Post by STARGATERY on Dec 7, 2022 7:39:35 GMT
She looked like coiled rage, cold disdain and barely suppressed power. Unfathomable and of incomprehensible nature. Everything that was being done to her—the torment, both physical and emotional, the disposal of her belongings, the theft of her homemade weaponry, the humiliation—, gave Keegan the sensation that what they were doing was foolish. Crazy. That they couldn’t even begin to comprehend the severity of their actions. Measly little humans trying to cover the sun with the tip of a finger. Trapping that which is more eternal than holy. An attempt to contain the uncontainable, control the uncontrollable, inhibit that which cannot (should not) be inhibited. They were being stupid. Maybe their ignorance would spare them from the worst of God’s fury, but with each passing day their sins only bred.
It struck him as nothing but a matter of time. Not an if, but a when. And he was sure it felt that way for Evel- for Pandora too. She’d break out of this greed-made, crystalline prison, bring vengeance upon her captors, recover her scattered tools, and carry on with her duties like nothing happened. Here, Pandora’s patience is deadly, maddeningly so. She is in no rush in front of them. She outright refuses to be. She betrays nothing. Gives nothing. Not a hitch in her breathing, nor a twitch of her eye, nor a parting of her mouth. Immutable. Although she’s caged like the sweetest songbird that’s been captured only for its (jailer) master, although the dreamers and the dreams and the nightmares call out to her. Even if they believe she has abandoned them, left them to fend for themselves, she remained.
Pandora remains. Until Angelica (loyal, good-natured Angel, her only friend in the world) decides she’s taking her chances. And what chances they are. She’s done waiting around for these greedy humans to slip, to mess up the well-oiled machine they’ve become to maintain the Lord of the Dreaming ensnared.
Even for Pandora to conjure the help of her siblings, her husband, as inconceivable as that is. Eons could’ve passed them by. Earth could’ve collapsed in on itself, before she’d do anything of the sort. But hope is a mighty thing, and hope gets you to dream.
(Even of the impossible. Of the absurd.)
So, she glided.
She glided through and caused a distraction, reached her Lord. And THAT’S where everything changes. There, in those few moments, an emotion betrays the impassive face concealed behind hefty metal bars, holding Pandora’s prison together. Hope is contagious, and so are the emotions that accompany it. Pandora stirs—not only stirs; stands. On her own two feet, after years of waiting, waiting, waiting, ever vigilant—, and is moved. She looks up at Angel, her friend, her companion. She wouldn’t leave her. Wouldn’t cast her aside. She smiles. There she is; she’s pecking on layer upon layer, impenetrable. They both know she can’t get through them. She knows well when efforts are gone to waste, and this is one of those occasions. Yet, there is comfort in her presence.
(In knowing she’s the one that hasn’t been abandoned. Forgotten.)
Then, there’s a blast. Blinding, cruel. It’s so sudden, so loud, it makes her flinch. Blood, there is blood and innards and shards of bone splattered against his glass contraption. Outside, out of reach. For a moment, it appears that Pandora does not comprehend what’s happened. Her eyes dart around, confused, disbelieving. That was a shot, a shot fired.
Then, oh.
Oh.
It’s Angel crumpled on the floor. It’s her organs sprayed on the glass, on the floor.
Angelica's been shot.
Everything changes in a second. Pandora, unmoving, severe, statuesque- cries.
Her tears cling to her eyelashes, they wet her eyes, slide down the length of her nose, gather and slip off her Cupid’s bow. She looks down, the crumpled shape of Angel being taken away, and everything’s changed now. The family have sealed their fate. Her family have sealed their fate. Pandora rarely forgives. She does not forget.
This is personal now.
When she is ready, there shall be no rest for the wicked, and she’s going to make sure of it.