fic prompt - the ink kettle
Dec. 15th, 2018 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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felinefables(Prompt for The-Ink-Kettle on tumblr. So this one turned dark. I was thinking of some of our talks when I first started working on “Definition of power” and decided to do a ‘what if’ based on that. Hope you enjoy!)
Apollo and Ebony “We are made to be disposable.”:
It doesn’t matter that she is the daughter of a governor. It doesn’t matter that her mother cries and begs when they take her daughter away. At an age where she should have been getting courted by a nobleman’s son, or already be married, Ebony Centaurii is branded as an outcast.
Worse still, in some people’s eyes, she is branded as Bait.
It’s because she is not born with magic. She has known this from an early age. Her parents both have magic, and so it is considered first a concern, then a personal tragedy that their only child is born without as much as an inch of it for some reason.
If there are other deities than the Tsar Lunanoff himself, Ebony figures they are sitting somewhere and laughing about this, like it is a personal joke.
Bait is considered valuable in a way. It is used by the Golden Army on hunting trips to capture the Shadows, that the Constellations fear so much. Specifically, it is used for the kind known as Nightmare Men.
Simple Fearlings are easy prey. Dream Pirates even more so, being lured by the glow of enslaved stars.
But Nightmare Men… Nightmare Men are special, living by their name of once having been humans. They are lured by the fear and hopelessness of Bait.
If the Bait is lucky, it will have a quick death.
She is put in a cage on the main deck of a hunting ship. A soldier is set to guard her, just in case she should try and escape. Ebony finds this almost funny. Where would she go? With her brand, burning hot and freshly bleeding on the back of her neck, she has nothing.
There is one soldier among the crew. A young man, pale skinned, who seems just as miserable as Ebony feels. She learns that his name is Apollo.
And much to her surprise, he has no idea what seems to be awaiting her. All he knows, is that she has to be kept in the cage at all cost.
Apollo is not treated well by his superior, Orion the Huntsman. Ebony knows Orion. He was there when they branded her, and he was the one to formally inform her of what was going to happen to her. But just like everyone else, he didn’t care what was going to happen to her. To him, just like everyone else, she is nothing but Bait now.
Apollo at least does not treat her unkindly. He seems to pity her, a pity that gets more prominent over the days and weeks it takes to get to their destination. And finally, it seems to bring him enough courage to actually talk to her, even though he has been advised (or rather commanded) not to, by Orion.
He waits until one night when he has the late watch, where no one else is around this part of the deck. He sits up against the cage with his back to Ebony, before he speaks up.
“Where are they taking you?”
Ebony blinks slightly, surprised out of a slight doze. She hasn’t been able to sleep properly since they got on this ship, and it has been a long time since anyone spoke to her.
“Where are they taking you?” Apollo asks again, perhaps thinking that she didn’t hear him the first time. Ebony frowns for a bit at that.
“They are taking me to where Tsar Asterion has ordered them to take me.” She finally says.
Apollo is silent for a moment, before he speaks again.
“… And where has the Tsar ordered them to take you?”
Ebony huffs tiredly. “I don’t know. I only know it’s supposedly infested with Nightmare Men. They need me to lure them out.”
Apollo turns his head a bit to look at her, frowning. “How are you supposed to do that? You’re not a Mage, I can sense that much.”
She gives him a look. “If I were a Mage, or had as much of a drop of magic, I wouldn’t be in a cage, now would I?”
Apollo doesn’t seem to understand. Before he can ask more, another soldier shows up to replace him. His shift is over, and Apollo heads off without another word.
He doesn’t give up, however, being determined to get answers. He asks her questions now, whenever he has a night shift. Some questions she answers, like how she was taken from her home and how she was branded. Others she doesn’t want to answer. Like if she hates Tsar Asterion. Or hates her parents for abandoning her.
When Apollo pushes for answers however, she looks him in the eyes and tells him: Yes.
“I have never even met him, and he hates me for not having magic.” She says bitterly. “It’s not my fault I was born this way, but that’s not good enough now, is it? Not in his eyes. To him, people like me? We are made to be disposable.”
“And what about your parents?” Apollo asks.
“They tried everything to prove I had magic.” Ebony replies. “My mother begged them not to take me. They had about as much choice in me being taken away, as I have a choice in how I’m going to die.”
When Apollo looks confused at that, Ebony scoffs at him. “You can’t be that stupid. Surely the other soldiers have been telling you what you’ll be doing? You’re all going to hang my cage from an asteroid, leaving nothing but a little food and water for me, and just a bit of air to breathe. And then you’re going to hang back on your ship, while I wait to die.”
Apollo’s silence tells her that he might have an inkling. But for some reason, he must have been in some sort of denial.
It doesn’t matter, Ebony thinks. It’s not going to change anything.
Orion himself comes to replace Apollo when this night shift is over. He must be reading something in Apollo’s body language, as the younger man hurries off, because he gives both Apollo’s fleeting back and Ebony some suspicious looks before taking a seat by the cage.
“We’ll be at our destination in the morning.” He tells her. “You should know that it’s not looking good. A mining colony has been heavily infected by Nightmare Men, and it’s probably been days since they fed. They are going to be starving. Positively ravenous.”
Ebony says nothing. She knows he is telling her this, both to inform her of what is going to happen, and to scare her.
After all, fear is what attracts the Shadows.
She doesn’t see Apollo again after that. Come morning, things proceed just as she told him they would. They find an asteroid near the mining colony that with the aid of a Mage is given a bit of atmosphere. Just enough to last for a week or so. It nearly kills the Mage, but it’s necessary if they are going to succeed in capturing these Nightmare Men.
The cage is chained to the asteroid, and Ebony is left with a little food and water. Unlike the atmosphere, it won’t last as long.
The ship departs and is hidden by a cover of other asteroids and cloaking devices. Now, the waiting begins.
Ebony watches the mining colony for what feels like hours, idly wondering if Apollo is watching from the ship now. If he will think back on this and remember her as the person he asked questions. Or if he will be forced to be taught, that people with no magic are simply disposable.
Dark shadows can be seen stirring on the small moon that houses the mining colony. Ebony swallows, as she realizes just how many Nightmare Men there are, and for a moment they seem to go still, like a pool of ink…
The shadows move fast in a place with as little light as this. The cage, being made of ordinary metal, is of no match to them.
The darkness smothers her senses before she gets a chance to scream.
Apollo and Ebony “We are made to be disposable.”:
It doesn’t matter that she is the daughter of a governor. It doesn’t matter that her mother cries and begs when they take her daughter away. At an age where she should have been getting courted by a nobleman’s son, or already be married, Ebony Centaurii is branded as an outcast.
Worse still, in some people’s eyes, she is branded as Bait.
It’s because she is not born with magic. She has known this from an early age. Her parents both have magic, and so it is considered first a concern, then a personal tragedy that their only child is born without as much as an inch of it for some reason.
If there are other deities than the Tsar Lunanoff himself, Ebony figures they are sitting somewhere and laughing about this, like it is a personal joke.
Bait is considered valuable in a way. It is used by the Golden Army on hunting trips to capture the Shadows, that the Constellations fear so much. Specifically, it is used for the kind known as Nightmare Men.
Simple Fearlings are easy prey. Dream Pirates even more so, being lured by the glow of enslaved stars.
But Nightmare Men… Nightmare Men are special, living by their name of once having been humans. They are lured by the fear and hopelessness of Bait.
If the Bait is lucky, it will have a quick death.
She is put in a cage on the main deck of a hunting ship. A soldier is set to guard her, just in case she should try and escape. Ebony finds this almost funny. Where would she go? With her brand, burning hot and freshly bleeding on the back of her neck, she has nothing.
There is one soldier among the crew. A young man, pale skinned, who seems just as miserable as Ebony feels. She learns that his name is Apollo.
And much to her surprise, he has no idea what seems to be awaiting her. All he knows, is that she has to be kept in the cage at all cost.
Apollo is not treated well by his superior, Orion the Huntsman. Ebony knows Orion. He was there when they branded her, and he was the one to formally inform her of what was going to happen to her. But just like everyone else, he didn’t care what was going to happen to her. To him, just like everyone else, she is nothing but Bait now.
Apollo at least does not treat her unkindly. He seems to pity her, a pity that gets more prominent over the days and weeks it takes to get to their destination. And finally, it seems to bring him enough courage to actually talk to her, even though he has been advised (or rather commanded) not to, by Orion.
He waits until one night when he has the late watch, where no one else is around this part of the deck. He sits up against the cage with his back to Ebony, before he speaks up.
“Where are they taking you?”
Ebony blinks slightly, surprised out of a slight doze. She hasn’t been able to sleep properly since they got on this ship, and it has been a long time since anyone spoke to her.
“Where are they taking you?” Apollo asks again, perhaps thinking that she didn’t hear him the first time. Ebony frowns for a bit at that.
“They are taking me to where Tsar Asterion has ordered them to take me.” She finally says.
Apollo is silent for a moment, before he speaks again.
“… And where has the Tsar ordered them to take you?”
Ebony huffs tiredly. “I don’t know. I only know it’s supposedly infested with Nightmare Men. They need me to lure them out.”
Apollo turns his head a bit to look at her, frowning. “How are you supposed to do that? You’re not a Mage, I can sense that much.”
She gives him a look. “If I were a Mage, or had as much of a drop of magic, I wouldn’t be in a cage, now would I?”
Apollo doesn’t seem to understand. Before he can ask more, another soldier shows up to replace him. His shift is over, and Apollo heads off without another word.
He doesn’t give up, however, being determined to get answers. He asks her questions now, whenever he has a night shift. Some questions she answers, like how she was taken from her home and how she was branded. Others she doesn’t want to answer. Like if she hates Tsar Asterion. Or hates her parents for abandoning her.
When Apollo pushes for answers however, she looks him in the eyes and tells him: Yes.
“I have never even met him, and he hates me for not having magic.” She says bitterly. “It’s not my fault I was born this way, but that’s not good enough now, is it? Not in his eyes. To him, people like me? We are made to be disposable.”
“And what about your parents?” Apollo asks.
“They tried everything to prove I had magic.” Ebony replies. “My mother begged them not to take me. They had about as much choice in me being taken away, as I have a choice in how I’m going to die.”
When Apollo looks confused at that, Ebony scoffs at him. “You can’t be that stupid. Surely the other soldiers have been telling you what you’ll be doing? You’re all going to hang my cage from an asteroid, leaving nothing but a little food and water for me, and just a bit of air to breathe. And then you’re going to hang back on your ship, while I wait to die.”
Apollo’s silence tells her that he might have an inkling. But for some reason, he must have been in some sort of denial.
It doesn’t matter, Ebony thinks. It’s not going to change anything.
Orion himself comes to replace Apollo when this night shift is over. He must be reading something in Apollo’s body language, as the younger man hurries off, because he gives both Apollo’s fleeting back and Ebony some suspicious looks before taking a seat by the cage.
“We’ll be at our destination in the morning.” He tells her. “You should know that it’s not looking good. A mining colony has been heavily infected by Nightmare Men, and it’s probably been days since they fed. They are going to be starving. Positively ravenous.”
Ebony says nothing. She knows he is telling her this, both to inform her of what is going to happen, and to scare her.
After all, fear is what attracts the Shadows.
She doesn’t see Apollo again after that. Come morning, things proceed just as she told him they would. They find an asteroid near the mining colony that with the aid of a Mage is given a bit of atmosphere. Just enough to last for a week or so. It nearly kills the Mage, but it’s necessary if they are going to succeed in capturing these Nightmare Men.
The cage is chained to the asteroid, and Ebony is left with a little food and water. Unlike the atmosphere, it won’t last as long.
The ship departs and is hidden by a cover of other asteroids and cloaking devices. Now, the waiting begins.
Ebony watches the mining colony for what feels like hours, idly wondering if Apollo is watching from the ship now. If he will think back on this and remember her as the person he asked questions. Or if he will be forced to be taught, that people with no magic are simply disposable.
Dark shadows can be seen stirring on the small moon that houses the mining colony. Ebony swallows, as she realizes just how many Nightmare Men there are, and for a moment they seem to go still, like a pool of ink…
The shadows move fast in a place with as little light as this. The cage, being made of ordinary metal, is of no match to them.
The darkness smothers her senses before she gets a chance to scream.
