The circus had to move. Things were just so tense around with the fallout between Gavin and some mysterious stranger. All of the circus had been talking about it. The thing about circus folk was, they were boundlessly curious. There were whispers around the campfire. The hushed tones of mutants wondering for the safety and sanity of their leader. The one they saw as father. Ladainia Sinclair was Gavin's daughter. In name and in spirit.
She was not officially bloodly related to him, though she believed this to be this case. Gavin was the one who made her believe this. Ladainia was such and extraordinarily powerful mutant. She had a beautiful and unique gift. As rare as any you would ever see. She was only classified as a Gamma mutant but that didn't stop Gavin from loving her intensely. He forged together his own little family with specific hand selected pieces that he brought together in harmony.
Gavin had Andromeda bleed her will into Ladainia's mind. She was just a child when Gavin stole her away from her home. Seeing the potential in her beautiful gift. She had traveled with her family to see Gavin's show. She wore sunglasses that day. No parent would bring their mutant child out to be discriminated against. Her eyes you see were just something that you couldn't conceal. Ladainia was blind. But she loved her visit to the circus. She could hear and smell and picture everything with her wonderful 6 year old imagination.
Ladainia was born blind, but with the ability to see into the future. She saw this images clearly in her mind and as plainly as you or I see with our own two eyes, but when she wasn't seeing a vision her world was utter blackness. A pitch black veil shielded her eye from the world, but Gavin had his eye on her. He saw her in the crowd. Much like with Alyssa Andromeda told him telepathically of the strange and exotic mutant at the circus that day. "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! PREPARE YOURSELF AND YOUR EYES FOR THE FINEST WONDERS AND MOST CURIOS PLUNDERS YOU EVER DID EXPERIENCE!" Ladainia rocked on the edge of her seat.
She squeezed her mother's hand tightly and smiled, blind behind the tinted shade of her sunglasses but enjoying the sounds and smells and general cool breeze blowing under the circus tent. She heard the roar of lions and the carnival music and the silly sound effects when the clowns came out. The smell of popcorn buttery and delicious drifted into her nostrils and the sweet smell of cotton candy excited her. Of course her mommy bought her some and she enjoyed it with a gusto that you could hardly blame a six year old for having for cotton candy.
Gavin's performance was spectacular that day as ring master. He took a modest bow after the show was over... He was cast down in the blue ghoulish spotlight and though he bowed his eyes remained transfixed on a certain little girl. A little girl that Gavin had been told was there that day and even shown a picture of in his mind through the mental efforts of his gifted psychic. There would be police reports later that day and a pair of worried parents would insist that a circus was here only hours before but the lot was empty.
Their child was missing and so was the circus they came too. Packed up in 20 minutes and gone before the parents woke from the sleep they were induced into. Gavin's psychic gave her new memories. As far back as she could remember to believe that Gavin was her father and Madison was her mother. Madison... Sweet, beautiful Madison. Ladainia's crafted memories had to be extra detailed. Though she lacked sight her hearing and smell were so much stronger. Her body compensated by enhancing her other senses. She could remember the smell of her mother..
. Or at least the fabricated one she held as a precious memory. She could remember the feeling of her soft hair through her childlike fingers. Her mother left them he said. She was in a better place she was told. Ladainia never really understood this though she often dreamed of what her mother might look like. Her world was dull and black and image less and filled with hollow lies. Everything she had ever known was a lie and she still wrapped herself in those lies for comfort unknowingly just a tool at her father's disposal. It was Ladainia who told her father to move the circus to Wyoming.
She saw a vision of the mysterious stranger. She was here.. In Wyoming. Ladainia did not know why her father was so hurt by this woman but she knew it was important that they find each other. She found her for him. Ladainia could do a great many things the one thing she could not do however was see her own future. It always came in muddy and distorted. She sat back in her circus tent among her charms and trinkets and in-scents. She ran her smooth hands over her crystal ball and breathed deeply. Her eyes wide and knowing of all except the torturous tricks that had ruined her entire life. She was happy. Content.
She had a wonderful life at the circus. She only wished her father was happy. She hoped this stranger could bring her happiness. Gavin was not here at the circus right now. He was away... He would not tell her where he was going only that she should carry on the show in his stead. Jo-jo the circus clown with the gift of illumination took Gavin's place as ringmaster for the show. The show must go on after all. Ladainia sat quietly in her tent. She knew that in a few short moments Alyssa was going to walk through her tent flap and she would have some answers. OF what she didn't rightly know, but she was sure it would prove a most interesting conversation.
Alyssa was back in the states with a mission, she made a quick detour on her way here to the Louvre to recollect an ancient necklace she donned in her first life. Perhaps it was the close taste of nostalgia in forgetting an entire life, she feared she’d forget her roots if she didn’t have a keepsake. It was all over the news, an ancient gold encrusted necklace dipped in rubies and diamonds was taken from the high end museum by an unknown culprit. When she traced her steps to the site of her most recent demise she found the carnival vanished with no trace. At first she took a few towering treed down from their roots in a brief fit of utter rage. She went through all the trouble to dig a blade into her chest and relive the painful agony of rebirth only to find the person she did it for packed up and gone.
She made a quick stop at a salon during the long hunt she spent hunting down rumors of a circus with an exceptional talent to captivate the minds of those who dared venture into it’s lively borders. Alyssa was annoyed at the pestering thoughts driven by the memories of Maddison so she cut off the majority of her long waves and allowed the newfound style to border her face in a beautiful touch. It would only last this lifetime after all, no modifications to her figure lasted past those hours of darkness as she welcomed the begging touch of a new life burning her soul back into existence.
Any other rebirth she’d end up darting to the opposite end of the globe as the boring site of another death but her mind pestered her deep inside those dark caves and she couldn’t bear the thought of living another hundred lives into immortality without finding closure with Gavin. Looking into the rearview mirror of the polished Mustang she bought from an old collector she couldn’t help but find her own image contradicting, the hair reminded her of those bright lighted memories she only just recovered, the pendant caressing the soft skin over her chest reminded her of that vibrant young girl bathing in the fame of a Greek goddess and the light in her eyes belonged to Alyssa, the same young woman who travelled to the carnival by chance only to be ensnared in fate’s devious grasp.
Alyssa tried to lay of a new annoying tick, when she was deep in thought her slender fingers wrapped over the flat surface of her tummy only to remember what had been there before. It annoyed her to no end, so instead she opted to delve into something she hadn’t tried in years. While a good glass of wine did the trick she didn’t want to drive drunk off her ass so she breathed in the addictive taste of cigarettes to numb the complex buzzing in her ancient mind.
Eventually, after weeks on the road with one intention brewing a hole through her mind she stumbled onto the Carnival smack in the middle of Wyoming. The gleaming lights and vibrant sounds brought a sense of nervousness over her, she’d practiced her words a thousand times on the way here but she wasn’t sure if it would pan out the way she wanted it to. There was a tall fellow who greeted her along with his companion at the entrance, she didn’t have the patience to dig money out of her wallet to pay for a ticket so she pushed through much to their dismay. The taller of the two followed after her with a pestering, high pitched voice.
“Ma’am I’m afraid you’re going to have to pay”
“I’m here to see Gavin, we’ll take it up with him”, she turned with a charming smirk, added a wink and flipped him off as she stumbled into the first tent she came across. Alyssa wasn’t sure whether she truly wanted to but a dull draw in her feet dragged her to stop right in front as the tall, lanky man still bothered to follow her almost disturbed at her lack of manners for the time being.
Alyssa threw her open palm at the tent flap before it flew open as if a gust of wind busted through the world around them, which is exactly what the mundane crowd around her would think. Stepping inside she felt herself utterly annoyed at the insistent presence following her, her hips swayed as she turned around with a slight glare. Alyssa took a daring step towards him, placed a slender palm against his chest and leaned closer with her ruby lips stuck in a challenging grin.
“If I were you I’d call Gavin. You can tell him Maddison’s here”, the telekinetic power bubbling through her veins hoisted his tall figure back through the tent’s flap and into the throngs of people excitedly diving into the carnival’s atmosphere outside. She hated using the old name, purely because she wasn’t one persona over the other and the name left a bittersweet taste on her tongue. At least that way she knew she’d get Gavin’s attention.
When his exit left her with a sense of relief she turned in slight shock to see the unique pale eyes of the girl inside the tent. Alyssa still wasn’t sure what she was doing here, only that there was a pull of fate that dragged her all the way here for a reason she couldn’t comprehend. Gavin could be anywhere, there was no telling where he was and yet she marched here like a woman with a purpose.
“Oh, uhm, Hi”, the sheer snark in her tone dissipated into a nervousness she didn’t know she still possessed. The poor girl looked blind and she wasn’t entirely sure what she’d accomplish in her presence. “I’m actually in the wrong place I think, I should go”, Alyssa turned to leave in hopes to stumble onto the man she’d been chasing all the way from Greece but the soft melody of a voice drew her to a harsh stop.
Ladainia could feel the woman's presence even before she stormed into the tent. The winds of the howling weather swooped around in whispering gusts. It blew the leaves around the grounda and they skittered about too and frow. Ladainis seated herself at the back of the tent. This tent which was her home. Inside it was rather spacious. A lot more so than one might thiink from a first glance. There was a cot in the corner and a small writing desk beside it. What a blind woman had to write she could not tell you though it was the subtle creature comforts that made a home a home. Even though she was on the roard 36 weeks out of the year a home was still a home, and a home needed to be warm and loving. Ladainia's mouth gasped open when she heard the voice.
It sounded familiar. Vaguely remembered from the whisping tendrils of a dream perhaps. When she heard the name Madison she visibly flinched in her chair. Her hand shot up to her mouth to cover the startled gasp and she sat quietly histening to this woman named Madison demanding to see her father. There was an almost angry hint to her voice. ladainia was very adept at picking up on these things. She knew the face that went to the voice. She could remember know where she had heard it... From her vision of the future. She saw this woman with blond hair and locks reaching her shoulders but not past them. Her skin was cream and sugar. Her lips were blood drips rubby red and as tempting as a godess. She was quiet beautiful.... Ladainia forced a smile where her curiosity demanded a frown instead.
"You're....looking for my father?" She asked almost as nervously as this woman's voice sounded. She was nervous. Her palms itched from the sweat that resided there. Her throat closed quietly with a lump that she could not swallow. What did it all mean. She surely was not her mother Madison. That thought never entered Ladainia's sweet head, but she knew of her importants. The glimsp into the future showed this beautiful creature stiring about the cicrucs and searching desperately for Gavin. That much she had seen in her vision of the future. She had seen the car she drove in on as it passed a sign for Wyoming. Her vision did not tell her where or how or even why this would happen. Only that it would. A small fan on her desk blew a comforting breeze on her hot skin.
Her mouth was dry and she swallowed hard... She wondered what this woman could want with her father and why he had been so torn up about her. "Please sit. My father isn't here at the moment. He left me in charge...." She could sense the hesitation in her movements. There was no shuffling to find a set. Not steps coming towards the chair she offered her by holding out her hand. "I'm sorry." Ladainia said. She reached over and put on a pair of sunglasses to cover her eyes. She was wearing gold rings around her wrists and large hoop earings. Her lipstick was black and black veins creeped out of the corners of her glass like silver eyes. The veins in her face around her eyes in general were dark blackish purple and visible through the translucent shade around her face. Her skin was normal though the closer to her eyes you got the more he ksin took on that translscent quality.
"I am a mutant. A sight seer. A precog. I can see the future and much that it holds. I am Lady Ladainia.....Seer of the distant, and not so distant future. Some call me premonition. What...May I ask may I call you?" She said polietley. Ladainia had no idea that she was dealing with a fellow mutant. She hadn't sensed anything like that about her only that she was here and breathing heavy. Her heart was racing and her skin was flushed. She could tell that she was slightly sweaty and she had a strawberry shampoo in her hair. Her clothes were recently laundered and she leaned all this from her wonderful wonderful senses. The smells gave her away mostly though she could feel the heat radiating off her skin like a furnace. Still more silence.
She knew the woman was still there. She was blind, but not stupid. "I must apologize for my appears, my eyes you see.... They were born this way. I hope I haven't offended you miss. Mr. Sinclaire....My father." She corrected herself.... "Will be back within a few hours. You're welcome to wait with me. Jojo It's okay she can stay. I'll entertain her until my father arrives." She waved her hand and sent the man away who was still persistantly standing in the flap of the tent waiting for Ladainia's descion on the woman.
Alyssa felt her hips turn to face the odd stranger at a slow pace that made her seem just a little more dramatic. Father? She knew that the life she’d so easily forgotten was haunted by the death of an unborn child but she didn’t understand who this young girl was. For a second she was filled with eternal guilt, the night they reunited he made it sound as if he hadn’t moved on from the loss of Maddison but if he had a child with another woman then she’d be a bother. Alyssa wasn’t the jealous type, she hardly even considered the thought but she felt the ache in her chest as she stiffened. All the effort she put to find him again only to discover he had a child, she wasn’t sure what to do with that or what to even utter.
Alyssa’s complex thoughts manifested in a tug of telekinetic force at the tent flap, a small breeze slipped through the gap and lifted the soft strands of hair caressing her shoulder for a second before dissipating into a calm stillness that enveloped her whole. Ladainia’s words steadied Alyssa in a complex whirlwind of thoughts that barely made any sense past the frustration clouding her gaze. at the quiet apology and swift effort to hide the eerie manifestation of her mutation Alyssa felt even worse, she smiled softly at the young girl even though she knew it fell on blind eyes.
“Don’t apologize, that’s not the part that’s bothering me”, Alyssa finally mustered up the courage to close the distance and lower herself onto the chair. She faced the girl without an ounce of judgement drifting through her mind. Alyssa wasn’t particularly judgmental, much less about the evolved nature of those who were special enough to carry the mutated gene.
She pondered the question for a second, a part of her begged her lips to utter Maddison while the tug of war in her complex mind settled for the name she truly felt belonged to her. “Alyssa, you can call me Alyssa”, she turned and glared at the man until he left before facing Ladainia with a smug look of appreciation. Her fingers raked through her hair, she absentmindedly traced her palms to the locks that were cut off and met the cool touch of empty air.
“I wasn’t aware Gavin had a daughter?”, Alyssa crossed one slender leg over the other and leaned forward with a soft smile even if she knew the girl couldn’t see the subtle tug of her ruby lips into a kind gesture. Like those many annoying, fucked up twitches in the car her palm rested over her flat stomach hiding behind the soft lace of a shirt she only just bought.
“And please, you don’t have to wear the glasses. I’m more worried about the clown I passed on the way here than I am about you”, there was a humorous tone to her voice seconds before the pressing urgency to find Gavin ripped through her senses and tugged at her fingertips until she tapped to an unheard rhythm to counter the subtle shake to her hands.
“I’m not known for my exceptional patience, is there any way to contact your father. I have urgent business to discuss with him and the sooner I get it done with the sooner I can kiss this headache goodbye”, Alyssa leaned forward with a desperation dancing in the light hazel of her eyes. Some days you could see the specs of jade littered in her irises, today was one of those days. For a moment she considered asking the young girl to read her future, she knew too much about the past and too little about the road to come. A pointer in the right direction could do her more good than harm but she opted to leave it as a pestering thought afraid that the future might hold another tragedy she’d shut away in the confines of an abyss she didn’t even know existed.
Ladainia found herself nervous though she had no earthly idea why. Her heart pounded in her chest and her throat was dry as the desert. She felt the uncomfortable tension. It hung in the sky so thick that you could pluck it from above your head and almost admire it in your hands. She hid behind the comforting tint of her shades and wore a plesant smile on her lips throughout the exchange. She was a little taken aback by the nature of her question. She wished she could see her face now, to study the lines and curves of her jaw, the tension in her brow and diganose what was on her mind because she was to timid to ask it outright. "I'm ... I'm adopted Ms. Alyssa. When I was just a little one. My father said that there was a hole in his life and he needed desperately to fill it.
So he brought me home. I've been in the circus all my life." There was a timid tone in her voice as she stated the course of events and hesitantly pulled off her sunglasses to reveal her mesmorizing eyes. . It was true. That is what Gavin told her. She believed that she was legally adopted by a broken man who needed love to carry him through the worst of life. She felt that she had given him that and that he was happier for it. A frown tugged a little at her face. She wanted to know deseperately what was going on between this woman and her father. The winds of change were upon them and things stired. She could feel it in her bones. She gasped a little at the telekentic pressure pushing through the tent flap.
She felt it as much as she heard it. One does not need eyes to see in this world, only a keen sense of the unusual. "I'm the only family he has since my mother passed away. Would you care to see a picture of her?" Ladainia felt with her hands along the table beside her and found a little jeweled box that looked older than she. She felt the edges thoughtfully before opeing the lid. A smile loomed on her face as her eyes stared straight ahead. She had no need to turn to face the box she could not see. She rummaged through the box until her hands came away with a picture. It was well worn and the edges were bent and the colors were washed... But you could tell the picture was well loved and thoughtfully taken care of. She handed the picture to Alyssa.
The picture was of Alyssa and Gavin. You might ask yourself why a blind girl would want to keep a family picture, but the sentiment behind it radiated within her and it was cherished because of what it represented, not what it depicted. " I never met her." Ladainia admitted. "She was with my father before i was born. I think it was her that tore him up so badly." Ladainia smiled and allowed the stranger to view the photo. She listened intently for subtle cues. A sharp intake of breath, a suttered pause. Anything, but she heard nothing. Her smiled wavered a bit but never dimmed from her lips. She took the photo back and looked at it briefly knowing she could not see it but still enjoying the pantamine. She looked back in the direction of Alyssa upon hearing the urgency in her voice.
She thought about it a moment and paused. The world around her paused. Alyssa herself stood frozen in temporal suspenion as the color slowly drained from the world. A sound that sounded like someone dragging their finger across a harp string burst statically in her mind and the world spun around her, glowing glitting in somber quiet and discandescent beauty. Ladainia stood up from her seat and moved past the seated Alyssa. She could not see her now but she could see the world all around her. The muted colors beinging to dance with color and life wherever she looked. The grey sky washing into a brillant blue the dull gray green brightened to be green an wonderful. Alyssa and everyone around her in the circus were nothing more than blurs. Smudges on the world. They had no facial features what so ever. Amorphous and nonexistant in this place. She saw one man's face though. Her father's Gavin was coming back into the circus. Gavin smiled and waved to someone behind Ladainia. She turned to see a blurry smudgy shape hurrying over to meet Gavin. They were not aware of her presence here. This was the future. This was a place time she was not from nor had she any reason to be suspected here
. She walked over to her father. Taking in the sights of the world while she had the chance too. She wished she could see other faces. The only face clear to her in this future sight was the one she was focusing on that's how it had always worked. Everyone else was just white noise filling up the spaces in her mind. Walking over to Gavin she picked up a ball from the ground. She gazed into her father's future and as she approached him she gazed at his watch. It was digital and read 6:48pm. That was only 20 minutes or so from the present time. Gavin froze much like Alyssa. The color slowly faded form his face. He was becoming just another non distcint blob like everyone else. Her vision was fading. She leaned up on her tippy toes wrapping her arm around her father's neck. "She's hear papa. And i bet she's beautiful." She whispered in his ear knowing full well he couldn't see or precieve her here. She kissed her father on the cheek and it was over.
The world came crashing back into pitch black. The crushing black she was so familiar with. She was once again seated in front of Alyssa. Like she never left. Alyssa was not aware of the future sight she preformed but Ladainia smiled. "He will be back at 6:48 exactly. Of that you can be sure of Ms. Alyssa." She tossed a round blue ball up in the air and based ont the sound it traveled through the air she catch it without fail. Still smiling she nodded to her guest. "Would you care to wait with me? I can make some tea if you'd like."
Adopted, those words were more refreshing to her mind than she cared to admit. There was something odd brewing in the back of her mind, something tragically gloomy about this girl’s heritage but intuition only got her so far she wasn’t exactly able to see the past in any sense. She never knew the life of a circus but she couldn’t help and wonder what it must have been like growing up in the rowdy atmosphere of the carnival, to some it was probably the only way to escape the profound weight of their life and to others it was the home they chose, that they truly and utterly preferred. Alyssa felt her lips tilt into a soft smile when the girl tugged the glasses from her uniquely hypnotic eyes, no mutant deserved the pressure of hiding the beauty of their evolution and Alyssa much preferred the raw truth about Ladainia’s appearance.
“Sure, my sanity’s already screwed up as is”, she muttered the low, humorous tone more to herself than she did to the strangely unique soul in front of her. Alyssa followed every muscle extension of her fingertips until she held out the nostalgic picture. Her polished nails highly contrasted the well taken care of photo and she couldn’t help the horrible stiffness befalling her shoulders and neck. She wanted to smack the woman staring back at her for shoving the memories of her old life into a deep pit but since it wasn’t her property she opted to hold it gently between her fingers in an effort to keep it safe. Her heart was pounding against her ribcage so hard she could almost hear the light cracks of her ribs, this young girl gifted by such a beautiful talent believed Maddison to be her mother. She didn’t know how to react or what to say, for once she was actually grateful for the lack of sight in her mesmerizing gaze.
Alyssa hung on her every word, was this the same sweetness her own child would wear if the infant ever got the beautiful opportunity to taste the touch of life? It bothered her but not enough to stun her like it did realizing what had happened wrapped in those damned waters in Greece with her bare skin shivering against the cold breeze rippling through the caverns. Alyssa held the photo back to Ladainia in hopes to shield her from the shaking brewing slowly to life in the soft skin her of her fingers. Alyssa tapped her fingers against the soft fabric of her pants, to a rhythm she couldn’t hear and a melody she didn’t recall. It was a mere manifestation of her nerves slowly burning to life under her skin from the raw frustrations bubbling through her complex mind.
Twenty minutes, she was used to the ticking time of an eternity but twenty minutes in that truly nerve wrecking moment felt like it greatly surpassed the minutes from every life she ever indulged. Her nails dug into her leg involuntarily in hopes to release the thick tension building in every fiber of her being. She found herself chuckling softly at the kind offer of a steaming cup of tea.
“If you can dig out something stronger than tea I’d be happy stay”, Alyssa waited a long moment as her mind dived into the consequences of digging into Gavin’s life but she honestly didn’t give a shit. she was strangely familiar with the luck and fuck up of impulse but her brash inquisitiveness rarely worked against her.
“Did he ever tell you what happened to her, to your mother?”, she knew the answer, she could still recall the thick splotches of blood staining her chest and pooling under her but she needed to know what he told the young girl he adopted. There were more questions, more uncertainties but she spared those damned thoughts for the man she travelled all the way from Greece for. She hated being forced to wait more than she hated the volcano that tore through Pompei like wildfire. She didn’t mind dying but drowning in the warm pits of magma wasn’t exactly a good way to start the day. At least thinking about some tragic elements of the past drove her attention from the pressing nervousness at wishing Gaving would just return.
Post by Gavin Sinclair on May 30, 2018 16:50:42 GMT
Gavin was informed immedately of Madison's return. The second he stopped foot on the grounds. It was that blurry smudgy shape that Ladainia saw in her vison of the near fure that told Gavin of his loves return. Gavin dropped everything and began to run. His heart thudding so loadly in his chest he could scareley think let alone swallow the bulging lump in his throat. Gavin was never so frightened in all his life. She had died. Taken from him twice now... Were the gods so cruels as to take her again? To dangle what he wanted most right in front of him only to rip it away at the last moment? Gavin was almost scared to get his hopes up as he rushed towards Ladainia's tent. Mutants stared and pointed as Gavin ran past.
They pointed out where she was shetlered the last great respite of hope for her a long distant memory. She had learned the truth and even though he held her body in his arms, watched her crumple and wither away.....She found her way back to him. Because that's what immortals do! They find their way back. He loved her beautiful wonderful mutation for being so merciful. It was only unfortunate that she had found her way into Ladainia's tent. He hoped he could reach her int time before the girl accideentally poisoned her against him. She meant well with her dough eyed innocence, but she absolutely did not belong in this matter. This for Gavin and Alyssa to handle alone. The involvement of Ladiania left a rising knot in the pit of his stomach.
Gavin took a deep breath and pushed inside the tent. He had a smile on his lips though his eyes stared harshly at his daughter of sorts. Gavin did somewhat care for her though his feelings didn't run as deeply and as truly as they did for Alyssa. "Ladainia, go find the lion tamer and tell him that meat for his beasts has arrived, then i want you to make yourself scarce for awhile." the tone of his voice was absolute and serious. He did not play around with the wishes and foolish thoughts of a girl he didn't honestly consider daughter. "But papa..." She began. "Now!" His contempt and anger was hard to hide in that moment. He only wanted a moment of peace and solitude between him and the short haired beauty before him. She cut her hair.
She looked so familar, like a sweet dream made of dripping honey. He could not wait to tase once more. When Ladainis pushed rudely past him trying to will herself not to cry Gavin smiled at the silence and privacy that lingered in the air. "Sorry about her. I guess she told you she is my daughter." He sighed. He wasn't expecting to have this conversation just yet. The only reason, Gavin adopted her at all and had that spellbinding memory bubbling in her head was because of her gift. The only reason he took her from her family at all was because she was useful and he tricked her into thinking it was love that kept her hear not invisible shackles on her mind. Gavin smiled nervously. "The world.... Was very dark, for a long time after you died."
Gavin knew not of the picture she possessed of him and Alyssa. It was not something he would have approved up. The hopes and dreams of one day meeting her mother was foolish at best, but to cherish the memory of something that tortured him would have only angered him had he discoverd the photo himself. He looked to Alyssa with pleading hopeful eyes. "Come.. Take a walk with me." He said holding out his hand. Gavin didn't know what magic brought her back here but he thanked it. He treasured it with every value in his heart and though his soul was corrupted a long time ago by hatred and revenge filled thoughts deep deep down there was still the pit of a good man. It had been blinded by evil for so long that he scarcely believed it himself, but Gavin was just a man touched by trauma struggling to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel and nothing more.
Alyssa turned to see Gavin’s brief approach to the tent, her breath hitched in her throat as if she’d swallowed a boulder whole and her heart quickly beat against the confines of her chest. She hated being nervous, Alyssa hoped after thousands of years she’d eventually toss the almost human frustration of fried nerves aside. It was easier when she didn’t have a personal anchor rooted in someone who’s mortality hadn’t torn them away from her yet. She stood up from the chair with her slender fingers balanced on the bony prominences of her hips, her eyes focused on him with absolute curiosity bubbling through to the surface. The look in his eyes told her he hadn’t expected to see her again, her mind pestered her to dive into the nooks and crannies of her eternal gift before she et those cold waters for another rebirth.
Her brow lifted at the strange look washing over his face, as if he suddenly dipped into a pit of anger that left stains in his gaze. she smiled softly at the retreating form of the young girl. She thought about that bittersweet moment seeing him again every day since she woke up in those dark, musty caves and for one of the rare times in her life she was somewhat stunned. She nodded solemnly at his words, there was no denying the words shared between her and the seer. Alyssa had done morally terrifying things, she could hardly blame him for following a path he believed to be right. Slowly the shackles of her bothered mind slipped from the heavy thoughts and she stepped closer to Gavin with a wave of telekinetic force that pushed him backwards.
“It took me weeks to find you Gavin. If you opened your goddamn ears that night you would’ve known I’d be back”, she looked to the empty corner of the tent before tasting the relaxed sigh that slipped through her slightly agape lips. Alyssa set her fingers into the warmth of his outstretched hand, she didn’t know where to begin so she opted to follow his lead instead.
“A walk sounds good”, she admitted with the slight caress of a smile on her ruby lips. Alyssa waited until they breathed the fresh air blowing in soft breezes outside the tent. Her flushed skin relaxed from the stress of the reunion under the cool touch of the wind, she turned slightly to glance at Gavin from the corner of her eyes.
“I remember you know, hurt like a bitch but I remember most of it”, she had to force the nerves in her fingers to steer clear from her stomach as she drug her nails though the strands of hair kissing her cheeks. She felt like she was defying the true nature of loss, if her heart wasn’t so driven by the intuition in her bones she’d be halfway across the world by now, maybe even opting to discover the beauty of Madagascar for a bit. But there she was, absolutely driven by her instincts to run right back into the arms of a man who thought she died. Even then she wasn’t sure how to confess her identity, while Maddison lurked in her mind it wasn’t the sole identity she bore on her soul anymore and she feared he might forget about her if she confessed the truth. Her lips pressed together as she patiently waited for him to respond, Alyssa could feel the stress of the strange reunion dance on her fingertips as they shook ever so slightly under the pressure.
Post by Gavin Sinclair on May 30, 2018 21:26:43 GMT
Gavin dared to smile at her as he saw her raidence. She was breathtaking. HIs mind, his will his thoughts purely bent on this. For him, there was no other. Not the love that Ladainia foolishly gave him, nore the tormented fragments of a broken mind cherishing the loss of a love. She was here now. She was right in front of him. He had to remind himself not to reach out and seize her hand as if it was his to take. She was here, though she was different. She was born anew with memories of her old life. Gavin had always wondered how Madison's abilities worked. She wasn't really bullet proof, nor was she unkillable. But she was immortal. By the breathe of sands washing up on the shores of Greece she was birthed there in the bank of the river. It might has well have been the river styx. The river of the dead the greeks feared so much. For crossing that river led you to the afterlife. Curious that she would remain just baptized in the cool tides of it's current instead of allowed to set sail on the journey to the other side. She was not his Madison and yet she was.
Alarmingly alien and all so familiar. She was the product of her circumstance. Each time she was born anew it was her life experiences that formed and molded the person she was, who she became. Her skin was flawless. The golden locks were like strands of sunshine spilling over her shoulder, her lips....Precious embers burning brightly with a fiery heat that he wanted to burn up in. He licked his lips nervously. He hadn't heard her that night. Gavin flinched slightly at her temperous words when she proclaimed he hadn't heard her. Of course he hadn't.
He was so distracted by the ghost of his past sitting right in front of him. He was so endlessly distracted by the impossible and yet, he knew she would be back. In some deep dark corner of his heart he couldn't accept his fate and denial was the reason he clung to hope. It didn't stop him from moving though. He packed up the circus and moved after a week. Every time he stepped out of his trailer he saw her die again. It was just too painful. She was the sum of the parts that brought her to this moment, but she wasn't the woman he remembered. Those memories those feelings she once stored in her heart were not closely guarded in he rmind. They were thought off with bitterness instead of fondness. Gavin could see a bitter lining around the edge of her eye, but he said nothing. He motioned for them to leave Ladainia's tent and they walked.
As they walked mutants moved about them around the grounds. There was one girl with blue hair who's skin seemed to slither and move on her body. Not like actual skin but a creature coating her skeltal form and moving around it in a curious way. There was anothe rman who was 8'9 and under 100 pounds! They were all uniquely different and special in their own way. And each of them Gavin considered family but he had never loved anyone in his whole miserable life. No one, except Madison. "Alyssa. What you've been through... I can't imagine. I know the pain though. That feeling of loss. That lingering memory that haunts you and keeps you awake at night wondering why it all happened the way it happened."
Gavin dared to reach down and take her hand into his. He laced his fingers through hers and held his breath wondering how she would take it. Then he stopped abruputly. Turning to face here he looked around them. The mutants of the circus went about their tasks, but they watched the conversation with much intrest. Some of them whispered to each other. The cirucs mutants new of Madison. Not because they knew her before. Gavin didn't open the circus until after his Madison had passed. They knew her form Gavin's games. When he was particularly upset, or drunk. He used to get in a crazy sort of mood. He would get hammered drunk at the circus and sit at a table with a tattoo clone of Madsion and play russian roulette.
Spinning a gun on a table with one bullet in the chamber and taking turns pulling the trigger against your temple. Gavin always won. He would watch her blow her brains out and the ink splatter against the wall of his trailer. With no emotion at all he would take another gulp of the bottle until he blacked out. Of course there were more examples, and Gavin never remembered them. He blacked them out like his mind chose to forget such horrible things. It wasn't sweet, it was not romantic. It was sadistic and brutal. He always brought her back though. He would bring her back again and again and again. For repeat performances. If he would have remembered these violent nights he would be ashamed and horrified to think of how many times he might have accidnetally killed Madison like some crazed drunken man with a voodoo doll.
Gavin smiled at her. His eyes were kind and there was lingering humanity dwelling in his heart for the first time in a long time. Maybe it wasn't too late to bring him back from the brink. Maybe it wasn't too late to save his soul. "I'd like to take you out to dinner. Would you join me? Give me a chance to get to know you. The real you." He said refering to the person she was now, not the idealistic version of her he held up on a pedistol.
His words cut through her mind like the sharp blades of knives unseen to her eyes, they tugged at every emotion burrowing through her complexly guarded thoughts and tore through her gaze into a painstakingly heavy laden glance. She didn’t reject the warm offer of his fingers through hers, she didn’t realize the subconscious tug of her muscle fibers closing desperately around his in shrouded fear that she’d lose him to the ticking clock of the world for a third time. She saw the brief glances from those who worked for the lively success of the carnival, albeit the sneaky ulterior motive lacing Gavin’s committed recruitment of those who were special enough. Alyssa purely assumed they were curious about her identity, the true reason for their curious gazes dipped in a dark knowing thought went past her as she dived into the closeness with Gavin like an addict dying for another fix.
Dinner sounded nicer than it ever did, she’d been on countless dinner dates with few ever truly meaning this much. There was always Darius who dared to show her the beauty of the sunset over Rome’s Colosseum and Pierre who made her see the unique thrill in trudging through the hidden, almost sinister catacombs beneath Paris and while she loved both men deeply and utterly only one was a mutant who barely compared to her power. She wasn’t the type of soul who lusted for power to the extent of losing that which didn’t compare but she appreciated the powerful touch dancing in Gavin’s gaze and the raw intensity of his ability.
Her lips tilted into a haunted smile as she nodded with her shorter hair billowing around her face, as if the wind felt as excited as the thud of her ever surviving heart against the bony cage of her chest. “This is a lot less awkward than last time”, her tone danced in the embrace of humor before her lips grew stiff in a pleasant seriousness, “but you don’t have to ask me twice. I’d love dinner”. The smile on her lips faltered for a second as a new heavy laden guilt shifted over her gaze, “there’s something I have to tell you first. When Maddison - when I died the first time with you I wasn’t alone. I was pregnant and since my mutation wasn’t carried over to our baby, I lost-“, she didn’t expect her voice to falter slightly under the weight of her words. She couldn’t finish her sentence, she could convey the same message with a thousand words but that particular sequence left her throat dry and her knees weak.
Emotions were the world’s greatest delight for her but she’d grown numb to the heartbreaking tragedy that burst into the heavy tears and sobs that every other soul had one lifetime to appreciate. Still, she didn’t weep in that public space enclosed by jolly faces and happy exclamations from lively visitors. Her eyes conveyed the heartbreak though, her palm set over her stomach for a last time as she confessed the haunted thought pestering her since her rebirth. Alyssa knew full well the truth about personal demons, she knew once she acknowledged the weight of a loss she could finally shed the uncomfortable presence of it looming on her mind and toss it to the abyss of history that collected every ounce of agony and spared it for the next reincarnation.
“I’m sorry”, she settled with two words that held more meaning than a hundred syllables. She felt guilty for losing not only her own child but his, he was the father after all and a loss of a child wasn’t spared for a single soul. Alyssa’s eyes faltered and fell to the dark brown leather of her ankle boots as she waited to hear that bittersweet sound of his voice again but she wasn’t brave enough to face his gaze.
Post by Gavin Sinclair on Jun 4, 2018 13:55:03 GMT
Diner was a formality. A setting that he could reintroduce himself. He wanted to get to know the woman behind Madison. Who she was now. He couldn't continue to live and breathe on this idealized version of a woman who no longer existed. She was his Madison, but she was also Alyssa now. That was something he would have to come to terms with.
Though he wasn't ready to come to terms with what she said next. His lips parted as his eyes moved down to her stomach. There was his child in there at one point. Resting until he was ready to spring forth and challenge the world like his old man. Or her old man. He would never know. Gavin dropped to his knees. His eyes were shimming dancing balls of light as his fingers slowly moved over the area. He had always wanted a child.
He had Ladainia now, but she was no more family to him than any of the other mutants in the circus. She was a surrogate child to replace a love he thought he would never know again. At most she was a distraction, and though he was never cruel to Ladainia. He never showed her much love. She was endlessly loving and she couldn't help but burst with love for the man who gave her everything, but the favor was not returned. Gavin raised her with a cool detachment and broken heart.
It sometimes broke her heart. Gavin never looked upon Ladainia the way he did this smooth patch of flesh now. With the possibility and disappointment of having never met a creature of his own creation. A creature more meaningful than any of his other inkbound creations. He could bring to life a million and one different possibilities, but he couldn't give life to a creature as wondeful and perfect as a union of him and Alyssa. His eyes moved up to meet hers as he rested his head on her belly for a moment. Standing up his eyes were still dancing shimmery balls of light, only there was joy in them. Not the inhearant sadness you would expect to see.
"You never have to apologize to me for that. Not ever." He assured her. "You, would have made a wonderful mother. But more importantly...." Gavin got back down on one knee. The diner hadn't even happened yet. He planned on getting to know her. He wanted to give himself the chance to know such an amazing and intriguing woman but he couldn't contain his excitment anymore. It was different for him, because he already loved her. He could see a ghost of Madison lingering in her face perhaps, but it was her soul that he was connected with.
No matter how many more times you were reincarnated in Gavin's eyes a soul mate is a soul mate. He pulled out a ring box. The very same he had planned to give to Madison. He couldn't help but be in awe of her. They made this wondefuly powerful, dynamic couple. "Alyssa, will you marry me?" He asked her right there at the edge of the entrance to the circus. A spot where prying eyes could no longer see them. They had walked and talked and found privacy behind one of the many tents near the front entrance and now he waited on bated breathe for her response. Yes or no he still wanted to go to diner.
Though he hoped it would be as a newly engaged couple. "You are my soul mate. I could search the heavens and the stars and not find a more beautiful and unique soul than you. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you that you were the one and, all manner of heave and earth couldn't keep us apart. We're bound together by more than love. We're two halfs of the same person and I hope you can see that." He said slipping the ring on her finger without giving her a chance to say anything. She could still reject him. To turn him away and cast the ring back in his face, but he was putting himself on the line here. He was going out on a hope that she was overcome with memories of their former life.
Alyssa’s ancient gaze followed the route of his down to the flat skin of her stomach, she could hardly believe she was deprived of the opportunity to watch their child grow and mature and it still made her feel terrible sad for never getting the chance to know the beautiful result of their love. Her slender fingers reached out to rest on his shoulders, a small smile lifted to her ruby lips at the sight of Gavin on his knees with his fingers caressing the emptiness of her stomach deprived of a beautiful baby boy or girl. She wondered if their child would carry their gifts, if she’d be the master of ink like her father or if he’d be cursed with the gift of immortality.
Alyssa couldn’t recall a single life where she welcomed a life into this world. she never had to watch her own flesh and blood mature into a vibrant young adult before the fatal touch of old age set in. it wasn’t a thought she wanted to entertain but seeing the light in Gavin’s gaze made her lust after the what ifs torn from her when she lost that life. A feeling rolling in her mind suggested he’d be an excellent father, perhaps offering more entertainment with his gifts than she’d ever be able to, still, after thousands of years she hoped to be as good a mother as the one that raised her.
For a second she pondered if they'd go down that same road again, if she'd ever be blessed with a growing belly and hormonal euphoria at the touch of gentle kicks against her stomach. in some way she wouldn't mind touching tat potential with Gavin by her side.
There was an almost electrical sensation of pleasure touching her soul at the light pressure of his head against her belly. Her lips tilted into a vibrant smile she reserved for those she considered worth more than all the riches she’d gazed upon in all her years. She kept her palms rested on his shoulders appreciating the close proximity when he stood to his feet.
Her lips fell agape as a unique mixture of pure delight and utter shock lifted in her gaze, her two hands clasped gently over the pendant donning her slender neck. In all her lives she never knew the euphoria she did then or perhaps the memories were too ancient to carry the same raw sentiment. The ring box seemed to contrast the hands that held it and she had to will herself to tear her gaze from the small container to him.
She felt the leaves around them lift to the air, one of the few times her ability corrupted the world without her direct intentions. The euphoric ecstasy in her mind willed the small leaves from the ground to hover by her feet as the moment engulfed her wholly and beautifully. She didn’t answer at first, perhaps as a result of the delighted shock mulling over in her mind.
Alyssa felt her knees buckle under the pressure of the astonishingly beauty of the encounter, she lowered herself to her knees with the leaves still hanging in the air like a small, inanimate audience waiting for her answer. “I’ve lived long enough to know when not to say no. Yes, a thousand times yes”, she wasn’t an overly emotional being but in that second she was sure her eyes glazed over in love an care.
“On one condition though”, she forced a seriousness over her features and met his gaze, “you go to Greece with me. One trip so I can show you what happens to me when I die. No one’s ever seen my reincarnation, I’m tired of being the only one who knows”, she wasn’t sure if he’d dare a few days away from his circus for something almost useless and trivial. Still, she never once considered sharing the inns and outs of her gifts with any other soul, but Gavin was special and their bond overpowered her paranoia and fear.
Post by Gavin Sinclair on Jun 5, 2018 16:12:39 GMT
She said yes! Of all the days to be alive. This was his favorite. This was the day that all the other days of his life had been leading up too. Gavin smiled brightly and took her hand and pulled her into a warm hug. He was dancing on the wind untl he heard the one condition. His heart froze. Gavin stood before her wondering what this condition could be. He never dreamed she would ask him to go to Greece with her. Madison had always been so private about what happened when she was dead.
In fact, for the longest time Gavin didn't even know that she could die. He thought it was impossible, and yet he was proven wrong. Gavin had always had trouble coaxing Madison out of her secrets. "Try and keep me from coming!" He laughed. Oh, he was so happy. This was wonderful. Gavin stood up and hugged Alyssa even more tightly.
What he didn't even consider for a moment was Ladainia. His sweet little Ladainia. She was a good girl, though Gavin used her... He supposed he did love Ladainia to some degree. The way one might love a family pet. After Madison died he tried. Gavin had tried to bring the loving sweet carefree side of his personality waltzing back into his life. But it was no use. He couldn't feel anything. Not pitty, nor sorrow or guilt or madness. All he felt was numb.
He honestly did try to put himself out there. He tried a variety of things to get his life back on track. To fill that numb burning void in the center of his chest. Adopting a child was one of those things. There were many in the cirucs that Gavin had enslaved and brainwashed. Ladaiania was the first he ever gave his last name too and the first that he truly considered daughter. Though many in the circus looked towards Gavin like a father figure. His leadership of the circus was absolute. "
I guess that means, you're a mom after all...." His words came out slow like he was realizing this for the first time. She may not have had their child but he had adopted Ladainia. "Ladainia, my daughter." He said finally. There was a warmth touching about his lips that hadn't been there in a long time. Not since she left. Gavin was whole again . Without his other half he was a crippled, tortured shell of a man. Now he felt like a god who could move mountains. "Ladainia can stay and watch the cricus for me. We leave for Greece in the morning. But first. I believe I owe you dinner. Gavin said. Gavin still intended to take her out for a night on the town. The circus was fine and all but this called for a fancy resturante. This was a special occasion. They could stop and buy new clothes if the ones they had were not satisfactory, but he was very eager to get her off the grounds and sweept her up off her feet. To have her all to himself in the flicking dim glow of romantic candle light
Waving his arm theatrically he allowed the ink to sail off his flesh and splatter to the side of them. With a sigh and a smile he walked over to the puddle of green ink and reached inside. Pulling up a handlebar, and then another Gavin raised a Kawasaki motorcycle from the dirt. Their chariot for the evening. "Not exactly a chariot, but It will do. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle? Don't worry just hang onto me tight. We're going to the finest resturante in town." He couldn't pry the smile off his lips with a crowbar.
Alyssa’s fingers curled into the hair at the crook of his neck, she fully embraced every second’s joy with an open mind finally relishing in the true meaning of life beyond the brief encounters with adventure. Her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink for the first time in two hundred years and she felt the flutter in her chest at the perfection of the moment washing over them. A light, carefree laugh slipped past her lips at his eager acceptance of her condition. She never recalled a single life she dared any other soul into the intricacy of her rebirth. Her reincarnation left her vulnerable, regardless of her inability to die – perhaps it was emotionally daring to show another soul the gentle tug of the water washing over her naked skin as she breathed in another breath into her lungs as if they’d been left untouched for all these years since her first rebirth.
“You mean Ladainia? She’s a sweet girl Gavin but no one could ever give me that title when I couldn’t even protect my own flesh and blood”, the words felt heavier with every syllable, as if someone shoved her into space and she had to struggle to keep her head afloat at the thought. Alyssa couldn’t even grasp the concept of being a mother when she barely even had a chance to see the gradual growth of her tummy or feel the soft kicks from a tiny life living inside her. The thought felt strenuous on her mind but the idea of sharing a night with the man she’d reunited with made the worry and guilt dissipate into an absolute bliss of nothing but joy.
Her eyes trailed the ink slipping from his flesh before chuckling lightly at the sight of Gavin pulling the motorcycle from the green puddle. She lifted her chin with a playful smirk, “This is far better than a chariot. Last time I drove in one of those, let’s just say it didn’t end well for me and about twenty other people”, the memory was as ancient as she was but brought a lively glint to her gaze as if it only just happened. Still, she preferred the raw delight of modern transport, the fact that she didn’t have to travel weeks and months for a vacation aided her argument with a personal touch of nostalgia.
Alyssa nodded with a charming grin before swinging her legs over the cold metal of the newly fabricated bike, her finger interlaced with one another for a second in front of him before she allowed each palm to hold onto the warmth of his chest. Alyssa set her cheek against his shoulder with a happy grin, “I didn’t know how much I lost when my memories disappeared. It’s good to be back”, her hair lifted off her shoulders at the gentle tug of the breeze as she held onto the man she loved. At least they could explore the intricacies of the world with the same terrifying dedication to help evolution dominate and Alyssa wasn’t afraid to strike down any who stood against them.
