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Salvation Lost : Sins of Salvation -> The Town Square -> DWB - Dawdling While Blind [Open to anything/anyone!]
Post Info TOPIC: DWB - Dawdling While Blind [Open to anything/anyone!]
Blind Ambition


Fashion Plate

Posts: 13
Date: Aug 24, 2009
DWB - Dawdling While Blind [Open to anything/anyone!]
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The skies were fair, and it was a comfortable eighty-four degrees, or so the bits and pieces from the weather forecast he'd overheard had said. It was supposed to be a beautiful, magnificent day... the kind of romantic, wonderful day written about in poetry and turn-of-the-century novels. Standing at the window of the flat he shared with his brother, Liam wondered what it looked like.

He wondered what blue was, and if it was as cooly calming a color he'd heard it could be. He wondered how fitting the white clouds that were forecast to be in partial supply looked against that blue, and he wondered what kind of accent the yellow of the sun provided. He knew that it was a bright day. He had been blessed, some might say, with the gift of residual light perception, and so although he could see no figures or forms or colors, he could differentiate between lightness and shadow. Standing at the window of his flat he could see the light that shone in and he knew it was the light from the afternoon sun. He could even in some cases approximate the time of day by the angle of the light as his limited vision perceived it, and he knew, for example, that it was sometime after noon, because the light wasn't coming from what Liam knew to be its highest position.

He sometimes wondered if anything out that window looked as good as it smelled, tasted, sounded or felt. It may have been an odd sentiment, but on occasion, Liam thought he might be spoiled by his blindness... spoiled in such a way that he experienced the world in a way sighted people did not and probably would not, ever. He wondered if someone who could see exactly what something as simple as the bark on a tree looked like, knew the depths to which each inch of bark on that tree felt different from the inch of bark preceeding it. He wondered if someone who could see a gourmet meal really had the capacity to appreciate the way it tasted, the way it smelled, or even the way each little morsel felt as it rolled around in the mouth before being swallowed. He wondered if his lack of sight somehow made him able to 'see' the world in a way so much more profound than others could, simply because he was not, ironically, crippled by the luxury of having no handicap.

The two of them had moved into a relatively open-spaced flat somewhere in the heart of Rome. It was important that the flat be central to everything they'd required... things like a market for produce and other groceries, restaruants, stores and of course, any of the fashion offices and photography studios that Liam needed to visit over the coming months in preparation for the large show he was involved in. And it had been an interesting experience... moving from the endless hustle and bustle of New York City into the likewise endless bustle of Rome, Italy. While there was still a deal of business (and the all too familiar presence of tourists) it carried a different air. The Italians were a completely different sort from New Yorkers - even Italian New Yorkers. He couldn't quite put his finger on the exact differences, so instead Liam chalked it up to the general 'feel' of being in Europe versus being in the United States. He liked it.

Then... Liam was fond of change. He'd been changing for the better since the day his brother was born. He'd been five years old. Now, at thirty-three, Liam Declan was a better man than he ever thought he would have turned out to be. He was more successful, more well-traveled, more educated and, most importantly, he was happier than he had ever dreamed he'd have been. The years prior to Connor's birth, where Liam had been a little boy convinced life was going to be forever filled with questions and fear, were little more than a memory anymore; a memory he wasn't fond of, but a part of his psyche, nevertheless.

He could do things other blind people wouldn't have dreamed of being able to do. He could navigate the world as though he could see it, although he'd never seen it a day in his life. What a magnificent gift it would have been if Liam could somehow put on canvas the image he had in his mind of what the world he lived in 'looked like'. He often drifted off wondering what the world would think of his perceptions.

Maneuvering from the window through their flat, Liam snatched up the keys he'd left on the counter rather than hung by the door. He'd memorized the layout of their comfortable, relatively open-spaced flat, and so rare were the occasions where even the slightest change could throw him off. Two blind brothers in one apartment in just about any other case would have made for an ideal chaotic envrionment. One would think they'd be losing each other's stuff every hour, getting into fights, and never finding their way from one door to the next, but in truth... the Declans got along just fine.

He left their flat, conveniently located on the first floor (the keyword there being convenience. Liam and Connor could have managed no matter what floor they were on but if preference were involved...), and navigated to the front door and then out into the bright day. He wore a pair of stylish sunglasses, and not necessarily because he needed them (after all, his eyes couldn't exactly get more damaged), but because of the convenience they provided with regard to moving through the city like someone who wasn't, in fact, blind.

Liam could sense everything from the most subtle shift in the air, to the way sound traveled along and then echoed into turns and against obstructions. He used no cane, no guide dog, and he never waved his arms about looking to find his way from point A to point B. After years of constant, exhausting self-disciplinary training, Liam trusted his remaining four senses to give him all of the information his eyes could have, had they functioned, and more. His pace was obviously slower than most, but it wasn't suspect. Rather, Liam gave off the easy-going vibe of a young man in no particular hurry to get anywhere. With one hand shoved nonchalantly into the pocket of his jeans and the other swinging casually at his side, he blended in well with the people on the street, even though he hardly made an effort to match their pace. Taking his time to familiarize himself with the ins-and-outs of his immediate surroundings, Liam thought to himself,  I like Rome. One too many dogs, maybe, but I like Rome.

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Crawly


Creepy Crawly

Posts: 58
Date: Aug 25, 2009
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Reptiles loved the sun, although to a point. There was nothing quite like being able to take a nap out in the open with the warm sun beating down on naked skin. It was ten times better on a full stomach. Deliciously drowsy and wrapped in warmth that was so thick it was almost tangible. Alas, Crawly was hungry and going back to the Skate Park to have a snack would have taken too long. By then she'd be ravenous, scarf down the first thing she got her hands on and miss the taste completely. Sure it'd fill her stomach and that's all that really mattered to the beast part of her brain but Crawly also liked to hunt. To stalk and torment the tasty morsels with their impending doom. Fear made meat taste so much better. Adrenaline, while making the muscles somewhat tougher, gave her meals a delicious kind of tang without the need for salt and pepper. You couldn't buy that kind of seasoning on the market.

So with her little tummy rumbling and her boredom scales tipping towards the bad side, Crawly found herself wandering the streets, taking solace in the bright sunshine shining down on her. At least she was warm. It would have made her really fucking pissy if she had to deal with a chill. Winters were going to suck, she knew that much. Hunting in layers of wool and a parka was always a bitch. But with winter and fall weather still a little while away the child quickly dismissed the thoughts of the future and focused on the present.  The people around her were obvious. Two legged sheep with their heads so wrapped up in their own lives it made her sick. Not enough to stop the hunger but enough to take the edge off. The smells they gave off were numerous and when all of them mingled together and got baked by the sun and the scent of the exhaust fumes it was almost enough to make her want to stick her head in a sewer.

Humans were disgusting, how the furries stood to be around them for any extended period of time was just beyond her. Maybe when she grew older she'd "get it" but for now, Crawly tried to keep to the center of the narrow streets. People walked around her as if on some level they recognized her for the predator that she was. Oh some didn't get out of the way in time and bumped into the kid. When that happened Crawly simply managed to scratch them during the fumble when the adult tried to make apologizes for the child for either not seeing her, while telling her to pay attention to where she was looking, or just dusting themselves off and moving on. And their reward would be a trip to the hospital for when her venom began to work. Enough of it coated her sharp little nails that a tiny dose would fuck with their muscles and if they were especially unlucky the scratches would bleed. A lot. Crawly wished the medical staff good luck at trying to figure out was wrong with their incoming patients.

Now that did put a smile on the kid's face. A sly little thing that made some of the adults nearest her back away. Well all actually. No child should have ever be seen wearing an expression like that outside of a big budget horror movie. And yet there she was, smiling at the world.
Tilting her head up she gave some of the adults around her a full dose of the look on her face and watched them blanch. Their eyes going wide behind their sunglasses, some women covering their necks. As if. The scent of fear in the air made her stomach lurch. Turning her head, Crawly regarded a slow moving fellow. He was probably trying to figure out if it was worth passing by the weird kid or trying all too hard to not get noticed by her. Crawly just smiled, her eyes bleeding from gray to black while she watched him come closer.

Then miracle of miracles he just kept walking without even glancing in her direction.  Crawly would have let that one go. Not the first time she ran into someone too stupid to live but what she saw was a cute little redhead with huge tits smile flirtlily (was that the word? Crawly could ID slutty/sluttily  from a mile away, but since the redhead wasn't flashing the slow guy...Crawly was stumped.) anyway, there he was there was the redhead, and the guy just moved on by, pausing only for a moment as if, what. Judging the distance between him and the sidewalk?

Crawly stared, her head tilted to the side and the evil smile abandoned by the wayside. Hmmm curious. Turning around, she followed on after the guy who was moving slower than the regular human traffic around them. One step, two step. Each one the exactly the same. He didn't look at anything,  didn't turn his head to examine the trees or the people or the buildings around him. She did see his nostrils flare, and so she scented the air at the same time he did. Nothing save human stink rested on her tongue. Food, flowers, god awful perfumes, spices, drinks...He was smelling those things and not something else.  Moving closer Crawly dared to invade his personal space, putting barely ten inches or so between them. Oh sure she saw he noticed her, his head turned and she dodged out of the way. But he didn't Look in her direction, didn't wave his hand or say "Shoo kid" in any language. Oookay, now it was getting weird.

Running up ahead, Crawly took a spot directly in front of him, blocking his path she reached into her pocket and dug out some marbles she actually used for play rather than mischief. Or she did till now.  While watching the man with the glasses, the itty bitty snake dropped a few of the marbles on the ground directly in his path. The fiber glass spheres, rolling slightly before settling into the imperfections of the sidewalk.  Taking a few steps back, Crawly pressed up against a building and watched. Ignore her will he? Crawly'd see about that!


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Severance


Reina de la Morte

Posts: 104
Date: Aug 25, 2009
Permalink Closed

A single large crow made it's way high in the sky above the heads of a few passerby's. It held no real destination in mind, it was a simple flight that guided it's mistress behind him. Seven was bound to Severance by more choice then force and there was not a day that went by that the obsidian black bird could not be seen with out the grim reaper's companion close behind him. Seven dodged down ward when it spotted the little girl. It circled her a few times letting out a squawk or two clearly giving out the location of her very crafty hiding spot. Then what followed next was a touch of cold wind, the wind blew around in a soft yet cold invitation of acceptance.  At last quiet foot steps would bring about the woman known by many names. Necromancer, death's apprentice and your every day pack Vargamore.
 
Severance held a aurora of death around her. Carefully wrapped and shielded by death's design she moved with careful almost practiced steps. Quiet so much in fact that if it weren't for the bracelets around her ankles her presence would be masked. Dressed in black from her head to her toes she made quite the intimidating picture. The only hope of color the grave dancer possessed was the brilliant bright blue of her eyes and the milky white of her skin. Eyes of the ocean's rolling tides moved back and fourth as they traced over the form of the man then back toward the few bit of patrons around them. At first she hadn't noticed the girl. If the word could really be so fitting for the cold blooded reptile.
 
 
Only Seven's noises had alerted her so she looked to her. Why was she here?. And if so it meant that the nest couldn't be very far away. Sevvy came to a halt a little ways from the man who apparently was going to be Crawly's next form of entertainment if judging by the marbles was proof enough. Power shifted through the air not a fault of the necromancers. It came as naturally as breathing, it flowed and shifted around all three of them before she took a step toward the man. Exhausted she felt and on other circumstance she would have kept on going and not bothered to interfere but there was something different about the man. If she hadn't known he was blind then she would never have pegged him for it. He had a instinctive way of maneuvering himself around things. Seven shifted throwing large wings out as he made a last dive. Once he connected with one of Severance's shoulders he shook a second before collecting his wings beneath him.
 
A hand came up to pet at him in reassurance while she walked closing in on Liam. The other hand then moved to find a very gentle purchase to Liam's arm. Her touch was cold due to the unspoken magic in the air but still she offered up warmth as she allowed a soft smile to caress her lips. Voice held a soft yet low monotone to it.
 
" Excuse me sir, I apologize for bothering you but would you care to join me for a cup of coffee?".
 
It was the only thing that came to mind at the time being so she went along with it. Also this gave her the opportunity to meet someone new. Though as soon as the invite came out so did the worry of bringing another person into her life. In her line of work it was usually a blessing to keep others away so then why did she decide to now make a exception?. Her hand remained on his arm as she glanced over toward the young snake. Oh yes, there was that to. And that one thing was a force to be reckoned with all on it's own.


-- Edited by Severance on Tuesday 25th of August 2009 03:51:52 PM

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Blind Ambition


Fashion Plate

Posts: 13
Date: Aug 26, 2009
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Although he was exceptionally gifted where it came to passing himself off for someone who could see as well as anyone else - most particularly when wearing sunglasses such that he was, there was no mistaking the little idiosyncrasies that made him stick out to those around him.

Like the little girl who looked up at him and smiled her creepy, wicked smile. Liam didn't see it. He didn't notice her. She was, to him, no different than any other individual in the pedestrian traffic. She was a body against which sound bounced, from which smells originated, and if she'd done anything other than widen her mouth in a smile, she might have been another epicenter of some expected or unexpected noise. It looked like he'd ignored her completely either out of arrogance or stupidity, the way he didn't even acknowledge her as others had done, and just kept moving, running a hand through his hair to toss his long bangs out of his face.

It defiantly flopped right back in front of his eyes. Fortunately, as his eyes were more or less useless, he wasn't as bothered as he might have been were they obstructing some 'view'.

The redhead he also seemed to ignore. Again, she was just another body in the sea of bodies both coming and going, behind, to the sides, and in front of him. He just continued to walk, ignorant of the little girl and either her interest or danger, or of the crow in the sky or anyone else who might have been observing him. Perhaps there was some bliss in that ignorance.

All the little intricacies of the world, the way it smelled, tasted, felt, and sounded, Liam noticed in ways other people didn't. Probably couldn't.  Perfumes, colognes and car exhaust could tell a man more about his surroundings than he realized if his cognitive processing didn't stop at the obvious identifiers. What did the smell of that perfume say about the woman who wore it? What did the odor of exhaust say about the vehicles nearest him - were they large or small? Diesel or regular old petrol? How did each scent differ from what he'd smelled in other areas of the country or other countries in the world, and what might that say about the people who surrounded him now, or then?

The senses were magnificent things. Far more complex than simple - and Liam, without the 'luxury' of sight, now possessed the enlightenment of keener, more profound senses.

Someone deliberately close enough to be noticed got noticed, though. The little girl - who he didn't recognize immediately as a little girl at all - stepped into his personal space, a deliberate move which, while it hadn't initiated physical contact, was nevertheless invasive, and he paused, glancing around. But by then her presence left and with a shrug, Liam just walked on.

Then the presence came back. Only a fool would assume to be the first person who'd figured out that something was 'off' about Liam or for that matter decided to 'fuck' with him. Years of schoolyard bullying, of ridicule and laughter had trained Liam too well to be caught off guard by a little girl and some mischief. He was aware she stepped into his path, and then, as though they had been outfitted with amplifiers, he picked up on the sound of hard objects dropping onto the sidewalk in front of him. Glancing down, Liam knelt and swept a hand out to pick a few up.

Marbles. Not one to accuse, but sometimes one to assume, Liam narrowed his eyes and chanced a 'guess' at looking straight ahead. Again, his sunglasses made for an advantage. "Did you drop--"

A hand clapped gently onto his arm. Damn the abundance of people on the street. Usually Liam could all but feel someone on the approach. Walking through more or less busy streets made that difficult, though. There were people everywhere, on all sides, and as such one could never be sure if someone was actually approaching with the intention of an introduction or conversation (or confrontation), or if someone was just approaching because they were walking faster and were about to pass by.

He turned to 'look' over his shoulder in the direction the voice and hand had come from, and held out the marbles he'd picked up. "Huh? Do I know you?" He asked as he stood, presuming that the owner of the marbles took them out of his hand. (If the owner didn't, Liam would stand with them in his hand anyway, not wanting to leave them laying on the ground to trip unobservant sighted people)

His blindness was probably a blessing. In all honesty had he seen either the level of 'creepy' hanging on the little girl with her black eyes and marbles, or the level of weird on the lady with her crow companion, he'd have like-as-not made one Hell of a hasty retreat.


-- Edited by Blind Ambition on Wednesday 26th of August 2009 02:01:40 PM

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Crawly


Creepy Crawly

Posts: 58
Date: Sep 1, 2009
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He was about to step on the little balls of fiber glass. He was about to set his foot on an unstable surface and go tumbling down. If Crawly was lucky he would bump his head against the ground and there would be blood. Yes, Crawly liked the sound of that. So imagine her disappointment when not only did he not fall and his head and bleed all over the ground, a woman reeking of werewolves and sweet things like decay showed up. Man when it rained it poured. Adults and their concern was so for the birds. Hey!

Looking up at Sevy Crawly eyed the ugly blob of feathers and a beak on her shoulder and made a face at the crow. The crow squawked back and Crawly hissed at the creature. It didn't seem too impressed and just like that Crawly forgot it was there. Until it did something or got in her way, then all bets were off and the child could think of quite a few pretty things to make out of black feathers.   When the weird guy held out her own marbles out to her, Crawly stepped forward with no fear. She had nothing to be afraid of, fear was reserve for big things that could eat her and right now out of the three of them, Crawly was the scariest thing there, er go, no fear.

Reaching out with her little hands she cupped the man's wrist and collected her pretty baubles, stuffing them into her dress pocket with one hand while holding him still with the other. Awkward, maybe, did she care? Not really.  "No, you don't know her, she'sssss no one important." Although she spoke to the weird guy, Crawly's attention was on Severance and her pet, and she offered the two of them a fang filled smile, her tongue darting out briefly to taste the air. Crawly and her beast were just oh so close together at times it was hard to say where the line of delineation between biped and serpent was.  With her "fuck off" delivered with a  pretty smile, Crawly eyed the weird guy, her little cold fingers holding on to him.  He smelled nice.

Not quite like food though.

Or rather not quite yet.

" My Mommy saysss that it'ssss proper to say thank you to people who do thingssss for me. So..." I won't eat your face off ..."thank you. You found my marbelssss"  With a cute as a fucking button nose twitch Crawly glanced up at Sevy and eyed the bird while she licked her lips. But right, the guy was still there and no doubt wondering what in the hell was going on so her head turned and she eyed the weird guy who didn't smell like fear. Correction, didn't smell like fear yet. " I'm Crawly!" Gabriella wasn't even a word in her head at this point. That was more like a nickname than her nickname. Still, it was a pretty word so Crawly kept it in the back of her mind while her Aussie accent put a fun spin on her name make it sound "Kraw-Le'y."  "Who are you?"


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Blind Ambition


Fashion Plate

Posts: 13
Date: Sep 2, 2009
Permalink Closed

There was one thing weird about the woman that Liam could sense. She had a bird - more precisely, a crow (their call was really rather distinctive) on her person. He turned his head to look in its direction when it squawked, arching a brow.

Now, there were two things about that little girl that didn't sit right. One of them was the way she talked. She spoke in an odd combination of childish adulthood. No, you don't know her, she's no one important. The other of course, was how she sounded when she spoke... deliberately hissing her 's' sounds as if she thought she was a snake. His consternation was probably visible behind the lenses of his sunglasses in the fact that Liam narrowed his brows. Still, he said nothing - which was probably a wise decision - and didn't retrieve his hand until the girl, who introduced herself as, of all names, "Crawly," thanked him for finding her lost marbles.

Weird.

"You're welcome." He said, and he smiled. Liam was a genuine enough fellow. Without his sunglasses his eyes were actually bright for all that they were brown. His politeness was neither fear-filled nor for that matter hesitant, but there was a subtle tick in his upper lip when he realized, upon standing, that Crawly wasn't letting go of his wrist.

Her grip was astonishingly strong for a little girl - and he knew she was little. The angle she held his hand at proved as much.

"My name's Liam." He answered her, his some-might-say lopsided smile never leaving his face. Beyond the barriers of his sunglasses and the here-but-distant stare of his dark, unseeing eyes, Liam's mind turned the situation over and over. His mind was an ocean of thoughts and processing sensations. He considered the relative chill of Crawly's hand at his wrist, the way the air smelled, he considered how the other woman had addressed him and then, also, the way the child had addressed her. He didn't miss her exotic accent, but said nothing on it, and meanwhile all around them in the middle of the town square and on the sidewalk, people meandered to and from their various destinations either oblivious to the curious little scene or in general disinclined to interrupt.

"You out by yourself?" He said finally, glancing down in the direction of his imprisoned hand. He seemed more intrigued than concerned, which was probably more than a little naive on his part, but the air of quiet, calm confidence was worth appreciating.


-- Edited by Blind Ambition on Wednesday 2nd of September 2009 09:03:10 AM

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