Re: The Gradual Massacre (GBS2G4) [Round 4: Misty Swamp]
07-11-2011, 03:37 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
Night was a time for sleep.
For some, it was restless sleep, sleep that tossed and turned, filled with uneasy fears about giant snakes and guns. For others, it was a comfortable sleep, a confident sleep that came from the knowledge that not many would mess with giant snake-gunslingers, even when sleeping.
Night was a time for sleep. For the majority, anyways.
There were plenty of reasons for any individual of such a diverse community to be up at night. Such an individual might be an un-re-undead, lumbering about, fueled by insanity. Such an individual might be one of thousands of ravenous mutant bugs (though not for long). Or one may happen to stay up late for a job. Or happen to be nocturnal. Or both.
The watchmen didn’t really patrol inside the village, but around it. After all, there were many unscrupulous beings wandering about in the swamp, more likely than not out there because of the villagers themselves. If they found their way back, they probably wouldn’t react rationally. It was one of the reasons they were turned out, in any case. So the watchmen made their rounds, up and down the wooden paths.
Niko blinked his large eyes and twitched his head around, reacting to every little sound, though he really expected nothing. His partner, Anti, was about four times his size and not as adorable, which was a subject of many a nighttime conversation. Never seriously.
“Gotta ad-a-admit it, Anti, th-the girls spend more time wi-w-with m-m-muh-me more.”
“Yeah. And they’re all about ready to go to sleep when you come out. That last one nodded off so hard, her head hit the table twice ‘fore she noticed.”
Niko gave a chittering chuckle in response to Anti’s gravelling banter before suddenly twitching his head towards the side.
Anti knew enough to know that this wasn’t just the usual tic twitch. “What’s up?” he asked, glancing in the same direction is partner was glancing towards.
“S-s-something s-sorta s-s-strange,” Niko shot back, rubbing at his snout. “Um, um, doesn’t really s–s-sm-smell good.”
Instinctively, Anti pushed himself in front of his smaller companion, glaring suspiciously into the dark swamp. After a few seconds, he could hear something too. It was a sloshing sound, perhaps the sound of someone trying to run through the muck. Worryingly enough, succeeding. Worryingly enough, getting closer…
A thin, gaunt body suddenly burst forth and pushed itself onto Anti. The large watchman, however, was easily able to toss it aside, back into the swamp muck, where it landed with a screech. Niko, in the meantime, had scampered a bit away from all the excitement, having instead opted to watch from afar.
From there, he could see the creature try to get up again only to be suddenly inhibited by a caved-in chest. He could see another one coming that Anti kicked away. He could see the crowd of gaunt, shrieking bodies closing in. He could see Anti still struggling successfully against them, but with a new look in his eye. The look had come on gradually, but was very noticeable.
And soon, Anti was shrieking along with the rest of the mob, his movements more frenzied, his attacks more spread out. He had a weapon. Really, just a thick stick, but certainly something to help against the beings. Anti never even tried to use it.
Niko suddenly rushed towards the group again, only to stop when a new sound came into focus. A hungry, buzzing sound. The group of gaunt…somethings moved on, hastier than Niko thought necessary. Anti tried to keep up and, of course, failed.
There were quite a few things that Niko never wanted to see in his life. His partner, or really, anybody getting eaten up by giant bugs found itself well up on the top of that list.
He couldn’t help but watch and he stayed frozen when the swarm continued to feed on fleeing carcasses. He couldn’t help but listen to the dying screams.
And suddenly, he curled up on all fours, turned, and ran.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It turned out Algernon had no idea how to help out in a tailor shop. Mostly what he was supposed to do was sweeping floors, measuring customers, and jotting down orders while the tailor himself (not actually a spider, but could only be described as a ‘spidery-thing’) worked in the back. Mostly what he ended up doing was eavesdropping. It was very easy, especially when you have to be uncomfortably close to types of beings you have never seen before with a measuring tape in your hand.
“And he ran in waking up the whole town,” said one, presumably male. Algernon paused. He didn’t really remember waking up at all.
Neither did the other customer. “Jus’ tell me if it’s true, ‘kay?”
“Not like anybody’s going out there to check, right? If Anti got eaten or whatever, anybody else could too.”
“Eaten by what?” Algernon forced back an impulse to shoot customer no. 2 a smile as he measured the length of customer no. 1’s appendages.
“He said it was monster bugs.”
If there was any equivalent in tape-measuring to doing a spit-take, Algernon would have certainly done so. But he had no idea how to do that, so he had to settle for tensing a little, his mind going quickly over what Cherry had told him just yesterday.
A bunch of really large bugs…and monster bugs…both apparently ridiculously dangerous…
Algernon found himself extremely jittery right until the tailor let him go. Immediately, he headed back to his hotel to get his backpack. He actually didn’t remember what was inside, but it surely would be useful.
It was on his way out, though, that he ran into Galatea.
She looked like a girl he remembered from elementary school this time. The expression on her face was more of a stern elementary school teacher, though. “Where are you going?”
“Shouldn’t you be taking care of, uh, those guys?” Algernon replied guiltily, not even able to make any eye contact.
“Whatever reason you have for going out, you really shouldn’t go out. You’ve heard the news, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, sorta,” he said vaguely.
“Obviously what happened is someone incredibly dangerous arrived. We’re lucky it’s not wandering around in towns, but this really isn’t the time for anybody to go out alone.”
“What if I got someone to go with me, then?”
“Everybody’s busy with jobs to do.” Haha. Subtle. “And we’ll be especially busy now figuring out what to do with this…problem.”
“What about other towns?” Algernon suddenly blurted out.
Galatea blinked. “What?”
“Do they know?” he persisted. “I mean, they’re really going around everywhere, right? And they must have just appeared. Do they know? Because they should.”
Galatea opened her mouth before she could find the words she wanted to say, so she closed it again. Then, “You’re right…
“…But I really don’t think that—“
“You said you all’re busy. I’m the newest guy here. I’m expendable, really, and I can take care of myself, so I should go and warn others.”
It took a long moment, but Galatea said, “Alright.”
Algernon grinned at her and walked by towards the exit, but Galatea stopped him again. “I really do know what you want to do. I don’t want to sound cruel, but you really must stop,” she said harshly.
Algernon showed all the signs of listening. He simply discarded the advice immediately as he left town once more.
Night was a time for sleep.
For some, it was restless sleep, sleep that tossed and turned, filled with uneasy fears about giant snakes and guns. For others, it was a comfortable sleep, a confident sleep that came from the knowledge that not many would mess with giant snake-gunslingers, even when sleeping.
Night was a time for sleep. For the majority, anyways.
There were plenty of reasons for any individual of such a diverse community to be up at night. Such an individual might be an un-re-undead, lumbering about, fueled by insanity. Such an individual might be one of thousands of ravenous mutant bugs (though not for long). Or one may happen to stay up late for a job. Or happen to be nocturnal. Or both.
The watchmen didn’t really patrol inside the village, but around it. After all, there were many unscrupulous beings wandering about in the swamp, more likely than not out there because of the villagers themselves. If they found their way back, they probably wouldn’t react rationally. It was one of the reasons they were turned out, in any case. So the watchmen made their rounds, up and down the wooden paths.
Niko blinked his large eyes and twitched his head around, reacting to every little sound, though he really expected nothing. His partner, Anti, was about four times his size and not as adorable, which was a subject of many a nighttime conversation. Never seriously.
“Gotta ad-a-admit it, Anti, th-the girls spend more time wi-w-with m-m-muh-me more.”
“Yeah. And they’re all about ready to go to sleep when you come out. That last one nodded off so hard, her head hit the table twice ‘fore she noticed.”
Niko gave a chittering chuckle in response to Anti’s gravelling banter before suddenly twitching his head towards the side.
Anti knew enough to know that this wasn’t just the usual tic twitch. “What’s up?” he asked, glancing in the same direction is partner was glancing towards.
“S-s-something s-sorta s-s-strange,” Niko shot back, rubbing at his snout. “Um, um, doesn’t really s–s-sm-smell good.”
Instinctively, Anti pushed himself in front of his smaller companion, glaring suspiciously into the dark swamp. After a few seconds, he could hear something too. It was a sloshing sound, perhaps the sound of someone trying to run through the muck. Worryingly enough, succeeding. Worryingly enough, getting closer…
A thin, gaunt body suddenly burst forth and pushed itself onto Anti. The large watchman, however, was easily able to toss it aside, back into the swamp muck, where it landed with a screech. Niko, in the meantime, had scampered a bit away from all the excitement, having instead opted to watch from afar.
From there, he could see the creature try to get up again only to be suddenly inhibited by a caved-in chest. He could see another one coming that Anti kicked away. He could see the crowd of gaunt, shrieking bodies closing in. He could see Anti still struggling successfully against them, but with a new look in his eye. The look had come on gradually, but was very noticeable.
And soon, Anti was shrieking along with the rest of the mob, his movements more frenzied, his attacks more spread out. He had a weapon. Really, just a thick stick, but certainly something to help against the beings. Anti never even tried to use it.
Niko suddenly rushed towards the group again, only to stop when a new sound came into focus. A hungry, buzzing sound. The group of gaunt…somethings moved on, hastier than Niko thought necessary. Anti tried to keep up and, of course, failed.
There were quite a few things that Niko never wanted to see in his life. His partner, or really, anybody getting eaten up by giant bugs found itself well up on the top of that list.
He couldn’t help but watch and he stayed frozen when the swarm continued to feed on fleeing carcasses. He couldn’t help but listen to the dying screams.
And suddenly, he curled up on all fours, turned, and ran.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It turned out Algernon had no idea how to help out in a tailor shop. Mostly what he was supposed to do was sweeping floors, measuring customers, and jotting down orders while the tailor himself (not actually a spider, but could only be described as a ‘spidery-thing’) worked in the back. Mostly what he ended up doing was eavesdropping. It was very easy, especially when you have to be uncomfortably close to types of beings you have never seen before with a measuring tape in your hand.
“And he ran in waking up the whole town,” said one, presumably male. Algernon paused. He didn’t really remember waking up at all.
Neither did the other customer. “Jus’ tell me if it’s true, ‘kay?”
“Not like anybody’s going out there to check, right? If Anti got eaten or whatever, anybody else could too.”
“Eaten by what?” Algernon forced back an impulse to shoot customer no. 2 a smile as he measured the length of customer no. 1’s appendages.
“He said it was monster bugs.”
If there was any equivalent in tape-measuring to doing a spit-take, Algernon would have certainly done so. But he had no idea how to do that, so he had to settle for tensing a little, his mind going quickly over what Cherry had told him just yesterday.
A bunch of really large bugs…and monster bugs…both apparently ridiculously dangerous…
Algernon found himself extremely jittery right until the tailor let him go. Immediately, he headed back to his hotel to get his backpack. He actually didn’t remember what was inside, but it surely would be useful.
It was on his way out, though, that he ran into Galatea.
She looked like a girl he remembered from elementary school this time. The expression on her face was more of a stern elementary school teacher, though. “Where are you going?”
“Shouldn’t you be taking care of, uh, those guys?” Algernon replied guiltily, not even able to make any eye contact.
“Whatever reason you have for going out, you really shouldn’t go out. You’ve heard the news, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, sorta,” he said vaguely.
“Obviously what happened is someone incredibly dangerous arrived. We’re lucky it’s not wandering around in towns, but this really isn’t the time for anybody to go out alone.”
“What if I got someone to go with me, then?”
“Everybody’s busy with jobs to do.” Haha. Subtle. “And we’ll be especially busy now figuring out what to do with this…problem.”
“What about other towns?” Algernon suddenly blurted out.
Galatea blinked. “What?”
“Do they know?” he persisted. “I mean, they’re really going around everywhere, right? And they must have just appeared. Do they know? Because they should.”
Galatea opened her mouth before she could find the words she wanted to say, so she closed it again. Then, “You’re right…
“…But I really don’t think that—“
“You said you all’re busy. I’m the newest guy here. I’m expendable, really, and I can take care of myself, so I should go and warn others.”
It took a long moment, but Galatea said, “Alright.”
Algernon grinned at her and walked by towards the exit, but Galatea stopped him again. “I really do know what you want to do. I don’t want to sound cruel, but you really must stop,” she said harshly.
Algernon showed all the signs of listening. He simply discarded the advice immediately as he left town once more.