Re: The Wretched Rite - Round One - The Rose Ring
09-02-2011, 09:21 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
"I will give you a moment to make peace with your fate," the alien-looking being had said. "If it helps I will not enjoy what I am about to do. I am merely an agent of fate." She was smug and confident, and it showed.
Dr. Reindana, meanwhile, was more confused than anything. Foremost in her mind was the way she hadn't blacked out and found herself somewhere away from what was clearly a threat. She really expected that that damnable plant would've taken over by now and made her make with the violence. Why it hadn't, she had no idea.
The ivy, as it happened, was doing its best to restrain itself. It could still jump in and take care of things, but the danger wasn't absolutely immediate, and letting its host gain some understanding of the situation was necessary. It had to have restraint, at least for now.
The biologist opened her mouth to speak, croaked something indecipherable, then coughed and tried again. How long had it been since she'd spoken to anyone? Weeks, months?
"Wait, hold on," she said, her first attempts at speech in recent memory coming out dry, raspy, and uncertain. "I..." She what? Thinking about it, no ways to talk this alien out of murdering her came to mind.
Vera smirked some more. "You what? Come on, spit it out." Pitiful wretch. This was going to be too easy.
"I, uh... I wish this thing was loaded." Olivia raised her shotgun (questions about its origins simply didn't pop into her head) and pulled the trigger, making a bit of a noise and puffing some air in the face of her attacker.
Vera scowled, but kept up her resolve and moved forward. She was not about to look weak in the face of the person she was supposed to kill. She was a hunter, rightfully so, and she would end this woman's life here and now.
Ivy fired again, the second barrel behaving remarkably like the first. Still, though, the alien wasn't deterred, so she had to go to plan B: the sword that, as a hunter, she of course kept strapped to her side for use in any number of situations.
Somehow, Vera hadn't noticed the blade until now, and she didn't make the connection as to what was happening even after her target had drawn the weapon. It took several swipes from the blade before she backed off a bit, and after considering her options for a brief second or two, she decided to beat a hasty retreat.
Olivia, her emotions not exactly the subject of the story any more, could only hope that the brazenly aggressive creature would learn a bit of humility from the encounter.
-
The narrator just swept that little side-plot under the rug and moved its players into the tale the other intruders were experiencing. Ugh- that one had just been so caricatured, so bland. She really needed to be more careful with her selections.
Whatever. They were over in the other one, and the narrator could just move on. Well, move on and steer clear of the shorter fables.
-
Dr. Reindana had barely taken her third step when the soft, slightly crunchy dirt road gave way into a rather nice, quaint kitchen. She spun around, but there was nothing but a bedroom behind her.
Sighing, she just busied herself with a familiar routine. The old teapot was worn, its floral patterns a bit faded, but that hardly made it any different from the rest of the little cottage. Old, worn, and floral seemed to be the overriding themes of the place, and as she leaned back and set a slightly-tarnished kettle to boil, she let her mind just wander.
Some time in the next minute or two, though, she ran a hand through her hair, and that brought the feeling of calm crashing down around her.
There were no plants in her hair. There was no ivy, no creeping plant weaving itself around her hair and rooting itself in her head and invading her mind. There was just hair, and a quick inspection showed that there was no trace of the ivy that had stolen her life from her and forced her to live like an animal.
She wished it was comforting, but she'd gotten used to the plant's presence over the previous two years, and to have it suddenly, inexplicably gone... it was unnerving, to say the least. And the overwhelming familiarity and comfort of the place- she'd never even liked tea, yet here she was brewing some like she'd been doing it for decades?
The kindly, gentle house suddenly seemed far less safe and homey than it had moments before.
-
Hedera reindanis hadn't the slightest clue why its host had collapsed to the ground, nor what had neutralized the threat in a similar manner, but whatever it was could be dangerous. Ivy was showing no sign of awakening, so it seemed that the plant would have to take matters into its own metaphorical hands.
Stiff-limbed and jerky, Ivy got to her feet. Her eyes gaped around, taking in the street, and she started walking away from her now-sleeping attacker.
She made it an impressive one step before falling to the ground and having to haul herself back up. Humans were so much easier to control when the commands were filtered through a consciousness- for now, though, that appeared to be a luxury the ivy didn't have. It'd have to settle for stumbling slowly over to a nearby building to use the wall for support, then move away from Vera at the closest thing to speed it could manage.
"I will give you a moment to make peace with your fate," the alien-looking being had said. "If it helps I will not enjoy what I am about to do. I am merely an agent of fate." She was smug and confident, and it showed.
Dr. Reindana, meanwhile, was more confused than anything. Foremost in her mind was the way she hadn't blacked out and found herself somewhere away from what was clearly a threat. She really expected that that damnable plant would've taken over by now and made her make with the violence. Why it hadn't, she had no idea.
The ivy, as it happened, was doing its best to restrain itself. It could still jump in and take care of things, but the danger wasn't absolutely immediate, and letting its host gain some understanding of the situation was necessary. It had to have restraint, at least for now.
The biologist opened her mouth to speak, croaked something indecipherable, then coughed and tried again. How long had it been since she'd spoken to anyone? Weeks, months?
"Wait, hold on," she said, her first attempts at speech in recent memory coming out dry, raspy, and uncertain. "I..." She what? Thinking about it, no ways to talk this alien out of murdering her came to mind.
Vera smirked some more. "You what? Come on, spit it out." Pitiful wretch. This was going to be too easy.
"I, uh... I wish this thing was loaded." Olivia raised her shotgun (questions about its origins simply didn't pop into her head) and pulled the trigger, making a bit of a noise and puffing some air in the face of her attacker.
Vera scowled, but kept up her resolve and moved forward. She was not about to look weak in the face of the person she was supposed to kill. She was a hunter, rightfully so, and she would end this woman's life here and now.
Ivy fired again, the second barrel behaving remarkably like the first. Still, though, the alien wasn't deterred, so she had to go to plan B: the sword that, as a hunter, she of course kept strapped to her side for use in any number of situations.
Somehow, Vera hadn't noticed the blade until now, and she didn't make the connection as to what was happening even after her target had drawn the weapon. It took several swipes from the blade before she backed off a bit, and after considering her options for a brief second or two, she decided to beat a hasty retreat.
Olivia, her emotions not exactly the subject of the story any more, could only hope that the brazenly aggressive creature would learn a bit of humility from the encounter.
-
The narrator just swept that little side-plot under the rug and moved its players into the tale the other intruders were experiencing. Ugh- that one had just been so caricatured, so bland. She really needed to be more careful with her selections.
Whatever. They were over in the other one, and the narrator could just move on. Well, move on and steer clear of the shorter fables.
-
Dr. Reindana had barely taken her third step when the soft, slightly crunchy dirt road gave way into a rather nice, quaint kitchen. She spun around, but there was nothing but a bedroom behind her.
Sighing, she just busied herself with a familiar routine. The old teapot was worn, its floral patterns a bit faded, but that hardly made it any different from the rest of the little cottage. Old, worn, and floral seemed to be the overriding themes of the place, and as she leaned back and set a slightly-tarnished kettle to boil, she let her mind just wander.
Some time in the next minute or two, though, she ran a hand through her hair, and that brought the feeling of calm crashing down around her.
There were no plants in her hair. There was no ivy, no creeping plant weaving itself around her hair and rooting itself in her head and invading her mind. There was just hair, and a quick inspection showed that there was no trace of the ivy that had stolen her life from her and forced her to live like an animal.
She wished it was comforting, but she'd gotten used to the plant's presence over the previous two years, and to have it suddenly, inexplicably gone... it was unnerving, to say the least. And the overwhelming familiarity and comfort of the place- she'd never even liked tea, yet here she was brewing some like she'd been doing it for decades?
The kindly, gentle house suddenly seemed far less safe and homey than it had moments before.
-
Hedera reindanis hadn't the slightest clue why its host had collapsed to the ground, nor what had neutralized the threat in a similar manner, but whatever it was could be dangerous. Ivy was showing no sign of awakening, so it seemed that the plant would have to take matters into its own metaphorical hands.
Stiff-limbed and jerky, Ivy got to her feet. Her eyes gaped around, taking in the street, and she started walking away from her now-sleeping attacker.
She made it an impressive one step before falling to the ground and having to haul herself back up. Humans were so much easier to control when the commands were filtered through a consciousness- for now, though, that appeared to be a luxury the ivy didn't have. It'd have to settle for stumbling slowly over to a nearby building to use the wall for support, then move away from Vera at the closest thing to speed it could manage.