MPC 52B: Worn Out Places, Worn Out Faces [complete]
Jul 28, 2018 20:12:08 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2018 20:12:08 GMT
MPC Name: Paradigm Shift
MPC Number: 52B
Reward Requested: Posts
Not for the first time, Pandora found herself lingering in the trailmon terminal leading to Terminus City. The locomotive had come and gone, leaving the waiting area dismally barren as a wall mounted clock unhelpfully displayed an early morning hour. Floating alone, the tinkermon waited. The only sound was the soft shuffling of her tarot deck levitating in front of her. Pandora's hands slowly went through the motions of shuffling, and her cards obeyed without question.
The clock chimed another hour.
When had she become so tired, she wondered? It wasn't a yawn that escaped her lips, but a sigh. A gesture not of physical weariness, but emotional fatigue. Her hands ceased their movements, and her tarot cards followed suit. Her eyes closed as the top card of the deck floated up and turned to face her. Maybe she already knew what she had drawn. Maybe she was scared of the answer. Or perhaps, as terrifying as the thought was, she couldn't find the effort to care?
The distant whistle of a trailmon pulled her eyes towards the dark tunnel where the living vehicle would enter from. Sure enough, a pinprick of light could be seen in the shadows.
Another sigh.
Had she always been this tired? Her idle shuffling of her tarot deck continued without having even spared a glance at the card she had drawn. It floated back into the deck to be lost and forgotten. Footsteps sounded to the side of her as someone else entered the waiting area. Pandora didn't give the stranger a peek either. She continued to shuffle her deck and watch as the trailmon's light grew brighter and bigger.
"Pandora?" called out an uncertain voice.
The tinkermon's hands faltered, and her tarot cards ended up spilling onto the floor. Her eyes had widened slightly in recognition of the voice, but she couldn't place its owner in her thoughts. 'So why did my heart just..?' She made a sidelong glance at the stranger, but couldn't catch a good sight of them. Then her head turned, and her lips opened to speak a name.
The name wouldn't come to her, though; as her mouth hung open the trailmon noisily entered the station as well. Plumes of steam drifted into the waiting area as its mournful whistle announced its presence officially. Across from Pandora stood a human female. A woman, who looked to be past the early years in her adulthood. The look she gave the tinkermon, though; the shocked relief was too vivid to mistake. It made Pandora look behind herself, assured that the human was looking at someone else, but there was no one there.
'Who?' She wasn't brave enough to ask that question as her wary eyes zeroed back in on the woman.
The human took a step forward, but her optimistic smile wavered as Pandora floated back and away from her an equal distance. The two stood there frozen as they were in each of their own doubts. The few people who stepped off the trailmon eventually passed between them and left.
"Pandora?" tried the woman once more, her voice even more shaky than before as she clutched at a small electronic device on one hand. "It's me. -------."
"I'm sorry, I-" Why did it hurt to apologize to this person for something she couldn't have known? The ache Pandora felt in her chest was real, even though the woman's name meant nothing to the tinkermon. She found herself at a loss, trapped between conflicting emotions she didn't think she was capable of owning.
"No, I'm sorry. I left you all alone when I knew that's what you hated the most," confessed ------- with a crack in her voice as she revealed the old digivice.
"Wh-what?" As big as the terminal was her surroundings were starting to become frighteningly claustrophobic. Pandora felt inexplicably afraid. Not of the woman, though; of the prospect of facing a truth so nauseatingly dreadful. Her small chest started to heave as she laid eyes upon the digivice. It was a dated model, and its maroon colors were faded. Somehow, the sight reminded her of simpler times. Happier times. "No," breathed out the tinkermon barely above a whisper as she shook her head in disbelief and started floating backwards again.
"It's been so long, Pandora. Too long." ------- carefully took a step forward. "I'm so, so sorry."
"Who are you really?" demanded Pandora as she found the strength to stand her ground, her barbed spear appearing in her hands as a show of intimidation. She still wore an unnerved expression, though.
"...you don't remember?" The question was asked in a genuinely hurt and remorseful voice.
"Answer me!" shouted the tinkermon as she started to feel any remaining courage drain away at the human's obvious question. Her hands were starting to shake on her spear.
"Do you even remember who you are?" Worry etched the woman's face, and she looked as if she might start shedding tears soon. Insistently, she held out the digivice for Pandora to look at. "Why you chose that name out of everything else I suggested? The stories I used to tell? How hope was always your most enduring, and wonderful quality?"
Pandora recoiled away as her lips pursed tightly together. She still felt strange. Not like herself, but like someone else. Confused by a new sensation, one of her trembling hands rose up to wipe away at fresh, warm tears rolling down her cheeks. The flood of emotions she had done so well to keep at arm's length during her current life compounded her puzzled horror. Her tears were starting to flow freely, now.
"I'm your tamer-"
"NO!" Pandora's denial echoed in the terminal, cutting off -------. Panting between clenched teeth the tinkermon glared defiantly at the human. Her tiny body shivered with inner turmoil.
"Pandora, please! What's happened-" tried -------, but she was interrupted once more.
"STOP IT!" shouted Pandora above the hissing and whirring noises of the trailmon nearby. Out of all the emotions she felt, the fairy felt anger come to the forefront as she wiped more tears from her spiteful eyes. "There was no one--NO ONE--waiting for me after I hatched! To hold me when I was scared, or to.. to tell me stories of different worlds! I don't have a tamer! I don't even know who you are! So, leave me alone!"
Despite her voice bristling with indignation Pandora was choking on sobs. The woman was starting to cry as well, but the tinkermon did not relent in her verbal barrage, raising her voice even louder.
"Go back to your real family! Your real life! While I lose everything I've ever had! My hopes! My life! My memories of you!" Covering her face with a hand the tinkermon sniffled, glaring sorrowfully at the human from between her fingers. Before she darted into the trailmon as its doors were beginning to close Pandora left the woman with one last, whispered plea.
"Just.. leave, Artemis.."Word Count: 1159
