Shipping VIII: Yes, Eight. No, really. We are THAT insane.

[Destro_Yersul]

WARNING: This thread contains romance between forum members. While kept within the PG rating of this thread, it may still disturb anyone who reads it. There has been quite a shortage of brain bleach lately, so you may have to make some of your own at home, bring the kids!

Rules:
Keep it forum friendly.
No overly sexual stuff.
Each pairing must have at least one forum member.
When posting a fic please state above the story who you're shipping.
Only post fic about people who have given their permission in either This Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86308) or somewhere else. There is an updated list of people who have given permission linked below.

Helpful stuffs:
Definition of Shipping (no, it is not to package things and send them...atleast, not in this context) (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shipping)
The Shipping Permissions List (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5604491&postcount=264)
First Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86244)
Second Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89112)
Third Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95163)
Fourth Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99321)
Fifth Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101503)
Sixth Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5679351)
Seventh Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106862)

Shipping Archive (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101722)

[Dallas-Dakota]

Hmmm pine with a touch of Cthuloid squick.

Shipping, I'm loving it!

Also re-post so it doesn't get sucked away under thread abandonment and Cristo's ship.

Shyness, LARP'ing and more.
Dragona/???, also featuring Dallas and mention of Destro Yersul

''Hey, Dragona, wanna go to the park or something? It's boiling in here.''
Dallas tried to convince Dragona.
They'd been long time friends, both had not had many friends in their normal school lives and found a friendship through music and LARP'ing.

It had been built up quietly through the years.
They had never actually spoken about their real lives for the first few events, scattered over some months, content to just be their characters.

Dallas never really interacted that much, he just didn't find people interesting while Dragona was more of the shy kind.
But Dallas knew that it was just something in her mind, for her character could be very talkative.

Slowly they just went to events more, toghetter. Some assumed them to be a couple, but neither bothered or dared to speak something against it. They both knew that they were good friends, and nothing more.

''Alright, just don't try to make me talk to people...''
''You know me better then that, don't you? Dallas responded with a look.
Yes, I do....

They slowly got up and wandered through neighbourhouds and parks.
They finally settled at a playground, sitting silently on the swings.

A figure slowly walked into the park, not really paying attention.
He walked towards a empty section. As he walked closer they reognized him as Caramir, err, or whatever his name is.
Caramir walked towards it and took out coloured chalk.

Dallas and Dragona suddenly noticed a huge wall chalk drawing, which was previously hidden behind bushes, but Caramir had pushed them away.

You know you want to talk to him.
Maybe....
Just ask him his real name or talk about in-game things...You know plenty of in-game things..

Dragona silently pushed herself of the swing, only a sudden creak giving her away to Caramir.

Caramir suddenly turned around, the red chalk in his hand falling.
Slowly a sparkle of recognition ignited in his eyes, as he saw Dragona.

Hey.
Hey, didn't know you lived around here.
Ditto, so what has Caramir been up to lately?
This and that, ofcourse bluffing the thieves guild and living and being able to tell the tale and small stuff like that..
''Ofcourse Yersul isn't going to like that...
Totally why I did it.
They banter around, Dallas and drawings forgotten. Eventually they walk home to his place for dinner.

Dallas sees it all from the swing, hoping that sometime the same will happen to him.
Good for her.

[CurlyKitGirl]

I like this thread, smells all new and booky.

DD: Love the ship, it's sweet. Dragona's DeeRee yeah?

[TwoBitWriter]

I am posting here to get the subscription.


What a day...

Haha, did you really expect me to post a ship?:smallbiggrin:

[randman22222]

Housewarming
CKG/Dr. Bath with appearances.

Creative liberties taken with personalities. :smalltongue: Chiefly my own. >.>

The image shimmered and distorted the land around it, at a point close to the horizon. It looked no different than the countless other mirages Kurl-Khi'itgah and Ba-Thel had seen. The difference now was that, by their rough estimates, they should be nearing Nabta Playa, the city which they'd bought a house in. Kurl felt herself tense up slightly, in almost giddy anticipation of their new home. The two figures, clothed in dull, tan, and sandy robes, atop their grey mules, inched through the desert.

Kurl spoke.
"Bat," ('Bat' was her name for him, and it originally annoyed him. Bat is a goddess of the cosmos, and he found it strange to be compared to a goddess. But Kurl liked it, and wasn't going to stop using it.) "we're close enough that that could be the lake, aren't we?"
"Well, if you see it, then that means I'm not hallucinating, and —"
"Hah! Hallucinating. What are we, two travellers lost in the desert, dying of thirst?" She smiled and scoffed at him.
He rolled his eyes and became infected by her smile, smiling as well. "Yes, it could very well be the lake."

Presently, Kurl reached down into a pack slung over her mule, and drank water from a flask there. Then she nearly gagged on the water as a pungeunt smell drifted past their miniature caravan. Off to the right, as Bat pointed out, was what appeared to be the corpse of a lamb, burning. Not another person in sight to offer an explanation.


*****

They decided to move because the cost of living was far lower in Nabta Playa. It had a seasonal lake, which made water plentiful during the summer, when it rained. Also, most cloth and clothing had to be imported from Nubt, their previous city (which was certainly not a place to raise a child), and as tailors, they could make a slightly better living in their new city.

Bat was removing some of the smaller bits of plain, wooden furniture from their cart - two stools, two bedrolls, among other things - as Kurl was talking to Rahnd-Imahn, the merchant who rented them the mules, and travelled the first half of the trip with them. She and the merchant stood in the shade created by their new home's mudbrick face.

After paying the deposit on the mules, she idly said, "Gods help me through this."
Rahnd looked up from counting the coins. "New house? Yesss, not always easy to adjust to. Offerings to a god, yes. Offerings. Which god?" He thought for a second. "Bes, if I were you." He spoke in his usual, slightly drawling voice.

She thanked Imahn one more time before he left, said a good-bye, to which he did not respond. He merely threw one hand over his shoulder in what must have been a wave. Or something of that nature. He walked off, his odd red and purple garment swaying about him. She shrugged, thought about what he said. It wasn't for the new house she was asking for divine help. Complications in childbirth ran in her family. Complications that made her cling to Bat at three in the morning. Her aunt had died in childbirth, and her older sister.

The next morning, Bat was rearranging the furniture, muttering to himself, "No... To the left." He rotated the simple table ninety degrees, and put it where a window's light fell, scraping up the beige floor as he did so. Kurl came downstairs, a proud smile on her face.

"I just finished setting up the loom," she told Bath, awaiting an impressed look. Theirs was a complicated mechanism, that usually took both of them an hour or so to assemble.
Surpressing how impressed he actually was, he responded, "Oh, good. That's one less thing to do."
"Right. I'll just go to the local market, and find out what I can about local flax sellers." She knew he would be trying to one-up her while she was gone.

Upon paths of gritty sand Kurl walked to the market district of the city. The market was far less bustling than in Nubt, but despite fewer vibrantly dyed fabrics, and fewer aromas coming from the spice stalls, it had a homlier feel to it. The ones working the stalls were friendlier, and the faces were less monotonous, each one seeming to have some story to tell. In fact, one recognised face appeared presently, from the livestock street. His face was alight with a triumphant look, and curisoity drove her to go find out what the look was about. "Triumph? Excitement? This isn't like Rahnd, why's he not being so monotnous?" she wondered, whilst trying to read his face.

After catching up with him, she asked, "Hey, where'd you get the mask from?" with a wry smile.
"Ohh, Kurl. I just got back — from the — from a merchant, who's just told me, yes, that the soil here. The soil here is not good for planting certain crops. It's hard to grow feed here..."
Partway through Rahnd's plodding explanation, a thought entered Kurl's mind, stage left. Sometimes she got thoughts that seemed to originate from an existence not perceivable by human senses. At least, that's how they seemed to her. And the thought was:
"What if we were to sacrifice him?"
She nodded as Rahnd seemed to be finishing up his speech. It wasn't that she hadn't been paying attention, it was just that with the thoughts turning themselves over in her head, she couldn't care less about him raising the money to move his family to Nabta Playa.


*****

Later, as the sun was bathing the town in purples an oranges, Kurl was just leaving the house of a well-off farming family, which managed several fields of flax. She'd reached an agreement in which the family would sell Kurl and Bat their flax, at prices that made her jaw drop. In the good way. Now that she'd gotten that loose end tied up, she let her thoughts stray back towards the sacrifice. She'd made up her mind, and decided to head back to the busier part of town, to the temple. She needed to sacrifice something for the childbirth. But was it okay to sacrifice a human? No doubts remained in her mind that the goddess Meskhenet would appreciate it if she did, but would the preistesses allow it?

"Bat's probably starting to wonder what's taking me so long. I'll make this as short as I can. Won't have to answer any questions then." She feared what he might say about her idea of a sacrifice.

She ventured through the market again, this time in the direction of the government buildings, where the temple was located. It was bigger than any of the buildings surrounding it, and more decorated; a floral pattern was inlaid in its front pillars, made to look like emerald. Of course, it probably would have been cheaper to actually use emerald. Some of the market buildings were growing larger, as well. The temple would have competition soon.

By the time she was nearing the temple, employees of the oldest profession were beginning to show themselves. Kurl hurried. Worse than the employees were the clients. "Still," she thought, "this isn't half as bad as Nubt would get." She was nearly to the temple now.

Inside the temple, which was lit by oil lamps in a romantic manner, Kurl found one of the priestesses. She was clad in garments of linen finer than Kurl and Bat had ever made. "Doing the gods' will pays, naturally."

"Em hotep nefer," said the priestess, in greeting.
"Em hotep," Kurl replied. "I've come here for advice. I'm pregnant."
"Meskhenet's blessing is upon you, then. I suppose you're wondering how to make it go smoothly?"
"Yes. What can I sacrifice to please Meskhenet?"
Without changing the blank expression on her face, the priestess responded, "A ewe is best for Meskhenet, but if you can only acquire a calf, then it will suffice."
"And... What if all we can acquire is a person? Don't get me wrong, it'd be a good, bright m—" But the priestess cut her off, her bored expression changed into shock.
"Meskhenet is a goddess of life, and creation! You're not going to sacrifice a human. That's a sure way to incur her wrath. Now leave. Waste no more of my time."

Seething, Kurl left. "Why would Meskhenet prefer an animal life over a human life? It's nonsense!" On the way back, she had to deal with no creatures of the night. Just the look on her face kept them away. She got home to Bat pacing back and forth, who both wanted to kill and cuddle Kurl.

"Where have you been, Kurl? All night?"
Snapping back at him, she said, "I was at the temple. Meskhenet's. Seeing what we could sacrifice to make the birth" (she was just barely beginning to show her pregnancy) "go smoother."
"Okay. You didn't tell me you were going anywhere. I assume this was on one of your whims? Nevermind. What did you find out on your little mission?" He still looked cross.
She wondered if it would be safe to tell him what, or rather, who she'd been thinking of sacrificing. But... She'd have to. Soon. "He could, and I think, would help me."

Kurl sighed. Bat looked at her expectantly.

"I... was thinking of a sacrifice. To help with the childbirth. I went to the temple of Meskhenet to ask a priestess what kind of animal would be acceptable. Orrr... If we could sacrifice Rahnd since he's a smart enough man despite the oddities and—" She spewed the last part out, and stopped talking before she could do more damage.

Bat scowled. Kurl waited for him to explode (which would be the first time he did so.)

After a bit, he spoke calmly. "I don't see why not."

In a daze, Kurl followed Bat outside. He was muttering to himself, "This'd be great... Raise to be a great kid... How do we get Rahnd where we need him?" He led them up to the astronomic calendar near their house. About twenty-nine massive, rectangular-chiseled rocks in a circle, aligned with various parts of the year. Solstices, equinoxes, and points in between would have the sun rise and set between specific stones. There were several stones in the centre that aligned with certain stars, but neither of the two knew exactly how those worked. They sat atop one of the shorter stones, watching the stars. Bat had one arm around her shoulders, the other resting where their baby was slowly beginning to show itself.

"The summer solstice is soon. Three days," Bat said.
"That night will be the best time to sacrifice Rahnd."
"And then we'll have a beautiful child."

They sat and watched the skies unfold themselves, cascading over the slate of night. After many uncounted minutes passed, Bat got up, promising a quick return. He walked calmly down the moon and starlit slope, covered in sparse grass, and down the road to their new home, where he found a sacrificial knife his father had given him. He returned with it.

"My father gave this to me, and I forgot about it until now. I wasn't as spiritual back then, and had just put it some place where I thought I'd forget about it."
"A sacrificial knife? It'll work great." She paused. "Also, what do you think we should name the child?"

A neighbour of theirs happened to look out at the newest addition to their street, stargazing atop one of the megaliths that made up the astral calendar. All he could think was, "They'll make great parents."

[RabbitHoleLost]

Rand: The long awaited ship, eh?
I came out of hiding from this thread to comment.
First off, its very odd. I like it, but its so different. Its like...nothing quite happened, but lots of things did.
Hmmm.
I think I'll need to reread it and chew over it for a bit.

[Dallas-Dakota]

DD: Love the ship, it's sweet. Dragona's DeeRee yeah?
Thenkee, and yeah, Dragona = DeeRee.
I've fallen into habbit of calling her Dragona...

I blame her and Felix.

[horngeek]

Well, I shudder to think what I'll end up being referred to in ships.

I mean, Geeky sounds odd...

But Horny just sounds wrong.

[Felixaar]

Thenkee, and yeah, Dragona = DeeRee.
I've fallen into habbit of calling her Dragona...

I blame her and Felix.

Me? What'd I do? I only really call her Dragonrider, or one of a multitude of nicknames that in no way actually derives from that.

Well, except DR, I guess, and El Doctor thanks to Dr. being short for whats that? You guessed it-- Doctor!

[CurlyKitGirl]

Housewarming
CKG/Dr. Bath with appearances.

Creative liberties taken with personalities. :smalltongue: Chiefly my own. >.>

The image shimmered and distorted the land around it, at a point close to the horizon. It looked no different than the countless other mirages Kurl-Khi'itgah and Ba-Thel had seen. The difference now was that, by their rough estimates, they should be nearing Nabta Playa, the city which they'd bought a house in. Kurl felt herself tense up slightly, in almost giddy anticipation of their new home. The two figures, clothed in dull, tan, and sandy robes, atop their grey mules, inched through the desert.

Kurl spoke.
"Bat," ('Bat' was her name for him, and it originally annoyed him. Bat is a goddess of the cosmos, and he found it strange to be compared to a goddess. But Kurl liked it, and wasn't going to stop using it.) "we're close enough that that could be the lake, aren't we?"
"Well, if you see it, then that means I'm not hallucinating, and —"
"Hah! Hallucinating. What are we, two travellers lost in the desert, dying of thirst?" She smiled and scoffed at him.
He rolled his eyes and became infected by her smile, smiling as well. "Yes, it could very well be the lake."

Presently, Kurl reached down into a pack slung over her mule, and drank water from a flask there. Then she nearly gagged on the water as a pungeunt smell drifted past their miniature caravan. Off to the right, as Bat pointed out, was what appeared to be the corpse of a lamb, burning. Not another person in sight to offer an explanation.


*****

They decided to move because the cost of living was far lower in Nabta Playa. It had a seasonal lake, which made water plentiful during the summer, when it rained. Also, most cloth and clothing had to be imported from Nubt, their previous city (which was certainly not a place to raise a child), and as tailors, they could make a slightly better living in their new city.

Bat was removing some of the smaller bits of plain, wooden furniture from their cart - two stools, two bedrolls, among other things - as Kurl was talking to Rahnd-Imahn, the merchant who rented them the mules, and travelled the first half of the trip with them. She and the merchant stood in the shade created by their new home's mudbrick face.

After paying the deposit on the mules, she idly said, "Gods help me through this."
Rahnd looked up from counting the coins. "New house? Yesss, not always easy to adjust to. Offerings to a god, yes. Offerings. Which god?" He thought for a second. "Bes, if I were you." He spoke in his usual, slightly drawling voice.

She thanked Imahn one more time before he left, said a good-bye, to which he did not respond. He merely threw one hand over his shoulder in what must have been a wave. Or something of that nature. He walked off, his odd red and purple garment swaying about him. She shrugged, thought about what he said. It wasn't for the new house she was asking for divine help. Complications in childbirth ran in her family. Complications that made her cling to Bat at three in the morning. Her aunt had died in childbirth, and her older sister.

The next morning, Bat was rearranging the furniture, muttering to himself, "No... To the left." He rotated the simple table ninety degrees, and put it where a window's light fell, scraping up the beige floor as he did so. Kurl came downstairs, a proud smile on her face.

"I just finished setting up the loom," she told Bath, awaiting an impressed look. Theirs was a complicated mechanism, that usually took both of them an hour or so to assemble.
Surpressing how impressed he actually was, he responded, "Oh, good. That's one less thing to do."
"Right. I'll just go to the local market, and find out what I can about local flax sellers." She knew he would be trying to one-up her while she was gone.

Upon paths of gritty sand Kurl walked to the market district of the city. The market was far less bustling than in Nubt, but despite fewer vibrantly dyed fabrics, and fewer aromas coming from the spice stalls, it had a homlier feel to it. The ones working the stalls were friendlier, and the faces were less monotonous, each one seeming to have some story to tell. In fact, one recognised face appeared presently, from the livestock street. His face was alight with a triumphant look, and curisoity drove her to go find out what the look was about. "Triumph? Excitement? This isn't like Rahnd, why's he not being so monotnous?" she wondered, whilst trying to read his face.

After catching up with him, she asked, "Hey, where'd you get the mask from?" with a wry smile.
"Ohh, Kurl. I just got back — from the — from a merchant, who's just told me, yes, that the soil here. The soil here is not good for planting certain crops. It's hard to grow feed here..."
Partway through Rahnd's plodding explanation, a thought entered Kurl's mind, stage left. Sometimes she got thoughts that seemed to originate from an existence not perceivable by human senses. At least, that's how they seemed to her. And the thought was:
"What if we were to sacrifice him?"
She nodded as Rahnd seemed to be finishing up his speech. It wasn't that she hadn't been paying attention, it was just that with the thoughts turning themselves over in her head, she couldn't care less about him raising the money to move his family to Nabta Playa.


*****

Later, as the sun was bathing the town in purples an oranges, Kurl was just leaving the house of a well-off farming family, which managed several fields of flax. She'd reached an agreement in which the family would sell Kurl and Bat their flax, at prices that made her jaw drop. In the good way. Now that she'd gotten that loose end tied up, she let her thoughts stray back towards the sacrifice. She'd made up her mind, and decided to head back to the busier part of town, to the temple. She needed to sacrifice something for the childbirth. But was it okay to sacrifice a human? No doubts remained in her mind that the goddess Meskhenet would appreciate it if she did, but would the preistesses allow it?

"Bat's probably starting to wonder what's taking me so long. I'll make this as short as I can. Won't have to answer any questions then." She feared what he might say about her idea of a sacrifice.

She ventured through the market again, this time in the direction of the government buildings, where the temple was located. It was bigger than any of the buildings surrounding it, and more decorated; a floral pattern was inlaid in its front pillars, made to look like emerald. Of course, it probably would have been cheaper to actually use emerald. Some of the market buildings were growing larger, as well. The temple would have competition soon.

By the time she was nearing the temple, employees of the oldest profession were beginning to show themselves. Kurl hurried. Worse than the employees were the clients. "Still," she thought, "this isn't half as bad as Nubt would get." She was nearly to the temple now.

Inside the temple, which was lit by oil lamps in a romantic manner, Kurl found one of the priestesses. She was clad in garments of linen finer than Kurl and Bat had ever made. "Doing the gods' will pays, naturally."

"Em hotep nefer," said the priestess, in greeting.
"Em hotep," Kurl replied. "I've come here for advice. I'm pregnant."
"Meskhenet's blessing is upon you, then. I suppose you're wondering how to make it go smoothly?"
"Yes. What can I sacrifice to please Meskhenet?"
Without changing the blank expression on her face, the priestess responded, "A ewe is best for Meskhenet, but if you can only acquire a calf, then it will suffice."
"And... What if all we can acquire is a person? Don't get me wrong, it'd be a good, bright m—" But the priestess cut her off, her bored expression changed into shock.
"Meskhenet is a goddess of life, and creation! You're not going to sacrifice a human. That's a sure way to incur her wrath. Now leave. Waste no more of my time."

Seething, Kurl left. "Why would Meskhenet prefer an animal life over a human life? It's nonsense!" On the way back, she had to deal with no creatures of the night. Just the look on her face kept them away. She got home to Bat pacing back and forth, who both wanted to kill and cuddle Kurl.

"Where have you been, Kurl? All night?"
Snapping back at him, she said, "I was at the temple. Meskhenet's. Seeing what we could sacrifice to make the birth" (she was just barely beginning to show her pregnancy) "go smoother."
"Okay. You didn't tell me you were going anywhere. I assume this was on one of your whims? Nevermind. What did you find out on your little mission?" He still looked cross.
She wondered if it would be safe to tell him what, or rather, who she'd been thinking of sacrificing. But... She'd have to. Soon. "He could, and I think, would help me."

Kurl sighed. Bat looked at her expectantly.

"I... was thinking of a sacrifice. To help with the childbirth. I went to the temple of Meskhenet to ask a priestess what kind of animal would be acceptable. Orrr... If we could sacrifice Rahnd since he's a smart enough man despite the oddities and—" She spewed the last part out, and stopped talking before she could do more damage.

Bat scowled. Kurl waited for him to explode (which would be the first time he did so.)

After a bit, he spoke calmly. "I don't see why not."

In a daze, Kurl followed Bat outside. He was muttering to himself, "This'd be great... Raise to be a great kid... How do we get Rahnd where we need him?" He led them up to the astronomic calendar near their house. About twenty-nine massive, rectangular-chiseled rocks in a circle, aligned with various parts of the year. Solstices, equinoxes, and points in between would have the sun rise and set between specific stones. There were several stones in the centre that aligned with certain stars, but neither of the two knew exactly how those worked. They sat atop one of the shorter stones, watching the stars. Bat had one arm around her shoulders, the other resting where their baby was slowly beginning to show itself.

"The summer solstice is soon. Three days," Bat said.
"That night will be the best time to sacrifice Rahnd."
"And then we'll have a beautiful child."

They sat and watched the skies unfold themselves, cascading over the slate of night. After many uncounted minutes passed, Bat got up, promising a quick return. He walked calmly down the moon and starlit slope, covered in sparse grass, and down the road to their new home, where he found a sacrificial knife his father had given him. He returned with it.

"My father gave this to me, and I forgot about it until now. I wasn't as spiritual back then, and had just put it some place where I thought I'd forget about it."
"A sacrificial knife? It'll work great." She paused. "Also, what do you think we should name the child?"

A neighbour of theirs happened to look out at the newest addition to their street, stargazing atop one of the megaliths that made up the astral calendar. All he could think was, "They'll make great parents."

:smallbiggrin:
It's here! I've been waiting a while for the new thread to get started so you'd post this.
You kept the actual murder out of the ship which makes the story 'empty', but not. The action is very small and well - scattered so it makes it very pre - meditated which fits the premise.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Me? What'd I do? I only really call her Dragonrider, or one of a multitude of nicknames that in no way actually derives from that.

Well, except DR, I guess, and El Doctor thanks to Dr. being short for whats that? You guessed it-- Doctor!

You know what you did.

You should remember it...Especially since you promised us more of it in the end-of-last-thread.

[Dragonrider]

Cool, Dallas. :smallbiggrin: Just like to point out, though..."slandered" doesn't mean what you would think it ought to. Maybe the word you're looking for is "meandered"? :smallwink:

[Dallas-Dakota]

Thenkee:smallbiggrin: I just put in wandered now....

I blame the english language.:smalleek:

[Felixaar]

I always used to get "Meandered" confuse with "Neanderthal", so I assumed it meant to walk in a cavemanesque fashion.

Also, I've just noticed DD's icon is female :smallconfused: Don't tell me I've got someone's gender wrong again. His name isn't one typically given to girls.

And yahs, a new HEAD and TAIL story will be here, but probably not soon :smalltongue:

[Dirk Kris]

Scene Six: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNMEEu0j_Cg) Beyond This Life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwGuRBuj_wo) (Two different links - the second part is amazing instumental until about the last 30 seconds)
Fred began to convulse again in Dr. Destro's chair, this time without saying a word. The hypnotherapist stopped the clock and reached out to touch the young man, whose lips and face were starting to turn blue. As soon as his fingers brushed Fred's shoulder, the young man gasped for air and opened his eyes, sitting up straight in the lounge. With wide, wild eyes, he looked around, and only after several seconds did he begin to calm.

Dr. Yersul took off his glasses and wiped his hands across his face, concerned. "Lad, what happened?"

Fred looked at the older gentleman, still trembling. "1928. DeeRee, murdered. I...I have to go to 1928." Standing, he bolted from the room, ignoring the doctor's cries for caution.

At the public library, the desk clerk wondered briefly if the pale young man asking for the newspaper archives was on drugs. She directed him towards the machines they had scanned all the old papers into, storing the fragile documents in a secure room in the back. Fred sat at one, hands shaking. He flicked on the machine and nervously drummed his fingers as it hummed to life. Typing in his search parameters - 1928, murder, DeeRee - he waited, holding his breath, as it came up. He leaned forward to read it, the awful events playing out in his mind as he read the paper.

Headline - Murder, young girl killed!
Desperate shooting at Echo's Hill!
Dreadful ending, killer died!
Evidently suicide!

"Oh no - DeeRee..." Fred wiped at sudden tears that filled his eyes, then continued reading.

A witness heard a horrifying sound
He ran to find a woman dead and
Lying on the ground

Standing by her was a man
Nervous, shaking, gun in hand
Witness says he tried to help
But he turned the weapon on himself

His body fell across that poor young girl
After shouting out in vain
The witness ran to call for assistance
A sad close to a broken love affair...

It was there in all its lurid detail - DeeRee, blood pooling beneath her, eyes staring wide with surprise. The killer, standing over her in his jacket, gun smoking in his hand. The witness, some good Samaritan, came running in to see what had happened. The two men lock eyes, then the killer lifts the gun to his throat and pulls the trigger. He runs his hand through his blue-black hair, uncertain for just a moment - and then the light in his eyes goes out. He slumps across DeeRee's cooling body, the two wrapped in a morbid lover's embrace.

Suddenly, Fred swears he can hear her voice...

"Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are..."

Reading on, Fred learns that the killer was a man named Reinholdt, DeeRee's lover. They had been engaged, but it had been put on hold due to Reinholdt's apparent alcohol problem. Senator Twobit, the killer's brother, spilled out the story, tearful, ashamed. As Fred read on, the pieces all clicked into place - he knew DeeRee. Part of him was DeeRee...

"She wanted love forever
But he had another plan
He fell into an evil way
She had to let him down
She said "I can't love a wayward man."

She may have found a reason to forgive
If he had only tried to change
Was their fatal meeting prearranged?"

Zooming in on the old text, Fred continues to read, taking notes, learning all he could about it.

"Had a violent struggle taken place?
There was every sign that lead there
Witness found a switchblade on the ground
Was the victim unaware?
They continued to investigate
They found a note in the killer's pocket
It could have been a suicide letter
Maybe he had lost her love?"

Fred held his breath as he jumped ahead to another date to get the details of the letter.

"I feel there's only one thing left to do
I'd sooner take my life away than live with losing you."

Fred sits back, stunned. Reinholdt had killed her, then himself. The man who supposedly loved her. And he hears DeeRee's voice again...

"Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are

All that we learn this time
(What we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life..."

Fred knows it to be true. He's always known DeeRee, known things he shouldn't have. And he sees a lot of her in himself - caring, thoughtful, at times too free with his heart. At the end of the last mention of the tragedy, Fred finds a funeral notice. It tells him where DeeRee is buried. He scribbles down the address, clutches his keys, and heads out.

[Dirk Kris]

...anyone?

[Destro_Yersul]

Would have commented yesterday, but I was out all night at a friends place. D&D. Anyways, back now.

And it was good, Dirk. It really was. I like the way you're tying all these together, and I like the glimpses of past lives and Fred's search.

[TwoBitWriter]

I already PM'd you my response, but I will announce it to the world.

I FREAKING LOVED IT AND I CANT WAIT TO SEE MORE OF THE STORY!

[Helgraf]

Requiem Mortis - The Tale thus far...

D-Day (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5654980&postcount=877)
Requiem Mortis, Part 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6109133&postcount=829)
Requiem Mortis, Part 2 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6128494&postcount=885)
Requiem Mortis, Part 3 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6145010&postcount=905)
Requiem Mortis, Part 4 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6222704&postcount=962)


Most recently in Requiem Mortis

Mordokai and "Miss Construed" wandered into the crypts; six tombs in, they paused for a time during which "Miss Construed" marked Mordokai with a copper pin that blended in with his hair. Shortly afterward, Mordokai felt a sudden icy chill as a familiar voice murmured inside his head; the one he'd taken to referring to as "Professor Masqued"

"I wonder what your ana'cam will think of your new adornment..."


Requiem Mortis, Part 5
(Mordokai, "Miss Construed", "Professor Masqued")


Mordokai paused a moment, and quietly adjusted his shirt.

"What's it to you, anyhow," he thought back with a hint of indignation as he and his recent paramour headed down the next tunnel, toward the next crypt in the series.

"Aren't we the bold little cockerel while we're floating on tantric tides. I am of a mind t-." Mid-sentance she was cut off by an unusual buzzing, and a sudden spiking pain in the back of his head and his right wrist. He ground his teeth against one another, eyes watering. At the same time, "Miss Construed" turned sharply to regard him.

"You're already copper-marked?!" she spat out through clenched teeth, hands going up to rub her temples.

As she did so, the air around Mordokai grew thick and humid; a grasping gauntlet of squelching wetness that seemed to hold his neck like a vise and then slithered down along his body. Under different circumstances, he would have considered it quite erotic; sadly, right now it felt more like spending too many hours in the Kaydees during high summer with the rain always threatening to break, but never doing so. As the liquid sensation ran over his right hand, he screamed as the pain became suddenly his entire world; the sensation overwhelming his nerves - he collapsed to the floor twitching, unseeing, unaware of anything but the sudden alarm scream of crippling pain that shot back and forth between his hand and his head. He could not, thereby, see or smell the sudden smouldering of the flesh of his right wrist, nor the pulsing cherry-red metal imbedded within it that was the cause of his agony. Pulse raced, adrenaline coursed through his body as his glands engaged full flight mode in a panicked bid to escape whatever was causing this agony.

And then ... it receded, seemed to fly out of him, leaving in his hand and mind phantom echoes. Screaming faded to a quiet groaning. His senses slowly reoriented themselves; the stink of sour fear-sweat and the scent of charred meat first, then more subtle ones. Androstenone. Faint alkalitics, similiar to ones used in temple to preserve older holy works. His eyes
slowly refocused, and he realized he was staring at the ceiling of a crypt; one decorated with a mural depicting an attractive older woman amidst a swarm of ravens. A ring of white gold, set with a bloodstone, adorned her left hand; she stood fore to the night sky; pale grasses bent beneath her unadorned feet, stuck at odd angles up between her toes.

For her part, "Miss Construed" quietly examined the still cooling hair-thin bit of copper on the floor where it landed. Even after the reaction and being yanked out of the meat of his wrist, it still was an amazing bit of craftsmanship; thin as a hair, about as long as the width of a pinky, ending in a fisher's barb. Unlike her own, this one was clearly meant not to be noticed even by the person it was set in.

"Wha ... what in the hells just happened," Mordokai rumbled, drawing a quick, sharp breath.

She picked up the tiny faux hair with a pair of lead tweezers, bringing it over in a way that kept it from touching anything living, since she still did not know exactly how it worked and how it had been deployed.

"Copper marks are ... highly conductive. This makes them useful for anchoring a variety of effects. However, it also makes them subject to feedback resonance, which is why most sensible people only bear one." Her lips pursed a moment, and his expression was a slow echo of her own.

"But ... I've never taken a mark aside from Happy's ana'cam silver before today," he replied with a puzzled expression. His unmarred hand came up to run through his hair, stopping where the fingertips brushed the fringe of the nickle-sized depression where the hairs crumbled like ash under even that light exploratory pressure.

"That," she replied in that sort of odd tone that Mordokai noticed she tended to slip into when lecturing, "is because the person who stuck this," gesturing with the tweezers, "in you underwent no small effort to avoid notice."

His eyes focused slowly, with some residual difficulty on the tiny, barely visible thing she held captive in the tweezers.

"Something to worry about once we're out of here," he growled, "and have time to investigate properly. So, have I earned the secret of what it is you're looking for down here yet?"

"Ahhh ... no. But, I think you certainly deserve something for how ill-used you've become; even though there was no ill-intent, it was an extension of my action that led to this, so I must claim some portion of responsibility for the reactions. Do you have something in mind?"

Mordokai's gaze ran over her form slowly, from feet to crown, taking in every detail, then slowly returning to her eyes.

"Yeah. Give me your name."

One of her eyebrows quirked up halfway, and there might have been a hint of rose at her cheeks - just as likely however the dim light and his injuries were imagining it.

"You can call me Kit."

to be continued

[mangosta71]

I wish I could have found inspiration this week, since it was slow at work and I actually had time... *sigh* (http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/2009/08/writers-block/)

I'm really enjoying the RM stuff, though.

As an aside, apparently you can hide links inside smileys. :smalleek: (http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/08/06/funny-pictures-other-5-get-sucker-punched/)

[CurlyKitGirl]

Requiem Mortis, Part 5
(Mordokai, "Miss Construed", "Professor Masqued")


Mordokai paused a moment, and quietly adjusted his shirt.

"What's it to you, anyhow," he thought back with a hint of indignation as he and his recent paramour headed down the next tunnel, toward the next crypt in the series.

"Aren't we the bold little cockerel while we're floating on tantric tides. I am of a mind t-." Mid-sentance she was cut off by an unusual buzzing, and a sudden spiking pain in the back of his head and his right wrist. He ground his teeth against one another, eyes watering. At the same time, "Miss Construed" turned sharply to regard him.

"You're already copper-marked?!" she spat out through clenched teeth, hands going up to rub her temples.

As she did so, the air around Mordokai grew thick and humid; a grasping gauntlet of squelching wetness that seemed to hold his neck like a vise and then slithered down along his body. Under different circumstances, he would have considered it quite erotic; sadly, right now it felt more like spending too many hours in the Kaydees during high summer with the rain always threatening to break, but never doing so. As the liquid sensation ran over his right hand, he screamed as the pain became suddenly his entire world; the sensation overwhelming his nerves - he collapsed to the floor twitching, unseeing, unaware of anything but the sudden alarm scream of crippling pain that shot back and forth between his hand and his head. He could not, thereby, see or smell the sudden smouldering of the flesh of his right wrist, nor the pulsing cherry-red metal imbedded within it that was the cause of his agony. Pulse raced, adrenaline coursed through his body as his glands engaged full flight mode in a panicked bid to escape whatever was causing this agony.

And then ... it receded, seemed to fly out of him, leaving in his hand and mind phantom echoes. Screaming faded to a quiet groaning. His senses slowly reoriented themselves; the stink of sour fear-sweat and the scent of charred meat first, then more subtle ones. Androstenone. Faint alkalitics, similiar to ones used in temple to preserve older holy works. His eyes
slowly refocused, and he realized he was staring at the ceiling of a crypt; one decorated with a mural depicting an attractive older woman amidst a swarm of ravens. A ring of white gold, set with a bloodstone, adorned her left hand; she stood fore to the night sky; pale grasses bent beneath her unadorned feet, stuck at odd angles up between her toes.

For her part, "Miss Construed" quietly examined the still cooling hair-thin bit of copper on the floor where it landed. Even after the reaction and being yanked out of the meat of his wrist, it still was an amazing bit of craftsmanship; thin as a hair, about as long as the width of a pinky, ending in a fisher's barb. Unlike her own, this one was clearly meant not to be noticed even by the person it was set in.

"Wha ... what in the hells just happened," Mordokai rumbled, drawing a quick, sharp breath.

She picked up the tiny faux hair with a pair of lead tweezers, bringing it over in a way that kept it from touching anything living, since she still did not know exactly how it worked and how it had been deployed.

"Copper marks are ... highly conductive. This makes them useful for anchoring a variety of effects. However, it also makes them subject to feedback resonance, which is why most sensible people only bear one." Her lips pursed a moment, and his expression was a slow echo of her own.

"But ... I've never taken a mark aside from Happy's ana'cam silver before today," he replied with a puzzled expression. His unmarred hand came up to run through his hair, stopping where the fingertips brushed the fringe of the nickle-sized depression where the hairs crumbled like ash under even that light exploratory pressure.

"That," she replied in that sort of odd tone that Mordokai noticed she tended to slip into when lecturing, "is because the person who stuck this," gesturing with the tweezers, "in you underwent no small effort to avoid notice."

His eyes focused slowly, with some residual difficulty on the tiny, barely visible thing she held captive in the tweezers.

"Something to worry about once we're out of here," he growled, "and have time to investigate properly. So, have I earned the secret of what it is you're looking for down here yet?"

"Ahhh ... no. But, I think you certainly deserve something for how ill-used you've become; even though there was no ill-intent, it was an extension of my action that led to this, so I must claim some portion of responsibility for the reactions. Do you have something in mind?"

Mordokai's gaze ran over her form slowly, from feet to crown, taking in every detail, then slowly returning to her eyes.

"Yeah. Give me your name."

One of her eyebrows quirked up halfway, and there might have been a hint of rose at her cheeks - just as likely however the dim light and his injuries were imagining it.

"You can call me Kit."

to be continued


You know what I think of, well, basically everything you write, and that I consider this one of the best series in the thread, so . . .
General comments:
Style: darkly amazing, medium focus on emphasis on erotic language; quickly switching to vivid sensory overloading in rapid succession. Tactile, scent/touch, a hint of the aural and finally visual with a minority in scent and aural; I particularly like the 'echo - screams'. Very suggestive, with finesse in deployment of language. I'll have to put some possible hyperanalysis on that painting to see what kind of insane interpretations I can wiggle out of it.
But firstly: I SO CALLED THE CONDUCTIVITY!! And that means these anaca'm marks work through some kind of electrical pulse thingy unique to each pair. Lead, I think dulls conductivity, so the 'voltage' is live and dangerous even after removal from one of the 'sources'. Yes, hazy, but I last took a science class two years and four months ago and I was never any good with the electrical side of things; though I do know how to wire a plug.
Painting, painting, painting . . . As an overall impression it remind of Nordic/Christianity - the latter of the Renaissance and post - Renaissance up to the Pre - Raphaelites. Porbably because it's a ceiling mural (Michelangelo) and the attractive older woman could be any of the Pre - Raphaelites.
Colour scheme is pretty blatantly negative; connotations of death abound with the blood, deathly pale grass, night and ravens. Then again 'white gold' suggests purity, red can be victory or life, black in some mythologies and ancient cultures also meant fertility. So depending on whether or not it's your "traditional" view it's all bad. The alternative is all good. So the duality is very nice, fitting too that Mordokai should look up at something that is life/death after almost dying.
The pose of the woman seems proud, standing amidst death (ravens) in the dark; but ravens are, naturally tricksters in practically any culture so she could be Truth against Lies. Aaaand, as you seems fond of The Raven we musn't forget Lenore and the Raven. Woman and ravens also crop up quite often in Norse mythology so ravens could mean knowledge in which case the woman 'amidst' them could be scattering the truth and breaking it apart. The Mother of Lies. :smalltongue:
I will be very surprised if the painting is ever referred to again, but if it is it'll probably be a very famous member or founder of the academy. Just nice to see what incidental symbolism can be found.
And for anyone who didn't know who the two Misses were before has now figured them out. Lovely way of doing it, Miss Construed is getting a cruuuuusssshhhh.
As ever: fantastic.

[Helgraf]

You know what I think of, well, basically everything you write, and that I consider this one of the best series in the thread, so . . .
General comments:
Style: darkly amazing, medium focus on emphasis on erotic language; quickly switching to vivid sensory overloading in rapid succession. Tactile, scent/touch, a hint of the aural and finally visual with a minority in scent and aural; I particularly like the 'echo - screams'. Very suggestive, with finesse in deployment of language. I'll have to put some possible hyperanalysis on that painting to see what kind of insane interpretations I can wiggle out of it.


:smallbiggrin: I do so enjoy it when people speculate about the story elements - it lets me know they're really taking an interest. Silence is very much the writer's worst enemy; even hard criticism is generally better received.



But firstly: I SO CALLED THE CONDUCTIVITY!! And that means these ana'cam marks work through some kind of electrical pulse thingy unique to each pair. Lead, I think dulls conductivity, so the 'voltage' is live and dangerous even after removal from one of the 'sources'. Yes, hazy, but I last took a science class two years and four months ago and I was never any good with the electrical side of things; though I do know how to wire a plug.


There's actually a few references you noted that I used - for instance, copper is elemental water affinity; used in the description of what Kit did just before it ... went bad.

The issue of whether or not it was still 'live' was unclear, so Kit, being in some senses a cautious lady, used tools she had available to minimize possible risk.

Finally, different metals, as one might logically conclude, will have different properties, making them more or less appropriate for different purposes. It is likely, for example, that the silver thorn functions significantly differently than either copper plug.


Painting, painting, painting . . . As an overall impression it remind of Nordic/Christianity - the latter of the Renaissance and post - Renaissance up to the Pre - Raphaelites. Porbably because it's a ceiling mural (Michelangelo) and the attractive older woman could be any of the Pre - Raphaelites. Colour scheme is pretty blatantly negative; connotations of death abound with the blood, deathly pale grass, night and ravens. Then again 'white gold' suggests purity, red can be victory or life, black in some mythologies and ancient cultures also meant fertility. So depending on whether or not it's your "traditional" view it's all bad. The alternative is all good. So the duality is very nice, fitting too that Mordokai should look up at something that is life/death after almost dying.

Okay, I was definitely going for a very specific idea here, but I'll cotton up that in this case, I didn't do color research, so I'm glad that by happenstance it worked out more or less just right.


The pose of the woman seems proud, standing amidst death (ravens) in the dark; but ravens are, naturally tricksters in practically any culture so she could be Truth against Lies. Aaaand, as you seems fond of The Raven we musn't forget Lenore and the Raven. Woman and ravens also crop up quite often in Norse mythology so ravens could mean knowledge in which case the woman 'amidst' them could be scattering the truth and breaking it apart. The Mother of Lies. :smalltongue: I will be very surprised if the painting is ever referred to again, but if it is it'll probably be a very famous member or founder of the academy. Just nice to see what incidental symbolism can be found.

There is something, I'm not sure if it's irony or some other literary device at work here, and it's thick and it amuses me terribly.



And for anyone who didn't know who the two Misses were before has now figured them out. Lovely way of doing it, Miss Construed is getting a cruuuuusssshhhh.
As ever: fantastic.

Oh, well, we have a formal name for "Miss Construed" - that being Kit. But I think "Professor Masqued" has not been formally revealed yet. There's more to most of the cast than is immediately obvious - and that includes Mordokai.

Character (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6134203&postcount=895) Notes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6222706&postcount=963) have been updated (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6134203&postcount=895) again (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6222706&postcount=963) (albiet briefly)


Writing Project Log
1. Mad Season Act II, scene 3
2. Requiem Mortis - cryptic convolutions Finished Part 5
3. Dead Air
4. Fic promised for Kara's pic here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6572986&postcount=511) Finished

[Dallas-Dakota]

Writing Project Log
1. Mad Season Act II, scene 3 - I should really just start writing it now.
2. Requiem Mortis - cryptic convolutions Finished Part 5
3. Dead Air - Will come after Mad Season Act II - Secne 3
4. Fic promised for Kara's pic here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6572986&postcount=511) Finished

Don't you agree?:smallamused::smalltongue:

[Helgraf]

Don't you agree?:smallamused::smalltongue:

What makes you think I'm not working on it, mmm?

[Dallas-Dakota]

The fact that you're posting here without posting MS AII - Scene 3? Hmm...

[CurlyKitGirl]

:smallbiggrin: I do so enjoy it when people speculate about the story elements - it lets me know they're really taking an interest. Silence is very much the writer's worst enemy; even hard criticism is generally better received.

As an English student I'm more than happy to devote otherwise wasted minutes to analysis, overanalysis, hyperanalysis and paranoid analysis. :smallbiggrin:


:There's actually a few references you noted that I used - for instance, copper is elemental water affinity; used in the description of what Kit did just before it ... went bad.

I only remember that I called the conductivity.


:The issue of whether or not it was still 'live' was unclear, so Kit, being in some senses a cautious lady, used tools she had available to minimize possible risk.

Finally, different metals, as one might logically conclude, will have different properties, making them more or less appropriate for different purposes. It is likely, for example, that the silver thorn functions significantly differently than either copper plug.

Caution rocks. I'm glad Kit was cautious. I shall devote some time to the investigation of silver, and thorns, soon.


:Okay, I was definitely going for a very specific idea here, but I'll cotton up that in this case, I didn't do color research, so I'm glad that by happenstance it worked out more or less just right.

. . .

There is something, I'm not sure if it's irony or some other literary device at work here, and it's thick and it amuses me terribly.

I'm just plain awesome like that. :smallamused: :smallwink:
And generally people instinctively know the colours, so they'll use them to get what they mean across. I do research because of other interpretations.
I can't wait to see what great irony I've noticed in this painting which'll become apparent later on. This intrigues me, and it'd better amuse me too!


:Oh, well, we have a formal name for "Miss Construed" - that being Kit. But I think "Professor Masqued" has not been formally revealed yet. There's more to most of the cast than is immediately obvious - and that includes Mordokai.

You know what I mean. And it's always good for multiple angles to characters. Makes them more 3D and real.

Previously:

Eldritch Abominations and Eldritch Relations Part One (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6549094&postcount=1306)
Eldritch Abominations and Eldritch Relations Part Two (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6557385&postcount=1316)

And now:

Eldritch Abominations and Eldritch Relations Part Three

I fear the colour red now, because of that door all reds from the terrific cherry red to crimson to the palest red imaginable, a faint blush. All these send my fragile mind, a mind which barely clings to sanity, wheeling unstopping into the abyss of the world where the Crawling Chaos capers to the tune of his two amorphous pipers.
My hands are quivering at even the thought of further writing down my experiences; I must pause once more to recollect myself. I do not wish to forget myself. I mustn't. Because then the sight that I saw, it would destroy the tatters of my mind.
I am Damned for what I witnessed - no! took part in! I aided the summoning of the Unspeakable One known as Rabbithulu. My only chance at redemption; of not being condemned to the Ninth Circle of traitors is to finish this 'script to warn the world of the two young women who will bring about a great doom to this world.
It was early in the morning; the sky becoming the green tinted blue that heralded the coming of the dawn when we were shown to our dormitories and told to sleep for the rituals would commence in the afternoon. My nerves were stretched far beyond what I would now deem nature ever intended. But, as always when young, I believed myself to be far stronger in temperament and constitution than I was. Oh! that I would still feel as young as I am! But I have ruined myself. I cannot help but think that my compulsion, my obsession of just a few short months ago was inspired by something greater. But was it the greater good? God, I hope so.
My sleep was unsettled; the walls shrieked and scrabbled with phantom rats, the sun slid insidiously betwixt the shutters streaking sickly white across the whole room. My dreams were nightmares. Of what I have endured, but cannot write of; and of what was to come. While around me the cultists – upright, cheerful and ordinary, completely against what I had expected - babbled happily to one another with their flawed theories. Their innocent evil in turn beguiled and repelled me. Some, doubtless, knew the full truth, but carried along this mummer’s play with full delight.
We few who slept through the day were roused by the toll of a bell, calling us for a meal. I ate like an automaton, not tasting the delicious looking meal laid before us on old and chipped plates with smudged designs on them. How odd it is that I focus on the minutiae like this, my mind seems to avert from the most significant occurrences. The subconscious is more powerful than I had thought. Unlike what I had expected, this malign cult was not sombre or any more secretive than an ordinary gathering of internet folk; nor were they ominous in their attitudes. In fact, as we waited for the leader of the cult the atmosphere was busily quiet. We would not have looked out of place in a park or shopping centre.
The silent leader stood then and spoke. It was a clear, yet sibilant voice; clearly the man had a tremendous lisp, it was nearly sinister in a comical fashion. “We shall go down to the basement and then through the door.” Ren Graf then sat down and resumed his typical silence. This scrap of information left me fitfully disturbed, for it was my perception that we would depart shortly, yet we waited a further two hours in the dimly lit room and it’s overly soft seats. During those last few hours I examined the room and found the wallpaper to be hideously fascinating. There were two individual main patterns, one of a lighter yellow than the other, and they seemed to wind into one another and devour each other making eyes and baleful frowning eyebrows.
If I tilted my head slightly I could pretend that it was a face, one that gazed unflinchingly upon the small joys and the greater evils committed in the House, the wallpaper must have gone insane many decades ago; that was why it was frowning hatefully at me. Me, who knew what I was doing, and cared, but not enough to stop it. One of the leaders of
I am a monster! How could I have participated in the summoning!? I should have killed them all while they slept or ate! I would have condemned myself to Hell, but the rest would be saved! I would have save them! A shameful creature I am. Weak, spineless, lured into my deeds through good intentions and the words of the vile Koorilithulu!! I am not to blame! I’m not! Mother, I’m not bad, I promise! and so I arrived in the basement, trailing reluctantly behind the rest and clinging frightfully to the wall for the staircase lacked a railing and the stairs seemed to . . . move oddly under the feet. As if they were rolling from side to side. The basement was vast, much larger than the House that perched uneasily above the cavern it rested on. I could hardly see the farthest end, but that was of no consequence because of the enormous hole in the wall leading deeper into the heart of darkness.
It was claustrophobic, dry and slightly dusty; so hard to breathe and I kept gagging on the drifting dust that misted up the lights. I know not how far we walked, just that it seemed an age, but a minute. Or it seemed but a moment, but was an age.
It is . . . hard to say. We walked and I saw and what I saw was strange. As if I saw life through three shades of reality. Around me palely amorphous shapes passed through everything astringently. They, the things, they moved with bitterness and I tasted it. I should not have been able to! Noone else saw them, or if they did it mattered not. My focus on these preternatural things flashed on and off; repeatedly starting me into panic.
Time too, seemed immaterial as sickly shades of monstrously malformed beings shuffled sullenly out of the light into smaller, dimmer passages. I saw predatory eyes gleam, the shadows of a low, jutting proto – human forehead. Wet grunting, slobbering shuddered out around us and we started. At least, the newer of us, the elders seemed barely to give a glance at the things so dreadfully placed out of time. I think, perhaps, that they were a race of beasts and humans that, long in their worshipping of the two Lost Ones, never advanced and devoted themselves – if such insensible things can be said to devote attention to anything that isn’t base – to remaining frozen against all advancement and betterment. A vision of a bestial past. The final view, the most dreadful, was not seen, nor felt, but heard.
It hummed through my being, vibrating my bones and muscles. A strange pounding rhythm, similar to the heartbeat, but arrhythmic. Whines and strange animal screams pierced through the quiet as we approached the final room. It spoke down to my most primal beliefs, insisted that I give up all thought and just plunge into baseness. It was so familiar and I still know not why.
She was there. Koorilithulu. Leaning against a smooth wall exuding a strange aura. Expectancy and almost – if She were human, or even a natural being I would call it happiness. There were two other doors in the room, one small and insignificant. The other more foreboding and eldritch.
We bowed before Her and She nodded. We did nothing, but it seemed as if we had.
And She spake, looking at us all with her frozen eyes, "I have seen and written Gilgamesh; Achilles; Hektor; Herakles; Aeneas; Beowulf; Roland; Arthur and Launcelot and Gawain; all whom you hold high as heroes, doers of greatness, forces that stand against the oncoming storm that I represent. These men are nothing.
"I am Koorilithulu. My hunger is unending. My thirst unquenchable. I have destroyed armies and kingdoms, entire civilisations and worlds have crumbled at my merest exertion of my abilities.
"I am thought and speech. None of ever imprisoned me against my will. None have ever defeated me unless I willed it.
"It is only to Rabbithulu that I will admit defeat. She has tamed me.
"And now she begins to awake.
"She is darkness beyond the blackest pitch; she is the seed of chaos from which all others bloom. She is complete and utter madness.
"And her eyes are opening.
"She is all that is good - utterly perverted beyond the most fevered imaginings of an insane man. She is gloriously, brilliantly terrible and beautiful.
"Rejoice in what you have done. For we walk in eternity." Her eyes widened impossibly; but then, She is not human, I could see vast expanses of snowy white liberally laced with bloody veins all around the frozen pit of her irises. Koorilithulu span to look at the door. In a murmur that nonetheless reverberated around the world she said only three words, and those words were filled with awe, reverence, and something unimaginable. The words "She is here." rasped into the dead silence. And my heart seized in my chest.
The door opened without ceremony.
Rabbithulu stepped into the room, just at the edge of torchlight, She too, was a slight young woman with long brown hair. She stretched and yawned. Quite possibly the most unnerving thing of all, it was catlike and nonchalant. Then She looked around, Her eyes burning with a fever that matched the cold chasm of Koorilithulu’s eyes. And dismissed us with that one glance. ”So you found out then? The secret.”
”No fool am I, for I am knowledge; I just had to wait, and then decide when to awaken you.”
”Why now?”
”’Tis your birthday and I figured out the riddle.” The two dark being grinned at one another. ”That is not dead which can eternal lie - ”
” – And in strange aeons, even death may die.”
”So I got you your birthday present. You really were incredibly cryptic. You wanted dead musicians. The best. So many hints and clues scattered over endless millennia and countless books. Best. Scavenger. Hunt. Ever.” What? My mind couldn’t comprehend. We had, we had. Humanity was to be destroyed all for the sake of a game!! And Rabbithulu wanted to eat the souls – or bodies? - of dead musicians? And for what purpose? This dark and ancient cult brought to light and waking the dread Rabbithulu . . . for a birthday?
Rabbithulu bounced up and down like a child before kissing Koorilithulu on the mouth! I knew the two Lost Ones were depraved and begat depravity! But this, never had I imagined such a thing.
Pretty hot.
But a symbol of their unnatural status!
Yet, there was something else that disturbed me. An edge to the air, one honouring a promise of terror and death. I began to leave, I cherished my life then, now I care not, then I did. As the two dread ones went to the other door, it swung open before them, and the ever present noise . . . became clear.
”THE BEATLES!! The complete set! And Bowie! And Queen! That one’s more for you isn’t it?”
”Deny that Freddie is a god.” A pause. !You can’t, can you? After you my love.” I fled.
Behind me there was a tumultuous chorus of screams and gurgling and wet slaps as things hit the walls. My back was spattered with gore even though I was several hundred yards up the tunnel and to what little salvation I may yet attain.
All dead, all dead.
I live, and seek to spread the word, I am not insane, unsettled or prone to hallucinations; but they keep me here. The two Found Ones know about me, I am sure of it, they looked at me once, knowingly. They will get me. I must leave. Flee. Make my escape. I don’t wish to be lost, I only wish death.
The radio, they can hear me through the radio, and I them. They’re playing Hide and Seek with me. And when the Hider is no more they will play with the rest.
They come. And we do nothing.

[Helgraf]

I'm just plain awesome like that. :smallamused: :smallwink: And generally people instinctively know the colours, so they'll use them to get what they mean across. I do research because of other interpretations. I can't wait to see what great irony I've noticed in this painting which'll become apparent later on. This intrigues me, and it'd better amuse me too!

My, haven't we become demanding. :smallwink:

[RabbitHoleLost]

Koorli: Best birthday ever.
And it totally is hot.

I laughed, I was intrigued.

If only Coidzor had known what he started when he made such a small off hand comment :smallamused:

[Destro_Yersul]

Right. Should be working on SotR, but I decided to do this instead because that just isn't flowing right now. Thusly, I shall be pulling out all the random, nonsensical, innuendo-filled stops for this one. Hope you all enjoy the silly.

It's So Easy Being Evil
Mangosta/Rabbit
Mangosta sat on his Throne of Devious Villainy, which he had hand carved himself from the bones of innocents and babies. And possibly innocent babies. Because some of them are evil, but he didn't use those ones.

The Throne was situated at the exact center of the Volcano mountain superbase of doom, surrounded by finely crafted defenses of the darkest steel and shiniest chrome. Computer screens lined the interior of the entire hollow mountain. Each one showed a different camera, facing a different direction, in a different part of the base.

Mangosta was currently watching the one placed on the inside of the locker rooms used by the female minions.

So distracted was he, in fact, that he didn't notice a decidedly non-minion person walking down hallway 8-D. Rabbit stepped lightly over a tripwire laser and ducked under the holes in the walls designed to fire highly venomous snakes at intruders.

The next doorway slid open, and she found herself within the cavernous space that was Mangosta's throne room. So. She said, taking a few steps closer to the Throne. Looks like you're still trying to compensate for something.

Not at all, my dear Rabbit. The Throne swiveled, revealing Mangosta in all his tophat-wearing, fluffy-white-cat-stroking glory. He adjusted his monocle and leaned forward. If I were compensating, I would have needed a much larger volcano. As it stands, the size is just about right.

Really? She raised an incredulous eyebrow and smiled. I suppose then, that one could say you live up to the standards set by your lair.

That caused the villain to laugh. Not maniacal laughter, no, he saved that for meddling heroes who he had already tied up and put in elaborate death traps. You haven't changed a bit. Well, except that I heard you'd traded in your villainess' stars for a hero cape. That true, then? Are you here to thwart me?

Oh, I was. But I can see now that I just don't have a good enough handle on the situation. Rabbit continued smiling. She slipped into her old seductress role so smoothly. A casual step forward, weight put on one side.

But no doubt that could be changed easily enough. I seem to remember you having a bit of a knack for getting a handle on things.

Old habits do die hard, don't they? I suppose I could be evil again. But you'd have to make it worth my while. This hero thing pays quite well, and I don't mean just money.

My dear, consider it done. Mangosta rose from his chair, the white cat taking his place. Shall I show you around the base? To my quarters, perhaps? I have a very nice bottle of wine set aside for just such an occasion.

Please do. I believe there was some thwarting to be done. And Mangosta, dear... Rabbit's smile was replaced by a grin. I can thwart you all night long.

Dear god. What have I created?

[RabbitHoleLost]

xD
"I can thwart you all night long."

Indeed.
I could.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Heheh, that made me laugh. Good one, Des!

[CurlyKitGirl]

My, haven't we become demanding. :smallwink:

At least I'm not demanding a blood sacrifice every half day.


Koorli: Best birthday ever.
And it totally is hot.

I laughed, I was intrigued.

If only Coidzor had known what he started when he made such a small off hand comment :smallamused:

Yes, it is. And it's definitely a guy writing this 'script. Technically there's a small epilogue/addendum that'll reveal the author of the 'script.
If only Unanimous For Now Man had know what he started when he made such a small off hand comment. :smallamused:

@Destro: Luvverly. Innuendo, thwarting and giggles abound. Just what we need in the thread.

And I so bet that Rabbit's the most shipped person in the entire history of the shipping thread.

[RabbitHoleLost]

And I so bet that Rabbit's the most shipped person in the entire history of the shipping thread.

I think its because I'm one of the most open people on the board.
Men? Check
Girls? Check
Undead? Checkcheck
Kitties? Check
Undead crossdressing kitties? Mmmmmcheck

[Reinholdt]

:smalleek:
Undead... crossdressing kitties?
*is afraid of what's to come*

[Mordokai]

I think its because I'm one of the most open people on the board.
Men? Check
Girls? Check
Undead? Checkcheck
Kitties? Check
Undead crossdressing kitties? Mmmmmcheck

When you present it like that... one is not sure whether that is hot or disturbing.

Disturbingly hot?

[Destro_Yersul]

I think its because I'm one of the most open people on the board.

That and you're hawt.

We ship you because we love you.

[Helgraf]

At least I'm not demanding a blood sacrifice every half day.

Of course not. That would be wasteful.

[Dirk Kris]

Unstick Me starring Twobi/Brandi
My lips are like honey
One kiss and you'll be stuck
Wish you could escape it
But babe, you're outta luck

Brandi stared at the page. And stared - and that was it. Finally she threw the notebook down and sighed. She picked up her phone and flipped it open, then hit 'redial'. It rang a few times, then an answer.

"Hey babe."
"Hey - I'm stuck. My muse has deserted me."
He laughed. "Shut up - like you've ever needed a muse."
"Yeah, well, I do now."
"How about me?"
"Put on a mini toga and dance around like a fairy prince and we'll talk."
A pause. "So should I come over NOW?"
"Don't you dare." But she was laughing. He could always make her laugh.
"What're you writing?"
"A song. About how you're going to fall madly in love with me as soon as I kiss you. And then you're gonna wanna run away but I'mma suffocate you with TEH LUBS!"
It was his turn to laugh at her. "Whatever, Brandi."
"Pffft, you never know, Toobs. You ever decide you like chicks, let me know."
"Bite me."
"Not a chance - you'd like it too much."
A long pause as the old joke sat between them.
"Want me to come over and snuggle?"
"Yeah."
"Cool - I'll be there in 10."
"Thanks, Toobs."
"Anytime, babe. I love ya - you know that."
"Yeah - see ya."
She waited until she hung the phone up to close her eyes and whisper. "I love you too."
A break from Scenes.

[Fredthefighter]

Dirk: D'awwwwwww.

Destro: Hehe, innuendo-tastic.

[mangosta71]

Right. Should be working on SotR, but I decided to do this instead because that just isn't flowing right now. Thusly, I shall be pulling out all the random, nonsensical, innuendo-filled stops for this one. Hope you all enjoy the silly.

It's So Easy Being Evil
Mangosta/Rabbit
Mangosta sat on his Throne of Devious Villainy, which he had hand carved himself from the bones of innocents and babies. And possibly innocent babies. Because some of them are evil, but he didn't use those ones.

The Throne was situated at the exact center of the Volcano mountain superbase of doom, surrounded by finely crafted defenses of the darkest steel and shiniest chrome. Computer screens lined the interior of the entire hollow mountain. Each one showed a different camera, facing a different direction, in a different part of the base.

Mangosta was currently watching the one placed on the inside of the locker rooms used by the female minions.

So distracted was he, in fact, that he didn't notice a decidedly non-minion person walking down hallway 8-D. Rabbit stepped lightly over a tripwire laser and ducked under the holes in the walls designed to fire highly venomous snakes at intruders.

The next doorway slid open, and she found herself within the cavernous space that was Mangosta's throne room. So. She said, taking a few steps closer to the Throne. Looks like you're still trying to compensate for something.

Not at all, my dear Rabbit. The Throne swiveled, revealing Mangosta in all his tophat-wearing, fluffy-white-cat-stroking glory. He adjusted his monocle and leaned forward. If I were compensating, I would have needed a much larger volcano. As it stands, the size is just about right.

Really? She raised an incredulous eyebrow and smiled. I suppose then, that one could say you live up to the standards set by your lair.

That caused the villain to laugh. Not maniacal laughter, no, he saved that for meddling heroes who he had already tied up and put in elaborate death traps. You haven't changed a bit. Well, except that I heard you'd traded in your villainess' stars for a hero cape. That true, then? Are you here to thwart me?

Oh, I was. But I can see now that I just don't have a good enough handle on the situation. Rabbit continued smiling. She slipped into her old seductress role so smoothly. A casual step forward, weight put on one side.

But no doubt that could be changed easily enough. I seem to remember you having a bit of a knack for getting a handle on things.

Old habits do die hard, don't they? I suppose I could be evil again. But you'd have to make it worth my while. This hero thing pays quite well, and I don't mean just money.

My dear, consider it done. Mangosta rose from his chair, the white cat taking his place. Shall I show you around the base? To my quarters, perhaps? I have a very nice bottle of wine set aside for just such an occasion.

Please do. I believe there was some thwarting to be done. And Mangosta, dear... Rabbit's smile was replaced by a grin. I can thwart you all night long.

Dear god. What have I created?

I'm a character in a ship that I didn't write myself? What madness is this?
Great stuff, Des.


xD
"I can thwart you all night long."

Indeed.
I could.

You're welcome to it, babe. :smalltongue:

[TwoBitWriter]

Dirky! That was awesome!

Hehe... when I finally decide I like chicks... you had to take that little stab, didn't you? :smalltongue:

So sweet. You totally deserve hugs for that *hugs Dirky*

[mangosta71]

Thought I'd try my hand at one of these short "letter" type ship thingies to get some of the writer's block out. Also, Dirky - hilarious.

Hindsight
It’s all so obvious now. I love you. I have from the moment we first danced. The years we spent together, going out, cuddling on the couch while we watched silly, sappy movies, I never dared suspect that you felt the same. Even those dress parties we attended in matching costumes, I never let my heart believe that you saw me as anything more than a friend. But now, it’s too late.

We will probably never see each other again. It’s my fault. My cowardice, my stupidity cost us everything we ever could have had. And so here I sit, broken and bitter, yet hopeful that you, at least, have found some meaning in life, knowing that my own will be forever empty. I should have known…

[Dirk Kris]

Mango, you make me sad. :smallfrown:

CRISTO MEYERS, I DEMAND YOU POST HERE! :smallbiggrin:

[Thufir]

:smalleek:
Undead... crossdressing kitties?
*is afraid of what's to come*

It seems I have work to do. :smallamused:

[Reinholdt]

It seems I have work to do. :smallamused:
:eek:
MEEP!
*is torn between volunteering or fleeing and hiding*
*does both unnecessarily*

[horngeek]

By the way, you guys notice the Banner in my sig?

Yeah, that one. I'd love to see a fic based around it. On the idea of people mistaking me for an Evil Dragon and sacrificing maidens, only using those that have given permission for ships.

I haz cookie. Plz?:smallbiggrin:

[Thufir]

Ahah! Take that, writer's block!

Inspired by certain antics on page 47 of the last thread...around here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6621976#post6621976), and continuing to the bottom of the page.
Though I elaborated a bit. It, er... ended up less frivolous than I originally intended.

Repercussions, pt. 1Mordokai was giddy with excitement. As of course he always was when this opportunity came round.
“Please, Santa, for christmas I would like-”
“Hold it! I’m not really Santa Claus. This seemed the easiest way of getting your attention. We need to talk.”
“Rabbit! What do you mean? There’s nothing we need to talk about, unless you want to confess what you’ve done to the real Santa Claus! He should be here!”
“Excuse me? That floozy nymph of yours raped my cat. Rather more important than your childish obsession. And I did nothing.”
“So, what? Next you’ll be telling me there is no Santa Claus? Anyway, look at him, that good for nothing playa catboy…”
“There is no Santa Claus! And, what? Next you’ll be saying no means yes?! Your lascivious freaking plant gave him no choice!”
“YOU TAKE THAT BACK! THERE IS SO A SANTA CLAUS!”
Taken by surprise, Rabbit was knocked down by Mordokai’s initial rush forwards. But the paladin’s strength was at least matched by her willingness to fight dirty. Enraged as they were, neither fought with a great deal of finesse. Trying to rise again, Mordokai found Rabbit had a tight grip on his hair, dragging his head round to look away from their little scuffle.
“LOOK! LOOK AT HIM! This is what she’s done, he’s just cowering there, muttering to himself!”
“Not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa…”
“Maybe, but he’s not complaining, is he? He’s smiling, even! But what you said about Santa-”
“SHUT UP about your fictional present-giving moron! That smile’s obviously enchantment! See, he doesn’t even look like he can see us, doesn’t respond to anything! HE WON’T EVEN TALK TO ME AFTER WHAT HAPPENED!”
Amidst this outburst and her tears, Rabbit seemed to have passed through fury, to something more deadly on the other side.
“I’mma kill Flora, that’s what I’mma do. Rapin’ my fiancé. Yeah. Okay.”
“I have the mud prepared! You can do it right here! Don’t mind me with the camera…”
“Keep your damn mud. You can use it to bury her in. You mess with my cat, I kill you twice.”
“But there is a Santa Claus, and I’ll prove it to you!”
“STOP! Stop it all this irrelevant babbling!” Rabbit grabbed Mordokai and twisted him round again. “THIS is what matters, what happened because of- wait. Where is he? Where’s Rein gone?!”
“I’m serious! I-”
Rabbit absent-mindedly punched Mordokai, knocking him out as she rushed forward to where Reinholdt had been hiding before. Just as she arrived there, the sky lit up in a flash. A large explosion blossoming out from a nearby building, flaming debris rained down, devastation spreading rapidly across the landscape. Within reasonable range of eyesight, it seemed the world was burning. And leading straight as an arrow to the building at the centre of all this were tracks, with the unmistakable melding of human footprint and cat paw unique to one creature…
"REIN!!!!!!"
Part 2 should be written soon.

[Mordokai]

Oh my... oh my :smallbiggrin:

Lets see where this goes :smallsmile:

[YPU]

You may want to change the permision list link in the first post. the first post of the topic is once again up to date... I think.

[Reinholdt]

Meep! :smalleek:

Really good Thufir. I am intrigued.

I fit the psychotic madman so well it's creepy...
>>
<<

Poor Rein. Poor Rabbit.
Mordokai is not poor and in fact needs to get punched again. :smalltongue:

[Mordokai]

*strings Reinholdt up by the tail*

And stay up there, until you learn proper manners :smalltongue:

[Reinholdt]

Letmedownletmedownletmedown!
I only burned part of the world!
*hisses*
*flails and tries to scratch*

[Fredthefighter]

Don't make seperate you two! :smalltongue:

[Mordokai]

Letmedownletmedownletmedown!
I only burned part of the world!
*hisses*
*flails and tries to scratch*

*hoses*

Calm... down! :smalltongue:

[Reinholdt]

*hoses*

Calm... down! :smalltongue:
*whimpers*
*curls up*
*cries*

[Mordokai]

There ain't a problem that can't be solved with the right amount of hosing :smallbiggrin:

[Thufir]

*Hoses Mordokai*

[Mordokai]

Wet T-Shirt contest!

Or in my case... rusty armor contest :smalltongue:

[Dallas-Dakota]

*hoses Thufir and Mordokai*
*will stop hosing Thufir when he writes the second part.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Thufir, that was absolutely fantastic.
I lawled.
Hard.

I 'specially enjoyed how you chose to make the Santa comment make actual sense in context.

[Mordokai]

I hope you know you're breaking my heart Rabbit.

My jaw as well...

[Reinholdt]

I hope you know you're breaking my heart Rabbit.

My jaw as well...
And you broke mah sanity! :smallmad:
Or your rapist girlfriend did anyways.

[Mordokai]

You can't brake what you didn't possessed in the first place, my dear :smalltongue:

[Reinholdt]

You can't brake what you didn't possessed in the first place, my dear :smalltongue:
I did too possess it!
I picked it up at the Good Will for a nickel. :smallfrown:

[Mordokai]

And you expected a nickel of sanity to last you for a lifetime? Ho boy!

If anybody, you're to be blamed for all this, you lousy cheapskates...

[RabbitHoleLost]

I did too possess it!
I picked it up at the Good Will for a nickel. :smallfrown:

Awwww, baby
:: scoops up and kisses kitty ears::

Anyways, Mordokai, you got punched out by a girl. How does that feel, huh?

[Reinholdt]

*purrs for Rabbit and bats playfully at the sanity pieces*

[Mordokai]

Anyways, Mordokai, you got punched out by a girl. How does that feel, huh?

Baby, you can punch me out any time of the day... or night :smallwink:

Yes, I know how incredibly corny that sounded :smallbiggrin:

[Nameless]

Ahah! Take that, writer's block!

Inspired by certain antics on page 47 of the last thread...around here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6621976#post6621976), and continuing to the bottom of the page.
Though I elaborated a bit. It, er... ended up less frivolous than I originally intended.

Repercussions, pt. 1Mordokai was giddy with excitement. As of course he always was when this opportunity came round.
“Please, Santa, for christmas I would like-”
“Hold it! I’m not really Santa Claus. This seemed the easiest way of getting your attention. We need to talk.”
“Rabbit! What do you mean? There’s nothing we need to talk about, unless you want to confess what you’ve done to the real Santa Claus! He should be here!”
“Excuse me? That floozy nymph of yours raped my cat. Rather more important than your childish obsession. And I did nothing.”
“So, what? Next you’ll be telling me there is no Santa Claus? Anyway, look at him, that good for nothing playa catboy…”
“There is no Santa Claus! And, what? Next you’ll be saying no means yes?! Your lascivious freaking plant gave him no choice!”
“YOU TAKE THAT BACK! THERE IS SO A SANTA CLAUS!”
Taken by surprise, Rabbit was knocked down by Mordokai’s initial rush forwards. But the paladin’s strength was at least matched by her willingness to fight dirty. Enraged as they were, neither fought with a great deal of finesse. Trying to rise again, Mordokai found Rabbit had a tight grip on his hair, dragging his head round to look away from their little scuffle.
“LOOK! LOOK AT HIM! This is what she’s done, he’s just cowering there, muttering to himself!”
“Not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa…”
“Maybe, but he’s not complaining, is he? He’s smiling, even! But what you said about Santa-”
“SHUT UP about your fictional present-giving moron! That smile’s obviously enchantment! See, he doesn’t even look like he can see us, doesn’t respond to anything! HE WON’T EVEN TALK TO ME AFTER WHAT HAPPENED!”
Amidst this outburst and her tears, Rabbit seemed to have passed through fury, to something more deadly on the other side.
“I’mma kill Flora, that’s what I’mma do. Rapin’ my fiancé. Yeah. Okay.”
“I have the mud prepared! You can do it right here! Don’t mind me with the camera…”
“Keep your damn mud. You can use it to bury her in. You mess with my cat, I kill you twice.”
“But there is a Santa Claus, and I’ll prove it to you!”
“STOP! Stop it all this irrelevant babbling!” Rabbit grabbed Mordokai and twisted him round again. “THIS is what matters, what happened because of- wait. Where is he? Where’s Rein gone?!”
“I’m serious! I-”
Rabbit absent-mindedly punched Mordokai, knocking him out as she rushed forward to where Reinholdt had been hiding before. Just as she arrived there, the sky lit up in a flash. A large explosion blossoming out from a nearby building, flaming debris rained down, devastation spreading rapidly across the landscape. Within reasonable range of eyesight, it seemed the world was burning. And leading straight as an arrow to the building at the centre of all this were tracks, with the unmistakable melding of human footprint and cat paw unique to one creature…
"REIN!!!!!!"
Part 2 should be written soon.

No, don't get Rein involvded! *Grabs Rein*

...

Oh wait, I don't usualy come here.
>.>
<.<

[Reinholdt]

You're welcome anywhere Nameless, you're just that cool. :smalltongue:

My fate was sealed way back when Ms. Mal turned me into a stereotype with her ships. And then raped by Flora. Mean old nasty Flora. :smallannoyed:
Let me know when you need me again Flora. >>

[Mordokai]

SEE!!! YOU SEE WHAT HE'S UP TO!?!

Playa!

Come on Rabbit, gimme a break, you know him better than I do.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Let me know when you need me again Flora. >>

D=
:: runs off and cries::

[Reinholdt]

D=
:: runs off and cries::
:smalleek:
It was a trick!
See this hidden knife?! I was going to get close to her, then kidnap her for you to sacrifice to your undead hordes!

[Mordokai]

I call your bluff, kitty!

Confess, and save yourself some misery.

And trust me, I'm an expert in that field...

[Reinholdt]

*kills Flora in a ritual to the great Rabbithulu*
*throws in some vampires and zombies too*

[Mordokai]

*sigh*
*neuters Reinholdt*

So much for your playa ways...

*raises Flora*
*rides away into sunset*

Oh and... nyah on you, Reinholdt :smalltongue:

[Recaiden]

Aw, I was going to set a dracolich on him.

Anyways, Thufir, that was great.

[Mordokai]

Feel free to do so :smallbiggrin: I'm far away anyway, it doesn't botter me in the slightes. You know, far from the eyes... :smalltongue:

[Thufir]

Ahh, antics.
Wonder if I can work any of this into part 3...

[Recaiden]

No, I meant on Reinholdt. I wouldn't do that to you. :smallsmile:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm316/RockShade/DracolichBlackSq-1.png

[Nameless]

You're welcome anywhere Nameless, you're just that cool. :smalltongue:

I'm... I'm cool? OwO *nyuuuuu*

[Reinholdt]

*sigh*
*neuters Reinholdt*

So much for your playa ways...
That happens so often nowadays I think it just grows back... o.o

*flees and hides*

[Cristo Meyers]

...

...

...

...I'm not drunk enough for this...

[Helgraf]

:: sprinkles BICHAK all over the thread and posters ::

[UncleWolf]

Back, and with a ship!


A match made in the Imperium
Starring: Cristo and Mala(Ms. Malbolge)

The Eldar Banshee stepped over the corpse of the Nob she had just gutted with her blade. Her wraithbone armor was pockmarked and charred where bullets, fire, and acid had tried to kill her. Her beloved helmet was long gone, a frag grenade had destroyed its com system and she had to abandon it. The Banshee had come a long way to find her prize. She had fought many enemies, each seeking to take the artifact before her. Tyranid, Ork, Marine, it didn’t matter what they were or how many, nothing would stop her and nothing did. Every foe she faced ended up the same. Each had been killed in the name of Khaine. Sheathing her sword, she stepped up to the altar and took the artifact. Raising it into the air, Mala let out her savage war cry…

“SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!”

In another universe, the real one, stood a girl with long, bright red hair, black heels, a skirt, and a homemade shirt that said “Horus was a wuss and took it up the :smallsmile: ” Mala grinned as she held the last copy of Dawn of War II in the store. The aisle was littered with the passed out and groaning forms of gamer boys. She kicked the one nearest her again.

“Stop your groaning. Take it like a girl.”

Mala stepped on each of the bodies, relishing each and every grunt of pain as she walked up to the check-out counter. Cristo, the store owner shakes his head as he rings up the game.

“You know, if you weren’t my best customer and if I thought I could keep you out of here, I would have kicked you out a long time ago.”

Mala giggles as she hands over the money. “Aww… you know they like it. After all, it’s the only contact with a girl they’ll have until 2012.”

Cristo raises his eyebrow and gives her the game. “Why? What happens in 2012?”

Mala grins horribly. “That is when the 40K MMORPG comes out.” She cackles one last time and leaves the store.

Cristo takes a long pull from the bottle of Jack he kept under the counter and shuddered. He wasn’t going to be able to sleep for the next few weeks.


>.>

Yes, she was shipped with the game.

[Reinholdt]

Ah silly Wolf. Welcome back. :smallsmile:

[UncleWolf]

Ah silly Wolf. Welcome back. :smallsmile:

^^

Thanks

[Recaiden]

That was confusing and disturbing. It had a very book feeling to it though.
But more importantly, Wolfbane! :smallbiggrin: * huggles *

[Ms.Malbolge]

I have been shipped! By Wolfie!?

>.>
<.<

Squee!

Lovely ship Wolfie! I shall have to return the favor... some day.

I want that shirt.

[UncleWolf]

I have been shipped! By Wolfie!?

>.>
<.<

Squee!

Lovely ship Wolfie! I shall have to return the favor... some day.

I want that shirt.

Yeah, you'll just set me on fire like you always do.

I look forward to it. :smallwink:

You'll have to earn that shirt. >=D

[Cristo Meyers]

Yeah, you'll just set me on fire like you always do.



Remember, they can't grab you if you're on fire...

[UncleWolf]

Remember, they can't grab you if you're on fire...

It all depends on what kind of fire. :smallwink:

And no, I don't mean the burning or itching kind. :smalltongue:

[Destro_Yersul]

Struck by an idea, but I'm getting tired and am not sure I'll be able to write the whole thing right now. However, I do want to get it started. And who knows, maybe this'll open up the floodgates and I'll be able to start writing again more often. Note that I will need many many redshirts to die during this. Volunteers will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Ship
A sci-fi Epic.
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
"Attention." The PA system on the ship went off for the third time in an hour. "Attention." The cool female voice on the PA never ceased to annoy Destro, somehow. He knew it was just a programmed voice, and perhaps that was the problem with it. It didn't seem quite human. "Asteroid AA23 Successfully tractored. All Mining Personnel to the equipment locker for suit issue. Repeat, all Mining Personnel to the equipment locker for suit issue."

Destro sighed and put down his fork. The other miners in the mess hall had already begun filing out, and he knew he'd have to hurry after them if he wanted to grab one of the good vacuum rigs. Nobody wanted to be stuck with 23 or 45. 23 had a problem with the air recyclers, and inevitably ended up smelling like the inside of a very small very cramped locker room. 45 wasn't as bad, but had a history of breaking down. The last guy who had 45 just barely survived when the seals failed. He was lucky he'd been in the airlock at the time, or he never would have made it.

When Destro reached the equipment locker, he glanced at the numbered suits that were left. 23 and 45 were there, of course, but so was 18. 18 was one of Destro's favourites. He grabbed it off its hook and started suiting up.

Hey Destro. That was Reinholdt. The catlike alien was another miner, and he and Destro held frequent bets on the contents of whatever asteroids they'd picked up at the time. I've got a couple hundred bucks says this one is full of platinum.

Destro grinned. No dice, Rein. I read the same surveyor's report you did. I know it's full of platinum. However, I do think we'll be hitting a bunch of nickel as well. If you'd care to put some money on that, I'd be happy to match you.

Alright, you're on. Say $50? I think you can spare that much. Reinholdt smiled back, showing off a number of pointed teeth. It always creeped the other crew out whenever he smiled, but he'd picked up on it being a human trait and was only trying to fit in. Destro had gotten used to it by now.

Done. Grab a suit and let's break this rock open. I want to see how badly you lose.

[hr]

Space isn't very interesting, is it? DeeRee stood with her back to Twobit, looking out the front viewport. She had asked to accompany him on this trip, to gain experience she needed to get into the academy. Most people were assigned to random ships, and given lower end duties when they needed experience. Of course, most people didn't have a Ship's Captain for a father.

No, it's not. Twobit sat in the captain's chair, leaning to one side and thinking of how much DeeRee had grown recently. She had already graduated with top honours from the college back on earth, and was all set to follow her dad into a career aboard space vessels like this one. But you get used to that. Find things to do. After a while, you stop noticing how empty most of it is.

Yeah, I guess you'd have to. Would drive a man crazy going so long with nothing to do. Guess you're lucky I'm a girl. DeeRee laughed and turned away from the viewport. She headed towards the main door back to the operations part of the bridge. I think I'm going to go test-drive one of the shuttles. See if I can get a closer look at the mining operations.

Alright. Be careful! Twobit spun his chair around so he could watch her leave. As the door slid shut behind her, the Captain smiled. He was really very proud of his daughter.

[hr]

Case Log #146, Chief Medical Officer Rabbit Vasque. Patient has been stable for a few days now. We're taking him off the ventilator as soon as he's able to breathe on his own. Will update status as it changes. Rabbit flipped the recording unti off and slumped back in her chair. There had been too many accidents like this one recently. A lot of the crew on this ship was new, or inexperienced, and when you were working around dangerous equipment on a constant basis, there was only so much safety protocols could do.

Dammit. She muttered to herself. I wish Twobit would quit hiring these losers. The CMO glanced over her shoulder at the door to her small office. Can't remember the last time I got a full night's rest. I'm always up here, patching the holes those idiots put in themselves. Her watch beeped at her. The little digital face displayed 9AM ship time. It had been 36 hours since Rabbit last slept.

Dammit. She said again, pulling herself to her feet. I can't keep doing this. Rabbit left her office, stopping by the entrance to medbay to direct a few orders at a passing nurse. I'm going to go catch a few hours sleep. Keep an eye on #146, whatever his name is. He's due off that ventilator soon. The nurse nodded, and Rabbit left without another word, the door sliding shut behind her.

Way too tired to go on. Mostly just setup here, hope that's good enough for you guys. I'll write more when I can.

[UncleWolf]

*waves paw erratically*

I'll volunteer to die horribly and messily and all over the place!:smallsmile:

I even work for milkbones! =D

[TwoBitWriter]

Destro, it looks absolutely excellent. I look forward to seeing more. :smallwink:

And I know this is late, mainly because he wouldn't stop texting me, but.

WELCOME BACK WOLFIE!! :smallbiggrin:

[UncleWolf]

Destro, it looks absolutely excellent. I look forward to seeing more. :smallwink:

And I know this is late, mainly because he wouldn't stop texting me, but.

WELCOME BACK WOLFIE!! :smallbiggrin:

:smalltongue:

Hey, what did you expect? You were my only link to sanity.

[mangosta71]

Hey Wolfie, welcome back and such.

Destro, feel free to toss me into whatever story you're spinning.

Twobi, get to work on MAT Squad. :smalltongue:

And now, a story that everyone else has probably forgotten by now continues!

Ancient History - Crossing Stars
Rein and Rabbs
Reinholdt sat at the foot of the cot. “There are things you need to understand before you can be freed and accepted into the crew. I’m sure you’re curious as to why a group of humans appeared on the fringes of colonized space and began attacking. Where we came from, why our science is so far advanced beyond what you know…”

Rabbit straightened, her eyes narrowing. “You’re obviously a bunch of rogues with experimental technology. Traitors.”

Reinholdt sighed and shook his head. “It’s a long story. During the early 23rd century, when humanity was beginning to spread out from Terra, they sent exploration fleets as far as they could in every direction.” He gave Rabbit a significant glance. “Our ancestors were among the 14th Expeditionary Fleet.”

Rabbit gasped. “But they had a hyperdrive failure. There were no survivors. Almost a million people died! It was the biggest tragedy of the age!”

Reinholdt grimaced. “In the early times of space travel, the FTL drives and navigation systems were sometimes a bit…unpredictable. There was a malfunction, yes. They were hurtled thousands of light-years off course. When they returned to normal space, nearly all of their reserve power had been depleted. They transferred everything they could to a single ship that they sent back to Terra to carry their distress call. The Terran government had already reported everyone in the fleet dead and refused to assist them, going so far as to fire on the messenger vessel. It was out of control when it finally returned and collided with one of the recycling ships, but the recording with the response was retrieved from the wreckage. They had been betrayed and left to die on their own.”

Rabbit’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. Silence echoed in the small room.

“The terraforming equipment took decades to create a suitable habitat for the stranded survivors. By that time, most of the ships had been powered down to conserve energy. Many could not be reactivated and their crews were lost. Others broke up during atmospheric entry. The history books make particular mention of their screams over the comms. And even after landing, the settlers had to build a civilization from scratch using what could be salvaged from the ships that were left. Not all of them survived the first winter. You said that nearly a million people died – it was a little over half in reality. Those who lived were angry. And now, their descendants have returned for vengeance.”

“But that’s crazy! It all happened so long ago!”

“We remember. Now, you know that your government is suing for peace. What you may not realize is that the official talks are scheduled to take place on the thousandth anniversary of the messenger ship’s return to the fleet.”

“So, you’re saying…”

“There will be no peace. Terra will burn.”

[Reinholdt]

@ Destro - xD. My smile creeps out the rest of the crew, huh? I like that. I like that a lot. Look forward to it.

@ Mangosta - I remember that series! Kinda... sorta... I remember I'm like Draken's whipping boy or something along those lines.
And hey. Mad disproportionate revenge for long past slights. Yay!

[Lord Magtok]

Note that I will need many many redshirts to die during this. Volunteers will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

*Waves own severed hand around* Hey, if there's going to be a lot of pointless dying, I want in.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Meeeeeeeee! *waves hand*

[Grim ranger]

*shifty glance around*

*brainlock in face of the horror that makes him look tiny by comparison*

"Higher brain function lockdown iniated"

"..."

"memory reformatting. Please stand by and exit. Prefertably immidiately"

"Sanity repairing systems collapsing. Please insert Brain Acid"

[Dragonrider]

DESTRO! :smallbiggrin: That. Rocks. Really.

[Recaiden]

I've got to agree with Dri about that. It was good.
And I volunteer to be a minor character who gets killed as well.

[Destro_Yersul]

yay for positive responses! Next part of it is here, and I have a plan for where I want this to go, so it should keep flowing. Enjoy.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
A Sci-fi epic, part 2
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
The shuttle-bay was nearly deserted when DeeRee walked in. The shuttles were usually only used to ferry supplies and personnel up from a planet or between ships, and there was no need for that out here. In fact, the only other person in the bay was an engineer working on one of the shuttles. He looked up as she entered, and frowned slightly with the human half of his face. The other half was metal and wiring, as was his left arm. I'm sorry, Miss, you can't be in here right now. Shuttle bay is off limits to crew when we're not using them.

It's alright. DeeRee hit the hatch release on the first shuttle in line. My father is the captain, she added as she climbed aboard.

Magtok shook his head at her as the automatic docking clamps fed the shuttle into the airlock. If her dad really was the captain, he wasn't about to try and stop her.

[hr]

The eerie thing about space is that it's noiseless. Neither Destro nor Reinholdt heard the shuttle, though they certainly saw it. The glow from the engines was unmistakable.

The hell is a shuttle doing out right now? Destro's voice was distorted by the poor quality of the mining suit's comm system. It crackled through Reinholdt's helmet speakers, making the alien wince. His hearing was a lot more sensitive than that of humans, and the suits had no volume control.

I don't know. He replied honestly. Think you might owe me, though. We've carved through nearly a ton of this rock, and no sign of any nickel.

Maybe not on your end. I've hit a vein of it over here. And it's a big one.

Reinholdt cursed. Destro's guesses on this sort of thing were always so damn accurate... He picked his way over to the other miner, careful not to fall off the asteroid. They weren't tethered, thanks to the grav boots, but a wrong step could still send them floating into space. How do you always know? He asked as he drew near.

Been a miner for a long time. You get an eye for these things. Destro indicated the metal vein running through the asteroid. You'll start noticing the signs too, once you've been doing this as long as- He was cut off by a sudden burst of static from the comm.

What the hell!? Jesus Chr- Someone screamed, and the comm went dead.

Who was that?

Sounded like Wolfbane. Come on. Destro grabbed his torch and started across the asteroid to where Wolf had been working.

Up in the shuttle, DeeRee heard the broadcast as well. She swung the craft around to the other side of the asteroid, playing the floodlight across the rock. She almost missed it. There was a hole in the asteroid that, judging from the floating chunks of rock slowly spreading out from the site, had opened recently. Mixed in amongst the rock were little red globules, trailing along behind bigger chunks of something that looked uncomfortably familiar.

Destro and Reinholdt hopped over a short ridge and arrived at the site wolf had been working. The light from the shuttle cast stark illumination over everything. The hole in the asteroid led to some kind of tunnel system that wove its way through the interior. It was six feet high, and wide enough for both men to fit comfortably. They stood at the edge, taking in their surroundings.

I think... Destro coughed, trying to avoid throwing up in the suit. I think we found him. A forearm floated across his field of vision, trailing more of the red globules.

What's left of him, anyways... Both miners looked at each other, then back down at the hole. The unspoken question floated between them. What had been in this asteroid, and where was it now?


I've decided to be incredibly lazy and not change the list of who's in each individual episode of this as I write them. Those 5 listed as starring roles are the main characters of the series. Any further appearances are liable to be redshirts. If anyone specifically requests, I can send them a link when segments with them featured appear.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Featuring Destro

I wander through a city,
I stroll through a town,
I walk through a village.
Never settling down.

I run, through countryside,
I ride, through mountainrange,
I gallop, through hillside,
never settling down, isn't that strange?

I move, I move, away from it all,
Just to avoid the call.
Sometimes I feel so small,
When I look up to mountains, oh so tall.

And then Destro did look up from his written down musings, to mountains oh so tall.
He was sitting in a small valley, near a running stream.
The smoke from his small campfire reminded him of the weekly bonfires at his hometome, Guillaume.
No...No, no time to remember. The smoke would attract attention. They couldn't, shouldn't, musn't find him.
Destro quickly put out a part of the fire by removing some logs and huddled down on his quickly made bed.

[Reinholdt]

@ Destro - Creepy. And so goes redshirt number one.

@ DD - Run Destro run. But never sleep or they'll catch you.

[Narr Storm]

could someone please explain this thread to me

[Cristo Meyers]

could someone please explain this thread to me

Mostly just a long-running joke involving writing fics starring various members of the community here.

[UncleWolf]

Yay! I died in a horribly gruesome fashion! :smallbiggrin:

Wait...:smallannoyed::smalltongue:

[Cristo Meyers]

Yay! I died in a horribly gruesome fashion! :smallbiggrin:

Wait...:smallannoyed::smalltongue:

Not so fun when it's you, huh? :smalltongue:

...

...when did you become a fox?

[UncleWolf]

Not so fun when it's you, huh? :smalltongue:

...

...when did you become a fox?

:smalltongue:

I was always foxy.:smallwink:


OH! You mean my avatar? It's not a fox. Its an Angelic Wolf. Just like the red one is daemonic.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Is too a fox. >.>

I's too would appreciate comments... >.>
Thenkies Rei.

[Recaiden]

Yay! I died in a horribly gruesome fashion! :smallbiggrin:

Wait...:smallannoyed::smalltongue:

Not as much fun as killing others in a horribly gruesome fashion, is it?

And while foxy, not a fox. You can tell by the ears.

[Cristo Meyers]

:smalltongue:

I was always foxy.:smallwink:


OH! You mean my avatar? It's not a fox. Its an Angelic Wolf. Just like the red one is daemonic.

Sorry, I see a nine-tailed lupine and immediately think of a Kyuubi, nine-tailed fox. :smalltongue:

[UncleWolf]

Sorry, I see a nine-tailed lupine and immediately think of a Kyuubi, nine-tailed fox. :smalltongue:

Would Kyuubi happen to be female?

>.>

<.<

[Dallas-Dakota]

I'm going to need (redshirt) volunteers!

Who wants to sign up?

[Cristo Meyers]

Would Kyuubi happen to be female?

>.>

<.<

Either. Creature of Japanese mythology.

[UncleWolf]

Either. Creature of Japanese mythology.

I have a ship request...with a female one. >.>
:smallwink:

@DD: Put me up for anything! :smallbiggrin:

[Neko Toast]

Hm... I think I might plan out my triumphant return to Shipping. Though, the story I have planned is quite serious compared to my previous work...

I'm not sure what I want to do exactly, either. I mean, the story is detailed backstory on a character of mine. There are plenty of characters involved, which would mean there would be plenty of people who could be in the Ship, but those characters already have specific names and everything, so I don't know if I want to throw in people for that. Man, this must sound really confusing. >>;

(I'll get back to writing Batman eventually! Even though I say this every time I bring it up.)

[Dallas-Dakota]

Feel free to name-change me. >.>
Just make it semi-clear who I am there then.

[Thufir]

I's too would appreciate comments... >.>
Thenkies Rei.

Good, but short. Moar plz.

[Destro_Yersul]

Definately liking this story. It's bouncing around in my head causing ideas. So here's some more. Yay for uninventive titles >.>

In Space, No One Can Hear The Gunfire
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 3
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
Destro carefully lowered himself into the opening on the asteroid. The tunnel inside stretched in both directions. He reached up and flicked on his helmet lamp, while Reinholdt looked on from above.

You sure you want to go in there, Destro? After what happened to Wolf...

The senior miner shook his head. Don't.. just don't mention him, alright? I want to see if there's anything still in here, and... He coughed loudly into the comm and raised his cutting torch in front of him. It wasn't a very effective looking weapon, but Destro know how much power it could put out. The high intensity beam was designed to go through solid rock like a hot knife through butter.

He took a few steps into the tunnels, sweeping his head from side to side to get the best illumination from the helmet lamp. Whatever was in here, it was strong. Gouged chunks out of the walls. Looks like some kinda serrated tool.

Reinholdt watched the light recede into the tunnels and listened to Destro's voice, obscured by static, as he kept up a commentary on what he was seeing. Tunnel splits. Going to keep going straight. No sign of life... Something flickered on the corner of Reinholdt's vision. He jerked his head sideways, eyes searching the hull of the ship. Nothing. There was nothing.

[hr]

DeeRee's shuttle pulled back into the bay, and she slumped into the pilot's seat. Automatic docking clamps secured the shuttle, pulling it back through the airlock. The hatches hissed as they opened behind her, but she didn't get up. DeeRee? The voice on the radio was Twobit's. He sounded upset. Get up to the bridge. I.. just received the report from the foreman.

She let her breath out with a sigh and flipped the radio off, then stood up and left the shuttle. The engineer was no longer here. She was alone in the shuttle bay.

The door at the far end of the bay hissed open, and a uniformed security officer looked inside. DeeRee? I'm Mangosta. Twobit sent me to escort you back to the bridge.

That made her smile. Daddy Tooby, always worried about her welfare, even when there wasn't any danger. Alright. She said. Let's go.

[hr]

Destro panned his light across the wall, examining the different marks on it. Whatever was in here had been there a while, judging by the different sizes of the gouges. That, or there was more than one. A dull vibrating through the rock him made him spin. Something had scraped along the ground somewhere in the tunnel behind him. Destro knew rock. Asteroids like this one. There was something else in here with him. He shone the lamp down the tunnel, searching for any sign of life, but nothing was there.

Wait..

there. One of the shadows slid across the wall towards him. He aimed the torch and it and pulled the trigger. The sudden flash of light lit up the tunnel far better than the small lamp on his helmet. It punched through the darkness, illuminating six feet of muscle and chitin. Malevolent bright red eyes stared at him out of sunken sockets. Bony plates covered its torso, and long scythe claws extended from each of the creature's four arms.

Crap. The thing charged, sprinting down the tunnel impossibly fast. Crap! Destro swiped the torch at its legs, and something black and stick sprayed into the vacuum. An inhuman screech filled his mind. Destro didn't wait to see if he had stopped it.

He ran.

[hr]

Mangosta and DeeRee walked down the hall. The security officer had his sidearm drawn, and was glancing from side to side as they walked. He obviously took his job seriously.

Did you hear that? Mangosta stopped walking, looking around at the empty hallway.

Hear what? The familiar noises of the ship filled the hallway. There was the distant hum off the engines, the almost silent whirring of the ventilation shafts, the buzz of fluorescent lights...

Nothing. Though I heard something... Mangosta started walking again. He took two steps forward, and a ventilation duct exploded beside him. DeeRee staggered backwards as some sort of creature erupted from the vent and leapt at Mangosta.

Mangosta raised his pistol and snapped off two shots, shouting at DeeRee as he did so. Run. RUN! The thing shrugged them off and plunged two of its four claws into the security officer's body. Mangosta's scream turned to gurgling as his lungs filled with blood, then the creature's arms twitched and he was torn apart.

[mangosta71]

Yay, redshirt!

And of course I take the job seriously. If there are any bitemarks in DeeRee's backside, I want to be the one making them.

Erm...I mean.... >.>

[Cristo Meyers]

Yay, redshirt!

And of course I take the job seriously. If there are any bitemarks in DeeRee's backside, I want to be the one making them.

Erm...I mean.... >.>

*hoses*

...

...

...*twice* :smalltongue:

[Dallas-Dakota]

Suddenly Destro woke up to the sounds of bombs falling....Their sharp whistles cutting through wind and gentle nature sounds.
'What?! Them? They shouldn't, couldn't, musn't be here!'

BOOM!
Destro looked out of the window and suddenly his neighbours across the street were no more. Their house in a pile of smoking debry.
Old farmer Thufir and his daughter Draco lived there...
He rememberd Thufir singing at the bonfires...A deep sweet voice crackled and softened with age and experience. He would never again hear that voice....
Draco, far too skinny, had also been affected by the war in her own way. She was once a young and energetic girl, but then the war started and she did not change once the leaders said that their was war. Sure, she was shocked, but to her, it was a vague distant thing. When her uncles, Cristo and Mordokai had been sent away, she suddenly became more quiet and gentle, but in a sad way. She realized what was going on and that she would most likely never see her uncles again.

BOOM!
The old watermill at the end of the village, now nothing more.
Wreckage flew through the air and floated through the stream.
Nobody lived there anymore, but it had always been there.
It was just there, it was old and looked like it would always be there when he was younger, but now...It was gone.

BOOM!
And this one shook him out of his stunned state and Destro quickly began running for his life otherwise he would be next!
Left, to the north and Paris? No, undoubtedly Paris would be taken if they came this far. South was mainly the sea and the biggest target near.
East was not a option he even thought about, even though the alps would make a good hiding place.
West, he would go west and southwest.

Quickly running through farmside he ran and ran and finally settled down below a tree where he wouldn't be seen easily. He was out of breath and the explosions made him look back.

The village was burning, what was standing was burning. Most of it was rubble now.

The old oak tree went up in flames, he remembered the times where he used to climb it with Twobit and Dragona.

Twobit had been sent away to fight, Destro had hidden himself...But Twobit was a proud man and proud of his country and not afraid to fight for it.

Dragona had gone towards Paris, the city of lights in her late teens. She said she missed them in her latest letters, but that our small village just didn't hold the same allure.
Paris had most likely been taken, he hoped she would come through...

But all went up in flames, all went up in flames. Everything burned.
Twobit's face appeared in the fires. ''You hid, you coward. Why didn't you come and cover my back?''
Dragona's face appeared in the smoke. ''Why won't you help me escape from them? All you do is hide and run and try to save your own skin!''
Old farmer Thufir's face appeared in the fire. ''Remember, fighting for your honour and your country's may not always be the smartest thing to do, but it is the right thing to do...''
Draco's face appeared in the grass, created by the wind. Just staring. Staring at him till all he could feel was guilt.

It was all his fault....

[Reinholdt]

:smalleek:
*shivers*

Poor Destro.

Also, ship coming soon! Grab your popcorn and your signs with numbers on them!

[Reinholdt]

"Since Reinholdt has went and died, I've been left to introduce this pile of garbage. Meow Shipping Inc. is not proud to present Endgame. A Reinholdt-flavored ship."
*ghostly apparition slinks in*
"You remember that series? Yeah, that one. You know... Redemption? This is the finale. We never once forgot it. Without listening to my comrade, please enjoy Endgame."
"Party crasher."

Endgame (Redemption)
By Helgraf and Reinholdt
Mordokai/Flora/Happy/Nil/Cristo
The thuds of his footsteps were all Mordokai had to accompany him as he walked and thought. Mangosta and Rabbit’s pet shapeshifter were behind him now, as dead as the cat. What if… what if it were true? What if Rabbit truly was dead? No, it couldn’t be. Flora was with her and if Rabbit was dead, then Flora would probably be…

Mordokai quickened his pace, though it was unnecessary. Even now he crested the hill to the Citadel. The lack of a looming structure bathed in eternal night, said it all. Mordokai approached slowly now, unaware of how much he was sweating. Two figures stood at the edge of the giant sphere of broken shards, watching him as silently as the gravestones surrounding the wreckage.

The cat was telling the truth. Out of all the times he had lied, why did that thrice accursed Reinholdt choose to tell the truth now?

Mordokai approached the edge, dropping quietly to his knees, unsure of his motivation. Shame? Sorrow? His mind wandered back to that letter.

I ardently, passionately, fervidly, vehemently love you
Please don't hate me.
Mordokai shook his head. Rabbit had always been there. Always antagonizing. Always kidnapping Flora. He shouldn’t feel so empty - hadn't the whole reason he changed been so that he would be free of that emptiness?

The blackguard looked up at the ever watchful duo. Happy. He had taken her. Mocked her. Used her and twisted her. She was so different from when she arrived at his camp certain that she’d save him. He could look at her, and see the horrid scar along her abdomen, noted the missing finger, the many alterations, the many physical changes that echoed how he'd broken her inside. And there was Flora. He had hurt her in the worst ways. All his pain, his rage, his hate, all the things that weighed down on his soul he had poured down on her when he fell. Mordokai looked at her eyes. All that pain. All that suffering. All that hatred.

It … wasn’t there, and its absence shook his already severely unsettled view of things further yet. He would have felt better, in a fashion, if he'd looked into those eyes and seen ... pain and suffering; resentment and hate. No, what was there he could not reason, and unable to keep his eyes locked with hers, he hung his head.

There was the countless remains of Rabbit. The mirrors all reflecting him as his own good eye stared at his one bad eye innumerable times. Everything he had and had thrown away, replicated, duplicated in that sea of shattered shards.

In that moment Mordokai made up his mind. Drawing his sword without a second glance at the two women, he turned the blade inwards.

He didn’t even get the chance to thrust the blade towards his heart before he felt a strong grip on his wrists; Happy was suddenly there, her hands grasping his wrists, locking them so he could not move the blade further; she did not press harder, but he knew if he tried, she could break them. Pensive, weary eyes glanced up at her.

Her voice, like her grip, was iron. “Don’t sully the sacrifices of all who died.”

“They died because of me.”

“They died for you.”

Mordokai looked away as his hand slowly released the sword, the weapon clattering to the ground - a faint hiss in his ears the last sounds of the tempter within the tang. Happy released his hand and let his arm fall to rest by his side.

For a long time the trio stayed that way, until Flora finally spoke up.

“Mordokai.”

The blackguard looked up again at his former love.

“Please stay here. Please don’t go back. Please… just be you again.” She sunk down on her knees to be at his level, tears flowing freely.

If Mordokai was crying, he didn’t know it; he was lost and bewildered.

Why? Why would she want me back after all I'd done? After all I've done to her? How could she so willingly accept me?

The thoughts spun like fragments of glass in his mind, then slowly crystallized as he suddenly realized what this was like, what this was. Faces from his past, so many, all people he had once worked to redeem - each of them had gone through this, suffered through this.

But he … he was free now. Free from the pointless dogma of the church. Free from failing to change anything. Free from fighting a never-ending battle in a useless race to save people from their own doom. Right?

Flora eked out a whisper in between her sobs as she held onto him. “Mordokai… I love you.”

And slowly, as his arms came up to support Flora, supporting him, he understood the riddle. It wasn't about dogma. It wasn't about futility. You walked in the darkness and you carried a light, and where you could, you helped others learn how to light their own candles. They didn't have to banish the darkness forevermore - that was never the goal. Here - here, in the arms of the woman he loved and had done wrong by - here, by the grave of the woman who'd finally learned, despite him. Every candle lit made it easier for people to face the darkness around them, around them and inside of them.

And he knew that while the love of these women, their sacrifices for him had given him the chance to recapture that light, that he had much to do - much to make right, and much that could not be repaired. He slowly rose to his feet and gently disentangled Flora; Happy took his place, supporting her still softly sobbing body.

"I need to go," he said, quietly. Happy regarded him silently for a time as Flora's tears pooled on her shoulder and neck and slid down her back, then nodded silently. She understood what came next.


*****

Cristo whipped the blindfolded Nil again, the slight moans of pain from the paragon of goodness giving him some small comfort. Nil had long since been unable to speak, so moans would have to do. Cristo was in hot water and he knew it. How on earth was he supposed to explain to Mordokai that these five whelps behind him were all that remained of his army? That he was forced to retreat here because of a pair of rocks?

The footsteps behind Cristo stayed his hand from another flaying from the whip. The dark priest turned around and his face went pale. Mordokai had arrived. The others were already kneeling and Cristo quickly followed suit.

“My lord I-"

“Quiet. I know all I need to know.”

Cristo gulped. This was it. He was done for at the hands of Mordokai the Merciless. Well he could think of worse ways to go than at the hands of his savior.

“Go home. All of you. There’s nothing left here. It’s over.”

Some of the soldiers looked at each other confused, uncertain. Was this a test? But as soon as one stood and ran off the others quickly followed. Cristo however, stayed kneeling.

“So that’s it? We just give up.”

“Yep.”

Cristo was stunned. To just throw away all they worked for? “And what should we do with Nil?”

“I’m letting him go.”

Cristo looked up at this.

“What?! You can’t be serious. I mean it’s one thing to let our troops go, but to give up our biggest prize?” He narrowed his eyes. “What happened to you?”

Indeed, now that Cristo looked more carefully he could see the change. His eye was a bit brighter. His demeanor was softer. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders recently.

“I remembered.”

And Cristo understood, knew Mordokai had changed, knew that despite his efforts, his idol had fallen. This could not be allowed; better for Mordokai to fall lifeless to the barren ground than to fall back into that festering pit of false hope. He strode toward Mordokai, pulling his dagger as he strode toward his broken hero. He had no real chance, knowing Mordokai was too well trained and in fact, he swiftly avoided the surprise attack, drawing his sword in response.

“I don’t want to fight you.”

“Neither do I. But you showed me freedom. You showed me the light. I return the favor to you now that you’ve lost your way.”

Cristo chanted a few words and gestured with his hands, sending a bolt of black energy at Mordokai. Mordokai dived out of the way quite literally.

“Something I regret. I can never fully restore the damage I caused. But,” he began, but was interrupted as Cristo stepped close, attempting to drive the dagger into his side. He executed an awkward side-step, bringing the blade up far more fluidly, skinning along Cristo's arm, and forcing him to drop the dagger.

Cristo stumbled back away, clutching his arm with one hand. He scowled at Mordokai who was relaxing his stance; then closed his eyes and starting to chant.

Mordokai eyed him curiously, unsure of what was going on, but quickly moved back into stance. “Cristo. Stop. It’s over. We don’t need anymore bloodshed.”

Cristo didn’t respond, but rather kept on chanting, and Mordokai knew this could only turn out badly. When the ground turned red behind Cristo and opened up, his suspicions were confirmed. A giant clawed hand thrust through the opening as whatever infernal beast Cristo had called tried to pull itself into this world. Mordokai moved, snatching up the dagger Cristo dropped and hurled it with all his might. If he'd ever been taught the art of throwing knives, it might have killed Cristo quickly and cleanly; sadly instead the hilt end caught him squarely in the throat.

It was enough, though, to interrupt the ritual; the ground started to swallow up and fall back in on itself. A hideous wailing roar could be heard and the claw reached out to grab anything it could find; it latched onto Cristo and pulled him toward the closing rift. Cristo’s eyes never left Mordokai, and the once paladin could see the fear in them, could hear the warbled half-sounds that were all the cries he could make through his damaged throat, and knew he could do nothing to save him as he was pulled bodily through just before the rift sealed once more.

Mordokai shoved his sword into ground, catching his breath and breathing a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with some pit fiend. Cristo must have been desperate to summon a demon with no protection or preparations. He shook his head. Another life he ruined. Another he must atone for.

Mordokai stood, leaving the weapon implanted in the ground and moved to Nil’s side, loosing his bonds and freeing him.

“Mordokai?”

“It’s me Nil. It’s me…”

[Reinholdt]

Epilogue (Redemption)
By Destro_Yersul, Helgraf, and Reinholdt

“And that’s the story of Mordokai the Merciful’s Redemption.” Raistlin looked out at the crowd. He could already tell he wasn’t going to earn much money this time. That’s ok. It was his favorite story. Even if he embellished it just a little. A tug on his pant leg brought his attention downwards. A little girl was there, looking up at him wide-eyed.
“And what’s your name?”
“Melody.”
“What can I do for you Melody?”
“What happened to everyone afterwards sir? Where’d they go?”
“Well….”



*****


The scarred and wounded man recoiled for a moment, the brief span it took to recognize the change in his old friend's demeanor.

"Is it ... finally? Or is this another trap meant to break me, Mordokai? What have we become, you and I?"

Mordokai considered the question silently for some time, as he finished removing the last of Nil's restraints.

"Men, Nil. We are as we have always been. Just men walking in the dark, sometimes stumbling by the light of our own candles."

The ruined flesh of Nil's mouth shifted, corners of his lips forming a rictus smile.

"You ... you did remember. I hoped you would. The hope grew dim sometimes."

Mordokai nodded - there didn't really seem to be any words to encompass all that had passed between them.

"So what happens next?"

"Judgement," Mordokai said quietly. There was no fear, nor anger, but a quiet resolve, the tone of a man who knows what must happen and has resigned themselves to it.

"They'll hang you - they won't care about who you've become. They'll want retribution against what you were before."

"And they're right to. I have fallen so far, betrayed so much, Nil. Who would stand against all of that for me?" He gave a wry chuckle.

"I will, Mordokai. There must be penance, yes. But another death will do nothing to restore what was lost," he began, then paused a moment as he considered.

"The order is split, Mordokai, and I will not lie; the war has given strength to the voices that called for your head."

"Regardless, I must go ... old friend."



*****


Smoke still rose from the top of the ruined tower. The fires had long since gone out, but it would be some time before all the magic spent itself. The basement was as dark as the rest, blocked from entry by fallen timbers.

Gone. She's gone. Destro sat alone, staring into space. I'd go too, but I can't die. It's a joke. A brief smile crossed what was left of his features. It's all a sick joke. The lich threw back his head, mad laughter echoing in the darkness.



*****


“Ah fudge Nil. I’ll get you and your little country too. One of these days...” Magtok stepped back into his cave. Wasn’t a total loss. He supposed. Still, it would take a whole lot more funds and a lot of work to rebuild all those machines. Probably best to lie low for a while. Maybe scout out other places. He kicked the nearest MagMinion. “We need more MagBots. Get to work!”
The minion scurried off to carry out his orders. Magtok went to drawing board to start blueprints for his next superweapon. His time would come. Just wait. They’ll see. They’ll see.



*****


A hot tear rolled down the green cheek, not from the pain of the glass shards he clutched tightly in his hand, but from what those shards meant. “Mordokai… I swear that from this day forward, I will hunt you down and make you pay for this a hundred-fold.” Ganurath threw the shards aside in disgust before turning and walking away from the Glass Ruins, his undead following at his heels.



*****


It was not the end, not the final end, not even a final end. But it was an end, and as such things are always and inevitably, it was a beginning.

Ming and mang and broken kai.
One to live and one to die.
And walk beyond the final grace
lost and found and re-embraced.

It was the only writing on an otherwise unmarked headstone, a memorial buried in a sea of shattered glass. And before it, he sat, heedless of the fragments that cut into his clothes, that serrated his flesh, as he traced the words again and again with a finger that had been repeatedly broken, such that it looked more like a diseased claw, belying the keen dexterity with which he wielded it.

He reached into his torn, burnt and battered garments, removing something small and furry; his other hand clawed at the hard earth, digging it away even as the jagged glass carved into callouses and old scars - kept at it through all, until the hole was deep enough; then he lay the body of the cat inside with a gentleness that belied the fierce mania that typically beset him. The earth was patted over slowly with hands weeping blood.

"Man-woman-god. man-boy-hurt. cat-cat-cat."

The cat had deserved better, but at least he could bury her with someone whom would have loved her.

He rose to his feet with the sound of grinding bone and protesting muscles, and began to walk through the glass apocalypse. As he moved further from the center, his form grew transparent, slowly fading away until nothing was left.

Slipping once more into the shell of the world, into the ghost realm between, the echo-place. He could not allow himself more time to grieve, nor to study. So much lost ... even here in the gray. Citadel gone, coney gone, tower of death-in-life gone. The connection had faded, but the passage of so many dead had forged a different connection, and he followed it back. Back into the heart of death, to the killing fields. Here was man, and man, and man again, all once more asleep in the caustic womb, dissolving into essence. Here and there, where great acts noble and terrible alike had occured, there were men who lingered ... fed and fattened by legends already forming; not the grand ballads of bards, but the stories of soldiers, told quietly and without fanfare but with a total sense of the importance and the effort to find meaning and purpose in the madness. Caged by the stories, they would linger here and there and wherever it took them, shaped now and hammered out not by their own choices but by the choices assigned to them.

He laughed and wept, among the dead passing to their places. What else was there? Every person, no matter what their due, deserved that much. Someone to know them and send them gently on their way. Aye, even the soldier and the murderer and the poor deluded and dangerous.

No saint, he - too great a sinner, too much a philosopher, too much drowning in the now. He wept and murmured for all the dead, aye, even the bugs and the animates.

And he moved on again. Now even the grey echo of the world faded into a blur; a sea of swimming gray with spikes of white and black. A jagged line; he grabs for it, tongue licks the air, as if testing for something, and he nods. The blood he weeps moves more sluggishly now; a darker, blacker mass; it coats the glass fragments and kills the rainbow sparkle where even light is cut and broken against their edges and along their planes.

He grabs the blackness and gives it a sharp tug, embracing it, becoming one and travelling along it; were there another to watch it would seem as though he was suddently distended a great distance, then suddenly snapped away, leaving naught behind but dribbles of nearly black coagulated blood and tiny glass fragments.

Motion without sense. An indefinite passage, and then suddenly a shift ... a ripple of color that extends out to the far horizon, as the world once again displaces its own shell.

The blade is there, where it had been thrown away, sent away. It matters not the good intentions of those whose actions brought it to this place. It has a role to play, a place in events that have been but not known, events that are and becoming lies, events that have not yet been revealed. It, too, is seeking an absolution, and it, too, is a prisoner, one so thoroughly enmeshed it no longer can feel the bars most of the time. 'Graf weeps for it as well, for it is trapped; but he rejoices knowing that a day will come when its tasks will be at last complete, and the soldier will be able to rest, at last.

But now is not that day. He reaches down and picks up the blade; his blood seeps down the hilt, along the tang and slowly oozes down the blade, and the blade feeds greedily. He regards it with regret and lingering sorrow, then quietly brings it up and over his head and down across his back, where it quivers a moment, then is absorbed, his abraided, torn and raw flesh unweaving and knitting itself around the blade, tang, pommel and all. He laughs, a hard hollow sound, knives directed inward. He does not welcome the time when the sword must be found again.

We aren't who we were before...
... in truth, we never were those people.
Not those faces that we wore
a hundred thousand times before.



*****


Nil agreed to wait a ways back and give the trio some privacy to say their goodbyes. He could not begin to imagine how difficult this was for Mordokai and he knew that. So he spent the time giving thanks.

Not much was said between the three as their tears ran their course. But even rivers eventually run dry. Happy was the first to compose herself. “You’re set in your path then? You’ll return to be tried?”

Mordokai nods solemnly. “I will.”

Flora grips Mordokai in a tighter embrace than before, something Mordokai didn’t think possible. “Please… please… there must be another way. Please don’t leave me again. Please…”

Mordokai looked down at Flora as she buried her head in his shoulder. “I must. If I don’t then we’d be hunted the rest of our lives, however short that would be. I would not put you through that. This is the only way. I’m sorry…” Flora’s sobs burst anew as Mordokai talked. Happy put her hand on Mordokai’s shoulder, helping to steel his resolve. He looked at her face, quiet understanding in her eyes. “Happy can I ask you a favor?”

“I’ll look after her.” Mordokai gave a small sigh of relief. As long as Flora was safe he could endure... “And Mordokai?” He tilted his head as Happy leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I forgive you.”

Mordokai closed his eyes and gave a small bittersweet smile. He knew he didn’t deserve it. But that was the point of forgiveness, wasn’t it? It could only to be given to those who hadn’t earned it. “Thank you Happy. Thank you.” Mordokai trailed off as he pet Flora’s hair to try and comfort her.

Flora spoke softly in between sniffles. “You be alright. You live and be alright and come back to me. You have to. I’m telling you to. It’s an order. You have to. You have to…”

Mordokai gently lifted Flora’s chin with his fingers and stared into those watery eyes. Leaning in he kissed her, lingering there as long as his breath could allow. In it, he gave his all. All the love and hope and longing he had for her. So that even if he never returned, she would have this. This one moment to remember him by. Eventually, he had to pull back. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

With a small smile Mordokai pulled away, receiving some resistance from Flora at first before she let go, arms falling defeated at her side. “Goodbye.” Flora slumped to the ground and Happy quickly knelt by Flora’s side to hold her up. Mordokai frowned and closed his eyes. “Goodbye…” With that, Mordokai turned and returned to Nil, where the two set off, knowing he would likely never return.

And so ends the story of Mordokai, the fallen paladin, the redeemed blackguard.


And with that, Redemption the ship series finally comes to a close. Thanks to everyone who followed along. And to those who were waiting for it to finish, you can go to read it now.

I’d like to now give thanks to the authors of Redemption.

• Celtois
• Coidzor
• deathslayer7
• Destro_Yersul
• Draken
• FredtheFighter
• Ganurath
• ghost_warlock
• HappyTurtle
• Helgraf
• Lyinginbedmon
• mangosta71
• Mordokai
• RabbitHoleLost
• TwoBitWriter
• Wolfbane

Special thanks go to…

Cristo Meyers. Whose Dark Moon Rising series led to this one, though the two ended up diverging wildly.

Happyturtle. For starting the series.

Helgraf. For poking when needed and helping end it.

Finally, some real extra special thanks needs to go to Mordokai. He’s allowed us to use his persona at will and taken it without complaint. Everyone please give this incredibly awesome person a round of applause. He deserves it and so much more.

[Destro_Yersul]

That's... really very good, Reinholdt. Very well written. It's funny, actually, because I was thinking about this the other day, wondering when it would be done, and now it is. It's been a long road, hasn't it? I'm glad we saw it through to the end.

I'm pleased enough with my part in it and, of course, I got a great deal of enjoyment out of the effort put into it by others. Here's to us. The Authors and the readers.

*round of applause*

[Thufir]

@Destro: This is developing interestingly...
@DD: Ow, guilt. Very well written.

@Reinholdt: *Jaw drops*
...
Um...
...
Yeah. That pretty much tops everything. Meaning no disrespect to Destro and DD, naturally, but Redemption's been running so long, and everything's built to this ending, so... yeah.
Superb.

[Dragonrider]

And of course I take the job seriously. If there are any bitemarks in DeeRee's backside, I want to be the one making them.

Erm...I mean.... >.>

...

Ah...

I was going to make some crack about me being underage, and then I realized I'm not anymore. :smalltongue: Damn birthdays... :smallsigh: :smallamused:


And...Redemption is finally over!!! :smalleek: And what an amazing end!


I was gone for a while...did Istly every resolve?

[RabbitHoleLost]

I was gone for a while...did Istly every resolve?

No v.v
I think IStLY has gone on permanent Hiatus.

[Helgraf]

No v.v
I think IStLY has gone on permanent Hiatus.

Meh.

I'll admit, I was rather blindsided by the fact that the Unholy Grail stuff was actually canon and part of the storyline. I thought it was just an amusing ship project in its own right. That threw me off my pace.

And, well, I'm not great at writing other people's characters in a shared setting because I constantly fear I'll get them wrong.

So that's a big part of why I stalled on the project.

[UncleWolf]

Reiny, I meant to say this earlier, but great job. :smallbiggrin:

*thinks it started in December, counts the months*

O.o

I think it has went on for 8-9 months...

Wow, that is a long series.

Again, great job.

[horngeek]

Now to make another collaborative work! :smallbiggrin:

<.<
>.>

Please?

[Thufir]

Now to make another collaborative work! :smallbiggrin:

<.<
>.>

Please?

Just do one of the ones that already exists. Specifically, do IStLY, because Shipping Inc is currently stalled in the middle of a me-written arc. Also Shipping Inc tends more to the ridiculous than the epic.

[Destro_Yersul]

Don't worry Thufir, no offense taken. I think it blows mine out of the water too. :smallwink:

Speaking of which...

In Space, No One Will Notice the Blood
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 4
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
The big steel doors slammed shut behind DeeRee, and she glanced hurriedly around the room. There were no ventilation shafts, no other doors. She was safe in here, but she had no way out and her only food was a ration bar she had stuffed in her pocket earlier. Damn.

It hadn't seen her go in here. At least, she didn't think it had. But it was big enough to block the door, and she wouldn't be able to get past it if it was waiting for her. Damn.

DeeRee started rummaging through the equipment kept in the small storeroom. There wasn't much. This was a maintenence storage area, and most of the stuff in there was spare parts. Behind her, through the door, she could hear footfalls. Something ran full speed into the door, and the sudden clang made her jump. She spun around, holding a piece of metal pipe.

Something clicked. The lock cycled, and the door slid open.

[hr]

Reinholdt reached down into the tunnels to give Destro a hand up. What did you find in there?

I don't know. Destro shook his head, heart pounding. Some kind of alien. Big, clawed. It must have been what killed Wolf.

Reinholdt frowned. At least it's still in there, then. Hasn't got out. Let's collapse the tunnels, trap it back inside.

The other miner shook his head. Won't work, Rein. The whole thing is honeycombed. We'd need to make a plug of some sort and bolt it in place, or collapsing it would just make the hole bigger.

Alright... The cat man looked down at the hole. Let's just get up to the control room and power down the tethers, then. Let it loose and hope it doesn't find its way out in the time it takes us to get up there.

Bout all we ca- The comm went nuts halfway through Destro's sentence.

Kill it! KILL IT! Gunfire sounded, the rapid high pitched noise of a low powered pulse laser. The weapons were too weak to punch through a ship's armoured hull, but they were easily strong enough to burn a hole through flesh.

What the hell? Destro looked at Reinholdt. The gunfire was abruptly cut off, and replaced with screams and wet tearing noises. Both miners came to the same conclusion at once.

There's more than one...

[hr]

Rabbit was woken by klaxons. She rubbed her eys with the back of one hand and glanced at the small clock beside her bed. It was 1PM, ship time. She'd been asleep for a little over 3 and a half hours. This had better be really damn important.

She dragged herself out of the bed and yanked open the small drawer on her bedside table. Inside was a small bottle of caffeine pills. She sighed, popped one, and waited for her mind to clear.

I swear to god if this is just a drill I'm going to kill someone... Rabbit punched the comm switch by her door. CMO Rabbit here. Anyone want to tell me what's going on? Her voice had the same edge of command it always did when she was delegating tasks. Normally it got people to answer immediately.

As such, she was surprised when the only reply she got over the comm was static.

The hell? Rabbit tried again. This time, she was rewarded by a shaky voice on the other end.

Rabbit? My name is Dallas. Whatever you do... On the other end of the line, Dallas swallowed. Find a weapon. Something. Anything. I'll meet you at the entrance to med bay and explain.

The line went dead, and Rabbit stared at the comm. Above her, the ventilation shaft rattled. She glared at it. Dammit. I've told maintenance to fix that three times already. If they don't get to it, heads are going to roll...

[hr]

Sir?

Twobit lowered his head from the window and turned around. A security officer was standing by the door. Report.

We've found what we think used to be Mangosta. They had just left the shuttle bay, sir.

Twobit's heart flipped over. Did.. was DeeRee there? He held his breath, not sure if he wanted to know.

No sir. No sign of her. Whatever got Mangosta... she was able to escape.

The captain breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god for resourceful daughters. He looked back up at the officer. Find her. I want to know she's safe.

Yessir. The young man turned around and the door slid shut. Twobit sank into his chair and leaned back.

Why? He said to the ceiling. Why now?

[Reinholdt]

Now to make another collaborative work! :smallbiggrin:

<.<
>.>

Please?
Right...
Not happening here. At least not on a large multi-person scale that exceeds the number 3. And even then, just unlikely for me. Maybe someone else will?
*shrugs*

Thanks to everyone insisting on inflating our egos. Helgraf and I worked hard on the ending. :smallredface:

@ Destro - Rabbit is so silly. :smalltongue:
It's good.

[UncleWolf]

@Des: Good job. Can't wait for the next one.

*watches his back*

Oh, I have plans for a short ship series and I'd like to give most of the credit to Destro since he is the one who got put together a small Dark Heresy game I'm in and helped provide inspiration for it. All I need is to get permission from one other person, and I'll start writing. I hope you all like it.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Now to make another collaborative work! :smallbiggrin:

<.<
>.>

Please?

It doesn't really work like that, though.
Atleast, as far as I've known, all the big collaborations have been done accidentally.
IStLY was something I did as a one-shot gift for Mordokai, and then Ghost made a sequel and then it exploded.
Ship/Scourge Inc was done similarly, I think. Maybe originally started by Vespe and then everyone just jumped in on it.

Mmmm, maybe Redemption was planned from the start. I can't remember.

[horngeek]

What's IStLY?

[Reinholdt]

I'm Sorry to Love You. Check the Shipping Archives for the stories.

[Destro_Yersul]

Mmmm, maybe Redemption was planned from the start. I can't remember.

I think it was something to do with the corrupt Mordokai thread, and if he fell you would both redeem and write him something. Then we all started up with adding to the story and it went from there.

[Cristo Meyers]

I think it was something to do with the corrupt Mordokai thread, and if he fell you would both redeem and write him something. Then we all started up with adding to the story and it went from there.

It came when my Dark Moon Rising ended (which was from the Tempt Mordokai thread), and I decided to let someone else take over for the redeeming part. I think it was just Reinholdt at first, but other writers started coming in and it eventually became a rather large collaborative effort.

[Thufir]

As I recall, when Mordokai fell, in both Dark Moon Rising and the Tempt Mordokai thread, someone came here and essentially said "Let's start writing the story of Mordokai's redemption." And everyone wanted to join in.

[Recaiden]

Of course. It's Mordokai.

[Reinholdt]

Here's the succession of events since you people need it.


Banjo starts the corrupt Mordokai thread.
Cristo writes his Dark Moon Rising series.
Series ends. Mordokai officially falls.
Mordokai falls in the corrupt Mordokai thread as well, forcing Rabbit to redeem in the process.
Happyturtle writes first ship for Redemption.
Requests are made for future chapters. Happy opens it as a collab.
Reinholdt writes second ship. Requests for characters open up.
Series ASPLODES. Something like 50 ships in 2 months.
Series gets too large. Core writers gather and set up outline for continuation and ending so that a conclusion may actually be reached.
Authors get their homework. Delays occur.
2 1/2 month haitus. Cristo's Redemption ship series ends around here.
End of Collaborative Redemption series is posted.

[Cristo Meyers]

And now we know...

And knowing is half the battle!

...

...didn't I kill you?

Twice. Didn't take.

I'm going to have another nightmare again, aren't I?

Oh yes.

Crap...:smallsigh:

[Destro_Yersul]

Alright, here's the next part. I'm having a lot of fun writing this, and I'm trying to do as good a job as I can on it. More suspense!

In Space, No One Can Call For Help
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 5
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
DeeRee scrambled to the side of the door, clutching her metal bar. She wasn't ready to die without a fight. Something stepped through the door, and she swung the bar. Then she gasped, barely able to check the swing in time.

Christ! Magtok raised his hand to his chest. You scared the hell out of me!

DeeRee could only laugh weakly. You? What do you think that did to me? It's not safe here.

The cyborg glanced around. You're right, it's not. I saw... something. I'm not sure what. Hey... He paused to look at her again. You said your dad was the captain right?

DeeRee nodded.

Great. Then they'll let you onto the bridge. It's got more security than any other part of the ship. Those things... whatever I saw... they won't be able to get in there as easily. He took a few steps in the direction of the bridge, then waved for her to follow.

[hr]

The door to med bay slid open, and Rabbit stepped inside. She wasn't prepared for what she saw. A man in a doctor's white coat was standing behind a desk, with a security officer's sidearm pointed at the door. He raised it when he saw her.

Dallas, he said in way of greeting.

Rabbit. She replied. What's going on?

I don't know the whole story. But someone on the mining deck called in a death on the asteroid crew. Wolfbane. Said he was killed by some sort of alien. Torn to pieces. Dallas stopped to look around a corner.

Not too long ago, we get another death report. A security officer this time. Mangosta. The door to the morgue opened as they approached it. I've never seen anything like this, Rabbit. They found his gun. Three bullets missing from the clip. One of them was chambered.

What was left of Mangosta was on the morgue's central table, arranged in a rough approximation of the form it used to have. Dallas stopped next to it and turned around to look at Rabbit.

This came in shortly after the report. I don't know what kind of thing could have done this, but...

The remains spoke for themselves. The security officer's body had been sheared in half, his one arm removed at the elbow. His head, a hand and half a leg were missing. All the cuts were ragged and torn.

Rabbit stared at the table for a good minute before speaking. I want this deck on full lockdown.

Already done.

I want all the doctors on standby. All the nurses. I don't care who they are or how much sleep they've had.

Why? Dallas looked a little confused with the order. I hardly think we need that many doctors to prepare one dead guard for-

Rabbit cut him off with a wave of her hand. You mentioned an alien. You did not mention anyone killing it, nor do you have remains available for study. Therefore, it is still on the ship. As such, I suspect we are going to be very busy, very soon.

[hr]

Destro cursed and brought his fist down on the keypad. It won't open.

You sure you punched the code in right? Reinholdt stood beside him, staring over his shoulder.

Yes. Three times. Damn door is sealed. He adjusted his mining torch and pulled the trigger. The torch flashed and sparks flew from the keypad's housing. Both men were thankful for the helmets they were wearing. Reinholdt especially.

Destro wrenched the cover up and tore into the wiring. He found two that looked likely and carefully threaded them together. With a hum, the door slid open. He took two steps inside and froze. Rein?

Reinholdt stepped forward and looked around at the room. The walls were splashed with blood, and the bodies of the crew inside were slumped over the tables or ripped to pieces and strewn over the floor. A computer in the corner sparked, rendered inoperable by a large hole punched through the casing. Many of the viewscreens were cracked or broken, and one had been torn from the wall to rest several feet away. The frame of the door behind them was scratched and dented.

I think I know why they locked that door.


As a side note, it's getting somewhat difficult to come up with new names for these. Also, I seem to be running drastically low on redshirts.

[Cristo Meyers]

As a side note, it's getting somewhat difficult to come up with new names for these. Also, I seem to be running drastically low on redshirts.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Come Up With New Titles?

[banjo1985]

Here's the succession of events since you people need it.


Banjo starts the corrupt Mordokai thread.
Cristo writes his Dark Moon Rising series.
...


Wow...you mean I actually started it? :smalleek:

Yes, I'm still here, some great writing going on here guys, I'm reading even if I'm not participating. I may even ship again at some point, we can't have Professor Wolfbane dying deep under the earth for nothing can we? :smalltongue:

[UncleWolf]

Wow...you mean I actually started it? :smalleek:

Yes, I'm still here, some great writing going on here guys, I'm reading even if I'm not participating. I may even ship again at some point, we can't have Professor Wolfbane dying deep under the earth for nothing can we? :smalltongue:

I remember...:smalltongue:

[Cristo Meyers]

Wow...you mean I actually started it? :smalleek:


You're the one that brought the thread into SMBG. Before then it was just a gag between the three of us.

[Mordokai]

And a certain rogue of female persuasion, if memory serves...

Now, in line, every single one of you. There's smiting to be done!

[banjo1985]

True...I'm old, and my memory is getting fuzzy these days. :smalltongue:

*is smoten*

Aww Wolfy, we can't have you dying for nothing! I'm actually working on something for the first time in about 4 months, so there might be something in the empty sewerage pipeline I call my creativity. Of course, the odds are that I'll give it up well before it gets to the point of posting it, but I may as well begin with some optimism. :smallbiggrin:

[UncleWolf]

Aww Wolfy, we can't have you dying for nothing! I'm actually working on something for the first time in about 4 months, so there might be something in the empty sewerage pipeline I call my creativity. Of course, the odds are that I'll give it up well before it gets to the point of posting it, but I may as well begin with some optimism. :smallbiggrin:

:smallbiggrin:

But I didn't die for nothing. I died for plot.:smalltongue:

[Reinholdt]

Nice Destro. Though at this point I'm not really sure why we're going back inside. :smalltongue:

@ Banjo - I'm watching you. Waiting... watching... always...

And hey! I helped you out Mord. Don't smite me bro!

[UncleWolf]

Nice Destro. Though at this point I'm not really sure why we're going back inside. :smalltongue:

Didn't you know? Its to die horribly...alone...in the rain...cut to pieces...
:smalltongue:

[Cristo Meyers]

True...I'm old, and my memory is getting fuzzy these days. :smalltongue:

*is smoten*

Aww Wolfy, we can't have you dying for nothing! I'm actually working on something for the first time in about 4 months, so there might be something in the empty sewerage pipeline I call my creativity. Of course, the odds are that I'll give it up well before it gets to the point of posting it, but I may as well begin with some optimism. :smallbiggrin:

*smacks*

Oi! Getting all emo about lacking writing ability is my thing! Get yer own schtick!

[Mordokai]

And hey! I helped you out Mord. Don't smite me bro!

After making me a cripple? Nice trade, really :smalltongue:

You have any idea how many times you shot me in the leg?

[Reinholdt]

After making me a cripple? Nice trade, really :smalltongue:

You have any idea how many times you shot me in the leg?
>>
<<
*shoots in the leg to slow down while Reinholdt runs away*

[Cristo Meyers]

After making me a cripple? Nice trade, really :smalltongue:

You have any idea how many times you shot me in the leg?

Can't say you didn't deserve it...though the shot in the Dark Moon sequel was unintentional, I totally forgot about that gag when I wrote it.

[banjo1985]

*smacks*

Oi! Getting all emo about lacking writing ability is my thing! Get yer own schtick!

No it's true! I get my creativity from a sewerage pipe outside the apartment, every now and again odd pages of creative prose slide out with the crap, and I steal and post them :smalltongue:

[Cristo Meyers]

No it's true! I get my creativity from a sewerage pipe outside the apartment, every now and again odd pages of creative prose slide out with the crap, and I steal and post them :smalltongue:

Don't you Bluff me, boy...

[Mordokai]

Can't say you didn't deserve it...though the shot in the Dark Moon sequel was unintentional, I totally forgot about that gag when I wrote it.

It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

[V'icternus]

Hmm, I come in here to see if your claims of craziness are true, and lo and behold, you appear to be right up there with Seely Booth when he had that brain tumour... (He saw Stewie Griffin. In real life. Now that's crazy.)

Now, how to sum up this thread...

It's like... if a bunch of wild dogs pretended to be wolves, killed each other then laughed about it together while in limbo.

[mangosta71]

Mmmm, maybe Redemption was planned from the start. I can't remember.

I think some of it was, at least by Rein and Happy and probably at least a couple others (I know that you and Des were heavily involved later if not right from the start). My part in writing it kind of happened because I saw a scene in my mind and tossed it out there. People liked it and said it should be made canon.

That's how the prelude I was writing (but never finished. I need to work on that at some point, but is it appropriate to continue using someone who is no longer on the forums as a main character?) to IStLY started, too. I wrote something I figured would be a one-shot, Ghost really liked it and asked if I'd be interested in extending it into a miniseries...

[Reinholdt]

Hmm, I come in here to see if your claims of craziness are true, and lo and behold, you appear to be right up there with Seely Booth when he had that brain tumour... (He saw Stewie Griffin. In real life. Now that's crazy.)

Now, how to sum up this thread...

It's like... if a bunch of wild dogs pretended to be wolves, killed each other then laughed about it together while in limbo.
Oh please...
Everyone knows the cats tricked the dogs into it and are at home curled up in front of the fireplace cackling madly.

[V'icternus]

...Weirdly, that makes sense... further proof I've been on these forums too long for my own health...

[Cristo Meyers]

Oh please...
Everyone knows the cats tricked the dogs into it and are at home curled up in front of the fireplace cackling madly.

Little do the cats know that the house just had a sprinkler system installed and that it's about to go off in 3...2...1...:smallamused:

[V'icternus]

...Are you sure this isn't just the Playgrounds Mental Hospital and you guys just don't know it?

[Reinholdt]

That would be Free Form Role Playing. Close though.

Said sprinklers rain fish.
It does too makes sense!

[V'icternus]

...You should really just have the "insane" part in the title. Seriously.

(And no, that's not permission to randomly try to ship me with someone/something, even if I did foolishly give permission for anyone to do anything ever.)

[Fredthefighter]

...Weirdly, that makes sense... further proof I've been on these forums too long for my own health...

Good sir, you have been here for 6 months or so. Imagine how much a tole being here for multiple years could take on your sanity. :smallwink:


And Reinholdt, there will always be one dog. Always one dog. With big teeth. :smallamused:


... AND LASERBEAMS! :smallbiggrin:

[Cristo Meyers]

That would be Free Form Role Playing. Close though.

Said sprinklers rain fish.
It does too makes sense!

Yeah, angry Puffer fish.

[Mordokai]

And genderbending bards... and genderbending BDSM blackguards...

Wait, what?

[Fredthefighter]

And genderbending bards... and genderbending BDSM blackguards...

Wait, what?

QFT!

And thusly we get a glimpse into the depths of Mordokai's mind.... you don't want to know what else we saw there - Jerry Mindspy, Investagtor for P.N.N, the Psion News Network. :smallbiggrin:

[Destro_Yersul]

Nice Destro. Though at this point I'm not really sure why we're going back inside. :smalltongue:

because In Space, Running Out of Oxygen is Bad :smallwink:

[Dallas-Dakota]

Good sir, you have been here for 6 months or so. Imagine how much a tole being here for multiple years could take on your sanity. :smallwink:
And you haven't even been here for a year. >.>

[Fredthefighter]

And you haven't even been here for a year. >.>

I know, 3 months and I will have been though. I joined on November 30th 2008. >.>

[RabbitHoleLost]

I've been on Giant for two years (my first account was registered 07/07/07...crazy), and only a year of it has been in shipping.
And I'm perfectly fine, wouldn't you say, Alice?

[Fredthefighter]

I've been on Giant for two years (my first account was registered 07/07/07...crazy), and only a year of it has been in shipping.
And I'm perfectly fine, wouldn't you say, Alice?

Rabbit make crazy talk that make no sense to simple Fighter. This make Fighter feel suddenly condescending to the surrounding area.


*Twitches slightly as sparks erupt from Fred's noggin*
This T-1000 Freddyfoo unit has encountered a problem and needs to close. Do you wish to send an error report?


:smallbiggrin:

[Thufir]

"You may think me insane, you may think me quite mad,
But one day you know I'll show you all!"
In third person cried the great mentat, whose mind
Had been broken by Shipping's dark call.

[mangosta71]

Since I reminded myself of this, and the story was so close to completion, I have wrapped up my little prelude miniseries.

Life and Death - the thrilling conclusion to the IStLY prequel!
Rabbit continued to see things in death. As she cleaned carcasses while preparing meals, she glimpsed things that she somehow knew would be true. The knowledge frightened her. The blood scattered around a deer that she had brought down told her of coming shifts in the weather. But every time she saw herself, she was alone.

She was able to hide the knowledge from her mentor and lover, but her feelings were clear. She brushed off all attempts to probe, and the relationship gradually began deteriorating. After a month had passed, there was very little nonphysical feeling expressed between the two. Rabbit still loved Ego dearly, but couldn’t bear to share her horrific secret.

As Rabbit’s power grew, she found herself not only able to see things in the passing of other creatures, but able to speak with those on the other side as well. She even found the strength to command them. She remembered her vow to avenge her first mentor, and envisioned hordes or rotting corpses smothering the little town. She was disturbed by the seeming pleasantness of the thought, but continued to entertain it.

Finally, Rabbit felt powerful enough to act. She wrote a note to explain her absence, kissed her lover on the cheek as she slept, and slipped out of their home. A skeletal horse bore her toward the city on hooves of smoke and flame. She dismounted, dismissing the steed, and approached the decrepit tower on foot. It stood as she had seen it in her dreams. The windows were dark, the glass shattered. Sections of wall had collapsed as the townspeople scavenged stone. Splintered wood lay around the piles of rubble. She climbed through a rent in the outer wall, knowing the path she must follow. Knowing that the door she sought would be intact, the chamber behind it sealed by the master’s magics, everything within perfectly preserved. She stepped over rotting bodies as she ascended the stairs and the skeletal remains of those who had attempted to assault the door into the stronghold. It opened at her touch eagerly, as if it had been waiting for her.

A staff of dark wood stood unsupported in the center of the room, an onyx crystal in a setting shaped like a claw glistening atop it in the light of five candles set in the points of a pentagram surrounding it. The flames danced in the wind caused by her passage, but she knew that they would never burn out. The staff seemed to hum as her fingers closed around the smooth wooden shaft. Everything was as it should be. As it must be.

A burst of power sundered the protections gathered around the master’s workroom and blew the walls outward. Rabbit strode to the remains of a window in the outer wall overlooking the municipal cemetery, one hand raised, the other firmly planting the staff on the stone beneath her feet. The light in her aura had been completely recast into shadow. Dark tendrils swept out from her, ripping into the ground. The ancestors of the town’s current inhabitants rose from their graves, fueled by Rabbit’s lust for vengeance.

She turned as a warbling cry rose behind her. A dove descended into the wreckage of the tower, its cry becoming a human scream as it transformed into Rabbit’s lover. “What are you doing?”

“What must be done.”

The tendrils of shadow thickened into a pall that blotted out the moon and stars. The townspeople’s panicked screams drifted through the air. Every citizen that fell to Rabbit’s creations rose of its own volition, joining the throngs running rampant through the streets. In one neighborhood, flames began licking the thatched roofs of the houses. It was the only light for miles, but Rabbit could clearly see everything in her mind.

“Please, stop this.”

For no reason that she understood, knowing only that it was right, Rabbit spun the staff and smashed the crystal head into the floor. The gem shattered. Rabbit gasped as a black shard pierced her heart. The world turned gray as she fell forward. Her last thought was that the ground seemed oddly soft.

Ego laid Rabbit on the ground gently and turned her over. She bathed the wound with her tears. She felt her own power rising within her and directed it into the still form. Rabbit shuddered and spluttered blood over Ego’s face. The skin that the blood touched began to crack and smoke. Ego collapsed next to Rabbit, convulsing wildly as her flesh burned.

Rabbit bolted upright. Her eyes watered as she realized that the body lying next to her was her best friend, mentor, and lover. The crystal shard had been sealed inside her – she could feel it pulsing in the rhythm of her heart. In the growing light of predawn, she saw that the destruction of the town was complete. The undead legion now surrounded the tower, those able to do so kneeling to her. She turned away from them, and saw that Ego had brought Rabbit’s old stuffed bear with her. The dam that had held her tears back broke.

After she had cried herself hoarse and dry, Rabbit picked up Ego’s body and carried it through the streets of the demolished town. She dug a grave in what had been the main plaza and laid the body inside wrapped in her cloak, her bear snuggled against the breast. She then fetched a censer of holy water from the remains of the local temple and consecrated the resting spot, ignoring the pain of her scalded hands. The undead army watched, bearing silent witness to the only words Rabbit would utter for many days to come.

“I will never love again.”

[Thufir]

Damn, now I'ma have to read the rest of that prequel again, aren't I. And maybe some more of IStLY.
Well written, Mango.

[Reinholdt]

Ouch. Poor Rabbit. :smallfrown:
Nicely done Mangosta.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Beautiful, Mango. I had really been hoping you would finish this sometime.
I wish Ego were around to read it v.v

[Thufir]

And not for the first time, a fic has split itself into more parts than I anticipated.
Interesting though.

Part 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6730355#post6730355)

Repercussions, pt. 2Not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa not a playa…
Why bother anymore? Life's a joke. It's all a joke and the world is going to burn. BURN! There! No shouting… No alarms…
Set it set it set it set it…
BANG!
Fire… pretty…
It’s all fake anyway, nothing’s real, no worth, no feeling, no pain, no love-
Rabbit?
Everything went dark.

And in the dark was nothing. Nothing but the thoughts, and the pain. And occasionally, a voice, murmuring words Reinholdt probably wouldn’t have understood even if he could hear them. The voice was somehow soothing – when he could hear it, the pain seemed to ebb away a little. And the timbre of the voice was familiar, he was sure. But he couldn’t put a name to it. Or to anything else. The darkness took his memories, took everything but the thoughts, and the pain, and it was only with difficulty he recalled his own name.
There were flashes of emotion in his mind, unconnected to their causes or resolutions. He was aware there had been something before the darkness, that he had been something before the darkness, but he didn’t know what. Indeed he knew that before the darkness, he had been something with a male pronoun attached – but outside the physical world, these things became merely abstract concepts, with no more value or realism than a parade of pink elephants.
Not that Reinholdt could remember what an elephant was. Or pink.
For a moment he seethed with rage, then felt sad, then happy… all without knowing why. He tried to draw emotion from his present experiences, instead. No cares in the world – no world to have cares in. Here, for want of a better word, he was free. He was practically nothing, but so was everything else. And unconstrained by flesh and blood and life, he could be anything and everything. Anything, nothing and everything.
He was… happy? No, not happy, but content, if perhaps lonely.
He perceived a light. It seemed far off, but rapidly getting closer, insofar as such terms had any meaning in this oblivious void. The voice came again, louder now, and sure enough he couldn’t understand the words. But again it caused the pain to lessen. Perhaps when the light reached him the pain would be gone altogether? The light approached, and flew through him, dragging him back. On the contrary, now he was back in the world, in the light, the pain was more, and worse, he had a body to properly feel it with.
As his mind resurfaced, the return to the physical dragged all his memories back with it. His life flashed before his eyes, too fast to really understand. Only one thing stuck.
“..Rabbit…”
I sound like death…
The voice again, through quiet tears.
“Get- Get some rest, Rein. I’m here…”

[Reinholdt]

I am so incredibly proud and happy to be in a ship by such a high caliber writer. Thufir, somehow you managed to switch so dramatically from the zaniness of the first one to the wretched misery of the second. Bravo sir. I love it.

*hugs Rabbit close* :smallfrown:

[mangosta71]

Beautiful, Mango. I had really been hoping you would finish this sometime.

You should have harassed me until I finished it. Or promised to harass me if I did. :smallamused:

Looks like Thufir's not the only one who'll be going through the archives to catch up on a story. I wish I could write insanity as well as you do. Bravo.

[Destro_Yersul]

Well, here we go. Part 6. Moving right along with this.

In Space, No One Can Run
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 6
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
The door to the bridge opened almost silently, and DeeRee stepped inside, Magtok following closely behind her. In here it was almost normal, crewmembers sitting by consoles, keeping an eye on the running of the ship. It was a lot busier than it usually was, though. People scurried across the bridge, running between stations, to check different things. Bridge security had doubled since she left, uniformed guards standing every fifteen feet around the room.

Twobit stood with his back to the door. He was on a raised platform at the front of the bridge, staring at a viewscreen and trying not to worry. At the foot of the viewscreen was a long glass case, holding a model of the ship and a sabre with the ships name stamped on its blade: The Mason's Blade. Twobit sighed at it and turned away. For the first time in a long time, he was no longer sure that he would be captain of this ship after a week went by.

DeeRee! The captains attention fastened on the one person on the bridge he had been most hoping to see alive. I thought... Relief flooded through him and he laughed, leaning against a railing for support.

DeeRee smiled and ran over to her father, hugging him tightly. I'm sorry it took me so long to get back.

Twobit hugged her back. I was... so worried about you. He looked up at her. I want you to stay here, on the bridge. It's the safest part of the ship right now. Here, I can keep an eye on you.

Don't worry. She looked around at all the guards. Right now, I don't think I'd want to be anywhere else.

[hr]

Another one! Dallas called into surgery as the door opened and a guard stumbled in, supported by two nurses. The man was bleeding from a slash across the chest. One that had sliced clean through his combat armour. Dallas retrieved his medical records and ran them to Rabbit.

Name, Recaiden. No allergies, not being treated for anything.. this is an easy one. Get him prepped and into the recovery ward.

Medbay was slowly filling up. Reports were flying in from across the ship as the things spread out from the mining deck. There were scattered reports of people who had managed to kill one, but there were so many of them. The ship was losing combat ready security personnel faster than it was taking the things down.

Still, it was something. Rabbit frowned at the cots and turned to walk over to ICU. These people still had some hope of coming out alive, which was more than could be said for most of the men who first encountered the things.

She reached the door and flipped on the comm. Rabbit to bridge, come in. The comm was silent for a moment, then crackled.

Captain speaking.

Good. Then I don't have to tell you to get him. She glanced over her shoulder. Just reporting in. We're at about one quarter capacity right now. This deck was only built to take 100 patients, plus the ICU. Which, by the way, is filling up fastest.

Understood.

I hope your damn security teams know what they're doing, Twobit. I don't have the resources or personnel to spare for idiots who can't tell which end of their gun is which. Rabbit frowned at the comm. There were too many people on this ship that had no idea what they were doing, and it irked her. Medbay out.

[hr]

Destro pulled a lever and hit a few buttons. Clamps opened, tethers disengaged, and the asteroid fell free of the ship. It wasn't much, but at least now they could be sure no more would get onto the ship. That's it. Dunno how much it'll help. He turned to look at Reinholdt. Let's go find some of the others. Strength in numbers.

The catman nodded and smiled. Alright. Where do you think they'd have gone?

Hell if I know. Destro went back to the damaged computers, accessing what files he could. Half of the ones stored here were corrupted or missing, thanks to whatever had put the hole in the big computer in the corner. There's nothing her but routine stuff right up until first contact. Then there's a couple of our comm logs and... He stopped

Hold up, what's this? Destro called up a file, displaying it on the screen for Reinholdt to see.

Looks like standard lockdown protocols... but they're for everywhere, not just here. Why would mining admin have lockdown protocols for the whole ship?

I don't know. But I don't like it. Someone high up is getting nervous or sloppy. Still... Destro flipped through the file until he found what he wanted. Here we go. We're supposed to go to the crew barracks and hole up there.

What about medbay?

Hang on... After another few moments of searching, Destro shook his head. They're all on duty. Not a bad idea. In an emergency, the one place in the ship you'd want working is medbay.

Alright, let's go there. Reinholdt reached over and shut off the computer.

Why Medbay? Destro's eyebrows creased in a frown. We're not hurt, we don't have any skills they'd need, and the barracks is a lot closer.

I know. But there's someone in Medbay I'd really like to see.

Alright. Destro shrugged. At least we know for sure there'll be people there...

[hr]

Cristo ran down a corridor and turned sharply. He pounded on a door for a few seconds before it opened, then ducked through and continued running. His breath was coming in ragged gasps, and his side had started to hurt two hallways ago. Something big slammed into the bulkhead on the other side of the door. It was still after him.

Cristo ran into processing and looked around. Clear. He tossed some gear out from under a workbench and crawled under it. Scrabbling sounds had started coming from the cargo elevator nearby. Cristo pulled a bag over himself and tried to slow his breathing, watching the elevator for any signs of movement.

A pair of claws appeared on the rim of the elevator shaft. Then another, and another. The first of the things pulled itself up and looked around, swinging its head from side to side. More came up after it. The scrabbling sounds from the shaft were getting louder as more of the things appeared, following the first one off towards the end of the room. An automated door slid open and they squeezed themselves through, stalking off to some other part of the ship. Cristo didn't care where, as long as the didn't stay here.

There must have been dozens of them. The miner's breath caught in his throat as he watched them go by. He didn't notice that the last pair of claws to grip the elevator shaft were much bigger than the others. They dug deep into the steel, as if supporting some great weight. The thing pulled itself up slowly, and Cristo nearly choked when he looked back and saw it.

It was massive, easily twice as big as the others. It crawled along on its four claws, legs bent to touch the deck, head held low, like a spider's. It crossed the floor slowly, chitin scraping against benches and supports as it passed them. As it neared the door it reached forward with its front two claws, taking hold of each side and pulling. Slowly, with the horrible sound of tortured metal, the doorframe bent to accommodate its bulk. It bent itself to get through, maneuvering its claws around the space that was still almost too small.

When it was gone, Cristo pulled himself out from under the bench. He watched the door it had gone through, hoping he'd have enough time to run if it decided to come back.

His footsteps seemed impossibly loud as he crossed the floor towards the other door. The one he had entered through. If he was lucky, the thing would be gone by. His boot caught a wrench that someone had dropped when they fled the room, and it skittered across the metal floor. Cristo froze.

Had it heard that? He threw caution to the wind and ran for the door, just as the thing re-appeared. It screeched at him and squeezed back through, eating up the distance between them. With prey in sight, it was no longer slow and ponderous. Cristo reached the door and slammed his fist into it, willing it to open faster. He was caught from behind by a swipe from the thing's claw, and crashed into a wall. He felt his shoulder dislocate and fell to the ground, willing himself to stand and make a run for it. The thing was on top of him in a flash, and its screeching filled his mind. It punched a claw through his torso and flicked it, sending him across the room. He rolled a few feet and tumbled into the elevator shaft, landing with a crunch at the bottom. Ribs snapped with the impact, and the last thing Cristo saw before blacking out from the pain was the huge alien swinging itself over the lip of the shaft and starting to climb down towards him.

hmm. Not sure I like that first part. Too much? Just wrong? I wrote it as best I could, but that's a tough thing to do properly. Also, Cristo, this is for being a smartass :smalltongue:

[Cristo Meyers]

Also, Cristo, this is for being a smartass :smalltongue:

You expected anything else? :smalltongue:

[Destro_Yersul]

You expected anything else? :smalltongue:

Not at all. It's you, why would I? Doesn't mean I can't gain amusement from writing stories in which you get killed in horrible ways.

[Reinholdt]

There's a always a wrench in the works, huh? :smallwink: :smalltongue:

Nice Destro. Then again any ship in which Cristo dies horribly is a good ship.

[Lord Magtok]

In Space, No One Can Run
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 6
Awesome ship goes here

Whoa, I'm still alive. Woo, go red shirt Mag!

[Cristo Meyers]

There's a always a wrench in the works, huh? :smallwink: :smalltongue:

Nice Destro. Then again any ship in which Cristo dies horribly is a good ship.

Love you too...

[Dallas-Dakota]

Whoa, I'm still alive. Woo, go red shirt [S]Mag[/S DD]!


:smallbiggrin:

Then again, I am bribing Destro with more pieces of Destro's tale.

Which is stuff that piles onto my list. >.>
Well my excuse is that I'm gone on college introduction week.

>.>

Now my mind has been pondering a Gotham shipping series.
<,<
I imagined Rabbit as Harley.

And it'd have hawt HarleyxIvy.

[Destro_Yersul]

Whoa, I'm still alive. Woo, go red shirt Mag!

Don't worry, Mag. I have... plans... for you.

hehe
hehehe
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Nameless]

:smallbiggrin:

Then again, I am bribing Destro with more pieces of Destro's tale.

Which is stuff that piles onto my list. >.>
Well my excuse is that I'm gone on college introduction week.

>.>

Now my mind has been pondering a Gotham shipping series.
<,<
I imagined Rabbit as Harley.

And it'd have hawt HarleyxIvy.

I never liked Harley to be honest. I've always found her rather annoying.

[Reinholdt]

I never liked Harley to be honest. I've always found her rather annoying.
...
...
...

Nameless just fell off the cool list.
*snubs*

[Nameless]

...
...
...

Nameless just fell off the cool list.
*snubs*

*Sniff sniff*
I smell pretentiousness. O_e

[RabbitHoleLost]

I never liked Harley to be honest. I've always found her rather annoying.

I don't think I love you anymore :smalleek:

[Fredthefighter]

I don't think I love you anymore :smalleek:

DUN DUN DUN!

And I've just my reminded myself that I need to write Good Friends Part 2, the sequels to a series I left heavily unfinished (I have about 3 left to do) and a Vampire Hunter ship I concocted in my head while I was Ireland.

:smallsigh:

And school starts in less than a week.

[Helgraf]

:smallbiggrin:

Then again, I am bribing Destro with more pieces of Destro's tale.

Which is stuff that piles onto my list. >.>
Well my excuse is that I'm gone on college introduction week.

>.>

Now my mind has been pondering a Gotham shipping series.
<,<
I imagined Rabbit as Harley.

And it'd have hawt HarleyxIvy.

:grins: Oh, something like this was done ... but I doubt you'd hear any objections for doing it again.
GB Helgraf as Ivy/Rabbit?

[Nameless]

I just don't like her as a character or a villain. In the comics I used to collect she wasn't so bad, but in the cartoon I just wanted to shoot her. I think it was her voice.
I've always liked Catwomen or even Poison Ivy more.


I don't think I love you anymore :smalleek:

._. *Shuffles away*

[Thanatos 51-50]

Woo, random bad ship time.

Not Anymore
Rabbit/Thanatos (Kinda)
Thanatos slid the key into the lock, a normal, automatic set of actions which somehow registered in his memory, hearing the click as metal struck metal, the faint metallic scrapping, and feeling the tight, machined fit.
For some reason, today, unlike most days, it almost felt like there was effort involved in turning over the deadbolt. The knob turned just slightly differently than before.
As he stepped inside the apartment and began removing his boots, he called softly across the dark entry hallway.
"Honey, I'm home."

There was no response. This in and of itself was not unusual. He worked late and often arrived in the dead of night after she was asleep. Thanatos paid special attention to his feet as he crept across the wooden floor. and stepped soundlessly onto the tatami mat outside their bedroom. She had insisted on the thing. It was hard to care for, but that be damned, the thing had flavour. Thanatos set down his pack when something caught his eye. A single, neatly folded sheet of paper illuminated by a desk lamp she kept on for an unexplained reason.
Thanatos slid into the chair and unfolded it.

Exactly one-half of the monthly rent payment fell out.

The note read thus:

Thanatos,
I'm Sorry I couldn't do this to your face, but I can't stand it, anymore. I've been trying to fight it, to examine it, and to see why, but it just comes down to this:
I don't love you. I don't think I ever did.
life has been great between us - except for theparts where I stay up all night for you to come home, stressed from things you can't talk about. I do care about you, but it's nt love, and we've been treating it like it is.

Not anymore.

It's near the end of the month, hence my half of the rent spilling into your lap when you opened this. You'll have to front next month's, yourself. We can't live this lie any more.
Don't bother calling, I've changed my number.
~Rabbit

Thanatos sat.
Thanatos read.

And he went back to work in the morning. There was nothing in between except the crying.

[Reinholdt]

...
Ouch Thanatos. Ouch.

Well made.

*continues snubbing Nameless*

[Nameless]

...
Ouch Thanatos. Ouch.

Well made.

*continues snubbing Nameless*

Stop with the snubbing! ._.

[Reinholdt]

Stop with the snubbing! ._.
Hmmm...
*SNUUUUUUUUUUUB*

[Nameless]

Hmmm...
*SNUUUUUUUUUUUB*

You're a mean kitty. :smallannoyed:

[V'icternus]

Woo, random bad ship time.

Not Anymore
Rabbit/Thanatos (Kinda)
Thanatos slid the key into the lock, a normal, automatic set of actions which somehow registered in his memory, hearing the click as metal struck metal, the faint metallic scrapping, and feeling the tight, machined fit.
For some reason, today, unlike most days, it almost felt like there was effort involved in turning over the deadbolt. The knob turned just slightly differently than before.
As he stepped inside the apartment and began removing his boots, he called softly across the dark entry hallway.
"Honey, I'm home."

There was no response. This in and of itself was not unusual. He worked late and often arrived in the dead of night after she was asleep. Thanatos paid special attention to his feet as he crept across the wooden floor. and stepped soundlessly onto the tatami mat outside their bedroom. She had insisted on the thing. It was hard to care for, but that be damned, the thing had flavour. Thanatos set down his pack when something caught his eye. A single, neatly folded sheet of paper illuminated by a desk lamp she kept on for an unexplained reason.
Thanatos slid into the chair and unfolded it.

Exactly one-half of the monthly rent payment fell out.

The note read thus:

Thanatos,
I'm Sorry I couldn't do this to your face, but I can't stand it, anymore. I've been trying to fight it, to examine it, and to see why, but it just comes down to this:
I don't love you. I don't think I ever did.
life has been great between us - except for theparts where I stay up all night for you to come home, stressed from things you can't talk about. I do care about you, but it's nt love, and we've been treating it like it is.

Not anymore.

It's near the end of the month, hence my half of the rent spilling into your lap when you opened this. You'll have to front next month's, yourself. We can't live this lie any more.
Don't bother calling, I've changed my number.
~Rabbit

Thanatos sat.
Thanatos read.

And he went back to work in the morning. There was nothing in between except the crying.

...*Sniff* That's... so sad... Well written, but sad...

I love it!

...*Goes back to pretending he's not here*

[Reinholdt]

You're a mean kitty. :smallannoyed:
*cuddles and purrs and snubs simultaneously*

^ No one can ever leave.

[Nameless]

*cuddles and purrs and snubs simultaneously*

^ No one can ever leave.

Only Rein can be cute and mean at the same time.

[V'icternus]

One of these days I'll have to see if I can muster up some spare time and some inspiration to contribute here... I love writing, and have experience with detailing relationships thanks to at least five long-running (1000-page plus) online RPGs that always seem to end in my character dating another character...
Yeah, I should contribute. Maybe. We'll see.

[Mordokai]

You're a mean kitty. :smallannoyed:

He's a cat! He's evil by default!

[Nameless]

He's a cat! He's evil by default!

But I <3 cats. ._.

[Cristo Meyers]

Only Rein can be cute and mean at the same time.

Let's see what happens when we add wet into the equation...

*hoses*

[Reinholdt]

He's a cat! He's evil by default!
Lies! I'm unaligned. Clearly.
*watches as Cristo's hose sprays out hugs and happiness*
See?

@ Vict - Look forward to it.

[Cristo Meyers]

Lies! I'm unaligned. Clearly.
*watches as Cristo's hose sprays out hugs and happiness*
See?

@ Vict - Look forward to it.

*watches as the hug is dealt out by Andre the Giant, who was more than happy to oblige giving the kitty a big hug*

Ahhhh...the sweet sound of cracking ribs...

[Mordokai]

THAT'S ME HE'S "HUGGING", DUMBASS!!!

You turned the hose the wrong way... again! :smallmad:

[Cristo Meyers]

THAT'S ME HE'S "HUGGING", DUMBASS!!!

You turned the hose the wrong way... again! :smallmad:

...eh, either way.

[Mordokai]

Imma get you for this...

[Cristo Meyers]

Imma get you for this...

promises, promises...

[RabbitHoleLost]

Sounds sexy.
And stuff.

[Cristo Meyers]

Sounds sexy.
And stuff.

What? Being bear-hugged by the late Andre the Giant?

...yeah, I suppose, if that's your thing, I mean.

[Nameless]

What? Being bear-hugged by the late Andre the Giant?

...yeah, I suppose, if that's your thing, I mean.

Rabbit seems to have many peculiar fetishes, so I wouldn't be surprised.

[Reinholdt]

What? Being bear-hugged by the late Andre the Giant?

...yeah, I suppose, if that's your thing, I mean.
Actually I think she was referring to how Mordokai intended to... "get you." :smallbiggrin:

[Cristo Meyers]

Actually I think she was referring to how Mordokai intended to... "get you." :smallbiggrin:

That was my second guess...

don't encourage him...

[Mordokai]

Forget me, don't encourage her...

[Jacklu]

Mind Number Studios, in association with Jacklu Enterprises, is proud (though secretly deeply, deeply ashamed) to present to you:

Mental Scar Wars
Episode III: Revenge of the (Mag)Clones!
(starring: Magtok, Somebody else I don't want to reveal cause it would ruin the surprise)

“For the last time, NO! I do not want to know, nor do I care in the least about how you got those scars!”

Magtok rolled his eyes and turned away from the crazy person with the green hair and disastrous makeup job. The freak, who seemed to have a pension for laughing crazily and stabbing people in the face, had been following Magtok everywhere he went ever since the cyborg had landed his crab-copter on that escaped mental asylum patient that liked to wear black clothes, a long cape, and run around at night throwing sharp metal objects at total strangers before shouting that he was the night and running off.

Magtok had barely managed to make it to this city after leaving Townsville far behind. His crash landing had had him worried at first, but seeing as squashing the city pest had made him into a local hero, he was happy that it all worked out in his favor. Now, if he could just get rid of that jester fellow that had started worshiping him.

“Magtok, want to see a magic trick?”

“No.”

“Want to know how I got these scars? Well, when I was a kid we went to see the pandas at the zoo-”

“That’s it!” Magtok spun to face the warped individual. “I’ve had it up to here with your pathetic self absorbed ramblings! Have you not noticed that I have more important things to think about than those scars?! Besides, I know that you got them while learning to shave for your prom. Yes, I read the file at that nuthouse you were living in. Now shut up and leave me alone!”

The fellow’s lip quivered for a moment and tears welled up in his eyes. Magtok sighed. That had been a little harsh. Maybe he would get the guy a family to torture or something to keep him occupied.

“Okay, look, I’ve been really stressed lately. How about we go-”

The air around Magtok shimmered and he faded away slowly amidst a small cloud of glowing energy particles.

“get you some soft served…” Magtok looked around slowly, unsure of what had just happened to him. He was quite suddenly in a large room filled with rows of massive machines covered with flashing lights. The row stretched seemingly indefinitely to the left and right. In front of him was a low railing. Magtok swallowed hard and stepped to the railing to get a look at where he was. He froze with shock and awe.

The room was massive beyond comprehension. He seemed to be standing on one level of perhaps thousands of similar floors with reached upwards and downwards to the point where atmospheric haze obscured any eventual floor or ceiling there might have been. Perhaps a hundred feet away was what appeared to be the opposite wall, composed of similar nearly endless floors. Magtok could see that each level was lined with banks of electronic pods of some kind, many of which contained a humanoid figure, seemingly docked to it. The whole structure was clearly artificial, built of some unknown alloy. It was gritty and darkly lit, with the air smelling heavily of ozone and oil. Distant echoing of clanking machinery filled the silence, setting a disturbing metronome within the space. The ambient temperature was uncomfortably warm, and the recycled air was stifling.

As Magtok looked, he started to make out movement on the far wall. More of those humanoid creatures were stomping around, going about their business silently, with an air of deep menacing. The cyborg took a step back from the dizzying edge and looked both ways down the row he was on again. A line of the odd beings was marching nearly lockstep towards him from the right. Magtok stepped back flat against the wall and closed his eyes, waiting for their hands to grab at him to drag him away. To his surprise, they continued on past without seeming to notice him or care that he was there. The cyborg opened his eyes as they filed on through. Their skin was a sickly gray color and their bodies were covered with electronic components. Magtok felt a momentary kinship with these half mechanical men. The wires sticking out of their skin was a bit icky, though. And he didn’t like the uniform automaton nature they projected as they passed. Shivering, he waited till they were passed and headed off in the direction they had come from. He was going to find out who was ripping off his style and put them in their place.

Wandering through the vast complex only served to give Maggy an unshakable sense of unease. There was something… wrong with it all. It was heartless. Not heartless in an evil way. No, he would have been happy to find torture chambers every once in a while. This was a different kind of heartless altogether. A methodical efficiency that had no place for emotions or ambition or spirit. It made Magtok sick. Even worse, these guys didn’t seem to need food of any kind. Magtok clutched his grumbling stomach. What he wouldn’t have given for a sandwich just then. He passed beneath a low arched doorway and came to a sudden halt.

The room before him spread like the center chamber of some grand cathedral raised in honor of technology and cold scientific advancement. At least two hundred feet in diameter, it was round, the walls covered with towering stacks of flashing control panels. The middle of the room served as a raise dais, housing banks of equipment the purpose of which Magtok could only guess at. Hanging from the vaulted ceiling was a vast apparatus covered with hundreds of robotic arms and screens and tubes and thick bundles of wires winding and intertwining. Moving around the room were more of those cheap Magclone imitations. They were going about work with all the efficient purpose of a hive of bees. Magtok glanced around for a refrigerator or sushi bar. No luck. He stepped cautiously out into the room and took it all in curiously.

“Come no further.”

Magtok froze. The voice had been deep and resonating, resounding from all directions at once. It had been the buzzing, harmonious voice of thousands of speakers talking in perfect unison. It made his skin crawl and his stomach do flips.

“W-who are you?” Magtok’s voice broke as he spoke.

“We are the Borg.”

“Th-the Borg? What… what is this place? What do you want with me?”

“We have sought you across endless expanses of time and space, seeking to find you and add your uniqueness to our own. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

Magtok didn’t like the sound of that. He took a step back towards the door, only to find a pair of robotic hands coming down hard on his shoulders, holding him in place.

“But… why me? Why would you travel so far to find me?”

“We remembered you from deep within the mind of the Queen. Her longing for you has become our longing. Now we have found you and you shall be with us as one. Prepare to be assimilated.”

“Wait! This ‘Queen’ of yours; who is she? Why does she want me specifically?”

There was a long silence with seemed to include even the machinery within the walls of the structure. It chilled Magtok to his very bones. Even the artificial ones. Movement above him caught his eyes. A large aperture in the ceiling opened and an object suspended by a massive jointed piece of machinery descended slowly towards the floor. As it drew closer, the floor at the center of the middle dais irised open and another object rose slowly from it. Magtok looked at this second object with confusion. It was a body. Or most of one at least. Female by all appearances, though missing the neck and head. His stomach turned sickeningly as particular features of this headless and partially mechanized body struck long buried memories. He turned his gaze back up to the smaller object. It had almost reached him and was quite clearly identified as being a head and neck with the spinal column hanging down from it, twisting and writhing slightly through tiny servos mounted between the vertebrae. It reminded him of some kind of boney snake that had started to burrow its way into a decapitated head. The head was facing away from him at the moment, but it was slowly rotating to align with the vacant port on the body. Magtok’s blood froze as the face came into view. The disembodied object pulled its mouth into a mocking grin at the look on his face. Its eyes glistened in the electronic light. With a disturbing “shlorp” the spine slipped down into the waiting body and the head was fitted into place. Clamps along the neck snapped into place, firmly anchoring the head to its ready vessel.

“N-no… it’s not possible… You… You’re supposed to be-”

“Dead? Oh Magtok, you should have known better than to assume something like that.”

Magtok struggled a little against the powerful hands holding him in place, but his knees were weakening and his head was spinning as the implications of who stood before him raced through his mind.

“Well Frack… I’m pretty much screwed, aren’t I?”
The Borg Queen let out a cutting laugh that echoed through the chambers. She steps forward and down off of the center platform. Her hand reached up to stroke the organic half of Magtok’s face, causing the cyborg to flinch away instinctively. Her hand was cold and lifeless, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Magtok could almost feel her malice seep out of it like a subtle static charge. She grinned at his reaction and grabbed his chin tightly from beneath, holding his head in place and forcing him to keep his eyes on her.

“Oh, don’t be like that Magtok. You should be proud of me. The Borg found my broken body where you let it fall. They added me to the collective. Made me whole and then some. Made my body a twisted and unintentional mockery of the man I loved. Of the man that stole my heart before he ripped it beating from my chest.”

“I told you I was going to give it back after I-”

She slapped him hard enough to snap his head to the side and crack it audibly. Magtok let out a slight groan before snapping it back into place.

“But you know something Magtok? They never quite managed to wipe my mind. The burning hate inside me was too much for their nanobots to scrub clean. It grew until it was all there was left of me. Spread into their system to all the others within the collective. You should be happy, Maggy. An entire empire of unsleeping beings who grow stronger with every race they devour whole, spreading like a festering mold across the stars, all seething with an undying hatred and laser focused obsession for you.”

She turned away from him and took a few steps.

“Eventually, my wrath so filled the mind of the collective that I was selected to become the new Queen. The very hub through which all the conscious and unconscious thoughts of the Borg would flow and be issued. It gave me the power to find you. I have traveled endless eons for this moment.”

Magtok glanced carefully at the borg holding him. They were seven feet tall and clearly physically stronger than him. He gulped and looked back at the vengeful Queen. Through the terror of the things she could and would do to him, Magtok managed to form a plan. Not much of one, but it was all he had left.

“I’m… Sorry.”

The Queen stopped midstride. She turned slowly to face him, her face twisted with rage.

“What. Did. You. Just. Say?”

“I said… I’m sorry… for what I did to you…” He swallowed hard before continuing, “It was wrong and mean and… er… I’m sorry.”

Her face twisted with each word. First disbelief, then anger, then maddening delight. A wry grin crossed her face and she chuckled. Her chuckle built into a laugh, and her laugh into an insane cackle which rose into the air, filling the room and carrying through the Borg facility, feeding through the structure-wide com system to assault Magtok from all sides. Then suddenly it stopped. The Queen leveled her gaze at him, her eyes cutting like diamonds.

“You want me to spare you? Want me to let you live? Maybe drop you on some forsaken lifeless rock to spend the rest of your miserable days? Is that what you want, Magtok? To continue your pathetic existence, if only for a few more days?”

“That, and maybe a sandwich. I’m kinda hungry. Me and that crazy guy were going for ice-cream when you-”

“Enough! … If you want me to let you go, you are going to have to beg for it. On your hands and knees. Maybe if you kiss my boots I will decide to have mercy on you.”

She glared at him, daring him to grovel. To test her offer. Magtok obliged, dropping to his hands and knees and kissing her feet.

“Please let me live, Miss Borg Queen. Let me muck around in this mortal mud for a little longer.”

“Say my name. Ask me using my real name. The name of the woman you betrayed and left for dead.”

“Okay… Let me live please, Rabbit. Show me the mercy I didn’t grant you.”

Rabbit, Queen of the Borg, smirked.

“No.”

She let out a laugh as two Borg lifted Magtok from the ground and held him upright. She slowly slid a wickedly curved blade from her side, lifting it up and pressing it to Magtok’s throat. With a sadistic smile, she lowered the blade over where Magtok’s heart, if he even had one, would be.

“Consider this to be poetic revenge. First I will cut your heart out. Then I will have you dismantled, your parts melted down into a hunk of worthless metal. Then I will have you refitted with Borg body parts. Your mind will be scrubbed clean and you will become just another mindless drone under my command. And then I will flush you out an airlock and into a star.”

She applied pressure to the blade, slowly sliding it into Magtok’s chest. Maggy screamed in pain and readied himself for the great beyond. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light. Magtok stared with disbelief as angelic warmth spread over his body. Heaven? How had he managed that? Had to have been a mix up in central filing. Wait… the knife wasn’t in his chest anymore. And Rabbit looked very surprised. Pulses of energy filled the air, fired from oddly shaped guns being held by men and woman in red and blue spandex body suits. Magtok dropped to the floor and crumpled as the borg holding him were hit and felled by the lancing beams. The Queen turned and bellowed in rage as she was impacted by the energy weapons, shrugging their damage off with disdain. The wall behind Magtok erupted in flames before collapsing inwards. More of the ridiculously dressed people charged in, firing more of those tacky weapons of theirs at the borg. Two of them knelt next to Magtok. One of them, a strangely pale fellow with yellow eyes, looked down at him and spoke in a none too comforting tone.

“Do not be afraid. We have come to assist you and facilitate your escape. Please, hold on.”

He pressed a symbol on his shirt. Or, at least, the upper torso part of his one piece suit.

“We have the secured the Captive individual. Begin evacuation immediately.”

The air around them shimmered with that strange particulate energy that had brought Magtok to this mechanical hell. Rabbit finished ripping one of her attackers in half with her bare hands before turning to face them. Her eyes widened and she screamed with unbridled rage. The Borg Mother lunged for Magtok, only to have her hands pass harmlessly through his vanishing body. She yelled a final parting message to him as she and her borg home went transparent. Magtok’s gut rebelled as the room faded and blended with a new one, slowly being replaced by a brightly lit area. He and the others were on a raised and glowing platform inside of a small room. A man stood behind a console nearby, furiously working the controls. He tapped his communicator.

“We have them Captain! Get us out of here!”

The room lurched sickeningly as the ship it was within surged past the speed of light and beat a hasty retreat from the Borg vessel. Magtok sat in silence as the people around him spoke, telling of how they had been tracking that borg cube for several light-years as it tracked him down. It seemed he was very lucky they got there in time to rescue him, though they had broken several very important protocols in doing so. Magtok didn’t register a single word of it. Didn’t feel them as they waved their medical device over the bleeding wound in his chest. His mind kept replaying his conversation with his scornful ex-lover. She had tracked him across the universe for untold ages. Her fading words to him as his rescuers transported him out of her menacing grasp still rung boldly in his ears, drowning out all other sounds.

“You won’t get away! You will be mine, Magtok! Even to the end of the universe itself, you will be mine!”

[happyturtle]

Jacklu, you are made of win.

[Destro_Yersul]

Well now I just feel inadequate. And must write more. MORE.

In Space, There is No Way Out
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 7
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
Twobit stood staring at the screen, looking at the damage report. Little red dots kept popping up, showing that something somewhere had just gone wrong. There was a line of them representing doors that was steadily moving away from processing.

Twobit didn't like the implications of that.

DeeRee had taken a seat at a communications console. She was monitoring comms use all over the ship, as well as keeping an eye on the automated distress signal. They had begun transmission not long ago.

DeeRee thought it was a little scary how quickly everything had gone to hell.

Little voices kept chiming in over her headset. There was a pair of miners heading for medbay, the crew that had taken refuge in the barracks, and scattered reports from security teams. Medbay was being mostly quiet, but they were busy. Rabbit was keeping up with periodic reports though. The rest of the ship had gone silent.

DeeRee sighed and pulled up a list of known dead. There were upwards of one thousand people on the ship. It was a long list. Miners, security personnel, maintenance workers... The ones that had been alone were the first ones to go.

...come in, any... The comm crackled as a new voice broke in. There was a lot of static. DeeRee tried to isolate the signal.

Bridge here, please repeat.

...in engine...name is Jericus...found m...d help...gines dow... The signal cut out.

Hey dad? DeeRee spun her chair around and pulled the headset down to hang around her neck. Someone just put in a call for assistance.

What part of the ship?

Engineering. I couldn't make him out very well, there was too much static. I think he said the engines were down.

Twobit glanced back towards the screen with the damage report displayed. A number of red dots had appeared near junction boxes used to carry power to the engines from the reactor. Damn. Alright. You... he pointed at Magtok. Pick a couple security guards and get down to engineering. Then start fixing things. If the engines go, we start drifting. I don't want to lose control of this ship.

Oh, hell... Magtok looked around the bridge and sighed. He had wanted to stay here, close to the escape pods. But the captain was still the captain, and what he said went. Yessir. Magtok waved a few of the guards over and the small group left the bridge.

DeeRee watched them go, then turned back to her console and slipped the headset back over her head. A voice was on, speaking in a rather frustrated voice. One DeeRee recognized.

-ay, and we're full. I repeat,

[hr]

this is Medbay, and we're full. I don't know what you want to do with any more idiots that get themselves hurt, but they can't come here. We have no beds left. This deck was not designed to hold this number of patients at one time. Rabbit was tired, and it showed. The caffeine pills were wearing off, and she was slowing down. The other doctors were too. It was impossible to keep up the pace they had set, but Rabbit was determined to hold on longer than the rest of them.

The door slid open behind her, and she sighed, preparing herself to turn away whoever had just come in. Booted feet clanked on the deck behind her as she turned around.

Rabbit! Reinholdt was running across the deck. Rabbit could only smile when she saw him, her joy tempered by weariness.

Rein. Damn, you have no idea how happy I am to see you. Rabbit hugged him tightly, burying her face in his soft fur.

Lucky too. Destro had walked in behind him. We saw one of those things eating a dead security guard on the way up. They're a lot faster than they look. Rein blasted it, but it was almost on top of us by the time it died. Then I had to override the elevator lockdown in order to get here, and another of them jumped out of a vent, and...

Rabbit's head snapped up sharply. After you got off the elevator?

Destro blinked. Yeah. Right before we got here. Had to cut it apart with my mining torch.

They're on this deck. Despite the lockdown. Rabbit turned to look at surgery, and the ICU. Oh god...

There were over one hundred people in Medbay.


Jericus is a character of Wolf's. Thanks for letting me swipe him for this! Would have used another playgrounder, but all the redshirts must be volunteers. Except Cristo, because killing him is fun.

[Reinholdt]

@ Jacklu - Poor Rabbit. :smallfrown:
*kills Magtok slowwwwwwwwwwwly*

@ Destro - Dun dun DUNNNN!!!
And hooray for soft fur! I dunno why. That just stuck out for me.

[Destro_Yersul]

Guess this makes Rein my only fan. I know the rest of you are there. Post, dangit! :smalltongue:

In Space, You Are Outnumbered
A Sci-Fi Epic, Part 8
Starring Rabbit, Destro, Reinholdt, Twobit and DeeRee
Magtok and his escort picked their way down the hall, weapons ready. This part of the ship had seen heavy fighting since the initial attack, and the floor was strewn with bits and pieces of things that used to be alive. The smell was awful, and Magtok was glad his nose was included in the part of his face that had been replaced with cybernetics: he could turn it off. The two guards weren't so lucky, and one of them was holding a hand over the lower part of his face.

All three of them had shut off their comms and were keeping quiet. They didn't want to attract any attention by making unnecessary noise. The door to engineering loomed ahead of them, large rents torn in the heavy steel. It was obvious to Magtok that they'd never be able to get it to open.

Well, I guess that's it. The cyborg looked the door up and down. We can't get in, so let's go back to the nice safe bridge.

Don't think we can. Put in the first guard. Captain gave us an order, and he's not likely to be happy if we return without filling it.

Alright. Umm... Magtok looked back at the door, then froze. Sharp clicking noises were coming from behind it. No.. behind him. The ceiling above him shuddered slightly, then a vent ten feet away came down with a crash, and one of the things dropped from it.

Oh frak.

The creature darted forward, eviscerating the second guard as the first poured fire into it. Screaming filled the corridor, and more clicking started, as vents all down the corridor erupted, spewing alien monstrosities into the hall.

OH FRAK.

The first alien fell, and the guard turned his rifle on the others while Magtok desperately fumbled with the emergency release keypad next to the door. The door creaked and slid open a few inches in a shower of sparks. Without looking back, the cyborg wedged himself through the gap and ran down the hallway on the other side. Inhuman screeching mixed with very human screams followed him all the way.

[hr]

Medbay had exploded with activity, as Doctors scrambled to grab whatever they thought could be used as a weapon and nurses tried to calm whichever patients were still conscious. Rabbit stood in the center barking orders, having taken command of the organized chaos throughout the deck.

Destro and Reinholdt were manning the main ward with their mining torches. The high powered cutting tools were probably the most effective weapons on the deck, and Rabbit wanted them in a position where they could respond to an attack from any direction.

Dallas had grabbed another pistol from somewhere, and was standing with Rabbit, waving the pair of firearms and shouting directions at anyone she overlooked. Rabbit herself had taken a rifle that had been brought in with one of the injured guards.

You! Nurse! Put him in the ICU and lock the doors!Watch out for the cords, get that out of the way! Don't trip over the IV stand! Keep an eye on the vents, they come out of the vents. Don't turn your back on the goddamn door until it's closed all the way! Secure that machine to the wall! It's not stowed properly!

Orders flew across the room, drowning out the ambient noises of the ship. Reinholdt glanced over at Destro. They're coming. Through the... RABBIT! MOVE! The shout caused Rabbit to look over, as a vent above her exploded violently. Dallas shoved her, and she tumbled to the deck and rolled. One of the aliens dropped from the vent and landed on the young docter, who crashed to the floor.

Dallas! It punched two claws through him and stood up. Rabbit caught a fleeting glimpse of the doctor's face, locked in an expression of surprise and pain, before the thing slammed him back into the floor.

Vents all over medbay crashed open, and more of the things spilled in. FrakfrakFRAK! Destro sliced his torch at one, shearing it in half. It collapsed to the floor, while Rein tore a hole through the one behind it. Rabbit pulled the trigger down on her rifle, spraying pulses of energy at the one that had Dallas pinned. It staggered back and fell, ripped to pieces by the roaring fusillade.

We're screwed. SO SCREWED. Destro stumbled over to the door and hit the comm. They've hit medbay! There's a lot of them. Can't hold them all off- he grunted as one crashed into him from behind. Miner and alien fell to the deck in a tangle.

Oh god... The thing raised a claw and started to bring it down towards him, but a beam of light lanced through its arm and the scythe-like talon embedded itself in the deck next to Destro's head. It screeched as more beams of light tore through it, then fell sideways. Reinholdt stepped over it, pulling Destro to his feet.

Dallas? Rabbit rolled the doctor over onto his back. He coughed, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth and pouring from his chest, staining his white coat a deep red.

Not dead yet...

Not yet? You aren't allowed to die, dammit. Not on my watch.

He chuckled at that, and shook his head. How're you going to fix me? Get out of here. There's too many for you to fight off.

Destro and Rein half ran, half stumbled over to them. Both were firing away with the cutting tools, filling the air with beams of light, the crack of ionizing air, and alien limbs. GO!

Rabbit stood and shouldered the rifle. The medbay had filled with screaming and the scent of iron. He's right. She said. Rein. Destro. There's nothing more we can do here.

The human resistance across the deck had been compressed into small pockets. Dallas propped himself up against a heartrate monitor and picked up his two pistols. Rabbit hit the door release to the reception area and hurried through, the two miners following her. She grabbed a portable comm from the desk and hit the intercomm button. This is Chief Medical Officer Rabbit Vasque. Medbay is lost. I'm calling a full evacuation of the deck by anyone able to make it to the doors. Get out while you can.

Reinholdt already had the main door open. He glanced back to make sure the other two were following, then all three of them ran for the elevators.

Dallas blasted one alien off its feet with a quartet of shots from his two pistols, then re-aimed to focus on a second. His vision had started to darken around the edges. Damn you. A second alien twitched and fell, it's head blown apart. Damn you all. Both pistols clicked empty, and Dallas tossed one aside to reach for a spare clip for the other. An alien loomed in front of him and screeched. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and fell sideways. Someone's arm was lying on the deck a few feet away. It looked awfully familiar.

Dallas realized it was his seconds before the thing tore his head from his shoulders.

[hr]

We've lost medbay! Deeree tore off the headset as it filled with confused shouts and panicked calls for help. Rabbit's called for an evacuation.

Dammit! Twobit reached for the security feed from the medbay's cameras, then thought better of it. The crew didn't need to see that. Without that... The captain shook his head. We won't be able to take back this ship.

The door to the bridge shuddered as something huge slammed into it.

They're here! Someone shouted, and the guards lining the bridge pulled back into a tight circle, weapons pointed at the door.

Close the blast doors! Twobit roared at the officer manning the security station, and he nodded. Heavy steel shutters slammed down on both sides of the main bridge door, shielding it from impact.

DeeRee took her sidearm from its holster and looked at her father. Twobit had turned back to the case containing the model of the ship and smashed it with a blow from his fist. He pulled the saber from amidst shards of glass and wiped it on one leg of his uniform.

This is my bridge. He said, pulling his own sidearm out with his other hand. And this is my ship. Captain Twobit took three steps forward, as the air vents at the top of the room burst open, spewing clawed horrors onto the bridge.

Rifle fire filled the air as the captain raised his sword and screamed his defiance to the aliens. I will not lose them without a fight!

Incidentally, the board's PG13 nature and word filter makes it somewhat difficult to use expletives. Therefore, I took a page from Battlestar Galactica's book and used a fake one.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Destro, you know I'm your fan! I'm just not on as much as I used to be.
Get-eth on msn. >.>

Awesome death.

''Not dead yet''
''Not yet? You aren't allowed to die, damnit!''

I really wub the relationship between me and Rabbit.(Shame I was a redshirt but)


''Damn you!'' ''Damn you all!''
Hmm, that arm looks awefully familiar...Hmmmm


A Awesome death.)

Write on! Write on Dessie, and get your but on msn the next time you post it.
I'm just not really on the playground that much anymore.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Awww, poor DD.
Atleast you went down fighting, though, eh?
Good job, Destro. I really am enjoying this series.

[Reinholdt]

Hehe. Magtok is so great. Luckiest redshirt ever. May even become a Mauve shirt with a promotion. :smalltongue:

[Destro_Yersul]

It's because he keeps hanging around people with shirts that have more red on them than his, and then running away when they die. :smalltongue:

[Dragonrider]

I LOVE THIS, Destro. :smallbiggrin:

[RabbitHoleLost]

I...don't know how to explain this one.
Partially thoughts that came to me during my first Hookah experience, partly something that just exploded into my mind right now.
I've been working on three separate ships.
This is none of them.

And I'm not exactly sure it makes any sense at all.

Blame
Thanatos/Brandi (Dirk)
Sometimes, she's furious about it. Her thoughts race and her mind aches and her heart hurts, and she sweats and curses in her fury, inescapable, inevitable.
Most of the time, though, she hardly thinks of of him. She keeps herself busy, really. Boozing, flirting, sleeping around. Work, art, music, friends. Men, women, occasionally those lost in between.
Nothing is out of her interests. After all, they all force him from her mind.
Sometimes, though, her roommate is out of town, her parents are vacationing in Cuba, her friends all have to go to bed early in order for wake up for their "adult life" jobs. There's nothing on TV, the taste of ruby red wine grows sour in her mouth, and the dark labyrinth of the outside world seems threatening. She has no energy to be angry, or shroud herself in the safety of her animosity.
In these times, Brandi curls up on her couch, exhaling magic clouds of menthol. She wasn't a smoker, no, not usually. Not unless it was a time like this.
She puffs away, leaving the cigarette in her mouth, her hands lifeless in her lap. Fruitlessly, she shapes her mouth into a 'O', trying to form the rings of smoke she had seen, as a child, her mother make.
Brandi could never do it, sitting back in the overstuffed chair Rabbit had bought years ago, watching the failed rings levitate in the air, dissipating quickly.
Poof.
Into nothingness.

Apologies are pointless. As children, we are forced into reciting them when we do another wrong.
"Tell your sister you're sorry."
And we chant, meaninglessly. Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, sorry. An instant bandaid, we are lead to believe. An elixir of a word.
We grow up believing it is all that needs to be said.
Its earth-shattering to discover it does nothing. Mindless phrases, as useful as broken swords.
Even if he said them to her, she wouldn't take them.
Then why was the urge to scream it at him, to plead for him to accept her vain apologies so strong?

Tapping the butt into an old beer bottle, she frowns. He would grumble and moan and complain about her drinking habit, much to her eyerolling, were he there.
There's a sizzling from inside the bottle, as ignited ash meets fermented barley, or whatever the hell beer is. Barley? Wheat germ?
She doesn't know.
It tastes horrible, fills her stomach, numbs her heart and brain.
The too-large shirt shrugs off of her shoulder blades. It was his.
Or had been his.
In his absence, the musky scent of man had long since left.
Elongated yawns announced her entry to the bedroom, cluttered with far too many things, baubles, memories, for such a small little apartment.
Cynicism kills.
But, oh, so nicely.
Goodnight world.
She cocoons herself in cotton, muffling her mind to the desperate want, the longing, the desire she so often masked in bitterness.
She blamed him.
When he spoke to her so casually on the phone, through IM's, she pressed the fault silently on him, even as she denied it, even as she claimed over and over again that she was happy for him, for his new life without her, and with this perfect little girl, almost too young for him.
Almost too young at all.
Her pain, her fury, her confusion, the billowing clouds of smoke and the taste of tart wine, also too young to be consumed.
She blamed him for it all.
And she would blame him and blame him and blame him until she had no more anger, until the world could hold no more bitterness, and then...
And then...
And then...

Goodnight, world.

[Helgraf]

It's beautifully crafted, Rabbit. And can feel the self-destructive rhythm in it, feel the unresolved pain. It's very powerful. And it makes me want to hug the poor girl, whether it would help or not.

I really have to write something again. Still have Mad Season, Dead Air, and another fic for artwork piece to do. Plus the drabble archive, though to an extent I'm holding on Curly there. And I should get back to IStLY at some point too.


I...don't know how to explain this one.
Partially thoughts that came to me during my first Hookah experience, partly something that just exploded into my mind right now.
I've been working on three separate ships.
This is none of them.

And I'm not exactly sure it makes any sense at all.

Blame
Thanatos/Brandi (Dirk)
Sometimes, she's furious about it. Her thoughts race and her mind aches and her heart hurts, and she sweats and curses in her fury, inescapable, inevitable.
Most of the time, though, she hardly thinks of of him. She keeps herself busy, really. Boozing, flirting, sleeping around. Work, art, music, friends. Men, women, occasionally those lost in between.
Nothing is out of her interests. After all, they all force him from her mind.
Sometimes, though, her roommate is out of town, her parents are vacationing in Cuba, her friends all have to go to bed early in order for wake up for their "adult life" jobs. There's nothing on TV, the taste of ruby red wine grows sour in her mouth, and the dark labyrinth of the outside world seems threatening. She has no energy to be angry, or shroud herself in the safety of her animosity.
In these times, Brandi curls up on her couch, exhaling magic clouds of menthol. She wasn't a smoker, no, not usually. Not unless it was a time like this.
She puffs away, leaving the cigarette in her mouth, her hands lifeless in her lap. Fruitlessly, she shapes her mouth into a 'O', trying to form the rings of smoke she had seen, as a child, her mother make.
Brandi could never do it, sitting back in the overstuffed chair Rabbit had bought years ago, watching the failed rings levitate in the air, dissipating quickly.
Poof.
Into nothingness.

Apologies are pointless. As children, we are forced into reciting them when we do another wrong.
"Tell your sister you're sorry."
And we chant, meaninglessly. Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, sorry. An instant bandaid, we are lead to believe. An elixir of a word.
We grow up believing it is all that needs to be said.
Its earth-shattering to discover it does nothing. Mindless phrases, as useful as broken swords.
Even if he said them to her, she wouldn't take them.
Then why was the urge to scream it at him, to plead for him to accept her vain apologies so strong?

Tapping the butt into an old beer bottle, she frowns. He would grumble and moan and complain about her drinking habit, much to her eyerolling, were he there.
There's a sizzling from inside the bottle, as ignited ash meets fermented barley, or whatever the hell beer is. Barley? Wheat germ?
She doesn't know.
It tastes horrible, fills her stomach, numbs her heart and brain.
The too-large shirt shrugs off of her shoulder blades. It was his.
Or had been his.
In his absence, the musky scent of man had long since left.
Elongated yawns announced her entry to the bedroom, cluttered with far too many things, baubles, memories, for such a small little apartment.
Cynicism kills.
But, oh, so nicely.
Goodnight world.
She cocoons herself in cotton, muffling her mind to the desperate want, the longing, the desire she so often masked in bitterness.
She blamed him.
When he spoke to her so casually on the phone, through IM's, she pressed the fault silently on him, even as she denied it, even as she claimed over and over again that she was happy for him, for his new life without her, and with this perfect little girl, almost too young for him.
Almost too young at all.
Her pain, her fury, her confusion, the billowing clouds of smoke and the taste of tart wine, also too young to be consumed.
She blamed him for it all.
And she would blame him and blame him and blame him until she had no more anger, until the world could hold no more bitterness, and then...
And then...
And then...

Goodnight, world.

[Reinholdt]

Incredible Rabbit. You really are a very strong and poignant writer. :smallfrown:

[Destro_Yersul]

My job is incredibly conducive to thinking, I have discovered. I took a notebook with me and was able to come up with ideas for no less than 5 ships, including the next part of SotR, which I really need to do more of.

This is not SotR. It is one of the other four ideas.

Hiding One Thousand Words
Raistlin/Rabbit
Raistlin sat on his bed, staring at the picture on the dresser beside him. It was of Rabbit. Rabbit from a happier time. She was standing in front of a tree, smiling at something he had just said. A moment of time captured by the camera. He reached for it, picked it up.

The frame was heavy in his hand.

He sighed, slid open the bottom drawer of the dresser. The one that held all the clothes he never wore. He shoved the picture under a pair of horrible orange and grey pants he had been given for his birthday one year by some aunt or other. Then he stood, used his foot to shove the drawer closed, and left the room.

It was winter. Snow swirled around him as he left the apartment building. His motorcycle was parked a short distance away, but he didn't take it. Where he was going, he didn't trust himself not to do something stupid.

Raistlin walked the few blocks to his favourite bar in silence. He passed a few people, coats pulled tightly around themselves, hurrying off to get out of the cold. A few of them were couples, keeping close to each other for warmth, laughing and smiling. Raistlin looked away when he passed them.

The bar was warm, and he shed his jacket when he walked in, draping it over an arm at first, and then a chair when he found one. The music was loud, and the band's singer couldn't carry a tune. Nobody cared. The booze was cheap and the girls were easy. That's what they all came here for.

Raistlin spent some time by himself at the bar, had a few drinks, and scoped out the opportunities. There was one girl, really pretty, dancing to the horrible music with three or four guys. No good. Too much competition. His eyes roamed around the room, fell on a girl and her friend.

They were giggling when he walked over. Raistlin slid easily into a seat between them and smiled. Hey girls. Mind if I buy you a round or two? That made them giggle more, and one of them nodded.

Raistlin flagged down a serving girl. Can I get three margaritas? Thanks.

He struck up a conversation. All the regular small talk questions. Where you from, what's your name, what do you do... After the third round of margaritas the two were giggling more than ever, and Raistlin saw his opening.

He checked his watch and shook his head. Getting a bit late... He said. I need to get home.

Girl number one grinned mischievously and took the bait. Mind if we come with you?

I love this bar. Raistlin grinned back and put an arm around each of them. Pair of beautiful girls like you? No problem at all. Let's go have some fun, shall we?

Afterwards, he never remembered the walk home. Just opening the door with the pair clinging to him, the rush to the bedroom, clothes flying off. It was a fun night.

When he woke in the morning, they were already gone. He shrugged and got up, making his way slowly to the small bathroom. A hastily scrawled note was taped to the mirror. He peeled it off and read it, groping for his toothbrush with his other hand.

Last night was great. We should do this again sometime. ;) Under the note was a pair of phone numbers. Raistlin grinned.

He fell into routine easily. Monday to Friday were work, Friday night and Saturday night he went to the bar. Sometimes there were different girls, sometimes there were ones he'd seen before. Sometimes they rented a motel room, sometimes it was his place. Once or twice it was theirs. He turned it into a challenge. Trying to go for some of the tougher prospects. If he failed, he'd pick another one and try again, or fall back on the collection of numbers he kept in a box next to his phone.

It was fun for a while. The end of winter and the following Spring went by quickly. But the game had started to be less fun. There was something off, and he couldn't quite place it. He just wasn't happy.

He still went out, picked up a few different girls, but he couldn't hold them like he used to. Something about it felt wrong, and it weighed on his mind.

Raistlin covered it up as best he could. When he was with them, he didn't let his feelings show. He kissed them and loved them, and they went to sleep wearing smiles.

Raistlin couldn't sleep.

Spring turned to summer. The bar quieted down a little, as people hit the beach. Raistlin followed suit, taking along a case of beer and crashing a few parties. He fit in easily, and they were always happy to have more booze. Then, once the sun hit the waterline, he'd find a pretty girl and smile and suggest they get away from the crowd for a while. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. When it did it was fun, but there was still something missing.

He found it while he was looking for a bathing suit.

He'd had a week's vacation from work, and had spent it barcrawling and hitting a few different parties. Most of them were at the beach. Raistlin dug through the dresser looking for a spare. Something heavy in the bottom drawer clunked against the side as he moved a pair of pants to look under them.

Raistlin picked up the picture frame and turned it over. A twinge of regret touched his mind, and he smiled sadly at the photo. Rabbit.

He went into the kitchen, the bathing suit forgotten, and set the picture on the table. Then he picked up the phone, fingers dialing a distantly familiar number.

Hey Rabbit. It's me. I just called to say that I'm sorry, and that I've realized something. He paused for a moment and sighed. I'm sorry I haven't called, and that it took me this long. I... I still love you.

Call me. The phone clicked as he hung up.


It's probably crap, but I spent a while writing it, so I may as well post it.

[Reinholdt]

It's sad Destro. Keep up the good work. :smallfrown:

*waits for a happy ship today*

[RabbitHoleLost]

It's beautifully crafted, Rabbit. And can feel the self-destructive rhythm in it, feel the unresolved pain. It's very powerful. And it makes me want to hug the poor girl, whether it would help or not.

I...I..I..
:smalleek:
:: hides self away in blanket::
Your praise means a lot. Though it doesn't have any real connection to me, I put small parts of myself into that ship, raw.
I enjoy writing in short, clipped, dramatic sentences, for some reason. And I was most pleased to have an idea where it would be most appropriate for me to do so.
Thank you for your consideration =)

Destro: Hmm. S'well written.

[Helgraf]

I...I..I..
:smalleek:
:: hides self away in blanket::
Your praise means a lot. Though it doesn't have any real connection to me, I put small parts of myself into that ship, raw.

:nods: Had a hunch. Writing has a certain intensity to it when it's drawn directly from the well of one's own experiences; there's a very direct, no second-guessing-ness to it, you _know_ exactly what you're attempting to encapsule.

Also, as long as you're bundling up in there ... :: reaches over and puts a size 10 3/4 tophat on your head :: ... don't want to catch cold now. :smallwink:

[Helgraf]

PicFic (http://kara-pfee.deviantart.com/art/Sayaku-Shades-of-Grey-94141310), as promised.

((A note: This is an experiment, and one I admit I have been putting off because I am nervous. I am writing for an established character, a favorite of the author who invented her, and has a vested image and mythos construction involving her and her companions. I am hoping I do all of this justice.))

. . . ((Kara Kuro [Sayaku] / Helgraf [Renfield]))


Gentle chords drift in the wind, the soft chiming thrum evoked from the strings of the small silver harp by the long, lithe fingers of the woman who leaned against a marbled pillar, the post of the harp on the stone lip, between her legs that fell to either side. The orbless almonds of her eyesockets peer past the mercurial nature of her surroundings; past the impermanent marble and malachite, the white and black whose tones form the base strokes of the artwork that flows forth and between them and all within; it is a quiet beauty, one that is gracelessly graceful, one that does not demand attention, yet is ever there when one is ready to appreciate it. It is a reflection of the lady, whose Sanctuary this is, and like the almost etheric beauty of the harpsong that her fingers call forth from the instrument, it is effortless and undemanding.

The strands of onyx-dark hair shift in a rippling dance of their own, counterpoint to the tiny motions of those fingers and arms in motion; their song is experienced by sight and by touch; in the absence of Chroid and Acryn, it falls to the other who sits in this oasis of freely given experience to interpret and understand, and here we draw back, reluctantly, aye, for while Sayaku playing her harp in this place of comfort and safety, neither wearing nor having need of anything more protective than the long onyx tresses that swayed so as they ran the length of her back and under, til they nearly reached her knees - and would, if she were standing, while lesser creatures such as you and I would find no better joy than to continue regarding her thus, we must yet draw back to give the fullness of the picture, and in this we see her visitor.

Here, imagine, if you might, how one might make a rough image of a man, sculpted from rude clay, malformed and misshapen, whose limbs seem askew, misproportioned and improperly aligned; as if, after God had made man, he had given leftover bits to a loved yet unpracticed child, and the child had made effort to copy the father's creation. Starting thus, give this distortion, this unintentional mockery life and intelligence - a mind of keen and sudden insight, one alternately elated and crushed by the constant flow of inspiration.

Now, place these two together. She, as described before, playing the harp, and he, combing her hair with a bone-white ivory comb and his own, hook-bent and warped fingers. Watch the hideous worm-lips of the misbegotten one writhe and perhaps feel relief that the gentle music of the harp keeps us from hearing what is said.

And in doing this, we would be guilty of the same fault shared by so many whom have looked upon this woman from afar, have gazed and wondered but never approached. We might suppose she allows him out of pity, and ascribe to her falsely a pride she does not possess. She is, plain and simple, and in simplicity has captured a serene wonder that she gives freely to any who can comprehend it.

Her fingers slip from the instrument at last, but the last notes linger some time in the air before they fade away. Turning slightly, she offers a smile to the other, who cannot see it any more than she, for while her eyes were taken, his are grey and clouded; such sight as he has comes from the whirl of insight and probability that whispers inside his skull at all times; feeling the tension as she shifts, he gently sets aside the brush; hand too slides away. One of her hands moves to his, and here too, the dichotomy-in-synthesis continued; her gentle to his rough; black to white, entwining and drawing apart.

A soft sigh. They can neither of them grant the other's most fervent desire, but perhaps, one drop at a time, in each one memory, one meeting, they might stave off the pressure that gnaws. Forget the anchor of time they can never set aside; unlike us, they never have the opportunity to lay down their burdens but that they must be picked up again.

Time passes slowly and here we might well feel as if intruding; the two communicate wordlessly, through sensation, touch, and scent. Perhaps they do not use words because the words themselves are too limiting, too easily subject to misinterpretation. Perhaps instead they prefer a less defined relationship, one communicated in the oldest ways of all, in the flow of stance, motion and reaction. Or perhaps they both have already said all that is neccesary; that to speak further would be a reminder of realities they both must face all too regularly. Regardless of the particulars, they share these moments in near-silence, each giving, receiving ... knowing all too keenly that this cannot last, cannot become more than the moment, a moment, a string of pearls in history.

Eventually, it ends with a pair of kisses, each to the other's forehead. Sayaku turns to her harp, and before the first note ripples through the air of the Sanctuary, the other is gone, only the faint bitter scent that accompanies him lingering, feathering and fading, until even her senses can no longer detect it, save in memory.

A smile lingers there, one tempered with the echo of sorrows. There is much to be done. The time of the Rites of her long lost people comes again. Chroid and Acryn will return soon, bringing with them that particular gentle bittersweet tangle of memories she knows so well.

We fade away. She remains.

[Destro_Yersul]

Darn you people and your posting of brilliance right before I do things. It makes me look inadequate! :smalltongue:

Seriously, it's very well done. You're an incredible writer.

Here is my own offering for today. It is significantly less incredible, and involves the only idea I came up with at work today.

Dancing with the Devil's Daughter
Reinholdt/Rabbit
Reinholdt spun, not spilling a drop of the cocktail in his hand. With his free hand he reached out to the girl next to him and raised her arm over her head. She spun too, laughing, as music blared around them.

The club was packed, but it was easy for Reinholdt to find the space to dance. He was completely in charge, the cat-like man in the pinstriped suit, and when he was on the floor, people noticed.

Tonight though, it wasn't just him they were noticing. Across the floor was a woman in a deep purple suit, complete with a top hat. She had worn through three dance partners already and showed no signs of tiring.

The woman flicked her eyes towards him. The confidence and arrogance he saw in them could not have been a clearer challenge. He knocked back the rest of the cocktail and sent the glass sliding across a nearby table, then threaded his way over towards her. They were drawn together like magnets, space clearing around them, as the next song began.

The music was fast and powerful. The rhythm pulsed like a heartbeat, sending them circling around each other. Their dance was a test of strength, a duel of wills.

So. Reinholdt smiled, showing his teeth. Come to try yourself against me?

She laughed as she spun, the tails of her purple coat flying behind her. It was like fire, her laugh. It sent a thrill through him. Perhaps. said Rabbit. Or perhaps it's the other way around.

Not here. His smile didn't waver. This? This is where I'm most at home.

The pair wove around each other, pulses quickening with the music. That makes two of us. Rabbit rolled her hat in her hands, then flipped it and slid to the side. The hat landed at a jaunty angle on her head and she grinned. Though I do admit, you're better than most I've seen.

I, said Reinholdt, am the best.

Rabbit swung in, took hold of him and forced him backwards and downwards, her lips pressed against his. The song crashed to an end, and in the split second of silence between songs he heard her whisper in his ear.

Not quite.

Then she pulled him back up and spun away as the next song began. It was time for round two.

I'm actually rather pleased with this one. Much more so than my last.

[Reinholdt]

@ Helgraf - Well I say your experiment is a success. I wish I could write descriptive text nearly as well as you do. Stop fueling my writer's jealousy or I may have to find you and eat your brain. :smallwink: :smalltongue:

@ Destro - Meep!
I'm not sure whether to be frightened by my own aggressiveness or the fact that Rabbit is even more aggressive. :smalleek:

[Kara Kuro]

Wow Helgraf.That was really, really quite spiffy. As with any creator watching their character be written by another party, I would have done some things differently...

But they way you writer her is spot on. Congratulations on that one Sir, I don't know how you did it because I really didn't give you much to go on.