Re: Inexorable Altercation [Round III - Vorlon Complex]
06-04-2011, 09:52 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.
Annaliese shrank back in the throne with the appearance of the second Vorlon; she flinched and tried to shrink even more as it spoke her name. Probably more salient was the queen's reaction to the intrusion: she whipped her head around, then scuttled across the dark floor towards Will 18. As she arrived, she stiffened and straightened her neck (a gesture Will recognized instinctively as equivalent to a narrowing of the eyes), hissing "The fact that I can perceive you without using that creature's senses means you have been downloaded directly into the Cage. What is the meaning of this?"
Will suppressed the urge to raise his arms peacefully, recognizing this would appear aggressive with his new physiology, and settled for taking a few steps backwards. "Well," he started, wondering in the back of his mind why being projected in this manner gave him any kind of awareness of Vorlon traits, "that's rather complicated, but–"
His circumspect response was quickly cut off by a hiss from the queen. "Save your waffling. You are no Vorlon. As such you have no business here. You have ten [periods lasting approximately three seconds] to explain why I shouldn't order the Cage to run maintenance or restore a backup."
Will 18 heard, and understood, the word "retten"; Annaliese was treated to a mechanical voice replacing the queen's smoother synthesized one. Had she had any experience with high technology, she would almost certainly have realized she was being given an approximate translation; since she didn't, she'd have simply assumed the queen was making silly voices or some reason, if she gave it any thought.
As it was, Anna wasn't even really paying attention to the words. As soon as the queen's multieyed gaze was directed elsewhere, Anna had scuttled behind the throne and started trying to pretend the monsters on the other side of it weren't there. Why was it she'd finally found somewhere quiet and dark and alone and suddenly there were bugmonsters everywhere and they were arguing and this crown thing wouldn't come off?
Annaliese shrank back in the throne with the appearance of the second Vorlon; she flinched and tried to shrink even more as it spoke her name. Probably more salient was the queen's reaction to the intrusion: she whipped her head around, then scuttled across the dark floor towards Will 18. As she arrived, she stiffened and straightened her neck (a gesture Will recognized instinctively as equivalent to a narrowing of the eyes), hissing "The fact that I can perceive you without using that creature's senses means you have been downloaded directly into the Cage. What is the meaning of this?"
Will suppressed the urge to raise his arms peacefully, recognizing this would appear aggressive with his new physiology, and settled for taking a few steps backwards. "Well," he started, wondering in the back of his mind why being projected in this manner gave him any kind of awareness of Vorlon traits, "that's rather complicated, but–"
His circumspect response was quickly cut off by a hiss from the queen. "Save your waffling. You are no Vorlon. As such you have no business here. You have ten [periods lasting approximately three seconds] to explain why I shouldn't order the Cage to run maintenance or restore a backup."
Will 18 heard, and understood, the word "retten"; Annaliese was treated to a mechanical voice replacing the queen's smoother synthesized one. Had she had any experience with high technology, she would almost certainly have realized she was being given an approximate translation; since she didn't, she'd have simply assumed the queen was making silly voices or some reason, if she gave it any thought.
As it was, Anna wasn't even really paying attention to the words. As soon as the queen's multieyed gaze was directed elsewhere, Anna had scuttled behind the throne and started trying to pretend the monsters on the other side of it weren't there. Why was it she'd finally found somewhere quiet and dark and alone and suddenly there were bugmonsters everywhere and they were arguing and this crown thing wouldn't come off?