Writing: Trinity's Prompt // stolen moments

    Well, hello there.

    Obviously, I did not get anything posted throughout November, but guess who finished NaNoWriMo for the first time. 

    If you guessed Siani, then you would be correct. 50,052 words got put towards Anomaly, Not Prodigy and I finished on the 29th, a day ahead of schedule. Despite the craziness that has become a part of my daily life. So that's pleasing to me.

    My family is now planted in South Carolina and will be for the next couple of months. Which is nice, because we get our own space again and will be able to keep warm through the coldest part of winter.

    And how did everyone's Thanksgiving's go? Hopefully you all made some good memories and ate way too much rich, fattening food, as the tradition goes. 

    At any rate. Trinity, would you look at this! I haven't given up on your prompt altogether. It's really quite an intriguing idea, I just need the brain power and will to put words towards it, as always.

    I did Jade this time, however, instead of Jandy and Dech. Not sure when this drabble falls into the storyline, but I'm going to go with before the mission to kill Sean and Lindsey. Because Jade would never risk a visit in the middle of an operation.

    And... yeah. The rest is self-explanatory. 

    Jade entered the quiet room on soundless footsteps, her hands already deep inside her pockets. Even though she’d been on edge since she’d gotten into the atmosphere, she prowled around the small space, checking for transmitters and receivers.

    Only once her examination was done did she let soft breaths draw her in.

    The crib of the past had been replaced by a toddler bed but Jade could no longer determine when the switch had been made. It’d been years and she’d visited so rarely. 

    Dark eyes fell on the golden-haired child, her gentle profile illuminated by patches of moonlight. Vivian hated the darkness, always wishing to sleep with her curtains open so she could see the stars and moon if she should happen to wake during the night.

    The irony never escaped the hunter. Vivian might’ve disdained the dark, but in the same turn she embraced one completely swallowed in a black unlike the child would ever know.

    Jade’s ruminations were interrupted when Vivian awoke with a start, bolting upright and sending loose curls into further disarray.

    Her green eyes searched the room, noticing after a delay the woman standing at her bedside, unmoving and silent.

    It didn’t surprise Jade when Vivian began to cry. So similar to Ruusan, even after years of separation from her mother. 

    Longstanding routine kept Vivi from being loud when she cried, “I didn’t think you were ever gonna come back.”

    Jaydn bent at the waist when the child held up her arms, tears still leaking from the corners of verdant eyes, and kept her hands buried deep in the pockets of her coat. She would not draw them out until long after she had departed and left the innocence in this room behind.

    Years of practice had given them a routine that they were well-used to following. The small girl clung to Jade like a monkey, arms clamping around the hunter’s neck so that she cleared the gate at the side of her bed designed to keep her from falling out.

    Jade’s nose was filled with the gentle scent of laundered clothes and floral bath soap that came off of Vivian. It made her heart twinge with homesickness.

    Once reassured with Vivian’s hold around her neck, the woman straightened, easing upright and watching as Vivian wrapped her legs around her hips. She took a couple steps backwards and then settled the two of them on the floor, crossing her legs to create a place for the child to sit.

    Vivian’s little hands loosened from their grip on the back of her collar but then curled into the front of Jade’s shirt as her weight settled onto the woman’s lap. A quiet sniffle rose from her before the little girl buried her face in Jaydn’s chest.

    Bowing her head over Vivi, Jade breathed her in, eyes fluttering shut as she felt knots of tension begin to ease as they only did in these sheltered moments, so far from the bloodshed of the hunter’s day-to-day business.

    Vivian trembled against her, a hiccup escaping her. If she’d looked at her face, Jade knew the toddler would be nearing full-on waterworks again.

    A soundless exhale leaving her, Jade rested her cheek against her niece’s mussed curls, eyes still closed. It had been some time since her last visit, but she hadn’t felt it safe enough to come until just a handful of days ago. And security was everything, because if he caught wind of Jaydn’s attachment to this faultless, elfin child—

    “I want you to stay,” Vivian burst out before Jade’s razor sharp mind could envision an even blacker future. Clinging close, Vivi pressed her damp face closer to her aunt’s shirt, seeking comfort.

    Jade pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, amongst loose, golden curls. “I can’t.”

    A long sniff came from the five-year-old. “But I love you and it makes me sad when you’re gone.”

    “I know. But I cannot, Vivian.” Too long, she’d been striving to bury any hint of emotion. There was little trace of sentiment in her low, modulated tone as she sought to reassure Vivian.

    However, that she spoke at all seemed to be enough for the child who was so desperate for Jade’s consistent presence in her life. Even though a muted sob wracked Vivi’s small body, she gave a tremulous nod.

    “Because you’ve gotta rescue Momma, and Gramma, and Grampa, right?”

    Smooth, deadly hands curled into fists. There was no other external reaction. “Yes.”

    Dad and Ruusan. Vivian didn’t know about her grandmother yet and would not for a significant portion of time if Jade had any say in the matter.

    “But when you bring them home, you’ll stay?” Vivian pleaded, tilting her head back to look up at the hunter—killer—green eyes still watery. 

    Jade stared back, dispassionate even in the face of this whole-hearted, trusting emotion.

    This small child, who loved her so guilelessly, oblivious to the danger that every stolen moment brought to her. When Vivian’s lower lip, one half of her rosebud mouth, wobbled with her upset, Jaydn relented.

    “I will visit.” It was all she could offer. There was no telling what would happen when she was able to leave this nightmare behind and put it to rest. The blood staining her soul would be inescapable by then.

     Vivian nodded several times, reminiscent of a tourist’s bobble-head and then buried her face against Jade’s chest once more. “I love you, Aunt Jade. So, so much.”

    “…Aa,” the woman breathed, bending her neck to inhale the calming fragrance of flowers and a hint of Charle’s cologne from her niece’s hair. 

    This was the most she could offer—the most she would ever be able to offer. Moments in the dark, stolen meetings while the rest of the world slumbered.

    Anything else was too dangerous. She shouldn’t have been coming at all, but Vivian was the one thing she had been unable to give up. Everything else had been sacrificed—friends, attachments, choices, morals—but not Vivian.

    Sweet, little Vivian with her elfin visage and soft, gold curls. The only light twinkling in Jade’s black sky, not untouched, but as of yet untainted by evil.

    

    Puir, wee Vivi. I put her little heart through so much. But her Momma goes through way more than she does. Poor Ruu.

    At any rate, there were some allusions to the situation Jade finds herself in, and I can't remember if I explained it in a previous post, so allow me to expound.

    Some big, powerful evil baddie captured Novarr, Sarris, and Ruusan (somehow missing Vivian) back when Vivian was just a few months old, and used the three of them as leverage to get to Jade and use her for his own devices. She's made an effort to find them so she can rescue them, but it's slow going because if the darkness-shrouded he realizes what she's up to, he'll just kill one of them.

    Sarris didn't make it, though. Probably between Jade initially digging in her heels and Sarris' own resistance to be used as a pawn, Evil Puppetmaster knocked her off both to keep Jade in line and so he didn't have to deal with Sarris anymore. 

    Now I feel bad for Novarr, because last time Sarris died before him he just kind of faded and then died as well before too long. Very sad.

    Anyways. Charles, who some of you might recall as an informant friend of Jaydn's who originated in the Steampunk Storyline way back when, is now raising Vivian. They're holed up on some backwater planet under a pile of aliases and no doubt moving often to keep Evil Puppermaster off their scent, just in case.

    Jade visits occasionally, but it's dangerous.

    And, yeah. It's a mess. Woot woot. 

    I have no idea when I'll post next. My brain is quite burnt-out after NaNo and I'm attempting to give it a break before attempting any more serious writing, along with continuing on Anomaly, Not Prodigy. Because, of course, 50,000 words was only scratching the surface. ::sigh::

    Thoughts are welcome, as always. I hope you all are doing well and that life isn't too stressful as the Christmas holidays approach with concerning rapidity.

    Thank you for reading!

    Ad astra per aspera.

    To the stars, through difficulties.