Who: Halle (Katya), Duncan What: Prompt: Sleeping When: June 7th, late afternoon Where: the Cirque grounds Rating: Lowish? IDK!
Halle hadn't liked Angkor Wat, not from the moment that they had arrived. Something about the place's energy pulled at her; there was something strange in the way that the monks looked at her when she ventured off the grounds. In the nearby town, there were too many spells and amulets and charms for the warding and binding of spirits. Really, truly, the whole place gave her the heebies.
More than that, though, it made her feel constantly a little dizzy, a little off. And the longer they stayed, the more off she felt, each sunrise making her a little more distant, a little less together. She didn't recognize the feeling until it was too late, until she could feel her control over the body she inhabited slipping, sliding out of her grasp. In all the years that Halle had possessed this body, the soul that she had slipped in around had never woken up.
Until she did.
The consciousness that rose to the surface was confused, fuzzy from a lifetime of sleeping. Her access to the memories that belonged to Halle was spotty; she could get only bits and pieces, fragments of the life that she had slept through. Her adoptive parents, alive and then dead. London, and then the circus. Flickers of faces that seemed familiar, but were strangers to Katya. It was distressing, deeply unsettling, but she didn't allow this distress to paralyze her. Not when she was finally, finally awake.
Instead, she ventured out of the trailer that Halle's mind recognized as her own, walking the black-and-white paths slowly, surveying her surroundings. It was hot, humid enough that the air felt like a weight on her shoulders. One by one, she slipped into the tents just for a break from the heat – looking inside was a secondary goal. In one, a storm raged in one corner, while snow fell in another. In another, there was only silence and a dark pool ringed with stones. Neither made any sense to Katya, and she slipped back out, surveying the maze of the circus with an expression that was clearly lost – her brows drawn together, teeth caught against her lower lip, worrying while she tried to decide which way to go.