October 12, 2011 - 11:14pm — GingerNut
To Peony, the change had been the most devastating. Her body was so anatomically different from an actual nameless that nearly every one of her physical features needed to be redone, from her silken fur to her long muzzle.
She had never particularly liked nameless deer, for the sole reason that they either had no real concept of personal space or they didn't seem the brightest. They had often terrified her as a child, even if her parents had attempted to convince her that they weren't all that bad... just really stupid sometimes.
Of course, her opinion had now been completely altered. Peony had never really wondered about what nameless deer were or what their purpose was.
Now it couldn't have been more obvious.
They were visitors; though as to why their appearance was changed Peony didn't know. Perhaps it was an easy way for the Gods to keep track of their 'actual' subjects, so that intruding deer or other creatures were not recognized. That explained why there were never any other real supernatural creatures in the forest that lacked a cervine form. They were shaped in the Gods' design. The nameless itself was merely an archaic form of security to keep the forest in check of intruders.
She had been awake for some time now, yet refused to move. She constantly bit her tongue on accident, unable to get used to the peculiar, semi-circle shape of her mouth. Eyes glazed, she stared at her delicate fallen tines, the flowers upon them already browned at the tips. She had been born with those antlers. Apart from her pupil-less eyes, they were the only real defining feature that came directly from her mother. They were as precious as any family heirloom, and now here they lay, bloodied at the tips... overlapped by one of her father's massive grey antlers.
At the thought of Jergens, the doe forced herself to look to her left, the heavy new tines upon her head jostling her balance.
Nothing more than two nameless deer lay next to her. Same size, same antlers and same pelt. It was more surreal than revolting, as she expected. Christof lay on his opposite side, snoring softly, as if such a transformation didn't even faze him. What a strange stag... how could he not know about nameless deer? Or his pictogram, for that matter? Of course, their sole identification was gone now, evidently waiting for them for when they decided to leave.
Jergens was tossing and turning in his sleep, pained, nonsensical mumbles expelling from his lips. His legs kicked about haphazardly, his newly sharp hooves occasionally landing a blow on Christof (who didn't even seem to mind). His wiry brown coat was slick with sweat, the tall antlers upon his head beating against the soft earth with every twist and turn of his body.
"Stooop... J... Jergenssss...!"
The stag rolled to and fro, hooves flailing, his chin pressed as far upwards as his fresh antlers physically allowed. His mouth snapped open, gasping for air in thin, reedy croaks. The corners of his lips were tipped upwards in a subtle, defiant sneer. It was almost as if his physical discomfort didn't even faze him, like it didn't matter.
Peony stumbled to her hooves, her head painfully weighed down by the massive new antlers she had been given. "Hey... Dad?" she stumbled forward, her eyes coated with a bleary, black film. "Yew alright...?" she mumbled. She didn't even consider the severed mask that carelessly lay on the ground, draped over a severed Argus key antler.
A sudden gargling sound brought the doe back to attention, and she looked back at the stag with a frightened stare. White foam was beginning to bubble up at the corners of his lips, much like he was choking on his own saliva...
...or being suffocated to death.
"Christof!" Peony cried, tumbling over to the sleeping nameless, nearly toppling over him.
"Help!"
---
Thumpthumpthumpththththum...
How long had it been since he had been here?
Thumpthumpthumpthththththth...
To feel the fleshy, dank floors and walls that housed his other self...
Thumpthththumpthththumpthth...
Or better yet, to feel himself in his faux human form once more, vulnerable and naked... streaked with the gore that secreted from the pores of this terrible, terrible room...
Ththththththththththththththththth...
But Jergens refused to mull any of this over in his mind. To do so would drive him to a new low of pure insanity. They were once again in the literal prison of his heart, his own body reflecting the late, thirty year old man who had died so suddenly. His bright ginger hair laced with grey, his skin tanned and leathery to the touch. Of course he wasn't alone. Friend had taken him here, personified now as nothing more than a twelve year old version of himself, his own nude form clean from blood and sin.
"Well then..." Friend smiled, relishing the rare opportunity of dominance, his arms defiantly crossed over his bare chest. "I'm disappointed in you Jergens... Did you even consider that..."
The grizzled man didn't even listen to Friend's accusing rambles, instead preferring to struggle to gain his balance on the cushioned ground. He swayed to and fro, arms hung limply at his sides, his head bowed. The boy's cocky words were drowned out, and he sent a out a short train of thought.
(ififyewhurtpeony...)
Friend scoffed and rolled his eyes, pursing his lips distastefully. "Here we are, namelesses... and you're only thinking of your little hell spawn?"
The next few seconds were a blur to them both. Jergens, not so long reacquainted with his human form, worked entirely on emotional instinct. He lunged forward, his bare feet lightly sinking into the ground as he propelled himself towards Friend.
He jumped into the boy, using both his momentum and size advantage knock Friend off his feet. His hands mindlessly encircled the boy's throat, his thumbs pressing down against his windpipe, fingernails digging into his skin.
Jergens was not a good fighter; he had never been. There had always been someone around to do the dirty work for him, but that didn't mean that he didn't have any tricks up his sleeve. He knew basic self-defense and physically, Friend was incredibly easy to overcome in this state.
The boy's expression remained as dull and stoic as ever, betraying no pain as there was no pain to be felt. Neither of them could feel any physical discomfort. They were just figments of Jergens' persona manifested into physical forms.
However, the physical pain they dealt to one another could be transferred to their actual body.
This was what happened when the personalities 'mingled'. The mask acted as a barrier between the two, take the mask away and you're left with two options. One, Jergens stands back and lets Friend have full control, be it by his own will or loss of it. Or two, and more commonly, Jergens will fight back for control, hence why he acted as erratically as he did during the early stages of their conflicting relationship.
Friend struggled to speak, his scrawny hands gripped tightly about Jergens' wrists, a vain attempt to pull them away. "C-Come on... you really think is getting you anywhere...?" he almost sounded bored apart from straining to speak. "Stop it. I need to talk to you... preferably in a civil manner." he didn't need to breath... but it was difficult to talk with Jergens pressing down on his throat.
(yewexpectmemetotalkinafuckingcivilmannerithisgoddamnplace?!) the man's face was twisted in a haunting snarl. Still, for his sake alone, he loosened his grip, just enough so that the boy could talk properly.
Friend offered up a fabricated smile of gratitude. "Much better... Now, where should we start..." he lifted a hand from the man's wrist, contenting himself in tapping his chin in mild thought. "I guess we can start in changing the scenery..."
The fleshy walls had begun to fade even before Friend had finished speaking, giving way to a new backdrop. Jergens let go of the boy's neck, straightening his posture to dumbly look at the surroundings.
"Did you honestly think that we were really in some organ of yours?" Friend raised an eyebrow. "All this time, too? No... I just like the atmosphere... like a womb, you know?"
Jergens didn't know what to think. His younger self was toying with him, that much was certain, driving him over the edge. He chose to pay no mind to the changing scenery, his focus entirely on the enigma that sat before him.
(wherearewe?)
The boy managed to wiggle free from the man's slackened grip, and he sat cross-legged before him. "Oh, we're in your subconscious... that's where I live." he cocked his head to the side, an innocent smile splayed across his face. "...Or are you referring to this forest?"
Jergens nodded curtly, as if his question had been obvious to begin with. "See, this is why you should have stayed in school! Alright... let me explain this to you."
The surrounding haze began to morph itself, solidifying into a basic room. The floor formed itself into shiny linoleum; the walls made of concrete... the front wall primarily covered with a chalkboard. Desks sprouted from the ground, all old, rustic looking things with an undercarriage for books and papers.
Soon enough, they stood within a perfect representation of a classroom, even down to the finest, gritty detail.
Friend looked over his handiwork with a sort of smug pride and strolled up to the chalkboard. "Please, Jergens... have a seat." he gestured towards a desk in the front, completely isolated by all the others.
Jergens shot him a sharp glare as he walked towards it, his bare feet slapping against the reflective ground. Fine then, if Friend wanted to humor him like this, then he'd go with it. He slid into his chair, the metal legs of the seat scraping against the floor.
He didn't bother asking how Friend seemed to know more about this forest than himself. After all, the enigma was not only birthed from memories, but was also a collective entity of what Jergens could have become, and that included education.
Friend took up a piece of chalk and drew a simple circle on the board. "Alright, have you ever heard of something called an alternate dimension?' No? Of course you haven't." he chuckled drawing two other circles on the board. "The idea is that you have these three worlds... and they're all similar in culture, geography, and in some cases... even people." he explained, using only the most simplistic way of illustrating the concept.
"Now... let's say that these three circles are worlds... and let's say that all the people inside of them are the same." he drew a few haphazard stick figures, turning back to Jergens. "Any questions so far, class?"
(...) Jergens just stared back, his legs and arms crossed. It was the only way he could really assert himself like this. Friend had caught him in a mental trap, and while he did have questions, he refused to ask them... for both his pride and the little dominance he had left.
"Good!" Friend turned back to the board and drew some arrows between the circles. "These people, of course, won't always be exactly the same... they live different lives, after all. They're only similar in looks and name, and sometimes even those may be all muddled up."
He drew an 'X' over one of the stick figures. "Quiz time; if one person in a world dies, will his, pardon the term, clones die as well?" he asked, turning back to Jergens with an expectant smile.
(no) The man guessed, purely on a whim. Frankly, he couldn't have cared less anymore. He just wanted to know why Friend was telling him all of this.
"Correct. Just because they're the same doesn't mean that they'll just keel over if one of them dies... we'd be dropping like flies if that were the case." Friend neatly placed the chalk on the board’s trivet and walked over to Jergens, leaning forward to rest his arms on the desk's surface. "So in conclusion, we're in a separate dimension of our own forest, going by with what Malware has said... How can we get to it so easily? That's for a later lesson... I just wanted to focus on this for today." he nodded to himself, immensely satisfied.
Jergens didn't look amused; he looked more perplexed than anything else. (whyareyouyoutellingmethis?)
It wasn't in Friend's nature to tell him things that could benefit him, only if Friend also got something out of the bargain as well.
The boy had been waiting for that question to come up, and he savored the pause that ran in-between it and his response.
"What if I told you that I had a theory... a theory that could end with us getting our own separate bodies? No more sharing. No more fighting over who’s boss... No more me..." his voice trailed off into a faded whisper, and he relished the dumbfounded look that Jergens gave him. "There are, of course, some catch-"
(how?)
The thought violently shot itself to Friend, who only offered a fake, plastic grin in response. Jergens glared at him, believing the whole thing to be a ruse, his hands curled into bone-white fists at his sides. It took a lot to get the man angry… but Friend was one of the very few that could instantly strike his temper.
The thought still remained; Friend would not have given him that lesson unless it benefited himself...
"Well... Shall I put it bluntly?" he asked, only to receive a harsh punch in the jaw, which didn't seem to faze him whatsoever.
(yewvewantedyerowngoddamnbody...iwantyaoutoutofmyhead... tellme)
Friend dramatically sighed, placing a hand to his reddened cheek. "Alright alright..." he gingerly rubbed the offending spot before he looked back his other self, his expression turning completely emotionless.
"To put it simply, it involves us killing this forest's Jergens"
---
Beginning of Act III... Not much else to say other than that this part didn't take that long at all... pretty nice~
Wow omg I love the end of
Very interesting. ._.
Oooooh wow. @-@
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