Re: Vendetta [S!2 Round 1 ~ Presidentialgon]
06-20-2012, 05:03 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Flummox.
“Well, there are my people—“
Zenith stopped as Altara abruptly turned away from him and walked back to the rear of the room, pulling something off of the same shelf she’d gotten the other container off of.
“What’s this?” he asked, taking a few steps toward her but then stopping.
She pulled something out of the box – a cylinder of some sort, wider on either end. She pressed a button and the top slid open, revealing a sharp blue light. She slid a small glass tube into the top and pressed another button. Whirring sounds started and a butterfly appeared.
“What are you doing?” He half expected her to be angry at his persistent inquiry, but she wasn’t.
“An ecosystem is diverse,” the butterfly landed on her finger, “Plants and trees are just plants and trees. But a forest – a forest is a system.”
More butterflies seemingly poured out of thin air. They were joined by ants, crawling down her sleeve and to the ground, where they marched in dutiful lines to the forest above.
“It seems the humans, with all of their foolishness, knew this.” A toad leaped off her palm. “But, ah, it seems I have disregarded your request. What do you wish?”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Zounds! Slow down, there’s a forest here!” Johnny Raptor nearly slid into a tree. A cloud of dead leaves flew up as the four tried to stop.
Ariq whinnied and reared as a distinctly hoof-shaped dent was put into a trunk. Splintered bark crumbled to the floor.
“This is going to take some reconsideration,” said Artemis, “The forest is going to slow us down quite a bit.”
“Slow us down?” the Khagan grinned, “It’s not like we have anything else to be doing.” He spurred his horse and took off down the row of vegetation, trying to avoid them but failing. Trees were left scraped and broken in his wake.
Artemis sighed and slumped against the wall. Johnny sat beside him and his brain began to formulate theories of Exida’s involvement in the creation of this forest.
A butterfly landed on Artemis’ outstretched finger. “They really don’t fool around when they want to make a forest.”
“A butterfly?” Johnny Raptor looked up. “Say, what’s that sound?”
“I don’t—“
It came slowly at first – a few black particles, distant and humming. Then the rest of the cloud came, and its nature became apparent. It was a swarm of insects, their names and types unidentifiable but bearing that undeniably insectile nature.
The three began to run, but their progress was of course hampered by the trees that stood in their way. The swarm was gaining, and quickly, not being held back by the forest.
“We can’t run forever!” said Artemis, and he was acutely aware of this fact as his legs began to burn with exhaustion.
Johnny Raptor didn’t seem to hear him, and of course Felgurd was unresponsive – but it wouldn’t have mattered much anyway, seeing as there wasn’t really anywhere else to go. Suddenly he tripped over a root, and fell. He held his breath and shut his eyes tightly as the swarm flowed over him, expecting severe pain…but receiving none. No, there was only a faint tickling as the swarm flowed over him. Eventually he stood up and brushed ants off of his clothes fervently.
Johnny Raptor was standing there with Felgurd, livid, though unharmed. A small bird was perched on his hat.
“That wasn’t really a proper locust swarm. So why—“
Johnny’s half-baked ideas sprang forth in a sudden burst of anger. “I’ll bet that deer is behind this! A woodland conspiracy! A collective wilderness plot! Why, I’ll wager he’s allied with the Viper, that conniving traitor! Come on, we have a turncoat to catch!” He took off running, punching any shrubs that got in his way. The bird seemed to have one of its claws caught in the fabric of his hat and was struggling desperately to get free.
A clash of two Personalities, Artemis. This is going to be amazing, said Grendel.
“Shut up! This is crazy enough as it is without your demon mumbo jumbo!”
He and Felgurd followed as best they could, though they were beset by the shrubs that sprang up after Johnny had beaten them down.
After what seemed like ages of running, the three came into a large, open room. It was chaotic, or rather what happens after extreme chaos – namely, a mess. People who looked important were huddled into corners weeping. Johnny Raptor knew immediately that something was very wrong – very probably the work of that deer. He grabbed the nearest minister by the lapels.
“You!” he said, shaking the man, “Did a deer come through here?”
“A deer? A deer – oh, please say you’ve brought him back. Please…” he burst into tears again. Johnny dropped him.
“The only thing I’m going to be bringing to you is his dead body!” And under his breath, “That scheming cur!”
The room was struck by silence. Everyone stopped what they were doing. Then the ministers mobbed Johnny Raptor, pulling on his clothes, wailing and screaming.
“Please, no, please…don’t—“
He tore their hands off of him and slapped one across the face. “Stop your sniveling!”
What’s gotten into these people? I always thought humans were pathetic, but this, well.
“Come on,” said Artemis, “Let’s get out of here.”
They made their egress followed by more piteous wails. But what lay outside was a scene that left them dumbstruck.
“What happened here?” said Artemis, nudging a ragged corpse with his shoe.
“Probably the work of that deer!”
Artemis sighed – surely not all of this was the work of one person? What motive would anyone have to murder all of these people? Johnny Raptor was bent on revenge, and no rational thought would bring him out of it.
They rushed into the nearest building, a four-story monument to Abraham Lincoln. A statue of him crowned the top, holding high the Sword of Freedom and wearing the Top Hat of Equality.
Johnny Raptor burst into the first room. “Have any of you seen a deer around here?” There was no reply – it was empty. The second floor was empty as well, but the third was packed with security guards and policemen, giving a stern telling-off to a teenager who’d been spray-painting the wall, their sentences punctuated with nightsticks.
“Have any of you seen a deer around here?” The authorities gave him a stern look and went back to beating the kid.
“I said,” Johnny Raptor began, but was interrupted by Felgurd, who grabbed the nearest policeman and crushed him against the wall, leaving a bloodied smear. [color=#99z8rz]For he had recognized these people. He’d first encountered them in the Aleutian islands, years ago, these were the humans who’d attacked him, these were they who had murdered Tolgurd.
“Stand down!” the policemen were screaming, the delinquent forgotten in lieu of their teammate. Felgurd charged them, blind rage replacing previous thought. Bullets lodged in his body but had no visible effect on him. The security guards, wearing white, were ignored, but he killed two policemen before the remaining one made a decision he should have made far earlier – he ran. Johnny Raptor attempted to hold Felgurd back, shouting something about allies and same sides, but he was cast aside.
The cop ran up the stairs. He had a sizable lead, which Johnny had contributed to, but he was quickly being gained on. His screams were shrill and pointless, as he opened the grate to the roof and began climbing up the metal rungs embedded into the statue’s back for maintenance purposes.
Felgurd was suited to climbing, however, and soon he was lunging for the policeman’s shoe. He missed and fell short, but the psychological effect was not lost. The officer scrambled faster, nearly missing a rung. Soon he was holding onto the brim of Abe’s hat, as Felgurd reached up, and, with ease, took hold of the man’s pant leg.
But with the weight of a man and an otherworldly abomination, the thin stone that comprised Lincoln’s hat snapped, and the two came tumbling off of the statue. Felgurd’s feet-hands were torn out of their grip and he went sailing down off the immensely tall building…[/color]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Felgurd was falling, down, ever down, the blackness utter and complete, broken but for the stars – the stars, whirling. He turned to look at something—
Then the memory rewound, skipped backwards, and he was in his home. He was being born.
Felgurd blinked, slowly. Not a blink with an eyelid, but a blink with the mind, shutting off vision and turning it back on.
There had been another there, another like him. Its eye swiveled and clicked and protruded a bit from the mask – Felgurd recognized the gesture. It was a smile.
“Hello, Felgurd,” said a gentle voice, the voice of another being, an invisible Father.
“Hello, little brother,” said Tolgurd.
The Father had turned its head to look at the End. The Nothing.
“There is no time,” it said, “Go.”
The Nothing had advanced, quickly. The Father pushed them both down a hole, a threshold – and they were spinning, spinning—
Felgurd turned to look at the Father, he had almost seen its face – but the Nothing was all-devouring, and the Father was gone. The doorway was sealed.
Tolgurd’s eye whirled rapidly and receded deeply into his mask. Felgurd was familiar with this one too. It was a tear.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[color=#99z8rz]
Felgurd awoke, curled into a fetal position. Broken and dead hands lay about him, next to the tattered corpse of a policeman. His eye was spinning quickly, deep in his mask, an expression of an emotion, something he hadn’t done since Tolgurd had died. He made no attempt to stop his version of crying. For the first time, he felt cold, and alone.
[/color]
“Well, there are my people—“
Zenith stopped as Altara abruptly turned away from him and walked back to the rear of the room, pulling something off of the same shelf she’d gotten the other container off of.
“What’s this?” he asked, taking a few steps toward her but then stopping.
She pulled something out of the box – a cylinder of some sort, wider on either end. She pressed a button and the top slid open, revealing a sharp blue light. She slid a small glass tube into the top and pressed another button. Whirring sounds started and a butterfly appeared.
“What are you doing?” He half expected her to be angry at his persistent inquiry, but she wasn’t.
“An ecosystem is diverse,” the butterfly landed on her finger, “Plants and trees are just plants and trees. But a forest – a forest is a system.”
More butterflies seemingly poured out of thin air. They were joined by ants, crawling down her sleeve and to the ground, where they marched in dutiful lines to the forest above.
“It seems the humans, with all of their foolishness, knew this.” A toad leaped off her palm. “But, ah, it seems I have disregarded your request. What do you wish?”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Zounds! Slow down, there’s a forest here!” Johnny Raptor nearly slid into a tree. A cloud of dead leaves flew up as the four tried to stop.
Ariq whinnied and reared as a distinctly hoof-shaped dent was put into a trunk. Splintered bark crumbled to the floor.
“This is going to take some reconsideration,” said Artemis, “The forest is going to slow us down quite a bit.”
“Slow us down?” the Khagan grinned, “It’s not like we have anything else to be doing.” He spurred his horse and took off down the row of vegetation, trying to avoid them but failing. Trees were left scraped and broken in his wake.
Artemis sighed and slumped against the wall. Johnny sat beside him and his brain began to formulate theories of Exida’s involvement in the creation of this forest.
A butterfly landed on Artemis’ outstretched finger. “They really don’t fool around when they want to make a forest.”
“A butterfly?” Johnny Raptor looked up. “Say, what’s that sound?”
“I don’t—“
It came slowly at first – a few black particles, distant and humming. Then the rest of the cloud came, and its nature became apparent. It was a swarm of insects, their names and types unidentifiable but bearing that undeniably insectile nature.
The three began to run, but their progress was of course hampered by the trees that stood in their way. The swarm was gaining, and quickly, not being held back by the forest.
“We can’t run forever!” said Artemis, and he was acutely aware of this fact as his legs began to burn with exhaustion.
Johnny Raptor didn’t seem to hear him, and of course Felgurd was unresponsive – but it wouldn’t have mattered much anyway, seeing as there wasn’t really anywhere else to go. Suddenly he tripped over a root, and fell. He held his breath and shut his eyes tightly as the swarm flowed over him, expecting severe pain…but receiving none. No, there was only a faint tickling as the swarm flowed over him. Eventually he stood up and brushed ants off of his clothes fervently.
Johnny Raptor was standing there with Felgurd, livid, though unharmed. A small bird was perched on his hat.
“That wasn’t really a proper locust swarm. So why—“
Johnny’s half-baked ideas sprang forth in a sudden burst of anger. “I’ll bet that deer is behind this! A woodland conspiracy! A collective wilderness plot! Why, I’ll wager he’s allied with the Viper, that conniving traitor! Come on, we have a turncoat to catch!” He took off running, punching any shrubs that got in his way. The bird seemed to have one of its claws caught in the fabric of his hat and was struggling desperately to get free.
A clash of two Personalities, Artemis. This is going to be amazing, said Grendel.
“Shut up! This is crazy enough as it is without your demon mumbo jumbo!”
He and Felgurd followed as best they could, though they were beset by the shrubs that sprang up after Johnny had beaten them down.
After what seemed like ages of running, the three came into a large, open room. It was chaotic, or rather what happens after extreme chaos – namely, a mess. People who looked important were huddled into corners weeping. Johnny Raptor knew immediately that something was very wrong – very probably the work of that deer. He grabbed the nearest minister by the lapels.
“You!” he said, shaking the man, “Did a deer come through here?”
“A deer? A deer – oh, please say you’ve brought him back. Please…” he burst into tears again. Johnny dropped him.
“The only thing I’m going to be bringing to you is his dead body!” And under his breath, “That scheming cur!”
The room was struck by silence. Everyone stopped what they were doing. Then the ministers mobbed Johnny Raptor, pulling on his clothes, wailing and screaming.
“Please, no, please…don’t—“
He tore their hands off of him and slapped one across the face. “Stop your sniveling!”
What’s gotten into these people? I always thought humans were pathetic, but this, well.
“Come on,” said Artemis, “Let’s get out of here.”
They made their egress followed by more piteous wails. But what lay outside was a scene that left them dumbstruck.
“What happened here?” said Artemis, nudging a ragged corpse with his shoe.
“Probably the work of that deer!”
Artemis sighed – surely not all of this was the work of one person? What motive would anyone have to murder all of these people? Johnny Raptor was bent on revenge, and no rational thought would bring him out of it.
They rushed into the nearest building, a four-story monument to Abraham Lincoln. A statue of him crowned the top, holding high the Sword of Freedom and wearing the Top Hat of Equality.
Johnny Raptor burst into the first room. “Have any of you seen a deer around here?” There was no reply – it was empty. The second floor was empty as well, but the third was packed with security guards and policemen, giving a stern telling-off to a teenager who’d been spray-painting the wall, their sentences punctuated with nightsticks.
“Have any of you seen a deer around here?” The authorities gave him a stern look and went back to beating the kid.
“I said,” Johnny Raptor began, but was interrupted by Felgurd, who grabbed the nearest policeman and crushed him against the wall, leaving a bloodied smear. [color=#99z8rz]For he had recognized these people. He’d first encountered them in the Aleutian islands, years ago, these were the humans who’d attacked him, these were they who had murdered Tolgurd.
“Stand down!” the policemen were screaming, the delinquent forgotten in lieu of their teammate. Felgurd charged them, blind rage replacing previous thought. Bullets lodged in his body but had no visible effect on him. The security guards, wearing white, were ignored, but he killed two policemen before the remaining one made a decision he should have made far earlier – he ran. Johnny Raptor attempted to hold Felgurd back, shouting something about allies and same sides, but he was cast aside.
The cop ran up the stairs. He had a sizable lead, which Johnny had contributed to, but he was quickly being gained on. His screams were shrill and pointless, as he opened the grate to the roof and began climbing up the metal rungs embedded into the statue’s back for maintenance purposes.
Felgurd was suited to climbing, however, and soon he was lunging for the policeman’s shoe. He missed and fell short, but the psychological effect was not lost. The officer scrambled faster, nearly missing a rung. Soon he was holding onto the brim of Abe’s hat, as Felgurd reached up, and, with ease, took hold of the man’s pant leg.
But with the weight of a man and an otherworldly abomination, the thin stone that comprised Lincoln’s hat snapped, and the two came tumbling off of the statue. Felgurd’s feet-hands were torn out of their grip and he went sailing down off the immensely tall building…[/color]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Felgurd was falling, down, ever down, the blackness utter and complete, broken but for the stars – the stars, whirling. He turned to look at something—
Then the memory rewound, skipped backwards, and he was in his home. He was being born.
Felgurd blinked, slowly. Not a blink with an eyelid, but a blink with the mind, shutting off vision and turning it back on.
There had been another there, another like him. Its eye swiveled and clicked and protruded a bit from the mask – Felgurd recognized the gesture. It was a smile.
“Hello, Felgurd,” said a gentle voice, the voice of another being, an invisible Father.
“Hello, little brother,” said Tolgurd.
The Father had turned its head to look at the End. The Nothing.
“There is no time,” it said, “Go.”
The Nothing had advanced, quickly. The Father pushed them both down a hole, a threshold – and they were spinning, spinning—
Felgurd turned to look at the Father, he had almost seen its face – but the Nothing was all-devouring, and the Father was gone. The doorway was sealed.
Tolgurd’s eye whirled rapidly and receded deeply into his mask. Felgurd was familiar with this one too. It was a tear.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[color=#99z8rz]
Felgurd awoke, curled into a fetal position. Broken and dead hands lay about him, next to the tattered corpse of a policeman. His eye was spinning quickly, deep in his mask, an expression of an emotion, something he hadn’t done since Tolgurd had died. He made no attempt to stop his version of crying. For the first time, he felt cold, and alone.
[/color]