Re: The Grand Battle II! [Round 2: Destructo World!]
10-18-2009, 09:43 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Sruixan.
A little earlier...
The sky was getting darker, Maxwell noted. If he wasn't so... concerned, he might have laughed at the metaphor there. However...
One of the stalls surrounding the funhouse had become a makeshift watchtower for Maxwell. It hadn't taken him long to move a few crates around behind the canvas to create a staircase and now he had a rather sobering view of the funhouse.
Eavesdropping on a conversation that consisted mostly of telepathy wasn't easy, especially when there was little sign of the characters involved. But Vyrm'n could be glimpsed through a somehow broken window and that was enough for Maxwell to go on. Judging by the movments of the marionette, Gestalt must be in there as well, and...
...yes, faintly, but surely, that was a voice he didn't know. It was familiar, though. Eeirely familiar. Slightly grinding, slightly harsh, certainly not organic by any means. It must be The Sunset.
So, neither of the entities in there were tearing at each other's throats. That was a good enough start. That did, however, mean that business must be taking place. Fair enough. But...
Vyrm'n still worried him sick. He wasn't too sure about it. There was... evil in it somewhere. Those last few minutes in the garden... he shuddered. Maxwell really did not want to remember that. No, for the present, please... as much as he was ecstatic over being kept under the wing of a more powerful combatant, it concerned him that he was stuck with the least discernable of them all. He didn't want the Faceless to fall foul of itself.
Yet now it spoke to the other contestants... under what pretence? Those rumbles that came from The Sunset on odd occasion didn't sound overly pleased. And what was Gestalt doing in there anyway? An alliance between the boxes and the Balancer? Preposterous. Hopefull, anyway... though that machine seemed to keep itself to itself, one never knew...
Ooh, ooh, what was this? Vyrm'n was moving now... damn. He'd lost it. For a few seconds, he tried twisting his neck into a variety of amusing positions, but none showed him where it had gone... but, hello?
A flash of the void, briefly appearing 'round the side of the bulding. Engaged, Maxwell judged the distance between his perch and a nearby stall and leapt for it. The landing was atrocious, but his view was bettered immensely - he could see Vyrm'n, carrying Gestalt, moving away from the funhouse, heading towards the ferris wheel, perhaps?
Now, how curious. Earlier, the stalemate 'twixt his ally and Gestalt had worried him so, yet now...
Gestalt wasn't exactly one of thought, in Maxwell's eyes. His experience so far of the ramshackle collection was that it favoured aggresion to much else. The influences it might have on Vyrm'n... may already have had on Vyrm'n...
A few splots of rain fell onto Maxwell's hat as he descended from the stall. If the weather got any worse, he was going to have a nice little duckpond in the rim of it. But still... a moment or two to get his bearings, and then...
Oh, no, wait a little longer. Yes, indeed, for The Sunset has left the building. No good would come from being spotted, so Maxwell ducked quickly behind a few boxes and waited until the heavy thuds disappeared off into the distance. Relieved, Maxwell rose once more and continued along the midway, head down, not at all interested in the sights and sounds of the carnival grounds...
Of course, with his head down, he wasn't going to spot Cabaret dashing out from between two attractions. The collision was painless, but the moment he saw the mask, Maxwell's brain went into overdrive. At last, an opportunity to find out a rather useful titbit of infor-
"Hold onto this for me, I'll be back for it if I survive."
"Wha- now wait a minute!"
But it was too late. The magician had imitated one of his tricks and had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving Maxwell with something in his hands? But what...?
It was... Cabaret's mask. Featureless, bland, nothing special. But it hid the face of the conjurer... what did he mean, "if I survive"?
"Oh dear... oh dear..."
There was some slight swearing, broken by a pause in which Maxwell was sure he heard a noise, but then...
A little earlier...
The sky was getting darker, Maxwell noted. If he wasn't so... concerned, he might have laughed at the metaphor there. However...
One of the stalls surrounding the funhouse had become a makeshift watchtower for Maxwell. It hadn't taken him long to move a few crates around behind the canvas to create a staircase and now he had a rather sobering view of the funhouse.
Eavesdropping on a conversation that consisted mostly of telepathy wasn't easy, especially when there was little sign of the characters involved. But Vyrm'n could be glimpsed through a somehow broken window and that was enough for Maxwell to go on. Judging by the movments of the marionette, Gestalt must be in there as well, and...
...yes, faintly, but surely, that was a voice he didn't know. It was familiar, though. Eeirely familiar. Slightly grinding, slightly harsh, certainly not organic by any means. It must be The Sunset.
So, neither of the entities in there were tearing at each other's throats. That was a good enough start. That did, however, mean that business must be taking place. Fair enough. But...
Vyrm'n still worried him sick. He wasn't too sure about it. There was... evil in it somewhere. Those last few minutes in the garden... he shuddered. Maxwell really did not want to remember that. No, for the present, please... as much as he was ecstatic over being kept under the wing of a more powerful combatant, it concerned him that he was stuck with the least discernable of them all. He didn't want the Faceless to fall foul of itself.
Yet now it spoke to the other contestants... under what pretence? Those rumbles that came from The Sunset on odd occasion didn't sound overly pleased. And what was Gestalt doing in there anyway? An alliance between the boxes and the Balancer? Preposterous. Hopefull, anyway... though that machine seemed to keep itself to itself, one never knew...
Ooh, ooh, what was this? Vyrm'n was moving now... damn. He'd lost it. For a few seconds, he tried twisting his neck into a variety of amusing positions, but none showed him where it had gone... but, hello?
A flash of the void, briefly appearing 'round the side of the bulding. Engaged, Maxwell judged the distance between his perch and a nearby stall and leapt for it. The landing was atrocious, but his view was bettered immensely - he could see Vyrm'n, carrying Gestalt, moving away from the funhouse, heading towards the ferris wheel, perhaps?
Now, how curious. Earlier, the stalemate 'twixt his ally and Gestalt had worried him so, yet now...
Gestalt wasn't exactly one of thought, in Maxwell's eyes. His experience so far of the ramshackle collection was that it favoured aggresion to much else. The influences it might have on Vyrm'n... may already have had on Vyrm'n...
A few splots of rain fell onto Maxwell's hat as he descended from the stall. If the weather got any worse, he was going to have a nice little duckpond in the rim of it. But still... a moment or two to get his bearings, and then...
Oh, no, wait a little longer. Yes, indeed, for The Sunset has left the building. No good would come from being spotted, so Maxwell ducked quickly behind a few boxes and waited until the heavy thuds disappeared off into the distance. Relieved, Maxwell rose once more and continued along the midway, head down, not at all interested in the sights and sounds of the carnival grounds...
Of course, with his head down, he wasn't going to spot Cabaret dashing out from between two attractions. The collision was painless, but the moment he saw the mask, Maxwell's brain went into overdrive. At last, an opportunity to find out a rather useful titbit of infor-
"Hold onto this for me, I'll be back for it if I survive."
"Wha- now wait a minute!"
But it was too late. The magician had imitated one of his tricks and had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving Maxwell with something in his hands? But what...?
It was... Cabaret's mask. Featureless, bland, nothing special. But it hid the face of the conjurer... what did he mean, "if I survive"?
"Oh dear... oh dear..."
There was some slight swearing, broken by a pause in which Maxwell was sure he heard a noise, but then...