Chapter Text
Helen has made a severe and continuous lapse in her judgment…
She had initially assumed, due to the lack of visible fear or any representations of discomfort visible on the Creature's slinky figure, that the Creature did not find her unsettling in the slightest.
Naturally, Helen was incorrect, horrendously incorrect, inconceivably incorrect, more words to mean horrifically wrong (she is the representation of madness, not a thesaurus)
As was proven on the Creature’s third week wandering Helen's corridors, (still offensively undigested)
When it seemed to have… grown fond? Of Helen
At least she assumes so after reviewing the data
Initially, she assumed the Creature had become an agent of the Slaughter who had -in a fit of madness-induced rage- attempted to End her.
It was quite traumatic for poor Helen
There she was, wandering her own corridors in a sense of ubiquitous borderline euphoric glee at the sheer nonsensicality of wandering a manifestation of her body? Hoping to perhaps terrorize a few of the hangers-on, who had not fully succumbed to madness and been thoroughly digested.
When she sees the Creature perched precariously on the very edge of a chair backrest (when did chairs become a feature of her corridors, she could have sworn they weren't an included feature a few weeks ago). Helen has to admit she finds it quite impressive that the Creature seems to stand by their theme of resting in the most uncomfortable places despite there being perfectly logical and far more comfortable places to rest immediately next to them. (A few days ago she found the thing trying to fall asleep in a glass vase the length of Helen's not!finger).
Helen decided to begin one of her newfound hobbies of meeting the Creature's eyes and trying to trap it in the spiraling madness that rested within her sockets. When the creature perched on its not!arms and contorted its body into what Helen assumes is a stretch before somehow managing to sit on the centimeter-wide backrest; its tail swishing back and forth in interest.
"Oh, are we doing something new today little Creature?" Helen cooed, her voice echoing oddly and bouncing off the walls in an octave it should not have been able to reach.
mreow
" What does go on in your mind? I may never know"
Then it seemed like the Creature wanted to reemphasize the point Helen had just made out loud. Perhaps it was her fault, speaking it into the universe so to speak. Because the creature narrowed its eyes and then it
pounced
Not!arms outstretched, body elongated
Helen screamed, before very sensibly backing as far away from the creature as inhumanly possible.
Now Helen had, at the time very logically forgotten that she could not End in the traditional sense and had feared for her unlife as every unending representation of a horror is wont to do.
However, after definitely not hiding behind a door that led to a seldom-used corridor off-shoot she remembered that the Creature (much like her) has sharp retractable extensions at the ends of its Not!fingers.
She had seen them when the curiosity ate at her enough to follow the Creature and watch it feast. It was almost mesmerizing how brutally clinical the creature was when it came to feeding. It prowled until finding its deceased prey, and then with the precision of a butcher used its Not!finger extensions to tear through the flesh of the carcass revealing glistening red meat. And then it began to gorge itself on the bloody flesh and meat only using its Not!fingers to slice through any scar tissue, tendons, ligaments, or cartilage that interrupted its lunch.
She had seen the deadened look of boredom that overcame the Creature when it came to prey. That was... quite distinctly not the look the Creature adopted when facing Helen. It had the same directionless curiosity but it tasted more... playful?
Not in the sense of something playing with its food, but more something indulging in a game.
Now Helen is a very smart aspect of madness it is why took over the distortion and why Micheal is currently grounded in one of the very few non-corridor locations. (Granted it was a padded cell so Helen is sure that Micheal is comfortable, those cushions look pleasant to poke through).
Being a very smart aspect of delusion incarnate can be quite contradictory, as survival would dictate she avoid the creature as much as possible when the Creature is trapped in what is essentially her esophagus. But as madness and illogical conclusions are very much her brand she decided that it wouldn't exactly be very 'throat of delusion incarnate' of her to do the logical thing of avoiding the thing that wants to murder her.
Perhaps she should speak to the Archivist about this, he seems to be a big fan of purposely being near and actively seeking out creatures that would murder him and then dance over his corpse. hmm, that might take too much time... maybe later.
Decision made, Helen slowly opened the door to the corridor that wasn't and crept back to where the Creature was resting among a sea of oddly shaped cups, vases, and dilapidated chairs. And then approached
The Creature looked away from the nothing it seemed content to be staring at and met Helen's eyes as she got closer. And then suddenly that ... odd playfulness had returned.
What happened next Helen is sure she could not recall even if compelled to give a statement. One moment the creature was staring at her the next the Creature was... on her shoulders.
Which should not be possible as last she checked Helen does not have definable shoulders. Naturally, she can present herself as being a humanoid-looking manifestation of mania with what could be considered shoulders. But that was more aesthetic, like shape-wear if it was designed to make everyone want to tear their skin off.
But no the creature was very much lying down on Helen's non-existent shoulders.
She tried everything to get the Creature off but as soon as it spotted her, The Creature would claw its way up to her once again as it bore repeating apparently NON-EXISTENT shoulders. If she could get drunk of alcohol she would very much regret not having a drink in her hand at this very moment.
'mreow'
bloody orange menace
Perhaps something stronger would have been preferable, she wondered if Jude Perry got over her cocaine habit from the 80s.
As the third week drew to a near close and the Creature had decided to make its more permanent resting spot a non-existent aspect of Helen's body it seemed time to seek a consultation.
She did promise to leave the Archivist alone but who better than a man who knows all to answer the question that was this whole conundrum.