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I don't care.

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I don't care.

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Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: January 04, 2021, 02:28:47 am

[ZBridges]

"Hmm.  You're right.  By the way, what did you see when you tried the bug oil?  I had the most amazing experience..."

Describe the hallucinations caused by the oil.

[19_EgarAlnis]

"Nothing that interesting. A few stars shone brighter. I sobered up pretty quickly when you jumped off the roof and sprouted wings." Emma giggles. "It felt good though, so that's a plus."

She leans in and gives you a quick kiss, turning to her sketch. This one seems different, its of you, you think. However, it resembles a statue more than yourself. The texture of your armor stretches over your entire body and the androgynous mask that your armor produces is covering your face. Seven fixed wings of black metal sprout from your back, rising above the small hill you stand on. Flowers bloom between scraps of metal and destroyed rock. "I saw this though when I thought of  you."

[19_EgarAlnis]

[15 vs 9] Emma hesitates, glancing over at you with a strange expression. She takes the paper, and wads it up, throwing it to Mitch to chomp happily on. She rises, drifting over to the desk and taking off a small case. "It was wrong, actually...there was more..." She trails off, taking a seat at the desk and working on carving small pieces of colored, oily sticks into finer shapes.

When she finishes with her artistry this time -- Its the same picture as before, the details the exact same, except for one difference. The statue is gold set upon black, and the ground around it is the black of volcanic soil, with many flowers poking out, struggling in between rocks and rubble. Nine stars rise over the statue, a multitude of hues. Nine people, robed in white, stand over a pale young man missing a leg, blood coloring his clothes a dark red. Tears of blood drip from the mask, onto the man prone beneath the statue.

[ZBridges]

"That... that bothers me.  It seems like an ill omen.  The noble that SEED showed me was robed in white, but otherwise I don't know what it could mean..."

Examine the young man.  Does he look familiar?

[19_EgarAlnis]

Emma doesn't say anything, examining the sketch, the same as you.

[19] The young man is tan of skin, with a bright shock of blond hair. His features are similar to those of William's, but far more distant. They are contorted in pain, and his skin has an unhealthy pallor to it.

[17] Emma draws out another sketch while you wait, her expression falling once more as tears burn in her eyes. Its of the promontory that the statue stands on-- it's on a small island, with a beautiful cathedral of white -- but what surrounds it is disconcerting. A great lake washing against charred and cracked cliffs.

[5] The next sketch drawn by her increasingly frantic hand is a birds-eye view of the island and the cathedral -- it lays surrounded by a massive crater that splinters the land apart. Wreckage of a dark metal is strewn outward, and from that is a mountain of rubble. The land that surrounds it is painted a dark black.

The sketches grow increasingly frantic as Emma breaks down into a sobbing mess. The massive crater splinters apart the land in many directions-- and you finally the recognize where the island would be located.

[1] The crater is centered in what would be the Holy City of SEED, cracks in the earth stretching all the way to the River Noir.

[ZBridges]

"N-no..."

Hold Emma close. 

[Superdorf]

O_o

"N-no..."

Hold Emma close. 

+1

[19_EgarAlnis]

"I..it's just a dream. A nightmare. A bad trip. That was all." Emma stammers as you pull her sobbing form close to yours. Something tells you she's trying to comfort herself more than you.  Emma cries into your chest, letting you stroke her hair, while you stare at her sketches. "I didn't---I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to accept..." She gestures vaguely, wiping at her red face.

[ZBridges]

"It's better to know.  It's always better to know, no matter how much it hurts...  and maybe you're right.  Maybe it's nothing...  we can only hope."

[19_EgarAlnis]

[17] "There are others!" Emma firmly states, scrubbing at her face and pulling a pad from a stack of work papers. She cracks it open.

The one on top, ripped from its place, is you, leaning on a steel gantry, looking out a massive window towards a roiling star in the distance, smiling mid-laugh, looking back towards the viewer. Your red hair is in a loose top-knot-- another is the same image, except for William and Mitch standing by. William is staring at the sun with a happy smile, while Mitch is a massive beast, all muscle, and teeth.

"See!"

[11] You take the book -- and she almost pulls it back from you, but once again slumps down, defeated. All of them involve you, in form or another. Most are happy -- there's one with you standing triumphant over a crowd of onlookers, who's heads are bowed. You look like a god, standing above them all, wings flaring forth, a nimbus of fire over your head. Another is you in a dress, rings of flowers in your hair as you look out over the mountain-side, "...you were originally wearing a uniform." Emma sniffs, "But I thought you'd look better that way."

...but many more of them depict your deaths. One has you laying in a pile of rubble, las-gun holes peppering your frame through Lucille, blood streaming from your wounds as you hold a gun and a cutter loosely. One has you laying in a field and missing a leg. A young man, about your age, is standing over you, holding the hilt of a cutter that impales your chest. A frown curls his lips. You clutch at the cutter's burning hot blade with a smoking hand, staring him down in defiance. In the sky above and behind is a massive Void-ship, all gleaming gun turrets and killing intent.

[Superdorf]

"So we'll pick one we like." Smile, hugs. "But where are you in all these?"

[ZBridges]

"So we'll pick one we like." Smile, hugs. "But where are you in all these?"

+1

[19_EgarAlnis]

"I hope so..." Emma shrugs a shoulder, still defeated, fearful, gesturing towards the two happier ones she keeps on top. "In these, I think I was looking at you."

"If...if you think its possible...that these...might be something?"

[20] She reaches towards a balled, crumpled piece of paper on the desk, unfolding it, and extending it out with a shaking hand.

A dark figure flies high in the sky above the citadel of SEED. A Levithan of Infected tissue, bristling with turrets and rending tentacles the size of hovercrafts. It has many faces, all emitting a black squall of static light. Insectoid figures rain down on the city, as las fire pulses up towards them, and it. Infected hovercraft fly in formation, streaking towards their objectives. You fly, wings stretching out against the night sky, head turned away from the viewer as fire plays out in your hands. The city burns below you, smoke rising up to form heavy clouds. Snow sits on the bits of ground that you can see from the angle.

[ZBridges]

"That is our greatest weakness... lack of anti-air.  We'll have to ramp up production... and do something to ensure our vehicles will be immediately destroyed if they are captured by the enemy..."

[19_EgarAlnis]

"I guess, yeah." Emma murmurs, wiping at her face. She pulls away, drifting into the bathroom. You hear the sink run, and she returns, pulling you into a tight hug. The two of you collapse on the bed, cuddling close to one another. Emma still has the sniffles, but eventually stops.

"I love you." Emma murmurs, sleepily, after a time.

"I love you too." You respond, smiling, giving her a peck on her forehead as she drifts off to sleep.

You cannot help but feel a lingering fear after the last image. A dark worry growing into a deep pit in your stomach. Sleep doesn't come easily -- and you start when you hear the knock on the door. You rise, getting dressed in one of your many Crusader military uniforms. You open it a crack to peer through --

-- William stands on the other side, giving a wave of his hand. "Still good to spar?" He questions.