Locked In Perpetual Motion

Where there is a light, there is shadow.

Pavonine was well aware of this; for the most part. A lot of her existence was simply because someone hated something enough to give life to a part of her conscious mind; and while the feelings still nested deep within the dragonborn’s soul, she was no longer in Cyberpolis anymore. She was not in the game that she loathed; and certainly there was probably no reason for her to hate this one – at least just yet.

But her nature was to destroy; she was born to forever hate – to be angry, to be forever stuck in that rut of hopelessness. It was… hard… to move on when every single one of the people she managed to care about were cut off from her by force. It was a game that felt to less than real life itself, and to see all those you care about just be put through the things that they’ve been through – well, it wasn’t pleasant to think about.

Pavonine looked down the hallway that she just walked by, noting that her footsteps made poison ivy grow. She sighed and slapped her face lightly, wiping down in exasperation. Her powers had a rough translation in this world too. It was frustrating, to say the least, to have absolutely no control.

But not having control wasn’t a good thing either.

She held her neck again for a second, and her expression lightened. The tension from her mind soothed as she thought of-—

…

Music.

Soft, solemn chords rang across the hallways; it didn’t take long for the green-haired lady to realize just what song it was. Only one other person she knew was capable of playing that well. Realization made, the woman took a step forward and ran forward.

Quickly gaining speed, she eventually stopped in front of a large door of what seemed to be an auditorium. She opened the door carefully and quickly was captured in a daze.

It was Thirteen who was playing that piano.

“… Thirteen.”


She couldn’t get her eyes off her. Pavonine rubbed her eyes lightly, unsure if she was hallucinating or dreaming. She pinched her cheek, almost to the point of her claw digging into her skin. It drew blood, and that’s when she knew it was certainly the truth. She was alive.

“You’re… alright.”

Pavonine took the last few steps downward, her nose slightly twitching with an uncanny itch as her choice of equipment had been so described as being "headed for the swimming pool." It wasn't her fault for being created with such clothing attached and for the most part Cyberpolis had a weird sense of style anyways.

The long-legged woman jumped into the stage easily with one swift leap, landing gracefully right in front of the blonde chronomancer and stared at her lightly. Of course, there would be little to clue Thirteen as to who she actually was, though there would be a few things that might clue her.

Without the scar, and without the white hair tinted with blue and pink, it was hard to make a guess that this lady was once the Awetumik Adularia, the hacker that destroyed the Winwintar region single-handedly.

She heaved a sigh and across her face came a familiar blank expression. Iridescent eyes came close to gold, and she watched the girl carefully. "Tell me you do not remember who I am, Thirteen the Chronomancer." She crossed her arms once more, slightly humoring the shorter woman. "If there was anything that had not changed about me, it is my eyes."

She took a step back.

"My name is Pavonine." She ran a hand through her hair lightly, pushing it out of her way. "You know me as the Elemental mage Adularia."


...

"... Or is this an alternate world Thirteen I am speaking to that probably has no idea of what I speak of?"

Ultimately, Pavonine was rather sure that this was the same — if not similar person — that she had once died for that cold night at Winwintar. It was only a matter of if she remembered who she was — which mattered more than anything, as the woman certainly cared about Thirteen to a sisterly degree.

There was a lot to say and apologize for, and a lot more to think about now with the life that had been given to her. Perhaps it was better had they not crossed paths again, but for Pavonine's own conscience, it was important for her to apologize.

Pavonine would be lying if she had gone as far as to say that she never exactly cared. Pushed around and into a more private space, the Dragon then knew that certain things about this one was obviously a little… more kept, to say the least. Rumors are a funny thing; they’re never always accurate – and for the most part, the truth escapes most more often than not.

For Pavonine, it was this moment where she found a second of clarity on the circumstances of her “birth”. For a created being, she was very self-aware of what had happened to create the circumstances of her birth, and her consciousness was certainly no less than the being that she was originally created from. She looked away for a moment, not to show off her expression of relief that Thirteen was more or less okay wherever the “old” world was.

Of course, certain things were difficult to explain. There were many terms, all familiar and unfamiliar to the woman at the same time going in the back of her head in an attempt to express exactly what had happened. “Adularia… is not in a healthy state of mind.” She breathed, “She had assumptions that Thirteen was connected to the game under special circumstances, and is convinced that she might have caused her death.”

The green-haired woman sighed, “There’s… this hurt… that she could not express; I am that hurt. Her hate created me, and I am she.”

She paused for a bit, looking away and focusing on something else for a moment.

“I don’t know the specifics of my birth; I only remember a scream, images of suffering, and this… feeling of wanting to destroy. I cannot say that I wish it upon this world, but the urge is strong. It is there. But… Adularia nor I… never really wished for suffering…”

…

“… just to be left alone.”

She grasped her neck, swallowing lightly. No more was the hoarse synthesizer or the typing necessary to communicate. She was created in Adularia’s image of what she envisioned herself to be. “I am in a better situation than my creator; I’m quite lucky.”

Honestly? Pavonine herself wasn’t even sure herself. She had only been in existence for about a couple of days or so, and she doesn’t even completely understand the merits of her own creation. For the most part, the Dragonborn was unwilling to commit to anything – be it for good or for what society deemed as “evil”. Either way, the only plan she has was to remain true to herself and hope that things would turn out for the better.

“I am not even sure Adularia herself is aware of what she just did.” She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. Mostly from habit, as she had done so at times while she was still in existence in Cyberpolis – or whatever that dimension was called at the time. Who the fuck knew she’d end up here, though? “Well, if you exist here, there’s no reason for others not to be in some form or another.” The woman snarled lightly as if remembering faces of those that had scorned her. “I cannot promise anything, Thirteen; I do what I fucking want.”

She pouted lightly, pausing for a bit. “But fine, I’ll keep my temper in check if you want me to.” The woman cracked her knuckles lightly. “Oh, and I have met someone; I can’t remember her name. Too busy trying to understand what the hell happened to me to remember anything.”

Sterile?

“And what do you mean by sterile?”

Pavonine wondered a bit, leaning a bit against the wall as she collected her thoughts. Was she actually capable of such a thing? Probably not. The Dragon only shook her head, flicking some hair off her face, revealing a weirdly shaped ear as she tucked some of her hair behind it. “Don’t think Adularia was capable of that; if she was, it’s not like I’d fucking know.”

She crossed her arms lightly, looking away. Pavonine wasn’t a fan of being lectured in any way possible, and for the most part still held true to her “I do what I want” philosophy, but she, too, had her own allegiances, and willingly made sacrifices for certain friends in the past – this was most certainly not an exception. Eyebrows furrowed, and a grunt of annoyance came, but a slow nod just came from the lady’s head. “Fine; but if someone outside of this school pisses me off I give no such guarantees.”

And silence came as Aurora began to go on and on about her being an anomaly; more or less referred to as nothing more than an error in the matrix so to speak. Slightly insulted, the Dragon only took a breath in the calm her nerves. She always had a temper, even as Adularia – but of course, the lack of the ability to show these emotions actually impacted the mentality of the now-dragonified mage.

“Not supposed to be here? What sort of god must you be to make that sort of statement?” Pavonine shot back; gently, though a little hurt was on her voice. There was a lot going on in the dragon’s head, and certainly an identity crisis was unwelcome. “It’s not like what you can do concerns me nor was it the reason I did anything for that other you to begin with in Winwintar.” She scoffed. “Going to school again might be interesting, but I want to explore things on my own for now.”

She turned her head away from the mage, closing her eyes lightly. “I’ll think about it.”