Tribal Queen

Below you will find quotes taken directly or paraphrased from the movie 'Labyrinth'. You know, the one starring David Bowie's bulge. Send in one of the following to see how my muse reacts:

❝ I ask for so little. ❞

❝ Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want. ❞

❝ Just fear me, love me - do as I say and I will be your slave.❞

❝ You remind me of the babe. ❞

❝ That’s not fair! ❞

❝ Give me the child. ❞

❝ You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is? ❞

❝ I have been generous up ‘til now; I can be cruel. ❞

❝ You cowered before me, I was frightening. ❞

❝ I have reordered time; I have turned this world upside down, and I have done it all for you! ❞

❝ I am exhausted from living up to your expectations. ❞

❝ Isn’t that generous? ❞

❝ Your mother is a fraggin’ aardvark! ❞

❝ Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you. ❞

❝ I move the stars for no one. ❞

❝ Your eyes can be so cruel. ❞

❝ If she ever kisses you, I’ll turn you into a prince. ❞

❝ If he ever kisses you, I’ll turn you into a princess. ❞

❝ You’re him, aren’t you? ❞

❝ You’re her, aren’t you? ❞

❝ My will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great. ❞

❝ You have no power over me. ❞

❝ How you turn my world, you precious thing. ❞

❝ Well then, come on, which way? ❞

❝ Which way do you want to go, hm? ❞

❝ Was that wrong? ❞

❝ I’ve brought you a gift. ❞

❝ But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. ❞

❝ In nine hours and twenty-three minutes…you’ll be mine. ❞

❝ Where you goin’ with a head like that? ❞

❝ No, I said ‘allo’, but that’s close enough. ❞

❝ It’s only forever, not long at all. ❞

❝ All right then, throw down your weapons, and I’ll see that you’re well-treated. ❞

❝ Don’t tell me truth hurts, because it hurts like hell. ❞

❝ No one can blame you for walking away. ❞

❝ I don’t know why, but every now and again in my life - for no reason at all - I need you. ❞

❝ The way forward is sometimes the way back. ❞

❝ It’s very rude to stare! ❞

❝ What did you have to go and do a thing like that for? ❞

❝ What’d you expect fairies to do? ❞

❝ What’s the matter, my dear, don’t like your toys? ❞

❝ There’s such a sad love, deep in your eyes. ❞

❝ I’ll place the sky within your eyes. ❞

❝ What kind of magic spell to use? ❞

❝ I’ll paint you mornings of gold. ❞

❝ I’ll spin you Valentine evenings. ❞

❝ I’ll be there for you as the world falls down. ❞

❝ We’re choosing the path between the stars. ❞

❝ I’ll leave my love between the stars. ❞

❝ How you turned my world, you precious thing. ❞

❝ You starve and near exhaust me. ❞

❝ I do believe in you. ❞

❝ I live without the sunlight. ❞

❝ I love without your heartbeat. ❞

Poor program. She didn’t deserve this, but Nox wasn’t immune to the same desires that so controlled his master; he was just better at controlling them. Now, though, the control was slipping.

“Sнн. Dσп'т –” He was hissing, a mess of infection, the cracks in his façade showing through.“Iт шσп'т нυят ғσя ʟσпɢ.” He reached for her, his gloves peeling back to reveal the cracks in his skin that glowed with infection, the constant pain of a virus with self-control.

There was the solid thump of someone landing, and Nox was yanked backward physically, a hooded figure matching his snarls. The new one’s face was covered in a helmet, like many programs, and its circuits were hidden under a long cloak, although infection trailed behind it, wherever its boots hit the ground. The two circled each other for a moment, but the newcomer stopped walking when it was in front of Quorra.

“Ƭσυcн нєя αη∂ ∂ιє,” it snarled at the infected guard, who jolted back like he’d been hit.

“Vιrα?”

     She knew that voice. Knew it all too well–a fact that would put any of her friends in a stall if they found out. It was the ISO’s most unlikely secret, << her suicide, >> they would say–and yet, who was it saving her now?

    “Vir-Rr-a…?”

     The familiar name barely escaped her vocal processor before cancelling. The street-tile was cold beneath her cheek, skin hot from the fluctuating energy; she hissed in pain, gripping her palm to stop the voxels from spilling. 

     “Vira– oh my Us-s-s-er–”

“Nox.” She was angry, beyond angry, but her tone was nothing but command.

“Master.” Nox knew when he was in trouble; he’d never seen Vira defend one who wasn’t of their pack. “How can I help?” She wouldn’t want apologies until later. for now, Vira would want help.

“How do I fix this?” The words came out in a jagged hiss. “If she derezzes, it is on your head.”

“Understood.” Nox stepped forward, and Vira snarled involuntarily. The two eyed one another for a moment before she nodded slowly and he approached. He picked up the ISO’s disc, weighing it in his hand a moment. As a guard, he would’ve been authorized to inject energy into the program. As a virus, he could do the same, but with more .... disastrous consequences.

“Talk, Nox.”

“You - don’t want her a virus, do you?”

“No.”

“I can only do so much, then.” He gestured to her. “She needs energy. We cannot give it.” He snapped the disc onto the woman’s back, ignoring the surge of {hunger.want.need} that surged through him. He was strong enough. “She’ll be online in microcycles.” A moment passed. “I’m sorry, master.”

“Purpose?” The bitter laugh that escaped her was unsettling. “To let me taste freedom and entrap me again? To let me escape from Rhys,” Her voice shook on the name, the same one tattoo’d across her neck, the one no amount of ink would hide from her eyes, but she soldiered on, “only to place me back in the hands of another man who thinks that he can own me?” She bared her teeth in a snarl. “‘Safety’ et ‘civilization’ mean nothing to me. My tribe was safe before you tore us apart. More than safe, we were happy.” She glanced up at him from under her lashes -  a look that always came before she tried for one of his soft spots, physically or otherwise. “All my children, Alexus, the ones you loved. Think on them. Where are they? Do you think they are safe, here, in the Legion?” She shook her head. “I was a child of the Legion. The girls, they will never be safe. Not until they are dead.”

          He cast a look her way – One which may have been interpreted as scathing, but in his mind he only questioned how such a viper of spirit would be nested in the body of a woman of all things. He both hoped and feared their son would take that from her.

         "Not everything is about how you feel, dulcissima. Even were you a man, it would still not be about only you.” The decanus forced himself to face her, stomach turning as much as body as he did. “They will serve their purpose as we do ours,” he insisted, hating that edge of pleading in his own tone. “And one day maybe things will be different, but they are as they are now and you waste your energy fighting it.“ A gentle hand raised almost to her arm in a forced motion of tenderness. He recoiled before drawing too close.

Empathy did not come naturally to Vira. The idea of appealing to what Alexus could understand was foreign, and yet -- perhaps some part of her had learned from her father these past few years. The frumentarii had lost  good soldier when Antos left; even if she was half as talented, she might yet convince this man. She ignored the knowledge that Antos’s tongue hadn’t saved him, in the end.

“The world stays the same until we change it.” ‘We’ was a world her father had taught her; she hated the feel of it. And - yes, Alexus loved children, didn’t he? More than she did, certainly. “Think of what you want for your son. To fight the same battles you fight? To die in this desert the same way my family has? The way your family has?” She chased his hand, gripping it tightly. Touch will make people like you, Antos’s voice echoed in her mind. “You know the Legion is not the way. You must.” Her gaze probed his  . “You knew my father; you knew Nox. Surely they discussed this?”

     “Sure, I knew her. Before the Purge.”