princess_of_ida | IC Inbox

I haven't decided.
Trying to pull out a piece of his spine sounds like it's going to make me sick.

If you're feeling that way now, I hate to tell you that you're going to feel that way no matter what. It's best to think of the corpse as an object and not a person right now. Because it's not; the soul is gone, and that's the part that makes a person a person. That's the important part. I know that sounds callous, and a part of me really does wish I could make this easy for you. But I can't. This is going to scar you in places you didn't think could. I suppose telling me the manner of death - the placement of the killing blow - would help in guidance.

[ there's a lot of that going around. scarring her in ways that she didn't think could scar, changing her into something unrecognizable. she's yet to transform into a monster physically, but already, she feels monstrous. ]

I stabbed him.
Sort of around the ribs.

Were you standing before him, behind him, to the side? Was it a quick death or did he bleed out?

On top of him.
It was fast.

[Did Alina kill him while fucking him? If so: b r a v o
That was one way to mitigate the physical disadvantages.]

Alright. Logically speaking, you're going to want something clav to sac - in the torso. Limbs are very easy to sever, so you don't want one of those.

[She looked at her skeletal arm with a sigh.]

Clavicle and scapula are easier to remove then ribs, sternum, and spine.

Okay.
Okay, I can do that.

[ this is what she tells herself, at least, as she regards his body. it's easier to picture being able to break off his clavicle in her hands than trying to use a knife to somehow saw through bone.

she starts with the knife, cutting under his clavicle, because she has to be able to get at the bone. his body has already lost some of its heat by now, which makes the whole affair even more uncanny, and she takes no joy in the task. blood leaves her hands slippery, and as she realizes that even cutting him open will still necessitate reaching inside of his body, she resolves herself to making more cuts, to cleaving open flesh and muscle to expose the bone instead.

it feels somehow more morbid this way, now that she's doing it, but the reality is that there's no 'less morbid' here. she is desecrating his corpse to steal his bones, all so that she'll be able to kill him again if she has to. when she has to. and maybe kill what piece of himself he's left behind in ravka, too.

she closes her blood-slick fist around his clavicle once it's exposed and pulls, bracing her knee on his shoulder. she's not especially strong, alina, but the bone isn't especially thick either. her hands slip off at first, but when she yanks like she really means it, the bone cracks. splinters.

it comes away in her hand. ]

[Unaware of what Alina is physically doing, Ianthe continued to give what information she could.]

Use your fingers to feel along the length of the bones to their ends. There will be a firm but flexible white tissue there. That's the cartilage. Cut through there. Every bone has it where it connects to other bone. Make sure you harvest more than you think you need, in case I make a mistake. I won't, but have extra anyway.

[ the second — harvested on account of ianthe's professed need — is easier, thanks to her advice. alina digs the knifepoint into the cartilage as she cuts around the bone, and it breaks off easier in her hand.

she leaves both on his bare chest and sits against a nearby tree, trying to stop herself from shaking. ]

It's done.

I can sense you now. I'll be there in a few minutes.

[And in due time, Ianthe and her skeletal stag came into view. Her eyes find Alina first, then the corpse, then she scanned the area for anyone in hiding and to try to piece together what likely happened, before she focused on Alina.

The deer stayed by the corpse as Ianthe joined Alina by the tree, choosing to stay standing but leaned back against it next to her.]

[ she looks over at ianthe when she arrives and only then notices that she's been crying. alina sniffs, starts to wipe her cheeks on her knuckles, only to notice that there's blood there too. every part of her hands has become stained by it. looking down at them, this realization seems to be what tips her into speechlessness. she opens her mouth, searching for the right greeting, but nothing comes.

instead, finally, she just pushes away from the tree and turns herself towards ianthe, burying herself in the other woman's arms, clinging to her. she doesn't deserve that comfort, but she seeks it anyway, feeling simultaneously frail and monstrous. ]

[Ianthe rested her chin on the top of Alina's head as she held her tight. She was terrible at comfort beyond being a steady presence, so that's what she would be. No platitudes, no lies, no promises.

...she hated how Alina's tears made her chest hurt. She hated that a part of her wished she knew how Alina felt. She hadn't cried over Babs; it had never crossed her mind. He had been made for what she used him for, but she had been fond of him.

Ianthe stayed quiet, breathing slowly, steadily, and let Alina cry herself out.]

I had to do it.

[ she's still shaking against ianthe, clutching at her ribs. ]

You understand, right?

More than you know.

[On so many levels. Maybe she'll tell Alina once this bone fusing was all done.]

Tell me what happened?

We ran into each other, and it was like before. All I could think about was making him hurt, making him pay.

[ she'd known she would need to do this eventually. it was the only place this was all going to end. but she hadn't been ready. she hadn't really wanted it. she certainly hadn't wanted it like this.

she sniffs, shaking her head, drawing back. ] The Duchess is going to bring him back. If I'm not stronger when it happens, I won't stand a chance. It won't matter why I did it.

[Ianthe wiped away some tears with her normal hand.]

Sunshine, I am the one person you don't have to justify any of this to. I got you. And from my understanding, he deserved what he got. [He definitely had it coming in her opinion.] Sometimes people need to die, and it rarely ever goes to according to script.

Yeah.

[ there's something reluctant there in her expression. she hesitates on the word, which is dry and creaking in the back of her throat. she doesn't want it to be true. she doesn't want him to need to die — didn't want to be the one to do it, to have to do it.

she wanted better than this. she wanted things that she still hasn't let go of. it was the void that had taken hold of her wounded rage and turned it into something truly violent.

she glances back over her shoulder, towards where the body lies. ] I did it. They're over there.

Then gather your bones and let's move to a different clearing to set the tent up. I don't sense his soul and think he's transitioned to the River to await Resurrection, but I don't trust the Void to not turn that corpse into a revenant.

[And she'd rather not find out if that's possible.]

What are you going to do with the rest of the body?

Edited 2023-09-29 10:45 (UTC)

The Duchess said she'll recover it.

[ alina hugs herself, rubbing her hands along her upper arms. ]

I'll stay until that happens, to make sure no one ... [ no one else desecrates it. she drops her gaze, dwelling on her own sins. is there worse than her, coming to carve him up for parts? now that he's dead, she can think only of the best ways he'd made her feel. of how she'd finally felt worthy and golden and glorious under his gaze, how she'd finally believed herself important. ]

I can walk it directly into the Void so you don't have to. I can walk it directly to a spider nest so they can consume it and speed it onto the Duchess since she uses the spiders anyway to recover the corpses.

Or we can bury it. If you just sit here watching over it, someone else will likely find you with it. And then you'll have to deal with questions.

[ she struggles with it—visibly, pressing her lips together, looking away. the thought of leaving him in the dark of the void feels wrong. but so does letting him get devoured by spiders. so does killing him.

this has felt wrong since it started. she tries to remind herself that it's his fault, that he was the reason she'd been given no other choice, but that just threatens to become anger with no place to go.

she nods her head. ]

The spiders. [ it's more direct. more guaranteed that he'll get where he needs to go. even if he'll never know that she showed that kind of mercy. ]

[It was his fault. This was inevitable if Alina was going to achieve the lofty goals of her ambition that she spoke to Ianthe. It was uncomfortable to watch Alina demean herself by fretting over the blood spent, but she reminded herself that Alina tried to be a good person and the hold Kirigan had on her was going to take a long time to loosen.

Ianthe didn't like that she now understood that it would never go away. Even if she wouldn't acknowledge how she knew.]

Alright. That was, only you, me, and he will know what happened here. [A kiss was pressed to the top of Alina's head.] Now gather your bones so I can send the body on its way.

[ she hates having to look at it. hates having to think about it. she presses her eyes shut against the nauseating thought of doing it once more. but just this last time, and then she will be done with this morbid business. she can do it once more to be done with it forever.

she steels herself, breathes deep, and turns to approach aleksander's prone form. he no longer looks like he might just be sleeping. not with what she has done to him, not with all the blood and the torn flesh.

kneeling down beside him, she reaches for the bone fragments left behind on his abdomen, then hesitates. it feels wrong. to just take and discard him. it feels like she ought to be telling him goodbye, or apologizing, or at least showing some regret that it came to this, even if he had been the one to force the point.

so she leans over him, smoothes her blood-slick hand back over his hair to get it out of his face, and presses the gentlest kiss to his lukewarm forehead. then she takes the bones and leaves him, resolved not to look upon the mess she'd made again. ]

(cw: intrusive thoughts, body implant, references to abuse and previous murder)

[Ianthe pursed her lips, pressing what little blood they contained out, as she watched Alina grace the flesh husk that once contained the soul of a man that harmed her in ways that Ianthe could only speculate with a tender kiss. She bit the inside of her cheek and articulated phalanges as the void-insidious feelings of jealousy and possessiveness slipped through the mental barrier that was becoming more and more porous as the days passed.

She could just take that skull later. Come back to the spider nest after Alina had moved on after the bone graft, pull it free, and hide it with the corpse she was already hauling. Bone took a long time to digest. Alina would never know. She could place the skull where it could see her f--

No. No. No, that was Corona's voice she was hearing in the back of her mind. That's what the Void's been sounding like lately as though it knew her vulnerability. No, that was too vindictive. Ianthe had better control than that. Alina would figure it out. The skull wasn't worth the cost. Besides, Ianthe would want Alina to give her such a kiss as well.

"But did she when she strangled you and thought you dead?" her sister's voice whispered.

Ianthe cracked her neck and exhaled, fingers reaching up to run over the sun scar and the raised bump under the skin at the center where she'd placed the pearl Gilia had given her.

She raised her bone hand and ensnared the corpse with her thanergy, infusing it with ease. The body picked itself up off the ground, turning away from Alina, walking steadily almost as though it wasn't a lifeless husk directly toward the closest spider nest. Ianthe watched it go without a word.]

[ she drifts back to ianthe at first like a ghost, but when she sees that bone hand lift, alina recognizes the gesture of her necromancy.

she takes a deep breath and folds herself once more against ianthe, crowding her body slightly, cheek pressed to the mark that she had left on her sternum. embracing her. and letting ianthe care for her in turn, letting her deal with the messiness of clean-up, get rid of the evidence of what alina had done.

when she cannot hear the sounds of the corpse's shambling anymore, alina whispers, ] Thank you.

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cw: snuff

(cw: corpse dismembering)

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(Supposed to be 'Then now, only you, me, and he' >:[

it's ok i figured it out lol!