[ He can. There are a lot of other koi that swim between him and it, and around him, but they don't seem to be actively trying to impede him so much as they're just being fish. ]
[ When you touch the amethyst koi, there is a feeling almost of receiving a static shock, and then you're deep in a memory. ]
Simon's smile was almost warm as he knelt, placing one hand beneath my chin and raising it until our eyes were level I tried to struggle, to find some way to look away from him, but couldn't force myself to move.
"Hello, my dear," he said. "Did you enjoy our little walk?"
"Go... to... hell," I managed through gritted teeth.
Oleander laughed. "Oh, she's a sassy one." Her expression darkened, mood shifting in a heartbeat. "Make her pay for that."
"Of course." Leaning forward, Simon pressed pressed a kiss against my forehead and whispered, "I'll make sure someone finds your car in a week or two, once they're ready to give up hope. Wouldn't do to make your family wait for you too long, now, would it?"
If I could have, I would have screamed. All I could do was snarl behind clenched teeth, breath coming hard and fast as panic gripped me. I had to get out of there. Cliff and Gilly were waiting for me, and I had to get away. I just couldn't see how. I couldn't even drop the don't-look-here that was guaranteeing no one would see what was happening. I was bound too tightly.
Simon stood, putting his hand on the top of my head and shoving downward, whispering and moving his free hand in a gesture I couldn't quite see. I made one last wrenching attempt to pull away. Oleander laughed again, the sound cold and somehow distant, like it was being filtered through a wall of ice. Without any warning or fanfare, I forgot how to breathe.
All magic hurts. Transformation hurts more than anything else in the world. I gasped for breath, trying to break out of Simon's enchantment. My own meager powers were giving way, and I felt myself warping and changing, melting like a candle left too long in the sun. His binding relaxed as the change entered its final stages, and I flopped against the path, gills straining for another breath, for anything to keep me alive just a few more seconds. My eyes were burning so that I could barely focus, but I could still see Simon, right at the edge of my vision. He was smiling, and Oleander was laughing. They were proud of what they were doing to me. Oberon help me, they were proud.
"Hey!" shouted a voice. "What are you people doing?" Then there were strong hands underneath me, boosting me off the wood, down into the water. I dove, driving myself deep into the water, away from the air, from the fear, from my own existence. The instincts of my new body took me into the cool darkness under the reeds while I was still trying to make my head stop spinning. All of the other koi watched with disinterest, and promptly forgot that I hadn't always been there. Fish are like that.
All fish are like that, and thanks to Simon, I was one of them. I managed to force myself back to the surface once, frantically looking for help, and not finding it. Simon and Oleander were gone. I was disposed of, as good as dead, and they didn't need to worry about me anymore. The fish I had become was taking me over, like ink spreading through paper, and as it pulled me down, nothing really mattered. Not Sylvester and Luna, not Cliff, waiting forever for me to come home. Not my name, or my face, or who I really was. Not even my little girl. There was only the water, and the blessed darkness that was my home now.
[ As the memory fades, the amethyst koi twists and grows until it has become a naked woman with long brown hair, foggy grey eyes, dully pointed ears, and sharp features. Though she looks slightly younger and slightly more human than Lucky, you know somehow that this is Lucky.
She sinks to the floor of the pond, sand puffing softly into the water before settling again, and folds up in on herself, clearly distraught, her eyes darting back and forth like a scared animal. ]
[There's a distressed noise because it was all terrible. The pain he could ignore, but losing everything, losing HERSELF like that and-]
[Gods, he heard about it, but that was so much worst than he imagined.]
[He looks at her and reaching out to touch her arm. Part of him wants to just pull her into a hug, but he doesn't want to trap her when she's looking like that.]
[ WASN'T IT JUST? You can understand, probably, why she's so water-averse now.
When you touch Lucky, there's another memory that flashes through your mind. It's vague and fuzzy, as though Lucky herself can't quite remember it.
Sunrise over the pond, and the spell that transformed her into a fish simply letting go, nearly drowning her before she instinctively got her legs under her and tried to stand up. Though her body was human again, her mind was still a fish, and was confused and frightened by the sudden change.
Somehow she got to her feet, and got moving, and wandered naked and all-but-mindless through the Japanese Tea Garden until she reached a guard house with a reflective surface, and caught sight of her reflection. The knowledge of who she was came rushing back, and she passed out.
When it's passed, you can feel her shivering under your hand. ]
You can't stop Simon and Oleander, they'd destroy you. No. Connor, no, you can't. We should... we should stay here. It's safe here, it's safer. In the water, it's safe.
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Lucky!
[Man, can I even talk?]
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The koi doesn't seem to react to you, but it does swim by close enough you could reach out and touch it. ]
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Simon's smile was almost warm as he knelt, placing one hand beneath my chin and raising it until our eyes were level I tried to struggle, to find some way to look away from him, but couldn't force myself to move.
"Hello, my dear," he said. "Did you enjoy our little walk?"
"Go... to... hell," I managed through gritted teeth.
Oleander laughed. "Oh, she's a sassy one." Her expression darkened, mood shifting in a heartbeat. "Make her pay for that."
"Of course." Leaning forward, Simon pressed pressed a kiss against my forehead and whispered, "I'll make sure someone finds your car in a week or two, once they're ready to give up hope. Wouldn't do to make your family wait for you too long, now, would it?"
If I could have, I would have screamed. All I could do was snarl behind clenched teeth, breath coming hard and fast as panic gripped me. I had to get out of there. Cliff and Gilly were waiting for me, and I had to get away. I just couldn't see how. I couldn't even drop the don't-look-here that was guaranteeing no one would see what was happening. I was bound too tightly.
Simon stood, putting his hand on the top of my head and shoving downward, whispering and moving his free hand in a gesture I couldn't quite see. I made one last wrenching attempt to pull away. Oleander laughed again, the sound cold and somehow distant, like it was being filtered through a wall of ice. Without any warning or fanfare, I forgot how to breathe.
All magic hurts. Transformation hurts more than anything else in the world. I gasped for breath, trying to break out of Simon's enchantment. My own meager powers were giving way, and I felt myself warping and changing, melting like a candle left too long in the sun. His binding relaxed as the change entered its final stages, and I flopped against the path, gills straining for another breath, for anything to keep me alive just a few more seconds. My eyes were burning so that I could barely focus, but I could still see Simon, right at the edge of my vision. He was smiling, and Oleander was laughing. They were proud of what they were doing to me. Oberon help me, they were proud.
"Hey!" shouted a voice. "What are you people doing?" Then there were strong hands underneath me, boosting me off the wood, down into the water. I dove, driving myself deep into the water, away from the air, from the fear, from my own existence. The instincts of my new body took me into the cool darkness under the reeds while I was still trying to make my head stop spinning. All of the other koi watched with disinterest, and promptly forgot that I hadn't always been there. Fish are like that.
All fish are like that, and thanks to Simon, I was one of them. I managed to force myself back to the surface once, frantically looking for help, and not finding it. Simon and Oleander were gone. I was disposed of, as good as dead, and they didn't need to worry about me anymore. The fish I had become was taking me over, like ink spreading through paper, and as it pulled me down, nothing really mattered. Not Sylvester and Luna, not Cliff, waiting forever for me to come home. Not my name, or my face, or who I really was. Not even my little girl. There was only the water, and the blessed darkness that was my home now.
[ As the memory fades, the amethyst koi twists and grows until it has become a naked woman with long brown hair, foggy grey eyes, dully pointed ears, and sharp features. Though she looks slightly younger and slightly more human than Lucky, you know somehow that this is Lucky.
She sinks to the floor of the pond, sand puffing softly into the water before settling again, and folds up in on herself, clearly distraught, her eyes darting back and forth like a scared animal. ]
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[There's a distressed noise because it was all terrible. The pain he could ignore, but losing everything, losing HERSELF like that and-]
[Gods, he heard about it, but that was so much worst than he imagined.]
[He looks at her and reaching out to touch her arm. Part of him wants to just pull her into a hug, but he doesn't want to trap her when she's looking like that.]
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When you touch Lucky, there's another memory that flashes through your mind. It's vague and fuzzy, as though Lucky herself can't quite remember it.
Sunrise over the pond, and the spell that transformed her into a fish simply letting go, nearly drowning her before she instinctively got her legs under her and tried to stand up. Though her body was human again, her mind was still a fish, and was confused and frightened by the sudden change.
Somehow she got to her feet, and got moving, and wandered naked and all-but-mindless through the Japanese Tea Garden until she reached a guard house with a reflective surface, and caught sight of her reflection. The knowledge of who she was came rushing back, and she passed out.
When it's passed, you can feel her shivering under your hand. ]
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[He's going to slowly, carefully, move to give her a hug, giving her plenty of time to pull away just in case.]
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Fourteen years and two days' worth of sunrises between those memories.
Fourteen years and two days.
She will never ever be able to forget those numbers. ]
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You're not alone. You were, but...but you won't be.
Not again.
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It wasn't supposed to be like this. I don't--- I don't like this, I don't like this, it's not supposed to be like this.
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You deserved so much better than this. It wasn't fair.
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[ Who's Connor? That is a mystery you may never have an answer to, but clearly Toby thinks that's who you are. ]
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...where? Where is he?
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[ She looks up the way you came down ]
He's waiting, next time he'll kill me, I know it.
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I won't let him.
[I'm gotten enough memories to know I will do some terrible things to protect my friends and if this is how the heart might go, then, WELL.]
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You're shaking?
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[ she seems to choke on her words. She's not entirely coherent right now ]
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Simon won't kill you.
He won't send you back here.
We can beat him.
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No, I can't lose you too.
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I'm not going anywhere.
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I don't like it here.
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We can go back.
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What if he's there?
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