Origins and Allies: A story of Alyce's Past (v. Shane)
Aug 14, 2017 15:04:04 GMT -5
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Post by alycestarchylde on Aug 14, 2017 15:04:04 GMT -5
Alyce and Thena talked long into the night. They discussed so much. It was Thena, though, who first reminded Alyce of Mister Harry Tweedle and their adopted sisters, Deeanna and Dimmiana. They sat at the bar drinking wine as Alyce prepared for her upcoming meeting with an old ‘friend’ at Return to Glory.
And their notoriety and/or fame passed as the next national scandal happened and although the girls were often found whispering together, no one thought it anything odder than young sisterhood...even if it was an enforced sisterhood from living close together. No one knew the events of that day were often on their minds and the things that Huginn said led to long conversations as well as internet searches.
In the days, weeks and months that followed the girls became as expert as the internet and modern comics would allow on Norse Mythology. They also figured out that Thena's mom was almost certainly Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom, War and Good Counsel. The two speculated endlessly as to why Athena never showed up to claim her the way Odin had.
They also looked into 'border mortals' and while it was harder to track down, there was much they learned. They discovered that Gilgamesh, he who some thought to be the first great hero was born at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, thus a being of borders from the first. His friend and companion, Enkidu, was a wild man who had become civilized and thus a creature of two worlds as well. Heracles (he who the Romans called Hercules) was both human and god and so neither one. Pecos Bill, like the Legendary Romulus and Remus who founded Rome, was born to humans and raised by animals. King Arthur was born to royalty of a forbidden union, hidden away and raised as almost a pauper before being revealed as the rightful King of England. Even Moses was born to an enslaved people and raised by the king of the land only to be revealed as the salvation of his people.
In short, they realized that there was a lot of truth to the idea that Alyce was a creature of borders. (They figured that Thena was as well, but that seemed less important than the idea that she was the offspring of two former deities).
In that time they also did a lot of chores, worked the farm, celebrated a couple more birthdays and in general did what most on the planet do and continued to grow.
It was two years after their mysterious disappearance and reappearance that the girls got news that would reshape their lives. They were called downstairs one morning to greet a visitor. They both knew that when you were called to 'greet a visitor' it meant someone had come to the farm to look at a child for adoption. But for both of them to greet a visitor...at the same time? Someone was interested in adopting them both? And as soon as the idea dawned, the pair raced down the stairs to the receiving parlor where the Carrera's did such introductions. Sitting there was a giant of a man. A huge man, large and with a round waist. His hair was mostly carroty orange, but wisps of silver were making themselves seen among the stunning strands. He had a large nose and chubby lips and ruddy skin. He was clad in a brown suit that was clean, and yet somehow seemed rumpled and shabby and his pristine white shirt just seemed to make the brown stand out. On either side of him was a blonde girl with stringy blonde hair, both were pale and smiling. They looked reed thin and as if a gust of wind would knock them over. He had a beaming smile that seemed to light up the whole room.
Sitting in the room was a stick thin woman with dyed black hair and a red babushka. She wore a white blouse and a black broomstick skirt. She sat in her chair with a cheery smile and clutching a red plastic purse like a grandmother. Over this entire scene presided Rose Carrera with an unusual smile on her face aware. Alyce and Thena looked between themselves and smiled and then shrugged. That conveyed all the information they had about this unusual scene.
The woman in the babushka was the social worker, another of many who had been involved in the young girl's life. They had become faceless at this point. Just non personal guardians who looked out for your best interests without really knowing what they were.
The man, however, was fascinating. He filled the room...not physically, but psychically. He drew your attention like a circus on the freeway. It was something awesome and fun in the most wonderful and unexpected place.
Thena reacted to this lovable if rather disreputable giant by laughing and bouncing in a circle while she clapped her hands. Alyce was almost overwhelmed by this rare show of outright joy from her friend. She had to admit, though, she already felt a connection to this man...and she had no idea why.
He looked at the girls.
"Well the spinning one MUST be Thena," he said in a loud voice, "and the thoughtful one must be Alyce! My name is Harry Tweedle and I am thrilled to meet you ladies."
The first thing Alyce noticed was his accent. English, perhaps. (She would later learn it was, in fact, Irish.)
"Mr. Tweedle is an engineer from the United Kingdom," the social worker said, "and he and his wife are looking to adopt two more children to raise with his daughters."
"I am also," he stage-whispered, "the illegitimate son of George Bernard Shaw. But it is impolite to talk about that in mixed company." This bit of play-acting shyness made the young girls giggle. Even the social worker did not seem offended.
"Don't be silly, Mr. Tweedle," the social worker said, "It's George Bernard Shaw! He's a writer, everyone knows about them!" She laughed shrilly. He winked at the two girls and jerked his thumb at the social worker as if they were part of some inner joke and their hearts melted completely. They went outside to play with his two daughters while the adults talked the language of negotiation that still seemed to be such a large part of modern adoption.
As they exited the front door, Rose called after them, "Don't go chasing any rabbits...or crows!" Thus, even in this moment of joy were the two girls reminded of their previous failure.
The girls were Deeanna and Dimmianna Tweedle but they used the names 'Dee' and 'Dimm' and while Alyce and Thena found them a tiny bit slow and simple, they quickly loved them just the same and soon the girls were engrossed in epic adventures of the imagination as only young children seem capable of embarking upon.
Eventually Dee and Dimm could contain their wonder no longer and had to ask the two girls about why they were not allowed to chase rabbits...or crows. So the pair told them the story of Huginn complete with the raven/dwarf and his cigar and his revelations regarding the parentage of Thena. Dee and Dimm clapped with delight at the end of the tail and agreed that Athena was likely Thena's mother. They also said that made her 'Gorse', part Greek and part Norse. Thena claimed not to like that appellation and claimed it made her sound like a bush. However, with Dee and Dimmiana, it stuck and for the rest of her days, Thena was often referred to as 'the Gorse' by her adoptive twin sisters.
Then Dee and Dimm asked about rabbits and Thena began to say that hunting them was Alyce's obsession but as she opened her mouth, they all heard Alyce speaking. She was not looking in any particular direction but instead just talking, looking at nothing as her words escaped from her throat as if trapped there for quite some time.
"I first saw him after the accident," she began softly, her voice barely above a whisper, "he was a white bunny, but he was brawny like a boxer. He was almost as big as I was and I was three at the time. He told me that my parents were dead but that I shouldn't cry. He said I was destined for great things and he did tricks for me. All sorts of tricks. Before he disappeared, he said I would see him again. I hunt the bunnies in the hopes that one of them will be him. And while some are brawny, they cannot and do not stand on two legs, or juggle or shadow box or tell jokes. I know he is right and will see him again but it is so...hard...to...wait."
She turned to the three girls with tears in her eyes and the three young women hugged for a very long time. In that moment, they became a family...because families have nothing to do with who ones parents are or who one is related too, but rather a bond, a closeness and a willingness to protect one another and those 4 girls forged that bond in that hug.
The two sisters then smiled to themselves as if they knew a great secret, but neither said a word.
And so it was, sometime thereafter, Rose Carrera brought down the things of Alyce's and Thena's and packed them in the trunk of an aged '66 Crown Imperial sedan. The car had once been black but much of it was rust colored now. Rose looked at the car doubtfully.
"I am restoring it," Harry said, "it's not much now, but you should see it when I am finished with it." Harry continuously referred to the trunk as 'the boot' something Alyce found extraordinarily funny. Somehow, the four girls were loaded, with much squealing and laughing into the back seat. Harry climbed behind the wheel of the car, turned the ignition (with a screwdriver not a key, Thena noticed) and the car sputtered and then shuddered to life with a great bang. Rose, who was still behind the car was engulfed in a cloud of black smoke. As the smoke cleared, Rose was tottering around in a circle, her face as black as the darkness of night, itself. This made both Thena and Alyce bray with laughter as the car continued out of the Carrera's driveway and into a bright future.
Her time with the Tweedles had begun well but her tenure as a daughter of Harry Tweedle had ended badly. Her first encounters with Kyle Shane may not have ended well but she was determined to not let past events dictate the future. This would be different, she vowed drunkenly. This, which had ended badly in the past, would end in her favor on this occasion.
She would win and she would climb the ladder of success at this misbegotten company and she would DOMINATE! She would finally rule this place as was her goal all along. All hail Alyce Starchylde and those who opposed her? She would handle them like the Red Queen and take their heads. She had said it before, but she meant it. Welcome to Wonderland? Beware of Wonderland, more like! It gets quite dark from here!
THEN
So the girls become local celebrities briefly as being the lost girls who were found again. They both told the same story, essentially they had lost track of time and become lost and both were forbidden from going anywhere they couldn't see the main house from and Alyce was specifically forbidden from chasing anything...bunnies, crows, cats, frogs...anything at all.And their notoriety and/or fame passed as the next national scandal happened and although the girls were often found whispering together, no one thought it anything odder than young sisterhood...even if it was an enforced sisterhood from living close together. No one knew the events of that day were often on their minds and the things that Huginn said led to long conversations as well as internet searches.
In the days, weeks and months that followed the girls became as expert as the internet and modern comics would allow on Norse Mythology. They also figured out that Thena's mom was almost certainly Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom, War and Good Counsel. The two speculated endlessly as to why Athena never showed up to claim her the way Odin had.
They also looked into 'border mortals' and while it was harder to track down, there was much they learned. They discovered that Gilgamesh, he who some thought to be the first great hero was born at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, thus a being of borders from the first. His friend and companion, Enkidu, was a wild man who had become civilized and thus a creature of two worlds as well. Heracles (he who the Romans called Hercules) was both human and god and so neither one. Pecos Bill, like the Legendary Romulus and Remus who founded Rome, was born to humans and raised by animals. King Arthur was born to royalty of a forbidden union, hidden away and raised as almost a pauper before being revealed as the rightful King of England. Even Moses was born to an enslaved people and raised by the king of the land only to be revealed as the salvation of his people.
In short, they realized that there was a lot of truth to the idea that Alyce was a creature of borders. (They figured that Thena was as well, but that seemed less important than the idea that she was the offspring of two former deities).
In that time they also did a lot of chores, worked the farm, celebrated a couple more birthdays and in general did what most on the planet do and continued to grow.
It was two years after their mysterious disappearance and reappearance that the girls got news that would reshape their lives. They were called downstairs one morning to greet a visitor. They both knew that when you were called to 'greet a visitor' it meant someone had come to the farm to look at a child for adoption. But for both of them to greet a visitor...at the same time? Someone was interested in adopting them both? And as soon as the idea dawned, the pair raced down the stairs to the receiving parlor where the Carrera's did such introductions. Sitting there was a giant of a man. A huge man, large and with a round waist. His hair was mostly carroty orange, but wisps of silver were making themselves seen among the stunning strands. He had a large nose and chubby lips and ruddy skin. He was clad in a brown suit that was clean, and yet somehow seemed rumpled and shabby and his pristine white shirt just seemed to make the brown stand out. On either side of him was a blonde girl with stringy blonde hair, both were pale and smiling. They looked reed thin and as if a gust of wind would knock them over. He had a beaming smile that seemed to light up the whole room.
Sitting in the room was a stick thin woman with dyed black hair and a red babushka. She wore a white blouse and a black broomstick skirt. She sat in her chair with a cheery smile and clutching a red plastic purse like a grandmother. Over this entire scene presided Rose Carrera with an unusual smile on her face aware. Alyce and Thena looked between themselves and smiled and then shrugged. That conveyed all the information they had about this unusual scene.
The woman in the babushka was the social worker, another of many who had been involved in the young girl's life. They had become faceless at this point. Just non personal guardians who looked out for your best interests without really knowing what they were.
The man, however, was fascinating. He filled the room...not physically, but psychically. He drew your attention like a circus on the freeway. It was something awesome and fun in the most wonderful and unexpected place.
Thena reacted to this lovable if rather disreputable giant by laughing and bouncing in a circle while she clapped her hands. Alyce was almost overwhelmed by this rare show of outright joy from her friend. She had to admit, though, she already felt a connection to this man...and she had no idea why.
He looked at the girls.
"Well the spinning one MUST be Thena," he said in a loud voice, "and the thoughtful one must be Alyce! My name is Harry Tweedle and I am thrilled to meet you ladies."
The first thing Alyce noticed was his accent. English, perhaps. (She would later learn it was, in fact, Irish.)
"Mr. Tweedle is an engineer from the United Kingdom," the social worker said, "and he and his wife are looking to adopt two more children to raise with his daughters."
"I am also," he stage-whispered, "the illegitimate son of George Bernard Shaw. But it is impolite to talk about that in mixed company." This bit of play-acting shyness made the young girls giggle. Even the social worker did not seem offended.
"Don't be silly, Mr. Tweedle," the social worker said, "It's George Bernard Shaw! He's a writer, everyone knows about them!" She laughed shrilly. He winked at the two girls and jerked his thumb at the social worker as if they were part of some inner joke and their hearts melted completely. They went outside to play with his two daughters while the adults talked the language of negotiation that still seemed to be such a large part of modern adoption.
As they exited the front door, Rose called after them, "Don't go chasing any rabbits...or crows!" Thus, even in this moment of joy were the two girls reminded of their previous failure.
The girls were Deeanna and Dimmianna Tweedle but they used the names 'Dee' and 'Dimm' and while Alyce and Thena found them a tiny bit slow and simple, they quickly loved them just the same and soon the girls were engrossed in epic adventures of the imagination as only young children seem capable of embarking upon.
Eventually Dee and Dimm could contain their wonder no longer and had to ask the two girls about why they were not allowed to chase rabbits...or crows. So the pair told them the story of Huginn complete with the raven/dwarf and his cigar and his revelations regarding the parentage of Thena. Dee and Dimm clapped with delight at the end of the tail and agreed that Athena was likely Thena's mother. They also said that made her 'Gorse', part Greek and part Norse. Thena claimed not to like that appellation and claimed it made her sound like a bush. However, with Dee and Dimmiana, it stuck and for the rest of her days, Thena was often referred to as 'the Gorse' by her adoptive twin sisters.
Then Dee and Dimm asked about rabbits and Thena began to say that hunting them was Alyce's obsession but as she opened her mouth, they all heard Alyce speaking. She was not looking in any particular direction but instead just talking, looking at nothing as her words escaped from her throat as if trapped there for quite some time.
"I first saw him after the accident," she began softly, her voice barely above a whisper, "he was a white bunny, but he was brawny like a boxer. He was almost as big as I was and I was three at the time. He told me that my parents were dead but that I shouldn't cry. He said I was destined for great things and he did tricks for me. All sorts of tricks. Before he disappeared, he said I would see him again. I hunt the bunnies in the hopes that one of them will be him. And while some are brawny, they cannot and do not stand on two legs, or juggle or shadow box or tell jokes. I know he is right and will see him again but it is so...hard...to...wait."
She turned to the three girls with tears in her eyes and the three young women hugged for a very long time. In that moment, they became a family...because families have nothing to do with who ones parents are or who one is related too, but rather a bond, a closeness and a willingness to protect one another and those 4 girls forged that bond in that hug.
The two sisters then smiled to themselves as if they knew a great secret, but neither said a word.
And so it was, sometime thereafter, Rose Carrera brought down the things of Alyce's and Thena's and packed them in the trunk of an aged '66 Crown Imperial sedan. The car had once been black but much of it was rust colored now. Rose looked at the car doubtfully.
"I am restoring it," Harry said, "it's not much now, but you should see it when I am finished with it." Harry continuously referred to the trunk as 'the boot' something Alyce found extraordinarily funny. Somehow, the four girls were loaded, with much squealing and laughing into the back seat. Harry climbed behind the wheel of the car, turned the ignition (with a screwdriver not a key, Thena noticed) and the car sputtered and then shuddered to life with a great bang. Rose, who was still behind the car was engulfed in a cloud of black smoke. As the smoke cleared, Rose was tottering around in a circle, her face as black as the darkness of night, itself. This made both Thena and Alyce bray with laughter as the car continued out of the Carrera's driveway and into a bright future.
NOW
Alyce stumbled her way from the bar humming the theme from the RtG commercials. Thena supported herself using Alyce’s head which the smaller woman seemed neither to mind nor notice. Tomorrow, there would be time for the deadly serious business ahead…the business of beating a man she did not much like and had competed against before. But tonight, she was reunited with an old friend and walked, at least in a spiritual sense, arm and arm with her against the horrors of the night.Her time with the Tweedles had begun well but her tenure as a daughter of Harry Tweedle had ended badly. Her first encounters with Kyle Shane may not have ended well but she was determined to not let past events dictate the future. This would be different, she vowed drunkenly. This, which had ended badly in the past, would end in her favor on this occasion.
She would win and she would climb the ladder of success at this misbegotten company and she would DOMINATE! She would finally rule this place as was her goal all along. All hail Alyce Starchylde and those who opposed her? She would handle them like the Red Queen and take their heads. She had said it before, but she meant it. Welcome to Wonderland? Beware of Wonderland, more like! It gets quite dark from here!
