Re: Intense Struggle! (Round 6 - Frozen Destinies)
07-07-2012, 03:19 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Lord Paradise.
There was a sort of snapping sensation as the rules that allowed Sora to remain a ghost stopped applying and he stopped falling and became himself again, standing by the window on the verge of a decision. Instinctively he backed away. Contemplating suicide was different when you’d already felt yourself fall in another man’s body. Besides, he had a feeling that the situation was about to become moot. The building was leaning to one side, the stresses of the merge relenting to the renewed presence of entropy.
There was screaming. At that moment there were two pervasive states of mind, and both of them were screaming. The first type of person was the type that had barely processed the freeze to begin with, and had registered the entire process as the sudden teleportation of two foreign worlds into his or her own, and reacted to this by screaming. The second type had been more cognizant of their time as spirits, and had become institutionalized, living free from their bodies and the concerns of mortality. Once more truly alive, like a newborn baby, all they could do was scream. Sora, having been anchored by his experience in Aegis’ body, was a bit better off. He had to get out of the building.
Karel saw her Sora back away from the ledge with some relief, which didn’t last long. The problem with the building’s integrity was beginning to come apparent—more specifically, it was beginning to rise out of the ground. The turtle’s shell was the size of a city block, but not nearly as level, and Karel had to grab on to the woman next to her from support as it flapped its flippers and took flight with the entire building resting on its back.
Karel didn’t think twice about running into the building, dragging the nice lady she’d been possessing behind her. She dropped the sandwich bags. Lunch had been put off for an eternity already, it could wait another couple of hours for her to make sure her husband got out safe.
Aegis, meanwhile, drifted lazily onto the sky-turtle’s back with only the vaguest idea of how he was still alive (something something Clara?) He supposed he owed the witch some gratitude, and maybe an apology for suspecting her of being a shapeshifter in disguise. She’d put her neck on the line for him.
The world (worlds, he supposed) were disappearing below him. There was a deafening moan that Aegis realized was the turtle’s best equivalent of a scream. If it kept up at this pace, the air might get too thin to breathe.
Aegis suddenly felt very small. Both of his opponents were powerful magic users, well-versed (he assumed) in dealing with mind-bending threats to existence itself. He was a guy who was good in a fight. Best he could do would be to hitch his horse to Clara’s wagon.
The problem, of course, was that Clara been pulled right back into the lobby. Aegis had been there while it was frozen, and distinctly remembered an angry, rampaging troll who’d had issues with women. The witch would probably be in need of a guy who was good in a fight right about now.
Treading carefully on the bits of sidewalk displaced by the turtle’s shell, Aegis followed Clara and Karel inside.
PAX/Tom stood in the shadow of the sky-turtle, examining the epicentre. “Not good enough,” they declared in unison. “This spot is no more the source of what’s going on here than a quark on the nose of a cat is the cause of its death,” elaborated one of him.
“Funny, isn’t it?” chuckled Iota. “How the smallest o’ things can cause all this. Makes me proud to be so short.”
“Of course,” said Crazyman Dragonarms. “We need to find the place where the universes merged in the first place. PAX/Tom, any progress on that?”
“None,” said PAX/Tom, shuffling their feet apologetically. “Under lead shielding, likely,” offered one. “With all this data to process, nothing could find it in time,” added another.
“Nothing, is it?” Iota cracked his knuckles and pointed at XMO. “Well, we’re going to need to summon the fifth Non-Infringer, then, aren’t we?”
XMO nodded. “I will bring her here.” The Robot Who Sucks, in contrast to his nature, blew. He exhaled all the souls he’d been keeping up, plus a spare bit of mana that flitted upwards in the general direction of the sky-turtle like a purple balloon buffeted by the wind. He blew until there was nothing left inside him—and then he blew that out, too.
The nothingness hung in the air, creating a very strong impression that the most beautiful woman any of the Non-Infringers had ever seen was definitively not standing before them. “Why is there something instead of nothing?” she did not say.
“Trick question,” said Crazyman Dragonarms, kissing the absence of an outstretched hand. “There is nothing.”
“That’s right,” the nothingness didn’t reply. “So, you have a job for me?”
“Yes,” said XMO. “A job only Skum, the Flawless can perform.”
“We need to figure out what went wrong here,” urged PAX/Tom.
“A few things, by the looks of it,” the Flawless didn’t say, least of all while looking around at her environment. “Nice nymph, by the way. Souvenir for the return trip?”
Dragonarms adjusted the nymph’s position on his shoulder. “More trouble than she’s worth,” he groaned. “But she’s an outsider. She might be useful later. Skum, we need to find the place where reality’s thinnest, or risk getting caught in a reality collapse.”
Skum didn’t smile. “A reality collapse, you say? As in, oblivion? The ultimate triumph of nothingness over somethingness?”
“We’re putting our trust in you to get us out of this,” said XMO sternly. “You’re a Non-Infringer, and that means I don’t expect you to betray that trust, but it also means that if you step out of line you’ll have to answer to me.”
“Betray your trust?” Skum didn’t stifle a laugh, which isn’t to say she laughed, rather that she especially didn’t laugh. “My dear robot, nothing could be further from my mind.”
Skum didn't fail to hold in a giggle. Which isn't to say that she succeeded at holding in a giggle. It is also not to say that she giggled, because she didn't. In fact, she never existed in the first place. It was all very complicated and strangely erotic.
There was a sort of snapping sensation as the rules that allowed Sora to remain a ghost stopped applying and he stopped falling and became himself again, standing by the window on the verge of a decision. Instinctively he backed away. Contemplating suicide was different when you’d already felt yourself fall in another man’s body. Besides, he had a feeling that the situation was about to become moot. The building was leaning to one side, the stresses of the merge relenting to the renewed presence of entropy.
There was screaming. At that moment there were two pervasive states of mind, and both of them were screaming. The first type of person was the type that had barely processed the freeze to begin with, and had registered the entire process as the sudden teleportation of two foreign worlds into his or her own, and reacted to this by screaming. The second type had been more cognizant of their time as spirits, and had become institutionalized, living free from their bodies and the concerns of mortality. Once more truly alive, like a newborn baby, all they could do was scream. Sora, having been anchored by his experience in Aegis’ body, was a bit better off. He had to get out of the building.
Karel saw her Sora back away from the ledge with some relief, which didn’t last long. The problem with the building’s integrity was beginning to come apparent—more specifically, it was beginning to rise out of the ground. The turtle’s shell was the size of a city block, but not nearly as level, and Karel had to grab on to the woman next to her from support as it flapped its flippers and took flight with the entire building resting on its back.
Karel didn’t think twice about running into the building, dragging the nice lady she’d been possessing behind her. She dropped the sandwich bags. Lunch had been put off for an eternity already, it could wait another couple of hours for her to make sure her husband got out safe.
Aegis, meanwhile, drifted lazily onto the sky-turtle’s back with only the vaguest idea of how he was still alive (something something Clara?) He supposed he owed the witch some gratitude, and maybe an apology for suspecting her of being a shapeshifter in disguise. She’d put her neck on the line for him.
The world (worlds, he supposed) were disappearing below him. There was a deafening moan that Aegis realized was the turtle’s best equivalent of a scream. If it kept up at this pace, the air might get too thin to breathe.
Aegis suddenly felt very small. Both of his opponents were powerful magic users, well-versed (he assumed) in dealing with mind-bending threats to existence itself. He was a guy who was good in a fight. Best he could do would be to hitch his horse to Clara’s wagon.
The problem, of course, was that Clara been pulled right back into the lobby. Aegis had been there while it was frozen, and distinctly remembered an angry, rampaging troll who’d had issues with women. The witch would probably be in need of a guy who was good in a fight right about now.
Treading carefully on the bits of sidewalk displaced by the turtle’s shell, Aegis followed Clara and Karel inside.
PAX/Tom stood in the shadow of the sky-turtle, examining the epicentre. “Not good enough,” they declared in unison. “This spot is no more the source of what’s going on here than a quark on the nose of a cat is the cause of its death,” elaborated one of him.
“Funny, isn’t it?” chuckled Iota. “How the smallest o’ things can cause all this. Makes me proud to be so short.”
“Of course,” said Crazyman Dragonarms. “We need to find the place where the universes merged in the first place. PAX/Tom, any progress on that?”
“None,” said PAX/Tom, shuffling their feet apologetically. “Under lead shielding, likely,” offered one. “With all this data to process, nothing could find it in time,” added another.
“Nothing, is it?” Iota cracked his knuckles and pointed at XMO. “Well, we’re going to need to summon the fifth Non-Infringer, then, aren’t we?”
XMO nodded. “I will bring her here.” The Robot Who Sucks, in contrast to his nature, blew. He exhaled all the souls he’d been keeping up, plus a spare bit of mana that flitted upwards in the general direction of the sky-turtle like a purple balloon buffeted by the wind. He blew until there was nothing left inside him—and then he blew that out, too.
The nothingness hung in the air, creating a very strong impression that the most beautiful woman any of the Non-Infringers had ever seen was definitively not standing before them. “Why is there something instead of nothing?” she did not say.
“Trick question,” said Crazyman Dragonarms, kissing the absence of an outstretched hand. “There is nothing.”
“That’s right,” the nothingness didn’t reply. “So, you have a job for me?”
“Yes,” said XMO. “A job only Skum, the Flawless can perform.”
“We need to figure out what went wrong here,” urged PAX/Tom.
“A few things, by the looks of it,” the Flawless didn’t say, least of all while looking around at her environment. “Nice nymph, by the way. Souvenir for the return trip?”
Dragonarms adjusted the nymph’s position on his shoulder. “More trouble than she’s worth,” he groaned. “But she’s an outsider. She might be useful later. Skum, we need to find the place where reality’s thinnest, or risk getting caught in a reality collapse.”
Skum didn’t smile. “A reality collapse, you say? As in, oblivion? The ultimate triumph of nothingness over somethingness?”
“We’re putting our trust in you to get us out of this,” said XMO sternly. “You’re a Non-Infringer, and that means I don’t expect you to betray that trust, but it also means that if you step out of line you’ll have to answer to me.”
“Betray your trust?” Skum didn’t stifle a laugh, which isn’t to say she laughed, rather that she especially didn’t laugh. “My dear robot, nothing could be further from my mind.”
Skum didn't fail to hold in a giggle. Which isn't to say that she succeeded at holding in a giggle. It is also not to say that she giggled, because she didn't. In fact, she never existed in the first place. It was all very complicated and strangely erotic.