Re: The Fearsome Encounter (GBS3G8) [Round 1: Circumlocution]
10-18-2011, 05:34 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Mirdini.
Well. Might as well take stock.
Vex had hardly had time to form a coherent thought following Anaminendes’ lecture when he felt his new reality lurch – as if the very fabric of the book’s interior were undergoing some tremendous, instantaneous earthquake. Vex went hurtling through the Encyclopedia’s depths, eventually crashing against a remarkably wide torrent of information seemingly sealed by a familiar green glow.
Fuck… this just part of the housewarming?
Vex had almost finished righting himself – huh, there’s still an up in this place – when he caught another window opening in his peripheral vision.
I thought the old coot was gone, what’s he playing a-
Upon peering out of the window he realized that this was most certainly not the Scholar’s work – a flash in a small part of his mind noting that the Encyclopedia had never encountered this environment before. Vex ignored the niggling thought in favor of examining the figure his portal was fixated on.
<font color="#806020">“You’re probably wondering just what you’re doing here.“
Vex had seen plenty of preening assholes in his line of work, but he hadn’t once come across any that could rival his own abilities (or ego, for that matter) – which had made tearing their lives and organizations apart all the more entertaining.
The man he saw through the window before had that same air, but there was something else to it – if he was the one that’d managed to move the book and open the window, he might actually have the muscle to back up his swagger. To Vex, it just meant he’d finally found someone that might actually prove a worthy opponent. Having him lick his boots when this was all over would b- fuck, my new boots are just going to rot in that tomb.
Regardless, Vex Ardayne certainly wouldn’t let some schmuck force him into anything. He might be stuck in Encyclopedic form and from what little attention he’d been paying to the man’s monologue (a possible weakness?) stuck in some sort of competition with a variety of other beings – but that just makes this fair. Now Vex hadn’t made it through years of criminal empire-building without some very perceptive instincts – and they were currently flashing red. The Encyclopedia’s disorientation, the field he and the other “contestants” (who he’d only been given flashes of as the man discussed them) were trapped in, it didn’t add up to just another kingpin to take down.
Then again, instincts were boring. So this guy might be a step above your dime-a-dozen arms dealer with what he’d apparently done - nothing a little improvisation couldn’t take care of. Vex hadn’t gotten to where he was without a gamble or two.
”show me what you’ve got.”
The window snapped shut, leaving Vex somewhat disoriented with only the warm green glow of Anaminendes’ safeguards for company. Reclining into nothingness, Vex thought back to his entry into the book – after all, before he’d be able to get to work he’d have to figure out how to make the damn volume follow his commands. The shining green pillar beside him made his cheek ache-
zzzzzsh
Information flashed through his mind, almost overwhelming his consciousness before Vex managed to slow the torrent down to a trickle.
That… must be what the bookworm was talking about.
While most of what he’d gotten from that wave of information were archival trivialities /sourcematterintegrityreliantupon/des.tendenciessuppressionincreasingly/infoflowstoillusoryoutputsactivation/ what he wanted was…
there.
Reading- well, remembering over how to manipulate the Encyclopedia’s physical form left Vex rather incredulous – a bunch of condensed Zen garbage like “focus your mind” and “belief leads to action” and god knows what else. Sure, he’d play along – he had to - but there had to be a better way to control it than sitting in the darkness and meditating like some antiquated monk. A more sophisticated- yes.
Throughout Vex’s consolidation of his position within the Encyclopedia the volume itself hadn’t been idle. Transported to yet another pocket universe it found itself in a most peculiar position, some five hundred meters in the air above a picturesque meadow. Gravity took a few moments to reassert itself, but soon enough ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία was tumbling cover over cover towards a landscape it couldn’t seem to record.
Vex had an irrational fondness for an ancient television program, a minor tic he’d taken care to conceal from his lieutenants – wouldn’t want them to go thinking he was soft in the head. There wasn’t anyone else to see whatever he did within the void of the Encyclopedia, however.
Vex could barely stifle a giggle in his retro-future captain’s chair as he gazed upon the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D.
It’ll do.
The Encyclopedia continued its descent, accelerating at a curiously familiar rate of 9.80665 m/s^2. Though the sky was free of cloud cover the book still barely constituted a speck of dust in the eyes of anyone prescient enough to look up. Achieving terminal velocity without much fanfare, it plummeted straight towards a rather peculiar scene – that of a bright red cardinal perched upon a mannequin dressed in its Renaissance best.
Tsk. So barbaric.
Chordeilis turned away from the disgraceful sight of Si'Nitethit’s squawking charge and set to contemplating Parliament’s position. Unlike the boorish Luchesse, he had respect for the Laws Lord Avery had bound them with – well, as much respect as twisting them to his owns ends required. An unmatched manipulator of men and kingdoms before his unfortunate capture, the vizier had capitalized upon his diplomatic expertise within Parliament to distinguish himself from the chaff of common mass-murderers and dictators he’d been imprisoned with.
That the obnoxious Luchesse was a chief rival to what passed for an organizing force within Parliament was a perennial nuisance, one he’d hopefully be able to diminish with the help of the bizarre situation the collective was in. Luchesse being forced to come to him for help had to stick in the fish-owl’s craw, and if he could get the mannequin moving he’d at the very least further ruffle the Marshall's feathers - a perk the Vizier certainly didn't mind.
Unfortunately for Chordeilis, he had barely begun formulating the spectacular series of grammatical gymnastics necessary to impel Parliament when his plot was crushed – quite literally – by the sudden arrival of a solid three kilograms of knowledge terminating its meteoric descent on Parliament’s head.
Vex felt nothing of the rather severe impact the Encyclopedia sustained upon landing (a landing which the volume remarkably took without a scratch), absorbed instead in his attempts to coax the tome into motion – and, more importantly, into showing him what was actually going on outside of its boundless interior. The instructions he’d inherited from the Scholar were helpful, but infuriatingly vague. The Encyclopedia would follow the Archivists wishes, but only if they were clear and precise – something seemingly incompatible with another guideline that insisted he had to “relax his mind” to further understand the book’s workings.
Screw this, I’m not going to sit around thinking this over while those other… people can just rip this thing apart.
He flipped a promptly materialized switch to activate the ship’s viewscreen, thinking – no, knowing it’d show what was going on outside - and was swiftly treated to the sight of a large bi-
/Family Spheniscidae, often termed Penguin, extinct since 2086 following/ – Vex shook his head.
Damn book’s talking to me now.
In the few moments he’d been distracted the penguin had been flung clear of two other figures – the spider-woman and the man who’d been referred to as “Saturday” (no doubt a pseudonym), who seemed to be squabbling over…
Oh fuck, where’s that damn- ah.
Vex’s coin rested in a patch of grass immediately beside Parliament, a scant few centimeters away from another one of those damn birds. Managing to manipulate the bridge’s controls further to zoom in on the chip, he briefly wondered where in the universe that prick had managed to find that piece of information – just another thing Vex’d have to wring out of him once this was all over.
Alright. Now to get this heap of paper moving – and keep that /Family Strigidae, colloquially termed Fish-owl/ from getting to my bargaining chip.</font>
Well. Might as well take stock.
Vex had hardly had time to form a coherent thought following Anaminendes’ lecture when he felt his new reality lurch – as if the very fabric of the book’s interior were undergoing some tremendous, instantaneous earthquake. Vex went hurtling through the Encyclopedia’s depths, eventually crashing against a remarkably wide torrent of information seemingly sealed by a familiar green glow.
Fuck… this just part of the housewarming?
Vex had almost finished righting himself – huh, there’s still an up in this place – when he caught another window opening in his peripheral vision.
I thought the old coot was gone, what’s he playing a-
Upon peering out of the window he realized that this was most certainly not the Scholar’s work – a flash in a small part of his mind noting that the Encyclopedia had never encountered this environment before. Vex ignored the niggling thought in favor of examining the figure his portal was fixated on.
<font color="#806020">“You’re probably wondering just what you’re doing here.“
Vex had seen plenty of preening assholes in his line of work, but he hadn’t once come across any that could rival his own abilities (or ego, for that matter) – which had made tearing their lives and organizations apart all the more entertaining.
The man he saw through the window before had that same air, but there was something else to it – if he was the one that’d managed to move the book and open the window, he might actually have the muscle to back up his swagger. To Vex, it just meant he’d finally found someone that might actually prove a worthy opponent. Having him lick his boots when this was all over would b- fuck, my new boots are just going to rot in that tomb.
Regardless, Vex Ardayne certainly wouldn’t let some schmuck force him into anything. He might be stuck in Encyclopedic form and from what little attention he’d been paying to the man’s monologue (a possible weakness?) stuck in some sort of competition with a variety of other beings – but that just makes this fair. Now Vex hadn’t made it through years of criminal empire-building without some very perceptive instincts – and they were currently flashing red. The Encyclopedia’s disorientation, the field he and the other “contestants” (who he’d only been given flashes of as the man discussed them) were trapped in, it didn’t add up to just another kingpin to take down.
Then again, instincts were boring. So this guy might be a step above your dime-a-dozen arms dealer with what he’d apparently done - nothing a little improvisation couldn’t take care of. Vex hadn’t gotten to where he was without a gamble or two.
”show me what you’ve got.”
The window snapped shut, leaving Vex somewhat disoriented with only the warm green glow of Anaminendes’ safeguards for company. Reclining into nothingness, Vex thought back to his entry into the book – after all, before he’d be able to get to work he’d have to figure out how to make the damn volume follow his commands. The shining green pillar beside him made his cheek ache-
zzzzzsh
Information flashed through his mind, almost overwhelming his consciousness before Vex managed to slow the torrent down to a trickle.
That… must be what the bookworm was talking about.
While most of what he’d gotten from that wave of information were archival trivialities /sourcematterintegrityreliantupon/des.tendenciessuppressionincreasingly/infoflowstoillusoryoutputsactivation/ what he wanted was…
there.
Reading- well, remembering over how to manipulate the Encyclopedia’s physical form left Vex rather incredulous – a bunch of condensed Zen garbage like “focus your mind” and “belief leads to action” and god knows what else. Sure, he’d play along – he had to - but there had to be a better way to control it than sitting in the darkness and meditating like some antiquated monk. A more sophisticated- yes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Throughout Vex’s consolidation of his position within the Encyclopedia the volume itself hadn’t been idle. Transported to yet another pocket universe it found itself in a most peculiar position, some five hundred meters in the air above a picturesque meadow. Gravity took a few moments to reassert itself, but soon enough ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία was tumbling cover over cover towards a landscape it couldn’t seem to record.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Vex had an irrational fondness for an ancient television program, a minor tic he’d taken care to conceal from his lieutenants – wouldn’t want them to go thinking he was soft in the head. There wasn’t anyone else to see whatever he did within the void of the Encyclopedia, however.
Vex could barely stifle a giggle in his retro-future captain’s chair as he gazed upon the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D.
It’ll do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Encyclopedia continued its descent, accelerating at a curiously familiar rate of 9.80665 m/s^2. Though the sky was free of cloud cover the book still barely constituted a speck of dust in the eyes of anyone prescient enough to look up. Achieving terminal velocity without much fanfare, it plummeted straight towards a rather peculiar scene – that of a bright red cardinal perched upon a mannequin dressed in its Renaissance best.
Tsk. So barbaric.
Chordeilis turned away from the disgraceful sight of Si'Nitethit’s squawking charge and set to contemplating Parliament’s position. Unlike the boorish Luchesse, he had respect for the Laws Lord Avery had bound them with – well, as much respect as twisting them to his owns ends required. An unmatched manipulator of men and kingdoms before his unfortunate capture, the vizier had capitalized upon his diplomatic expertise within Parliament to distinguish himself from the chaff of common mass-murderers and dictators he’d been imprisoned with.
That the obnoxious Luchesse was a chief rival to what passed for an organizing force within Parliament was a perennial nuisance, one he’d hopefully be able to diminish with the help of the bizarre situation the collective was in. Luchesse being forced to come to him for help had to stick in the fish-owl’s craw, and if he could get the mannequin moving he’d at the very least further ruffle the Marshall's feathers - a perk the Vizier certainly didn't mind.
Unfortunately for Chordeilis, he had barely begun formulating the spectacular series of grammatical gymnastics necessary to impel Parliament when his plot was crushed – quite literally – by the sudden arrival of a solid three kilograms of knowledge terminating its meteoric descent on Parliament’s head.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Vex felt nothing of the rather severe impact the Encyclopedia sustained upon landing (a landing which the volume remarkably took without a scratch), absorbed instead in his attempts to coax the tome into motion – and, more importantly, into showing him what was actually going on outside of its boundless interior. The instructions he’d inherited from the Scholar were helpful, but infuriatingly vague. The Encyclopedia would follow the Archivists wishes, but only if they were clear and precise – something seemingly incompatible with another guideline that insisted he had to “relax his mind” to further understand the book’s workings.
Screw this, I’m not going to sit around thinking this over while those other… people can just rip this thing apart.
He flipped a promptly materialized switch to activate the ship’s viewscreen, thinking – no, knowing it’d show what was going on outside - and was swiftly treated to the sight of a large bi-
/Family Spheniscidae, often termed Penguin, extinct since 2086 following/ – Vex shook his head.
Damn book’s talking to me now.
In the few moments he’d been distracted the penguin had been flung clear of two other figures – the spider-woman and the man who’d been referred to as “Saturday” (no doubt a pseudonym), who seemed to be squabbling over…
Oh fuck, where’s that damn- ah.
Vex’s coin rested in a patch of grass immediately beside Parliament, a scant few centimeters away from another one of those damn birds. Managing to manipulate the bridge’s controls further to zoom in on the chip, he briefly wondered where in the universe that prick had managed to find that piece of information – just another thing Vex’d have to wring out of him once this was all over.
Alright. Now to get this heap of paper moving – and keep that /Family Strigidae, colloquially termed Fish-owl/ from getting to my bargaining chip.</font>