"Oh, and to answer your earlier question... I don't listen to that religious stuff any-more. The thing that possessed me gave me much knowledge of how things work, and it was clear that there was no room left for most of the religion stuff... I don't fear death, but I do fear that I know nothing about it... and have I done anything that would have earned me heaven? Probably not. Have I done anything that would have earned me hell...?"
"..."
"..."
"Too many times..."
Space begins distorting and changing colour, solidifying into the form of a raven, sitting on a tree on the opposite side of the stream. Its pitch black feathers are iridescent, they reflect deep blue light when the sunlight strikes them from a certain angle. It turns its head to look at you with one eye, opens its beak and begins speaking with the voice of your entity.
"I don't really know about the afterlife. Many of my kind believe that if we are worthy, then we will be reincarnated after death. But I'm too young to concern myself with what follows life. I have to live it first."He twists his head and starts cleaning his feathers with his beak.
"Besides, thinking too much can sometimes spoil the fun in life. Just try to do what you want and what you think is right and don't concern yourself with the rest. They will happen on their own. Or with my help. You'll see.""Could I have something else to do? Doing nothing is sorta... boring."
"We have to wait for a while for the others. Can't start another challenge with just you."He lifts one wing to point to the Television.
"You could just watch some TV if you want. Otherwise..."He croaks and flies to a lower branch, closer to you.
"We can always do a different kind of test. You've proven yourself capable in a fight. But what about a challenge that requires quick and smart thinking?"
Continue exam.
((Called the music.))
You switch to using your power to examine your new weapon. You close your eyes and its components begin filling your mind's eye.
Your ability allows you to see what your eyes could not and what your hands could suspect. There are tiny veins of a different kind of material running through the shaft, forming fractal patterns. It's a extremely hard to grasp the entirety of their design, given their immensely small size combined with their large number, but you can make out that the veins originate from a small number of "roots", mostly centred around the spearhead and the ring near the middle of the shaft, which then branch off until they reach the surface, where they continue to branch and twist in two dimensional patterns. While it's true that they help with getting a better grip on it, you're not exactly sure about whether or not that's their true purpose or if they even have a purpose beyond really fancy grips. Whatever their purpose, they cover almost the entire surface of the shaft with their dense patterns. You get a feeling there's something else about the material the shaft is made of but you just can't figure it out right now, something inside it that you can't feel properly.
Your examination reveals that the ring around the center of the shaft actually consists of two parts: a lower (the one that touches the shaft) and an upper (the one that contains the buttons). The two parts seem to have merged together.
The upper part consists of nothing more than a small battery and some LEDs and pushbuttons hidden behind semi-transparent gray plastic covers. Whenever the buttons are pressed, current is allowed to pass through a pair of wires and resistors corresponding to the button pressed, which then continue on to the lower ring. A fairly simple device, all things considered, the only thing that makes it something you couldn't build on Earth being the metal cover of the upper part, which is composed of the same material as the shaft, although it lacks the fractal designs.
The upper part is in stark contrast with the lower part. First of all, there's a button in there, inaccessible from the outside, with wires leading to the metal cover of the ring. And while that's not exactly normal, that's not the strangest part. The button seems to be giving off a feeling or a message or something similar, like it is speaking to you. It says "Reconfigure". You can get a similar feeling from some of the wires in there, wires coming from the upper part, corresponding to those buttons. They all emit certain thoughts or concepts, like tiny supernatural labels: "Front","Back","Safe","Unsafe","Enlarge","Shrink","Stop","Move". But even that is not the strangest part. The strangest part is that while the metal surrounding the lower part looks the same as the rest of the shaft, it "feels" different. You can't get a proper picture of it because it feels confused, like something has scrambled the space in it. If you focus on a single spot, you can sense some components but every time you try to expand your awareness of that spot to try and understand how it is connected and interacts with the rest, it gets disjointed, like somehow a connector can connect two parts of the ring without crossing the distance between them. What's more, you sometimes get different results from trying to sense the exact same spot. You're not sure about whether or not there's something actually messing up space in there or if this is some kind of test or
FRM enforced by
Zero. If he's capable of creating psychic labels for your power, he's probably able to confuse it too.
The spearhead feels much the same as the metal surrounding the bottom part of the control ring. A jumbled mess of components. You can tell that its surface is incredibly smooth and sharp, almost frictionless, but that's not exactly brand new information.
Overall, it doesn't feel like something you could duplicate. Even if you were certain you could summon all of those materials, bending space like that is beyond your abilities. And even if you could bend space, you'd have to visualise the insides of that bent and confusing space, which would require a level of concentration you do not currently possess. At best, you might end up with an inferior replica. At worse...
Still, your ability keeps getting better ever since you were drafted into the games. Maybe soon you will be able to summon it. Or maybe you could ask
S-Zero to help you somehow.
"I can't keep fighting you if you're dead, can I?"
Whip off my coat, tsar it and throw it at her like a net. Then stab repeatedly.
"Haha! So sure of yourself. I said you should had attacked, not that the attack could had killed me." she says as you remove your coat.
You hold your coat on one hand, your Swiss army knife in the other, like a child trying to imitate a gladiator, while you wait for the other knife to shrink. You keep staring at each other, waiting for an attack. She doesn't move more than is necessary to change the orientation of her spinning knives, bringing them above her head. Looks like she's waiting for you to attack.
You focus on tsaring your coat while throwing it towards her. The throw is very good but the tsarification is not your best job. It only gets slightly bigger. Not that it would had helped. Before the coat has even left your hand, she's gone, jumping diagonally, both to the right and towards you. She's turns at the same time, following the rotation of her knives, giving even more power to her swing. Her knives are nothing but a blurry circle of blue and red going straight for your head.
Without thinking, you jerk your arm upwards, interjecting it between the knives and your head. The knives hit, cutting deep. They complete another circle and twist around your arm, latching onto your flesh with hooks. You don't even flinch as the hooks and knives cut your flesh. If you've ever had a fish-hook accidentally latch onto you, then you'll understand why that's an impressive accomplishment. Knives and swords, when sharpened, cut almost painlessly. Hooks on the other hand...
Well of course I want bad movie quotes. I paid no money for this, dammit!
Okay then, your funeral.
The lights come on inside the movie theatre and the music cuts off as the screen displays the message "INTERMISSION" with the words "Please wait while we change the reel. Feel free to go to the cafeteria for snacks. You will be notified when the viewing will resume." beneath it. Looks like many of the members of the vaguely defined audience are doing just that, getting out of their seats and through the exit, while a vaguely defined janitor is asking you if you could please get up so that he can clean the vaguely defined corpse you're sitting on. ((That means, please wait a bit.))
Oh, and the movie I was blatantly plagiarising was "The Brain From Planet Arous":
http://youtu.be/XFSeNed7mbUI've got a site full of bad sci-fi movies like this, I'll post it whenever you get bored with this movie mix.
FniffYou wake up. You're back in your personal section of the staging area, sitting on your armchair across the fireplace. Everything is quiet, even the fire, which usually cracked from time to time, is not making much noise.
Theri's irises widened (or at least she felt the 'feeling' and not exactly the same thing, being a...thought) as she noted the information from the bracelet.
This was an...interesting find.
Irene! Irene! Project curiosity towards your bracelet! If its orange, its a note for information!
We've about...4.8 time units (in human time @_@) to protect Amelia.
I have no idea what it means-
...
Hi Awena ._.
This is...a bit hard to explain but I'll explain all I said later on when we get out of here. Does anyone know what a time unit measures by?
Theri pondered and wondered...what more information coul-
Right.
@Interface:
> Define Time Unit.
> Are you able to automatically notify 'me' when information is presented?
> Ask Amelia if she sees anything. Also notify her of probable intervention in the future.
. . .
Hey...Awena. I know this is probably abrupt but you're 'hearing' all this within the timespan of a thought. Meaning around a second or so in feelings, emotions, images, and words.
So...well, for you it may feel like just minutes since I last said this but here, it feels like days.
Thank you for being such a kind person.
I...it feels a bit twisty here. Not bad or convoluted but- I'm unsure.
I'm really thankful to have met you. I'm unsure what will happen after all this but-
...
But if you're in danger, I am at your full disposal. Though it will probably mean 'possessing' you to get you out of it--all things that happen in relation to me are your full decision.
...
Still, I can't help it but say thank you again. That feeling of thanks that you know when you're with a good friend?
That's what I feel when I think about this situation right here.
<One Time Unit is equal to approximately sixty standard Earth-3 seconds.><Affirmative>((I'm assuming that third thing is not directed at the interface, since Awena is not aware it exists and Amelia is unconscious.))
Time units are... I don't know. Seconds, minutes, hours. Aren't they all time units? Awena responds.
Irene
"What's happening to her?"
Zoe turns to look at her. She's currently looking at Amelia. She appears to be a bit calmer now.
"I... I'm not sure. Boris says it's some kind of power. You... can you 'see' something? Are your spirits telling you anything?"
...
To Theri/Awena/Stellar: <Awena, Amelia right now is posessed by something that is somewhat related to us. I can't see it well, but it seems like a mindless, shapeless version of us. and its swelling out of her. I've tried talking to it, but it hasn't responded. According to my patron, the being that put me here, linked me to Zoe, this something was imbued with a massive amount of power, but it has no real control over it. All this fighting, and the attempts on Amelia's life, are based on different groups and people attempting to seize control of that power like Boris and his machines or trying to force it to dissipate unused by killing her. My mission and Theri's is simply to keep Amelia alive. Boris here also has someone attached to him, but unlike Theri and I, his 'spirit' has no qualms about taking over his mind and body to further its own ends. his spirit's named Victor by the way. Anyway, what Zoe and you haven't heard is the negotiations going on between Victor and me, because we're allied on this mission. That's why Boris keeps acting oddly - Victor is taking control of him periodically to help give me information I need. The mission Theri and I are on has a time limit on it, and I think it's timed to whatever is happening to Amelia, and the time limit is nearly up. One way or another, this is going to end soon.
Now then, the reason that I'm talking to you now is I'm worried that despite my best efforts, I'm damaging Zoe's mind. Look at Boris and notice how he seems sort of hollow - like he's a puppet under someone else's control. That's not just an impression, that's what is really going on. It seems that the longer we're attached to someone, and the more we influence them, they slowly lose their own force of will. I've been touching Zoe's mind as little as I possibly can, but she's getting really indecisive, her subconscious is practically begging for me to tell her what to do. When I refused to do anything even when she was lost she started acting erratic, wildly swinging between trusting Boris and attempting to shoot him. At this point I'm giving her very gentle and subtle stabilizing nudges, trying to keep her calm and effective without breaking her mind the way Boris's has been, but I don't like it.
Theri, please tell Zoe to trust herself more. She doesn't need anybody to tell her what to do, including me. She needs to calm down and have faith in herself. Victor and I are going to deal with the fighting going on outside, You and Zoe are here because you care about Amelia, right? Please, watch over your friend. I don't trust Victor, his mission is different from mine even though right now we're allied. I think he's going to try to betray us, to hurt Amelia, at the very last moment. And it doesn't matter what Boris wants, his mind is so broken that Victor can do whatever he wants to him whenever he wants.
I'll deal with the fighting going on outside, I need you two to protect Amelia, and to protect yourselves. Grow a spine, and show some strength of will. Don't let the side effects of me and Theri being here break you two and make you into puppets like Boris, ok?>
If I'm confident I can say this without Victor/Boris overhearing then I add:
<Also, there is a side objective to this. I... This isn't the first time I've possessed someone on this world, and when I did it last time I got my host killed. I'd like to try to use the power Amelia is going to release to fix that. I took total control that time, suppressing her mind so that when my mission was over, she'd come back with only vague memories of what happened but with her mind still intact. Taking control like that made me stronger, and able to use some information I had that my host didn't. I thought that I could protect her, and accomplish her mission and mine better than she could on her own. It nearly worked. I honestly think I did better than she ever could. But it wasn't good enough. I accomplished the mission, but she died at the end, while her mind was waking up and I was losing control again... and the way she died was horrible. I'm not human Theri, and her mind woke up before I could change her body back, and she was able to watch her own death slowly coming but had no ability to stop it. And from her perspective, in her mind, it was all her fault.
The amount of power that Amelia is going to release is immense, and if Zoe stands by her when it happens, I'll be able to shape it. I can't keep it, but I could use it to reshape reality itself in an instant. I want to bring my previous host back to life. I owe it to her. I stole her free will, her right to choose, and as a result anything that happens or fails to happen to her is my responsibility. I managed to accomplish everything she wanted to accomplish, but I didn't keep her alive. And that makes her death my fault, and I am responsible for fixing my mistake.>
Zoe
-no influence-
Irene:
Irene! Irene! Project curiosity towards your bracelet! If its orange, its a note for information!
We've about...4.8 time units (in human time @_@) to protect Amelia.
I have no idea what it means-
?!?
To Interface: ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
<I'm...> She sounds sad.
<I will give you any help I can, if you ask me. I'm certain you'll do well, I'm certain you'll do your best.><Defend human known as Amelia until the time limit expires.
4.5 time units remain until time limit expires.
Do you require additional data?>You say that last bit. You also hear Theri's entity talking.
((That wall of nice text ._.))
To Irene (I'm sure it was an e not an i)/Awena/River:
Woah, hold that thought on damaging someone's mind (Awena, that's Irene, a friendly spirit like me). I've been talking to Awena as of late and there's nothing wrong with her that I can detect. She's unsure at times but she's pretty much in the same state I met her as.
Though on damage to health, I...guess that makes sense? We've had to cut down on food consumption and other basic needs ever since the incident happened. Rushing from place to place, and added stress. Not that sure that its a damage to one's mind (at least I'm sure Awena is OK.) but...maybe I guess its in forcing your host to do things against their will causes physical and mental damage?
...If so then goodness, Awena I'm sorry for ever asking you about possession. Does anyone have ideas regarding that?
I believe its less of us influencing and staying with them and more of forcing interaction that causes that damage. Now about touching one's mind--I do not believe its like that. There's something such as indecision--when one looks for all modes of analysis, and maybe her subconscious is asking you as you're a valid influence on her. Like what I've been telling Awena all this time--everything is her final decision, we're all just influences.
Maybe...on being an influence, it must be an informed and understood influence. Awena is ok (unless she's not .__.) with all I've done and maybe any influence you might've done with Zoe must be known to her. The thing about trust on Boris or shooting him is...pretty normal. I'm guessing less of indecision and more of her focusing on two ideas, both in the same context: Protecting Amelia. Eliminating a threat seems to be the same as working with a probable aid, if both aid and threat are a possibility...in her eyes.
But...alright. I'll...Awena, are you up for this? Telling Zoe to trust herself more?
Because there's one thing I've been pondering all my life about. It's thoughts.
Our very nature, actions, skills and talents all operate on a 'second'-hand basis. All the initial points from this comes from thought--something which is personal before it can be felt by anyone else. Like how you say you're a natural at...err, medicine. You think about it before-...err. That.
It's a really complex and simple idea at the same time. But in that case, Awena--I ask of you (or anyone else able to talk with Zoe) to help her realize herself. Her thoughts. How to act on them.
...Hug her?
If the added portion is...added in, then:
Theri pushed aside the many questions that got her going, mainly being:
> ...Possessed someone else...on this world?! But you were with me back in that one place!
> Where did River bring me anyway?
I...well what happens to people when they...don't not live?
...We're alive, despite being thoughts.
Erm, wouldn't reshaping things be...equal more probabilities than would be expected? By that, I mean the chance of bad things not going to plan?
There are a lot of factors that I can't see in that plan but I know may exist. Like how or why it would all work.
I'm...unsure, but if you can do all that then-
...River, what do you think?
Askaskask :3
((Irene was not talking to River (and I think she didn't mean to either) so that is why this is going to sound a bit confusing to him.))
<I'm sorry, I only caught pieces of what you were talking about from Awena's mind. I can say that death is a fluid thing. I know people who have died and come back to life. So death is not always permanent and sometimes not everything is lost when we die. Sometimes a piece remains.
And I think your suggestions are good. Both of these humans are going to need some willpower before this is over, some encouragement, some help. That's what we're here to do. Help. Especially Awena. You have not damaged her mind. If anything, your presence makes her stronger.>Awena stares forward blankly as her mind tries to process all the information Theri (and Irene through her) are relaying to her in the span of a couple of seconds.
"I..." she simply utters to break the silence, her mind still too busy processing it all. Theri's Interface beeps several time and its screen lights up with a red light.
"I think we're doing the right thing, just..."Awena hugs Zoe. Zoe is a bit surprised by this and remains limp for a second before she reluctantly returns the hug.
"Hey! It's OK. What's going on? What did you see?" she says with worry in her voice.
Awena leans closer and starts whispering in Zoe's ear, using the hug as cover, so that Boris won't suspect anything if he's watching.
"Trust yourself. Stay close to Amelia and stay strong."((Conversation cut short because turn is short because of combat.))
((Oh, hey, I didn't miss all that much!))
<Ike Wayne, you shall officially never be a pitcher. Then again, you are in Future Soviet Russia, I guess, so you're excused for now. For now!>
>Maybe don't pitch blocks of C4 and shoot people instead. Pick up that block, disarm it for now. Look for a significant-looking, objective-like area to bomb thoroughly. And only then engage in sabotage!
Your host is a bit angry at the moment. Everything seems to be stacked against him, even luck mocks him. Well, he won't stand for that. He picks up the block of C4 with one hand takes out one of his machine pistols with the other. He starts shooting at the blinded guards while slowly walking further towards the door everyone seems to be guarding. One of the rounds hits a guard right in the head with predictably deadly results, while the rest drop down for cover or fire their weapons blindly with little effect.
He then breaks into a sprint, moving towards the door. As he nears the corner of the room, he grabs the railing and tries to lift himself above it so that he can drop down. Unfortunately, he somehow manages to get his leg tangled on the railing and ends up falling and tumbling to the roof of the small room within this room below in a rather ungraceful manner. Surprisingly, the only thing that gets injured from the fall is his pride.
<Take a refund on those flying lessons.>Just a few more steps and he will have good cover.
You can hear more gunshots coming from somewhere behind those boxes. Where are they shooting at? Did any of the cops follow you inside?
((hey, looks like I'm back 
)
Bryan
Got to keep moving.Is there a box I can move to hit the guards on the left? If so use telekinesis to hit them with it.
Faron
If there isn't a box I can use have him dive out of cover to take out the guards on the left, then right. If there is a box take out the one on the right first. If the guards by the door are taken care of get through the door, otherwise get back in cover.
This box is a bit heavier than the things you're used to lifting, but with some effort, you manage to start dragging it against the floor, towards the left and backwards. Your host is a bit surprised by the sudden removal of his cover but he doesn't think much of it. He has more important things to worry about. Namely, the two guards near the door that are looking at him in surprise and that now have a clear shot to him.
He starts running towards them, lifting his pistol and taking aim. He pulls the trigger and the pistol discharges with a loud bang, the high calibre bullet striking one guard in the chest, causing it to explode into gore. The other guard manages to fire a couple of shots with his pistol, hitting your host in the shoulder of his burnt arm before he is struck in the leg, causing him to topple. Your host closes in and delivers a powerful kick to the guard's head, finishing the job.
Meanwhile, you have managed to drag the box close to the wall. If the guards behind it aren't crushed, they're at least temporarily cut off from you.
The way to the door looks clear now. Your host would run straight through it, both because he wants to get to his objective and because he needs some cover from the rest of the guards that will inevitably come, but doing so would be a bad idea. For you see, beyond the door there is only fire. Fire which does not look like normal fire. It does not move like normal fire should move.
OOCToo much speech shared between different groups of people, your Paris is having difficulty processing it all and making a decision on which things the NPCs should comment on. Please consider replacing your Paris with a newer model.
Your phone is phenomenal if you can write THAT WHOLE TURN like that ;_;
* Tiruin so envy
I wish we could do that same thing here, then I'd never have to beat m'self up over lacking updates EVER again [though with good reason, the internet quality here is x_x]
You're not missing anything. It's more trouble than it's worth when it comes to updating your games. My internet access is currently not so great either, the phone is old which means it can't hold hold more than one program in its memory at the same time and they take forever to load and I am generally very slow when I do things, so it takes forever to do anything.
Currently I just copy over all the quotes to a text file in drop-box and then slowly start writing in it whenever I have time when I can't do anything else (for example, as I'm writing these lines, I'm sitting outside, watching the full moon over the sea, waiting for sleepiness to come, because I have nothing more important I can do and everyone else is asleep).
But it's good for when you want to post in games, when you have ideas that you want to write down (like a notepad) or when you want to do the basics of a turn (copy the quotes and do some basic rolls and notes for actions) or when you're away from your PC for a long time. And it's better than nothing. If my brother hadn't gifted his old phone to me, I would had nothing to write this update with.
And no, bad Tiruin, no beating yourself up over anything, especially things you can't control.
Is it funny that I think of that 'deep male voice' along the lines of something akin to Morgan Freeman? XD
Yeah, but Morgan is not emotionless, he's like the perfect narrator. Not to mention his acting. Even in movies with not-so-great plot like Outbreak he still manages to give a great performance.
The timing! It's glorious!
Indeed. At least I didn't have to rewrite much of the turn.
@Coolrune: Your suggestions are good. I'll put some of those in the appropriate section later.
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