Soul Soup
- Locked due to inactivity on Aug 7, '20 3:54am
Thread Topic: Soul Soup
-
Based on the Death roleplay. Any additional lore, history, and rules about the world can be found here
Themes: Death and Love
Warnings: Death, homophobic slur, abuse
"What's your name, kid?" Valencia asks the trembling soul. She was spinning her dagger around nonchalantly, a message that she would not hesitate to use it on the scared girl.
"I'm not a kid," The soul retorted bluntly, but it was clear that she was terrified with how much she was shaking.
Valencia was a perderent, out on a mission to hunt down the troubling soul that was running around and avoiding being caught and taken to the trials.
Jasmine was said soul. She didn't trust anyone from this crazy dimension ever since dying. She evaded all their attempts at apprehending her.
Valencia sighs. "I reckon no one's cornered you this closely before, so let me explain the rules since you don't seem to know them. The longer you stay here, the more you corrupt. You have to be taken to the trials and then from there sent to your afterlife. This place you're in now, this entire plane of existence, is nothing but a stepping stone. A hallway." Valencia says.
Jasmine proceeds to spit on Valencia's foot.
"God damn- get back here!" Valencia yells at Jasmine, who is trying to use this opportunity to run away. Valencia grabs hold of Jasmine's long hair and abruptly makes her lose her footing and fall on top of her.
"Get off of me!" Valencia says from underneath Jasmine. Jasmine wrestles Valencia's knife out of her hand and then throws it.
Valencia still had plenty of weapons on her, but she couldn't reach them in this position. She looks more embarrassed rather than angry. A trained perderent and she was bested by a random soul?
Jasmine does something unexpected. She hugs Valencia and burrows her face onto her shoulder. "My name is Jasmine. You're the first person to not try and stab me onsight and actually explain things. If you have any humanity you'll help me," Jasmine begs.
Valencia is taken aback by the hug, but when she hears Jasmine's plea she scoffs. "Humanity, huh? I'm no human. Why should I follow your morals?" Valencia asks.
Jasmine studies Valencia. She was right. Valencia had goat-like demon horns, sharp teeth, black eyes, and sharp nails. But if not for those small differences, Jasmine would think that Valencia was a human without a second thought. Her skin was caramel colored, her hair was a mess of curls.
Jasmine realizes she hasn't replied, she flushes and says, "When I died," Jasmine hates saying it out loud, hates acknowledging the fact that she's really dead, "I-I was arguing with my parents. They were drunk and angry. I tried coming out to them, but they said they didn't want to hear it," As Jasmine told her story, Valencia quietly used her powers of metal manipulation to make her dagger slowly creep back into her hand.
"Dad was always abusive, but mom was usually one of his victims, so I didn't think that she would ever take his side. They said they didn't want to raise a bunch of fágs. Mom picked up a knife from the kitchen drawer. Dad picked up great great grandma's walking stick. It used to hang on the wall in the living room.. but he was planning to sell it for beer money. An- Anyway they started to b.. beat and stab me to death.. I tried to protect her, but they did the same to my little sister Riley," Jasmine was sobbing now, staining Valencia's shirt with tears.
Valencia now had her dagger, but how could she use it now? She sighed.
"Stop straddling me and get up. We can't talk here, my mortem partner isn't far." Valencia says stoicly. Jasmine, sniffling, does as she's told. Valencia sheaths her dagger and grabs hold of Jasmine's arm. She starts walking deeper into the forest that they stood in.
"Where are you taking me?" Jasmine finally asks once they've walked in silence for 5 minutes or so.
Valencia ignores her. Jasmine huffs.
They emerge from the brush and out into a clearing. There was a glistening body of water there, perhaps a small lake.
Valencia takes off her shoes, her jacket, and her weapons. As she takes all of this off Jasmine realizes that she didn't have just the one dagger. She was a fool for throwing it away earlier.
"Well?" Valencia says with a raised brow, seeing how Jasmine was staring. "You gonna get in or what? Feel free to keep your shirt and pants on," Valencia takes three steps back, then runs and cannonballs into the body of water.
Jasmine hesitantly walks over by the water. She places her feet gingerly into it, and is surprised to feel that it was hot and not the cold she was expecting.
Valencia surfaces and shakes out her wet hair. "It's a hotspring," she explains.
Jasmine doesn't have the heart to get fully into the spring. The past few days have been constant running and hiding, so she was still a bit on edge. She sits on the ground and keeps only her legs in the water.
"Does this mean you're gonna help me?" Jasmine asks. She hadn't felt hopeful in.. well, literally her whole life.
Valencia closes her eyes and swims around the hotspring for a while before answering. "You're trying to find Riley, right?" Valencia asks.
She'd taken the words right out of Jasmine's head. "Yes, yes. Please, you're the first-" Jasmine is cut off as Valencia gently shushes her. "Shhhh," she says.
Jasmine clamps her mouth shut. Whether out of respect or of fear, she didn't know.
"What was your first day here like?" Valencia asks, eyes still closed, but ears wide open.
"Well, I came through the big gate. That's what you guys call it, right? And I tried to go back, cause I just had to save Riley, but it became apparent that you could only go forward, not back. Then someone came in from the gate that looked like her, but..." Jasmine trails off.
"But what?" Valencia prods.
"Well, it couldn't have been her. After a few seconds the girl started turning into this huge black monster that had a bunch of arms. I fled. I thought maybe Riley was somewhere ahead of me. I looked and I looked. They said I had to go to the trials, but I couldn't. Not without Riley. I got out of line. I started running." Jasmine finishes. "If you're gonna try to convince me to go to those damn trials without her I won't even give you the time of day," Jasmine warns Valencia warily.
"I won't, I won't," Valencia promises. "But I fear that I may have even worse news for you." Valencia says.
Jasmine begins crying, already saddened by just the idea of bad news. Bad news, bad news. Why did so many terrible things have to happen to her? What did she ever do to be dealt such a bad hand in the game of life- and now even in death?
Valencia pulls herself up and sits next to Jasmine on the ledge of the spring. She wraps a strong arm around her, partly for comfort and partly so that Jasmine wouldn't try to escape again.
"Remember what I said earlier about corruption? That monster you saw... that was Riley. She was too young, too traumatized. If she really turned that quickly then there was nothing we could do to save her.. she became what we call a ghoul," Valencia explains. Jasmine was hiccuping and heaving now, she latched onto Valencia for support as she took in this information.
"Wh-What'll h... happen t-to h..er?" Jasmine asks between hiccups. Valencia cradles Jasmine and runs a hand through Jasmine's braids.
Valencia told only part of the truth, "If she turned so close to the gate then she'll have been killed by now," Jasmine begins wailing, "Shh shhh, listen. You can't kill a person twice. Being killed here really just means that she became a soul ball," Valencia explains.
"What have they done with her?" Jasmine whispers.
[To be continued] -
"They.. well, they.." Valencia couldn't very well say that Riley got transported into the human world and got rebirthed as a corrupted and evil person. "She got rebirthed. When you die a ghoul, you get rebirthed. It's not something we control, it just happens after the ghoul is defeated," Valencia says.
Jasmine seems to take comfort in this, and Valencia feels horrible for not telling the whole truth.
They stay like that for a while, hugging and clinging like they were each other's first and last hope, but soon Valencia says that she needs to leave.
Jasmine nods in understanding. "W-What was your name?" She asks shakily.
Valencia smiles. "Valencia. And don't worry, I'll be back. Just stay put, next time you see me I'll have gifts," She promises. She is wary of leaving Jasmine on her own, but even if Jasmine runs away Valencia has the skillset to track her down.
Jasmine hates being on her own. No one had shown her so much kindness and understanding, in neither life nor death.
She found herself missing Valencia. She was tall and powerful, but not in a scary way. Jasmine wanted to be held by her again, by her big protective hands. She now regretted not getting into the hotspring and being closer to her.
It was only a few hours before Valencia returned, holding a dufflebag and something else, strapped over her shoulder and hanging on her back.
Jasmine sprung up. "Val!" She greeted excitedly, wondering about the gifts she said she'd bring.
Valencia smiles and says "Jazz!" In reply to the nickname. Jasmine blushes. No one had given her a nickname before, she wasn't exactly a social butterfly.
Valencia sets down her stuff (and Jasmine could now see that she was holding a guitar on her back) and gave Jasmine a hug. Jasmine hugged her back, probably for longer than necessary.
"What did you bring? Why aren't you in trouble? What's in the dufflebag?" Jasmine asks curiously. Valencia pats her on the head and says, "Slow down Jazz. I'm not in trouble cause I told them I lost you. I'm actually not that old.. so I used my inexperience to my advantage," Valencia explains.
Jasmine looks up at the girl, tall and empowering. "How old are you?" Jasmine asks incredulously.
"18," Valencia answers, "You?"
"16," Jasmine says, though this was a small lie. She was 15, but her birthday would've technically been a week away if she hadn't died.
"Cool.. I brought my guitar," Valencia says, changing the subject. "And the duffle has a blanket and some snacks," She says. Jasmine looks slightly disappointed.
"What's wrong?" Valencia asks.
"You promised a gift earlier," Jasmine says deflatedly.
Valencia smirks. "Oh, I see. What better gift than the gift of song?" Valencia says.
Jasmine smiles too, now excited.
"What song?" She asks curiously.
Valencia doesn't answer. She instead goes and collects two logs for them to sit on, and then some sticks and stones for a fire.
"What song? Come one, what is it?" Jasmine asks as Valencia starts up the flame and blows gently on the timbers. The heat kicks up and a little flame starts growing, then gets bigger when she place more sticks to the pile.
Jasmine was right at Valencia's back as she did this. "What song? What song? Give me a hint, please?" Jasmine asks. Valencia stands up but then Jasmine grabs onto her waist.
Valencia sucks in a breath. No amount of training had prepared her for this kind of assault. The kind that made your heart race and made blood rush to your face. The kind that left you unable to land a hit, even when you had an opening.
"Jasmine you're gonna be the death of me," Valencia says with a chuckle. She turns around in the hold so she can face Jasmine, and she puts her arms around her. Jasmine doesn't even know how to react for a good few seconds.
"You're gonna be the death of me if you don't let me know what song you're gonna sing, I didn't even know you could sing!" Jasmine says finally.
"That'll ruin the surprise," Valencia says with a wink. She lets go and goes to pick up her guitar. She then sits on one of the logs and motions for Jasmine to inhabit the other one.
Jasmine, giggling, does as she's told.
Valencia starts to play a chord progression. Jasmine recognizes the tune and smiles. "How do you even know this song? It's so under the radar, even in the human world." Jasmine says.
Valencia smiles too. "I have my ways," she says before singing this song.
[To be continued] -
Jasmine joins in too, helping by providing the drum beat and background vocals. She uses her hands to make a beat from the log. Valencia smiles as they sing together.
"I was thinking maybe you should come with me, you just play your song and I'll accompany, always knew the greatest things in life are free, so I invested my money in your company.. like where you wanna go, girl, I'll take you there, let me put another flower in your hair-" at this part Valencia expertly starts playing with one hand and uses the other one to take a flower from her pocket and gently places it in Jasmine's hair. Jasmine looks surprised and flustered.
"When I'm with you I can't even have a care, take all of my soul, I'm not afraid to share... woah oh oh, I love your soul- I love your, ooooh I really love your- oh oh oh, I love your soul..." Valencia has a surprisingly good singing voice, one you wouldn't expect from someone who looks like a literal demon.
Jasmine joins into the chorus, singing about how much she loves Valencia's soul. Did Valencia even have a soul? It didn't matter to Jasmine, soul or no soul she decided that she likes Valencia regardless of the answer.
Valencia keeps playing and looks at Jasmine expectantly. "Oh no, I'm definitely not a rapper. You gotta do this part, we can sing the end together," Jasmine promises with a smile.
She was smiling. That didn't happen often. Jasmine hoped Riley was smiling too, the reborn baby version of her.
Valencia does so. She closes her eyes, strums the strings, and starts vocalizing the rap part. Jasmine barely hears the lyrics, she's studying Valencia. The way she sang was captivating. Jasmine wishes she could kiss her right on the mouth, just to see if that would work in silencing her or if she could somehow magically sing and kiss her at the same time.
"A little bit o' sunshine in my life," Valencia opens her eyes and looks at Jasmine. The braided young girl starts singing along, and they're both able to close out the song together.
It was now or never. As the silence looms over their little camp, Jasmine sucks in a breath for courage and then leans forward to kiss Valencia.
Valencia tosses the guitar aside and allows the girl to kiss her. She kisses her back wholeheartedly, she even raises her arms and wraps them around Jasmine.
This was Jasmine's first kiss. Usually in stories and media first kisses are always beautiful, lovely, and perfect. This was far from that. They were both inexperienced, they didn't know what to do with their hands and their lips just kind of touched each other without much movement.
Jasmine pulls away with a giggle. "That was awful," she says. Valencia nods in agreement. "Want to try again?" Valencia asks. Jasmine smiles.
The rest of the night was wonderful. They talked for hours, finding that they had more things in common than they thought possible. Anytime a bush rustled Jasmine would leap into Valencia's arms, and Valencia would laugh and tell her that everything was okay. But as the morning came and the sun rose, Valencia looks more and more troubled.
"What's wrong?" Jasmine asks quietly. She was lying in Valencia's lap, watching the sun greet the sky with a pink and orange wave.
"Nothing.." Valencia trails off and then decides to ask, "Jaz, how long have you been in our world?"
"Not long. About three days, maybe four if you count today," Jasmine says sleepily.
Valencia's expression darkens. She chews on her bottom lip nervously, a habit she hadn't indulged in since she was a child.
"Jaz, there's something you should know," Valencia says, but she is met with a tiny snore. Jasmine had fallen asleep.
Valencia begins to cry, another habit she hadn't indulged in for years. Training to be a perderent toughened you out, but no amount of toughness could shield her from the awful truth.
Jasmine would turn into a ghoul soon.
Valencia noticed it first an hour or two after they'd kissed. Jasmine had started to become more solid. Souls are translucent, and a little glowy, like a ghost. This opaqueness was one of the first warning signs of a soul transforming into a ghoul.
It takes a normal soul two weeks tops to turn into a ghoul, but just like her sister Riley, Jasmine had died so traumaticly that the speed at which she'd become a ghoul was significantly faster than normal.
Valencia had never been in love before. How could she fall so quickly and then just as quickly have to have Jasmine snatched from her?
Valencia studies Jasmine. She tries to imagine her as a monster. Her long braids turned into spikes. Her soft hands turned into claws. Her dark brown skin turned even darker until it was jet black. Her beautiful face as a snarled mess of teeth and slobber. It was too hard to imagine.
Valencia felt horrible about it, but she'd lied and said that Riley was simply reborn. Now that her sister was 'safe' would Valencia be able to take her to the trials before it was too late?
Valencia didn't know much about the afterlife, but surely Jasmine would get a good one. She'd get sent to the upper and live out happily in heaven or nirvana or whatever.
Yes, that would be best. Jasmine couldn't stay here. Valencia would rather that she got to be forever happy rather than forever causing the unhappiness of others as a corrupted soul.
Valencia cradles Jasmine in her arms and lets her sleep, all the while tears were creeping from her face and staining Jasmine's shirt.
When Jasmine finally wakes up, it's pass midday. She blinks open her eyes and looks up at Valencia.
Valencia gasps softly. Jasmine's eyes were black around the edges. She only had a few more hours left.
"What's up, Val? You didn't sleep at all?" Jasmine asks with a sheepish smile.
Valencia gulps in some air before replying, "No, silly. You slept right on me, how c-could I?" Valencia's voice cracks and she starts sobbing all over again.
[To be continued] -
Jasmine immediately looks worried and confused. She shoots up from Valencia's lap and grabs her face with two hands. "Are you okay? Was it me- was I heavy?" Jasmine asks.
Valencia can barely speak, she was crying too hard.
Jasmine begins caressing Valencia lovingly, trying to get her to calm down. Valencia leans into her touch, knowing full well that it wouldn't last much longer.
"Val please, tell me what's wrong," Jasmine begs, tears of her own starting to form. Did she do something wrong? Was it her fault?
Valencia takes some deep breaths and finally eases up the onslaught of tears. Her eyes were red, it was apparent that she'd been crying long before Jasmine woke up. Jasmine could tell, too. Her eyes would often look like that after waking up sore from the previous day's beating.
"How long were you crying for?" Jasmine asks, her breath barely above a whisper.
Valencia looks away in embarrassment, trying to hide her puffy cheeks and her runny nose. "Long enough to get a headache," Valencia answers solemnly.
"Can you tell me why?" Jasmine asks. Valencia turns and looks Jasmine in the eyes, right where they were starting to turn black around the edges, and she can feel a pang of anxiety and heartbreak.
"You're gonna turn into a ghoul. Just like your sister did." Valencia hates saying it out loud, hates acknowledging the fact that she's really going to lose Jasmine.
Jasmine takes in this information and frowns. "Oh. Oh. Right. Of course. We never should've did this, huh? We never should've-" Jasmine puts a hand over her mouth, like she was trying to stop herself from throwing up. Tears start streaming down her face.
"Jasmine, it's okay. If we can get you to the trials before that happens, you can go to the afterlife. You can be happy," Valencia says. She sniffs, but her tears are gone now. She has to be strong, she has to be strong for Jasmine.
Jasmine shakes and cries, and Valencia is reminded of when they first met. Was it really just yesterday? She only spent a day with her, yet Valencia felt like she wouldn't mind spending an eternity with Jasmine.
Jasmine rasps and finally replies, "No no. This is okay. If I turn you can just kill me. I'll be reborn, I might meet Riley again in my next life."
"That's not such a good idea. It's not like you'll recognize her. You'll be a whole new person, you'll forget everything, you'll.." Valencia has to stop herself from saying 'youll be corrupted and born evil, and your ghoul will remain in the human world corrupting a new child everytime you die instead of going to the Netherworld. It's an inescapable cycle that brings constant evil into the human world.'
Jasmine looks conflicted. "I don't wanna forget you," She squeaks out quietly, like a frightened mouse caught in a trap.
"Take my hand, and I'll take you to the trials. I'm sure you'll get good accommodations. If my peers ask I can say I returned to my mission and found you in this forest. Everything will be alright," Valencia offers.
Jasmine shakes her head no vigorously. "It won't be alright! I'll have to leave you! How can I have a happy afterlife without the one I love? How?!" Jasmine is screaming now. Her eyes are almost fully black.
"Calm down!" Valencia screams back in a panicked voice.
Jasmine paces around the hotspring, still yelling. "How could you throw this huge decision on me? Why is your world so stupid? I want to stay! Why can't I stay with you? I've never gotten what I wanted, everything is always beaten away from me, everything is always out of my control!" Jasmine's eyes are black now. Not a good sign.
"Jasmine, please," Valencia pleads. She falls to her knees, watching the situation unfold. If Jasmine sped up the process by being so angry like this, that meant there was only one thing Valencia could do. She hated this option with all of her being.
"Please what? Why is everything always like this? My dad would beat me half to death every day, but then my mom had another kid and I found hope! I had something worth fighting for! Then I finally realized a huge part of my identity, and I find the bravery to tell my folks, and they beat me and my hope to death together! So then I'm here, and I'm hopeless, but I found you and you're so gentle and nice a-and caring and protective and I thought I'd never love someone like this again. Now you say I can't even have you anymore? Why? WHY? Life is unfair! Death is unfair! What did I do to deserve this?!" Jasmine's fingertips start turning black. In just a few minutes it would creep up her hands, her arms, and her torso until it engulfed her entirely.
Valencia's out of time.
She runs to the dufflebag and takes out one of her weapons- the dagger that Jasmine had tossed away when they first met- and she rushes to Jasmine.
Valencia tackles Jasmine, and they fall into the hotspring together. They can't speak, but Jasmine registers the weapon in her hand and her eyes fill up with panick. In a split second, it turns into understanding, and then forgiveness.
As they sink in slow motion, they don't even need words. Valencia is sorry. Jasmine is sorry. They both stare into each other's eyes for a second longer, and they can both see "I love you".
But it was only a fleeting second.
Valencia stabs Jasmine square in the heart, her aim perfect even under water. Training had taught her well.
Jasmine closes her eyes, her hair floating all around her, framing her like a deity of beauty, before she starts morphing and shrinking into the form of a soul ball. There was no shout. There was no pain.
Valencia drops the dagger and scoops up Jasmine's soul. She cups her in the palms of her hands and then swims up the the top of the hotspring to breathe.
Valencia emerges from the hotspring, and coming out of the water reminds her just how cold this godforsaken forest is.
Cold, dark, taunting. Valencia didn't want to stay here any longer.
Valencia leaves her things. The guitar would only bring heartbreaking memories. The dufflebag was replaceable. The dagger was a painful reminder of the deed she did.. Let it stay at the bottom of the water, she had plenty of weapons anyway.
Jasmine's soul is a dazzling light blue. The soul balls ranged in color, but most were blue. Jasmine's soul was so light, it was almost white. Even with the corruption settling into her, it's like that wasn't nearly enough to impurify her. She was beautiful in every shape and form.
Valencia started her trek to the trials. She wasn't a mortem, she didn't know the enchantment to hold Jasmine in an object. Valencia had to take her by hand, which she didn't mind.
Holding Jasmine was like holding light itself.
There was barely enough words to describe the feeling of someone's soul. It was hot and cold, loud and quiet. One wrong move and Valencia could easily imagine Jasmine slipping away.
"I'm sorry that I love you," Valencia whispers to the ball, unsure if Jasmine could even understand her now. She was close to the ignis building.
"You'll be tried. You'll afterlive happily ever after. You'll finally find the answer to all the questions that you asked earlier. You'll know peace. You'll love yourself just as much as I love you, just as much as I always will," Valencia promises soothingly.
They were empty words.
This was not a happy ending.
...But it was the only good enough ending Valencia could promise Jasmine. She pushes away her tears. She's cried enough already. Now she has to be strong, she has to be strong for Jasmine.
Strange how messed up this world was. Why did things have to be the way they were? The Netherworld, full of lost souls in need of guidance, yet the guidance provided were just as imperfect, just as flawed and fragile as the human souls.
[To be continued] -
What made a soul a soul? Infernums had souls too, after all. What even is a soul?
Is it a feeling?
An emotion?
The core of someone's being?
The personification of the idea of a person?
Or was it all just a mess of imperfection and flaws and weaknesses, but formed in a way that shows the aesthetic beauty of said imperfectivity?
Hogwash, was what it was. Atleast, that's what Valencia thought.
Souls were a mess. Souls were an amalgamation of everything a being is. It's garbled like jumbo, it's jumbled into soul soup, and it's a messy and ravishing reminder of a person.
Soul soup, this world was.
This entire world, created and crafted by the hands of a cruel goddess. These beings made just to look after a different species for all of eternity. This entire world, full of lost souls, not all of which were human. This world, this stupid dumb world, this cruel world of soul soup known as the Netherworld.
Valencia raised Jasmine's soul to her lips and gave her a kiss goodbye.
[The end!] -
This story is so beautiful, it genuinely made me cry
-
Thank you!! I was going for a star-crossed lovers type of story, the ending was hard to write out even for me ;(
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