Re: Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Round One: The Pacific Spire]
10-22-2012, 07:34 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by ~ATH.
The raid was over just as quickly as it started. Tables lay upturned, computers randomly shot sparks, and bloody corpses lay sprawled across the entire floor. Amongst the ruins, only a few people were left alive, salvaging whatever paperwork might be left over. The company was worth their lives, and they would never let go of it. Their heads didn't even turn when an unusual robot chick floated beyond them, wearing a hideous pink sweater.
Simiel was already searching for Blacklight at the sweater, no, at Jean's request. Last she saw her, she was still on the floor where they had first met. That might be a good place to start, and it wasn't far off, so she took the stairs.
It was almost ridiculous, but somehow, she could feel her. Like, she knew where she was, but only because part of Simiel was also there. This did not make any sort of sense, but she had seen many wondrous things today, so she just went with the flow.
-~-
Jean laid still. She was understandably just a bit overwhelmed by this whole thing. She learned thar she could still keep in touch with her sweater, even though she thought she had already given it up. At that point, she had truly realized that maybe just giving away parts of herself wouldn't be the right thing for her to do? But she wanted to make everybody beautiful. Or did she? She certainly didn't want to cease to exist anymore, as there were all these nice people who appreciated her. Like Ms. Backlight or whatever her name was.
Gosh, this was just too confusing!
And this closet was too dark and scary. There was nobody else here, and it was starting to seriously bother her. Memories of her long years of loneliness sent her in a slight panic attack, and she burst out of the closet. She looked around at the despondent crowd. Everybody just seemed to accept the inevitable and sat gloomily with their heads bowed down. She saw that some people were staring mutinously at her. To this, she levitated a glove up near where her hand would be, oscillated it furiously, and shrilled girlishly.
"Hi there! So, nobody knows how to get out yet?"
One of them, a burlesque man whose shirt was simply too small for him, trudged over and grabbed her by the scruff of one of her many blouses. This, of course, turned out to be ineffective, but for the sake of courtesy, Jean materialized a head for the guy to talk to.
"You! I don't know who you are, but I've had enough of you, ya hear? Ya think this is some kinda joke?!"
"Um. Well, nobody's laughing, so it's not a very good joke, is it? Hehe."
"Shut up!"
He drew back and punched her right in the faux kisser. Her head simply flew off and landed with a clumph on a perfectly generic looking guy, who got up and tossed aside the smaller pile of clothes into the larger pile. He stormed over to the burlesque guy, and reprimanded him.
"Oi, Willard. What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just beat up someone like that!"
"It isn't even a person, Mitch! It's some kinda ... freak!"
"She did nothing to harm us. Calm down."
"Well, how do you know that for sure? How do you know it wasn't the one who locked us up?"
Jean had already reformed herself, and chose this moment to make herself known.
"Wha? But, but I'm just a mail carrier! Honest!"
"Right, and we're supposed to believe you? Just what were you doing in that closet, anyways?" Willard inquired.
"Well, I was kinda talking to someone else. It's a funny story, actually. So, you see, there's this one pretty lady, except she didn't have any clothes, so I gave her this pretty pink sweater! Gosh, you should have seen how adorable she looked in it, and it even complemented her eyes perfectly! It was simply to die for!"
"Eugh, enough. So this girl has one of your sweaters, so what?"
"Well, uh, she still has it, and somehow I can still feel it, or something. Like, it's still connected. I think I somehow told her that we needed help. She's gonna come right up and try to bust us out."
"And you never told us this, why?"
"You never really asked."
-~-
The flow led Simiel right to the center of a ruined office complex, with only Miss Blacklight walking around in the middle. Miss Blacklight reached down and picked up a detached hand, with ebbing desires to save the company still attached. She extracted what little of the desires she could, and turned them into a tiny blue gem, just barely enough to be visible. She turned, taking notice of Simiel.
"Ah, Simiel. Wonderful."
"Miss Blacklight, I have been searching for you. Your presence has been requested."
"Allow me, for a moment?"
She was holding out a pile of small blue gems. She threw them in the air, and they scattered throughout her dress, giving it a mysterious sparkle.
"So, you wanted me?"
Simiel still felt a bit confused over that word, desire, but she put that out of mind for now, because Jean needed them.
"Jean has sent me a message. She along with some other workers have been incarcerated on floor 259. She called for you specifically."
"Ooh, that darling laundry golem? I'm not too sure why she needs me in particular, but I can't say no. Let us be on our way, Simiel."
They walked - or floated, in Simiel's case - over to the elevator, and Miss Blacklight pressed the button.
"Hold on. Jean gave me the feeling that something was up with the elevators. It would be more safe to take the stairs."
And take the stairs they did. As Simiel floated upstairs, nearly running into quite a few people, some she recognized, the sweater shuddered a bit. It gave the sensation of urgency, angry people, and would you please get over here they were making her uncomfortable.
"I am on my way, with Miss Blacklight."
"Hm? Did you say something?"
"Jean is communicating with me through this sweater. I find it all clever and fascinating and I'd like to know what mechanism she uses."
"Ah, do tell."
"I -"
"Actually, could I see that for a bit?"
Miss Blacklight took the sweater, not bothering to wait for Simiel's answer.
"Jean? Are you alright? It's me, Miss Blacklight."
The sweater shuddered and gave a feeling of joy, recognition, and began caressing her silky smooth dress. Miss Blacklight laughed, and wrapped it around her neck. Its dirtiness did not bother her, as her dress never got dirty anyways.
"Interesting. So you can sense what is happening over long distances? You just keep getting more and more remarkable."
"There's something else I wished to ask you about. I could detect your presence, and I could detect... myself within you. This does not make sense to me, do you have an explanation?"
"Hmm. It must be this gem I still have, with your desire in it."
She plucked a deep blue gem, desire to overenunciate still swirling around in it. She made to explain, but suddenly, they stopped. Or were stopped, to be more exact, by a large pile of concrete and metal. People had crowded around the rubble, complaining about the lack of efficiency. Some were trying to dig their way through.
"My sensors indicate that this is the floor where Jean is being held. People, please allow me through. I am on a rescue mission."
More than a few of them jolted with surprise at this unnatural sight. They moved aside, allowing them through. Simiel's hand turned into a drill, and began slowly drilling through the debris with robotic strength. Miss Blacklight took this opportunity to talk with Jean a bit more, and warned her that they were coming in, and could she please try to get people down to help out? She responded with a vague sense of people already digging out, and having been doing so for a good while now. She also commented on how impressed she was that they kept working for so long, yet making no progress at all. They were very diligent workers. Miss Blacklight would remember to try and store some of those desires.
-~-
A while later, light finally broke through. Cheers rose through the air, and Simiel was hailed as a hero. Or a pretty cool gal, at least. As soon as people dispersed enough for her to be allowed through, Jean ran up and smothered Simiel and Blacklight in mounds of stinky garments.
"Oh thank you thank you thank you sooo much! You two are just wonderful!"
"It's my pleasure, dear."
"I was only fulfilling your orders."
"Orders? Nah, it wasn't like that. I think?"
"You asked for help, and I was able to fulfill your call. This makes me ... satisfied?"
"Teehee. That's great! Say, you could use a new hat... Oh my gosh, that reminds me! There's still one lady I haven't even seen! Oh, I bet she would like a makeover! Let's go look for her right away!"
"We have duties assigned to us. Perhaps we should remain."
"Psh. They're not really that important."
"Let's go, then!"
The raid was over just as quickly as it started. Tables lay upturned, computers randomly shot sparks, and bloody corpses lay sprawled across the entire floor. Amongst the ruins, only a few people were left alive, salvaging whatever paperwork might be left over. The company was worth their lives, and they would never let go of it. Their heads didn't even turn when an unusual robot chick floated beyond them, wearing a hideous pink sweater.
Simiel was already searching for Blacklight at the sweater, no, at Jean's request. Last she saw her, she was still on the floor where they had first met. That might be a good place to start, and it wasn't far off, so she took the stairs.
It was almost ridiculous, but somehow, she could feel her. Like, she knew where she was, but only because part of Simiel was also there. This did not make any sort of sense, but she had seen many wondrous things today, so she just went with the flow.
-~-
Jean laid still. She was understandably just a bit overwhelmed by this whole thing. She learned thar she could still keep in touch with her sweater, even though she thought she had already given it up. At that point, she had truly realized that maybe just giving away parts of herself wouldn't be the right thing for her to do? But she wanted to make everybody beautiful. Or did she? She certainly didn't want to cease to exist anymore, as there were all these nice people who appreciated her. Like Ms. Backlight or whatever her name was.
Gosh, this was just too confusing!
And this closet was too dark and scary. There was nobody else here, and it was starting to seriously bother her. Memories of her long years of loneliness sent her in a slight panic attack, and she burst out of the closet. She looked around at the despondent crowd. Everybody just seemed to accept the inevitable and sat gloomily with their heads bowed down. She saw that some people were staring mutinously at her. To this, she levitated a glove up near where her hand would be, oscillated it furiously, and shrilled girlishly.
"Hi there! So, nobody knows how to get out yet?"
One of them, a burlesque man whose shirt was simply too small for him, trudged over and grabbed her by the scruff of one of her many blouses. This, of course, turned out to be ineffective, but for the sake of courtesy, Jean materialized a head for the guy to talk to.
"You! I don't know who you are, but I've had enough of you, ya hear? Ya think this is some kinda joke?!"
"Um. Well, nobody's laughing, so it's not a very good joke, is it? Hehe."
"Shut up!"
He drew back and punched her right in the faux kisser. Her head simply flew off and landed with a clumph on a perfectly generic looking guy, who got up and tossed aside the smaller pile of clothes into the larger pile. He stormed over to the burlesque guy, and reprimanded him.
"Oi, Willard. What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just beat up someone like that!"
"It isn't even a person, Mitch! It's some kinda ... freak!"
"She did nothing to harm us. Calm down."
"Well, how do you know that for sure? How do you know it wasn't the one who locked us up?"
Jean had already reformed herself, and chose this moment to make herself known.
"Wha? But, but I'm just a mail carrier! Honest!"
"Right, and we're supposed to believe you? Just what were you doing in that closet, anyways?" Willard inquired.
"Well, I was kinda talking to someone else. It's a funny story, actually. So, you see, there's this one pretty lady, except she didn't have any clothes, so I gave her this pretty pink sweater! Gosh, you should have seen how adorable she looked in it, and it even complemented her eyes perfectly! It was simply to die for!"
"Eugh, enough. So this girl has one of your sweaters, so what?"
"Well, uh, she still has it, and somehow I can still feel it, or something. Like, it's still connected. I think I somehow told her that we needed help. She's gonna come right up and try to bust us out."
"And you never told us this, why?"
"You never really asked."
-~-
The flow led Simiel right to the center of a ruined office complex, with only Miss Blacklight walking around in the middle. Miss Blacklight reached down and picked up a detached hand, with ebbing desires to save the company still attached. She extracted what little of the desires she could, and turned them into a tiny blue gem, just barely enough to be visible. She turned, taking notice of Simiel.
"Ah, Simiel. Wonderful."
"Miss Blacklight, I have been searching for you. Your presence has been requested."
"Allow me, for a moment?"
She was holding out a pile of small blue gems. She threw them in the air, and they scattered throughout her dress, giving it a mysterious sparkle.
"So, you wanted me?"
Simiel still felt a bit confused over that word, desire, but she put that out of mind for now, because Jean needed them.
"Jean has sent me a message. She along with some other workers have been incarcerated on floor 259. She called for you specifically."
"Ooh, that darling laundry golem? I'm not too sure why she needs me in particular, but I can't say no. Let us be on our way, Simiel."
They walked - or floated, in Simiel's case - over to the elevator, and Miss Blacklight pressed the button.
"Hold on. Jean gave me the feeling that something was up with the elevators. It would be more safe to take the stairs."
And take the stairs they did. As Simiel floated upstairs, nearly running into quite a few people, some she recognized, the sweater shuddered a bit. It gave the sensation of urgency, angry people, and would you please get over here they were making her uncomfortable.
"I am on my way, with Miss Blacklight."
"Hm? Did you say something?"
"Jean is communicating with me through this sweater. I find it all clever and fascinating and I'd like to know what mechanism she uses."
"Ah, do tell."
"I -"
"Actually, could I see that for a bit?"
Miss Blacklight took the sweater, not bothering to wait for Simiel's answer.
"Jean? Are you alright? It's me, Miss Blacklight."
The sweater shuddered and gave a feeling of joy, recognition, and began caressing her silky smooth dress. Miss Blacklight laughed, and wrapped it around her neck. Its dirtiness did not bother her, as her dress never got dirty anyways.
"Interesting. So you can sense what is happening over long distances? You just keep getting more and more remarkable."
"There's something else I wished to ask you about. I could detect your presence, and I could detect... myself within you. This does not make sense to me, do you have an explanation?"
"Hmm. It must be this gem I still have, with your desire in it."
She plucked a deep blue gem, desire to overenunciate still swirling around in it. She made to explain, but suddenly, they stopped. Or were stopped, to be more exact, by a large pile of concrete and metal. People had crowded around the rubble, complaining about the lack of efficiency. Some were trying to dig their way through.
"My sensors indicate that this is the floor where Jean is being held. People, please allow me through. I am on a rescue mission."
More than a few of them jolted with surprise at this unnatural sight. They moved aside, allowing them through. Simiel's hand turned into a drill, and began slowly drilling through the debris with robotic strength. Miss Blacklight took this opportunity to talk with Jean a bit more, and warned her that they were coming in, and could she please try to get people down to help out? She responded with a vague sense of people already digging out, and having been doing so for a good while now. She also commented on how impressed she was that they kept working for so long, yet making no progress at all. They were very diligent workers. Miss Blacklight would remember to try and store some of those desires.
-~-
A while later, light finally broke through. Cheers rose through the air, and Simiel was hailed as a hero. Or a pretty cool gal, at least. As soon as people dispersed enough for her to be allowed through, Jean ran up and smothered Simiel and Blacklight in mounds of stinky garments.
"Oh thank you thank you thank you sooo much! You two are just wonderful!"
"It's my pleasure, dear."
"I was only fulfilling your orders."
"Orders? Nah, it wasn't like that. I think?"
"You asked for help, and I was able to fulfill your call. This makes me ... satisfied?"
"Teehee. That's great! Say, you could use a new hat... Oh my gosh, that reminds me! There's still one lady I haven't even seen! Oh, I bet she would like a makeover! Let's go look for her right away!"
"We have duties assigned to us. Perhaps we should remain."
"Psh. They're not really that important."
"Let's go, then!"
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