Melaniya Carpio's Story

Melaniya stayed in a small abandoned house at the far end of the forest. Not many humans or fragments came around, just the way she liked it. She had been for a few months and was starting to feel like home, even though she knew never to feel completely at home. She should always be alert, just in case a human or fragment found her. Then she will have to pack what little she had and move once again.

At some points in her life she didn't know what was worse, being stuck in that prison or constantly being on alert and running every few months to a year. She never really stayed long at one place, though she did once... and once was enough for her. She learned her lesson then. Humans were a different kind of monster. She saw what they could do for something they wanted and it just reminded her of her own people... her very own kind that would eat you just to gain some power. She felt alone in this world and wished for some kind of change.

Now she sits on the back porch, that she semi rebuilt, and watched as the sun rose to greet her. It's rays kissing her cheeks. She smiled, if for a moment. The only thing that ever stayed true was the sun, stars, and the moon. It was the only thing she could love, at the moment at least. She had no time for war, not when she had living to do. If you want to call it that, but she made best of what she could get.

Once the sun was up and she was done pondering over her comfort she got up herself and walked over to the garden. When she had found the small house it was run down, it looked sad and hopeless. Behind it though the garden still strived on. Melaniya hadn't touched it when she started staying in the house. She kept an eye out making sure that she was alone, if someone was actually tending to the garden. She herself had never seen a garden strive without a force to make it do so. She learned how to garden when she lived with Winston, her dead lover.

After a few days she took it upon herself to weed the garden, even taking a few of the vegetables and making her way back to the house. Within a week she decided that no one was keeping up the garden and took possession of it. Now the garden was more lively, a new addition was added, mushrooms. Melaniya picked what was ready and headed back into the house, just in case someone were to come along. She didn't want to be seen. She liked having a garden, it meant she didn't have to go out and hunt. Hunting meant her having to kill and the chance to be seen.

There it is again, the visions.
Dust, ash, and desolation.
A ravaged crimson world.
Staring out, I hear cries of despair lost in a miasma of malice.
Was it for hatred... or is it just pure mindlessness?
But then, who am I, why am I?
I will not just be the shadow of an almighty imbecile!

Opening his eye, rousing himself with an indignant grumble, he finds himself still leaning against the well, realizing he must have fallen asleep. Glaring briefly upon the sun, it must have been only a short nap. I suppose I was more tired than I realized.

Calmly he rises to his feet and places the pipe to his lips, glancing at the ruins once more before strolling deeper into the pine woods. At this point he just wanted to be lost to everything for a while, without any destination, no thought or reason, just to clear his mind of muddling things. Soon the signs of habitation end, replaced instead with a denser amount of trees and occasional animals, old dry needles crunching underfoot.

Eventually, somewhat to his shock, he comes to another clearing, freezing him in place. He glances out to see a humble house, considerably more intact than the ones he saw before. It was clearly maintained to some degree, meaning it was likely occupied. Curiously he steps forward, glancing around the property for signs of any occupancy, and begins pacing around. Eventually he pauses again, seeing various vegetables in intentional rows, a garden, and tending to it was a lone figure, a woman it appears to be.

Wait, is she..?

Vaguely, something nags at him, like an instinct, there was something more to this woman than merely being a hermit.

"A proud thing you have here," he says calmly, his deep voice breaking the silence.

Melaniya had was in the middle of picking some of her crop when a familiar sensation rose up her back. Her skin felt tingly, like when a body part falls asleep. She knew exactly what it was. Standing up straight she dusted her hands; she had to be ready for whenever it attacked. But instead of straight on attacking it spoke.

"A proud thing you have here," he said in a calm deep voice. Melaniya turned slowly, her claws outstretched. The male fragment was a tall-dark-skinned man. He stood with pride and she could smell a hint of arrogance on him. She knew by the way he stood and the way he carried himself that he ate their kind.

She sighed looking the fragment up and down, "Can you not? Just... I would like to have a quiet life. I don't need you to attract those stupid humans my way. I have a good thing going here, you know? And if you even try to eat me I will rip your throat out and use your body as food for my garden." Her voice, though threatening, was softly. She looked up at him with just as much confidence as he had standing there. She didn't know if she could win, but she sure in the hell wasn't going to let him think he had a chance against her.

He didn't move, he simply listened, a slight sign of shock on his face as she threatened him... sort of? It was certainly the most polite threat he had ever received, none have actually bothered with more words than perhaps five before attacking. For once, another fragment seems to have a brain.

"Oh, so you actually use words?" he asks, placing a hand on the side of his head, letting out a breathy chuckle. Though his words would seem condescending, he was actually impressed. "So it would appear that not all of my [i]brethren are rabid dogs, after all! Look, one is instead pulling weeds and planting seed! How precious!"

With that, he calms, placing the pipe he acquired into his buckle for safekeeping, his posture and expression becoming more relaxed. He crosses his arms proudly, raising his head to take in a sharp breath.

"No, I am not going to consume you, there's no point, or rather no reason," he says with a calm voice. She may not know it, but, for him, he was making a legitimate effort to be nice. "Don't worry about the trained hounds either, they are too busy right now with new blood. Probably will be for a while given the shape of some of them. So, with this reprieve, perhaps, we could talk about something rather than tearing away at each other's faces? I'd be very appreciative, as you can see, to have an intelligent conversation."

With his last mention he points to his missing eye and the scars surrounding it.

"It is Lehechalesh by the way, but I also go by Hel'elh Eschael. I've found humans seem to prefer names that at least come in a pair."

She saw the shock on his face, like how dare someone threat something so holy. "Oh, so you actually use words?" He said. That made her eye twitched. Who the hell is this guy? She thought watching him put a pipe into his buckle. That is a really ugly thing. Wonder who he killed for that or did he actually make it himself? Either, still ugly. Like his attitude.

"Of course I can freaking talk. What? Is it normal for our kind to speak like the true monsters we are? And it doesn't matter if the 'hounds are busy right now. If a normal human comes along and sees..." She looked at him, then her hands. "If they see ME, I am screwed, because they will run off and tell the stupid mutts." She huffed.

"It is Lehechalesh by the way, but I also go by Hel'elh Eschael. I've found humans seem to prefer names that at least come in a pair." He said. What kind of name is that? Who the hell... She thought before looking up at him, straight in the eyes.

"That is a horrible name, I guess your momma didn't pick it." She smirked before turning around to go back to her garden. "My name is Melaniya Carpio. I usually don't like being bugged by my kind... or humans, but seeing as you haven't attacked... yet, you can have a seat on my porch." She said looking back at him, "Just uhm... sit gently. I don't need you putting a hole in it."

Well, this one seemed certainly lively. It was somewhat amusing to see a fragment be so spirited for a change, if it wasn't also such a shock. After all this time, even as somewhat insulting as she was, he'd take this over everything else. It wasn't like he was exactly blind to his own presentation.

"Of course I can freaking talk. What? Is it normal for our kind to speak like the true monsters we are? And it doesn't matter if the 'hounds are busy right now. If a normal human comes along and sees..."

"So far, yes, be it a primal urge or a lust for power, they were more interested in taking my power," he admits, his tone one of a rather serious nature. He wasn't one to sugarcoat or beat around the bush. "However, forgive me my outburst, but it is a compliment to say you have a brain. It means my kin may not be so doomed after all. As for humans, well, the few that may come here are likely the type to be reluctant to go to authorities anyways. I can also be rather persuasive, but I rather it not be necessary."

"That is a horrible name, I guess your momma didn't pick it."

"But, we both have the same 'momma,' be it the man with the book or the almighty imbecile that broke everything... well, is hard to say," he says, cracking out a crooked grin. He had been waiting a long time to use that joke... now realizing it isn't as good as he thought it would be. "That was horrible... but it means to become weaker, or in my case, to become nothing."

"My name is Melaniya Carpio. I usually don't like being bugged by my kind... or humans, but seeing as you haven't attacked... yet, you can have a seat on my porch."
"Melaniya Carpio? Interesting, from where did you arrive on that one? Greek... Spanish?" he asks curiously. "But, thank you, your hospitality is appreciated."

He then proceeds to the porch, preparing to take a seat before pausing.

"Just uhm... sit gently. I don't need you putting a hole in it."

Memories of broken furniture flood into his mind, wincing somewhat. "Right," he says, seating himself softly instead of flopping down as usual on the ground.

She looked over her shoulder, watching him actually sit down. He actually sat down gently. She tried to suppress a laugh that was building up in her throat. It almost felt like acid. Coughing she tended to her garden, picking out the weeds and watering the plants before actually picking the ones that were ripe. She had an arm full and had to go to her porch to set down the ones she had before going back and picking the rest.

"I think it is Spanish, I think. So, where have you been? What happened to you after all... " her free hand waved in the air, "that stuff happened." She was trying to make conversation with him. Going back to the porch she sat down on the other side of the vegetables and started sorting through them as she waited for him to answer.

Lehechalesh hesitated at first, gazing distantly out at the sky, thinking on how to explain himself from a point he disliked to remember. He sighs, placing his hand to his face, knuckles propped against his brow. No point holding back.

"That day," he mutters, closing his eye, his expression and tone turning stark. "I didn't really have a destination, really, I just kept moving forward. I wanted to be as far away as I could, to erase that day from my mind, to just, disappear. I spent a long time, just lost like that, it was oddly... pleasant for a time."

He then slowly holds out his hand, cupping it, wearily gazing down into it, as if checking if it was actually real.

"I've killed seven," he says, his voice a bit quieter. "The four rabid animals who attacked me during the massacre at Saltmaw, and two others I met along after... each intended to kill me, consume me, but instead I was the one who... I don't even know exactly... why I did what I did... ah, the seventh was human, a hound. I didn't intend that one either, normally I would just break their wills, or something non-vital, but this one was just too... persistent. I'm not proud of any of it, but it was like everyone would either rather run, or try to kill me on sight."

Dropping his hand down he slowly looks down, closing his eye once more.

"Every time I close my eyes since that massacre at Saltmaw, I dream the same thing, air full of ash and shadows, and a land of dust," he says softly, pantomiming as he goes, before pointing upwards. "In the sky a wretched red moon, and all around a symphony of wails, death filling my nostrils. I am left to wonder, why would a being who's likely laid dormant beneath the earth for so long, awaken only to destroy everything in one big barbaric show of power? I've been picking through the ruins, trying to figure out how I'm a part of such a... mindless monstrosity."

He then snaps his head back and slaps his hand over his forehead, then looks over at Mel.

"I'm sorry, I'm not normally this chatty, then again I've never been asked, either," he says, slightly lightening in his mood. "What about you, though? You've made quite a place here for yourself."

She listened to him, staying quiet. She that day well. It was something she didn't think anyone who was there could forget. Some it drove mad, others it drove them to move forward. For her... it was something to run away from, something that needed to be left in the past. Yet, it always came up, like a hungry weed. It came up to try and suffocate her and everything that was good. When he was done he looked to her and threw the question back to her, which he figured he would do. Taking a tomato she handed it to him and got ready to tell her story.

"Well... let's see. Where do I want to start? I guess I will start at when I got out, seems like a great place, yeah?" She turned, facing her garden and leaned back on her hands, taking in the sun. "Ugh, someone had gotten out. I don't know who it was or how it did it, but I was close to where the opening where it got out. The guards were trying to get the more violent ones back, so I took my chance and ran. I had no idea where I was going or where I was... I think I ran mostly because I had the freedom to. I ended up staying in a section of woods, feeding off wild animals until I figured I could transform into a human. Too bad my teeth and hands didn't get the memo." She laughed, closing her eyes thinking about those days. "I shied away from from humans, keep my distance as best as I could, and it worked for sometime. But then humans got curious and when I got seen by one of them I ran. I never took my chances. I guess it was instinct. I did that a few times, even dodged our own kind without incident. Then I met a human that I didn't want to run from." She smiled sadly an the remembrance of him. "His name was Winston. A human who made himself. He wanted to experience life itself. He had hope that humans could restore themselves, but in a better way, whatever that meant. Winston was a good man. I learned how to love because of him. He was what humans call a lover. I had stayed with him for a year or so before his own kind took him for what little he had. I knew then that humans were just as much as monsters as we were." Her hands curled into fist. "The only humans I ever killed were them. I tore them to shreds and wrote in their blood MONSTERS. I have no regret doing it... Anyway, Winston was the person who taught me how to build and grow. I had left that place and found this little home and decided best to try and make it here. So far so good till One Eyed Joe came." She looked at him and winked.

He took the tomato and listened to her story, her recollections, and a clear sensitive subject that even a loner as himself could see. She had become infatuated with a human, holding him with very high regard no less. He leans over and props himself on one of his arms, it intrigued him to hear another fragment speak so sentimentally, a smirk on his face forming. Well, if there can be sensible fragments, he could only assume the same could be said of humans, after all, it was like a bit of them was in each of them. He frowns however, when he hears that this human was murdered, only to chuckle afterwards at the obvious joke in his direction.

"It is a shame," he says, closing his eye and scratching the side of his head. "He sounded like he'd have been an interesting conversationalist as well, big dreams are hard to come by these days. I am sorry. And believe me, I will not shame you for putting down a few beasts."

He pauses for a moment, realizing it was better not to linger on dark subjects. He holds up the tomato, and smirks again.

"Amusing fact with this particular fruit," he begins, rolling it around in his large palm. "Humans used to think these were poisonous. Partially true, the plant itself is toxic, but the fruit itself is perfectly fine. Turns out the richer of them thought it was toxic only because the acid in its juice was dissolving the lead content from their plates, and the few that tried died from lead poisoning. This fear remained late into cultural development until, one day, they realized their stupid mistake and found it was actually quite delicious, especially alongside meat between two slices of bread."

He stops and looks to Melaniya, despite speaking so harshly about humans and their ignorance, there was something else to what he was saying, reflected in his eye.

"The point is, this Winston was proof of his own hypothesis, he was even able to find in you what you didn't even see in yourself, at least, that is how I interpret it," he continues, it was clear he had been thinking about this a lot. "History, from what scraps I've found, shows that humans are just... a bit slow on it, I guess, with a few geniuses that are faster on it than other. Winston was a genius for humans, and we, we are those for fragments. A fragment that loves, and one that dreams.

With this he leans forward slightly, a sudden spark in his eye. It was like that of a scientist that had a sudden breakthrough and was excited to share it.

"Perhaps... ah, what Winston meant, is that he saw signs of a... what did they call it? Ah, a paradigm shift? That is what I've been looking for as well... a change. I wish was able to thank him... so, thank you instead."