638/500 WORDS
Ilda Nora
One day, I'll prove I'm not the monster they say.
Ilda stared, far from amused by the goddess's thick stack of paperwork. Sitting on the ground, she glanced towards the goddess and her shining, gracious eyes. Somehow, Ilda knew there was no saying no to this endeavor.
"Name, Ilda Nora. Age, twenty." So far, it was asking fairly normal questions about her demographic, whether it was gender or age or race. It asked her address, something she only recently got one of, asked if she lived with anyone and had any pets, both of which she checked boxes for.
Then, it started to get complicated. Reading the question aloud, she mused, "On this page, please detail your strengths and weaknesses. Use complete sentences. I want as many as possible- don't worry, it won't be used against you... Okay this is suspicious. You even wrote 'hehe' in subtext. Ah screw it."
Pen still in hand, she began to write her strengths. "My strengths include fighting, dealing with heat and burning things. As someone with a fire element, it's only natural I be good at dealing with hot environments, and fire naturally burns things. I also burn people when I touch them skin to skin, which doubles as a weakness, I think." She skipped a line, adding, "My weaknesses are water, the cold, children and probably just people in general. I can't swim, and I get cold easily. I love children and would do probably anything for them, which can sometimes be my downfall. As for people... Well, that's too long a story for today."
With all this written, she moved on to the next question. This time, she was required to describe her best and worst memories. Like the previous question, it requested full sentences and details. Similarly, she opted to speak her answers as she wrote them down.
"My best memory is probably a recent one. I got to help a young girl come out to her parents about the fact that she's a girl stuck in a boy's body. Her name was originally Connor, but she wanted to be known as Candace. Candace was a sweet thing, but she had no confidence in herself because she was stuck in a body that didn't suit her soul. We went shopping together, and I got to watch as she and her parents came to an understanding. I still keep in touch with Candace, both because she's a sweet girl and because I was asked. It's rare I'm asked about such things."
Her eyes returned to the question. She was required to remember her worst memory, but there were so many to choose from that haunted her dreams each night! Tapping her pen against the page, she pondered- what was her nightmare that particular night? As she remembered, she wrote it out in crisp lettering. "When I was only five, I had a friend named Milly. Milly and I liked holding hands, but one day I lost my glove. She grabbed my hand even though I protested, and she was quickly burned by my reaper's touch. Her cries of pain still haunt me, as do her parents screams that I was actually a monster disguised as human. It's something I wish I could forget, but never will."
There were dozens of more questions like this one. Questions that pried into the deepest and darkest parts of Ilda's psyche, claiming her sanity for itself. On the last question, it was merely a checkbox. "Did you learn about yourself doing this? Wait, isn't this an application?"
"It's an application for our self-reflection census," The goddess soon chimed, pulling the paperwork from Ilda's loosely gripping hands. "That's all I needed for now. Next time I'll get more info from you."
"Wait, there's gonna be another one of these?!" Ilda paled, returning from where she came with a sullen expression all the way home.
"Name, Ilda Nora. Age, twenty." So far, it was asking fairly normal questions about her demographic, whether it was gender or age or race. It asked her address, something she only recently got one of, asked if she lived with anyone and had any pets, both of which she checked boxes for.
Then, it started to get complicated. Reading the question aloud, she mused, "On this page, please detail your strengths and weaknesses. Use complete sentences. I want as many as possible- don't worry, it won't be used against you... Okay this is suspicious. You even wrote 'hehe' in subtext. Ah screw it."
Pen still in hand, she began to write her strengths. "My strengths include fighting, dealing with heat and burning things. As someone with a fire element, it's only natural I be good at dealing with hot environments, and fire naturally burns things. I also burn people when I touch them skin to skin, which doubles as a weakness, I think." She skipped a line, adding, "My weaknesses are water, the cold, children and probably just people in general. I can't swim, and I get cold easily. I love children and would do probably anything for them, which can sometimes be my downfall. As for people... Well, that's too long a story for today."
With all this written, she moved on to the next question. This time, she was required to describe her best and worst memories. Like the previous question, it requested full sentences and details. Similarly, she opted to speak her answers as she wrote them down.
"My best memory is probably a recent one. I got to help a young girl come out to her parents about the fact that she's a girl stuck in a boy's body. Her name was originally Connor, but she wanted to be known as Candace. Candace was a sweet thing, but she had no confidence in herself because she was stuck in a body that didn't suit her soul. We went shopping together, and I got to watch as she and her parents came to an understanding. I still keep in touch with Candace, both because she's a sweet girl and because I was asked. It's rare I'm asked about such things."
Her eyes returned to the question. She was required to remember her worst memory, but there were so many to choose from that haunted her dreams each night! Tapping her pen against the page, she pondered- what was her nightmare that particular night? As she remembered, she wrote it out in crisp lettering. "When I was only five, I had a friend named Milly. Milly and I liked holding hands, but one day I lost my glove. She grabbed my hand even though I protested, and she was quickly burned by my reaper's touch. Her cries of pain still haunt me, as do her parents screams that I was actually a monster disguised as human. It's something I wish I could forget, but never will."
There were dozens of more questions like this one. Questions that pried into the deepest and darkest parts of Ilda's psyche, claiming her sanity for itself. On the last question, it was merely a checkbox. "Did you learn about yourself doing this? Wait, isn't this an application?"
"It's an application for our self-reflection census," The goddess soon chimed, pulling the paperwork from Ilda's loosely gripping hands. "That's all I needed for now. Next time I'll get more info from you."
"Wait, there's gonna be another one of these?!" Ilda paled, returning from where she came with a sullen expression all the way home.
No notes.
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