
"It's a two part answer. The first, is that I'm curious about this 'thing' in Doma you are planning to go seeking. From what I've heard through the rumor mill, it's something to do that boy of yours. Therefor I'm assuming its bad for a lot of people and so I would like to make sure it's not bad for me. The second part is, that since it probably is bad for people alot of people are probably going to try and stop you. Violently. That means I can have some fun at their expense. Get to tease and taunt and do some more experiments for my psychological studies."Â
The pineapple, now properly flayed, was rolled over. The machete rose and fell as it cut the fruit into thin slices. Jin eyed the male carefully and pursed her lips.
"So this is all for your own amusement."
"Well, and for science." Crate commented. "Face it, Jin, you need me right now. I don't know how many remaining pals you have, but they didn't show when you needed them."
"Convenient. Wouldn't be surprised if you helped guide them." Jin's expression was far from pleasant as she spoke.
"Possible but, in this case, no. I was there because I was hunting that big iron ball of male you got to meet. He and I tango every so often and I felt like we were overdue for a date. Timing, eh?"
Crate finished slicing his pineapple and put the dripping cutlery down. He picked up a slice of fruit and began to chew. Jin took in a deep inhale.
"I'd be a fool to trust you." Jin stated as she studied the little male. She did owe him, but she didn't value a single word from his lips. His reputation preceded him and a long list of betrayed and vindictive persons followed him. Crate had slipped from master to master like a plague, always leaving devastation in his wake. His goals were always self-serving and Jin was willing to bet that his goals went beyond simple curiosity.Â
Problem was, he was right. She did need him. She was currently penniless, friendless, and being hunted by what seemed like endless stream of want-to-be-heroes.
"Now that's not very nice." Crate feigned offense and placed a hand to his heart as he swallowed. "You trusted your son, didn't you?"
"That's different." Jin snapped back, Fury crossed her wrinkled features as her grey ears went flat atop her head. She flashed her keeper fangs and the short, seeker male actually grabbed his weapon once again.
"How so? I'm less crazy?"
"You're not my child."Â she growled, clenching her fists.
"Child? Right, right. You mean I'm not an insane, dramatic, genocidal, edge-lord monster?" Crate took another bit of his fruit and chewed, jucing running down his tan chin. "Forgive me. Definitely see why you would trust someone like that over me."
That stung. As much as she didn't want to let Crate's goading bother her, it did. It was a sensitive area to the mother of three, despite the passing of time.Â
Crate watched as some of the anger faded from Jin's features and she gave a slow exhale. Her tense shoulders slumped slightly. Relaxing, Crate let go of his weapon a and mentally stored away the effect of his words should he need them again.
"You wouldn't understand. How could a little freak like you ever understand." Jin's voice was slow.
"Who knows." Crate cshrugged, his voice the same, chipper tone it always seemed to be. "I hear words are a way though."
Jin closed her eyes and sighed.
"Did you really see him as a monster?" she inquired. Crate was about as close to a monster himself as one could get and if even -he- had seen her son as such a creature when he was alive...
"Lady, I never met the fellow." Crate declared through mouthfuls of pineapple. "But I know his reputation among the right circles. Annnnnd, yeah, not pleasant. Not at all really. I mean sure, some of the cult you and your fellows made that tried to serve him might have liked him. But...yeah, cults. Bad taste. In mouth, Hence why I eat pineapple. To leave a good taste. In mouths." He giggled impishly.
"Charming." Jin grunted and rolled her black eyes. She was done with this conversation. This was just stirring up more memories and raising that feeling of guilt inside her.  When she had first learned of her child's existence after all the years apart, she had traveled the world over to find him. She had refused to believe those whispers about him. She had desperately wanted to think of his reputation as a lie. But, upon meeting him, there could be no doubt the nature of the rumors were true. And worse, he didn't even seem to recognize their relationship. It was as if he was something else. His dismissal had broken her heart and just added to the guilt she felt when it came to her kits.
She had felt she had failed as a parent with all her children.
The first was left with that stupid seeker soldier. She had been younger then and full of a drive to cast down the Empire's war machine and break it. A rebel with a cause; then, some years later, slave to the pleasure houses of the machine. Then her second two children, born into servitude, were forced to bear a childhood of degradation and abuse as they watched their drug addicted mother taken over and over just to keep them eating scraps. She could hardly recall that point in her life save for a few clouded memories. It hadn't been until her youngest boy, just fifteen at the time, had freed her that she could truly think again.Â
She recalled waking up in that coffin after whatever toxin her boy had slipped her wore off. She had screamed in terror but had escaped as the lid had never been sealed and the grave had been a shallow one.Â
As she crawled from the ground, she had been reborn. But her family was long gone and she began to resume her work bringing down the Empire with even more of a hatred burning inside her heart. The Empire had taken her life, her children, and part of her soul. She would have her revenge.
But she had never lost that need to see her children; to apologize to her youngest two for the hell they had endured.  But, when she had stood before the youngest and given her apology, she had been rejected as he committed his atrocities.
Everyone else saw a monster. She had seen the same, little boy who had screamed and cried in the night when he was scared. The same boy who had giggled when she sang him lullabies. And the same boy who told her he loved her. That is why she had stayed. Why she had help founded the cult: because she loved him in the way only a mother can and she wanted to make amends. She had wanted to be close to him. But now...he was dead. The cult was now gone with him and all that remained was the thing in Doma. A last gift to her for her revenge. She had always been a better revolutionary than a mother.
She clenched her fists and glared through Crate as if starring across the ocean.
"In Doma, there it lies, that which shall bring about the Empire's demise."
"Beg your pardon?" Crate blinked as his smile faded. He had been watching her as she had reflected inside her mind and the sudden shift back to aggression put him on edge.
Jin reached over and took a piece of fruit. Part of her wanted to strangle the Seeker male right there and then but she stayed her hands. Later, she told herself. Later.
"Just recalling something." She ate the fruit and seemed to relax. "You seem intent on accompanying me, so I'll permit it. But understand, I make the orders." She offered him her left hand. Crate eyed it.
"Very well." Crate took the hand. The two shook. "Allies to the bitter end."
Oh -you'll- come to a bitter end, alright. Thought both miqo'te in unison.
