letter one (Marr/Crimson)

[pearl mcclain d4 [ryan]]

Lustor Papillion
i wrote a hundred letters just for you

And it was time to hide in the forest of seven one more time. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, and I asked my father if I could skip my shift at the shop. I was in a mood. A mood that I usually wouldn’t find myself in unless I had a lot on my mind. I escaped when I could, and honestly, I made it as often as possible. I hated being around people, and found solace in loneliness. My family was so different from me, but I think that is what made us special. We didn’t have the same personalities. We were multiples, all of us except for Tail. We all had different personalities, well, maybe except for me and Crimson. We tried. However, we realized that we were different people. Different people though wasn’t a bad thing. I felt like we shared one mind. Sometimes we would be thinking the same thing, and then we would finish each other’s thoughts. Sometimes I felt like we would communicate telepathically. Of course, this didn’t happen but sometimes I would write down things that she told me she was thinking without asking her. I never questioned it though, seeing as there were many other phenomena that was happening that was far more important that coincidences.

The cool breeze stung my hand, it was starting to get cold here in seven. Long gone were the summer months where we could relax in minimal clothing. Now we had to start donning thick coats to continue working and providing resources. Some of these months were rough. Mostly around November when the snow started setting in. That was when it was the roughest. It would kill the nature around us and most of the animals went into hiding. I relished these moments only because it heightened just how alone I felt.

I loved it.

Of course, I was never alone alone. I always had a pen and pad on me so I could keep writing down ideas. A writer in seven was something that was never heard of simply because most of the kids didn’t get that type of education. I was fortunate enough though to be born with parents who made sure that we were all going to be better off than when they grew up. The games didn’t help that, but they tried their best and that was all we could really ask for. The day the games ended was going to be the start of a new life for everyone. However, with the current regime in the capitol, I knew that the districts would be subjugated to this torture for years to come. I prayed that I would age out of it, but I knew well that the older you were, the more times your name wound up in the bowl. Sometimes I wished the person who picked our names would get a paper cut so bad that they died of sepsis. Of course, that was only a fever dream that I could write about. However, when I finished that thought, I would violently scratch it out so no one would never know what I really think about some people. It didn’t help that if you said anything against the capitol, you would surely get your tongue cut out, and of course, I liked my tongue where it was.

In my mouth.

I heard a rustle of leaves around where I was sitting and I worried that I was now in sights of a predator. I didn’t have anything to defend myself with, which was a mistake on my end because I knew better. Here in seven, you should never go anywhere without some sort of protection. Most of the people carried axes with them because that was the usual tool people used in their work. Some people carried knives on them, and while I didn’t believe that violence was the answer to anything, I too carried one on me. My father showed me how to use it after all. It was the one that he knew well, a weapon that could pierce through skin was enough to keep predators from coming close to you. It also came in handy when you needed to find dinner for the night. Of course, I had no intention of harming anything today, but I still wished I brought it with me.

Just in case.

I let out a sharp sigh as I saw the squirrel pop out of nowhere and grab an acorn at a speed that I have never seen. I watched in awe as it climbed up the tree and ran right back into the hole that it must have called home. I could relate to that in some way. I smiled and put my focus back into the pad that was sitting in my lap as I looked around the forest. There was always something to draw inspiration from. The way the leaves fell off the tree took my breath away, and the it made me think about how time passed on. It kept going. It never stopped, and that was something that I longed for.

For time to stop.

So we could change everything.

In this world that we called home.

That was more like a hell.

Then it would ever feel like a home.

Then I heard the rustle of more leaves and noticed that it was Crimson.

I took a deep breath and put down the pad of paper. I looked at her with a smile, knowing that there was probably a little bit too much on her mind. While I was the writer, she was the thinker, and while the district saw us as two very weird set of twins, we didn’t care. We only needed to care about each other, and well, our family of course.

“Crimson, come out. I know its you.”  

I said, taking in a deep breath. The scent of pine mixed with the icy air, however, there was a bit of sage in there too, and that was one of Crimson’s favorite scents. Its how I knew where she was half the time. “Come. Join me. Look what I have wrote.” I tried not to be too loud. I didn’t want to worry about predators coming out of nowhere.

The last thing I wanted to do

Was run.

and I found them in the pockets of my jeans

Made by ♛ scandal

PAT: 1059

[*]

"Dhruva, I miss you. I've not seen you in days and it seems that you and Lustor are the only ones that I ever want to be with. You know my mind and every last wish. Lustor knows about you and thus everything else. Will you, tonight, show yourself again so that I may wander upon the spiritual realm. I long to see the tree tops again. I want to feel..." Red, curly hair strayed within the wind, getting caught up in a gyration as it did every time there was a breeze. It always seemed to float like a boat on the water whenever Dhruva wasn't in control. She's been stubborn, not allowing me the absolute freedom I see whenever life stresses me out. The family, love them to death, but they just don't understand when I am gone all night, projecting my form into the outter world to explore the hidden crevasses of the world. I long to touch every cleft and crack left behind by mother nature and rid myself of my mortal being. Soon, but not yet Lu. You've got so much more to do. It is merely not your time to seek solice from the world. She argues with me on the daily, but it's like she punishes me. I am not some child that has to be buckled to life, afraid of the consequences if I should seek alternate means of seeing the world. She won't allow me to move far from my body, afraid that if she did, something would happen to gravely seek my last breath. I, on the other hand, fear nothing and in turn, nothing will ever harm me. That is false, my Crimson-lu. You are afraid of the unlived life, love. Which is why, I will not let you permanently seek refuge upon the harmonious plain in which I reside. Except, what would tear me apart is only in the beating heart of my rhythmic brother. If Lustor was to meet his untimely demise, I would surely seek out the earliest possible way to make sure he won't be alone for his final journey. The thought of it sends shivers down my spine and the longing for my brother begins. The rough bark under my legs pierce my skin, indenting it with a temporary tattoo of its life. The tree's calm nature puts me to ease, but the wind still whipping around swirls the water below, threatening me to tempt fate within its depths. My reflection meets to the water's surface, fuzzy, but there and a smile is warped as my greeting to it is given. In so many ways, I want to test the theory of my astral journey to seek the treasures at the bottom of the aquatic temptations, but uncertainty makes the thought disappear. "You will not carry my soul into the heart of your ocean no sooner than the games will call my name in the reaping. On my last day, you can have my divine soul to keep forever should you make me your queen." Another ripple responds to my statement and the soles of my feet taunt fate as the warped trunk of the bent willow is used to escort me back to solid ground. My shoes await me, small rhinestones decorate the toes and I slip into them with ease and carry on my way. My Lustor will be here in the forest, that much is for certain, and without any much given effort, I will find him within a short time. My heart guides me to his, listening to the songbirds overhead and the rustles of prey elsewhere. My parent's always complained about my safety in the forest but as I always respond "I do not fear nothing therefore nothing will harm me[/font]". They call it immaturity and I scoff at them when they turn their back to me. That kind of negativity is not welcome in my life and I do not have to believe it. And so my journeys always lead me back into the woods. Ahead, I can feel a kind of vibration, a spark within my body that tells me to be more aware of my surroundings. Glossy eyes scan the ill-gotten forest, readying itself for the winter months. It's limbs losing the summer coats. The animals scurrying to find food before white blankets the floor, hiding and taking the lives of those unprepared. Winter is the wistful of the seasons bringing dismal and bitter hearts to the surface. We both dread the melancholy it brings. A sigh escapes me when I catch sight of the one I longed to find and he is the spitting image of myself but on the other gender spectrum. I know not to disturb his wanderings and even though the crisp leaves threaten to give my position away, I walk with light steps so that he will not hear me. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to hide my careful gait when the wildlife are born and bred to keep themselves aware of the tiniest change. A squirrel scurries away, making a descent amount of racquet, alerting its kind in the know of the approaching danger. "Fine. Ruin my stalking of my own brother." A gingerly wave dismisses their actions but it still brings Lustor to call out my name. I will never be able to sneak up on him, not when we are too close. "Crimson, come out. I know its you." "The wildlife need to learn to mind their own business. I have never harmed them before. I don't know why they continue to be skittish of us as much as we've become their daily companions. Rude of them, isn't it?" Aggravation bleeds through my tone with a gentle sigh. My gaze shifts toward the pad in his lap and how he moves his pencil away from the pages of limber wood. An offer, a kind invitation, greets me and I nod in his direction. His voice sauntered out into the forest with such a weary tone, I wondered if he'd been aware of the wildlife's need to collect for the winter months. The wolves and other semi-vicious creatures that needed their sustenance before it became scarce. I practically float in his direction with my arms tailed behind my back and I approach with caution. There's something that he's written once again, and the words on the page would be similar to something I've already exerienced. At least, in the past it has, showing us just how much we are in tune with each other's ability to read each other. Our adventures are never a secret from one another. My lips turn upward and I look to the ground, littered with browns. "It would be a pleasure, Lustor, but could you read it to me? You know I envision the words better when I close my eyes and let Dhruva take me on a magic carpet ride with your written words." And the ground became my chair and the leaves became my pillow. "Don't worry. The squirrels won't give away our location again. They are at peace with the world."

PAT: 1,182

[pearl mcclain d4 [ryan]]

Lustor Papillion
i wrote a hundred letters just for you

Words feel out of my hand and onto a page. A page that was riddled with tons of scratch outs because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about. I always thought about how I wanted to write about mine and my sisters friendship. How both of us could tell when the other was in the room without even looking? How both of us could finish each other’s thoughts, and how we didn’t care what was going on in the world behind us. Most of the time, we focused on ourselves because that was the only thing that we cared about. Sure, we had siblings. We had a family that we needed to help take care of. But we didn’t think about them as much as we should have. Honestly, all of us could take care of ourselves, and while I tried to help where I could, it wasn’t needed. Most of the time, the others just told us to go away. I thought of it as the main downfall of our family. Our pride always got in the way of our lives, and while I loved everyone, I knew that one day, there would be a moment where pride would have to go out the window in order to protect each other. Well, that is what I thought.

And when it came to Crimson, I would do anything for her. She was the eccentric one, and the one that I thought was always the most interesting. I wasn’t sure what she did to really bring anything to the table, but I still appreciated her for who she was. After all, she was my sister. She was the person that I knew I could go to, especially when I was having a rough day. Actually, it was like she just knew how to approach me. There were many times where I would have an issue that I didn’t want to talk about, and she would just come up to me and ask what the problem was. She wouldn’t care, or pass judgement on me. She would just look at me with the same eyes as my mother, and tell me that everything was going to be alright. Sometimes she said that Dhruva, the person that spoke to her, told her things that she was thinking. It was weird, but I embraced it. Sometimes I thought I could communicate with her too, however, it was only when Crimson was around. I would get little glimmers into her psyche and meet the spirit in which I was thinking about right now.

Sometimes I wished I had her careless streak. She cared about a lot of things, but she still had the ability to act free. She didn’t let the world stop her from exploring it, and sometimes I felt like she was able to transcend district boundaries and explore the world in a way that I could only fathom. Honestly, I was jealous, but it also didn’t bother me one bit. I knew that she was a special person that I had to help protect. Her heart was wide, and her brain was huge. She had such wonderful things to say and sometimes, there were so good that I had to write them down. Sometimes I would think about things and I felt like she would say them moments later sometimes as well, like we were mentally connected in a way that made us think about what the other was. Of course, I didn’t tell anyone about this unless I wanted to seem like I was crazy. This didn’t happen in the districts. There were no supernatural occurrences to report on. There was no one that could explain the phenomenon that we experienced. There was no one that would believe us. I knew that I wouldn’t tell a soul anyway.

And so when I was in her presence I felt like we were against the world in ways that no one could imagine. We had to fight, but we didn’t. We could be ourselves in our own solitude. We could try to find a way to survive in a harsh reality. We could run away and make a living in the forest. I knew Dhruva would guide us to the resources we needed to survive. However, I would need to find some paper because of course I would want to write about it. I would want to record all of our finding and tell people about them. If we were caught though, we surely would have our tongues ripped out of our mouths. Or even worse, we would be separated, and that was something that I couldn’t live with. I needed Crimson just as much as she needed me. Well, maybe. She did have Dhruva after all.

The sound was plentiful and I heard Crimson’s voice echo through multiple mediums. One of them being through the trees, then the leaves, then my head, and then through my ears. Her voice could rip through a torrent of wind that deafened anyone in its ravenous path. It was a sound that comforted me when I was feeling my worst, and some days I longed for it. I could never explain the bond that I felt with my twin, but it was almost electric. We protected each other. We took care of each other, and we wanted nothing but the best for the each other. I knew the day would come though when we would be reaped, and I hoped that we could be reaped together. There was no one that I wanted to die with other than my sister after all. It would be hard, but at least I could die with someone that knew me better than anyone else.

“Crimson, you know well that I have a problem speaking my words.” I said to her, trying to not blush at the same time. I was a writer, but I was a shy writer. I was the person that never wanted to share his work, but would do it because it applied a sort of pressure that I enjoyed. One that I was used to now. One that I cherished. It drove me to write wonderful things about a horrible world. One where I could find beauty in tragedy. One were hope was nothing but a pen stroke away. As much as I hated it, I celebrated it. One day my writing might be discovered in a world where the games are no more, but who knew when that day was going to come. “But come, gather, I could try.” I said to her as she entered my peripheral. “The wildlife will always be skittish. Its just the way they are. They are afraid of what they cant control. They cant control us, after all.” The pen is now resting in my hand, clasped tightly so I don’t lose it while shifting my body to a more comfortable position.

“I hope Dhruva can take you to a place of wonder and excitement.” I said with a small smile. “One where the squirrels won’t bother us. Even if they are at peace. That doesn’t mean they aren’t afraid to turn with a quickest haste.” Somedays I was worried that people would catch on to us. Like they would come after us and hunt us like wolves. Then again, we avoided that for now. Maybe we could avoid it forever. .

and I found them in the pockets of my jeans

Made by ♛ scandal