Re: Intense Struggle! (Round 3 - The Wasteland)
07-11-2010, 10:38 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2014, 11:57 AM by Ixcaliber.)
Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.
Aph was irate. She was sat on an uncomfortable wooden chair, in a tiny apartment. It was lavishly decorated in a somewhat over the top manner, but this did not take away from the dinginess or cramped nature of the place. The walls were practically lined with blue velvet, pieces of it hung from the wall wherever there was space to do so. As such it made the walls look like a bizarre rendition of the night sky with grossly over proportioned stars and crescent moons dotting it's surface. The furniture was lined with dripping candles and heavy bound tomes with titles like 'vital precepts of thaumaturgical conjuration' and so on. There were less discarded plates and unwashed cutlery around the apartment since Aph had been conjured into existence, but even she could do little against the stains that had accumulated over the years of negligence beforehand.
Xan had just returned home to find that in the time he had been away his loving companion had suddenly developed a staggering resentment for him, believing, correctly as it turned out, that he did not feel the same way about her as she did about him. Most students who created a nymph had little intention of actually falling in love with them, though some did and that was a bit weird, Xan was hardly the exception in expecting Aph to be a doting companion.
They argued. Aph did not appreciate being left at home all day, she accused Xan of being embarassed of her, of not loving her. Xan for his part just wanted to sit down and have a meal after a long day. Aph suddenly leapt at him, her anger almost primal. She tore at his clothes and hair, headbutted him, while screaming that he did not love her and that she would not be treated this way. Xan panicked for a moment. This wasn't supposed to happen. Nymphs were good and kind and loving. He responded by reciting an incantation. Ethereal chains flew through the air, winding their way around Aph's limbs, binding her hands back behind her, and pinning her to the floor.
---------
With a start Aph awoke from a memory of her past. She saw it through a different light now of course, she had been such a psycho bitch back then. Not that Xan had been any better; a horny teenager with the ability to create a being who would unconditionally love him. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't as good a wizard as he thought he was, and he ended up with her.
Attempting to stretch, Aph suddenly noticed that her limbs were still bound together. Glancing around she saw that kid staring down at her. She hadn't had much to do with this kid since the contest started, which suited her just fine as she could quite clearly picture herself sappily doting upon him and it made her feel a little nauseous.
"What?" she asked, and he looked away awkwardly.
Larus and Clara, who had been bickering nearby about whether or not it could be conclusively proved that Aph was the spy, turned to face her prone form at this outburst. They walked over and stared down at her. Clara had a look on her face that was somewhere between pity and hatred, Larus looked conflicted.
"If kinky fun time is over I would like to be untied now." Aph complained. The boy wandered back into view, casting doubtful glances towards her.
"So Larus." Sister Clara said. "Here she is. How will you interrogate her? Will you ask her if she is a spy and then take her word for it?"
Larus was not sure what to do. He had doubts, and impressively he had managed to develop doubts about his doubts. The heat out here was making it impossible to think this through, to even come up with questions which they could use to ascertain Aph's guilt. At last he made a decision.
"We need to get to shelter." He said. He reached down, grabbed Aph and slung her over his shoulder. "We'll think more clearly in the shade."
Aph sighed. "If I was to claim to be the spy would you leave me alone?"
"Not exactly." Larus said, as the group trekked down the side of the sand dune to the nearest building, an ominous grey facility, half sunken into the sands.
--------
D'Neya climbed into the building through a broken window, the front door having long sunk into the sands. The floor she was on was three or four floors down from the roof, thanks to the slightly slanted nature of the building. This room had probably once been an office, in amongst the sand that had blown into the room she could see the smashed remnants of a desk and an overturned filing cabinet.
D'Neya was already bored by the mundanity of this room. She was about to skip on through when the room started to flicker an unexpected shade of purple. The glowing purple settled after a moment and it outlined precisely how the office must have been before this place was a wasteland, except in those days it probably wouldn't have been glowing purple. A woman in a lab coat with short hair and half moon glasses sat staring down at a selection of papers on her desk. D'Neya's enthusiasm began to wane as she realised that this phantasm was not going to do anything in particular. She walked over to the door and opened it, standing unnervingly close on the other side was a glowing purple representation of another scientist, a man with a long ponytail and a goatee. He promptly knocked upon the purple outline of the door.
"Come in." The woman said, in a voice that did not suit her, it was like that of a child. It was a voice that sounded very familiar but for just a second D'Neya could not place it. The door opened and the man with the goatee walked through, a look of worry discernible on his face, in so much as any look was discernable on his face.
"Dr Lain." He said, his voice the exact same as the woman's. Suddenly it seemed obvious to D'Neya whose voice it was, it was her own, hijacked by these ghosts. "You have to come quickly," the man continued. "Something's wrong."
The woman, Doctor Lain, looked up urgently, quickly standing up and following the man out through the door. Without any more words exchanged they were rushing down the hallway, and D'Neya was rushing after them, only she had to dodge over piles of sand and parts of the floor that had fallen away. They disappeared through a set of automatic doors at the end of the corridor.
D'Neya reached the doors to find that they were no longer functioning. The room on the other side was massive, full of machinery even in the present. The focus of the room appeared to be a large square vat that stood in the centre, as tall as two stories, gantries ran around it on the floor above, and at the bottom of the vat a thick cord terminated in a strange pronged device. Walls of monitors displayed bewildering readings. There were echoes of scientists everywhere, panicking as alarm bells rung and lights flashed. Dr Lain examined the monitors surrounding the vat.
"You idiots!" She yelled. "You've absorbed too much mana. If we don't drain that vat right now then this everyone here is going to die." This did little to calm the scientists, most simply running for the doors. The man with the goatee just stood and looked to Dr Lain, as though she had the situation completely under control. "Where are the standby mana spheres?" she snapped at him.
"We didn't think we would need them." He said mournfully. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"Well yes thanks for that." Dr Lain snapped. She glared at him and then sighed. "Stand back you incompetent buffoon." She said as he handed him her lab coat.
D'Neya watched rapt as the scene played out. As the ghost of Dr Lain walked over to the pronged device at the base of the vat and jabbed it into her neck, heedless of her own safety. Then she watched as the woman's body began to disintegrate, replaced by sparking electricity. Around her, lightning struck out, earthing itself in the consoles and creating a hole in the floor. D'Neya watched silently as Dr Lain laughed maniacally as the machine rattled and hummed. Finally finished she disconnected herself, and merrily blasted her colleagues with bolts of lightning. The scene slowly started to fade away. D'Neya stood there for a moment, looking through those broken doors and grinned.
Aph was irate. She was sat on an uncomfortable wooden chair, in a tiny apartment. It was lavishly decorated in a somewhat over the top manner, but this did not take away from the dinginess or cramped nature of the place. The walls were practically lined with blue velvet, pieces of it hung from the wall wherever there was space to do so. As such it made the walls look like a bizarre rendition of the night sky with grossly over proportioned stars and crescent moons dotting it's surface. The furniture was lined with dripping candles and heavy bound tomes with titles like 'vital precepts of thaumaturgical conjuration' and so on. There were less discarded plates and unwashed cutlery around the apartment since Aph had been conjured into existence, but even she could do little against the stains that had accumulated over the years of negligence beforehand.
Xan had just returned home to find that in the time he had been away his loving companion had suddenly developed a staggering resentment for him, believing, correctly as it turned out, that he did not feel the same way about her as she did about him. Most students who created a nymph had little intention of actually falling in love with them, though some did and that was a bit weird, Xan was hardly the exception in expecting Aph to be a doting companion.
They argued. Aph did not appreciate being left at home all day, she accused Xan of being embarassed of her, of not loving her. Xan for his part just wanted to sit down and have a meal after a long day. Aph suddenly leapt at him, her anger almost primal. She tore at his clothes and hair, headbutted him, while screaming that he did not love her and that she would not be treated this way. Xan panicked for a moment. This wasn't supposed to happen. Nymphs were good and kind and loving. He responded by reciting an incantation. Ethereal chains flew through the air, winding their way around Aph's limbs, binding her hands back behind her, and pinning her to the floor.
---------
With a start Aph awoke from a memory of her past. She saw it through a different light now of course, she had been such a psycho bitch back then. Not that Xan had been any better; a horny teenager with the ability to create a being who would unconditionally love him. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't as good a wizard as he thought he was, and he ended up with her.
Attempting to stretch, Aph suddenly noticed that her limbs were still bound together. Glancing around she saw that kid staring down at her. She hadn't had much to do with this kid since the contest started, which suited her just fine as she could quite clearly picture herself sappily doting upon him and it made her feel a little nauseous.
"What?" she asked, and he looked away awkwardly.
Larus and Clara, who had been bickering nearby about whether or not it could be conclusively proved that Aph was the spy, turned to face her prone form at this outburst. They walked over and stared down at her. Clara had a look on her face that was somewhere between pity and hatred, Larus looked conflicted.
"If kinky fun time is over I would like to be untied now." Aph complained. The boy wandered back into view, casting doubtful glances towards her.
"So Larus." Sister Clara said. "Here she is. How will you interrogate her? Will you ask her if she is a spy and then take her word for it?"
Larus was not sure what to do. He had doubts, and impressively he had managed to develop doubts about his doubts. The heat out here was making it impossible to think this through, to even come up with questions which they could use to ascertain Aph's guilt. At last he made a decision.
"We need to get to shelter." He said. He reached down, grabbed Aph and slung her over his shoulder. "We'll think more clearly in the shade."
Aph sighed. "If I was to claim to be the spy would you leave me alone?"
"Not exactly." Larus said, as the group trekked down the side of the sand dune to the nearest building, an ominous grey facility, half sunken into the sands.
--------
D'Neya climbed into the building through a broken window, the front door having long sunk into the sands. The floor she was on was three or four floors down from the roof, thanks to the slightly slanted nature of the building. This room had probably once been an office, in amongst the sand that had blown into the room she could see the smashed remnants of a desk and an overturned filing cabinet.
D'Neya was already bored by the mundanity of this room. She was about to skip on through when the room started to flicker an unexpected shade of purple. The glowing purple settled after a moment and it outlined precisely how the office must have been before this place was a wasteland, except in those days it probably wouldn't have been glowing purple. A woman in a lab coat with short hair and half moon glasses sat staring down at a selection of papers on her desk. D'Neya's enthusiasm began to wane as she realised that this phantasm was not going to do anything in particular. She walked over to the door and opened it, standing unnervingly close on the other side was a glowing purple representation of another scientist, a man with a long ponytail and a goatee. He promptly knocked upon the purple outline of the door.
"Come in." The woman said, in a voice that did not suit her, it was like that of a child. It was a voice that sounded very familiar but for just a second D'Neya could not place it. The door opened and the man with the goatee walked through, a look of worry discernible on his face, in so much as any look was discernable on his face.
"Dr Lain." He said, his voice the exact same as the woman's. Suddenly it seemed obvious to D'Neya whose voice it was, it was her own, hijacked by these ghosts. "You have to come quickly," the man continued. "Something's wrong."
The woman, Doctor Lain, looked up urgently, quickly standing up and following the man out through the door. Without any more words exchanged they were rushing down the hallway, and D'Neya was rushing after them, only she had to dodge over piles of sand and parts of the floor that had fallen away. They disappeared through a set of automatic doors at the end of the corridor.
D'Neya reached the doors to find that they were no longer functioning. The room on the other side was massive, full of machinery even in the present. The focus of the room appeared to be a large square vat that stood in the centre, as tall as two stories, gantries ran around it on the floor above, and at the bottom of the vat a thick cord terminated in a strange pronged device. Walls of monitors displayed bewildering readings. There were echoes of scientists everywhere, panicking as alarm bells rung and lights flashed. Dr Lain examined the monitors surrounding the vat.
"You idiots!" She yelled. "You've absorbed too much mana. If we don't drain that vat right now then this everyone here is going to die." This did little to calm the scientists, most simply running for the doors. The man with the goatee just stood and looked to Dr Lain, as though she had the situation completely under control. "Where are the standby mana spheres?" she snapped at him.
"We didn't think we would need them." He said mournfully. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
"Well yes thanks for that." Dr Lain snapped. She glared at him and then sighed. "Stand back you incompetent buffoon." She said as he handed him her lab coat.
D'Neya watched rapt as the scene played out. As the ghost of Dr Lain walked over to the pronged device at the base of the vat and jabbed it into her neck, heedless of her own safety. Then she watched as the woman's body began to disintegrate, replaced by sparking electricity. Around her, lightning struck out, earthing itself in the consoles and creating a hole in the floor. D'Neya watched silently as Dr Lain laughed maniacally as the machine rattled and hummed. Finally finished she disconnected herself, and merrily blasted her colleagues with bolts of lightning. The scene slowly started to fade away. D'Neya stood there for a moment, looking through those broken doors and grinned.
Heaven Help Us | Make Room!!!! | I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
Hang 'Em High | The Only Hope For Me Is You | Zero Percent | Early Sunsets Over Monroeville | DESTROYA | Demolition Lovers | To The End
Surrender The Night | Disenchanted | The Ghost Of You | Party Poison | Vampires Will Never Hurt You | The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You
Hang 'Em High | The Only Hope For Me Is You | Zero Percent | Early Sunsets Over Monroeville | DESTROYA | Demolition Lovers | To The End
Surrender The Night | Disenchanted | The Ghost Of You | Party Poison | Vampires Will Never Hurt You | The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You