You took a deep breath, letting it out again slowly as you shook your head, as you told yourself that there was no way around this. William wanted you to provide a story, and there was no way that you were going to give him the full truth with a story, though that worked find, as a story typically provided half truths and exaggerations. If they wanted a story, you'd provide a story. If they didn't want to believe it, then so be it.
"There is a fair bit to tell, though, I need to put Joy here down before I start," you moved towards one of the benches that had been set out as you spoke, kneeling down as you slipped Joy from atop your shoulders and motioned for her to sit. While she did so, you could see awkwardness in the manner that she did, with her turning to look at the bench, placing one hand against it as she turned about again, and then finally settled atop it. You were not entirely sure why she would do that, though you suspected that it had something to do with her likely feeling unfamiliar with her own body and its dimensions right now.
You settled down yourself, watching as William dragged over one of the nearby benches to sit opposite you, while Anne settled down near the as of yet unlit fire. You knew that you were going to have to explain Anne and Joy to William before you even started on this story, so he would know to keep others away from them. Especially when it came to Anne. She had made it increasingly clear over time that there was something wrong with her, that you suspected was due to her nature, due to how she was more than just human.
"Before I start on this story, Anne there and Joy here," you paused, gesturing to them in turn as you did so. "It might be an idea if any interest from the others towards them is nipped in the bud, so to speak. Anne's a little unstable due to her experiences, and Joy seems to have become a shell of her foremer self. You'll understand why when I tell you the story though, as they've both got their places in it."
William nodded slightly as he glanced between the two women, before his attention came to rest fully upon you again. "Understood. I'll make sure that anybody who gets too friendly with them is warned off," came his words as he leaned forward, one foot resting on the bench, one arm resting atop that raised knee.
You took a deep breath, focusing on giving your words authority and presence, on bringing them to life in the minds of those who heard them.
The entire story started when I was on my way here one night, the moon high with clouds crawling across the midnight sky, fresh from working at Reds bar by the waterside. As we all know there is that what goes bump in the night, that what haunts the streets, yet this knowledge could never have prepared me for what I was to encounter that night. I walked the streets that night, the sound of the river my only companion aside from the pools of light that spilled from the lamps that lined the street. It was a lonely path that I walked, yet at night the streets typically felt safer to me than they did in the day, for in the day they are thick with pick pockets and muggers, while at night you get a handful of vultures.
It was not vultures that I encountered that night, no, had it been vultures I would have had no issue arriving here that night. Instead of vultures, I ran into a woman who was fleeing from the Enlightened, a woman who was wanted for the secrets that she had unearthed about them. A woman, who was none other than Anne. Chased by cultists in tattered red robes she seemed to swim towards me through the pools of light that covered the streets, looking over her shoulder as they grew ever closer.
I knew that I had to act, that I had to save her from the Enlightened as if they were to capture her, then she would be put through the most horrible of torture. Armed with little more than my trusty revolver I stepped into the light, weapon raised as I fired two shots off, as two of those cultists fell and the remaining ones faltered. I had encountered the Enlightened before when one had arrived at Reds bar you see, and that day I had discovered that while they were immortal, that no damage you did to them lasted...
I discovered that they feared pain.
Two shots!
Two shots and two of them fell clutching their heads as they writhed in agony, their screams unsettling their companions. The looks on their faces as they stood illuminated by the gas light betrayed that they were afraid, that they knew that even at this distance that they had no chance of closing the gap before I dropped every last one of them. I stood there for what seemed like an eternity, my weapon trained on them as Anne ran to me, as she ducked behind me and peered out at those who had been pursing her.
Naturally, the person that had discovered their secrets was one that they were unwilling to let go. They couldn't approach as I would gun them down, they couldn't retreat as that would mean failure. It seemed to be a stalemate, in what the only move they could make was to lose. This assumption however, proved to be horribly wrong. While I believed that I held the upper hand here, they had something up their sleeve.
They called out for something, something that emerged from the river with glowing eyes, with tentacles that sought to snatch me up from the spot that I stood in. I had four shots loaded and I knew that I had to act fast.
Bang!
One eye went out as the thing roared in pain, tentacles retracting.
Bang!
A second eye went out as the thing thrashed in the water.
Bang!
A third eye went out, while howls of agony filled the air.
Bang!
With the fourth eye being put out I grabbed Anne by the hand, running into the nearest gap between the houses as thrashing tentacles impacted with the walls behind us. Rubble showered down behind us as that monstrosity they had called thrashed about behind us, yet we weren't free yet. In this alley way stood one of the Enlightened, blade ready as they sized me up, nothing more than the moonlight to illuminate them as I holstered my pistol...
You leaned back, breathing in deeply as you took note of how several others had arrived, how you had people crowded around you now listening intently to your story. One of the people before you passed you a bottle of beer, figuring that was why you had paused. William was the first to speak as you opened the beer, betraying how he was clearly very interested in this story. "And then what?" came his words, while you merely smiled.
That's when I got mad.
The man, a member of the Enlightened charged at me with a blood curdling scream as he decided that it was time to get me out the way so he could deal with Anne, yet he failed to account for the fact that he was taking on a fighter more skilled than he. His blade met with air, with the walls as he swung for me, every attack that failed to connect rewarding him with a heavy blow to the body, or face as he was left open.
It was with desperation that he lunged at me when he realised that he was outmatched, attempting to run me through as he thrust his blade for my chest. I stepped aside as he attempted this, smashing his head against the wall as I grabbed his hands, before slowly pushing his blade back towards his chest. He struggled in vain as he did little more than slow me, as I ran him through with his own blade.
I was fast to grab Anne's hand again as we ran through the city, the distant cries of the cultists fading into the night as we ran until we could run no more, until our legs gave way beneath us. We found ourselves in an abandoned part of the city, run down houses providing us with shelter for the night.
I learned from Anne why they were after her, that they wanted her dead for the secrets she had learned about them. I knew that alone in the city we couldn't survive alone with an entire cult after us, that was when we turned to the Technomancers, trading what we knew for safety. Of course, waiting for weeks in hiding wasn't something that sat well with me, I knew that I needed to make them either fear us and leave us be, or to use diplomacy to make it clear that we were not enemies of theirs, so they'd leave us be.
Naturally, I decided a little of both was the right way to do things, so I armed myself, shotguns and pistols strapped to my body as I made my way under cover of darkness to the place that I had been informed was their hideout, gunning down the guards with a shotgun as I dropped in through the manhole that lead into their hole.
I blasted a path through them, gunning down cultist after cultist as I stormed through what turned out to be an abandoned prison complex, leaving bodies in my wake, red robes and ichor pooled on the floor marking my passing. The door to the inner sanctum in what their leader resided was guarded by one man, a hulking frame of a man who stood there with his arms across his chest.
"You shall not pass!" bellowed the man.
"Who are you?" I challenged in response.
"I am Brother Ego, prepare to die!" snarled that man as he stepped forward.
It was anti-climatic, the big minion guarding the boss, and he went down to a single headshot, his body twitching as it hit the ground. While I was distracted by him though, one of my prior victims I assume, must've recovered as I was hit from behind and when I awoke, I was in the cells. My escape is another story, one that Anne herself would have to tell as after three days of being tortured by the Enlightened, three days in what I mocked them and laughed at their limp wristed attempts to whip me, Anne arrived with a number of mechanical men.
I was able to spring Joy from captivity with me, taking advantage of the distraction that was provided as I grabbed one of my shotguns that had been placed in a box near the cell doors, only to find Anne had come to rescue me herself, that the mechanical men had flooded the tunnels and taken down everything that moved.
You leaned back, taking a mouthful of your beer as you did so, relaxing as you watched the assembled crowd murmering to each other. "Naturally," you started, holding the bottle by the neck as you did so. "I figured it was better to be honest about the ending, as while I'd have liked to gun down more of those bastards for providing me with the worst bed and breakfast i've had in a long time, they were all down by the time I escaped in the chaos of the Clockworkers assault on their hideout."
"That's quite the story," William started, rubbing at his chin as he did so. "We're here to fight though, not listen to stories all night, as much as we may wish to, so, does anybody here wish to try their luck against our story teller here because they do not believe he's capable of the feats he described?"
There was a long moments silence, awkward and filled with shuffling, silence broken by both you and William laughing, followed by nervous laughter from the assembled people. It wasn't what you'd said, it was how you'd said it.
Beyond challenging William tonight for Oak's benefit when he arrived, was there anything else you had planned?
Author
Topic: They told me I could be anything... (Read 79010 times)