Re: The Second Chance (Round One: The Fitzpatrick Center)
07-24-2011, 09:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-24-2012, 03:11 PM by Not The Author.)
Alice hated this stupid crappy war. Hated hated hated it.
She worked in an appliance store. She had the luxurious job of stocking the shelves and taking inventory now and again. Boring, but it paid fine. Or used to, at least. Not much demand for toasters or dishwashers when you don't know if you're gonna live another day. The shop was was out-of-the-way and not really prime territory by anyone's standards, though, so her boss had been letting them all sack out in the back room rather than risk going out and being caught by a patrol. It'd really been awesome about the whole war thing, all things considered.
But that meant she had to work perpetual overtime in a shop with few other employees and barely any shoppers, except mooks from The Franchises who always hit on her and never paid for anything. Alice had managed fairly well by being aggressively stubborn about everything, but she wasn't sure how long it'd be until she snapped and accidentally kicked someone in the face.
Alice was once again blotting out reality with depressing punk music, when she was distracted by a neon glow a couple of aisles over. They didn't sell anything that glowed neon that she knew of. Everything was all chrome and glass and plastic nowafuck, someone was turning on all the arclight dusters again, weren't they?
As it happened, they were not.
*****
How long ago? Barely a day since this travesty began. Not moments ago he'd been d- been sure he was dead. For the last time. This time. However that worked. And now he was once again conscripted to fight against his will until he of eight stood alone.
"Oi, you. Can I help yah?"
How many had he slain in the past? The blood on his blade had always been there, it seemed. But that was after hisâ?¦ untimely accident. In the Grand Battle, the only impact he'd managed to have was to make way for the second round. Now he'd been thrown into combat with failures from other battles.
"Guy! You buyin', or just restin' ya legs?"
Is that all he was? A failure?
"Loiterin' ain't allowed nomoah, so unless yah goin' home widdat-"
"No!"
He took a deep, shuddering breath and stood, supporting himself on his sword. Only then did he become aware that he'd drawn his blade and slammed it into the ground; aware of the young girl he had frightened; aware that the vacuum he'd knelt staring at did not have a multitude of skeletal arms protruding from its chassis.
"I... N-no, I am... well. Your offer of aid is... no less welcome."
The knight rubbed the introspection from his eyes, shaking his head.
"Ah, I forget my manners. I am Lord Dorukomets! You may have heard of me."
The girl stared at him blankly.
"The Lost Knight? Protector of All that is Pure and Just? Slayer of a Thousand Beasts? Demon's Bane, Siege Weapon, One Man Army? ...Anything?"
She shook her head. The phantom sighed, bowing deeply.
"No matter. How may I be of service, m'lady?"
"Yah can 'be of service' by gettin' yer sword outta the floor and yer ass out the door."
While whatever the rules to which this battle conformed enabled Dorukomets to understand the language, he still had difficulty deciphering Alice's dialect, and his scowl came a few seconds too awkward.
"Well if that is my receipt I believe I shall away! Good day. Ungrateful wench."
The knight almost managed to storm out of the shop properly, but the effect was lost when he spent a good minute figuring out the automatic sliding doors.
Alice shook her head and went back to work. Even for an Exo, that guy was weird.
She worked in an appliance store. She had the luxurious job of stocking the shelves and taking inventory now and again. Boring, but it paid fine. Or used to, at least. Not much demand for toasters or dishwashers when you don't know if you're gonna live another day. The shop was was out-of-the-way and not really prime territory by anyone's standards, though, so her boss had been letting them all sack out in the back room rather than risk going out and being caught by a patrol. It'd really been awesome about the whole war thing, all things considered.
But that meant she had to work perpetual overtime in a shop with few other employees and barely any shoppers, except mooks from The Franchises who always hit on her and never paid for anything. Alice had managed fairly well by being aggressively stubborn about everything, but she wasn't sure how long it'd be until she snapped and accidentally kicked someone in the face.
Alice was once again blotting out reality with depressing punk music, when she was distracted by a neon glow a couple of aisles over. They didn't sell anything that glowed neon that she knew of. Everything was all chrome and glass and plastic nowafuck, someone was turning on all the arclight dusters again, weren't they?
As it happened, they were not.
*****
How long ago? Barely a day since this travesty began. Not moments ago he'd been d- been sure he was dead. For the last time. This time. However that worked. And now he was once again conscripted to fight against his will until he of eight stood alone.
"Oi, you. Can I help yah?"
How many had he slain in the past? The blood on his blade had always been there, it seemed. But that was after hisâ?¦ untimely accident. In the Grand Battle, the only impact he'd managed to have was to make way for the second round. Now he'd been thrown into combat with failures from other battles.
"Guy! You buyin', or just restin' ya legs?"
Is that all he was? A failure?
"Loiterin' ain't allowed nomoah, so unless yah goin' home widdat-"
"No!"
He took a deep, shuddering breath and stood, supporting himself on his sword. Only then did he become aware that he'd drawn his blade and slammed it into the ground; aware of the young girl he had frightened; aware that the vacuum he'd knelt staring at did not have a multitude of skeletal arms protruding from its chassis.
"I... N-no, I am... well. Your offer of aid is... no less welcome."
The knight rubbed the introspection from his eyes, shaking his head.
"Ah, I forget my manners. I am Lord Dorukomets! You may have heard of me."
The girl stared at him blankly.
"The Lost Knight? Protector of All that is Pure and Just? Slayer of a Thousand Beasts? Demon's Bane, Siege Weapon, One Man Army? ...Anything?"
She shook her head. The phantom sighed, bowing deeply.
"No matter. How may I be of service, m'lady?"
"Yah can 'be of service' by gettin' yer sword outta the floor and yer ass out the door."
While whatever the rules to which this battle conformed enabled Dorukomets to understand the language, he still had difficulty deciphering Alice's dialect, and his scowl came a few seconds too awkward.
"Well if that is my receipt I believe I shall away! Good day. Ungrateful wench."
The knight almost managed to storm out of the shop properly, but the effect was lost when he spent a good minute figuring out the automatic sliding doors.
Alice shook her head and went back to work. Even for an Exo, that guy was weird.