Trust is for the Naive || Nicoleta

[Elizaveta Héderváry]

INFINITY (n.) the state of being limitless Elizaveta had been a guard for three weeks now and with each passing day, she grew to hate it more. If it wasn't the stench of the cells, then it was the looks on the mutants' faces. The disgust, the hatred on some of them wasn't easy to bear. Elizaveta discovered really for the first time that she rather didn't like being hated. She supposed it was inevitable with her current job. Still, it bothered her. Elizaveta wasn't cruel either. Not really. She didn't take pleasure in hurting others like some of the other newer guards did. She'd done it in the first week. It was unavoidable here, something that Elizaveta was coming to learn rather quickly. Elizaveta wasn't weak by any standard. She'd been trained by the best of the best. She had proven that to the male guards who had taken a jab at her on the second day. But she had only been trained for self-defense, not to hurt anyone. Not even mutants. Mutants. Elizaveta had grown up thinking they were inferior. Interesting pets, if you would. Your own personalized, specialized pet. Conditioned to obey...mostly. Elizaveta had never really cared about them much. She didn't hate them or fear them and she had little interest in using them. Elizaveta had always valued her independence, her own ability to do whatever was necessary by herself. She didn't need a mutant to do that for her. Of course, a friend would've been nice but Elizaveta couldn't help but think that if that had happened, the friendship wouldn't be genuine. Elizaveta wouldn't be able to take a friendship that had been bought either. Down here, mutants were treated as little more than dogs. Elizaveta would be lying if she said she didn't feel pity for them. They were being controlled, sort of like how Elizaveta was. Of course, Elizaveta acknowledged they had it a lot worse than she did. That was undeniable. It seemed that in the end, for Elizaveta, working in the Underground didn't represent a physical challenge but a mental one. A psychological battle. If she lost, she would return to being used as a puppet by her mother. If she won...what would she become then? One of the guards? Elizaveta had never imagined herself as such. But... The things Elizaveta would do to escape and rebel against her mother... “Héderváry!” someone called. Elizaveta spun around to see one of the senior guards approaching her. She frowned. Elizaveta was on break. Theoretically speaking, she shouldn't be asked to do anything. Theoretically speaking being the key words of course. She'd seen several of the new recruits ordered to take on extra work during break. If you refused, you were branded as a rebel, scorned by the senior guards and bullied around. If you agreed, you could be classified as a pussy, a pushover. Elizaveta didn't want to be known as either of those. “Yes?” she asked, her arms crossed. She raised an eyebrow. “Cosanzeana,” the man said. “She's got an arena fight in twenty minutes. Get her from her cell and take her over, will you? Basic security, hands cuffed behind back, just walk her over and hand her to the arena guards.” From the man's tone, it was clearly not a question. He handed Elizaveta the key to the cell without even waiting for her answer. “Of course. It'd be my absolute pleasure.” Elizaveta didn't bother biting back the sarcasm as she unhooked a pair of cuffs from her belt and headed to the cells. “Héderváry. Was that sass I just heard?” the guard called after her. Elizaveta ignored him and simply swung the cuffs around her right index finger before turning the corner. Elizaveta was still learning to navigate the Underground, but she was familiar with this cell in particular. It belonged to a Nicoleta Cosanzeana. Psychokinesis, influenced to some extent by the moon's phases. Although she really wasn't supposed to and probably shouldn't, Elizaveta had taken to talking to some of the mutants. Nicoleta was one of them. She certainly seemed nice enough and Elizaveta honestly didn't view her as a bad person. She'd heard rumors from other guards, but Elizaveta couldn't really bring herself to believe them. Sure, Nicoleta might be a powerhouse in the arena, but honestly outside of it, she just seemed rather...normal. Just like anyone else. It was probably dangerous to think that way, but Elizaveta had talked to Nicoleta on multiple occasions. They weren't friends, Elizaveta wouldn't dare classify them as such, but it was hard for Elizaveta to imagine Nicoleta the way the other guards seemed to. So it was without fear or reservation that Elizaveta headed towards Nicoleta's cell. She'd just take Nicoleta to the arena and leave her there. It was no more than a five minute walk. Seriously, what could happen? Elizaveta approached the cell, taking out the key for Nicoleta's cell. New recruits weren't trusted with a wide set of keys, which was probably for the best. Elizaveta had already seen at least seven of the other recruits drinking on the job and that always led to unexpected accidents. Elizaveta unlocked the cell and stepped in. “Hey Nicoleta,” she said in greeting. “You've got an arena fight. We should start heading over.”

words 876 tags #@bucharestnotbudapest notes Put this in the present-day holding cells despite it being in the past since there is no Underground in the Past section. Hope this is okay. Sorry it took me so long!

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[Deleted]

What was the weather forecast for today? Ah, the same as every other day: full of shit. Saying that Nicoleta despised this place would give the essence of hatred no justice. Her blissful dreams were sooted with anger and destruction, blood and screams--and it usually ended by the screech of the morning alarm. It was in their good judgment to isolate Nicoleta in her own cell; otherwise, she would've attempted to claw anything alive because of her rude awakening.

Those claws were her nails. They never let her grew them out to talons, but she manicured the edges of the groove to keep them pointed. It would be no surprise to see scrapes and claw marks against the wall. The wall next to her bed had haphazard marks, making it most noticeably her scratching post. The wall across from her bed was a tally--to keep track of time, some presumed. They presumed, but did not care--Nicoleta was documented to stay within these chambers forever until her pretty little curves get her into some wealthy arms.

Fuck that. They presumed wrong, and that was what made it magical.

Despite all of these years, she had never forgotten what freedom was. Her power had been counting the time by the phases, just waiting to be released upon these fuckers that had wronged her.

Nicoleta was sitting on her bed, her legs splayed and propped up, both arms resting on her knees. She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes. The night was beautiful. It must have been. She could imagine it--the moonless sky, the myriad of stars. In a way, her cell imitated the night, except it had no stars. She tried to imagine the stars in her cell, but she kept seeing the floating white eyeballs of the cellkeepers she hated.

"Hey, Nicoleta--."

It was Elizaveta, one of the newer ones around these parts. Nicoleta did not have a penchant for loving, but she happened to love newbies. They were just so easy to toy with.

“You've got an arena fight. We should start heading over.”

"About time." Nicoleta replied as she expectantly glanced at Elizaveta, waiting for her to open the cell. The jingling of keys was the sound of her freedom, and she was in a haste to get out. She made a grunt when she pulled her weight off the bed, and then stretched her neck to side. 

Curling her hand into a fist, she lifted her arms up to be handcuffed. Protocol. She had been doing this for too long of a fucking time to be told what to do. "So they made you escort me hm? Shouldn't you be on break?"

Nicoleta seldom started conversations, but Elizaveta was different. This woman had a conscience, that why Nicoleta liked her. Frankly, she liked Elizaveta for all the wrong reasons. But still, Elizaveta was not a big threat--she was stupidly naive and full of bloated confidence, but not a threat.

At least, Nicoleta planned to make that so.

[Elizaveta Héderváry]

INFINITY (n.) the state of being limitless Nicoleta was sitting on the bed when Elizaveta appeared but she was on her feet almost immediately as Elizaveta unlocked the door. "About time," the woman said gruffly. Nicoleta had never been a particularly patient person, but she was better than the other guards around this place. Besides, Elizaveta liked Nicoleta's rebellious attitude. She shouldn't, but she did. Elizaveta cuffed Nicoleta, who allowed her to do so without any protest. Some of the other mutants were a little more difficult, but Nicoleta was usually cooperative...though maybe that was just with her. Perhaps it was thanks to this that the other guards liked letting Elizaveta deal with the mutant. Elizaveta didn't have too much of a problem with that. Perhaps she would've been more suspicious if Nicoleta was just a normal human instead of a mutant. Elizaveta had nothing to hold against mutants. Except for, perhaps, a Gilbert Beilschmidt, but he had been her friend a lifetime ago. Humans on the other hand, had never lived up to Elizaveta's expectations. Most of them were like her mother; cruel and manipulative. Only a few—like Monsieur Tico—were good at heart. The same logic should have applied to mutants. Later on Elizaveta would wish she had been smart enough to do so. "So they made you escort me hm? Shouldn't you be on break?" It was odd that Nicoleta knew Elizaveta's schedule so well, but Elizaveta figured it was because the mutants had nothing to do in their cells all day. If they had been occupied with something else other than the occasional arena fight, Elizaveta thought, perhaps they would cooperate more. Boredom helped no one, least of all mutants. But change was difficult to introduce into the Underground, whether you were a first week rookie or the Head Guard. People liked things a certain way and when they fell into habit, they forgot everything else. "Yeah, I should be," Elizaveta nodded. "But it's not like they really care about that. To them we're all the same." Rookies got the brunt of the work while the more experienced guards got to relax and drink on the job before bossing the rest of them around. She supposed they would be better behaved if the Head Guard was around, but he seemed to turn a blind eye to these things. Elizaveta led Nicoleta out of her cell and shut the door behind her. There wasn't really a point in locking it since Elizaveta couldn't imagine why anyone would want to enter an empty cell of their own accord. She tucked the key into her pocket for now and hand it off to her superiors later. They began to walk down the passageway to the arena, which wasn't too far from where they were. "It's been a little while since your last fight, hasn't it?" Elizaveta commented lightly. To her it hadn't been that long but being stuck in that cell must've made it feel like an eternity to Nicoleta. It was no wonder why some of the mutants seemed so bloodthirsty in the arena. "I'm sure it'll be a good change in pace."

words 520 tags Nicoleta notes ~

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