Re: The Glorious Championship! [S3G5] [Round Two: The Kestalvian Rainforest]
10-14-2011, 07:48 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Adenreagen.
Ever since she had stumbled into the grove ten minutes and five months ago, she had had to protect herself by teaching the primitive apes everything she knew about music. At first it was easy, they only had the basics of rhythm down and she had been able to teach them the varying percussion instruments she knew, but they learned faster than she had hoped thanks to Convie. Within several weeks of her arrival they had fashioned instruments of their own and had – quite clearly – threatened to kill her if she didn’t teach them how to play. In order to keep them occupied, she had begun teaching them different music styles once they mastered scales and moved on to marching once they had mastered those. She was safe in teaching them how to march since she could always come up with different formations but they always wanted more from her, keeping her up for days at a time until they started blending together. When they did let her sleep, she was kept awake by her hair trying to strangle her every time she dozed off for more than five minutes. If she thought she was tired by the beginning of the battle, the Kestalvian had changed that to exhaustion.
*******
In the last hour, things had gone from hopeless to strange. As Elli had rounded a bend in their path, she had managed to run into a man leading his own band of primates. She never got his name, but knew that they were almost completely identical, except for a few minor differences like hair length and that he was a he. He also played a saxophone instead of a trombone like she did, but from the moment they ran into each other she knew him as much as if he were an extension of herself. As he offered her a hand up, and she turned it down while dusting herself off, their eyes met. She saw that he looked tired, probably as tired as she felt, but that the apes around them had probably kept him awake as well. She also saw the darkness gathered there, a sure sign that he had been to realms other than this one. Their captors gathered around them, growing angrier by the minute at being interrupted from their wondrous displays of marching prowess.
“I can’t do this anymore” They said at the same time “I just want to rest without being killed, or threatened or choked. I want things the way they were. Just me and leader,” Elli went on. Her counterpart eyed her quizzically, “I was just about to say the same thing, but I’m the leader in my case.” They both looked around at the now furious apes headed towards them.
“There’s only one thing Convie likes more than radical ideas and violence,” Her counterpart said. “If we want to make it out of this we’ll have to- mmph!”
Elli had grabbed him by the neck and dragged his mouth down to hers, giving him the most passionate kiss she could; the sort of kiss she had wanted to share with Leader but doubted she ever would. The sort of kiss that the Convolution would want to watch and stop the apes from killing them in order to see. From his response he probably had the same unrequited-love angst with his sidekick and figured, much as she had: hey, leader and sidekick. Who cares that it’s not mine when I’m about to be killed.
As they stood there with their arms wrapped around each other, the shadow strand in Elli’s hair tried to use the distraction to wrap itself around her neck, but was stopped and tangled with an identical strand. The convolution rubbed its metaphorical hands together at managing to get yet another parallel universe hookup started. What it didn’t know was that it was not the doing of his influence, but more an act of two desperate people who wanted to take a short break from the tiring hell that had become the reality of their recent life. As the apes hooted and communicated with numerous waves to those behind who couldn’t see, Elli started undressing while her counterpart did the same.
Zippers. It’s always zippers with this guy. It’s like he wants… hell, he DOES want us to be able to get out of our clothes as fast as possible. She looked at the man who’s shirt she was pulling off. If he is who I think he is, he wants this as much as I do, but he’ll think it’s just as wrong. If Convie knew we weren’t doing this for his benefit, but for ours, he’d probably step in and just twist everything. “Please,” she said when he turned back to her and they had lain on the ground, “take this very, very slowly, it’ll probably be the only chance we have to rest from what they’ve been putting us through.”
“I know, I don’t want us to go through with this if we can help it,” he muttered in her ear under the pretext of saying “sweet nothings”, “but if it comes to it, you and I both know that we’re going to have to.” He started kissing her neck and caressing her, doing what he could to put off the inevitable.
This was by far the most interesting couple he had arranged so far. Not interesting like “oh, how interesting” like the miniature orgy that was Cailean, Caiolinn, Gaurinn and Gaurinne, which was an interesting combination of pain and pleasure. Watching the centipedes shock each other, while the humans knew not only what the other wanted, but intimately knew what each other felt (Who knew that the four of them were all into S&M).Or “how the hell are they even doing that” like Etiyr and Etiyra were, something involving a lot of dirty talk and ink ribbons being exchanged. No, the musical couple was more of a “they’re different from the others” interesting. All the couples had thrown themselves at each other in a frenzy of passion and fucking with only the slightest push, while the same influence with this couple had a reaction that was more one of timidity and romance.
It was a remarkable show of self restraint that was for sure. The amount of foreplay they were putting in was almost more obscene than outright DOING IT. From what he had gleaned from Elli’s thoughts during the stint with Old Greg, and from both of them currently, they both had their own original love interests from before the battle, and were treating each other how they had wanted to act with whoever “Leader” and “Sidekick” were. He watched from hundreds of eyes at the pair on the ground, knowing that the time was soon coming from how hard each of them were breathing.
“I’m sorry” he began. Wait, “sorry”? There was nothing for him to be sorry about. From what he could see, he was definitely up to standards and able to perform. And he didn’t mean on stage. He sat up straighter in the minds of the apes, wondering what there was to be sorry for.
“I don’t see how we can put this off any longer, they’re starting to look impatient.” Put it off? Put it off! He felt around their heads and realized he hadn’t put as much effort into this pairing as he thought. They had been playing him! Him! They had tried to play a player, and now they were going to suffer for it.
“I know, but I don’t care anymore. You’ve given me everything I thought I wanted from him. Everything I wanted from my first, you’ve done. I’m feeling much better now thanks to this. You’re perfect, just go for it, it’s what we both want.”
Hold on now, what this? The charade is over, they’ve been found out and they’re going ahead anyway? Well then, as long as they get on with it, he’ll get his show from the apes and all will be peaches-and-sex with him. Something she said caught on his ears though: “…from my first.” She’s a VIRGIN! Which means he is too! Oh, Elli. Elli, Elli, Elli. If only he had known, he could have done so much for her many times over by now. It probably wouldn’t have taken much too. A few more advances, a nudge in the right direction… Another opportunity lost for control.
Just as the deed was about to be done, the scream of the Time Lemur cut through the Kestalvian.
******
Elli was at the head of the marching band, leading them around a bend in the jungle and shut her eyes as she braced herself for impact. Opening them to reveal an empty path, she wondered at what she did, and why she was breathing so hard a felt so...different. She also felt a little less exhausted than she did a moment ago, now hovering closer to “in danger of collapsing,” but figured her condition was due to something that had happened in the forest. As she thought this, a scream split the air and was abruptly cut off, followed by a low rumble in the distance.
Speaking of things happening in the forest.
At the tremor some of the apes around her began to look nervous, breaking formation and missing notes that they should easily have gotten. As it intensified to the point where they could feel it instead of just hear it, the apes in the band panicked, dropping everything and getting the hell out of Dodge. Looking around and seeing that all the apes had apparently abandoned their dreams of championship in the jungle-wide marching competition, Elimine collapsed to the ground, sobbing. She ripped the purple and yellow drum major helmet off her head, removing the direct link the Convolution had set up with her and reclaiming her own thoughts. She wasn’t sobbing in anguish at the loss of the band, no, that wasn’t it. They were tears of joy at finally being free.
It had seemed like ages since she had had a chance to rest, and even longer since she hadn’t been surrounded by the Convolution and his lackeys. She just wanted a chance at getting out of this fucked up time-forest, to fight someone she knew she had a definite chance of winning against, someone that she knew was evil and knew how to kill them. How could she fight an idea when she didn’t fully understand how it worked, but figured worrying and thinking about him wasn’t the way to kill him, but how would she fight him if he was able to get so many followers was she supposed to kill them all or join them to fight form the inside or what. Christ I’m so tired, I’ll just cry for another minute. Just one more and I’ll be done. And one more…
She might have gone on crying if a giant purple and yellow tree hadn’t collapsed in front of her, drawing attention to the whole idea of being in a deadly time-jungle surrounded by convoluted apes with an earthquake happening in the background.
“Ugh.” Elli wiped at her eyes. “I really need to get out of here before Convie sends them back or something else happens.” Throwing down the stick-melon conductor baton that Bethany had given her months ago that was apparently called an “Asante Sana” – apparently given as a thank you gift between primates, even prisoners – and un-strapping her trombone from her back, she called out. “Cat!" *sniff* God Dammit stop crying, eyes. "I know you’re close! Get out here right now!” Silence. “I’m not joking mister! NOW!” A rustle and a frightened squawk from a nest of prism toucans later Elli’s cat came out from the bushes next to the marching path. “Well it’s about time. Where were you the last five months? I know they threatened me, and by extension you, but you didn’t have to hide away. You could have gone around killing them when they slept! Or ate their food, or…or… something!” The cat only tilted its head quizzically at her.
“Fine. You know what, just, fine. I can’t stay mad at you. Let’s get out of here.”
The cat draped itself over her shoulders as Elli tried to figure out where she should go.
I don’t really know my way around anywhere besides the village, and there’s no way in hell I’m going back there. Whatever that earthquake was it probably wasn’t good, either. Should I head towards it and find out, or run away and live? Hmmm… Eh, I haven’t gone this far in my career by running away from things. She vaulted over the dead convolutree and started heading towards where she thought it came from. What could’ve caused that, anyway? Plate tectonics? In this place I hardly think that’s the case. Maybe some sort of massive time-shift or some other time animal having a fit or… Etiyr?
She hadn’t gone far from the tree before she heard the familiar sound of the typewriter’s clacking and spotted him on the ground. There were several discarded pages around him, so he was obviously angry at something.
She picked him up and was about to say something when she realized that he was still yelling about whatever and hadn’t even noticed her.
“Yea you better run, mind whore. When I find someone and they get their hands on you, ohhh you’ll be sorry then. In fact, whatever it is that’s coming is probably here just for you, so I probably can just sit back and watch the show while it erases you from existence. Know what I’ll do then? I’ll just laugh at you. LAUGH. A nice laugh the likes of which this rainforest has never heard. That’ll show you. .. Damn where is everyone? I’m sick of this shit people! SICK OF IT! I just want someone competent to pick me up…”
“Etiyr.”
“…drop me, or lose me, or have me taken by singing monkeys…”
“Etiyr…”
“…or thrown through the air I mean seriously I mean how hard is it to hoETIYR. JESUS FUCKING FUCK WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU DO NOT TYPE ON ME I AM THE ONLY ONE THAT TYPES NOT YOU NO ONE TOUCHES MY KEYS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION ”
“Etiyr, geez, chill the fuck out already.”
“YOU. I should have known it would be you. It figures that of all the other people in this contest, I’m picked up by the one incompetent who-“
“Don’t even start, Etiyr. I’m half the people who can both carry you without hurting you and actually read what you write. So don’t sass me or I’ll leave you here with the apes.”
Fuck. Fuckity fuckity fuck shit stacks. It pissed him off to no end when someone was right and it wasn’t him. He spat out his current paper. “Of course not, Elli. I’m just upset at being left here on the ground again. It’s not your fault you dropped me. In fact I was wondering if you were going to be the one who found me again. Let’s just get out of here.” He wanted her to move. They were way too visible in this clearing and he needed to rebuild his influence with her if he was going to have her go about killing anyone.
“Damn right it’s not my fault. It took a round change for me to drop your heavy ass.” Without really thinking about it, she started walking towards the cover of the trees. (Success!) “Now, last I saw you Gabe was carrying you like a lover. Where is he?”
“The hell should I know? I was just telling him my amazing plan to kill that Mind Whore Extraordinaire when I was grabbed by an ape marching band playing jazz like some Louisiana bayou group. Where the hell were you when everything happened?”
“I was leading that band. They made me teach them how to play, or should I say Convie made me teach them. Now. Again. Where is Gabe? What did you do with him?”
“I DON’T FUCKING KNOW! I WAS APE-NAPPED! LAST I SAW We were… Know what, just keep going the way you are, you should run into some of the others soon, and maybe Gabe will be with them.”
Elli sped up, excited at seeing someone besides the typewriter she was carrying. It had been months, for her, since she had seen any of the other contestants and she was sick of manipulators. Even though she was supposed to be fighting them, she missed them. Cail’s vacant formality, Gaurinn’s attitude, AMP’s endless curiousity. And she still didn’t know who was dead.
Ever since she had stumbled into the grove ten minutes and five months ago, she had had to protect herself by teaching the primitive apes everything she knew about music. At first it was easy, they only had the basics of rhythm down and she had been able to teach them the varying percussion instruments she knew, but they learned faster than she had hoped thanks to Convie. Within several weeks of her arrival they had fashioned instruments of their own and had – quite clearly – threatened to kill her if she didn’t teach them how to play. In order to keep them occupied, she had begun teaching them different music styles once they mastered scales and moved on to marching once they had mastered those. She was safe in teaching them how to march since she could always come up with different formations but they always wanted more from her, keeping her up for days at a time until they started blending together. When they did let her sleep, she was kept awake by her hair trying to strangle her every time she dozed off for more than five minutes. If she thought she was tired by the beginning of the battle, the Kestalvian had changed that to exhaustion.
*******
In the last hour, things had gone from hopeless to strange. As Elli had rounded a bend in their path, she had managed to run into a man leading his own band of primates. She never got his name, but knew that they were almost completely identical, except for a few minor differences like hair length and that he was a he. He also played a saxophone instead of a trombone like she did, but from the moment they ran into each other she knew him as much as if he were an extension of herself. As he offered her a hand up, and she turned it down while dusting herself off, their eyes met. She saw that he looked tired, probably as tired as she felt, but that the apes around them had probably kept him awake as well. She also saw the darkness gathered there, a sure sign that he had been to realms other than this one. Their captors gathered around them, growing angrier by the minute at being interrupted from their wondrous displays of marching prowess.
“I can’t do this anymore” They said at the same time “I just want to rest without being killed, or threatened or choked. I want things the way they were. Just me and leader,” Elli went on. Her counterpart eyed her quizzically, “I was just about to say the same thing, but I’m the leader in my case.” They both looked around at the now furious apes headed towards them.
“There’s only one thing Convie likes more than radical ideas and violence,” Her counterpart said. “If we want to make it out of this we’ll have to- mmph!”
Elli had grabbed him by the neck and dragged his mouth down to hers, giving him the most passionate kiss she could; the sort of kiss she had wanted to share with Leader but doubted she ever would. The sort of kiss that the Convolution would want to watch and stop the apes from killing them in order to see. From his response he probably had the same unrequited-love angst with his sidekick and figured, much as she had: hey, leader and sidekick. Who cares that it’s not mine when I’m about to be killed.
As they stood there with their arms wrapped around each other, the shadow strand in Elli’s hair tried to use the distraction to wrap itself around her neck, but was stopped and tangled with an identical strand. The convolution rubbed its metaphorical hands together at managing to get yet another parallel universe hookup started. What it didn’t know was that it was not the doing of his influence, but more an act of two desperate people who wanted to take a short break from the tiring hell that had become the reality of their recent life. As the apes hooted and communicated with numerous waves to those behind who couldn’t see, Elli started undressing while her counterpart did the same.
Zippers. It’s always zippers with this guy. It’s like he wants… hell, he DOES want us to be able to get out of our clothes as fast as possible. She looked at the man who’s shirt she was pulling off. If he is who I think he is, he wants this as much as I do, but he’ll think it’s just as wrong. If Convie knew we weren’t doing this for his benefit, but for ours, he’d probably step in and just twist everything. “Please,” she said when he turned back to her and they had lain on the ground, “take this very, very slowly, it’ll probably be the only chance we have to rest from what they’ve been putting us through.”
“I know, I don’t want us to go through with this if we can help it,” he muttered in her ear under the pretext of saying “sweet nothings”, “but if it comes to it, you and I both know that we’re going to have to.” He started kissing her neck and caressing her, doing what he could to put off the inevitable.
This was by far the most interesting couple he had arranged so far. Not interesting like “oh, how interesting” like the miniature orgy that was Cailean, Caiolinn, Gaurinn and Gaurinne, which was an interesting combination of pain and pleasure. Watching the centipedes shock each other, while the humans knew not only what the other wanted, but intimately knew what each other felt (Who knew that the four of them were all into S&M).Or “how the hell are they even doing that” like Etiyr and Etiyra were, something involving a lot of dirty talk and ink ribbons being exchanged. No, the musical couple was more of a “they’re different from the others” interesting. All the couples had thrown themselves at each other in a frenzy of passion and fucking with only the slightest push, while the same influence with this couple had a reaction that was more one of timidity and romance.
It was a remarkable show of self restraint that was for sure. The amount of foreplay they were putting in was almost more obscene than outright DOING IT. From what he had gleaned from Elli’s thoughts during the stint with Old Greg, and from both of them currently, they both had their own original love interests from before the battle, and were treating each other how they had wanted to act with whoever “Leader” and “Sidekick” were. He watched from hundreds of eyes at the pair on the ground, knowing that the time was soon coming from how hard each of them were breathing.
“I’m sorry” he began. Wait, “sorry”? There was nothing for him to be sorry about. From what he could see, he was definitely up to standards and able to perform. And he didn’t mean on stage. He sat up straighter in the minds of the apes, wondering what there was to be sorry for.
“I don’t see how we can put this off any longer, they’re starting to look impatient.” Put it off? Put it off! He felt around their heads and realized he hadn’t put as much effort into this pairing as he thought. They had been playing him! Him! They had tried to play a player, and now they were going to suffer for it.
“I know, but I don’t care anymore. You’ve given me everything I thought I wanted from him. Everything I wanted from my first, you’ve done. I’m feeling much better now thanks to this. You’re perfect, just go for it, it’s what we both want.”
Hold on now, what this? The charade is over, they’ve been found out and they’re going ahead anyway? Well then, as long as they get on with it, he’ll get his show from the apes and all will be peaches-and-sex with him. Something she said caught on his ears though: “…from my first.” She’s a VIRGIN! Which means he is too! Oh, Elli. Elli, Elli, Elli. If only he had known, he could have done so much for her many times over by now. It probably wouldn’t have taken much too. A few more advances, a nudge in the right direction… Another opportunity lost for control.
Just as the deed was about to be done, the scream of the Time Lemur cut through the Kestalvian.
******
Elli was at the head of the marching band, leading them around a bend in the jungle and shut her eyes as she braced herself for impact. Opening them to reveal an empty path, she wondered at what she did, and why she was breathing so hard a felt so...different. She also felt a little less exhausted than she did a moment ago, now hovering closer to “in danger of collapsing,” but figured her condition was due to something that had happened in the forest. As she thought this, a scream split the air and was abruptly cut off, followed by a low rumble in the distance.
Speaking of things happening in the forest.
At the tremor some of the apes around her began to look nervous, breaking formation and missing notes that they should easily have gotten. As it intensified to the point where they could feel it instead of just hear it, the apes in the band panicked, dropping everything and getting the hell out of Dodge. Looking around and seeing that all the apes had apparently abandoned their dreams of championship in the jungle-wide marching competition, Elimine collapsed to the ground, sobbing. She ripped the purple and yellow drum major helmet off her head, removing the direct link the Convolution had set up with her and reclaiming her own thoughts. She wasn’t sobbing in anguish at the loss of the band, no, that wasn’t it. They were tears of joy at finally being free.
It had seemed like ages since she had had a chance to rest, and even longer since she hadn’t been surrounded by the Convolution and his lackeys. She just wanted a chance at getting out of this fucked up time-forest, to fight someone she knew she had a definite chance of winning against, someone that she knew was evil and knew how to kill them. How could she fight an idea when she didn’t fully understand how it worked, but figured worrying and thinking about him wasn’t the way to kill him, but how would she fight him if he was able to get so many followers was she supposed to kill them all or join them to fight form the inside or what. Christ I’m so tired, I’ll just cry for another minute. Just one more and I’ll be done. And one more…
She might have gone on crying if a giant purple and yellow tree hadn’t collapsed in front of her, drawing attention to the whole idea of being in a deadly time-jungle surrounded by convoluted apes with an earthquake happening in the background.
“Ugh.” Elli wiped at her eyes. “I really need to get out of here before Convie sends them back or something else happens.” Throwing down the stick-melon conductor baton that Bethany had given her months ago that was apparently called an “Asante Sana” – apparently given as a thank you gift between primates, even prisoners – and un-strapping her trombone from her back, she called out. “Cat!" *sniff* God Dammit stop crying, eyes. "I know you’re close! Get out here right now!” Silence. “I’m not joking mister! NOW!” A rustle and a frightened squawk from a nest of prism toucans later Elli’s cat came out from the bushes next to the marching path. “Well it’s about time. Where were you the last five months? I know they threatened me, and by extension you, but you didn’t have to hide away. You could have gone around killing them when they slept! Or ate their food, or…or… something!” The cat only tilted its head quizzically at her.
“Fine. You know what, just, fine. I can’t stay mad at you. Let’s get out of here.”
The cat draped itself over her shoulders as Elli tried to figure out where she should go.
I don’t really know my way around anywhere besides the village, and there’s no way in hell I’m going back there. Whatever that earthquake was it probably wasn’t good, either. Should I head towards it and find out, or run away and live? Hmmm… Eh, I haven’t gone this far in my career by running away from things. She vaulted over the dead convolutree and started heading towards where she thought it came from. What could’ve caused that, anyway? Plate tectonics? In this place I hardly think that’s the case. Maybe some sort of massive time-shift or some other time animal having a fit or… Etiyr?
She hadn’t gone far from the tree before she heard the familiar sound of the typewriter’s clacking and spotted him on the ground. There were several discarded pages around him, so he was obviously angry at something.
She picked him up and was about to say something when she realized that he was still yelling about whatever and hadn’t even noticed her.
“Yea you better run, mind whore. When I find someone and they get their hands on you, ohhh you’ll be sorry then. In fact, whatever it is that’s coming is probably here just for you, so I probably can just sit back and watch the show while it erases you from existence. Know what I’ll do then? I’ll just laugh at you. LAUGH. A nice laugh the likes of which this rainforest has never heard. That’ll show you. .. Damn where is everyone? I’m sick of this shit people! SICK OF IT! I just want someone competent to pick me up…”
“Etiyr.”
“…drop me, or lose me, or have me taken by singing monkeys…”
“Etiyr…”
“…or thrown through the air I mean seriously I mean how hard is it to hoETIYR. JESUS FUCKING FUCK WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU DO NOT TYPE ON ME I AM THE ONLY ONE THAT TYPES NOT YOU NO ONE TOUCHES MY KEYS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION ”
“Etiyr, geez, chill the fuck out already.”
“YOU. I should have known it would be you. It figures that of all the other people in this contest, I’m picked up by the one incompetent who-“
“Don’t even start, Etiyr. I’m half the people who can both carry you without hurting you and actually read what you write. So don’t sass me or I’ll leave you here with the apes.”
Fuck. Fuckity fuckity fuck shit stacks. It pissed him off to no end when someone was right and it wasn’t him. He spat out his current paper. “Of course not, Elli. I’m just upset at being left here on the ground again. It’s not your fault you dropped me. In fact I was wondering if you were going to be the one who found me again. Let’s just get out of here.” He wanted her to move. They were way too visible in this clearing and he needed to rebuild his influence with her if he was going to have her go about killing anyone.
“Damn right it’s not my fault. It took a round change for me to drop your heavy ass.” Without really thinking about it, she started walking towards the cover of the trees. (Success!) “Now, last I saw you Gabe was carrying you like a lover. Where is he?”
“The hell should I know? I was just telling him my amazing plan to kill that Mind Whore Extraordinaire when I was grabbed by an ape marching band playing jazz like some Louisiana bayou group. Where the hell were you when everything happened?”
“I was leading that band. They made me teach them how to play, or should I say Convie made me teach them. Now. Again. Where is Gabe? What did you do with him?”
“I DON’T FUCKING KNOW! I WAS APE-NAPPED! LAST I SAW We were… Know what, just keep going the way you are, you should run into some of the others soon, and maybe Gabe will be with them.”
Elli sped up, excited at seeing someone besides the typewriter she was carrying. It had been months, for her, since she had seen any of the other contestants and she was sick of manipulators. Even though she was supposed to be fighting them, she missed them. Cail’s vacant formality, Gaurinn’s attitude, AMP’s endless curiousity. And she still didn’t know who was dead.