Re: The Battle Majestic (Round 3 - Oxbow Inc.)
07-19-2011, 04:24 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Baphomet.
"Your language is hilarious," Vex said, chuckling.
Blitz looked puzzled. "Uh, okay." After a pause, he pointed to Vex's pale right arm. "That doesn't really answer the question."
Vex's grin had been ever-present through the duration of their walk thus far, only varying in width. It widened. "The best phrase you have for this is 'tripping balls'. At least, the most hilarious one." He chuckled again. "Does that mean-" He cut himself short, and continued walking. "Nevermind, you don't know either."
"Your arm," Blitz replied, brow finding new and creative ways to knit itself together, "is tripping balls?" The duo passed a huddled collection of large insectoids chittering to each other over an upended piece of machinery between two buildings. Blitz had only just begun taking these sightings as background noise after realizing Vex had somehow been rendering both of them undetectable while they walked.
"Yep. Malevolent second mind, totally gone. Another thing you and I have in common, now. Possibly." Vex sighed quietly and his smile faded somewhat. After Blitz's brief explanation of his father's presence and then absence earlier in the trek, Vex had been contemplating the nature of his previous relationship with his mental parasite. Prior aspirations of matchmaking Blitz with Iris had long since been discarded as Vex's mind churned over all the possible futures unfolding before him.
Of the few times Vex had seen fit to cause a death in his long life, even fewer had been by his own hand. It was much more satisfying to let unseen strings direct friends and foes to tear each other apart. A satisfaction he had yet to savor, however, is to let this slaughter take place between two people who shared a single body. If doing so happened to also eliminate a few of these obstacles to ending this contest, all the better.
"You're not going to be more specific, are you?" Blitz asked.
Vex was reasonably certain that Blitz's father was still clinging to some dark cranny of Blitz's brain. He knew all too well that entities like that wouldn't just disappear without cause. To make such a mental hitchhiker return could be an interesting study of a torn psyche, and could prove to be useful and informative to Vex's own situation.
But, more importantly to Vex, it could be fun.
"I was slipped a hallucinogenic drug while having a threesome with some Firestar natives. I went on a spirit journey and my world's dream god guided me and not Magog back," Vex replied, pressing on through the several conflicting expression that were trying to assert themselves on Blitz's face. "So. Do you miss him?"
"W-WHAT?"
"I have a son too, you know. I mean, I've had several throughout the years. Have only one currently, though."
"I-what? You have-"
"Real pain in the ass, this one. If I was a voice in HIS head, I would certainly have a hard time keeping my mouth shut for... what's it been now, about six hours?"
Blitz's face had been falling steadily over the last several seconds and seemed close to crashing. He took a deep breath and swallowed the whiplash in his perception of what he'd hoped would be this barbaric contest's savior. "I don't miss him," he finally replied, in a meek voice.
Vex stopped walking abruptly, and Blitz stumbled to a halt in an effort to remain at his side. The former deity stepped closer and leaned forward, making Blitz uncomfortably aware of exactly what their height difference meant. And that grin, the grin that was growing more and more impossible on Vex's strange, alien face, reminded Blitz of something he'd seen once, in a reflection, when his father the killer was awake.
"Don't be too hard on the killer," Vex said, his voice low, almost predatory. Blitz's one remaining pupil dilated. He wondered if he'd said the word "killer" aloud, or just thought it, or if there was even a difference. He wondered if his shoulders had always felt this heavy, and he wondered whether everything was usually this red. "May I call him killer? You never gave me a name."
Blitz blinked and his mind rolled over the implicit question. A name, what name? Mr. Wykerr? Had he gone his whole life not knowing his father's first name? His thoughts, instead of plowing forward wherever he chose, seemed to be fighting a current towards an unknown and frightening destination. His father's name simply wasn't there. It may never have been. "I don't...don't know?"
Vex stepped back now, but Blitz was having trouble focusing. "Of course you don't, Wykerr. Mister Wykerr." The redness that seemed to be overtaking Blitz's vision pulsed, and he felt his face grow hot. Anger bubbled up in him, and the damn satyr's smile was just getting bigger and bigger. "You shouldn't be too hard on the killer, because there's a little bit of killer in all of us," Vex continued. He took another step back, towards two birdlike creatures huddled over what looked like a smartphone. Background noise. Another step. "I'll admit," Vex began again, "it's been a while for me." Not background noise. Victims.
"Stop!" Blitz yelled. He pulled at his hair with both hands. "Get out of my head! Stop it!"
"You're in your head too, though, Wykerr. And so's killer. Maybe. You can't blame it all on me."
Vex's hand reached out for the nearest bird. Blitz cried out again. "Stop! Just... why? Don't!" His inability to articulate himself was amplifying his frustration. He was swimming upstream against a current he couldn't fight.
"Why not?" Vex replied, his hands hovering inches from the bird's neck.
"Because you'll..." he searched his memories for some hard-edged ethical quip he could throw out at him, and only came up with his own memories. His father killing innocent people with his body. Blitz's objection to those moments was all he could hold on to like this. "Because you'll feel bad! Because there's no reason, because he's- you don't even-"
Crack.
There was no joy in the distinctive feeling of vertebrae snapping apart, the quick, ragged breath, the look of surprise and horror, quickly glazed over. The limp body dropped inelegantly in a ragged heap from four-fingered hands. Vex didn't have the cold-hearted rush of a killer looking for another notch in his belt.
He relished the moment all the same.
The bird's compatriot jumped up in surprise and backed away. Blitz's mind snapped into full focus, and complete silence fell over them both. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. Vex's smile had finally dropped off his face, and he stood there staring at Blitz, whose breath was ragged with repressed sobs.
"I do feel bad," Vex said, unflinchingly. "I feel guilt, and sorrow, and it's beautiful. It's the first fucking time I've been able to feel it for a hundred and eighty years without having it immediately turn into rage and anguish. The first time I can just feel bad, without putting the damn universe in danger." Blitz's mismatched hands balled themselves into fists at his side, and small sparks of static jumping between them and his body. "You said you don't miss him, you don't miss this feeling, but I know better. Killer."
No matter how tightly Blitz squeezed his eyes shut, he couldn't block out the overpowering redness. He heaved and loudly sucked air into his lungs. A new thought bubbled its way up to the surface in his mind, and he knew it was his own.
Vex needed to die.
A massive arc of blue lightning burst from Blitz's body, tearing a hot red gouge through the sheet metal wall of the storage crate behind Vex. Blitz opened his eyes, one of them red. "Lionel," he said, grinning cruelly. "But Mr. Wykerr will do for you."
"Cute," said a voice in Lionel's ear, Vex's grin chasing the rest of him into transparency. "Sorry I couldn't be here to meet you." The scarred man sneered around him in every direction, and then up towards the glass ceiling, and the ocean hanging above him. "A suggestion, Lionel?" continued the disembodied voice. "Make it rain."
"Your language is hilarious," Vex said, chuckling.
Blitz looked puzzled. "Uh, okay." After a pause, he pointed to Vex's pale right arm. "That doesn't really answer the question."
Vex's grin had been ever-present through the duration of their walk thus far, only varying in width. It widened. "The best phrase you have for this is 'tripping balls'. At least, the most hilarious one." He chuckled again. "Does that mean-" He cut himself short, and continued walking. "Nevermind, you don't know either."
"Your arm," Blitz replied, brow finding new and creative ways to knit itself together, "is tripping balls?" The duo passed a huddled collection of large insectoids chittering to each other over an upended piece of machinery between two buildings. Blitz had only just begun taking these sightings as background noise after realizing Vex had somehow been rendering both of them undetectable while they walked.
"Yep. Malevolent second mind, totally gone. Another thing you and I have in common, now. Possibly." Vex sighed quietly and his smile faded somewhat. After Blitz's brief explanation of his father's presence and then absence earlier in the trek, Vex had been contemplating the nature of his previous relationship with his mental parasite. Prior aspirations of matchmaking Blitz with Iris had long since been discarded as Vex's mind churned over all the possible futures unfolding before him.
Of the few times Vex had seen fit to cause a death in his long life, even fewer had been by his own hand. It was much more satisfying to let unseen strings direct friends and foes to tear each other apart. A satisfaction he had yet to savor, however, is to let this slaughter take place between two people who shared a single body. If doing so happened to also eliminate a few of these obstacles to ending this contest, all the better.
"You're not going to be more specific, are you?" Blitz asked.
Vex was reasonably certain that Blitz's father was still clinging to some dark cranny of Blitz's brain. He knew all too well that entities like that wouldn't just disappear without cause. To make such a mental hitchhiker return could be an interesting study of a torn psyche, and could prove to be useful and informative to Vex's own situation.
But, more importantly to Vex, it could be fun.
"I was slipped a hallucinogenic drug while having a threesome with some Firestar natives. I went on a spirit journey and my world's dream god guided me and not Magog back," Vex replied, pressing on through the several conflicting expression that were trying to assert themselves on Blitz's face. "So. Do you miss him?"
"W-WHAT?"
"I have a son too, you know. I mean, I've had several throughout the years. Have only one currently, though."
"I-what? You have-"
"Real pain in the ass, this one. If I was a voice in HIS head, I would certainly have a hard time keeping my mouth shut for... what's it been now, about six hours?"
Blitz's face had been falling steadily over the last several seconds and seemed close to crashing. He took a deep breath and swallowed the whiplash in his perception of what he'd hoped would be this barbaric contest's savior. "I don't miss him," he finally replied, in a meek voice.
Vex stopped walking abruptly, and Blitz stumbled to a halt in an effort to remain at his side. The former deity stepped closer and leaned forward, making Blitz uncomfortably aware of exactly what their height difference meant. And that grin, the grin that was growing more and more impossible on Vex's strange, alien face, reminded Blitz of something he'd seen once, in a reflection, when his father the killer was awake.
"Don't be too hard on the killer," Vex said, his voice low, almost predatory. Blitz's one remaining pupil dilated. He wondered if he'd said the word "killer" aloud, or just thought it, or if there was even a difference. He wondered if his shoulders had always felt this heavy, and he wondered whether everything was usually this red. "May I call him killer? You never gave me a name."
Blitz blinked and his mind rolled over the implicit question. A name, what name? Mr. Wykerr? Had he gone his whole life not knowing his father's first name? His thoughts, instead of plowing forward wherever he chose, seemed to be fighting a current towards an unknown and frightening destination. His father's name simply wasn't there. It may never have been. "I don't...don't know?"
Vex stepped back now, but Blitz was having trouble focusing. "Of course you don't, Wykerr. Mister Wykerr." The redness that seemed to be overtaking Blitz's vision pulsed, and he felt his face grow hot. Anger bubbled up in him, and the damn satyr's smile was just getting bigger and bigger. "You shouldn't be too hard on the killer, because there's a little bit of killer in all of us," Vex continued. He took another step back, towards two birdlike creatures huddled over what looked like a smartphone. Background noise. Another step. "I'll admit," Vex began again, "it's been a while for me." Not background noise. Victims.
"Stop!" Blitz yelled. He pulled at his hair with both hands. "Get out of my head! Stop it!"
"You're in your head too, though, Wykerr. And so's killer. Maybe. You can't blame it all on me."
Vex's hand reached out for the nearest bird. Blitz cried out again. "Stop! Just... why? Don't!" His inability to articulate himself was amplifying his frustration. He was swimming upstream against a current he couldn't fight.
"Why not?" Vex replied, his hands hovering inches from the bird's neck.
"Because you'll..." he searched his memories for some hard-edged ethical quip he could throw out at him, and only came up with his own memories. His father killing innocent people with his body. Blitz's objection to those moments was all he could hold on to like this. "Because you'll feel bad! Because there's no reason, because he's- you don't even-"
Crack.
There was no joy in the distinctive feeling of vertebrae snapping apart, the quick, ragged breath, the look of surprise and horror, quickly glazed over. The limp body dropped inelegantly in a ragged heap from four-fingered hands. Vex didn't have the cold-hearted rush of a killer looking for another notch in his belt.
He relished the moment all the same.
The bird's compatriot jumped up in surprise and backed away. Blitz's mind snapped into full focus, and complete silence fell over them both. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. Vex's smile had finally dropped off his face, and he stood there staring at Blitz, whose breath was ragged with repressed sobs.
"I do feel bad," Vex said, unflinchingly. "I feel guilt, and sorrow, and it's beautiful. It's the first fucking time I've been able to feel it for a hundred and eighty years without having it immediately turn into rage and anguish. The first time I can just feel bad, without putting the damn universe in danger." Blitz's mismatched hands balled themselves into fists at his side, and small sparks of static jumping between them and his body. "You said you don't miss him, you don't miss this feeling, but I know better. Killer."
No matter how tightly Blitz squeezed his eyes shut, he couldn't block out the overpowering redness. He heaved and loudly sucked air into his lungs. A new thought bubbled its way up to the surface in his mind, and he knew it was his own.
Vex needed to die.
A massive arc of blue lightning burst from Blitz's body, tearing a hot red gouge through the sheet metal wall of the storage crate behind Vex. Blitz opened his eyes, one of them red. "Lionel," he said, grinning cruelly. "But Mr. Wykerr will do for you."
"Cute," said a voice in Lionel's ear, Vex's grin chasing the rest of him into transparency. "Sorry I couldn't be here to meet you." The scarred man sneered around him in every direction, and then up towards the glass ceiling, and the ocean hanging above him. "A suggestion, Lionel?" continued the disembodied voice. "Make it rain."