twenty-six ♢ video

[versusnurture]

[Abigail is pacing back and forth in her room, looking very different than usual. She doesn't seem to realize that the camera's on, or that she's talking to herself. Said talking to herself gets increasingly loud as her speech progresses.]

Heaven is unmerciful. Yet this is known; only I had not known it so intimately. Yes, Heaven is unmerciful; any God there is has left me, and still I am so mark'd. Ne'er will I be without damnation, felt deep as a blade in my heart, and this mark, which so has seep'd beneath my skin. Ne'er will I be clean; yet this was known.

Am I alone here? Am I, in all of the world and worlds, alone?


( ooc; abigail is lady macbeth! )

Comments

[shakenandlimp]

Miss. Abigail, isn't it?

[Or at the moment not, probably, poor thing.]

You aren't alone a bit, there's better than a hundred of us. `

[versusnurture]

[She starts at the sound of his voice - comes towards the communicator, lifts it up, looks at it from all angles. The feed angle shifts wildly.]

I am afraid to leave this chamber. I am afraid-- [Her voice so quiet.] As if, upon stepping 'cross the threshold, I might begin to fall, and cease nevermore.

[shakenandlimp]

It can't be as bad as all that, miss. It's an alarming place, but it's sturdy enough. Would you like a drop of brandy to steady your nerves-?

[Bush is not a literary man, it must be admitted.]

[versusnurture]

Brandy?

[She isn't familiar.]

If it be like wine, a drop of libation would be as a drop in the ocean of mine soul, mine nerves - but better, perhaps, something than nothing.

[shakenandlimp]

Brandy's like wine, yes. But I like it better. D'you know where you are? I'll come give you a hand so you don't need to worry about your legs.

[versusnurture]

My legs? My legs are sturdy as ever. 'Tis my heart that falls.

I know not where I am; dead, perhaps, lost, for certain, but not so much in darkness as expected.

[shakenandlimp]

Ah! [Metaphorical falling. That's it. ]

No. It's not so bad here. It'll all pass in a few days, miss, don't worry. I'll come find you now.

[versusnurture]

Wilt thou pull me out of the darkness all alone?

[shakenandlimp]

Er. Probably not. But at least I hope you'll feel a bit more yourself after seeing you aren't lost and having a kind drop of something.

[versusnurture]

All my gracious thanks, kind sir. My door is opened, a beacon for thine travels.

[shakenandlimp]

[It takes him some wandering, but he finds her at last, rapping with his knuckles on the doorframe.]

There you are. Hello, Miss. I am Captain Bush-- like enough you will not remember, we are not well acquainted even normally.

[orderfromchaos]

Every soul is marked, and each one shines, a throng of little fires in the dark. The Devil's anteroom seems spare, but must be bursting, for so many silently are sure of God's unwelcome. I have lingered there for years and years. You shall have company enough.

[versusnurture]

My soul doth shine no more, I fear. My soul is dulled and rusted. Your words are kind, but far from truth.

[orderfromchaos]

Embers under ashes may seem as dulled as dust, yet kindle strong again if given breath.

Are you not suffocating? 'Tis flame needs air, not iron.

[versusnurture]

I have burnt out. Quite burnt out. Oh, my light! He is gone from me, and I from him. I have done so wrong in mine ambition.

[orderfromchaos]

If 'tis true you have burnt out, whence all these shadows cast? No truly ruined soul could suffer so for sinning.

[rhapsody_in]

[Bleu appears no less regal, her own dress Roman and befitting a queen -- as she is, and is the woman before her.]

How be you marked, sweet lady? Wherefore marred?
Damnation is a temporary state,
Its reach no further than one's last virtue.

[versusnurture]

Damnation lasts a thousand years or more,
So long that human life means nothing by it.
My marks a thousand years or more will stay,
On hands, on heart, they linger, blood-red, scarlet.

[velocette]

Alone and unclean? Damned and mark'd? What hast thou done?

[versusnurture]

Blood on my hands. O, blood on my hands; it persists, it clings, it wrings me dry!

[velocette]

To you I would say 'the rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance';
But having bloodied thyself, bear it
For all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although she lave them hourly in the flood.

[keeps_a_cool_head]

Are you speaking to me, Lady? Have care with your words - the world will listen gamely.

[Oh hey have an Iago]

[versusnurture]

I see you now; you and the world, my lord, but seeing and seeing are not yet one. How hath I seen, how hast thou seen? 'T'would be better, I fear, if I were alone.

[keeps_a_cool_head]

No doubt better, but there is no disguising bold truth.

What troubles you?

[forgetyourusedtobe]

[Oh God, Abigail, not you, too. Where is the No Fear Shakespeare when you need it? But okay, Elena gave figure this out. Namely,]

Abigail, are you sure you meant to broadcast this?

[versusnurture]

You mean not me, your memory fails; I am no father's joy, nor mother's pride.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

[Okay, not exactly the response she was expecting. But maybe she's approaching this from the wrong angle.]

What's wrong?