Re: Intense Struggle Season 2! (Round 2: Infinity Express)
11-30-2010, 11:03 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.
Karen let her hand slip away from the hilt of her sword. She generally didn’t except Sarika to go around bashing doors open, and even then she had been on edge after spending so long in a train. She knew it wasn’t a monorail, she knew the chances of this thing derailing were probably non-existent unless an outside force worked on it, but still, a basic fear from the accident that claimed the lives of her beloved parents ha been rooted in her without her knowing. She had never used one since; she had barely gone outside at all in the two years since.
She felt a little better with Sarika around, and was glad that she could get rid of the apprehension that was growing in her gut since the end of the last round.
“Do you know who didn’t make it?”
Sarika took a moment to arrange her thoughts, before she replied, “Dekowin… she turned on Lloyd, and both he and Marcus shot her. But-“
“I get it. Nobody wanted to kill anyone. It was do or die. Dekowin, huh… “
Karen let her sentence fade off. Dekowin had seemed like someone who could have survived with their talents. Her death made her question just what she could accomplish. She had felt the same way about Marcus. CHARLIE and Reudic were out, she felt no reason to help them, and saw CHARLIE as a threat to the lives of everyone here. And Lloyd, she had a bad feeling about him. It wasn’t his physical body she was afraid of; she felt he had dangerous ideas. Give someone like that enough time, and they could do some major damage. But could she really choose who to save or not?
She’d fight everything she could fight and protect everyone she could, what else could she do?
Small voice in the back of head murmured “win”
As she tried to bite down on that selfish thought, the train rocket into a new direction, causing the two girls to plummet off their feet. Karen snapped her left fingers creating a levitation spell, however Sarika wasn’t as resourceful and slammed into Karen’s chest. Karen wrapped her arm around her and waited for the train to turn back to what they viewed as “normal”.
When their feet finally touched the ground and Karen turned off the spell, Sarika could only notice that, oddly enough, Karen wasn’t letting go. She actually seemed to be shaken up, and rather nervous.
“Hey, you feeling alright?”
Karen gave a nod in agreement, but still wouldn’t let go.
“You sure don’t look like it. What’s the matter?”
“I… don’t like trains.”
“You mean like a phobia?”
“You could say that.”
Karen took a deep breath and let Sarika go. She walked unsteadily to the wall and leaned against it for support.
“How come you hate trains? Is it bad?”
Karen glared at Sarika, but not in a menacing way. Sarika couldn’t feel any hatred or resentment at it. Only… sadness.
“Two years ago. Monorail accident. I… I lost both my parents. It’s something that… changed me. I never managed to see people the same way. Almost as if humans became more like husks. Or maybe I was the husk…”
Karen instinctively added “You don’t have to say anything, its fine” to the end, guessing that the guilt trip would cause Sarika to apologise. She didn’t have time for apologies.
“Would it help if I warned you when the train is going to go sporadic?”
“Greatly. Then I can stop us falling over that much faster.”
Karen was feeling better now, and realised that it felt pretty nice to be around Sarika. She was nice and clever, something that Karen respected. She tapped at a small device by the door, and it slid open.
“…ah, a door panel. Whoops”
“You mean you bashed it open because you didn’t notice?”
Sarika shrugged, which caused Karen to laugh. While out of character, Karen was pretty at ease now. She could only wonder how long that would last. She’d just have to make the most of it.
“So where are we going?”
“The way I came from. It was a ritzy kind of party car, but I guess the way you came was empty?”
“Uh… yeah. Empty…”
Karen left the conversation as it ended and walked back into the fancy party car. It was just as bustling as she left it.
“We have to get through this?” Sarika moaned, “I hate that cold shudder.”
“Cold…shudder?” Karen asked blankly.
“You didn’t notice? If you touch these creatures you get this… well, cold shudder.”
Karen reached out and poked a vaguely mole-like creature with her index finger. It passed through, and gave her a shudder, cold, down her spine.
“See?”
Karen sparked a flame into her hand and warmed it up for a few seconds, letting the fire die out afterwards. She heard Sarika tut under her breath behind her before she slipped around the patrons rather quickly, leaving Sarika to awkwardly follow, though not nearly as gracefully. Karen reached the opposite doorway rather quickly and waited for Sarika to catch up. When she did, she made several complaints which Karen wasn’t really sure the meaning of were. When Sarika had composed herself they passed into the next car. At first sight it seemed to be some kind of bar, and upon closer inspection, it was. A whole bar had managed to be stuffed into the train car, drinks wall, tables, counter and even a jukebox. Karen even saw a vending machine next to her that had an electronic cover. It listed the names of drinks in dialects she had no understanding of. After a few moments of scrolling she hit what looked like French she found a common brand of fizzy drink she used to have a taste for.
She reached into her pocket and brought out a bag of coins, recognising them as the currency from her game. Shrugging a “Why not?” she slotted in a few coins and made her selection. After a few suspenseful seconds, the bottle dropped into the slot at the bottom. She picked it up, twisted off the cap and took a sip. A combination of sweetness and fizzyness gave her a strong tingle on her tongue. She turned to Sarika as an afterthought and asked “Want anything?”
“A black coffee? I guess.”
Karen scrolled further as she drank her soda. She selected Coffee from the English spelling and added black to the choice. A small cup appeared by the side of the vendor and coffee dribbled out of a tap into it. She handed it to Sarika and looked over the bar once more.
“I wonder why nobody can move.”
As if to be galactically ironic, the crowd in the bar began to move again. Some were quite surprised to see Karen and Sarika (from their perspective) to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Karen glared back at a strange green creature that seemed to be looking at her. Or maybe that was the back of its head, she couldn’t really tell.
After a few seconds though the crowd stopped moving again, and Karen and Sarika were left to ponder what had just occurred.
“Well-“
“-That was odd.”
As they both stood idly sipping their respective drinks, the door at the far end opened, revealing Lloyd who promptly walked in.
“Ah, hey girls! I wondered when I’d meet someone I recognised. You wouldn’t have happened to see any towels around have you?”
Sarika happened to blush at this, while Karen just stared awkwardly to the side as Lloyd approached.
“Bad topic?”
“I found your towel actually.”
“That’s great!”
“It’s been on fire. A bit.”
Karen reached into her pocket and carefully took out the half scorched towel that was Lloyds.
“Egad! Why was it on fire?” He said, grabbing it from her hand.
WIt… attacked me. I had to defend myself.”
“It’s a freaking towel! How would it attack you!”
Karen shrugged the question away, saying “Who creates a character fixated on towels anyway” under her breath.
“What kind of swear work is freaking?” Sarika added, also under her breath.
“Whatever, I still need a new towel then. This thing won’t do at all.”
“There are bedrooms… back our way…” Sarika managed to say with some difficulty.
“Then that’s where I’ll head…”
Lloyd passed through with no more discussion appearing.
“What’s wrong with the bedrooms?”
“Well… It’s embarrassing.”
Karen stared at her blankly.
“Okay okay. It’s… a homosexual couple ‘going at it’ alright!”
Even Karen had to blush at the thought of that.
“Boy, Lloyd’s going to be shocked if he walks into that one.”
“I had to see it too, y’know. It’s not a nice image.”
They both silently agreed never to mention it again.
Karen let her hand slip away from the hilt of her sword. She generally didn’t except Sarika to go around bashing doors open, and even then she had been on edge after spending so long in a train. She knew it wasn’t a monorail, she knew the chances of this thing derailing were probably non-existent unless an outside force worked on it, but still, a basic fear from the accident that claimed the lives of her beloved parents ha been rooted in her without her knowing. She had never used one since; she had barely gone outside at all in the two years since.
She felt a little better with Sarika around, and was glad that she could get rid of the apprehension that was growing in her gut since the end of the last round.
“Do you know who didn’t make it?”
Sarika took a moment to arrange her thoughts, before she replied, “Dekowin… she turned on Lloyd, and both he and Marcus shot her. But-“
“I get it. Nobody wanted to kill anyone. It was do or die. Dekowin, huh… “
Karen let her sentence fade off. Dekowin had seemed like someone who could have survived with their talents. Her death made her question just what she could accomplish. She had felt the same way about Marcus. CHARLIE and Reudic were out, she felt no reason to help them, and saw CHARLIE as a threat to the lives of everyone here. And Lloyd, she had a bad feeling about him. It wasn’t his physical body she was afraid of; she felt he had dangerous ideas. Give someone like that enough time, and they could do some major damage. But could she really choose who to save or not?
She’d fight everything she could fight and protect everyone she could, what else could she do?
Small voice in the back of head murmured “win”
As she tried to bite down on that selfish thought, the train rocket into a new direction, causing the two girls to plummet off their feet. Karen snapped her left fingers creating a levitation spell, however Sarika wasn’t as resourceful and slammed into Karen’s chest. Karen wrapped her arm around her and waited for the train to turn back to what they viewed as “normal”.
When their feet finally touched the ground and Karen turned off the spell, Sarika could only notice that, oddly enough, Karen wasn’t letting go. She actually seemed to be shaken up, and rather nervous.
“Hey, you feeling alright?”
Karen gave a nod in agreement, but still wouldn’t let go.
“You sure don’t look like it. What’s the matter?”
“I… don’t like trains.”
“You mean like a phobia?”
“You could say that.”
Karen took a deep breath and let Sarika go. She walked unsteadily to the wall and leaned against it for support.
“How come you hate trains? Is it bad?”
Karen glared at Sarika, but not in a menacing way. Sarika couldn’t feel any hatred or resentment at it. Only… sadness.
“Two years ago. Monorail accident. I… I lost both my parents. It’s something that… changed me. I never managed to see people the same way. Almost as if humans became more like husks. Or maybe I was the husk…”
Karen instinctively added “You don’t have to say anything, its fine” to the end, guessing that the guilt trip would cause Sarika to apologise. She didn’t have time for apologies.
“Would it help if I warned you when the train is going to go sporadic?”
“Greatly. Then I can stop us falling over that much faster.”
Karen was feeling better now, and realised that it felt pretty nice to be around Sarika. She was nice and clever, something that Karen respected. She tapped at a small device by the door, and it slid open.
“…ah, a door panel. Whoops”
“You mean you bashed it open because you didn’t notice?”
Sarika shrugged, which caused Karen to laugh. While out of character, Karen was pretty at ease now. She could only wonder how long that would last. She’d just have to make the most of it.
“So where are we going?”
“The way I came from. It was a ritzy kind of party car, but I guess the way you came was empty?”
“Uh… yeah. Empty…”
Karen left the conversation as it ended and walked back into the fancy party car. It was just as bustling as she left it.
“We have to get through this?” Sarika moaned, “I hate that cold shudder.”
“Cold…shudder?” Karen asked blankly.
“You didn’t notice? If you touch these creatures you get this… well, cold shudder.”
Karen reached out and poked a vaguely mole-like creature with her index finger. It passed through, and gave her a shudder, cold, down her spine.
“See?”
Karen sparked a flame into her hand and warmed it up for a few seconds, letting the fire die out afterwards. She heard Sarika tut under her breath behind her before she slipped around the patrons rather quickly, leaving Sarika to awkwardly follow, though not nearly as gracefully. Karen reached the opposite doorway rather quickly and waited for Sarika to catch up. When she did, she made several complaints which Karen wasn’t really sure the meaning of were. When Sarika had composed herself they passed into the next car. At first sight it seemed to be some kind of bar, and upon closer inspection, it was. A whole bar had managed to be stuffed into the train car, drinks wall, tables, counter and even a jukebox. Karen even saw a vending machine next to her that had an electronic cover. It listed the names of drinks in dialects she had no understanding of. After a few moments of scrolling she hit what looked like French she found a common brand of fizzy drink she used to have a taste for.
She reached into her pocket and brought out a bag of coins, recognising them as the currency from her game. Shrugging a “Why not?” she slotted in a few coins and made her selection. After a few suspenseful seconds, the bottle dropped into the slot at the bottom. She picked it up, twisted off the cap and took a sip. A combination of sweetness and fizzyness gave her a strong tingle on her tongue. She turned to Sarika as an afterthought and asked “Want anything?”
“A black coffee? I guess.”
Karen scrolled further as she drank her soda. She selected Coffee from the English spelling and added black to the choice. A small cup appeared by the side of the vendor and coffee dribbled out of a tap into it. She handed it to Sarika and looked over the bar once more.
“I wonder why nobody can move.”
As if to be galactically ironic, the crowd in the bar began to move again. Some were quite surprised to see Karen and Sarika (from their perspective) to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Karen glared back at a strange green creature that seemed to be looking at her. Or maybe that was the back of its head, she couldn’t really tell.
After a few seconds though the crowd stopped moving again, and Karen and Sarika were left to ponder what had just occurred.
“Well-“
“-That was odd.”
As they both stood idly sipping their respective drinks, the door at the far end opened, revealing Lloyd who promptly walked in.
“Ah, hey girls! I wondered when I’d meet someone I recognised. You wouldn’t have happened to see any towels around have you?”
Sarika happened to blush at this, while Karen just stared awkwardly to the side as Lloyd approached.
“Bad topic?”
“I found your towel actually.”
“That’s great!”
“It’s been on fire. A bit.”
Karen reached into her pocket and carefully took out the half scorched towel that was Lloyds.
“Egad! Why was it on fire?” He said, grabbing it from her hand.
WIt… attacked me. I had to defend myself.”
“It’s a freaking towel! How would it attack you!”
Karen shrugged the question away, saying “Who creates a character fixated on towels anyway” under her breath.
“What kind of swear work is freaking?” Sarika added, also under her breath.
“Whatever, I still need a new towel then. This thing won’t do at all.”
“There are bedrooms… back our way…” Sarika managed to say with some difficulty.
“Then that’s where I’ll head…”
Lloyd passed through with no more discussion appearing.
“What’s wrong with the bedrooms?”
“Well… It’s embarrassing.”
Karen stared at her blankly.
“Okay okay. It’s… a homosexual couple ‘going at it’ alright!”
Even Karen had to blush at the thought of that.
“Boy, Lloyd’s going to be shocked if he walks into that one.”
“I had to see it too, y’know. It’s not a nice image.”
They both silently agreed never to mention it again.