2.3|Boisterous Mayberry

 

2.3|Boisterous Mayberry

 

Days passed. Every morning Protlyn would wake up kicking her left leg, wishing that it wasn't there. She loved her girlfriend, she wanted to be with her forever. Why didn't it make any sense that she'd want to walk step-in-step in this way? It weighed on her sullen and sick, leaving her to barely pry herself from her bed most times. In the morning Protlyn would get up and be swept by her imagination. Her girlfriend would have been at her side, with a smile and a kiss. She'd always feel protected, always safe, and would smile. But then she'd feel the lack of solidness, the metaphysics allowing a mere a figment of Raelyn floating like a cloud in her fantasy.

"We have to get moving at some point, Pro.. remember what Grahim told us."

"Told you." Protlyn would correct the psychic imagery of her love. "I'm not going anywhere without her.. without you. There's no way I'm going to.."

"We can't just stay here." Raelyn reminded her. "What do you want to do, Prot? If we're sharing a body now.. it'll be both our lives we're wasting."  In her thoughts Raelyn seemed as much more mature, more sure of herself than she actually was. She seemed like a girl that had to constantly be on her guard. Protlyn could relate to that to a certain extent. But not they shared every thought. When they talked back and forth, she feared to lose track of who was who. A belabored fear they both had.

"Yeah. I know. But I.."

"Then where do you want to go?"

"I don't know."

"There must be something."

Who was speaking? She didn't know.

Protlyn imagined the weight of her girlfriend on her shoulders and in her arms. She wanted to run away from this world, but something kept her here, at least for now. When she looked at Raelyn, she saw the tears in her eyes, the anguish in her tone. When Protlyn saw those watery eyes, the guilt and shame of being the cause of the tears, was too much to bear. She felt her heart shatter as she took her arms off of Raelyn's shoulders, and placed them around her waist. "I'm sorry, Rae."

She reached her arms for the floating projection, only for it to fade. Not being able to hold or hug her bled her psychic damage in deep. If she had any hope that she'd be able to hold her again, or just a way to tell Raelyn how much she missed her.. That was wishful thinking. Her love wasn't a projection. She wasn't a..

"I'm alright."

"No, you're not, Prot." The girl called Raelyn stated plainly.

"It's alright, Rae.. don't cry."

"Please." Protlyn felt the weight of the situation and cried herself. "Please don't cry, Pro. If we don't stay together.. we'll be lost forever. "

"Why?" Protlyn demanded. She didn't mean to be aggressive. But she felt protective of her love's feelings and well-being.

"Because.." Raelyn replied.

"Because you don't know how to feel, I guess. This isn't the sort of relationship you imagined, the kind of life you thought we'd have. Will we ever be separated again? What will we do? I don't know but, we should be together. " At those words, Protlyn felt Raelyn's back bend in pain. Protlyn's emotions flooded her. She felt the weight of the world upon her heart, too much to bear. She felt pain, and love in every pore of her being. "I love you, Rae." The psychic statement cut through the haze of pain that was in her head. The guilt, the shame.

"I love you, too, Prot."

She looked at Raelyn, and saw a pale image of the love that was a part of her soul. There was a sadness in Raelyn's eyes that never left her, no matter what she did. The room was dark and in a complete shambles. This felt strange. When she got up again, the fact that she was alone reasserted itself. There was a knock on the door. "What?" Protlyn demanded.

An Ooht bowed. "Misses Protlyn. We waited to tell you, there was a prisoner

who knows you. Word has gotten to them, they noticed your name."

"A prisoner?"

"Come with me." The Ooht turned around and lead them far into the city, underground through a series of cells. She lead them up to a cell where they found a young boy, a prisoner. He stared into the camera.

"Who is this?" She asked.

The boy began laughing. "Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" He glared. "You

two got thrown into a blender. Fantastic."

"WHY Y-" She grabbed his shoulders thru the cell, pulling him forward.

"Wait, that voice, you're.. you couldn't be." She squinted, seeing his ears uptop

perking out.

"You're here.." She smiled a crooked smile. "The Courtier." She looked closer, trying to bridge the disconnect. "You couldn't be him, you look so young!"

"Well, I've always been young, philosopher’s formula keeps me eternally young and beautiful. It doesn't mean I'm not the real thing. Or maybe the illusion was older than you thought. " The young feminine boy stared into her eyes, his hand moving closer to her face. "Was it worth it? Is this the 'home' you spoke of?" She squinted.

"Ain't here." He jibbed out his tongue playfully. "The wormhole didn't quite take me where I'd hoped. Sadly these feathered freaks are less than helpful.."

"Like I should know who you even are."

"You do, actually, Protas."

"No. I don't."

"You did once. Remember.. Allie?"

Protlyn shuddered, recall of the incidents that left that incarnation to her own end. "So you're unmasked now. Was it worth it, all those experiments, all that manipulation just to end up in a cell?" The boy cackled a laugh that she found charming. "What would I want with the likes of you anyway? Let me introduce myself. I'm.." He slicked his hands over his hair and bowed.

"Theo." The boy offered his hand.

Protlyn looked back and folded her arms. "Well, Theo, those charms are not

gonna work on me." She refused to take his gesture, turning away.

"Enjoy your cell."

Theo kicked his bars. "I'll show you who the hero is. You have to get me out of

here. And then we can talk!"

Protlyn looked around the room, the Oohts eyeing her. “What is he in here for anyway?” She asked. They told her that he’d stolen numerous devices and tried to reach their main computer mainframes until one of the Administrator’s daughters found and caught him. He was ultimately found hiding under her bed, tried to crawl out a window and then was ultimately bright here.

“I see.. can we talk for a moment?” She asked. “Just in the other room.” After a pause and brief conversation about that, the guards let him out and Protlyn was taken to a room with a table and some underground trees, the Horkai Malady that only grew underground. Theo grabbed a dark cerulean fruit and held it up, spinning flamboyantly and giving a frivolous pleasant bow. Each sassy movement of his flowed with life and gave a full body of expression, completely different from the stoic and menacing Courtier that he was before. “Was it all an act?” 

He shrugged. “When my ship crashed, my disguise ripped. I had to hide myself in Xi because I was constantly hunted by your other clones. Why did you come anyway? Did that idiotic hacker get into your head? How can you be so stupid as to trust a Synth? Robots don’t have friends or feelings.”

Protlyn stood confused. “How do you know about that? That would be, hundreds of years after she left? Amity wouldn’t even be born.” 

“I have my ways..” He took a bite of the tangy fruit. “Also Amity came down and saw me before you did. We had a nice long chat.”  

“So you’re the one responsible for my existence? You pulled the strings and dragged me and my girlfriend into this.” Her retrograde thoughts and opinions went to wild speculation as she eyed him suspiciously. “Don’t flatter me so much, darling. You were a monumental success of my father’s line of work, the other you- I guess she’s still you, Raelyn, little you. I needed a NiteRose subject to perfect my genetic grafts and survive the trip through the Cascade.” His style of speaking had a constant feminine lilt, the boy folded his arms over his hips. “I’ll bet you that, had your mother not set you up with NiteRose Raelyn, you’d probably have ended up working for someone like me, probably to my side.”

“Don’t be cavalier.”

"Me? Never. Not until I've had my 6 o’clock martini. Rawwr." He put both hands on his hips, pursing out his lips seductively.

"You’re beautiful. You know that?” He walked around her. “You need the confidence to show it off. I’ll help you. I need something to do, anyway.” His hands began tracing her skin, feeling each crease, curve and valley. “You have quite the body, I noticed.”

“You’ll forgive me for thinking I may have been the one who killed him? Your dad? Or, another me.” Protlyn asked.

“Are you kidding? He trusted me enough that he left everything to me.” He leaned in and whispered, “Trust me on this? The Oohts have a great salon here. I can get you anything you want, Raelyn. Or is it Protas I’m talking to? What would you like?” The girl’s blood began to boil. He ran his hands through her hair, she slapped his hand and grabbed his wrist. "You’re not to touch me again. Stop playing around!"

Theo gave her a wicked smirk. "What does it matter what I did or who I was. All masks are off. The past is dust, let’s look towards the future? I have everything under control, so we should cooperate. That might just be a good idea right? C’mon let me free, I’ll buy you a drink." He taunted her by smooching the air and blowing her a kiss. "You were a thorn in my side and a thorn I’d be glad to get rid of.. but once you get rid of the thorns, you find a rose on the other side." He took out a small container of lipgloss and started applying it to his lips.

“What are you going to do? What do you want?” She yelled.

"I already told you, I have everything under control.” His lashes fluttered. "Landing here wasn't part of my performance, but I'll make do.” He prepared his throat as if practicing for a soliloquy. "For you see the old has failed, the dark has come, and the children of the night are on the prowl, they are like little children they come with their toys, their teddy bears and their plastic dolls." She tapped her heel. "No applause?" He smiled bemused to her demure silence. "You think the worst of me, and for good reason. But you don’t have any power over me. I will always be here, and I will always be able to show you a way to live again. I am the only one who can."

"Hard Pass." She said.

"Great goblins.. you're so firm! Really gets me hard.."

"We're done talking. Bye." She made her way out the hall and left him. The guards came back in to take him back to his cell. “Fairwell my muse.” His eyes fluttered, thinking of her lovingly.