RE: Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen
07-18-2017, 11:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-18-2017, 11:15 PM by NotABear.)
The Universe. Empty Alice could feel it. The Universe was ceaselessly, impossibly large. Even if Empty Alice were to fire this bullet into the voidspace, it would eventually hit a wall. This seemingly infinite space was limited by one thing.
Alice's Comprehension.
Empty's Apprehension.
The Universe. Empty Alice could feel it. The Universe was casually, infuriatingly large. Even if Empty Alice were to run forever, they would never escape. They would never escape these feelings. As long as sentient life exists, there will always be free will. As long as free will exists, there will always be emotions. As long as emotions exist, there will always be strife. Even if Alice was to give into the fear and the doubt- even if Alice was to allow herself to be destroyed. . . Qhen and Viss would continue to suffer. If only there was nothing. . . If nobody could exist, then nobody could suffer. If nothing existed- A sharp pain dug into Alice's chest. She could not help but cry out.
Empty Alice pulled the rifle down to their side. The motion was quick, instantaneous- but to Alice and Empty, the motion continued to go on in increasingly slow motion. Inside, Alice gripped her chest. The pain dug in deeper, and suddenly she was aware of the cloak tightening it's grip on her.
Empty's voice turned into hissing static as Alice hauled on the weapon with all her might, pointing it behind herself... and fired.
The resulting explosion threw Alice up into the air, Empty drifting away from her, their combined energies finally spent on that final effort. Empty was trying to talk to her, but she could not focus on that. She was already focusing on something else. She could hear the universe buzzing away around her, hurtling messages at the MUSE- who she now knew in her heart was known as ENVIOUS. She continued to focus. Now-
The cloud of fog and smoke from the ice explosion was still expanding, and ENVIOUS came PUNCHING through it-
( YOUR VOICES CANNOT HELP YOU- THEY TRY TO STING ME LIKE BEES, BUT ONLY BUZZ AROUND ME LIKE FLIES. PREPARE TO DIE! )
"No."
The butt of the rifle connected with ENVIOUS' mask with a heavy CRACK- She swung again and smashed their fist, knocking the blue flame blade away, spiraling down to the floor before it exploded into a puff of smoke. The momentum that ENVIOUS had carried them directly into Alice, and she caught them, and pushed with all her might, rolling the two of them over so as they came back down to the floor, she would land on top. The moment she felt the shock, she lifted the rifle butt- constructed with a portion of her remaining energy out of void-material, and began the flail at the mask. All of that, and there was only a tiny little crack in it. But she would get through. She would break through and talk directly to Viss.
Then ENVIOUS let out a scream, and Alice burned.
Alice's screams echoed through the chamber, and inside ENVIOUS, Viss twitched.
Alice refused to die. She relied on her power to keep her alive, but she was still the one refusing to die. She continued to burn. ENVIOUS was screaming at her, clawing at her. . .
And she continued to hammer it in the face, the rifle snapped in half by a previous attack. . .
Empty could only watch. They knew that Alice had done this, on purpose, to keep it from attempting to intervene- but even if she hadn't. . . They wouldn't. Even while Alice cried and begged and fought herself down to the nails- She now clawed at the mask, trying to work her fingers into the cracks. Alice did not need Empty's power. That was the answer she needed to find.
A muse was the rationalization of one's darkest feelings. A muse was something that one piled blame on, to take responsibility for their own actions. It wasn't me, it was the muse. It led me astray and I sinned as a result, but it won't happen again. . .
A muse was also the realization of one's true nature. Qhen's nature was to desire freedom. Viss' nature was currently being smothered by the darkness of her rationale. And Alice's nature. . .
Alice's nature was to care for anyone but herself, it seemed.
ENVIOUS was not even fighting back anymore. It just watched Alice. Not like it mattered. Alice was sure this was just a silent taunt. No matter how hard she worked, no matter how much blood she spilt- her knuckles were bloody and her hands were numb with pain from punching the thick porcelain mask- no matter how much she endured the pain from the searing heat cooking her down to her core, no matter how much she cried out for Viss to hear her. . .
ENVIOUS had a moment to register a look of surprise on that porcelain mask with it's shifting, painted surface- Just a moment before Viss' fist passed through it from the inside. Alice stumbled, fell, really, and collapsed to the ground.
Viss clawed, and pulled, and ripped her way out of ENVIOUS, the sound of ripping fabric filling the air, until she was standing on it's tattered corpse of a cloak. She held her head in both hands, squeezing tightly for a moment, before letting go, and slapping herself on the sides of the face a few times.
Alice slowly pulled herself up. She was basically out of energy. Exhausted. Spent. Her burns had healed- or rather, were never there. Fighting a MUSE, fighting inside the voidspace, was an interesting sensation. She looked at her hands, and noticed that the bleeding had already stopped. She looked back to Viss.
Alice sat back down again. Viss walked over and sat down next to her. They both stared at the blue cloak on the floor. It was clearly not destroyed, but continued to lay still.
Viss stood up. She reached down and picked up the blue cloak. She folded it neatly and laid it on the floor. Turning, she stared Alice in the eyes. She looked so tired.
Alice got up. The two of them faced each other. They put one arm behind their back, and brought their other hand up in a fist.
One.
Two.
THREE-
Alice Throws:
( ) Rock
( ) Paper
( ) Scissors
Viss Throws:
( ) Rock
( ) Paper
( ) Scissors
( ) The Match, using her reflexive sight to tell which symbol Alice is going to throw ahead of time.
(EDIT NOTE: YEAH I WROTE QHEN INSTEAD OF VISS AT THE END THERE IT'S 8 AM AND I HAVEN'T SLEPT YET. ; A;)
Alice's Comprehension.
Empty's Apprehension.
The Universe. Empty Alice could feel it. The Universe was casually, infuriatingly large. Even if Empty Alice were to run forever, they would never escape. They would never escape these feelings. As long as sentient life exists, there will always be free will. As long as free will exists, there will always be emotions. As long as emotions exist, there will always be strife. Even if Alice was to give into the fear and the doubt- even if Alice was to allow herself to be destroyed. . . Qhen and Viss would continue to suffer. If only there was nothing. . . If nobody could exist, then nobody could suffer. If nothing existed- A sharp pain dug into Alice's chest. She could not help but cry out.
Spoiler
Spoiler
The resulting explosion threw Alice up into the air, Empty drifting away from her, their combined energies finally spent on that final effort. Empty was trying to talk to her, but she could not focus on that. She was already focusing on something else. She could hear the universe buzzing away around her, hurtling messages at the MUSE- who she now knew in her heart was known as ENVIOUS. She continued to focus. Now-
The cloud of fog and smoke from the ice explosion was still expanding, and ENVIOUS came PUNCHING through it-
( YOUR VOICES CANNOT HELP YOU- THEY TRY TO STING ME LIKE BEES, BUT ONLY BUZZ AROUND ME LIKE FLIES. PREPARE TO DIE! )
"No."
The butt of the rifle connected with ENVIOUS' mask with a heavy CRACK- She swung again and smashed their fist, knocking the blue flame blade away, spiraling down to the floor before it exploded into a puff of smoke. The momentum that ENVIOUS had carried them directly into Alice, and she caught them, and pushed with all her might, rolling the two of them over so as they came back down to the floor, she would land on top. The moment she felt the shock, she lifted the rifle butt- constructed with a portion of her remaining energy out of void-material, and began the flail at the mask. All of that, and there was only a tiny little crack in it. But she would get through. She would break through and talk directly to Viss.
Then ENVIOUS let out a scream, and Alice burned.
Alice's screams echoed through the chamber, and inside ENVIOUS, Viss twitched.
Spoiler
And she continued to hammer it in the face, the rifle snapped in half by a previous attack. . .
Spoiler
A muse was the rationalization of one's darkest feelings. A muse was something that one piled blame on, to take responsibility for their own actions. It wasn't me, it was the muse. It led me astray and I sinned as a result, but it won't happen again. . .
A muse was also the realization of one's true nature. Qhen's nature was to desire freedom. Viss' nature was currently being smothered by the darkness of her rationale. And Alice's nature. . .
Alice's nature was to care for anyone but herself, it seemed.
Spoiler
Spoiler
Viss clawed, and pulled, and ripped her way out of ENVIOUS, the sound of ripping fabric filling the air, until she was standing on it's tattered corpse of a cloak. She held her head in both hands, squeezing tightly for a moment, before letting go, and slapping herself on the sides of the face a few times.
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
One.
Two.
THREE-
Alice Throws:
( ) Rock
( ) Paper
( ) Scissors
Viss Throws:
( ) Rock
( ) Paper
( ) Scissors
( ) The Match, using her reflexive sight to tell which symbol Alice is going to throw ahead of time.
(EDIT NOTE: YEAH I WROTE QHEN INSTEAD OF VISS AT THE END THERE IT'S 8 AM AND I HAVEN'T SLEPT YET. ; A;)