Re: The Gradual Massacre (GBS2G4) [Round 4: Misty Swamp]
06-13-2011, 11:59 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
”Well? What do you think?”
“He left his bag in his room. I took the liberty of searching through it.”
It had always bothered Galatea how a giant snake could undo zippers, but she had ultimately decided that she would never ask. It would be rude. “So?”
“Got a bunch of weird shit in there. Useless knickknacks…and a human arm.”
“A what?”
“Just the bones. Something really odd about it. Gives me the chills.”
“He really didn’t seem like the type.”
Chambers nodded his head absentmindedly. “Intuition says he’s not gonna be like ol’ Vellir. Seems like an idiot, but still hiding stuff. I can’t be sure what he’s like.”
“Well, in any case, I don’t think he’ll be much use to the town…he can’t do heavy-lifting, he’s pretty focused on leaving and I think he has a one-track mind…”
Chambers suddenly interrupted her. “Didja search him, by the by?”
“Well, no.”
“He has a gun in his pocket.”
Galatea was fairly certain that she would notice if a person in front of her had a gun in his pocket and frankly, she was insulted that Chambers unintentionally implied that she couldn’t. “Well, how do you know?” she asked, trying not to sound affronted.
“Guns are my thing, ya know?” Chambers gestured with his tail cheerfully, apparently unaware that his explanation made no sense whatsoever. “So, he has a gun. It’s unloaded, though.”
“…You can’t know that.”
Chambers just shrugged, his various firearms clanking together. Galatea couldn’t help but feel even more confused.
“In any case, s’pose we oughta keep an eye on him. Can’t say I completely trust a man with part of a skeleton in his pack.”
Galatea couldn’t help but agree.
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He couldn’t say that he had thought this trip out very thoroughly. He could’ve brought some food, perhaps. Or maybe had an idea of what to do beyond ‘walk on this wooden path and look for something mysterious.’
He could try exploring off the manmade path (…or whatevermade), but he had just gotten new clothes. And it was probably better to ask someone with more familiarity with the place for help.
…What happened if you walked through the fog?
Maybe he could ask someone later.
The boardwalk felt like it was sinking. Probably his imagination.
…He could swear he heard some buzzing. It was really…it wasn’t annoying. For some inexplicable reason, it was nerve-wracking.
…Maybe his imagination.
Still, by the time Algernon arrived at the next town over, he was lightly jogging after full-out running for several minutes. He paused to catch his breath and gazed about at this new town. It was certainly much larger than the place he had left. It was busy, he supposed. People were definitely striding around purposefully. A few of them looked at him oddly. One person looked at him odder than the rest. It was a woman. And by the look on her face, he was sure she recognized him.
She seemed to freeze, a look of…surprise, perhaps, maybe even horror, on her face. And then that vanished. “Algernon!” she called out, waving invitingly. The young man looked around uncomfortably for a moment before walking up to her.
“Hey,” he replied, a little surprised that he found somebody who actually knew him. Maybe figuring what the heck was going on would be easier than he thought. “Um. Hi.”
The woman was smirking at him, but seemed to catch herself and replaced it with a genuine smile again. “You haven’t changed at all. But I’ve changed quite a bit! So, did you meet anybody already? I see you got new clothes,” she said, her eyes flitting about. It was then Algernon actually noticed that her ears were unnaturally long. Sooo…was it the same thing with big palms…? “I wouldn’t have recognized you if it weren’t for that worm on your head! Hahaha!”
“Hahaha,” Algernon repeated, still fidgety. It was never fun talking to someone that knew you even when you didn’t know them. “Uh, listen. I’m, uh, I don’t really mean offense, but I don’t really know who you are.”
The woman stared at him blankly for a few moments before smiling again, wider than ever. “Oh! No, no, that’s okay, that’s fine. Hahaha. We knew that could happen, right?”
“Hahaha,” Algernon agreed as the woman then wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “You wouldn’t mind, you know, ah, telling me who you are again, would you…?”
“Cherry,” she said without hesitation, still uncomfortably close. Crowds passed them by, apparently seeing nothing unusual.
Algernon continued to feel unpleasantly disoriented. He had been in this sort of situation before. An apocalyptic wasteland is a small world after all and sometimes he ran into people he had supposedly met before and had to explain that he had involuntarily forgotten about them. But nobody ever really, uh, interacted with him like this. Which just begged the question just what the hell he was doing during the worryingly large interval of time he just couldn’t remember.
Oh god. He really hoped he wouldn’t regret this question.
“So, Cherry,” he coughed as the long-eared woman continued laughing and leaning on him. “What exactly…uh…happened…? I mean, I kinda just…found myself here and it’s sorta…I sorta don’t really remember much…so…”
“Oh, well, we were in space earlier. Someone died, I s’pose, so now we’re here! Which’s good, ‘cause I was in a lot of trouble, then.”
This just brought up a whole shitton of other questions.
Cherry just continued, apparently unaware of his increasing bewilderment. “It’s okay, though, that bastard didn’t show his ugly mug, so I think the whole thing’s done. What a bastard. That thing he did to you back then, that was just, it was like he was teasing you. But that’s the worse teasing I saw. You’re alright, right? Not too traumatized by that? Well, he’s gone now. But the others’re probably here. Do you remember the others? Um, maybe not? Hang on, let me tell you. If you see a bunch of really large bugs, don’t go near them. If you see a sort of metally spider woman, she’s called the Countess, stay away from her too. Um, there was also a guy called Thane…” She trailed off for a moment, but before Algernon could even begin to ask what all of this even meant, she started up again. “Oh. And Acacia. Shaved head and this clunky necklace sorta thing. Stay away from her too.”
It was the darkest she had sounded during the whole thing. Algernon stood silently for a while as Cherry continued to lean on him with her arm wrapped around his neck and her hair shoving itself in his face. It didn’t seem like she was going to continue. “Uh,”
“Sorry, I’m gonna have to cut this short,” Cherry suddenly piped up, patting him on the back before finally separating from him. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do. I mean, I still haven’t actually gotten a place to sleep yet!”
“I got one,” Algernon suddenly said without entirely meaning to. Cherry stared at him oddly. He looked away and kicked the ground a little before deciding that now that he said it, he should probably finish it. “I mean, uh, I just got a room back in the other town…so…”
Cherry just laughed again. She really laughed a lot. He had no idea whether it was a good thing or not. “How sweet of you. But I can take care of myself. It looks like it’s getting late, soooooo…”
“Yeah. I guess I should go back.”
“Kinda silly of you to walk all the way here.” And there goes another laugh. She walked off, waving a good-bye. Algernon watched her turn the corner.
Oh goddammit, now he was just even more confused than he was before. There was death involved. There was supposedly a figurative bastard involved. Who did something to him that he didn’t remember. He wasn’t sure he wanted to remember.
Death. And apparently very questionable people.
What did he get himself involved in?
”Well? What do you think?”
“He left his bag in his room. I took the liberty of searching through it.”
It had always bothered Galatea how a giant snake could undo zippers, but she had ultimately decided that she would never ask. It would be rude. “So?”
“Got a bunch of weird shit in there. Useless knickknacks…and a human arm.”
“A what?”
“Just the bones. Something really odd about it. Gives me the chills.”
“He really didn’t seem like the type.”
Chambers nodded his head absentmindedly. “Intuition says he’s not gonna be like ol’ Vellir. Seems like an idiot, but still hiding stuff. I can’t be sure what he’s like.”
“Well, in any case, I don’t think he’ll be much use to the town…he can’t do heavy-lifting, he’s pretty focused on leaving and I think he has a one-track mind…”
Chambers suddenly interrupted her. “Didja search him, by the by?”
“Well, no.”
“He has a gun in his pocket.”
Galatea was fairly certain that she would notice if a person in front of her had a gun in his pocket and frankly, she was insulted that Chambers unintentionally implied that she couldn’t. “Well, how do you know?” she asked, trying not to sound affronted.
“Guns are my thing, ya know?” Chambers gestured with his tail cheerfully, apparently unaware that his explanation made no sense whatsoever. “So, he has a gun. It’s unloaded, though.”
“…You can’t know that.”
Chambers just shrugged, his various firearms clanking together. Galatea couldn’t help but feel even more confused.
“In any case, s’pose we oughta keep an eye on him. Can’t say I completely trust a man with part of a skeleton in his pack.”
Galatea couldn’t help but agree.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He couldn’t say that he had thought this trip out very thoroughly. He could’ve brought some food, perhaps. Or maybe had an idea of what to do beyond ‘walk on this wooden path and look for something mysterious.’
He could try exploring off the manmade path (…or whatevermade), but he had just gotten new clothes. And it was probably better to ask someone with more familiarity with the place for help.
…What happened if you walked through the fog?
Maybe he could ask someone later.
The boardwalk felt like it was sinking. Probably his imagination.
…He could swear he heard some buzzing. It was really…it wasn’t annoying. For some inexplicable reason, it was nerve-wracking.
…Maybe his imagination.
Still, by the time Algernon arrived at the next town over, he was lightly jogging after full-out running for several minutes. He paused to catch his breath and gazed about at this new town. It was certainly much larger than the place he had left. It was busy, he supposed. People were definitely striding around purposefully. A few of them looked at him oddly. One person looked at him odder than the rest. It was a woman. And by the look on her face, he was sure she recognized him.
She seemed to freeze, a look of…surprise, perhaps, maybe even horror, on her face. And then that vanished. “Algernon!” she called out, waving invitingly. The young man looked around uncomfortably for a moment before walking up to her.
“Hey,” he replied, a little surprised that he found somebody who actually knew him. Maybe figuring what the heck was going on would be easier than he thought. “Um. Hi.”
The woman was smirking at him, but seemed to catch herself and replaced it with a genuine smile again. “You haven’t changed at all. But I’ve changed quite a bit! So, did you meet anybody already? I see you got new clothes,” she said, her eyes flitting about. It was then Algernon actually noticed that her ears were unnaturally long. Sooo…was it the same thing with big palms…? “I wouldn’t have recognized you if it weren’t for that worm on your head! Hahaha!”
“Hahaha,” Algernon repeated, still fidgety. It was never fun talking to someone that knew you even when you didn’t know them. “Uh, listen. I’m, uh, I don’t really mean offense, but I don’t really know who you are.”
The woman stared at him blankly for a few moments before smiling again, wider than ever. “Oh! No, no, that’s okay, that’s fine. Hahaha. We knew that could happen, right?”
“Hahaha,” Algernon agreed as the woman then wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “You wouldn’t mind, you know, ah, telling me who you are again, would you…?”
“Cherry,” she said without hesitation, still uncomfortably close. Crowds passed them by, apparently seeing nothing unusual.
Algernon continued to feel unpleasantly disoriented. He had been in this sort of situation before. An apocalyptic wasteland is a small world after all and sometimes he ran into people he had supposedly met before and had to explain that he had involuntarily forgotten about them. But nobody ever really, uh, interacted with him like this. Which just begged the question just what the hell he was doing during the worryingly large interval of time he just couldn’t remember.
Oh god. He really hoped he wouldn’t regret this question.
“So, Cherry,” he coughed as the long-eared woman continued laughing and leaning on him. “What exactly…uh…happened…? I mean, I kinda just…found myself here and it’s sorta…I sorta don’t really remember much…so…”
“Oh, well, we were in space earlier. Someone died, I s’pose, so now we’re here! Which’s good, ‘cause I was in a lot of trouble, then.”
This just brought up a whole shitton of other questions.
Cherry just continued, apparently unaware of his increasing bewilderment. “It’s okay, though, that bastard didn’t show his ugly mug, so I think the whole thing’s done. What a bastard. That thing he did to you back then, that was just, it was like he was teasing you. But that’s the worse teasing I saw. You’re alright, right? Not too traumatized by that? Well, he’s gone now. But the others’re probably here. Do you remember the others? Um, maybe not? Hang on, let me tell you. If you see a bunch of really large bugs, don’t go near them. If you see a sort of metally spider woman, she’s called the Countess, stay away from her too. Um, there was also a guy called Thane…” She trailed off for a moment, but before Algernon could even begin to ask what all of this even meant, she started up again. “Oh. And Acacia. Shaved head and this clunky necklace sorta thing. Stay away from her too.”
It was the darkest she had sounded during the whole thing. Algernon stood silently for a while as Cherry continued to lean on him with her arm wrapped around his neck and her hair shoving itself in his face. It didn’t seem like she was going to continue. “Uh,”
“Sorry, I’m gonna have to cut this short,” Cherry suddenly piped up, patting him on the back before finally separating from him. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do. I mean, I still haven’t actually gotten a place to sleep yet!”
“I got one,” Algernon suddenly said without entirely meaning to. Cherry stared at him oddly. He looked away and kicked the ground a little before deciding that now that he said it, he should probably finish it. “I mean, uh, I just got a room back in the other town…so…”
Cherry just laughed again. She really laughed a lot. He had no idea whether it was a good thing or not. “How sweet of you. But I can take care of myself. It looks like it’s getting late, soooooo…”
“Yeah. I guess I should go back.”
“Kinda silly of you to walk all the way here.” And there goes another laugh. She walked off, waving a good-bye. Algernon watched her turn the corner.
Oh goddammit, now he was just even more confused than he was before. There was death involved. There was supposedly a figurative bastard involved. Who did something to him that he didn’t remember. He wasn’t sure he wanted to remember.
Death. And apparently very questionable people.
What did he get himself involved in?