eunoias | (no subject)

(no subject)

Who: Varon and Resa/Esmerelda Vanuatu
What: Resa meets one of the Swordsmen for the very first time.
Where: Doma Stronghold
When: First year of Doma

No matter what the reason was, Resa would not come out of her room. The curtains were closed, the sheets wrapped around her as she stared lifelessly at the area of the bed.

Ever since she left Bridgeport, nothing changed. She was still the quiet, strange girl who would be suppressed with every drug known to man and was abused even beyond the point of recognition. Still, she would keep her mouth shut unless if she wanted to be subjected to even more tests and harm. The blanket hid the fact that she was paler than normal, as well as malnourished from the mistreatment she faced.

Soon, she flopped back and rolled over, still staring rather lifelessly at the walls that surrounded her. She wasn't told that she could go out, so she didn't. She wasn't told to get up and do this task, so she didn't. And so, she languished still as her mind worked against her to drive her further into psychosis.

Though, she didn't realize that her door was open just a crack. And that crack would be enough for anyone to hear a faint, quiet voice.

"Why..."

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That got her to thinking a bit. All she knew was that pills were supposed to help her, not harm her, even if she didn't like them herself.

"I-I... I thought t-that was t-to help me - you know, t-the pills."

The young Varon shrugged. He didn't know the details that surrounded her treatment. He knew what pertained to him and gave that explanation.

"Well, maybe they are, I dunno. They gave 'em t' me t' keep my down. Why were you on pills? They said somethin's wrong with my head. Guess that's a good excuse, huh."

Resa didn't particularly want to share the details of why she got as crazy as she did. Although, she did know that it could help her in the end.

"U-Um... Same reason. I'm m-mentally unstable." She could have gone with crazy or deranged, just as the psych ward attendants said, but that sounded right to say.

"So, what?" Varon was called psychotically unfit for society and labeled as a psychopath that can never be reintegrated back into the world. Those things didn't matter to him.

"Just means that you're a li'l more than normal an' what would they know anyway? So, that's considered normal?" Varon tried to figure that part out since he was locked up with no success.

That confused her. She was always told that she would eventually die in those padded walls due to no one giving a shit about her in general, and since she accepted that, she didn't do anything to refute their claims.

"W-Well, I've got someone else i-in here that they've t-tried to suppress. S-She's a friend and helps t-to protect me."

"Hm?" He looks around in slight confusion. It didn't bother him that there would have been someone else. He was more confused on the whereabouts. "I don't see anyone."

"If you're strong, you wouldn't need protection. You could beat 'em down one-two-three." He said with a snap with his fingers on the count.

She rapidly shook her head and pointed to her head. "H-Here. She's in here. H-Her name is... is Esmerelda."

Her? Strong? Perish the thought. All she was told was that she was weak and nothing but it. "I-I'm not strong. I-I'm not strong at all."

"Huh. Well, if she's the strong one, maybe that's why you were picked?" That and he really didn't understand why Dartz chose the people he chose for his purpose. All Varon knew was that he needed people to carry out tasks and Varon's purpose was yet to be known. He hasn't met his team yet.

"Varon." He turned around when another agent stood at the door. "You're needed in the conference room."

"Eh? Why?" Varon looked over his shoulder at the agent dressed in a black suit.

"You are to meet your team." The agent stepped away from the door as Varon stood up.

"Gimme a sec." He turned toward Resa. "I gotta go."

"M-Maybe. I never realized that b-before..." Then again, Resa really didn't know why she was picked since there were tons of other people out there who were better than she was.

She looked up at the agent and scooted away into the wall. She nodded towards Varon and actually looked a bit sad at things. Everyone eventually left her, anyway, so why was this any surprise?

"I'll be back, okay?" Varon tried to reassure her but he wasn't sure he was doing a very good job. "It's just a meeting right?" He asked the agent.

"It's an introduction to your team." The agent said coolly.

"It can wait." Varon wanted to wave the agent away but orders were orders.

"It's not as simple as that. You better make yourself known or Master Dartz will see to it personally that you are forever removed from the equation."

That took Varon by surprise. "Seriously?"

The agent nodded his head. Varon didn't have much choice in the matter. He turned back to Resa with a sigh. "I shouldn't be gone long, okay? Seems like they really wanna meet me."

Resa nodded and she sighed solemnly, getting back on to her bed. The way she was walking was very slow, wobbly even. But, she eventually made her way there. A frail hand picked the sheets up and she covered herself with them again.

Although, it was obvious that she had injection scars all over her arms and on her neck, too.

"Bye, Varon. T-Thank you for talking with me."

He gave a small smile and a wave before he closed the door.

The meeting was pretty much cut and dry and now it was time to put on his Doma uniform. He raised a brow at the ensemble and wondered why specifically that he wasn't allowed a trench coat like his other teammates. The answer became obvious when he saw the obstacle course later that day.

Being on the last of the pecking order in his team, he didn't have much of a choice. He had to learn everything fast. Gymnastics for strength and agility, parkour for evasion and escape on foot, acrobatics for height escape along with electronics and mechanics. He was already learning the latter while he was in prison. He had a lot of time to read books on the subject and he was already good with math and history.

Languages weren't really his thing and he still had to study from books on that subject too. He wasn't as good at it as his other two teammates but his skills were useful in other areas. He was practically an armored plated ninja as it stood.

Once everything was done and he was finally settled in on his training schedule, sore and tired, he went back to Resa's room to check on her. "See, I told ya I'd be back." His black Doma jumpsuit was all he had on other than his boots.

When Varon was doing his training and being initiated, Resa decided to do something that she hadn't done in a while. She rifled through her drawer and took out a piece of paper and a few crayons and began to work on a picture. This sort of therapy, if one could call it, was helpful and it kept her motor skills in working order.

She made sure to work on the picture dutifully and lifted her head up when Varon came back.

"I... I drew a picture," she said, holding it up. It was of her and Varon and it looked to be skillfully done for something just done with crayons.

Large blue eyes blinked at the picture. Slowly taking his seat at the edge of the bed, he gave a small smile. He couldn't draw to save his life yet he often admired those that could.

"It's pretty. I could barely color a picture without gettin' outta the lines." His fingers traced the lines where she had taken the time to draw. It was too perfect for him and he seemed impressed. To Varon, she wasn't crazy. She was just as damaged as he was and he didn't thing it was fair to make any judgment on it.

"W-We can color, if y-you want," Resa said, lifting her head up a bit to show a small smile. It was the first time since what happened that she was smiling and it meant quite a great deal.

"I-In fact, I've got s-some coloring books! Do you want to do that?"

It seemed like a silly idea. Varon's slight shoulders gave a shrug. He never allowed himself to be a kid because prison took a lot out of him. He felt that his childhood was gone. The offer was returned with a small smile of his own. "Okay, sure. Not like it's anything bad, right?"

He didn't worry about his ego. He didn't worry about being made fun of. What he did worry about was being pulled away from his fun to do something crazy again. He felt he never had any time to himself anymore. At least in isolation, he had time to think.

After what happened, Resa went back to the only time she knew she was safe: her childhood. It would explain her personality and her need to color so suddenly. "Nope. I-I don't think anyone's gonna b-bother us."

She wanted Varon to stay. She wanted to keep on doing fun things with him and that was that. She was starting to feel safe with other people, too, and that was a big plus.

Varon didn't have anything else to do at this point and after one page, he closed the book. Setting it aside, he put his hands behind his head and twisted around with his back to the mattress with his feet propped up against the wall. "Ah, how can ya do this all day?"

He looked clearly bored and exhaustion was threatening to put him to sleep as he let out a yawn.

Resa seemed generally confused at that before she shrugged. "I-I don't duel anymore and I-I don't go outside, so..."

She did, however, finish another picture and held it up again.

"You quit duelin'?" He lolled his head to the side at the statement. He wasn't sure what to make of anything and the reason he was free was because of the death match duels he had won to gain his freedom.

He looked at the picture and studied it for a moment. "So, you color because..."

"I-I haven't dueled in ages. I-I used to be one of the top ones back home in England." And it was true. Her fairy beatdown deck, as well as her warrior deck helped rise her to the top.

"And well, I color because i-it's calming and helps keep my hands busy."

"Oh? What kinda deck did ya use?" He was genuinely curious. His own deck was so unusual that most people that encountered it often didn't survive. He made sure of that considering its rarity. If rumor got around about his dueling style before the right time, he wouldn't have the upper hand.

"F-Fairies, but that's not all. I-I used a Warrior s-support deck, followed by a slight stint w-with dragons a-and rituals." In the dueling world, she really was a jack of all trades. Give her a deck and she could have it figured out with a bunch of strategies raring to go. "You?"

"Armor deck, myself. It's my specialty." Not to mention that it was the deck given to him while he was in prison. He was still getting used to operating the deck properly which was taking a lot of time to learn.

"Armor...? I don't t-think I've heard of that. What d-do you do with it?" For now, Resa stopped coloring and scooted towards Varon a bit. It was closer than when they were on the floor, at any rate.