Who: Carnival, Horror What: Horror wakes up and goes home. When: November 1st Where: Unknown, The Room, Midway Plaisance Warnings: TBD
The light filtering through the bloody windows suggested that Horror had been out for a couple of hours. The house was still silent and cold, and there was no sign that the power had returned to it yet. As consciousness crept slowly back, so did the sense that there was something different, something apart from the sunlight and the quiet. Something was…..off.
While not as strong as it had been only a few hours before, the influx of power was still there. Control was coming back, slowly but surely as it did every year, but something…..something……..there was a calm as Horror surveyed the pallid flesh and carnage only inches away, a peace that had not been there for so long it had almost been forgotten. It was as though Horror had been living in pain without knowing it, and suddenly it was gone, leaving only surprise and relief behind.
Only when Horror’s focus switched from this absent pain to the world around did realization suddenly hit. It was not only this new but familiar feeling of relief that was different, but so was Horror. Tattered remnants of clothes hung all wrong, and matted, bloody hair tickled pale new skin. The room seemed to have more space, things appeared more out of reach. After carefully standing, it was clearly true….Horror’s viewpoint was more than a foot lower than it had been before. The world hadn’t grown, Horror had become smaller. Paler. Softer. Horror had become a woman.
She could not remember making any decision to change to this form, and once she found a mirror and wiped it partly clean with a handful of cloth, several good long minutes were dedicated to examining herself. The first look was a bit of a surprise, and for a second, even incomprehensible. It was her looking out from the mirror. Her hair and her skin and her features. Corvina’s mother. Closer inspection revealed some small differences, perhaps only the differences between a goddess and a mortal, but the resemblance was unmistakable.
Whether this had been a choice or not, Horror decided the answer was not going to be found in her reflection. She took a walk through the entire house, looking over all she had done the night before, smiling in satisfaction as she did so. It was beautiful. It was a pity she could not stay longer and play some more, but her fit of unconsciousness had claimed too much time. She had to go.
It was easy enough to slip through shadows and fears and get to where she needed to be.
The upper floor of The Room had been undisturbed for over a month, and she knew that even if anyone heard the shower run and footsteps over their heads from below, no one would come to investigate. After cleaning the blood and gore from her skin and hair, Horror went into Corvina’s room and rummaged through the clothes left behind. Horror found some she herself had bought but Corvina had not liked to wear. They weren’t built quite the same, even now, but they fit well enough. After dressing and studying herself in the mirror for much longer than she would have before, Horror looked out the window at the setting sun. Time had passed more quickly than she’d realized, or she’d been quite far away to begin with the night before. Either way, this day was done and it was time to go again.
Finding where she wanted to be was like breathing.
The trailer was in shadows when she arrived, appearing silently in one dark corner. While The Room had been a welcome refuge, this was more like home, even though she had no idea where they actually were. She opened her mouth and listened with interest to her new voice.