Re: Pitched Combat [Round 2: Cathedral of Glass]
02-04-2010, 07:23 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
"Get them! Capture them!"
Vasily was not aware that glass could speak.
Sneaking a glance behind him, the pirate saw that beyond the mass of glass, the priest was still at the back of the crowd. Only...it looked like Annabelle? What?
As he watched, the crowd changed too. In fact, like some strange B-movie plot-twist, all the glass people were changing into a likeness of Jordan and Vasily. There were no more copies of Annabelle, as though her form was reserved only for the priest.
It was certainly a surreal experience, being chased by yourself. A crowd of yourself.
It seemed some of their copies were forming weapons from their own hands (what happened to just capturing them?) and Vasily took advantage of this by swiping a glass clone's sword, but dropped it immediately when it started to grow his face. Eeeuuch. Creepy.
As the pirate wished to be away from this damn glass church, Annabelle looked on in confusion at the pursuing crowd. So many clones suddenly decanted here? This was...strange. And those expressions...
Though Blue was yanking hard on her arm, she could still take out her Happiness Tester and wave it across the new clones. The reading made her almost blanch.
T-ten percent...? That...that can't...
Yanking her hand out of Vasily's grasp, Annabelle's grin grew psychotic and strained as she fingered a container of Happiness Pills and her flamethrower.
-----------------------------
"Wow."
"It's so pretty, isn't it?"
"I need to eat something."
The library was huge, and possibly more ornate than any room they had gone through. A dome allowed even more color to be thrown across the room. Tiled paths wound around the various shelves. Sturdy signs announced how the books were ordered, and though they were simple signs, just their sheer glassiness made them beautiful.
Yume took a book down, just some random book, and almost fell from the weight. Well, the pages would have to be thick enough to be engraved, so the weight probably made sense. Wadding over to a nearby table, she set the book down with a thump and felt the cover. It was dyed dark blue, completely smooth besides the engraved title, which was dyed in red. Though it wasn't really much of a title. Just a symbol. A religious symbol, she couldn't help but think.
Surprisingly, the pages turned easily, but Yume still handled the book carefully, not wanting to accidentally snap off a corner or something.
Each page was engraved only one one side - the other was blank. It explained the thickness of the book. The pages were dyed in such a dark color that she couldn't see to the next page and could thus read the words easily. She wasn't sure how a civilization that didn't usually have eyes could develop language, but it didn't matter right now, did it?
"Ooooh! The Scriptures! I suppose that book fits for such a holy day!"
So she was right. A religious book. "Yes," Yume replied, forcing a smile at the fake Lainey. She wished it would take some other form. Seeing Lainey was a little freaky.
She tried concentrating on the book instead. It was hard. After reading the first page, she was bored. Lissa was very excited about it, though, so she just continued turning the pages, trying not to think about freaky-Lainey off to the side or about how glass books could be used as pillows.
"So, we'll just look for more books then," Rong drawled.
"Either I just heard you wrong or the end of the world is afoot." Right got hit in the jaw for his trouble.
"Want some help?" Glass-Lainey beamed.
"...No. C'mon, let's go."
Once Rong felt that they were far enough that the others couldn't hear or see them, she gobbled down a few books and then stared hard at Right. "Okay, seriously. What's with you?"
"Hm?"
"Don't look so confused! I've been waiting for you to give orders or a signal or something! We were alone with that girl or girls or whatever for a long time and you didn't even think of trying to kill her?"
Right seemed to gape at her for a few seconds before saying, "We...we couldn't."
"Why? Why couldn't we? She was right there! Alone! Defenseless! We could've killed her right then and got one step closer to winning this war thing!" Right just withdrew as Rong ranted at him. War...
He hadn't been thinking of it as a war for a while now. Why was that? Maybe because nobody seemed like an enemy? Maybe because everybody felt like a comrade? Not like their supposed 'allies' back at that wretched kingdom, where the knights avoided them and stood back to let them do pretty much everything. These people actually talked to him.
"...and I hope you aren't just gonna reuse that lame excuse about 'oooh, what if the others found out and everybody went after us' 'cause nobody's here to see us and besides, we can obviously take everybody on! How can anybody beat us? Hello? Are you ignoring me too?! Fine!" Rong ate some more books, almost emptying half a shelf. "It's gonna be hard for me to keep waiting. Next time I see sword guy, I'm killing him and eating his sparkly sword. I don't care 'bout alliances or whatever."
This threat continued to loom in the atmosphere as Eemp walked them back in tense silence. At the table, Glass-Lainey seemed to have wandered off and someone replaced not-Lainey. This version of Lainey was studiously reading the book unlike the previous form, and she looked up at the dragons when they came. "Hello there. I see you haven't found any books."
"Uh, yeah," Right mumbled. "What's in there?"
"A very interesting prophecy of doom, actually," not-Lainey II said, turning back to the book. "These people fear a beast that apparently heralds an apocalypse."
"Surprised they can even think," Rong snorted. She continued to be ignored.
"They hold a sacrifice every week or so to satiate the beast and keep it from destroying this world."
"Huh. That's a lot of sacrifices."
"Yeah yeah, very interesting. Except it isn't useful to us in any way."
"It gets more interesting. It predicts that one day, dangerous outsiders will come and spread chaos among these glass people and cause the beast to rampage."
Silence fell once more as the implications became evident.
"...We should probably leave soon."
"Perhaps," Lissa agreed.
"Get them! Capture them!"
Vasily was not aware that glass could speak.
Sneaking a glance behind him, the pirate saw that beyond the mass of glass, the priest was still at the back of the crowd. Only...it looked like Annabelle? What?
As he watched, the crowd changed too. In fact, like some strange B-movie plot-twist, all the glass people were changing into a likeness of Jordan and Vasily. There were no more copies of Annabelle, as though her form was reserved only for the priest.
It was certainly a surreal experience, being chased by yourself. A crowd of yourself.
It seemed some of their copies were forming weapons from their own hands (what happened to just capturing them?) and Vasily took advantage of this by swiping a glass clone's sword, but dropped it immediately when it started to grow his face. Eeeuuch. Creepy.
As the pirate wished to be away from this damn glass church, Annabelle looked on in confusion at the pursuing crowd. So many clones suddenly decanted here? This was...strange. And those expressions...
Though Blue was yanking hard on her arm, she could still take out her Happiness Tester and wave it across the new clones. The reading made her almost blanch.
T-ten percent...? That...that can't...
Yanking her hand out of Vasily's grasp, Annabelle's grin grew psychotic and strained as she fingered a container of Happiness Pills and her flamethrower.
-----------------------------
"Wow."
"It's so pretty, isn't it?"
"I need to eat something."
The library was huge, and possibly more ornate than any room they had gone through. A dome allowed even more color to be thrown across the room. Tiled paths wound around the various shelves. Sturdy signs announced how the books were ordered, and though they were simple signs, just their sheer glassiness made them beautiful.
Yume took a book down, just some random book, and almost fell from the weight. Well, the pages would have to be thick enough to be engraved, so the weight probably made sense. Wadding over to a nearby table, she set the book down with a thump and felt the cover. It was dyed dark blue, completely smooth besides the engraved title, which was dyed in red. Though it wasn't really much of a title. Just a symbol. A religious symbol, she couldn't help but think.
Surprisingly, the pages turned easily, but Yume still handled the book carefully, not wanting to accidentally snap off a corner or something.
Each page was engraved only one one side - the other was blank. It explained the thickness of the book. The pages were dyed in such a dark color that she couldn't see to the next page and could thus read the words easily. She wasn't sure how a civilization that didn't usually have eyes could develop language, but it didn't matter right now, did it?
"Ooooh! The Scriptures! I suppose that book fits for such a holy day!"
So she was right. A religious book. "Yes," Yume replied, forcing a smile at the fake Lainey. She wished it would take some other form. Seeing Lainey was a little freaky.
She tried concentrating on the book instead. It was hard. After reading the first page, she was bored. Lissa was very excited about it, though, so she just continued turning the pages, trying not to think about freaky-Lainey off to the side or about how glass books could be used as pillows.
"So, we'll just look for more books then," Rong drawled.
"Either I just heard you wrong or the end of the world is afoot." Right got hit in the jaw for his trouble.
"Want some help?" Glass-Lainey beamed.
"...No. C'mon, let's go."
Once Rong felt that they were far enough that the others couldn't hear or see them, she gobbled down a few books and then stared hard at Right. "Okay, seriously. What's with you?"
"Hm?"
"Don't look so confused! I've been waiting for you to give orders or a signal or something! We were alone with that girl or girls or whatever for a long time and you didn't even think of trying to kill her?"
Right seemed to gape at her for a few seconds before saying, "We...we couldn't."
"Why? Why couldn't we? She was right there! Alone! Defenseless! We could've killed her right then and got one step closer to winning this war thing!" Right just withdrew as Rong ranted at him. War...
He hadn't been thinking of it as a war for a while now. Why was that? Maybe because nobody seemed like an enemy? Maybe because everybody felt like a comrade? Not like their supposed 'allies' back at that wretched kingdom, where the knights avoided them and stood back to let them do pretty much everything. These people actually talked to him.
"...and I hope you aren't just gonna reuse that lame excuse about 'oooh, what if the others found out and everybody went after us' 'cause nobody's here to see us and besides, we can obviously take everybody on! How can anybody beat us? Hello? Are you ignoring me too?! Fine!" Rong ate some more books, almost emptying half a shelf. "It's gonna be hard for me to keep waiting. Next time I see sword guy, I'm killing him and eating his sparkly sword. I don't care 'bout alliances or whatever."
This threat continued to loom in the atmosphere as Eemp walked them back in tense silence. At the table, Glass-Lainey seemed to have wandered off and someone replaced not-Lainey. This version of Lainey was studiously reading the book unlike the previous form, and she looked up at the dragons when they came. "Hello there. I see you haven't found any books."
"Uh, yeah," Right mumbled. "What's in there?"
"A very interesting prophecy of doom, actually," not-Lainey II said, turning back to the book. "These people fear a beast that apparently heralds an apocalypse."
"Surprised they can even think," Rong snorted. She continued to be ignored.
"They hold a sacrifice every week or so to satiate the beast and keep it from destroying this world."
"Huh. That's a lot of sacrifices."
"Yeah yeah, very interesting. Except it isn't useful to us in any way."
"It gets more interesting. It predicts that one day, dangerous outsiders will come and spread chaos among these glass people and cause the beast to rampage."
Silence fell once more as the implications became evident.
"...We should probably leave soon."
"Perhaps," Lissa agreed.