Renata

It happened while cleaning up a spill of mishandled chemicals. Someone sneezed out a tiny bit of fire, and now suddenly the entire lab – nay, all of the organization – was in great peril. It would take the quick wits and quicker reflexes of three great chemical engineers to preserve the state of the pristine snow world around them. The main line of action available involved evacuation, temperature control, and leakage prevention, and it would take all three members of this group to stop this chaos.

Renata paced back and forth. She felt her heart sank to her feet, unsure if she would be able to complete her assigned task. She can picture tiny self trying to calm the hazardous sea of flame and toxic fumes. Sharp sirens blaring through the dragon-voided walls of the site, if she was to meet her end here, it was likely that none would be able to come for help. Of course, there was always the choice of fleeing to protect herself, but between the death of one and the death of thousands, there is almost no choice at all. She zipped up her suit, stretched the latex over her claws and fixed the filters on her mask. It'd be quite ineffective against the PM1 air as the mask couldn't provide absolute purity Her claws neared one another as she focused more, the points curling into sharp Cs of pain and worry. Her heart fluttered with worry for herself and for her beloved. What would he say if she let the lab die?

She shook herself from her thoughts and started to steadily increase the strength of the ice magic, feeling the heat around her dissipating. Her eyes widened as she focused this magic more and kept walking, her body almost bending against the waves of heat as she walked forward. There was the bends of air from the heat itself and her fast metabolism, so she had to take that into account.

Suddenly, her fears piqued her again. In front of her eyes, there roared an enormous fire coming from the sources of more spills. This was not shaping up to be a very good situation at all, as this was near the source of the accidents. She felt the smoke starting to really get to her, her body almost buckling under the weight of the heat and her fast metabolism. She didn’t know if she could last.

I can’t do this…

No. Wait. This wasn’t the time to doubt or put her doubts before others’ safety. It was time to step up and fulfill her role effectively. It was time to be a heroine. Her eyes glowed with the coldness within her being, the ice within her soul. Turn the pain into power… Such was the plan. Already, she felt the fire starting to roar less and less, the heat waves’ bending starting to flatten out. It was happening. The fire going out.

Her eyes were starting to close. This was more taxing because of something she’d forgotten in her worry. She had no oxygen tank, and she’d inhaled too much of the smoke. She didn’t know if there would be a future now of her, but at least the future of the lab was guaranteed now. She’d served herself well, at least for the time being… Now here she could lay, among an extinguished lab, everyone alive but her.

Tiny feet pattered down a flat slope, the smack of foot against rock echoing around the tunnel. The dragon that was carried by those feet looked focused as she hurried along, walking as if she could not care less about the ominous length of the corridor that did not seem to have an end. In the Fae's hands were a stack of papers held together in a binder, and dangling down from her neck was a set of keys attached to nothing but a deep green string. Her wings were a burst of colour against the almost pitch black walls that were illuminated only by mellow crystals that emitted a low hum, a tune only she could hear. It was quiet in there. The hustle and bustle of the ground above was drowned out the further Renata went, leaving that ever expanding mind of hers to think.

Slowing down to a halt, a metal door stood in her way like a barricade blocked a butterfly. It was no match for the Fae. Keys jingled, a smooth click followed, a small push and the barricade swung wide open, defeated with such simple actions. Light and heat flowed out and blinded Renata, squinting her eyes to try and see ahead of the sheet of white. Slipping past the door, she disappeared from the world of cold and ice. The door firmly shut behind her.

It was a feat of science and engineering. One could easily forget of the brutal snow that laid just above by the life that flourished and danced under the sunlight. Insects buzzed, flowers bloomed, trees blossomed, there was no sign of death in the mystical garden. Renata tottered along the gravel path, winding and twisting her way between each showcase of beauties of plants. Carefully engraved signs stood proudly in front of each specimen, informing the reader of the scientific name and species of plant it protects. From daisies to ghostly orchids to fragile lilacs, the place had it all.

Renata ignored it all. Instead she hastily moved forwards, looking away from the regal dragonflies zipping over water lilies suspended on murky ponds. Even the wide, gorgeous flowers coloured with misty purple petals could not attract her attention. The Fae could only think about one thing. That one thing that she had been working on for the past couple months. She turned a sharp corner and brushed aside black curtains, entering a climate of the perfect warmth for a newly hatched dragon. It was pitch black.

With a flick of her claw a soft blue spotlight shone. A glass tank was revealed, a curiously white soil filling it half way. Slowly, Renata stepped towards it. The moment her eyes adjusted to the dark she felt adrenaline rush through her body. What fascinated her was not spectacular, yet it was incredible. Growing right in the centre of the simulated environment was a tiny, grey, leaf.

She had done it.

Art by Flamecrest

Are you dangerous?
Renata stared warily at the tall, darkly elegant man who had saved her from the screaming. The man who called himself Fahrenheit, the corpses littering the laboratory.
With your measure of proof
He appeared unperturbed, his face calm and composed.
Thoughts are slivers of gold
Sometimes she wondered what he was thinking, and she wished to be able to pluck a thought out of his head like a gold coin, to spare him from the pain.
Abscond with the truth
When she saw his face, lined and terrified, she wanted more than ever to be able to reach inside his core and help him out of the maze of truths.

How does it feel
A year later, she reached up and patted his head. “Sinclair,” she said suddenly, her voice quiet.
To be your own deceiver?
“I've been dishonest to myself and you..."
Signals raised
His eyes widened slightly and he tensed up. Renata leaned slightly forward, her face creased.
Then lost to the aether
He didn’t talk for a while, remaining silent.

We're rest assured
Finally, he relaxed and loosened his posture. Unwittingly, she mimicked him.
The dead are true believers
“Do you ever hear their voices?” she asked a different question, hoping to fracture the crystalline silence hanging between them.
Rest assured
“I do...” he queried, training his dark eyes on her.
We are all believers
“I just dont know what to believe in anymore” she said, her voice slightly frantic.

Are you dangerous?
Did he not hear them? Was she destined to suffer alone, hearing the screams of her often fatal experiment subjects?
Found your way to my bed
When she was with him she felt the barest flickers of an alien something.
Spent fewer nights with the living
Love, it was called.
Then I do with the dead
Sometimes she still heard the screams of the people.

How am I supposed to run?
Renata knew she couldn’t escape them, but she tried anyway.
Now, am I supposed to run?
Clawing at her skin until it was red-raw-bleeding. Maybe if she scratched hard enough she could obliterate the memories of Fahrenheit. She had stayed with him only for Sinclair.

I watch you fall
Only for him she would walk through fire.
Hollow and depleted
And to tell the truth, she should not have been free.
A city raised
Was it worth it?
Oh, to bury you beneath it
Obsessively, the way she prayed.

The best indoor
For during her time with Fahrenheit, she knew only the carnal pleasure of holding lives in her hands. A symphony started to play in her ears during her experiments. Violins, cellos, violas.
With the dead, our true believers
Renata was almighty.
Rest assured
She was untouchable through the shroud of green smoke hanging around her, and the corona of invisible notes.
We are all believers
He persuaded her, and she was too confused to know what was happening. Hauntingly discordant music played in her head. Where am I? she asked herself.
Are you dangerous?
Is she delusional?
Carved right into my bed
Or is he no longer himself.
Quick lobotomy
It was done. Renata stepped back, her hands shaking under her gloves. “W..what shall I do now?” she stuttered fearfully.
Then left me for dead
“Leave him.” The sweet and mellow voice said.
How am I supposed to see?
It seemed almost as if it were unconnected to the sharp-faced man hiding in the dark corner of her eyes.
Don't know the melodies
The symphony in her ears grew louder, louder. The blood stains on her hands.
But all the void behind my teeth
Forever unwashed.

ooh, she looks very nature themed and wild. I think of her as someone who explores a deep jungle, or lives off the earth in an overgrown forest. She's introverted and quite happy to have animals as companions.

Barely related, but after reading that first quote in her bio, I thought I'd mention how she gave me more of a dark, shaded forest feeling. Quiet, secretive, but still comfortable, and almost sacred-like. Doesn't her name mean rebirth or something too? I once had a video game character with that name ^.^ Anyhow, she gives me a really elegant, positive vibe hehe

i don't see hex that much, which is a shame - considering renata shows it can work extremely well and make an already beautiful dragon even prettier :D

I have to say I'm not getting good vibes from her. Green + black generally suggests toxicity and danger, especially with those bright, yellow-green shades. The dove, flower petals, and goggles soften her a bit, but not by much. I'm thinking of her as a reckless daredevil type, like a mad engineer or pilot who doesn't care too much about accidents or collateral damage.

Renata hummed The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy to herself as she flapped her wings, rising above the Botanical Garden with a watering can in tow. The humid, rich smell of vegetation, layered with the airy, delicate scent of flowers permeated the air. She took a deep breath, the glass roof above her creaking and letting out a myriad of noises. Spreading a layer of moist loam across the entire expanse of the dome, her fins were soon slick with sweat. It was difficult work, but she felt it was fitting. As she had caused death, she would nurture life. Alighting on the branch of her most cherished tree, the jacaranda tree her parents had planted the day she was born, she showered water onto the plants. It made a pitter-patter sound as it drip-drip-dropped from one leaf to another. A slight hissing sound caught her attention. “Not again,” she grumbled to herself, “I just fixed it yesterday!” She strapped on a gas mask, then winged her way through the treetop maze towards the leaking gas valve. After so many months caring for her prized plants, she should have grown used to the liana vine hanging from the fig tree. Renata tugged futilely at her trapped wing, but she only succeeded in turning herself upside down. Sinclair entered the Garden, chuckling as he saw her. “Stuck again?” He teased. “Quiet, you, and get me down, I have to fix the radiation leak so my plants won’t be hurt.” She returned his teasing in kind, smiling as she did so. She patched up the leak, then flew back. It would be another glorious day, the kind she had started to expect ever since the Garden was built. Perhaps if she tried hard enough, she could press this memory in the thick book of time like the flowers she preserved, unwilling to let them go.