From: Sarah Albertini-Bond (serendipity77_at_gmail.com)
Date: Mon Jun 25 2007 - 17:13:10 PDT
=/\= "The Worst Pain That There Is" Kenneth's "Divergence" =/\= Location: GS-2 Scene: GATEWAY Hospital - Gene McInnis' bed TI: Before Ken's last scene Xana Bonviva was exhausted. She was keeping vigil at her husband's bedside as he fought to recover from his injuries. Mowree, one of the Counselors, had stopped by to see Gene but the Bajoran/Scot was still sleeping. Kat had stopped by with Dahlia, as had some others, but there was nothing Xana could say until Gene woke up. Rubbing her weary violet-hued eyes, the Bolian/Human looked past Gene's bed and saw a Bolian man standing off in the distance. He wore a simple black tunic (from what she could see) but he stood there with the cruelest sneer gracing his otherwise perfect features. There was, behind him, the quickest flash of golden light. A nurse came by and pulled the curtain back around Gene's bed, taking the men away from Xana's eyesight. =/\= Scene: Unknown There were no visions, and the only sounds were the voices being spoken and the beating of wings, coming closer in the void. "Daughter, who do you think you are?" "I am your Avatar, Design." "No, you think to become me. But there can only be one God of Pain. Do you not remember what happened the last time you faced me? Do you think that by being millions of miles away I cannot reach you? That I will not reach you?" =/\= Scene: GATEWAY Hospital - Gene McInnis' bed Xana awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she looked over at Gene and watched him breathe in and out. He was alive. That was all that mattered. She'd face whatever the outcome was later. Gene was alive, that was all that she wanted. She heard the beating of wings off in the distance. It wasn't the first time she heard them. She knew it wouldn't be the last. But she knew she also had time. And so the beating continued, slowly. But with increasingly volume. =/\= Scene: Unknown "I'm not going to even ask you for an excuse for taking MY name in vain." "I did what I thought was best." "And so you give me an excuse anyway. And that, by the way, is not a good excuse." "It's all I have." "Mortals think that "I did what I thought was best" is a perfectly acceptable excuse, but to gods, it's pitiful. Because you know so little, and it's so obvious that you are lacking. But irony is that you know you do not know everything and yet you blunder on." "So are you saying you don't accept it? My reason for what I've done." "Yes, Avatar, that is what I am saying." =/\= Scene: GATEWAY Hospital - Waiting Room Slater Zeman, Xana Bonviva's Chief of Staff, had his hands full trying to juggle the Ambassador's schedule while she was occupied with her husband's recovery. "The Ambassador, of course, wishes to pay her respects," Zeman said softly but with a firmness to his tone. "As the Federation Ambassador, and an active member of the GATEWAY community, it only makes sense she'd wish to go to the funeral services." The monk, a young Bajoran who up until now, had been a minor figure at the Temple, nodded at that. "We understand. But we also understand that given recent...events...that the Ambassador would not want to come. All I am saying is that the Temple understands that the Ambassador will not be able to attend the services for the Vedek." "I'm glad that the Temple is that understanding." The men turned around to see the Ambassador standing behind them. For a woman who paid meticulous attention to her appearance, she looked quite honestly, like all 88 Bolian hells. Xana, however sleep deprived, was not stupid. She understood that the Temple was in essence, uninviting her to the funeral services. She understood why. She didn't blame them, and would have been surprised if they had done anything else but what they were doing. "When is the service?" Xana asked. The monk blinked at that before finally answering. "Two days from now." "A lot can happen in two days," she said softly. As she turned away, Xana caught out of the corner of her God-given violet eyes, the image of the Bolian man in black, sneering at her. This time the golden light behind him slowed down and she saw the shimmer of gold a bit more clearly. She turned away and walked back to Gene. The beating in her ears continued. =/\= Scene: Unknown "Where is Serendipity?" " 'Where is Serendipity? Where is Serendipity?' That's all you ever say! You are the avatar of two gods. And I have just as much right to you as she does." "You've given me plenty." "Evidently, I've not given you enough." =/\= Scene: GATEWAY Hospital - Waiting Room TI: After Ken's post She was back out here. At least now Gene was awake, and currently having an exam to check on how he was healing. For now, she was talking to Hannibal. "You'll need to come down to make a statement," Hannibal told her. Xana nodded at that; it was expected. "Do I need my lawyer?" she asked. The hybrid Security Chief didn't say anything, but rolled his tongue around his teeth. "It's up to you," he finally said. The Bolian/Italian nodded again. Exhaustion was making her a bobble-head doll. "I'll come without one." She paused for a moment and said, "When do you want me?" "Now," Hannibal replied. When given the choice to interview someone it was best to do it quickly before a lie could be created. Xana sighed at that. "Let's do it and get it over with," she replied standing up. "But I want to go out the backdoor." Hannibal shrugged and lead the way to the backdoor -- there was no reason to do a public perp walk now. As the Ambassador followed the Security Chief out of the Hospital she saw the blue man with the cruel smile standing in the corner. The beating became louder. =/\= Scene: Unknown "Why are you the Avatar?" "My grandmother was from your house. My grandfather was from Serendipity's house. An avatar was inevitable. For reasons I don't understand, it skipped a generation to me." "Wrong. What you gave was a biological answer to a theological question. You are the avatar because of your *capacity*." "My capacity? Capacity for what?" "To feel pain. That is your job. Your job is to *absorb* pain. It is one of two emotions that you are particularly adept at feeling as an empath. You are to become a vessel of pain. Not to unleash pain -- that is the job of a god. Of me. To be my avatar means that all the pain that there is is yours, and yours alone, to feel." "Sometimes the pain is too much." "Too bad." "Too bad? Too bad? You're a God and that's the best you can come up with? Too bad?!" "Well...I could say other things but...why delay the inevitable point? There is pain, and there is alot of pain, and you must feel it. You have the capacity to feel great amounts of pain and you shall." "No, what I felt was too much, even for me." "What you felt is nothing compared to what you will feel." "Don't you mean what I could have felt?" "I'm not the damn Prophets. I don't care about what *could* have been. What pain is there in that? That's only potential pain. I care about actual pain. And so yes, Avatar, I am referring to your pain that you will feel." "And what pain will I feel?" "You will feel pain of your own creation. It is the worst pain that there is. It is the pain that you made, made out of pain you sought to rid yourself of but coming back to you tenfold. And you will feel it alone." "No, I will have Gene with me." "No, you forget. Only you will feel this pain. And only you will suffer. And trust me, if you seek to jettison off this pain, it will keep ricocheting back to you even worse. Not that I mind, but I think at some point even you would go mad. But this pain, can only be *your* pain. It will be the pain of loved ones who are beyond your help. It will be the knowledge that you've caused pain for innocents. It will be the pain of situations spinning wildly out of your control, because of decisions you made with no recourse for you to take. "See you've forgotten...to be an Avatar is to be alone. In your quest to rid yourself of pain, you forgot the very thing that you are. And so you must be reminded in the only way possible. "This is my judgment and it is complete." =/\= Scene: GATEWAY Hospital - Gene's bedside "Xana, why don't you go to work?" The Ambassador looked at her husband as she sat in the chair. "I'd rather be here with you, in case you need anything." "I'm not a damn invalid," Gene snapped as he grabbed the drink off of his tray. It had been a few hours since Gene had woken up and the elation he had felt at being alive, and seeing the Prophets again, had quickly morphed into something much more dark. "I know you're not an invalid," Xana said, trying very hard to stay calm. Gene rolled his eyes at the tone his wife was using. "I'm not Dahlia, either," he muttered. "Speaking of which, go home and take care of her then." "She's with Kat and Jeff and their kids," Xana explained. "She should be at home with you," the CNS replied. "Look, I just want to rest, and maybe speak to one of the monks or Vedeks later." Xana said nothing at that, but bit her lip, a sure sign she wasn't happy with that comment. "Yeah...about that, Gene...I don't know if they'll want to come here." Gene looked at his wife and gave her a glare. "And what...did...you...do?" The Bolian/Italian's head went down, her long white hair covering her pale blue face. "I...I was upset when you were kidnapped." "I figured." "I went to the Temple." "You're not Bajoran." "I know." "What comfort were you looking for from there?" "I wasn't looking for comfort. I was looking to cause pain." "What did you say?" "I said that I was the Avatar of Pain. That I would cause the Prophets pain if anything happened to you. I said I would declare war on them and leave no prisoners," Xana whispered. Gene closed his eyes. "And...because of this no one from the temple wants anything to do with us?" "Yes." The pain that was in Gene was immense. He had been a non-believer who up until a few years ago had felt nothing from the Prophets. Now twice in a handful of years he had met them, and was suffering an abundance of faith. Except now his own Temple, and its servants, were closed off to him because of his wife. It was as if he had been blind but now could see the way to salvation, but it was closed off to him. And it hurt. It hurt more than anything he ever thought possible. "I think I'm going to sleep now," Gene said, closing his eyes. Xana sat there and watched her husband pretend to sleep before taking the hint and leaving. As she left the Hospital, the cruel Bolian man was gone. The beating in her ears was gone. But the pain she felt in her heart was very real. =/\= NRPG: Yes, I think there will be repercussions from what's happened with Gene for Xana. She's abused her religious ties to the Bolian religion (which yes, I've totally made up but have explained in posts and a novella, if anyone is interested) and that will affect her and Gene, professionally and personally for time to come. Chance/Steve: I didn't know what to do with your characters (Nick from Ken's post and Hannibal from this post). So any suggestions would be ducky. Tag to everyone -- I'm up for a JP if anyone wants. =/\= Sarah Albertini-Bond serendipity77_at_gmail.com Ambassador Xana Bonviva Federation Ambassador GATEWAY STATION - 2 =/\= By a route obscure and lonely, Haunted by ill angels only, Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT, On a black throne reigns upright, I have reached these lands but newly From an ultimate dim Thule- From a wild clime that lieth, sublime, Out of SPACE- out of TIME. -- From Edgar Allen Poe's "Dreamland" From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Feb 17 2008 - 03:10:16 PST