1st vision | Video

[ghani]

ooc: Ghani got a very special visitor during the 4th wall event, and it's tearing her up that he didn't get to stay. This would be her failing to hide that fact. Put this post under a cut just in case because it contains big spoilers from her canon (Children of Dune).

[ The pain of being irrevocably separated from her brother is not unfamiliar to her. Back on Arrakis it was her constant companion, the knife in her heart twisted just a little bit more every time her twin came to her and asked for death when the agony of his tortured existence became too great.

But this is still new, the wounds inside her fresh and bleeding. When he appeared in Asgard she had dared to hope that perhaps... perhaps it could be different here. Perhaps in this place another path could be found for them than the one he had foreseen and thought to be the only one possible.

But Leto hadn't been allowed to stay, and once more she must find some contentment in a life she has not chosen and that he cannot be a part of.

Intending to find some distraction she turns on the video feed, questions on the tip of her tongue just waiting to spill out, along with offerings of sympathy to others who may have lost someone during these days... but for a long moment all she does is stare at the luminescent touchscreen in front of her face, her impossibly blue eyes doorways to infinity and her face a mask of composure and regal calm.

The stinging in her eyes is a sensation so unfamiliar, and her mind is so preoccupied, that she doesn't recognize it for what it is until a blink and a slight inclination of her head causes a tear to fall from one of them and land on her hand. She twitches as if she's been burned when it hits her skin, and that tiny droplet of water almost seems to be taunting her. Fremen do not cry, not even in grief can such a waste of the body's moisture be allowed, and yet here she is, giving water to the memory of her brother. She has grown water-fat in this place, and it only serves to underline how far from Arrakis she truly is.

"One day each of you will come face to face with the horror of your own existence. One day you will cry out for help. One day each of you will find yourselves... alone."

Her aunt's words drift through her mind as she lifts her hand to her mouth and her tongue flicks out to reclaim the tear, mimicking the older woman's last act in life as her consciousness folds in on itself and the room around her fades away. How true those words had ended up being.

She almost feels as if it is Alia looking out from her eyes and not herself as she finally speaks, her voice the cracked whisper it had been when the words were spoken by her dying aunt. ]

I want my brother.

[ And then the world snaps back into focus and she looks directly at the screen in front of her once more, face hard as she reaches out to turn off the feed before she exposes herself further. Whatever message she had wanted to put out on the network will have to wait.

Curse this place, and may the wind strip the flesh from the gods' bones. ]

Comments

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[ex_outofcontrol435]

Ghanima. What the hell was what?

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[ghani]

[ She considers not answering him, but the truth of the matter is that much as she hates that she lost control of herself like that, part of her is still in a way grateful that someone actually wants to know why. ]

Memories.

[ She seems calm again, but her voice is hollow and lifeless. Pretence seems relatively useless at the moment, and Pyro is the closest thing she has to a friend in this place. At the very least he's the one who knows the most about her, which isn't really saying much, but it will have to suffice. ]

Reacting to them so publicly was unintentional.

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[ex_outofcontrol435]

What kind of memories.

[Yeah, that's completely flat. No inflection at all. There's memories and then there's memories, according to what she told him, and he wants to make sure they were her own.]

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[ghani]

[ Her features soften a little in something that's almost the hint of a smile at the question, since it's a pretty perceptive one and she actually appreciates that there is someone around who understands the danger she is in more or less constantly in spite of the defence mechanisms she has. ]

My own, mostly, though I will admit that some of them were... uncomfortably tied to those of a relative.

[ She sighs and wraps her arms around herself, looking very young and a little vulnerable. ]

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[ex_outofcontrol435]

[His own memories start to drift back at that, memories he'd locked away so well before coming here, and his own face hardens while hers softens.]

He was here, huh? Your brother.

[What would he have done if his parents had come? Once he would've said kill them, instantly, but that seems too little for them now. Besides, after meeting someone like Euri, there are questions he'd like answered before the end.]

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[ghani]

[ She notes the shift in his countenance, aware that they relate to the subject of family very differently, to say the least. ]

Yes he was. But he didn't get to stay.

[ Why would the gods not want to keep him there? He is the strong one. ]

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[ex_outofcontrol435]

And I just got some shitty X-Men.

[It's meant to be light, but his face doesn't match his tone.]

You're both the same, you guys?

voice;

[afrozendance]

[She cannot help feeling sympathy upon seeing this post. Because Nils, Nils...]

My brother is not here either... I'm sorry, my lady.

voice;

[ghani]

Thank you.

[ What more is there to say than that, really? She had not meant to metaphorically bleed all over the network, but that isn't this stranger's fault. Ghanima is angry with herself, but she is not so unfair that she would take it out on someone else. ]

I am sorry for dumping a private matter into the public's lap, so to speak. It was unintentional.

voice;

[afrozendance]

... Maybe it was unintentional, milady, but I guess no one is an island. Wanting to be heard is not a bad thing in itself, specially in a place like this...

voice;

[ghani]

I would have preferred to be a little more selective about who got to see me so... exposed.

voice;

[afrozendance]

A fair point, I admit... We can only learn from our mistakes, and hope we won't repeat them again.

But still, we are speaking in this current moment, so maybe there is something good to get from all of this...

voice;

[ghani]

As you say.

Who is it that I am speaking to, then?

[ Because making a new friend might indeed be a very good thing. She's had precious few of them for most of her life. ]

[Video]

[bonnypiperlad]

[It's some time before he responds to the short and clearly unhappy message - not from any lack of empathy on Jamie's part, but rather due to the poisoning that's swept through the city. He'd simply been too sick to put up a message sooner. And while he knows she's likely had a bit to recover from what it was that'd upset her originally, there's still enough concern over what had happened that he chooses to send a message anyway.]

Ghanima? Are ye all right?

[Video]

[ghani]

[ She is quite calm about it at this point, and has also mostly gotten over the fact that she was more or less caught with her emotional pants down. There is nothing to be done about it now, so she might as well accept whatever sympathy is offered as gracefully as she can. ]

Yes, I'm fine Jamie. Thank you. I suppose it was just... something that I needed to get out.

[ Though she would have preferred it to be a whole lot less public. ]

[Video]

[bonnypiperlad]

[Given that she was upset, who could blame her? He does give her a sympathetic look, though, because he does understand - at least in part.]

Aye, I see. Was your brother here recently, then? I know there were a fair few of us who had visitors we were missing.

[Video]

[ghani]

[ She nods, and tucks a strand of hair that has escaped from her ponytail behind one of her ears. ]

Yes, he was. I had indeed missed him very much. Did you get a visitor as well?

[Video]

[bonnypiperlad]

Yes, I did, although he's already here too, a few times over.

[He reaches up and scratches at his ear briefly.]

It's...ah, complicated. But I've not seen that one of him since before I was brought here, and I missed him too. I'm sorry your brother couldn't stay.

[Video]

[ghani]

Several versions of the same person can appear here?

[ Considerig the fact that people can be pulled from different points in time it does sort of make sense to her that that might be the case. ]

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[silverkhaleesi]

[Dany can understand her feeling of loneliness. There are people from her world she misses, but two more than any others.]

From what I hear, it is possible your brother may come to this world.

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[ghani]

Possible, but not certain. Clinging to such a faint hope will only weaken me.

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[silverkhaleesi]

[Dany sighs.]

Yes, I suppose it is only a faint hope, if any at all. Could you see him if you go back home?

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[ghani]

Yes, if I am sent home I will also be reunited with my brother.

[ Which is a complicated matter all on its own, but that is somewhat beside the point. ]

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[silverkhaleesi]

[Dany nods.]

Then I wish that either way, you get soon reunited with him.

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[ghani]

I appreciate that, my lady. It was a cruel accident, what happened... but I am still glad that I got to see him. He's has always had a gift for renewing my strength.