Concept
A N D R O M E D A B A I R
"Andromeda Jynn Bair. You were arrested for your crimes in the country of Isola on charges of human trafficking and illegal use of magic on civilians. After further being charged for the murder of five guards at Eury State Prison, you were handed over to the jurisdiction of the Consortium to be given your final sentence. You have been found guilty on all charges, and have been sentenced to death upon your transference into our custody. The time has come for you to be formally executed for your various crimes against the Consortium, the city of Isola, and human society as a whole. Do you have any last words before we proceed?"
The Executives sitting at the table across the room like judges at a twisted panel waited for what usually was a loud and defiant exclamation of innocence, revenge, or general accusatory cussing. But the woman staring down at them in the middle of the room on a raised platform merely offered a miraculously indifferent, "No."
The cold, smooth steel of thick cuffs were digging into the skin around Andi's wrists and ankles, binding them together, respectively. They were unlike the roughly textured black rope wrapped very tightly around her neck, it's end fixed into the ceiling. It just barely gave her enough slack to support herself on the balls of her feet; lucky that Andi was used to wearing heels and standing in this very way or else she'd have been in trouble before the whole thing began.
"No? Having trouble speaking, there, Bair?" snorted the suit standing halfway between the woman and his empty seat at the table. It was Evan Kessler, the man whom she'd supposedly wronged by bewitching his daughter into working at Miss Neela's. It couldn't have been more obvious that after these seven months apart, he was still as furious as ever. "Would you like us to loosen that rope a little for you? Or is that not how your old Johns used to do it?"
He and a few of the other men who had been former patrons as well laughed at the joke, thinking themselves clever. Andromeda remained silent, partly because she wasn't going to give them any satisfaction, and partly because the door to the room had just opened. The company all turned their heads toward the entryway as - much to Andi's surprise - in walked Malina Kessler; or Raine, as the young woman had been known at the house. Although there wasn't much of a change in Andromeda's outward countenance, a strange pit plunked itself right in the middle of her stomach as she met the hazel eyes of a girl whom she considered something akin to a daughter.
Malina herself looked frightened, and very much uncomfortable in the layers upon layers of clothing she was wrapped in. Presumably dressed to her father's orders, Andromeda could only imagine what other punishments this girl had gone through after returning home from the fiasco all those months ago. Her pallor was pasty, contrasting the dark, purple circles underneath her eyes. Andi noted that her appearance was only a step away from reflecting her own, simply minus the bruises, cuts, and malnourishment. "Come here, dove," Evan cooed, attempting to soothe his daughter by wrapping an arm around her shoulder as they climbed the stairway towards her old boss. "Today, we are going to get revenge for all the time you were under this bitch's spell..."
The room grew silent as the two stopped in front of a podium bearing a lever, in front of and a few feet away from Andromeda. There was tangible anticipation in the room, and Andi felt if she broke from Malina's gaze for even so much as a second, the world would crash down and open up to swallow them all right then and there.
So she didn't. And Malina - No. Raine's eyes didn't waver from Andromeda's blue ones as she wrapped her hands around the lever handle. Evan was instructing her to do so, but it felt to Andi as if someone had turned the volume knob down in her mind, and all she could hear was a buzzing. Through the buzzing came the loud click of the switch as the lever locked into place on the opposite side of where it was resting. Suddenly the floor beneath Andromeda's feet began to fall away, though they continued to search for it frantically.
Buzz.
It's not your fault.
Andi's body flailed above the small crowd, simultaneously convulsing from a rejection of reality and hopeless attempts to triple her strength somehow and break free of the restraints.
Buzz.
I forgive you.
Still, her wide eyes kept their hold on Raine's, who was now level with the panel of Executives. The raised platform had folded itself into the floor, completely disappearing from sight. The girl held her head high and remained connected through her tears, also seemingly deaf to whatever her father was gleefully murmuring in her ear.
Buzz.
I'm sorry. It's okay.
And then, the weight of everything became too much. Andromeda slipped away into darkness.
Waves. A strange sensation.
The darkness in which Andromeda had been floating in for what felt like eternity was all of a sudden being disrupted. Something was washing over her wave by wave, pulling her closer to the surface until suddenly she was very aware of the sensation of a body. Her body? It must be. Her cheek pressed against something hard?
What was this?
Slowly, Andi commanded her neurons to pull back her eyelids, testing out her theory. Huh. It was her body. Or, perhaps it wasn't her body, but her consciousness in another's body? No, that would be impossible. Then again, this should be impossible. Whatever was happening right now. The sight before her eyes. The fact that she was seeing anything at all.
Wasn't she dead?
Maybe she was still dead, but she'd finally made it to the afterlife, or whatever. About damn time.
After a few more moments of internally checking her physical inventory, the woman let herself scan the situation from where she lay - which, by the way, was on the wet concrete of some warehouse, amongst what looked like other people in similar predicaments. Or maybe not. Perhaps they were all actors in a weird dream she was having.
In any case, it seemed that there were two women already up and about. Andromeda decided that keeping prone wouldn't get her any answers, so she cautiously pushed herself up from the floor into a sitting position, propping herself against a box that happened to be behind her. Glancing down, she confirmed that this was indeed her body. Currently she was wearing a long, turquoise cotton dress and black, chunky heels that only added two inches to her height. Simple and relatively casual compared to what she would have preferred to make her comeback in. But it would have to do.
Wary and yet highly curious, she returned her attention to her environment. There was nothing to do but wait, since she certainly wasn't going to make any first moves. So she kept quiet and merely observed what would happen next, occasionally stretching a finger or twitching a toe to see if she still could.
"Andromeda Jynn Bair. You were arrested for your crimes in the country of Isola on charges of human trafficking and illegal use of magic on civilians. After further being charged for the murder of five guards at Eury State Prison, you were handed over to the jurisdiction of the Consortium to be given your final sentence. You have been found guilty on all charges, and have been sentenced to death upon your transference into our custody. The time has come for you to be formally executed for your various crimes against the Consortium, the city of Isola, and human society as a whole. Do you have any last words before we proceed?"
The Executives sitting at the table across the room like judges at a twisted panel waited for what usually was a loud and defiant exclamation of innocence, revenge, or general accusatory cussing. But the woman staring down at them in the middle of the room on a raised platform merely offered a miraculously indifferent, "No."
The cold, smooth steel of thick cuffs were digging into the skin around Andi's wrists and ankles, binding them together, respectively. They were unlike the roughly textured black rope wrapped very tightly around her neck, it's end fixed into the ceiling. It just barely gave her enough slack to support herself on the balls of her feet; lucky that Andi was used to wearing heels and standing in this very way or else she'd have been in trouble before the whole thing began.
"No? Having trouble speaking, there, Bair?" snorted the suit standing halfway between the woman and his empty seat at the table. It was Evan Kessler, the man whom she'd supposedly wronged by bewitching his daughter into working at Miss Neela's. It couldn't have been more obvious that after these seven months apart, he was still as furious as ever. "Would you like us to loosen that rope a little for you? Or is that not how your old Johns used to do it?"
He and a few of the other men who had been former patrons as well laughed at the joke, thinking themselves clever. Andromeda remained silent, partly because she wasn't going to give them any satisfaction, and partly because the door to the room had just opened. The company all turned their heads toward the entryway as - much to Andi's surprise - in walked Malina Kessler; or Raine, as the young woman had been known at the house. Although there wasn't much of a change in Andromeda's outward countenance, a strange pit plunked itself right in the middle of her stomach as she met the hazel eyes of a girl whom she considered something akin to a daughter.
Malina herself looked frightened, and very much uncomfortable in the layers upon layers of clothing she was wrapped in. Presumably dressed to her father's orders, Andromeda could only imagine what other punishments this girl had gone through after returning home from the fiasco all those months ago. Her pallor was pasty, contrasting the dark, purple circles underneath her eyes. Andi noted that her appearance was only a step away from reflecting her own, simply minus the bruises, cuts, and malnourishment. "Come here, dove," Evan cooed, attempting to soothe his daughter by wrapping an arm around her shoulder as they climbed the stairway towards her old boss. "Today, we are going to get revenge for all the time you were under this bitch's spell..."
The room grew silent as the two stopped in front of a podium bearing a lever, in front of and a few feet away from Andromeda. There was tangible anticipation in the room, and Andi felt if she broke from Malina's gaze for even so much as a second, the world would crash down and open up to swallow them all right then and there.
So she didn't. And Malina - No. Raine's eyes didn't waver from Andromeda's blue ones as she wrapped her hands around the lever handle. Evan was instructing her to do so, but it felt to Andi as if someone had turned the volume knob down in her mind, and all she could hear was a buzzing. Through the buzzing came the loud click of the switch as the lever locked into place on the opposite side of where it was resting. Suddenly the floor beneath Andromeda's feet began to fall away, though they continued to search for it frantically.
Buzz.
It's not your fault.
Andi's body flailed above the small crowd, simultaneously convulsing from a rejection of reality and hopeless attempts to triple her strength somehow and break free of the restraints.
Buzz.
I forgive you.
Still, her wide eyes kept their hold on Raine's, who was now level with the panel of Executives. The raised platform had folded itself into the floor, completely disappearing from sight. The girl held her head high and remained connected through her tears, also seemingly deaf to whatever her father was gleefully murmuring in her ear.
Buzz.
I'm sorry. It's okay.
And then, the weight of everything became too much. Andromeda slipped away into darkness.
------- S I X M O N T H S L A T E R -------
Waves. A strange sensation.
The darkness in which Andromeda had been floating in for what felt like eternity was all of a sudden being disrupted. Something was washing over her wave by wave, pulling her closer to the surface until suddenly she was very aware of the sensation of a body. Her body? It must be. Her cheek pressed against something hard?
What was this?
Slowly, Andi commanded her neurons to pull back her eyelids, testing out her theory. Huh. It was her body. Or, perhaps it wasn't her body, but her consciousness in another's body? No, that would be impossible. Then again, this should be impossible. Whatever was happening right now. The sight before her eyes. The fact that she was seeing anything at all.
Wasn't she dead?
Maybe she was still dead, but she'd finally made it to the afterlife, or whatever. About damn time.
After a few more moments of internally checking her physical inventory, the woman let herself scan the situation from where she lay - which, by the way, was on the wet concrete of some warehouse, amongst what looked like other people in similar predicaments. Or maybe not. Perhaps they were all actors in a weird dream she was having.
In any case, it seemed that there were two women already up and about. Andromeda decided that keeping prone wouldn't get her any answers, so she cautiously pushed herself up from the floor into a sitting position, propping herself against a box that happened to be behind her. Glancing down, she confirmed that this was indeed her body. Currently she was wearing a long, turquoise cotton dress and black, chunky heels that only added two inches to her height. Simple and relatively casual compared to what she would have preferred to make her comeback in. But it would have to do.
Wary and yet highly curious, she returned her attention to her environment. There was nothing to do but wait, since she certainly wasn't going to make any first moves. So she kept quiet and merely observed what would happen next, occasionally stretching a finger or twitching a toe to see if she still could.
