TURN FORTY-TWO: TO SEE AND BELIEVE
So the internet connection situation and my workload both have not been improving very well, but I am working on it. I hope that this update will be more than satisfactory for what it is, and that you all have a great week.
Wait, this was supposed to go in the author's note, wasn't it? Ah well. Works for me, I guess.
Eh Ah
Walk around the volcano. Take in the sights of Atis, survey the land. Anything abnormal that I can see?
Eh AhThe island of Atis has changed considerably in the past week or so. What was a mundane lifestyle that left you yearning for something bigger to explore has collapsed into a river rapid that sweeps you off of your feet and takes you for a ride with new people, a new environment, and many questions that have yet to be answered. You went from working at the local fish market to being interviewed by the Empress of the Theyin Empire herself, who seems to have more than a few problems on her own plate, too.
Maybe this is your opportunity to become a part of a greater change - if that is what you desire.
You begin to walk around the perimeter of the volcano, taking in the sifting sound of the ashes beneath your feet, as well as observing the burn tree stumps and the smoke billowing from the mouth of the volcano. Apart from what you've noticed before, there's not much that stands out to you as odd or peculiar. If you look hard, you can see some of the craters or burned areas that are left over from the landing of artillery on the island, the results of the display of power that Seira Theyin executed upon the island. You're still not sure if you can trust her and her words, but for now, you will give her the benefit of the doubt that the shelling of the island was not her idea.
You turn your view to the recovering city that stands before you - Aecrocia, one of the centers of commerce and communication for this polarized world. For what it's worth, the city seems to be recovering at a decent rate. Already, you can see that some of the damaged buildings are already in the process of being repaired, along with some of the roads which have been cratered or dirtied with debris of all kinds. Recalling what you've seen over the past few days, you are curious about the state of the relationships between the Theyin soldiers and the Aecrocians.
There's still much to find about the state of the island at this time. You have most of the day left to go around and investigate, as it doesn't seem that the Empress has placed some sort of curfew or watch over you. Might as well make what you can of the day and ask around.
((There's still a couple of events that need to be synced up, which is why you're in a sort of free roam at this point.))
Keep moving, but stay alert and try to minimize the noise I make.
Jonathan EridisYou've spent so much time in these woods, that to ignore something like this would be a grave mistake. However, you are also pursuing a goal right now. To be detracted would be to lose out on precious time for sleeping, foraging, or exploring new places. The daylight only slips away, to be shorter and shorter as you look behind you. With this in mind, you quietly pick your bag and yourself up, moving with light feet and open ears away from the riverbank.
It doesn't take long for you to settle into a smooth motion that you use to move along. Put one foot in front, shallowly plant it and move forward, doing the same with the other foot. Making use of the soft grass and the muddy terrain, you are able to keep yourself surprisingly quiet. You find yourself even straining to hear your own footsteps as you plod along in the wet terrain. Looking around constantly and using your ears to keep yourself alert, you can't seem to find whatever rustled the bushes behind you earlier. Perhaps it was a timid creature that scurried away at your presence. At the very least, you are thankful that the trip so far has gone smoothly. You don't think that you could ask for anything better yet - though, maybe the ability to move faster might serve you well. Due to the muddy terrain that both aides you and hinders you at the same time, you are only able to move so fast without making a commotion.
You feel like an hour or two has gone by before you finally clear the muddy terrain. The rain, likewise, seems to have let up now, with only a few sprinkles of water here and there to remind you that the rain was brushing the dry landscape of this forest not too long ago. Continuing your trek, you begin to hear a soft, rolling sound being introduced to your ears. As you continue along your path, the rolling sound begins to become louder and louder. Soon, you realize that it must be the river going down some sort of rapid or drop. There doesn't seem to be anything else in the forest that would be able to cause such a tone. You're not exactly sure what this means for you yet, but perhaps you will be able to gain some sort of vantage point over the horizon if there is a cliff or downward slope of sorts. With this, you might be able to find more tracks toward civilization. It would certainly be a great leap forward from the risk that you've taken in leaving your familiar environment for something that might possibly work out in the end, or might not.
It is up to you and the things that you've learned about the environment to determine the future that you will live out very soon.
Alex would smile. With a silent prayer to the gods, he would attempt to send shards of ice at the doctor.
Alex RamanThere's not much chance of you getting out of here now. The doctor is nearly finished with his business, and the guards will send you back on your way, perhaps to an emptier and drier cell than before. If you don't act quickly and cause a commotion, this may get much uglier than it needs to be.
Well, that's assuming that you
don't want it to turn ugly. Hey, I guess different people like different things, right? I'm not judging, for one.
The doctor, diligent as he is in his work, moves over to wash his hands and make sure that his equipment is clean before sending you out of here. You watch eagerly, waiting for the moment where the faucet will be turned and the water will begin falling out of the mouth of the faucet, all of the little water molecules potentially forming into solid figures for you. Figures that could potentially be used for cooling items down, or maybe as a side effect of the cold winter days down in the south. Not this time, however; now, you are going to use them to propagate death and preserve yourself for the time being. What more is there to life than chaos? Why not take out your anger on the ones who facilitated the destruction of your island?
No, there's no stopping you now. The water begins to pour out of the faucet - first one drop, then two, and then a steady flow of the water arrives. This is your moment. You take a quick breath and extend your arm, willing the water to solidify into cold shards. You hear the crackling of the ice as it solidifies on the faucet and around the hands of the doctor, freezing him in place. He gasps audibly, not believing what his eyes are seeing. To finish the deal, you gesture outwards with your hand and watch as the ball of ice around his hands breaks into several shards. Finally, you pull your hand back to your body and will the shards to come flying back to the doctor. The doctor, with his sudden reflexes, moves out of the way of most of the ice shards as they whiz past him, shattering on the wall behind him and cracking the paint. As he turns his shoulder, you can see that a couple of shards caught in his arm and are drawing blood from him. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can use the faucet at this moment, considering that you've seem to have frozen the entrance of the faucet over.
"What the hell?!"" You spin around, noticing that there was one guy that you missed: the guard. He aims his rifle at you and shouts,
"Get down on the ground now! Don't you dare move an inch, or I will shoot!"
"You don't even..."
I sigh, then draw one of my throwing knives and hand it to him, hilt first.
"Here, now come on."
I walk out to a clear, mostly level area with few rocks and turn around.
"Now, you ready?"
((Since Lenglon seems to be making actions based on my response, I'm going to stop reading it, and post mine.))
Cromwell took the knife, thankful that the hilt was offered first, since it bugged him when people didn't know to do that.
"Yeah, of course I'm ready. Should you start, or should I?"
Lirian & Cromwell JacksonAs Lirian has already experienced, the Shadows are not particularly domesticated creatures that will be kindly to humans. If Cromwell wishes to venture with Lirian on these investigations into the unknown, they both must be prepared to fight in case it comes down to that. You don't expect that you will be perfect at fighting, but at least you would be able to hold your own and not be completely obliterated in a matter of seconds. That is the goal and the hope of this training, at least. With this in mind, the two of you thank Erin for her hospitality and excuse yourselves outside.
"Um.. I don't really know what's going on. Just.. please do let me know when you are ready for breakfast. Again, my father should be here soon if you need him." With that, Erin Kito waves the two of you goodbye and leaves the two of you to practice outside.
After exchanging a few short words, you take out one of your throwing knives and hand it to Cromwell. He takes the knife and examines it uncertainly, attempting to get a feel for how it moves and functions. It seems so strange to him that he was working a relatively low-level job in Aecrocia just a few days before this, and now he was in an unfamiliar place, learning how to use knives and beginning to investigate strange incidences in a strange place with strange people. Without much hesitance, Cromwell agrees that he is ready, saying,
"Yeah, of course I'm ready. Should you start, or should I?" Lirian regards him carefully, observing how he stands, how his eyes move about, and how he is carrying the knife. Showing no emotion, she circles around Cromwell for several seconds before approaching him and moving his body, straightening his back, putting his legs into a stable stance, and showing him how to use the knife while not compromising his own defense or reactive abilities. After making sure that he is in a considerable defensive stance, Lirian pretends to make a quick strike to Cromwell's left upper body. Cromwell responds by giving up his stance and falling back into an unstable position once again, putting his unoccupied arm up to deflect her attack. Lirian takes this opening and kicks him back lightly, making him lose his balance and fall completely. She stands over him and offers her hand, pulling him back up.
"Try not to flinch backward. Think about your stance. Don't give it up, but use what you have and adjust around your opponent. Here, try to hit me." Lirian falls back into her own defensive stance, waiting for Cromwell to make a move. He analyses her stance for several seconds before attempting to move around her left side and swipe at her. She deftly dodges the attack and readjusts to get under Cromwell's swing, using the opportunity to move in and stab at him. She lightly pokes his torso with the point of her blade and stands up, explaining how he did.
"You opened yourself up to a counterattack by making a swipe like that. You lose your advantage in stance by doing that and not being prepared. Try being a bit more cautious. And remember to keep your footing stable."This exchange continues for the better of about half an hour, with Lirian correcting Cromwell's mistakes and showing him some basic attacks and counterattacks that would work well against an untrained opponent. Occasionally, Cromwell falters and lacks proper stance or forgets about how far he makes his attacks, but eventually he catches onto the basic concepts. Of course, watching martial arts movies back home like
Long Road Home and
Nineteen and Two helped with the basics of fighting, but nothing could compare to actually learning with someone who knew what they were doing. Cromwell is nowhere near close to being proficient at knife fighting - or at fighting in general - but he is showing aptitude and is understanding how to hold his own and to not fall flat when the enemy has the opportunity to do so.
Looks like you still have some time before Dr. Kito arrives home. You could train some more, go around the accessible areas of the Complex, look around the town quickly, or talk to Erin and Tileno. Or, maybe you could just relax. That's an option too.
"Will do, and thanks."
Get snacks and a drink, then move on to the village to the west. Be appropriately grateful.
Warren DrakeBeing mannerly and thankful towards your unlikely hosts, you proceed to head to the designated tent, where an older gentleman with a rough beard is relaxing and drinking from a clear bottle. As soon as you enter his peripheral vision, he sets the bottle down on the ground near him and stands up, taking a good look at you. Although he seems to be confused by your appearance, he welcomes you anyway.
"Hello there, what's a lad like you doin' all the way out here?" You explain to him that it is by mere chance that you happened to come across this camp, and that you've been whisked away from your home through strange circumstances. Not wishing to explain further on the subject, you ask him if he could spare some food and water for your trip to the village nearby.
"Oh, sure. Go ahead, there's plenty to go around. Wish ya safe travels, and hope you find a shower soon." He laughs heartily and, picking up his glass bottle, strolls along to a nearby shady area to your right, complete with a tarp. You look below one of the tables and find a container full of dry food, mostly containing a mixture of nuts, some crackers, raisins, and other dried fruit. Not wanting to just stuff food in your pants, you eventually find a small brown bag no bigger than your head that you should be able to use to carry a small amount of food. It's not like you'll need much to get to the town, anyways. You also manage to acquire a waterskin from one of the nearby tents and fill it with water from one of the barrels located near the food containers. Fully stocked and ready to go, you set off in the direction of the town that the young man indicated, hoping to find some sort of pointer for your current location.
You follow a lonely dirt path until you can no longer see the smoke of the logging camp behind you. The road that you take exits the forest and enters into a valley between two hills, which both extend in out to the distance with rising highs and lows throughout. Although the weather right now seems to be a bit brisk, there doesn't seem to be any snow or ice that you notice. This seems to match up with the change of temperature that occurred when you trekked down the slope of the marshes and the forests, where you would eventually find the girl and the logging camp.
Eventually, the hills on both sides seem to slope downward, giving way to a relatively flat area where the dirt road splits in two. To the right, you can see some structures in the distance, possibly made of wood and concealed in the trees. To the left, the path continues on in the wilderness, presumably off to another sort of camp or town. You suppose that the structures on your right correspond with the village that you were told of. Hopefully, these people will be able to tell you where you are and how you can get back to your previous home.
"I COULD tell you, but I don't need too! Just go on the Grid, that'll show you. You see, the less one is taught, the more one has learned! You see, the beauty?! I'll get ya set up!"
Get the laptop set up and look up "Anders II"
Cat Schrodinger"Professor, that's not fair!" Reyna complains.
"I don't even get to have access to a computer, let alone the Grid! I would if I could.." she folds her arms across her chest, looking at you for your response. She reminds you also that you don't actually have your computer with you right now. You could go ahead and bring it here, but you're not sure if that would be the smartest of ideas, considering that you have no access to the Grid past five meters outside of the University.
The technology involved with the Grid is still in development, unfortunately, along with the computing technology that has only recently been introduced in the consumer market sector. Advancements are being made every day, but that still does not change the fact that you are limited in what you can do with the technology right now.
Luckily, you don't believe that you will need the computer for this bit of information. Sir Leo Anders II was a Professor at the University of Kiritos Loya, of the Renova territory, who moved a while ago to the University that you currently work at. He was widely known for being one of the proponents of simultaneous existence theory - a theory that proposed that every event that has happened, is happening, and will happen are all, in fact, occurring at the same time; it is just our perceptions of the events that define time. He has also suggested that the human concepts of the mental and physical worlds are not as separate as we may think. Among other things, he also oversaw several experimental innovations engineering that helped to improve the functions of vehicles, boats, electronic equipment, and even helped to improve the efficiency of factories. He died a few days to a week ago due to an incident that you can't exactly remember at the moment, but you think that this information should suffice for the moment.
Nevertheless, you could choose to bring Reyna along with you to the University to research topics on your computer, or you could stay at the library for now and attempt to help her with her reading here.
Oh! Turn! Yes.
Let's go talk to the help desk.
"Yes, hello (sir|madame)? I happen to be new to the area, could you tell me about some neat places to sightsee here, and the cities or towns nearby?"
Cecil G. PalmerIt would be wise for you to seek out some information, seeing as you are in a place that would be expected to provide such information about the town and some of things that happen within the town. At the very least, you would be able to gain your bearings and find out where you are in physical terms. The mental side of things can wait until later.
You climb down the circular stairs uneasily, still unsure about where you feet are. The experience from the last night was both intriguing and disturbing. You can't really tell what's real or what's a hallucination at this point. The only thing that you can trust in is that your body is sound, and even then, you might not be able to trust that.
So down you go, finally arriving at the first floor and striding nervously to the front desk. You regain your composure and tell yourself that you will be fine, that you just need to take control of your own thoughts. Putting that familiar smile back on your face, you begin to talk to the woman at the front desk.
"Oh, hello there! How may I help you today?" the woman at the desk says, smiling warmly.
"Yes, hello madame? I happen to be new to the area, could you tell me about some neat places to sightsee here, and the cities or towns nearby?" you ask in your politest voice.
The woman looks up cheerfully and claps her hands together.
"Oh, certainly! I would recommend first that you go ahead and check out Mirepoint Lighthouse. It's a quaint little place on the bay to the north that overlooks ocean that comes into the city. You can see the ocean and ships that come in for miles around! Oh, and I do recommend that you go ahead and take a look at Skybreak Tower. It's the tallest skyscraper this side of the Coalition, found right in the center of the city. You could also visit the imme [rice] fields over to the west. As for towns, we have one sister town to the south called Perith, though it's a pretty small and boring place, in my opinion. I'd recommend that you visit Ulies, over to the west. It's a nice village that sprawls across a mountainside. Other than that, we don't have many towns that close. You'll have to take some sort of transportation to get that far out of here."She leans on the desk and puts her head on her hands.
"Is there anything else that you would like to know, sir?"((I will probably make a map for you soon enough, but I'm not promising anything because I know I'm terrible at promises.))
Edit: @DAF: I 'did' say 'PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS' in all caps in my action above. You could cull out the other text and leave only the bolded part. XD
Eleri added the name of the village into her mental list of 'places to remember', that being quite a small list given her recent memory block from {bad past experiences}. Musing over his words, she thought about anything pertinent to the situation.
Now was it Telenos Aria or something else, she wondered on. He must know this place better than me. Though it is very strange to see a blind man all the way in the wilderness from the village...Given him being not a hiker. May just be reluctant to give information, but that is quite a lot of information there.
...Can sense colors and light? The words perked up her ears. I wonder how I look as a silhouette? Maybe I have triangles on the sides of my head. Big, isosceles ears. That makes sense.
At the issuance of his laugh, Eleri leaned over him on reflex with her arm outstretched, presumably to calm him. Seeing her position, she froze and instead turned her hand to check on the perimeter of his wounds.
"Hah-well, you're pretty much alright for a person having been attacked by...something near the spring. Do you have any recollection of what you were doing up there? When I rescued you, you had some kind of brackish tar on your body, which I scooped away" ...what's the term. "-though currently I can't find where it went.
"And before I continue. Why I don't want you to-well, didn't want you to see me, as I guessed-um, wondered you could see, was because of...this."
Lift tail with other hand and let it brush on his (unwounded) forearm. Also converse as a general action--if needed a full action: Check outside and note the weather, time of presumed day, and supplies at hand.
"That's me, by the way. I mean, part of me. That...thing that brushed your arm."
((Mrrrh, I didn't notice that part. I've been pretty busy the past week and have only been able to hammer away at the keyboard for minuscule amounts of time. ))
EleriWhile examining him and conversing with him, you take note of the environment outside. Currently, the weather seems to be pretty mild, with an occasional ocean breeze here or there to cool down the warm, bright day. The clouds in the sky seem to be wispy and thin, not having much chance of bringing rain for you. Your supplies are just about the same as you left them: some silky web, a few branches and a some leaves, an arrangement of rocks for a fireplace, the charred wood remnants from the fire, the rusted knife, and the dried food that you've collected, along with the bucket. Other than that, your gatherings are relatively simple, as you have spent the majority of your time here familiarizing yourself with the environment and scouting out the area for food and water.
He frowns at your question of what he was doing up at the spring.
"I... I was.. I was running. Running from them - the creatures, I mean. And before that.. well.. I can't really remember. I just.. remember that the creatures were trying to kill me, and that I had to run. I know it.. probably sounds s-stupid, but.. I followed the light. Not like.. death or anything. But I could tell.. where the creatures were. They were dark, but not like the night. They were different. I just ran where I didn't see that darkness.. I ran."He frowns yet again, this time from dissatisfaction at his own words.
"Yeah.. t-that sounds stupid, doesn't it. Heh- ow." He adjusts himself to avoid putting pressure on his injured arm. At your mentioning of your appearance, he manages to smile slightly and comments,
"I don't th- think that you could look.. half as bad as I do r-right no-" Before he can fully respond, you allow him to feel your tail. He seems puzzled at first, but then slowly begins to understand.
"W-wait.. is this your hair? It feels.. wait. No.. this is fur.""That's me, by the way. I mean, part of me. That...thing that brushed your arm." You let the words fall out softly, allowing him to realize this slowly. You hope to everything that is good in this world that he will not panic or be disgusted by you - just like so many people before him. By the looks of his expression right now, you don't have very high hopes.
"No.. please don't.. don't tell me that you're one of those monsters. But.. you haven't k-killed me yet. W..why? I.. I don't want to die. Not yet. Not so close.." He draws back a bit, suddenly very afraid. You can't tell what he's thinking right now, but he doesn't seem to be reacting very well to you. You start to second-guess what you did. Maybe you've just lost him, even though he was beginning to open up. You can't even think of what he might say about you right now.
He already called you a "monster." There's not much else he could say that hasn't already been said.
Author's note: Yes, I'm super late with this one.
I have been dealing with mental issues for a long time. It's always been something that chases me around. Unfortunately, these past few weeks have been particularly rough on me, what with a few specific problems in my life that keep recurring and getting in the way of my productivity. Top that off with insomnia and a sizable workload and, voila, you have a dysfunctional person sundae!
No, I'm not meaning to throw the blame off of me. I keep making promises about the updates and, 50% of the time, I fail to meet those promises at all. It's totally my fault for not keeping up on that. But I also feel that I have dedicated myself to writing this, and by doing that, I should be able to keep this up in a timely manner, so as not to disinterest any of you. May my personal issues be getting in the way of my ability to write? Yes, but I also feel like I'm doing a disservice by also promising things that I cannot deliver on.
Needless to say, I will continue to strive to deliver these updates as soon as possible, while also allowing for people to catch up on posts if need be.
Thanks for reading this, and I hope you all have a fantastic week,
Artemis.
Author
Topic: Roll To Medium: Awakening [Chapter VI] (Read 145429 times)