Re: The Fearsome Encounter (GBS3G8) [Round 2: Oh Two Oh]
08-26-2012, 09:30 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
Cepra was lost. But she wasn’t really going to admit that to anybody, least of all herself.
She had certainly been on ships before, for both work and for relaxation, but none of those ships were ever close to being space-worthy and besides, she had never taken the time to learn the names for stuff on a ship. Even if she had bothered to learn, it wouldn’t have helped her – boats don’t have bridges. So she found herself looking for something that looked like the wrong sort of bridge. There didn’t seem to be any, which convinced her that there was one really big bridge somewhere, and that was where she was supposed to find the Adwhatever and then spacebots.
Her aimless wanderings took her to the outskirts of the bazaar, with no bridge in sight. It meant that she would have to double-back and try another direction, or perhaps just travel along the edge and hope for a bridge of some sort, though finding a bridge on the edge of a huge-ass room was very unlikely.
So, when she came across a tavern, she felt somewhat relieved. Taverns were places she was definitely comfortable and familiar with. And more importantly, unofficial hubs of information. If she could just pop in and ask for directions, then everything would be hunky-dory.
It turned out, though, that someone was in a rush on their way out and very rudely bumped into Cepra. With a sword, too! That was absolutely dangerous. Though so was Cepra, as she unintentionally demonstrated when she flailed her many arms in a manner that indicated that she had been bumped into. With one of those arms being one saturated with dangerous poison, it was unfortunate, but unsurprising, what happened next.
Cepra hadn’t even realized the accident until the strange thing started screaming. That was the start of it, always, the screaming. And then the conversion.
She hadn’t intended this. But constables did not usually care about intentions. Cepra hadn’t seen anything that looked like constables, admittedly, but there were always some lurking about in places like these, right? And being on the foul side of constables would…certainly hinder her. Not to mention that she didn’t know the background of this alien, or his allies. She didn’t know anything about anything, and that was dangerous.
Cepra smoothly blended into the growing crowd and pretended as hard as she could that she was also an innocent bystander who had just arrived to the gruesome scene of someone inexplicably turning into silver.
People from inside the tavern were now either peering out the windows or halfway-spilling out the door, witnessing the scene with solemn silence until the screaming died and the twitches ceased and Ion was completely silver.
A man strode out and took back his sword with some difficulty, but even then he managed the task with a triumphant air. Cepra vaguely recognized him because of his clothes. He made a speech that Cepra didn’t really care about, but the crowds both outside and inside the tavern were listening quite intently. Cepra could hear something about a god or whatever. “See how the infidels fall blah blah those who do not follow blah the one true god blubbity bluh.” It was nothing she hadn’t heard before.
But grandiloquent speeches about gods usually led to something fun, she supposed. And then maybe she could finally get directions.
Cepra was lost. But she wasn’t really going to admit that to anybody, least of all herself.
She had certainly been on ships before, for both work and for relaxation, but none of those ships were ever close to being space-worthy and besides, she had never taken the time to learn the names for stuff on a ship. Even if she had bothered to learn, it wouldn’t have helped her – boats don’t have bridges. So she found herself looking for something that looked like the wrong sort of bridge. There didn’t seem to be any, which convinced her that there was one really big bridge somewhere, and that was where she was supposed to find the Adwhatever and then spacebots.
Her aimless wanderings took her to the outskirts of the bazaar, with no bridge in sight. It meant that she would have to double-back and try another direction, or perhaps just travel along the edge and hope for a bridge of some sort, though finding a bridge on the edge of a huge-ass room was very unlikely.
So, when she came across a tavern, she felt somewhat relieved. Taverns were places she was definitely comfortable and familiar with. And more importantly, unofficial hubs of information. If she could just pop in and ask for directions, then everything would be hunky-dory.
It turned out, though, that someone was in a rush on their way out and very rudely bumped into Cepra. With a sword, too! That was absolutely dangerous. Though so was Cepra, as she unintentionally demonstrated when she flailed her many arms in a manner that indicated that she had been bumped into. With one of those arms being one saturated with dangerous poison, it was unfortunate, but unsurprising, what happened next.
Cepra hadn’t even realized the accident until the strange thing started screaming. That was the start of it, always, the screaming. And then the conversion.
She hadn’t intended this. But constables did not usually care about intentions. Cepra hadn’t seen anything that looked like constables, admittedly, but there were always some lurking about in places like these, right? And being on the foul side of constables would…certainly hinder her. Not to mention that she didn’t know the background of this alien, or his allies. She didn’t know anything about anything, and that was dangerous.
Cepra smoothly blended into the growing crowd and pretended as hard as she could that she was also an innocent bystander who had just arrived to the gruesome scene of someone inexplicably turning into silver.
People from inside the tavern were now either peering out the windows or halfway-spilling out the door, witnessing the scene with solemn silence until the screaming died and the twitches ceased and Ion was completely silver.
A man strode out and took back his sword with some difficulty, but even then he managed the task with a triumphant air. Cepra vaguely recognized him because of his clothes. He made a speech that Cepra didn’t really care about, but the crowds both outside and inside the tavern were listening quite intently. Cepra could hear something about a god or whatever. “See how the infidels fall blah blah those who do not follow blah the one true god blubbity bluh.” It was nothing she hadn’t heard before.
But grandiloquent speeches about gods usually led to something fun, she supposed. And then maybe she could finally get directions.