The Kovenant: Doc Placebo
Valentines in the Twilight
For a moment the two remain in silence merely enjoy each other’s company in silence while they are bathed in the dim fiery light. The Andorran National breaks the silence, his voice is not as haughty or condescending as is his normal demeanor however it now conveys a measure of warmth.
Doc Placebo, “Happy Valentines-eve…”
Erica, “Mmm Hmm…”
Doc Placebo, “If we weren’t traveling tomorrow we could have done this right… after all it is our first.”
Erica, “…This is fine.”
Nudging up towards the Doctor a little more Erica rests her head on Placebo’s shoulder while he in turn tilts his head a little towards hers, he breathes in the scent of her hair before speaking again.
Doc Placebo, “You know… it was just a year ago that you came to my service…”
Doc Placebo, “Right off the streets… nowhere to go, no one to support you, you gave yourself to me like so many others without a place to call home or another to call family.”
Doc Placebo, “You were strong… I’ll give you that… but nobody resists the process to becoming a Minion forever… but you… you… you broke free.”
Erica, “I’ve always been my own girl… just took me a while…”
Doc Placebo, “Nobody else… nobody except Renfield anyways… freewill or not he’ll be buried in that cellar for years to come.”
Doc Placebo, “But what I don’t get is… why did you come to my door step… why did you go through all of the inevitable suffering that you KNEW becoming a minion would entail? You saw the tapes… you saw what happened to Renfield as well… yet you still came to me, willingly.”
Erica, “That was another me, another life… I don’t even use the same name anymore, just like you… and your name.”
Doc Placebo, “True… I have not gone by my former identity for a long time myself… not since coming here to America.”
Erica, “It’s fine… your not him anymore.”
Doc Placebo, “And you’re not you anymore either…”
Erica, “Two new lives, two new destinies…”
Doc Placebo, “…yes.”
SNAP!
With his left arm trapped under Erica’s cuddling form the Doctor raises his free hand and snaps his fingers once while the camera pans about allowing you a greater view of the couple’s surroundings. The faint light from the soon to be deceased fire allows you some vision. The Doctor and the emancipated Minion-Slave Erica are surrounded on all sides by a series of trees. Shadows dance about the woods created by Placebo and Erica’s bodies and the fire itself. An object is moving in the dusk just at the edge of where the light clashes with the darkness and just at that point you see a figure. A silhouette of a person wielding something between a raised arm and it’s chin. In it’s free hand a long stick… with a wave of the shadow’s arm a soft low musical note is created as the sounds of composer Vivaldi begin to fill the grove. Moving off of the blanket Placebo kneels next to Erica who turns to look towards him, his hand is outstretched…
Doc Placebo, “Care to dance?”
Although it goes unseen in the darkness as a shadow has now come to pass over Erica’s face a blush goes unseen across her face just briefly as she is reminded just once more of how her meaning has shifted within his life. Nodding and taking his hand the two embrace after a short bow and a courtesy before begining to slowly dance about the still smoldering fire. Crunching noises can be heard as blades of frost covered grass crack and break under their shuffling feet.
Erica, “Shouldn’t we be getting back to the Konclave soon?”
Doc Placebo, “Why the sudden hurry?”
Erica, “Well I wouldn’t want you to lose any sleep before Fallout…”
Looking into Erica’s eyes
Doc Placebo, “I can certainly think of more important things to lose sleep over than them…”
Erica, “Mmm…”
Erica, “Mostasteless didn’t like our new name for him…”
Doc Placebo, “Oh? I knew we should have gone with Mephistopheles but I was pretty sure he would not understand the reference…”
Erica, “It does sound better than Mostasteless… and it’s classical too, but that is asking a lot for someone like him.”
Doc Placebo, “True… I doubt he’s ever read the book, but enough about him, tomorrow I’ll deal with him and his little pal Shadow. I’ve heard he’s supposed to be sadistic and all that… but if he’s too content to hide within the darkness as his namesake implies then perhaps only one of us will be needed to deal with this uncultured wretch.”
Erica, “How would you two decide?”
Doc Placebo, “We could probably rock paper scissor it… but once I beat them we’ll be on our way to bringing gold to the Kovenant again and you’ll have another belt to keep for me. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Erica, “Yeah… that TPW belt… didn’t taste too well…”
Doc Placebo, “Nothing with that place sat well with me… or the rest of the Kovenant...”
Erica, “…but your right… enough about all of them, tonight is...”
Doc Placebo, “About us.”
Erica, “Right.”
The tempo of the violin suddenly kicks up a few notches and in keeping with the new pace the two dance partners speed up as well. Taking Erica’s hand in tow the Doctor spins his Minioness about quickly as the quick burst of strings music begins to fade into nothing more than an outstretched note which is slowly diminishing in volume. Holding onto each other tight the sadist leans his ex-slave backwards over the fire. Her hair dangling dangerously close to the coals, her skin stings from the heat still bellowing off from the burning embers as does Placebo’s face. The couple revels in the minute amount of pain they are each receiving together and savor it as if they were sampling a sip of fine wine instead of searing heat. Their bodies now lit by both the dying fire and the moon which had lain hidden behind a series of nimbus clouds till now. Erica whispers something…
Erica, “Happy Valentine’s-Eve…”
The two lovers whose lives have both ended and begun anew embrace while the scene pans upward towards the moon and slowly dissolves to shadow.