[b]She gave a the man a inquisitive look. Not many asked for her tale, and she wasn't usually inclined to tell it. But he had been gracious enough to tell his. She owed him at least the bare bones of her past.[/b] [i]"Well... My story starts a long time ago. I come from a land of rain. It's beautiful there. Storms... Thunder... I do love the rain."[/i] [b]She pauses a moment, her eyes closing as she remembers the emerald lightning that formed intricate spiderwebs in the sky and the roar of the clouds following such a tear in the atmosphere.[/b] [i]"There was a building there. That was my home. It was the border between all things sane and insane. It was a brutal home. It claimed to be an orphanage... But all who were raised there knew otherwise..."[/i] [b]She couldn't give details... Never any details... He need not know.[/b] [i]"It was a cold and dark place, that smelled of rotting wood and fungal disease. There harm came to all the children. But it was also there we learned of our gifts. Unfortunately, we were used and then tossed away... And most did not survive. I and one other survived the ordeal by the gifts put inside us. Ours were the strongest... The best wills..."[/i] [b]Her light and cheery tone turned quiet and stale, her memory aching from the horrors her old home once wrought.[/b] [i]"I still hold my gift, but it sleeps and festers... It only saved my soul, my mind and body were rescued by another... His name was Damien... He was the one who wanted to bring down the establishment... And so he did. I've been free since... Using what I learned there to do more prosperous things."[/i] [b]It was a little bland, and unfulfilled, but she didn't want to explain tragedies and hardships. Unfortunately, her past didn't hold many happy moments, and those that were joyous were bland and empty...[/b]