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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 22, 2009 16:54:35 GMT -5
If the guards, sun, and whatever else didn’t kill her, Mina might. Putting on her cloak she waited until the sun was starting to set, and there would be enough darkness not to be seen to much. She was going to the dungeon, a place where she’d been only once before, and decided it wasn’t such a great place to go after all. It was an awful smell, people wailed there and when she arrived there she was beginning to regret it.
It wouldn’t be allowed for her to go there with all the controversy surrounding a certain prisoner. Serena, this woman had been causing a huge sensation amongst the people there, Brone’s lover/girlfriend or whatever, part witch, and Mina was having a hard time getting around all that to find out too much more. But still, she moved across the walls and avoided being seen until she found which cell this prisoner was in. It was an entirely different world from the one Mina lived in, this girl was given nothing, and looked awful. “Are you Serena?” Mina asked, she could have been a little more silent, but she was angry with this girl. Her eldest brother was torturing himself because of her, how could she not resent her?
Mina wanted to yell, scream at her for what she‘s done, but she needed answers. “Are you using magic on him? Your part witch, what have you done to my brother?” she said, knowing the girl would know who she was know.
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Post by Serena De Lorme on Jan 22, 2009 20:50:47 GMT -5
Awful wasn't the word to describe the condition Serena was in. There was a slight hint of old blood in the air for the guards thought it nice to tease the pregnant, hungry vampire. They got a nasty claw mark in return but that was the last of her strength. She had gone back to the corner in which Brone had found her in his solitary visit to her, and she still hummed the song he had sang before she asked him to remember her. All because of a hint of magic blood. If she never had learned of her ability...if they had never been attacked... if she weren't pregnant....
At the sound of her voice, Serena turned her head slightly from the wall, which she was using from support in her corner, to look towards it. Her eyes were a bright red now, her skin so pale it rivaled the light of a full moon. She was even just starting to lose weight by this point, the lack of blood despite Brone's attempt to feed her playing havok on her body. Her baby needed to feed, so now her large stomach was feeding on the rest of her. Just a couple more days and she would be gone... They would be gone...
Blinking, Serena was surprised to see Mina Van Estra standing before her, a very angry vampiress at that. Listening to the hate-filled questions, Serena found herself laughing ever so slightly, just a harsh chuckle now. What did this young girl think she was? "Obviously you don't do your homework, my lady... I fell in love with your brother long before finding out about my heritage... and shortly after I found myself here. There is no magic involved in the strength of our love..." she whispered before curling up just a bit more and closing her eyes again. What had she done to deserve this?
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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 22, 2009 21:38:08 GMT -5
So she decided to insult her? Mina hissed, she didn’t like this part witch part vampire at all. “That‘s exactly what I would expect you to say, a selfish witch willing to let my brother die in some attempt to save you. Whatever weird spell or curse you put on him you will die for it.” she said. Mina had been grossly misinformed of witches basically her entire life, so she wasn’t sure if that’s what they actually did, but she didn’t want to deal with facts right now.
“He‘s planning on trying to burn saving you.” she said quietly, wondering if Serena really did care about her brother, wouldn’t she break the spell then? Mina was out of ideas, she just didn’t want to see her family die.
When the girl moved Mina saw that Serena looked poorly, hallow in a way, and somewhere inside of her she felt pity. “And do not mistake who you are speaking to.” she said, resenting the girls words. “I suppose a dying woman wouldn‘t care about manners though, at least not one such as yourself.” she said quietly.
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Post by Serena De Lorme on Jan 22, 2009 21:59:34 GMT -5
Serena glared at the wall in front of her, wishing that she was alone to wallow in her misery. Either no one told the Van Estra children anything or this one wanted to believe whatever popped into her mind. Either way, Serena did not like being accused of casting spells. And it made her heart tighten to hear any possibility of Brone getting hurt trying to save her. "No, princess... I would rather die and take my child with me than to see harm to Brone. If I have any strength left when the time comes, I would try to protect him. The last thing I would want is for him to burn with me...."
Her eyes slowly went back to the princess, assessing her. What did she possibly want to gain from this encounter? More proof to send her into the sun faster? Reaching up, she dug her nails in between the brick, trying to root her hand in the mortar as she attempted to stand, her other hand over her stomach. It took a lot of effort, but she manage to move to her kneels, rocking back to sit on her heels. It was a bit easier to continue a conversation than laying against the stone. "I know exactly whom I speak to, and it would be my greatest honor to show you the correct protocol in speaking to one such as yourself. However my concern lays more with conserving my energy to attempt to keep my child alive, if you haven't noticed," she shot back just as softly as before.
It was obvious the young Van Estra continued to neglect that she was pregnant, and Serena was going to continue to point it out until either the girl backed off, or...she tried to use her reserves to make her back off. As much as she loved Brone, she was not in the position or the right mind to really care for his family at the moment.
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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 22, 2009 22:27:55 GMT -5
Minas body thudded, if she had a beat in her heart it would have stopped when the mention of a child came. Pregnant? How could that be? Brone hadn’t mentioned anything to her! She would have attacked him if he was there, why all these secrets from her? Sure, she may not be known for her predictable reactions, but hell! This was something a sister deserved to know.
As Serena stood her eyes locked on her bump, inside that frail woman was a child. Blood. This took her by surprise, there was no doubt that this child had to belong to her brothers, Mina might have thought this girl to be a whore at times, but she did not think her brother to be foolish enough to not know this child was his, or buy any lies. This made things different now, much different, much more important.
“Sit down, don‘t be foolish and waste your energy trying to stand, when it‘s obvious your weak.” Mina said coldly, if it wasn‘t so true it would even sound rude. Let’s hope Serena didn’t have even a fraction of the amount of pride Mina did. “If you cared about him you would not let him be in this position in the first place.” she said. Yet somehow, no matter how badly Mina wanted to, she couldn’t break the feeling of wanting to make sure at least the child was alright, and that meant keeping this woman alive.
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Post by Serena De Lorme on Jan 22, 2009 22:46:00 GMT -5
Unfortunate for the both of them, all Serena had left was her pride, so she continued to struggle, taking her time to rise completely to her feet, leaning back against the wall as she huffed for breath. Every part of her ached, her legs felt as if they were on fire, the wounds almost reversing with starvation. She wouldn't be able to stand for long, but she wasn't going to purposely show weakness in front of this girl, regardless of physical limitation. "It's better for me to stand once in a while. I wish to be able to walk on my own two feet to my death," she muttered, hoping to strike a cord somewhere inside Mina. If that was even possible.
Another choked laugh escaped her lips at Mina's words. Seriously, this girl was so focused on being angry with the world, she was ignoring what was placed directly in front of her, with a silver platter. "You continue to be naive, princess. All of this...starving down here, wishing each day I died sooner than face the sun, hoping I could just return to Brone's side, all of this wasn't planned. I did not know I had the smallest drop of blood from a witch within me until a little less than a month ago. And even then neither he nor I thought that I would have to die for it."
Using the wall, she forced herself to move her legs, to keep them in some form of working order so she wasn't completely useless. The pain was obvious in her eyes, but otherwise she found a calm over her features. "What do you want me to tell you, princess? All I can say is I love your brother with every fiber of my being. If it were my choice, I would use what I was able to learn and escape from here, and, despite the pain it would cause him, disappear from his life so he would never have to be witness to my death, or hurt in order to save me."
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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 22, 2009 23:02:03 GMT -5
Cold, scrutinizing eyes followed Serena as she stood. She watched with some smug satisfaction and she stood, Mina could sense the pain it would take her to stand, she was like a skeleton, so frail, and holding herself up. At least she had some pride, which Mina could respect. And gaining any form of respect from her was like winning a nobel prize of sorts. Still, she didn’t like how this girl, who was basically at the Royals mercy dared to make an insult at her. Naïve? Far from it.
Mina stepped in a little closer to the girl, there was bars in between them but she didn’t let them stop her, she got close as she could to clearly see her, the red eyes with physical and much more pain in them. “Do not mistake me being here as any sort of concern for you.” She said, her eyes narrowing like slits, dark and filled of concern. “If you cared about him you would have left, you forget a war between witch and vampire, did you think it would be fine to practice your magic inside the castle? As far as anyone is concerned this sentence is just as fair for anyone, and what makes you so special? A prince fell in love with you, so what, if he dies trying to save you, you won‘t have to wait for the sun to kill you, I‘ll be glad to do it myself.” she said, a very protective sister side coming out. Mina was overwhelmingly used to her brothers protecting her, she was just getting frustrated and ended up trying to protect one of hers, however misplaced it seemed.
After she finished a figure walked by in a passing hall, Mina went back against the wall, waiting for him to pass before she returned to the girl. “However, I do not believe in this war, though if I had any say in this entire thing you would not die for this.” Mina had always felt this war was pointless, but her words would fall on deaf ears on her fathers, or any of the men in the court, so she waited. Mina wanted to help her, the girl needed blood, needed something in her system. “Do the guards keep blood down here?” she asked, planning on giving some to the girl.
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Post by Serena De Lorme on Jan 22, 2009 23:24:45 GMT -5
There was one thing Brone had never had to worry about Serena and that was her losing her temper. Yes, around her family and especially her brothers she could be a hot head, but Brone had given her a calm in life and any disagreements they ever had were talked through, rationalized and thought about. This, however, was getting on her last nerve and she pulled together every fiber of strength she had to stride towards Mina with her back straight and her held high. Bars or not, she was not going to take this from this...child! "I don't care who you are, you do NOT belittle me like that! I know better than you ever will just how real that war is, having actually seen those who came back injured, treating them, having to send out those who were too far gone to save into the morning sun to die. My father is a general, both of my brothers are soldiers. I know every day that it is very possible all of them could never come back home. My grandfather died for this war and I more than anyone at times would celebrate with my voice ringing free the day it ends.
"But what you seem to be incapable of understanding is that I had no choice when it came to finding out about what I really was." Her hand shot out and grab the princess's, bringing it between the bars to place it against her large stomach. Her child was moving around, active from its mother's anger, and it was rather easy to feel with her current state. "This is the reason why I stayed. I was practicing my magic, which your brother not only knew about but helped me with, to protect our child, our lives from the one that's been attacking us since I first found out I was pregnant. It had nothing to do with this damn war, and it certainly had nothing to do with the stupidity of other's hatred."
She let go and moved away from the bars, winded from the verbal attack, but the adrenaline so to speak flowing far too quickly to let her sit down again. Serena went back to pacing slowly around her cell, not bothering to answer the question. Obviously if they actually kept blood down there, she would not have been starved and would have used her powers to try and steal some from the beginning instead of letting herself writhe in agony. Why the girl was showing any interest in her child now was beyond her other than the fact it was Brone's and nothing else.
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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 22, 2009 23:46:39 GMT -5
Mina listened, with some sort of uncomfort, she didn’t like being spoken down to, but she figured she’d let her rattle on until she was finished. Obiviously she had some idea of the war and what was going on, though she knew the reprecutions of it, not the side Mina had seen. Her father had ‘yes men’ around him, any no men were not there anymore, why? They were dead, you just didn’t oppose these things that had been around for so long, as much as she knew it was a stupid tradition to follow she didn’t fight against it. Besides, it was taking enough self control not to scream or break down the wall after she yelled at her, no one yelled at her, except maybe Brone.
“If you knew so much this whole time then what the hell was it that made you think you should practice your magic. Selfishness or idiocy?” she said. When the girl gabbed her hand every reflex inside her body tightened, she growled but allowed this. She felt the baby, it’s kicking, it’s movements. She’d never felt anything like that before, how many pregnant woman did she willingly associate with? None. Mina was barely even listening to the girl, she was absorbed in the feel of the child moving, vampire, and witch, like it’s mother. She pulled her hand away in confussion and stared at her, her eyes still harsh.
“What makes you think I don‘t understand? I am perfectly capable, more so than anyone of understanding things.” she said, she could understand anything, literature, people, life. “You did not have a choice, did I dispute this? I‘ve told you I don‘t have a problem with what you are, I have a problem with you. Just you, you should have left when you realized what you are.” she said, of course she though Brone was guilty to for not keeping her a secret. “But it‘s too late for that.”
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Post by Serena De Lorme on Jan 23, 2009 0:26:05 GMT -5
Serena just threw her hands in the air and shook her head. There was no getting through to this girl at all. "What tells me you don't understand is your infallibility to return to how much you dislike me and how little you know of the situation. Did you just decide to yell and accuse Brone of this or that too? I wouldn't be surprised to know the reason you are so far out of the look is for this very reason. You. Don't. Listen."
Once more, she walked back up to the bars, but kept a reasonable distance, just letting her blood red eyes look over the girl with nothing but pity. She folded her arms and thought carefully about her words, not knowing exactly what Brone told his family but at this point it didn't matter as much anymore. Might as well give an actual reason to be burned other than something that she had no control over at the time. "I could not leave when I found out. I could barely walk when I found out. By the way, it was my mother and Brone that told me of what I was. And this was after we had been attacked by a witch turned vampire who was using dark magic to nearly kill me and harm Brone. Now honestly, if someone you cared about risked their life to save you once, would you be able to leave so easily? When your heart belonged to someone else, could you just up and disappear?"
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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 23, 2009 21:43:06 GMT -5
Mina narrowed her eyes, she despised this woman’s attitude, really, Mina had her own reasons to hate her, and yet she was trying to do a decent thing and she was getting lectured? “Of all the things I could have been doing right now, instead I choose to come down here and talk with you. And this is how you talk to me? Like I‘m some child? A child that you can scold no less? Wait until yours is born to lecture.” Mina said, really, she felt she had to put a stop to this, it was disrespectful. Even in the lowest conditions she should be treated like the princess she was! Well, Mina always saw things her own way at least, and she wasn’t going to be told no.
There had been another person come to harm Brone? How could he do this! She was obviously no good for him, it made no sense. “So again you’re the reason for his misfortune. How much more are you willing to put him through to have your own selfish wants put first?” she said coldly, not wanting an answer to that at all, she couldn’t stand another word that had some underlying malice or disrespect.
For a moment Mina was going to yell, and answer with the most brash response she could get, how dare she question her? Her boldness and pride were quickly irritating. [Though I can‘t imagine Mina is much of a peach either…] However, this woman, annoying as she may be, had something sincere in the way she spoke about her brother. Maybe she was being honest? If she did love him, and Mina hadn’t ruled out witch magic yet either, but she did care. “I cannot answer that.” she said, honestly. “I‘ve never loved someone.” she said, sure she’d been with many men, but they were just men, just companions for the night, and that wasn’t what love was, right? It had to be something more then that to make everyone respond so crazily to it.
“But if you love him so much, and he‘s already risked his life for you, how could you put him through that again by staying? You loved him, shouldn‘t you have been willing to let him go? I want to know why my brother was not that important to you that you had to hold onto this life and risk everything.” her voice was not harsh, or accusing, she simply wanted to know why. And she was ready this time for more hands swinging in the air and loud words to change, this woman didn’t just do as she was told it seemed.
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Post by Serena De Lorme on Jan 23, 2009 22:12:23 GMT -5
Leaning against a wall, Serena slid down until she was sitting once more, out of breath from the extersion of walking, feeling as if she had gone back a month to where she coudl barely walk in the first place. Her words seemed only to pain Serena, and she knew her behavior was less than satisfactory. But she hated the accusations, the lack of understanding. No one seemed to understand how she physically could not leave, especially since by the time she could have had the chance, she was imprisoned.
"Because we were happy. And he didn't care what I was. He loved me deeply and strongly. And that was all that mattered" was the response that came from her lips. Trying to get the girl to understand the physical limitations verbally seemed null in void at this point. So she grabbed the middle of her skirt and started bunching it up until her entire leg was in view. Because of her lack of blood, the scars horribly disfigured her leg, returning it to the mangle piece of flesh that it was not too soon after the attack. "And because I literally did not have the capability of surviving. Would you have liked it if I had tried and Brone, when he would have come after me, came upon the mangled remained of me and my child? Like I said, even if it did occur to me that I should leave, I had no choice but to stay."
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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 23, 2009 22:26:01 GMT -5
Said it once, said it a million times, Mina didn’t expect that. The scars were almost hard to look at, as a matter of vain self pride Mina glossed over her looks, not a scratch on her, she’d never gotten close to anything like that. And Serena? Well they were on her leg, as she sat in her cell too weak to stand up. Pursing her lips together she examined the scars in a way that surely made others feel self conscious of her peering. “I see.” she said, and that was all there was to see. So it came down to she couldn’t leave him, literally couldn’t even move, this made things different. How could Mina find fault in this circumstance? The whole basis on her hate was geared towards the fact that this woman was ruining her brothers life on purpose, but now that it was so clear she was not, well Brone had a lot more explaining to do.
Men.
Can’t they ever get it right? “Well then Serena. This makes it different. You really should have just told me this in the first place.” Mina said with a slight wisp of her hand. “Brone should have come to me earlier. Though I suppose I‘m not the first one someone would think of coming to for help. About that magic thing. I‘m assuming since you couldn‘t get out of here, or get any food that it‘s pretty useless?” she made a face, she couldn’t let her die in here, as much as Mina didn’t particularly like the girl she didn’t have much a reason to hold anything against her, and she was pregnant.
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Post by Serena De Lorme on Jan 23, 2009 23:34:44 GMT -5
"I actually tried telling you, but showing you was the only way to get you to understand..." Serena tossed her skirt back over her leg, having stared at the wall the entire time to not be witness to the peering. It shouldn't have mattered in the first place, what her condition was. She said it from the beginning it didn't matter to them and she had no real reason to "cast a spell" or what have you. Power? Please. She could have gone off to Spain with her mother and gotten married off years ago if that was her goal. Love was her reason for staying with Brone.
Her eyes went back to the Princess at the mention of her magic. Now that things suddenly changed, she became slightly defensive in the stiffening of her body, as if this was all some form of pity. "No. I have to have blood at the very least once an hour. And, which was the reason I was caught, I am still learning. I can barely levitate a vase in the air, let alone break free. And they don't keep blood down here, otherwise I would have at least been able to sneak it. Any spark I had disappeared the day after I was put here." Why she was bothering to tell her that she didn't know. But she did have to add one thing. "I don't want your pity."
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Post by Mina Van Estra on Jan 24, 2009 0:10:41 GMT -5
In the sudden empty, barren place of the dungeon, with old cob webs forming and the stench of death lingering in the air Mina couldn’t help it. She laughed! A quiet amused little sound, and she kept it low enough so no one would hear her. “Pity you? My, you don‘t know me at all, do you!” she said, laughing again. “Believe me, you aren‘t getting any sort of pity from me. That, I would think, should be the least of your worries, considering the current little predicament you have gotten yourself into.” she said, a smile on her lips. Mina did not pity anyone, she wouldn’t show any form of pity on this girl, the way she talked to her after all made Mina barely able to keep from attacking her, so pity was not at her top of the list.
Once she was able to get over that ridiculous statement she composed her face once more. “However, I do pity your child, it is partly my blood as well, and as you might imagine I‘m not partial on seeing a family member be killed by your foolishness.” she said with a hasty little tone. Mina pulled back the hood of her cloak, a light from the candles flickering off her skin and jewellery, she didn’t want to be seen earlier but saw no harm in it with no one around. By the looks of it Serena didn’t get a lot visits. “I‘m not being very helpful down here.” she murmured to herself, her eyes darted over to Serena with a warning glance to keep her mouth shut on that one. “Has Brone visited you?” she asked, “The very least he could do considering… I wish he would figure something out sooner so this whole mess could be over with, then you can leave.” Mina said.
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