********Disclaimer*********
This is a fun little alt with everyone's favorite Jusenkyo cursed scientist. Not to be taken very seriously, it's made for amusement and boredom slaying value.
Or, in other words, throw out realism, strap in and watch Ratty Chan due her DAMNEST to avoid the cute sailor fuku!
EDIT: Okay, it's diverged a bit now, but it's still a freewheeling omake. And do you really think Ratty Chan is done with Falx and the Tarrasques?
It is a quiet day in Carthrat Tanewaki's labratory. Barring the fact that he is currently a hot ass female, it's just another day in the neiborhood.
Until he gets word that some 40 foot tall beast is causing a ruckus in his apartment building lobby. Checking a security camera, Carthrat sees something a bit out there, even for 40 foot monsters.
A pink and white striped horned beast is lumbering around, causing quite a bit of damage and perhaps a few fatalities. In a rough, yet high pitched voice it is calling out...
"Ratty chan! I need you, Ratty-chan!"
Carthrat grabs her radio-transmitter for her lab..
"Security! There's some weird thing outside and it's making a mess! Dispense with it. Please.
Yeah, yeah, use the experimental rockets. Try to prevent more property damage than you cause."
Clicking off the radio, Carthrat goes back to experimenting..
Carthrat distantly watches the cameras...as her security forces not only fail to hurt the beast with rockets, but in fact make themselves look like incompetent morons doing so. The rockets just don't seem to be getting it done.
The beast, still not finding 'Ratty-chan', punches a hole through the next few floors upward and starts poking around, yelling about Ratty-Chan the entire time.
Carthrat reaches for the radio again..
"You idiots! Light the fuses!
Yes, I know lighting a fuse is archaic!"
They do so...
Sadly, due to the fuse being so archiac, they don't know how fast to get rid of the rocket. You just got two new job openings, and the beast is still going crazy. It is starting to make doe eyes at the camera as it yells for 'Ratty-chan'.
"Incompetent fools! Three second- oh hell."
Carthrat grabs her cloak and puts it on, vaulting over various labatory equpiment to the lounge..
"Right, back off, remaining security. I'll try calming it down," she commands, before heading unto the breach and towards the thing..
By the time you catch up to the beast, it is on the third floor, causing more property damage than you care to think about.
The moment you enter it's sight, it grins broadly and yells "RATTY CHAN! YOU'RE HERE! YOU HAVE TO COME WITH ME TO SAVE FALX!"
"No, what- awww hell!
Do you have any idea how much that stunt cost me? This.. it's so expsensive! My titanium staircases.. anti-matter Adimantine lightbulbs.. what have you done? You've ruined it! My distillery!"
Carthrat chan shakes her head clear for a moment.
"Who the hell are you, anyway? And can't you shrink to a more.. managable size?"
"Sorry," it says, shrinking down to a ten foot tall version of itself. Now that it is at a more manageable height, you see that it is...cute. Really cute. The bright pink and creamy white stripes give it a candy cane look, and it has a cute, small shell on it's back. Even it's horns are twisted just so to be kawaii.
"I am Tarra-chan, the embassador from Planet Falx"
"Pretty Soldier Sailor Ratty Chan, you must come with me to Falx. You are the only one that can save us from the Agers."
"How much are you paying me? And stop calling me 'Pretty Soldier Ratty-chan'. Geez. I'm not even wearing makeup or anything."
Carthrat-chan shook her head. "Security, fetch me a kettle."
"You shall be paid in the love and affection of all the good Tarrasques. It is your duty as the chosen champion of Falx to become....PRETTY SOLDIER RATTY CHAN! Defend us from the agers, please! We don't want to lose our cuteness!"
"What- TARRASQUE? I'll be fine, thanks. Being cute is overrated."
Carthrat starts sweating at the mere mention of the beast..
Hell, even me *and* CM couldn't take one out..
"But you don't understand! If we lose our cuteness, we become brainless, rampaging demons!" the beast begins to cry softly. "It will be a disaster for cuteness in the entire universe...and for all the planets we crush, I suppose."
Oh, WONDERFUL.
"What about those other Senshi? Surely they're more suited to this task than me.
SECURITY! WHERE'S MY HOT WATER!?"
"There are no other Pretty Soldiers except you, Ratty-chan. You are the only champion we could get, only you have the power and cuteness to stop the Agers."
Since a good chunk of your security got turned into rocket gibbets and the other half is dealing with the issues this rampage brought up, your calls for a kettel aren't being heeded.
"I ain't cute! I'm *BEAUTIFUL!* Don't you forget it!"
Carthrat-chan hmphed.
"I *hate* cute."
"No matter, you must come with me. Please, you our the last and only hope we have." The creature makes a motion and a cute, ribbon bedeckoned mini Railgun appears at your feet.
"Take up your Kawaii Railgun Blaster and help us!"
"Wha- No! Nope. No way. Not now. Not later. Never. Natch.
I'll think about it."
Carthrat refused to pick up the mini-railgun thing.
"If not your Kawaii Railgun, what about your Sparkling Decoder Ring?" A golden ring topped with a pink diamond is floating the air in front of you, begging to be grabbed...
G..g.. gah!
"I have all of these! Bigger version thereof! And less cute! And more durable!"
"Do you have this weapon of Kawaii Justice, Ratty chan?" it asks, making another motion with it's arms.
A Tetsubou drops to the ground besides your Railgun. It is solid light purple with smiley faces painted all over it.
"Take up your Blade of Kawaii Justice, Sailor Ratty!"
"That's not a blade! It's a club! And I have a bigger and thicker version thereof!"
Carthrat starts stalking back to her own room, intent on getting some hot water..
You turn your curvy, well toned back to the creature, walking back to your room.
And you are promply speed glomped from behind.
"Pretty, pretty, pretty please with puppys on top help us!" it says, tears splashing down on your shoulders as you are nearly crushed in it's glomp.
"Gah!"
Excuse! Excuse! Find an excuse!
"Ah.. I have some things to do! I'll tell you my decision when I've done them! Yeah!"
"You have to hurry! I don't know how much longer I can fight off the Hag Virus. If you don't help me, I may lose control and become an uncute Tarrasque!"
Carthrat-chan paused. "How.. long.. am I expected to be away from home?"
"As long as it takes to defeat the Agers, Ratty chan." it declares.
"What if I just kill this thing that's stopping you from staying sane, then come back, do some preperation, THEN go back and finish this.. this.. job."
Carthrat-chan shakes her head in exapseration..
"Others are infected as well, Ratty-Chan! The longer you wait...the more of us are lost to the uncute side. We just want to live in peace with our cuteness, we don't want to be world destorying meanies!" It starts sobbing Mihoshi style, drenching your back with warm tears.
"Oh hell. Hell. This isn't fair. Ukyo will kill me if she finds out I'm dressing up her body in such a short skirt. CM will never let me live it down...
This isn't fair! Why me? Why not someone else? Why not Ukyo! This is her body to begin with!"
Carthrat-chan starts panicking..
"You are the only one...This Ukyo you speak of is not worthy to be our champion. Please, just come with me and take up your weapons." it softly says.
"Well.. maybe... what're you paying me?"
Driven to the brink or not, I want SOMETHING in compensation..
"These weapons are yours to keep, and you will gain many Cuteness elemental abilities. We also have the material you call Adamantite in large quanities."
"Don't want it. Adamantine is minable off the moon, anyways. I want something GOOD. Like nanites. Or Orichalcon. Or Kyystan. Or an in-depth biological analyis of the Tarrasque, including bodily functions and whatnot."
Now THAT was a prize worth having. Carthrat figured he could make quite a fortune as a Tarrasque-slayer..
"You mean like studying one of us? Okay, that's great!" it says, rainbows back into it's voice.
"Riight.. so... what do I do, anyway?"
Carthrat picks up the Tetsubo and scoffs.
"Say something stupid like 'Magical Super-Love Pulveriser of Justice Supreme Transformation type 11132?"
You grasp the Tetsubo...and your vision is consumed by hearts, kittens and four leaf clovers. Tingly sensations run through your body...
A moment later, your vision clears. Looking down on your self, you see your clothes have changed quite a bit.
You are wearing a see through fuku, decorated with transparent hearts. You can see a pair of panties...you are wearing panties with kitten pictures all over them. No bra to speak of, and your hair is done up into a overhead heart shape, defying gravity and logic. Puppy shaped shoes complete the outfit.
"MY CLOAK! WHERE'S MY CLOAK! I REFUSE TO GO OUT IN PUBLIC WITHOUT MY CLOAK!"
Carthrat quickly becomes hysterical..
As you spaz over the cloak, you feel something shimmering inside of yourself...
With a soft cloth plop, you feel your cloak reappear on your sholders. Hell, it's almost unchanged. It is candy pink and red now, and smells like mint. All your gears seems to be in order, however.
Carthrat-chan quickly pulls the cloak over herself. The colouring is annoying, but it's better than THAT.
"Who the hell designed these uniforms? I'll kill him. Only a man could design this kind of uniform. Only a fucking pervert of a man with no life.
And I ain't no feminist.
Well. Lead. I'll follow. I'll kill what you tell me to kill. And then I'll slit my wrists."
"I designed your outift. Isn't it CUUUUUUTEEEE?" it says, going large eyed with hearts floating above her head. Quite literally, small Valentine style hearts are manifesting above her.
Yuki, wherever you are, whenever you are, and whatever you are right now, I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really hope you don't have to see this.
And I miss your tailoring. I havn't had a shirt that fits since 1998..
"...I hate cute. This needs more black. And grey. And it needs to cover me up more. Hell. It needs to look *HARDCORE*. If I'm slaying Tarrasque's, I wanna look cool doing it!"
"You do look cool, Ratty chan! This is what any Tarrasque Idol Singer would wear! It's pure cute and style in cloth form!"
"No! Cool by MY STANDARDS! This kind of cool!"
/me produces a picture of Trinity from The Matrix..
"Now. THAT'S cool."
"Bu...but...but that's UNKAWAII!" It's too dark and black and icky! No Pretty Soldier should wear that!"
"EXACTLY."
Carthrat-chan manages to force an evil sneer out, despite her stupid costume..
"But you need to be a cute champion, not a uncute dominatrix!"
"Why? What possible bearing does being cute have on my powers? It's not like fucking cuteness powers the world or anything."
Carthrat nods.
"LOVE powers the world, and cuteness is not necessarily love!"
"Cuteness does power Falx. And it powers your powers..."
"Yeah. My powers. Right."
Ok, then there's a line to remember, Carthrat, no matter how much it's going to irritate you and make you want to kill yourself. We can do that after we save the world from a herd of Tarrasques. Wait for me, Yuki.
"You're.. cu.. cute.. when.. y.. you're.. an..angry....ohfuck."
"I am! YAY! I wanna be cute right now!"
She drops you from the glomp and goes back to 40 - foot tall mode. She proceedes to throw a fake anger temper tantrum, really playing it up.
On the down side, your building is caught in the middle. By the time she's stopped...well, have you invested in owner's insurance? The damage is VERY extensive at this point.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I'm going to turn around and count to 3. When I turn back around, my apartment will be intact and the way it was before you came. Otherwise.."
An evil glint comes into Carthrat's mind.
"..I'll switch the blue mascara with the red mascara. We'll see whose crying THEN!"
"Hmm...That could work too. Both are cute!" she says as the apartment building rocks and shudders quite disturbingly.
"Oh.. god.. I.. fuck.. if you're going to knock it down.. oh.. hell..security.. phone.. insurance. I will be.. going, for a while."
Carthrat-chan droops her head. "What do I do?"
"Just close your eyes while I get us back to Falx. It shouldn't take but a moment."
Carthrat-chan closes his eyes..
You close your eyes...You begin to hear what sounds like a building collapsing...and then a feelilng of rushing through wind.
When you open your eyes, you find yourself in a new place. Quite a cute place, as a matter of fact.
You are standing in a small living room made for 100% Grade AAA cuteness. A pink, cat themed couch, pengiun wall paper and heart and swirl carpeting all grab your attention.
/me produces his vibroknives.
"Slash. Slash and tear."
When you take out your knife, you notice some....alterations have been made to it. It now has a handle shaped like cute Rat's head, down to a big, toothy grin and whiskers. The blade sparkles with glued on golden glitter.
"Slash."
/me stares, almost hypnotically, at the wallpaper.. and starts ripping it to shreds.
"Hey, don't mess up my wallpaper!" you hear Tarra-chan's voice behind you. Oddly, you glance her behind you and she is the same size as you.
"Slash. Slash you, too. Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahahaha."
Carthrat-chan continues to rip stuff up wantonly..
As you rip the wallpaper, you distantly hear shouts...Until a dull THUNK on the back of your skull renders you unconcious.
TBC next post.
You drift in a sea of darkness...Until a vague pain sensation slowly drags you back into the real world.
Groaning, you slowly open your eyes. You are laying on a simple, one person bed. The room is mid sized, and except for the bed and a dresser, it is empty. The walls are wooded and unpainted. The dresses does have a small cat doll on it, but that is the only other item you can see.
Damn, you have a headache.
"Ugh.. wha.. where.."
Carthrat rubs her head and tries to figure out what's going on..
Memories of the last hour rush into your mind...Tarrasque...Bad outfit(That you find you are still wearing)...Cute....Cute...Falx...Cute....Tarra-chan.
You feel like burying your face in your hands and trying your DAMNDEST to forget this day happened.
Always one to give into his instinct, Carthrat buries her face into her hands and tries to forget this day ever happened.
You do so...For awhile this feels good, until the fact that you are hungry, thirsty and pissy dawns on you.
"Oh.. god.. the food here must be like.."
Carthrat struggles from her cot, and heads for the nearest door.
There is a plain wood door on the other side of the room. You pass through it...and right back into cute land you go. You are in a hallway, with the aforementioned cute carpet and various pictures hanging on the walls of...well, of kawaii things.
Carthrat-chan resists the tempation to scream, before continuning on in no particular direction.
You quickly end up in the room you were in before. You notice some torn wallpaper, but otherwise it is the same.
Tarra-chan is sitting on the couch. She turns to you when you enter, relief quickly showing on her face.
"Are you alright now, Sailor Ratty Chan?"
"Call me Carthrat. Please. And no, I'm not allright.
Do you have any conception of who I really am?"
Carthrat shook her head and resists the temptation to do something even Relm would've said, 'Yes, that was justified' about, given her current circumstances.
"Of course, Carthrat-chan! You're Pretty Soldier Sailor Ratty Chan, defender of Kawaii and the purity to defeat the Hag Virus!" she says, a sugary smile accompaning these words.
"No. Who I *used* to be. Still am. Am."
I'm losin' it..
"You were...Carthrat Tanwalker?"
"Tanewaki. Tan-Eh-Wah-Kii."
"Tan Eh Wa Ki-Chan, right. Anyway, you need to get started soon. Are you ready?"
Carthrat holds her head in her hands..
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Which isn't really ready at all.."
God, I hate you, and you seem to hate me. Or find this terribly amusing. I'll get you back. Count on it.
"Right!" she yells with a grin. "First off, does your body feel fine? Resizing can throw you out of balance if you are not used to it."
Right.
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Great! Now you need to use this..."
She waves her hand again and a fourth item appears in front of you. It is a nurse syringe, decorated with mini-hearts and flowers.
"This will purify your powers of cuteness into one focus and allow you inject(Heal) someone with the Hag Virus."
"Oooooook."
They're coming to take me away! Away! They're coming to take me away!
Tarra-chan offers her arm. "Inject me...Just focus on the needle until the syringe fills with liquid and then stick me."
Carthrat-chan focuses through the needle what little emotion is left in her.. and promptly stabbities Tarra with it.
The needle fills with a golden, bright liquid as you do so...and it injects into Tarra-chan. She glows for a moment and a black, haggish looking image of a old woman dissipates above her body.
Tarra-chan faints onto the couch.
Carthrat-chan goes in search of hot water, leaving Tarra-chan lying there.
After a short search, you find a kitchen with a wood stove and well tap.
Carthrat-chan pauses for a moment.
"No good turning into a guy wearing this crap.. now.. how did the Senshi change back?"
Carthrat-chan focuses her will into getting RID of the stupid magic surrounding her..
You focus on getting rid of your clothes...and you find yourself buck naked.
"Life sucks. Truly."
Carthrat snaps his fingers, focusing this time on getting into his *regular* garb..
You focus...Your normal clothes appear, albiet in colors you wouldn't be caught DEAD wearing normally.
"Arghh!"
Carthrat focuses on NOT being this bloody stupid sailor-scout-lame-cute-THING!
You can get your normal clothes...But it only seems to make them in cutesy colors no matter how hard you focus. Finally, you manage a color combination, that while not good, isn't that bad. Mostly blues and a bit of purple.
"This'll have to do, I guess. Life still sucks.."
Carthrat-chan starts looking for a pot or something to heat water in..
You find a pot in short order, as well as wood to burn.
Carthrat-chan starts making hot water! (NOT BOILING!)
The water heats for a few minutes, time INCHING by as you anticipate a small return to normality.
Finally, it is safely in the detitify Carthrat zone. You dunk yourself...and change back.
"I am ABSOLUTE!!"
Carthrat's happiness metre raises by 600 percent!
Carthrat produces a sachet and starts making some coffee.
"Now.. what to do, what to do... well.. I should probably.. naah. I'll drink my coffee.. and wait for whatsherface to wake up. Yeah.
Then I'll have to change back.. oh well. I need to stay sane. Yeah. Stop talking to yourself, Carthrat."
The coffee takes a short while to brew...Once it has been made and consumed, you feel much better.
Checking back on Tarra-chan, she is still out cold.
"Ahh well. May as well wait for her to wake up."
Carthrat stretches, and starts doing some shadow-boxing..
A few minutes pass as you take jabs and hooks at your shadow. You hear a moan and shift behind you. Tarra-chan is waking up.
A short while later, you are sitting down and listening to Tarra-chan talk.
"Thank you SOOO much for saving me, Sailor Ratty Chan!"
"Yeah. No prob. Right. What next?"
Carthrat shrugged to himself, mentally ticking off the hours wasted.. WASTED here!
"I need to teach you about your Kawaii Weapons of Justice now, before you go out to battle the Hag Virus." she says. "You'll look so ADORIABLE with them!"
"Feh. Not interested. Can't I just nuke stuff? It's more stress-relieving."
A strange gleam comes into Carthrat's eye..
"No, you need to learn about your Kawaii weapons! They work super duper well on uncute Tarrasques!" she gushes.
"But nukes work well on uncute Tarrasques, too. I mean, if you hit one dead-centre, it's not getting up again. It's vaporized, man. VAPORIZED. Nothing survives a nuke blast at ground zero.
Not that much survies any other part of the nuke, though, but I guess that's good, 'cos I can hurt more Tarrasques. Or something."
Carthrat nods to himself. "Nukes it is! Got any plutonium?"
"No! We don't want to blow up any more of our Kawaii planet! Besides, we don't have any of that pluto stuff...it sounds uncute." she pouts.
"Wha.. not blow up? If I'm your savior, I'll do things my way or not at all!"
You call ME and expect stuff NOT to blow up?
"But...but...but...It's not CUTE! It's mean and nasty and destructive and uncute and messy and...It'll kill the uncute Tarrasques instead of making them cute again!"
"Oh hell. I'll kill what I want, when I want, how I want. Make no mistake. I AM NOT PLEASED TO BE HERE. Kindly stop bitching about your problems. I'll solve them. Perhaps not in the fashion you want. But I'll solve them.
And then I'll neuralize myself and forget about the entire incident."
Carthrat nods emphatically.
Tarra-chan starts to weep gently...
"I think I need to go talk to someone...Can you excuse me for a bit?"
Mission accomplished! What was that about making good people feel bad making you feel hollow, HUH? Last time I listen to the psychologist.
"Of course."
Tarra-chan leaves without another word.
A half hour passes with nothing of note. Just as you are about to get up and poke around, Tarra-chan comes back with another cute Tarrasque. This one is colored in a light, dog fur brown with a cute puppy mask over it's face. It turns to you...
"Sailor Ratty Chan, I take it?"
"No, she left. I'm Carthrat."
"Tarra-chan mentioned your...oddness of wanting to be male, Sailor Ratty Chan." Tarra-chan and the unnamed one sit down and turn their gazes on you. "Tell me, how much has Tarra-chan told you?"
"That I'm some stupidly cute savior of the world who does everything in a distinctly opposite fashion that I'm used to."
I mean, not kill them? Do they have any conception of how hard it'll be?
The masked one nods. "Yes, you are the Pretty Soldier Sailor Ratty Chan, destined to take up the arms of Cuteness and save us from the Hag Virus let loose by the Agers. Has she told you anything else?"
"Nothing of import."
You can almost see the cutesy smile on the masked one's face as he speaks. "Then let me explain, Kawaii Champion."
"One thousand, two hundred and twenty nine years ago, we Tarrasques liked in cuteness and harmony. But...One who disliked this rose up cast it aside, becoming the first Ager. You see, normally a Tarrasque stays young and cute forever. However, this One found a way to thwart this blessing. He calls it the Hag Virus. It turns any good Tarrasque from a lovely, happy creature into the ugly, world trashing freaks known and feared far and wide."
"Ever since then, we have lost more and more of our numbers to this Hag Virus. Nothing we could do could stop this. As we lost friends and family...we found they would show up on other worlds, causing massive havoc and death. Not only that, the Agers lose the Kawaii Magic they have, but possess God level power, endurance and might. We could do nothing...Until we managed to focus our power into one worthy avatar of cute - Sailor Ratty Chan!"
These people are insane and should be culled to further the intellecutal growth of the universe.
"You possess the Kawaii weapons and power to battle and reverse the effects of the Hag Virus. Your Syringe is the vessel you can purify with, and you have several weapons that will help you subdue other Agers."
He pauses speaking for a moment, seemingy studing your face.
"But I understand that is a difficult task. Tell me, have you ever heard of a Ring of Wishes?"
"Yes," The masked one turns to Tarra-chan. "Could you leave the room for a moment?" Tarra-chan does so quietly.
"I'll be honest; I have enough knowledge of humans that I suspect some sort of payment will be needed for your services. Awhile ago, a planar traveler accidentally left a Ring of Wishes here. Sadly, we found that they are not potent enough to affect a Tarrasque except in one special way, BUT they are extrodinarily useful to a human. I am willing to exchange the ring for your services."
Carthrat paused. There had to be strings attached; apart from the small matter of slaying- no, 'healing' the Tarrasques..
"And.. what way can it affect Tarrasques?
More to the point. Why me? You must know I'm the antithesis of virtually everything you stand for, and my friends aren't any better, so there's no real way you could mix this up."
"You see, no matter how badly you wound a Tarrasque, it will regenerate. The void of space, the strongest spells, even celluar degeneration will not stop this. Only a correctly worded wish can stop this long enough for one to die. I do not know if your nuclear weapons would be powerful enough to surpass this...but I'd rather not find out." it says, a bit of...worry in it's voice.
Sighing, he continues on. "The short of it is that you are compatible and strong enough to use the energy. Your female side has an spectacular innate level of Kawaii tolerance. Coupled with your male side's intelligence and build, you make an excellent choice. That, and you have the entire destiny thing making it a lock."
"Destiny. I hate that word.
But this is a contradiction. Wasn't I supposed to.. 'heal' them, anyway? Or are you more of a realist than Tarra-chan there?"
"Hmm, no, the idea is to heal them. Besides the fact that we don't have nearly enough Wishes for all the Agers...It is far better to heal them."
"I.. see.
Was there a particular need to send such an impressionable and hyperactive th- er, person to get me? Instead of, perhaps, one who is calm and dosn't cause a few million dollars worth of property damage?"
"Tarra-chan is our beauty queen and most charismatic individual. We thought she would easily wow you into coming. Did it not work out that way?"
"Ahh. Do want to know what she did?"
Carthrat, quickly and succintly, describes exactly how Tarra-chan managed to ruin his apartmentblock and probably half of Tokyo.
"Now, the only reason I'm here is because I had a bout of temproary insanity. Do you understand my inital.. and continuing.. apprehension?"
The masked one shudders. "Oh dear, she did all that damage? The Hag Virus must have been hurting her more than she let on. As for that...I suppose all the Kawaiiness was too much for you at first." It's voice becomes cheerier as he speaks. "But don't worry, with the Kawaii powers in you now, you'll soon be happy with it. In fact, you'll be the cutest one here by the time everything is done!"
"I'm not that kind of person! I'm violent, stubborn, angry, and impulsive! Attractive, maybe, but that's not really an issue for me.
This.. this.. this isn't me. At all. And I don't know if I can do half of what you want the way you want."
"Maybe so, but you have to try. And I'm sure you'll end up being better at it than you think, Sailor Ratty Chan." The cute cheer in his voice is thick enough to use as a pillow.
"Don't you understand? That's what I'm scared of!"
"Don't worry, you'll like being cute! All the nice creatures these days are cute, and you won't mind not being impulsive and rude and all that!"
"I'm a mercenary, not a fucking hippie."
"Huh? You won't be a fucking hippie at all. You'll be a cute chamption of Justice."
"I see that this is going to get me nowhere.
Fine, fine.. we may as well start right away. Sooner I start, sooner I finish, sooner I get out, right?"
"Of course! Has Tarra-chan taught you how to ue your Kawaii Weapons of Justice yet?"
"No, no she hasn't."
I wonder how the senshi put up with it?
Oh, that's right, they were born drama queens.
"I see..." The masked one scratches the back of his horned head.
"Tarra-chan, I'm leaving. Teach Sailor Ratty Chan how to use his weapons!" he yells as he gets up and walks out. Tarra-chan walks back in and motions for you to follow her.
You walk a down the hallway into a largish empty room.
"You can learn in here. Do you want to start with the Kawaii Railgun Blaster?"
"Why not?"
Why, indeed.
"Firstly, you need to summon it. Focus on the image of it in your hands."
Carthrat focuses on the image, not of a pretty kawaii Railgun, but his modular, freaky-looking Railgun which is currently, to the best of his knowledge, underneath a pile of rubble..
You focus on the image....and nothing shows up.
"Hmm? Oh, I know! You need to be female for your Kawaii Sailor powers to manifest." Tarra-chan says with a understanding nod.
"Oh joy. Don't I get a break?"
Carthrat produces his canteen and reluctantly pours the water on his head..
You transform, the shifting magic of Jusenkyo rearranging your most basic elements.
"OH!" You hear Tarra-chan gasp. "Your eyes are so CUTE now!"
Carthrat ignores the babble, and continues to focus on his
Not Cute
railgun.
You concentrate on the image of your uncute railgun...
And get nothing but a handful of oxygen. Nada.
*Cute. Well. I'm an avatar of cute.
How the hell do you do cool cute? Screw a Railgun.
Hmm. Let's see if I can just make anything.. as long as it's cute. Bleh.
Well. Hmm.*
Carthrat focues on.. a tank.
A CUTE tank, mind you. After all, it's pink, and it makes a purring noise instead of a rumbling. And the barrel is loveheart shaped.
But it's still got treads.
...Focus...
After several long, somehow straining seconds, a Chibified tank pops into existance. It is only as big as a toy, and is decorated as you imagined. Before you can do anything but gape at it, it fires off a shot at the wall. A thin and golden beam gushes from the gun, boring through the wall like it's no effort.
"Oh, cool!"
Carthrat tries to make the tank Move with his Mind Powaz!
The tank reacts to your controls, zipping around the room and making a few more holes in the decor. It's golden firepower seems to be quite potent.
"Ah, now THAT'S funky. Seriously. I mean, it's cool! Maybe I can wrap it in a cloth or something so it dosn't stand out as much.
Hmm. Remote controlled mini-tanks. Why did I never think of this before?"
Carthrat is off with the faries considering the possibilities..
*SHAKE!*
You are snapped out of your reviere by Tarra-chan's shoulder shaking. "Aren't go going to train, Sailor Ratty Chan?"
"Dun 'need training."
Carthrat focues on making.. more chibi-tanks.
POP! Chibi Tank 1 shows up!
BAM! Chibi Tank 2 forms!
WHAM! Chibi Tank 3 comes!
You manage to create 3 tanks, all moving around and spewing Kawaii Golden Death.
"Allright! Hmm. What was that show?"
Carthrat focuses on making all the tanks merge together to make some kind of..
SUPERTANK!
You focus....and focus...and foc....THUNK! The last thing you remember before passing out is the feeling you've overexerted yourself.
----
You wake up later in the same plain room as before. You have a bitch of a headache now, and you feel drained on some primal level.
"Owie. Let's not try that again."
*splat* Carthrat's head reimpacts on the pillow..
Carthrat quickly falls asleep, his body not even mounting token resistance to the exhaustion that overtook him.
---
When Carthrat wakes up, he feels much better. Hungry and thirsty, but otherwise better.
"Food? Oversleep? Food? Oversleep?"
Carthrat struggles with the weighty decision.. and manages to roll out of bed, promptly going in search of food..
Sailor Ratty Chan stumbles out of bed, her silky feminine body ambling along as she quests towards food. As you pass through the living room, you see Tarra-Chan running towards you. "Sailor Ratty Chan!" she shouts.
"We need you now! Bull-chan is about to fall to the Hag Virus!" her eyes get very large and very teary as she says this.
Carthrat does what she thinks is a credible horrified expression..
"Food! Sailor-CARTHRAT needs food if she/he/it is going to save ANYBODY! I am nothing without food! The more food I eat, the more powerful I shall become! Bring food! It is vital!"
Without a word, Tarra-Chan runs into the kitchen and quickly returns with a boxed lunch wrapped in a checker cloth. She hands it to you.
"Eat it and run! We have to hurry, Bull-chan won't last much longer!"
Carthrat eats the lunchbox.
"Right, where to?"
Blinking at your lunchbox gulp, Tarra-chan says..."Just follow me!" She runs out a door on the side wall.
Carthrat follows, taking a moment to summon a Chibi-Aeroplane..
As you sprint after the surprisingly agile Tarra-chan, you take in a few details of Decor Falx. There is some green...fuzz instead of grass. This odd fact is the first thing your mind takes in. The next is that the area you are in seems like a Care Bare suburbia. All the houses are cute and happy, many in animal motifs.
Tarra-chan finally stops in front of a two story house, constructed like a puppy dog. The door is in the mouth of the dog and looks like a tongue.
"C'mon, Bull-Chan is in here!" Tarra chan says, rushing into the building.
"Oh gawd."
Carthrat reaches into his cloak and spins out his handguns before charging after her..
Inside is much the same as the outside, carrying on the puppy design to diabetic levels.
You are lead to a large oak door with chains across it.
"Bull Chan is in here...for as long as she doesn't fully go under. You have to save her before that happens, Sailor Ratty Chan! But be careful..."
Well, actually, my plan was just to blow stuff up until there ain't no stuff to blow up no more. But if I have to 'be careful'...
With a twirl of her hand, Carthrat attempts to summon some kind of really big sword..
*Poof!*
What looks to be a 5 foot long candy cane appears in your waiting hand. It is striped red and white, with a plain grip. The blade is hard to see as it blends in so well to the 'cane makeup.
And it smells like mints to top it off.
Carthrat tests the blade with his fingertip..
It's quite sharp, nearly cutting your finger.
Carthrat nods. "It'll do," before opening the door.. or trying to.
Tarra-Chan silently cuts you off, removing the chains for you. "Go, and good luck."
"Thanks," Carthrat says, quickly sliding back into depression.. and opening the door.
Inside is...
A fairly large room. The walls are decored with various cute puppy dog foods, giving you the odd impression that you are in the stomach of the house/dog.
There is no furniture, only a Tarrasque lying on the floor. It is a dark brown color and a strange, foul scent is coming from it. It is not moving.
Carthrat switched the (sword? Cane? Cane-Sword? Now THAT would be fun..) to his right hand, and produced the stupid little syringe in his left..
Advancing slowly towards the Tarrasque, he focused on *ugh* Cuteness, forcing it into the syringe..
The syringe glows softly as you advance slowly...and slowly...You are standing over the Tarrasque now. The smell is strong, but it still hasn't moved.
Carthrat shrugged, and stabbed forward with the syringe..
You thrust foward with the needle, intent on injecting your Kawaii energy into the creature. At the last moment, it rolls to the side, narrowly avoiding your jab. It leaps to it's feet and charges you, horns first.
Carthrat swings the candy-cane sword around and takes a step back, pointing it out straight with the hope of making the Tarrrasque impale itself..
The Tarrasque is caught a bit off guard by your tactic...and keeps on charging. The blade embeds deeply in it's thigh, but you are knocked back from the collision. That hurt just a bit, but the impact with the sword prevented it's claws or horns from getting to you.
*Think fast!*
Carthrat thinks fast and starts hurling his knives at the Tarrasque.. aiming for the eyes.
The mini storm of knives sail out...
Several of the knives imbed in the Tarrasque's chest and neck area, but do not manage to get one in it's eyes.
The beast roars in pain and pulls your sword out. Before you can react, it chucks it back at you and charges, horns first.
Carthrat wills the sword to vanish, and reasserts the energy into some kind of pike, which is promptly held out and braced against the ground..
The sword shines and vanishes, the Kawaii energy reforming in the shape of a Kyute Spear Stabber. The wounded Tarrasque does not expect this and runs head first into the pike. He goes most of the way up, his now blood covered horns a mere inch away from you.
The weapon penetrated through it's head and all the way to the base of it's neck. It drops with a heavy thud, yanking the spear out of your hand.
Carthrat goes for his mystical, magical syringe, filling it with the energies of cuteness.
Perhaps somewhat tainted by the battle-haze his instinct and adredaline has brought on..
It takes longer than you expected to fill, your mind slowly clearing as it takes in the cuteness.
And he promptly injects the bloody thing with the syringe..
"Cute. There's nothing cute about combat. Of course, I'm sure I'll be remembered in Ballards and epic songs and god knows what."
The beast glows pinkly for a moment....When the light has cleared, it has changed into a white, slightly smaller version of itself. The spear is gone now, and it's wounds are regenerating nicely.
Carthrat shrugs.
"That was... simple."
Bull-chan looks as if he'll be down for a bit longer. Your knives have fallen out of the body as it regenerates, waiting to be picked up.
You also can hear Tarra-chan pacing outside.
Carthrat scoops up all his stuff..
"Oi, Tarra-kun! I'm done."
"IT'S TARRA-_CHAN_! NOT KUN! CHAN! CHAN!"She seems rather annoyed at the misnomer.
"Actually, Japanese suffix terminology references -chan, as 'A close friend, younger female'. -kun refers to 'inferior, subordinate, moderate friend, male friend'. I think it fits."
Tarra-chan enters the room as she responds, a sickeningly cute pout on her face. "I'm your inferior....?"
"No, you're my subordinate."
Carthrat's mind worked on a strict chain of command, labelled:
1) Carthrat
2) Everyone else.
OOC: The ALMIGHTLY DM sets mode +egoist Carthrat.
IC:
Tarra chan frowns lightly and does not respond. She looks over to Bull-chan and promptly runs over, checking over the fallen creature. She seems to be paying zero attention now.
Carthrat does the leaning-back-against-air trick, idly twirling a knife..
OOC: Bad me. Let' s pick this up a bit.
Soon, Tarra-Chan and Bull-Chan are back up and
celebrating in their high pitched voices. They shower you with praise and thanks, alternating between giving you heart filled eyes and hugging you fiercely.
A short while later, you find yourself alone with a bit of food, free to rest in Bull-chan's kitchen while those two go and talk to someone. Once you settled down a bit, you found your Kawaii actions took a good deal of (spiritual?) energy.
You are just beginning to drowse when you see a fleeting, yet extremely vivid image of cute Tarra-Chan being disembowled...You blink and it's gone. Huh...Wait?
The same image appeared on the door for a moment...You feel lured to go outside...
"If that's not an omen.. bleh."
Carthrat-chan heads out the door, cautiously, and with a gun in one hand..
You exit the house...
You feel a strange, violent impulse luring you to the back yard. You can almost hear the squeals of Tarra-chan as you slice her open...
You shake your head. You still feel drawn towards that back yard.
"Weird."
Carthrat cautiously continues creeping closer.
The backyard is a nicely tended grass field, large and with trees dotting it. One tree seems oddly shadowed...and you can FEEL it pulling towards you.
"Hang on!"
Carthrat reaches into his magical power reserves and produces a lumberjacks axe.
The ax forms in a gush of heart shaped energy, the blade gleaming in the light.
"Allright! It's choppin' time!"
With that, Carthrat starts to chop down the tree that creeps him out.
*THWAK!*
"OUCH! MOTHERFUCKER!" A loud and quite angry voice comes from the tree. In a rush of darkness, a shape flows from the tree to the ground, forming a disfigured uncute Tarrasque. It is dressed in a simple gray uniform, with black boots. It looks rather perturbed with you.
"HACKHACKHACK!"
Carthrat continues hacking at the uncute Tarrasque!
It quickly backpedals, avoiding your swipes.
"Wait a moment!"
Carthrat glares suspciously at the uncute Tarrasque.
"You're uncute, and while I wouldn't normally hold that against you, that apparently equates with evil here. So speak! And quickly!"
"Tell me, do you really like making things cute again? Do you really want to go through with helping these sickening cute things?" it asks, waving it's hand towards the house.
"No, not really, but I don't feel like letting a horde of Tarrasques loose across the universe."
We've seen this before, Carthrat. This is the Enemy Offer of Greater Things. Or something. You watch too much anime.
"C'mon, we aren't that bad. Really. A few dozen destroyed continents can't be THAT bad...Besides, wouldn't you have more fun killing those cute things than saving them?"
"Not really. I'd rather go home."
HAH! "Couple of Continents.."
"Well...We could send you home, but..
What's to stop those obsessive bitches from coming back after you?"
"Planar Locks. I can make them. Granted, I'll piss off every mage from Tokyo to Alberqueque, but it'll be worth it."
An answer for everything!
"Would you promise to leave us alone if we send you away?" It begins to smile...
"Oh, I'll come back. Once. And I won't speak to anyone. Hell, you won't even see me."
And drop a bloody Planar lock here, set the timer for 20 seconds, then leave. Bleh.
"Deal." It breaks into a rather disturbing grin. "Come with me, then." It motions for you to follow it...
Carthrat waves it aside. "No, come back in.. oh, a day? I have.. er.. preperations to make. Yeah."
Thankfully, I should be able to make a Planar Lock from common household implements and parts of my cellphone, then activate it when my scanner leaves it's detection radius. This'll rock!
"Very well..." With a shimmer of darkness, it's gone.
Allriiiiiiight!
Carthrat rushes into Tarra-chans house, collects are large pile of various crap he finds about it, and goes to work making a Planar Lock.
OOC: Should take about three hours min, 6 hours max. And Carthrat no longer has a cellphone.
4 hours later...
You are working on the Planar Lock...When you are rather annoying interrupted by Tarra-chan's presence again.
"Ratty chan! There you are, Sailor! Can you come with me, someone wants to see you."
"Busy. See him/her/it in two hours."
No! Not when I'm so close!
"But it can't wait! PLEASE, Ratty-chan! It'll just take a few minutes!" she pleads with wide eyes.
"Can't they come in here? I'm working, and I want to get this finished as quickly as possible."
"Well...Okay!" she skips off, happy with your answer.
That may not have been wise.
Carthrat tightens another screw, and then stuffs the Planar Lock into his cloak, where the N-Space will protect it from damage..
15 minutes pass...
Tarra-chan comes back with another Tarrasque. It is tall with odd rabbit ears sprouting out of it's white skin coloring. It looks to be in pain.
"Lara-chan just got the Hag Virus! Heal her, Ratty chan!"
Carthrat-chan dissmisively filles up the syringe, and injects whatshername-Tarrasque (they do not deserve the name Chan. Only Yuki is -chan.), perhaps jabbing down with the syringe more than necessary.
As you heal the beast, you can't help but feel tiredness...quite a bit of it, in fact. Shit, this cuteness stuff takes it outta you...Very tired.
No point even trying to build it when I'm like this.. feh. I'll just go to sleep wearing my cloak.
Carthrat-chan yawned.
"Tarra-chan, I'm going to bed. Don't wake me up, otherwise my, er, power won't have come back."
"HAAAIIII!" she says as she fusses over Lara-chan...
8 hours later.
It is just before dawn when you wake. You feel fairly well rested.
And.. back to work Carthrat goes! With a clear head and refershed memory, he figures he can get the Planar Lock done fairly quickly.
You finish just as dawn breaks, the last bolt firmly in place. You are hungry, but going home...
Stowing the Planar Lock in his cloak, Carthrat goes in search of some food..
You find some Animal Crackers in the kitchen and not much else.
Sighing to himself, Carthrat chows down on some crackers, then goes in search of a good place to hide the Planar Lock.
As all good thieves know, the best place to hide something is where nobody will look, and so Carthrat is on his way to remote territory, if he can scam it.
You find a quiet field a bit away from the houses, a picture of pastorial bliss. Looks good to you for a dropoff.
Carthrat sets the Planar Lock to trigger upon his leaving the plane. He makes certain he's set it so nobody can travel in *or* out. Wouldn't do to have some wandering traveller turn it off by accident.
Then, he buries it as deep as he can manage, before taking a fair bit of time to make sure it looks like just another patch of ground.
By the time you are finished, you are fairly sweaty and dirty, well aware of the fact that you need to bathe. It's well past dawn now.
Carthrat heads on back to Tarra-chans house, with the intent of getting presentable..
You arrive to see Tarra-chan sitting on the couch.
"Are you alright, Ratty-Chan?" she asks when she sees your ruffled state of apperance.
"Never better," Carthrat-chan says, cheerfully. "Just doing some.. er.. farming. Now I have to take a bath."
With that, Carthrat-chan goes off to do so..
"You hear Tarra-Chan mutter 'Farming?!', but she does not stop you." An half hour later you are clean and ready. You are beginning to feel an odd lure to the tree from yesterday, as if you are being paged.
"Figures."
After getting dressed, Carthrat heads to the tree.. checking his scanner to see if the Planar Lock is still ready and untampered with. You can never be too careful.
As you leave, Tarra-Chan speaks to you again.
"Where are you going, Ratty-chan? Can I go with you?"
"Er, no. I must meditate in solitude to focus my kawaii energy. Your presence, cute as it is, will only distract my soul from finding it's innermost power."
Yeah, rip a line from one of those monks.
"Uh...okay." she says, blinking a few times.
"You might hear some voices. Don't come out! That is my sacred spiritual song. Should you hear it to it's fullest, you will go insane, your eyes will fall out, and your hair will shrivel."
With that, Carthrat-chan heads outside, (summoning the axe when out of sight), and goes to belt the tree again.
Because it's fun.
This time, the ugly Tarrasque is waiting for you besides the tree. He seems giddy with anticipation.
"Are you ready to leave, Ratty-chan?"
"Hai, hai. Oh, if you teleport me to some hell-style place and leave me there to rot, I'll survive. Trust me. And I. Don't. Forget."
"Heh, no problem. Just close your eyes for a moment." he instructs.
Carthrat closes one eye and half-closes the other.
You are blinded by a swirling light which pries your half closed eye open...You are being thrown through a spectrum of colors...over and over...
After what feels like a lifetime, you feel the thump of concrete on your ass. You are very sick to your stomach, and you feel terribly dizzy. Looking up, you see you are in front of what looks to be a demolished building. By the nearby achiteture, you can tell it's your building.
Carthrat sighs as he looks about him, slightly dizzy. Obviously, he'll have to go to insurance fairly soon.
At least that's a real-world problem, though he can't stop the nagging feeling that hthis is gonna catch up with him...
Sighing, he hails a taxi.
OOC: HEading for Ukyo's..
Luck is with you, for you quickly catch a taxi. The driver gives your brightly colored outfit once over, muttering something about 'Goddamn queers'. Looking over it, you notice that your coat shifted back to bright pink.
Carthrat looks at himself in disgust.
"Shut up and drive. I've had a shit day."
Sighing, he grabs his emergency thermos.. for use just before he gets to Ukyo. And he tries to will his attire back to normal colours.
"Yeah, yeah" You hear the driver mutter than along with a phrase using the words cock, ass and suck. As you sit down, you notice that for that matter, your clothing isn't the only thing changed. You are male again.
Your clothing does not respond to your behest. In fact, you feel zero Kawaii Power...
No loss. What's this guys numberplate? I'm gonna hack into the DMV and remove his licence..
Carthrat waits for the rest of the trip..
You soon find yourself outside Ucchan's Okonomiyaki restaurant. The driver huffs about the lack of a tip and drives off with a final slur about your taste in men and dresses.
Inside, you see that it is a slow day. Ukyou is behind the grill, seemingly spaced out...if the large grin on her face is any indication.
Carthrat winces.
Must be something to do with that Ranma guy.. blargh. I hope she has one of my spare cloaks.
"Hey, Ukyo. Got any spare, uh, cloaks? I think I left one here last time I came.."
She looks up after a few odd seconds...
"Why, hello Sugar." she says in a cheerful voice. Quite a difference from your normal reception. "Sure, in the back. Go and help yourself."
Carthrat blinks.
"Everything all right, Ukyo? You look a bit.. uh.. sick."
"Everything is just great, Carthrat!" she seems...happy. Very happy. Almost disgustingly happy.
"Did something happen? You and that guy get married while I was gone?"
Freaky.
"We went on a date." She squeals in happiness. "It was soooo nice, even if he ended up at the fair by blunt trama."
Worries gone, Carthrat chuckles.
"Heh. Young love. Take it easy."
Another thought suddenly comes to him.
"Er.. mind if I crash here tonight? My, uh, apartment block got burnt down. Freak fire. I have to talk to insurance people. I'll pay you, if you want, and I'll be out of your hair tomorrow."
"Sure, sure." By the way she responds to you, you have to wonder exactly how much of this conversation is really reaching her.
Better keep an eye on her tonight. Usually she'dve gutted me and used me for fishbait by now.
Carthrat heads into the back, looking for a cloak, and the spare room he knows Ukyo keeps..
The day passes without incident, Ukyou in her happy daze.
You wake up early the next morning, ready to get going.
Carthrat stretches, and decides to take a quick shower before leaving.
After that, he uses Ukyo's phone to phone his insurance agency.
Then, he decides to find Sai and have a beer. He'll be thrilled with this story, definately.
The insurance agency call gets you an appointment with an agent tomorrow to sort out this mess. Apparently, the buildings collaspe was a minor news story.
"Brilliant. Cya then."
Carthrat then dials Shizue Kinomata's number into the phone..
"Shizue-chan! How much do I owe you right now?"
Instead of that information, you are deluged with her voice.
"Ratty! You're SAFE! Thank God, I was soooo worried I'd lost my trophy husband in making! Are you okay? No injuries? Loss of muscle mass or scarring?"
"Does pride count? I've taken a few hard knocks, but I'll be ok."
Geez, I think she *is* serious. Oh hell.
"Great!" she giggles.
"Anyway, what do you need? Uh, you owe me $35,462.43. Why do you ask?"
Carthrat snorts. "The decimal point is in the wrong place. Move it two to the left.
And don't say I'm lying. You still owe me for killing whatsisname. You know? Your competitor?"
"C'mon, you KNOW you wanted to kill him anyway after that thing in Madagascar. It's not like it was work, you know. Pure pleasure for Ratty." she teases you gently.
"I was only in Madagascar 'cos you gave me a 'Mystery Flight' ticket and told me it was to Vegas."
Not a particularly fond memory, no.
You can just see her grinning and twirling the phone cord...
"Well, you did get to gamble. It was with your life and soul, but hey. We all knew you could do it."
"Except me."
Carthrat snorted.
"354 US dollars. Right. I'll give it to you, and, hmm, lets see, lunch, how 'bout 1:00 today? My, er, schedule is open for the next few weeks, so maybe you can find me some work, too."
"Lunch? OF COURSE, RATTY CHAN!" she squeals in pure delight. "1:30 at my place here in Tokyo, okay?"
*Click*
Oh hell. I was gonna bring Sai so she wouldn't try anything.. feh. I'll get him tonight.
Geez, he's gonna be laughing at me for a year straight. If he wern't the only person I really trust in these dark, dark times..
With nothing much left to do, Carthrat gets his stuff together and vacates Ukyo's house, before going to check his bank account.
Now.. there should be a few hundred grand in there.. in US, not yen.
Your bank account has....$349,692.25 dollars. Quite a nice chunk of change.
Handy.
Carthrat takes a stroll around Nerima, oblivious to what might go on there this early in the morning...
Your stroll is fairly uneventful. Everything just seems peaceful and quiet today, a nice change of pace from the uber kawaii Falx.
Carthrat, after checking his watch, hails a taxi.
Bloody well hoping it isn't that idiot driver from before.
Luck is with you, as the taxi driver is a youngish man, a rather nice change from the last asshole driver you had.
"Hey, take me to.. er.. 12th Saville Rd. Yeah. Tip in it if you get me there in 15 minutes."
Carthrat revels in the joy of paper money..
Nothing of note happens during the trip.
The driver drops you off at the gates to Shizue chan's house. Well, perhaps house is a bad choice of words. It is essentially a warehouse with generous amounts of armor, tacky Japanese/American/French decorations and enough hidden firepower to blow away a few dozen islands. A absurdly high(30 feet at least) steel and barb wire fence surrounds the compound, with hopefully fake grinning skulls mounted on the top.
You've never asked her about those and you get the feeling it's just as well.
Somehow, with the clash of barbed wire, gayly painted armor plating and other...things, the place is kind of inviting. Or so freakish as to attract tourist, but hey.
The gate has an intercom for you to use to get in.
"NOW I remember why I never came here again."
Carthrat shook his head and went to the intercom..
"Guess whooooo?"
BZZT!
"Is it...The mailman? Did you bring the leather, Takahiko-chan?" she says in the seductive voice she's tried on you more times than you care to count.
Yuki, I pray you never hold this against me. And I promist I will do my best to remain, er, chaste.
"Amusing as ever, Shizue-chan... are we cooking, ordering, or going out, hmm?"
"We'll eat on...er, in today, Ratty." she teases. "Well, get in here already."
The intercom buzzes off as the gate opens.
Carthrat sighs. Ooh boy, did he feel he was gonna regret this..
He headed inside the gate, and presumably in the nearest door.
Carthrat passes through the main doors into the warehouse. It is cluttered with junk, machines, boxes of weapons and ammo and some other things best left unexplained. You wind your way into the center of the clutter, where you would guess Shizue-chan waits.
Sure enough, she is sitting in a large modified Ez Boy chair, waiting just for you. Her auburn hair is loose, hanging down to her mid back, bone straight as ever. Her large blue eyes regard you with warm and fondness, going nicely with her softly defined facial features. She stands up, her 5 feet and 9 inches of height coming to bear. Shizue is wearing a simple light blue house dress, one that goes well with her eyes.
"Happy to see me, Ratty?" she says around her grin. At least you didn't get Hyper Glomped this time.
"It *is* nice to see a familiar face," Carthrat replies tactfully. "What's cookin'?"
She gives you her wide grin, white teeth showing.
"I just ordered a few American style pizzas. A place opened up here recently than can make them right...Amazing, that. Squid just doesn't do it justice."
Carthrat shrugs. "You havn't had real pizza until you've been to Italy. They make it *completely* different. I'll have to go back there some day.. ahh, Venice."
Water, peacefulness, young love...
...speeding gunboats, an anchored cruiser, the Italian police..
"Hmm...I've never been to Italy. Hey, let's go to Italy RIGHT NOW. You said you had some free time, right?"
"Right now? I gotta clear stuff with insurance. Then I dunno if I'll have free time or not. I just said I *probably* would..
'sides, I dunno if I can afford the tickets."
And THAT was a bald-faced lie.
That damn smile never even faulters...
"Don't worry, I can pay for the tickets! Don't you want to take you Shizue-chan for a nice romantic cruise on the Med?"
If this were still on Falx, you are sure little hearts would be floating around her head now.
Carthrat shrugged.
"I'm kinda looking for work, anyway. No time to go to Italy."
She sighs. "Oh well, I should have expected that. You're always so eager to go blow stuff up. Oh, and speaking of that, I may have a job for you."
Carthrat shrugged. "It's my living. But you can tell me later. How've you been the past few weeks? I heard something about a scandal.."
She grins from ear to ear at the note of a scandal.
"Do you remember that bitch from Norway? Ivana something or other. Anyway, I 'ran' into her." Her smile takes on a very scary, evil smirk quailty.
"Such a shame I had on steel boots that just found their way up her ass. Dumb whore probably got off on it, too, when the pried them out at the hospital. I've always wanted to really do that, anyway, you know?"
Carthrat winces. "Ifalia."
He suddenly groans.
"Did Jordan find out?"
If Jordan did, Carthrat hoped he hadn't missed the fireworks.
"Ifalia? Whatever, her name isn't important. Anyway, I'm due to go see Jordan tomorrow. Care to come as a job offer?"
"Protection?"
Wonderful. Taking bullets really isn't fun.
"No, destruction. Do you really think I want that little French bastard to run rampant over me?" She laughs lightly in that way she has. "I think a bit of Carthrat's special boom should fix him and his bitch right up."
Carthrat rolled his eyes.
"Light, Medium, Rare, or Toasty-Warm?"
She just smiles serenely.
"Skin grafts. Lots of skin grafts."
Carthrat winced. "Right. How much are you offering? I'll accept, hmm, an new skyscraper?"
He suddenly realised something.
"Oh SHIT! The lord of the Seven Allied Systems of Korazdor was staying in my apartment when it toppled.. Ohshitohshitohshit.."
"Eh?" she inquires.
"Er, nevermind."
Oohboy, blew that one.
"So, you want this done tomorrow, right? How much ya paying?"
"I will bestow you with...$10,000 dollars, plus material costs. And my sparking presence, of course."
"Can I have more of the former and forgo the latter?" Carthrat replies, semi-jokingly.
You do manage to get a unpleasant glare for your effort.
"Fine, $12,000."
"Cool. A flaming building is no place for a girl like you, anyway."
Carthrat sniggers, almost uncontrollably.
"...Girl? GIRL? I'll have YOU KNOW I am FULLY DEVELOPED! SEE THESE?!" She pulls down the top of her dress to reveal a bra holding in a nice set of knockers to compliment her yelling.
She thrusts them forward, coming close to your face.
Carthrat bursts out in full-blown laughter, practically rolling on the floor..
"WHY YOU....YOU....YOU! THESE BREASTS ARE NOT FUNNY! THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL! PRICELESS! ALL REAL!" She jumps up and down a few times to accent her point.
Carthrat chokes through his giggling.
"Then.. hehehe... perhaps you should sell them... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"SELL?! SELL?! SELL?!" she sputters. Her face is cherry red and she is breathing heavily. She tries to speak, but all that comes out are unintelligable sputters and gasps.
Carthrat chuckles.
"Geez, Shizue. I've told you once, I've told you a million times. Need I tell you again?"
From what you can make out of her frantic, jumping attempts at speech...
Yes, she wants to know.
Carthrat blinks.
"Shizue, are ya choking on something?"
He decides to make sure with practical use of the Heimlich Manouever..
You grab her...and she quickly lunges forward in full glomp, getting a good grasp before you can react any more.
"I'm not going to let my Ratty chan go until he says he's sorry" she says in a disarming cute voice with giggles. She has a fairly good glomp on you...
"Awww, ok. Sorry, Shizue. I promise I'll never make fun of your breasts- without sufficent provocation."
Carthrat stifles a giggle, somehow.
"Okay, Ratty!" she lets you go, rebuttoning and smoothing out her dress front. "Anyhow, are you up for the job?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Address and timeframe?"
Ahh, an easy 12 grand. Nothing like money *and* pleasure at the same time.
"Just meet me here tomorrow at, oh say, 5 AM? Hey, you can spend the night if you like." ^_^ says it all...
"Naw, I'm going out for dinner with a friend.
A MALE friend. Geez. Don't look at me like that."
Well, hopefully, Sai wasn't caught up in some bizarre location like.. oh, knowing Sai, the moon. Or wherever.
Ah well.
"..."
"Oh God, you're dumping me for a GUY?!"
"No, not really. See, he's just an associate. Hell, if he saw you, he'd probably put the moves on you.."
Hoo, lets see how she reacts to that.
"Well, I'd have to shoot him down. I can't cheat on my Ratty Chan, can I?" she smirks. "I can't have you be lonely."
"Lonely? I have everything I need."
Carthrat turns into the Stoic Pose..
"Yep, because you have me!" she gushes out.
Carthrat picks himself up off the floor..
"Geez, Shizue, for all you know, I'm a virgin. How can you claim to have me?"
Shizue chan giggles yet again....You have to wonder if this girl is on laughing gas or something.
"Oh, you handle yourself far too....experiencely to be unexpeirenced, Ratty."
"Geez. How 'bout this? You do some research into my past."
As if you'll find anything.
"There's a certain few details in it that will make *everything* become clear, I assure you.
Who knows? By then, I might've changed my mind."
"Maybe I should...Hmm, I think the pizza should be here about now. Let's go eat."
Second post coming in a few.
The meal and the rest of the short visit with Shizue chan goes without incident. It is about 2 PM when you leave her riot of a home.
Carthrat, bored out his mind (well, you wouldn't be bored if you stayed with Shizue
-Shut up, internal monolouge!)
heads over to Shinjuku, intent on buying himself a new mobile phone.
His last one is currently under a pile of dirt in Falx..
Via cab, you reach Shinjuku and get a brand spanking new cell phone in an hour and change. Nothing fancy, but quite serviceable.
Carthrat wanders about Shinjuku somewhat aimlessly, browsing Japan's most well known shopping district..
You soon find yourself in a small, quiet corner of the district. Small, personal shops dot the area, various goods being sold. You have been here a time or two before with CyMage, as one of his component suppliers has an office around here. It is common knowledge among those with an ear to the ground all sorts of magic related things are sold and practiced here.
At least half the shops look to be covers for more arcane pursuits, by your guess. Likely more.
A few shops catch your eye by selling machines that seem far too advanced for normal use...
Carthrat narrows his eyes at the advanced sector. Despite the 3rd Intergalactic Patenting law (threatens Death, Disembowlment, and whatever the original owner decides to do to whoever stole his patent), he knows people have a find time stealing each other's inventions.
Being the genius Carthrat is, he's been forced to.. er.. deal with certain peope who seem to think *they* invented such brilliant inventions as the Reverse Singularity Distortian Bombarment Array Cannon, and of course the Really Big Cannon.
He spies out his various other inventions, most of which could only be detected by two things; either the Serial Number, or the large print with "This Invention was made by Karthuratsu Tanewaki, freelance bum."
As you browse these goods , you notice something that makes your heart skip. A newish poster is on a wall, with images of a Quake 3 railgun. Garish red text below it says:
"Get YOUR special, limited edition, 'enhanced' RAILGUN today! Only $10, 000 at the Warrens!"
"That's... that's... that's not a railgun!"
Carthrat stomps into the store, rolling up his sleevs...
It is a small corner store, somewhat isolated even in this back part of town.
Inside is a mismash of mecanical weapons and various, ornate staffs, rods, swords and books. A small memory tugs the back of your mind...
CyMage telling you that 'enhanced weaponry' in magic terms means highly powerful but unstable magic enhanced mech weapons.
Carthrat looks around.
"Right! I'm Koran Kalzo from the Dangerous Weaponary Reclamation Centre!" he yells out, brandisihng a business card with the aforementioned information on it.
"You! Are you the owner?" he continues, point at the clerk or whatever.
From behind the counter, a older woman comes out. She is perhaps 55, with short, page boy grey hair. She looks to have been rather average in her day, and the simple and tasteful black robe she wears goes nicely with that. She frowns at you and sighs.
"I don't know or care who you are, but what in the name of Mystrix are you DOING?"
"You havn't heard of the Dangerous Weaponary Reclamation Centre? Admittedly, it is a rather uninspired name, but I thought even this backwater planet had heard of it."
'Koran Kalzo' scratches his head.
"That's not up for debate! I'm here to repossess this stuff, and check it to make sure it fits in with Security Guideline protocal #422! As you may have heard, there was a recent outbreak of Deverem Skychaser's set on the loose, and several roving agents were sent to check!
Or perhaps you've already been checked? If so, please produce your receipt!"
She stares at you for a few seconds, her face neutral.
"This..this would be funny if it wasn't so stupid. Deralium des valtrai!" She waves her hand to those foreign words...
*Splash!*
With a start, you realise that you are in a body of water now. From the looks of it, you are just a bit outside of the Tokyo docks, dirty water and all.
Carthrat sputters in the filthy water, promptly clambering out of the water and using his Emergency Thermos to get back to normal..
"That bitch! Nobody stops Koran Kalzo!"
With that, he burns back to the store, and charges in through the front door, pistol raised.
"Now now! Magicka is not permitted for use on Officals of the DWRC! You have commited an act in violation of the 3rd protocol of the Cogniva convention! I shall now administer punishment!"
With that, he pulls the trigger.
The woman is caught off guard by the attack, the bullet passing through her left sholder as she tries to dodge. She gasps and falls down hard behind the counter, without a chance to act.
Carthrat slams the door to the shop, a crazed grin on his face.
"Produce your identification!"
A gust of black wind answers your call, fetid air flowing from the counter. The counter fades away as if distinegated, and from behind it the woman rises into the air. A bluish light surrounds her now and her short hair whips in the wind. Her eyes burn with red light...
"You little bastard!" With a twist of her hand, 5 small, glowing missiles hurl themselves at you...
Carthrat recognizes the spell and dosn't bother dodging, firing at the woman repeatedly and bracing himself for the impact.
You get off four shots before the white hot missles slam into you.
The first one misses, as you are slightly off balance from the gust of air.
The second one collides with the blue light in front of her and falls limply to the ground
The third and fourth ones hit home, however. One grazes her side and the other embeds into her foot.
The Magic Missiles hit you, whisking through your clothing. Each causes a small, painful wound, stunning you. You distantly hear the woman gasping and trying to chant SOMETHING...
Carthrat flips out his knives and dashes towards the woman, slashing wildly..
You lunge at the woman as she chants...
"Saliar orle Amejar!"
You slash once, the knife bouncing off the blue barrier...
"Della ermi ratlar!"
Your second slash hits lower, almost making it through the barrier.
"Zata! FIREWALKWITHME!"
Just as your knife hits home in her upper leg, the world vanishes in a sea of red and orange...
OOC: Next post shortly.
Pain...Your skin burns in places, and feels strangely unhurt in others...
You slowly realise you are laying at the end of a skid crater, somewhere outside. A bit away, you can see the ruined storefront you are fighting in, the crater coming from inside. The black robed woman is lying on the floor, not moving.
"Owfucking."
Carthrat tests his strength by trying to get to his knees..
Your body slowly responds, in an almost apathetic manner. After a few false starts, you manage to get up into a kneel...God, your body burns so badly...Through a haze, you see people coming to the battlesite, taking in the carnage with shock and dismay. The woman is stirring slightly, and you can see a puddle of blood by one of her legs.
Carthrat snarls in her general direction, but forgoes attacking her for now and tries to get to his feet..
You try and rise, only to fall flat on your face.
Another try and you somehow manage to kneel again, and finally stand. The world fades and wobbles as you do so, your skin burning with a new intensity. You are distantly aware your clothing is badly damaged, but it doesn't fully register to you.
The female mage has stirred a bit more, but shows no signs of getting up. You think you hear a male voice asking if you are okay, but...you turn and only see a few terrified and disgusted onlookers...
Oh fuck! If any of them realise I'm from the DWRC, they'll probably lynch me! Ohishitgottagetaway..
"Nothing to see here, folks, move along."
Carthrat begins to stagger off towards the nearest doctor. Are there any doctors *left* in Shinjuku?
Oh crud. It was all the womans fault. She should KNOW the DWRC dosn't take shit.
Your voice sounds different to your ears than normal, weak instead of your normal strong, assertive tone. You take a step forward...and another....and one more.
Carthrat feels a cool hand on his burned skin...Someone is holding you up. A young man, no older than 20, helps you to a bench and you recall him using a cell phone to call medics. Your last concious memory is of being gently lifted into an amblance.
OOC: Another post in a bit.
...
White and metal. Beeping lines. Ivory, wrapped flesh. Fluid armline. That feeling that only a good morphine drip can give you.
As you wake up, all these feelings impress themselves into your blossoming awareness. Your eyes open only at the behest of a massive display of willpower, taking in these sights before passing back into sleep.
...
Sometime later...
This time, the rush to awareness is far quicker. Your eyes take in a small, private hospital room. White washed walls with large, sunny windows coexist with beeping computer ware. From your position, you are guessing you are laying down and have been laying down for awhile. To your right is a chair with a book face down on it, along with junk food wrappers.
You don't hurt at all, you just feel....distant. Painkillers?
Carthrat tries to life his arm in front of his eyes.
The soft, bandaged wrapped arm lifts well enough. You can see hints of healing burns underneath the gauze.
Carthrat struggles to make some kind of voice..
"..did we crash or were we shot down?"
No one responds to your inquiry after several seconds.
Carthrat promptly falls back asleep..
Sometime later, take two...
This time, you are awakened by voices in your room. As your eyes crawl open, you see what looks to be a doctor and Shizue-chan discussing something. Before you can react, the doctor noticies your open eyes.
"Are you awake, Mr. Tanewaki?"
"Technically, but I feel pretty dead."
To be specificic, Carthrat felt like a man of 79 who had been dead for a week, rather than a man of 452 who just got hit by a bus and was dead for 300 years.
"'zue-chan?"
"Hey, Ratty," she says in a rather different, subdued voice than usual for her. " I heard in the news about an freak explosion in Shinjuku, and well, I knew it had to be my Ratty chan," she smiles, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "So, what did you get up to this time?"
"Heard of the DWRC?" replied Carthrat, struggling to stay away.
"DWRC? No, I can't say I have. Why?"
"It's an.. uh.. organisation I happen to work for. This was something of the line of duty."
Let's pray that stops her...
She just nods. "We can discuss this later, Ratty-chan."
She walks over and leans right by your ear. "We'll talk after you heal. I pulled some strings to get you some...help...with recovery. Otherwise, I don't even think you'd have survived 90% of your body being burned."
Monetary compensation wasn't what Carthrat was concerned about, oh no. He could always just hack into a bank and steal a few million, if that was the case.
Oh, no. It was doubtless going to be an exciting 'job'.
Carthrat seriously ponders the advantages of buying a cabbit and flying away..
"Hai.."
Bending over a little further, she gives you a airy peck on the forehead. "Now, you get better."
Carthrat winces.
"Doctor, how long 'till I can move? And, er, what's the bill?"
The doctor, a typical cut out of what a rich, debonair healer would look like with his black hair and handsome face, replies quickly.
"Hmm...You've healed from your burns at a remarkable rate, almost like a miracle. You must have one hell of a constitution, Mr. Tanewaki. Regardless, I would think at least a week."
Yeah, well, it happens when you spend a few years living with a wife that's only 5"8 but can beat the royal shit through you. And, er, whatever Shizue did. Must be one of those clerics Sai keeps babbling about..
"A week? Hey, did my cloak get burnt in the fire?"
It sure as shit shouldn't have. It only had my worldly possesions in it.
And my wallet.
Instead of answering, Shizue quietly asks the doctor to leave for a moment. Once privacy is accomplised, she speaks to you.
"Your cloak took some damage, but it's not -quite- ruined, Ratty. Whatever hit you had the force to melt a 30 foot long and 15 feet wide crater path through concrete and stone."
Carthrat blinks.
"I shoulda been vaporized."
OHSHITSHIZUEHASMYCLOAKANDALLTHESTUFFINIT!
"Where is it now? It's, er, my most valued possession."
"Don't worry, I have your precious cloak. Well, the hospital HAD it, but they don't make locks that can stop me!" For the first time since you woke up, she has her old, normal get go in her voice.
"Well, er, right. I'll probably be better in three days or something."
Phah! A week?
"Come back and see me.. oh, Thursday."
She laughs at your comment for some strange reason...
"I hate to break it to you, Ratty, but today is Thursday."
"Thursday? I've been out four days? Fucking figures. Try Sunday, then."
A slow suspicion comes to his mind..
"Thursday the 14th, right?"
She shakes her head.
"Thursday the 21st. You have been out more than a week, Ratty. It takes awhile even for the healing packs to get you in working order."
Carthrat sighs. "Great... do me a favour? Go have a chat the A.P and Sons Insurance. I'm sure they'll be dying to know what happened.
'till Sunday, then?"
OOC: Do the timeskipy thing, Dune.
OOC: Sounds good after one more post.
"Will do, Ratty."
The next few days are spent dealing with hospital food, healing, Shizue chan and another application of the 'healing packs' she mentioned.
They are plastic packs full of a bluish liquid and gel compound. From what she says and what you know, it sounds like a primative but effective dermal regeneration treatment. How she got her hands on it in this world is anyone's guess, it's too advanced even for the hyper cutting edge.
Rubbed into your skin, they vastly speed up your recovery and heal the flesh directly, removing the need for 'barbaric' skin grafts.
From conversation with her, you pick up a few facts:
The fight between you and the female mage was a fairly large local story. However, Shizue makes no mention of another person, and the news is mute about any black robed shopkeeper.
On the third day, you feel well enough to see an insurance agent. It goes as expected, and the claim looks to be approved...hopefully.
Your cloak will need serious repair work, but the fundamentals of it are still intact. The rest of your clothes were a loss, however.
Shizue is quietly picking up the hospital tab, and she sprung for very good care in a private clinic. When you broach the subject of money, she just smiles at you and says it'll work out later.
"Shi-zu-e.. can I look at my cloak? It's got, er, my wallet in it."
Carthrat shakes his head mournfully, wondering if his pocket change is still there...
The cloak is brought to you a few hours later. A good deal of raw damage is present, many burn marks and holes are present. Despite that, all the pockets seem intact...
Inside, you find everything is essentially in order. You suspect a couple of heat sensitive items may be damaged, but the majority looks good.
Carthrat nods, and puts the cloak on as he heads towards his next destination, this being A.P. and sons Insurance Agency.
Hoo boy, was his rating gonna plummet.
You meet with a case agent, who discusses payment plans and rebuilding with you. Unless you cheat, it'll be at least a year to see any sort of building at your lot, let alone a skyscraper.
The meeting goes as well as can be expected, really. You leave with the vague feeling you got something done...
Carthrat swears.
"Exactly how much is that lot worth right now? It's in a prime position, if nothing else, and, er, there's plenty of steel there."
"There is plenty of steel there, but it's of the wrecked and ruined type. First, we'll need to clean the mess up and then rebuild from anew. " the agent says.
Carthrat shrugs.
"I've seen big steel-pulping machines which convert runied steel into bricks or whatever. Hell, I built one. How much is that land worth? I *clearly* don't need it anymore."
"Market value? Several million yen, at least in the 75 million range. More if you bid it well. Of course, the economy is weak now, so selling is the hard part."
Carthrat winced. "Only 75 million? Geez, it cost me more than twice that much.
Right, I'll leave the unplesantries of finding a dealer to you. I have a job to go to. Give me a call as soon as you find a buyer, ok?"
After concluding his business here, Carthrat heads over to Shizue's house..
The trip to Shizue's house of rioting colors goes without incident.
Once there, Shizue fusses over you sans the normal glomping, getting you settled in with a nice cup of tea(Scanned clean). Once the niceties are over, you can tell she has a plan. Something about the way she's holding herself, or the way she's giggling at nothing.
"So, Ratty..." she begins. "First, what really happened to injure you so badly?" she asks off the bat.
"I told you. I was on DWRC business. I was supposed to repossess one of the, er, local's equipment.
Of course, I knew I'd be met with a hostile response, but I've had a *really* shit week, and felt the urge to make something explode.
Of course, the chick did that for me. She cast a fucking *spell* before I could gut her, and after that, well, you saw what happened."
Carthrat winces.
"It hurt like a bitch."
Shizue blink-blinks.
"Spell? Wait a moment. Since when did you deal with mage's equipment?"
Carthrat shrugged.
"The DWRC had marked her for quarantining. She was supposedly trafficing in illegal equipment. Unfortunately, all the mages in the DWRC are currently busy. I think most of them got killed in some flunked Iiridium-lab bust in Africa."
Carthrat sighs.
"So, they sent me. And me not being in my right mind at that particular moment, I simply went to her and told her to had over her gear. When that didn't work.. well.
Anyway, I'm sure the DWRC won't fire me. I mean, they didn't fire Naranso, and he caused a volcanic eruption somewhere in the Artic."
"Hmm." she says absently. "So, what exactly IS this DWRC?"
"The Dangerous Weapon Reaccquistion Centre."
Carthrat does not elaborate.
"And what in the name of Mech-sama is THAT?"
"Exactly what it sounds like, although "Dangerous" and "Weapon" are open to debate."
Carthrat shrugs.
"They tell me to quarantine stuff. I quarantine it. I sometimes get to keep it. In payment, they give me resources, money, and.."
He growls.
"..apartment blocks."
Shizue frowns slightly, her face turning gloomy.
"This DWRC sounds like a bunch of techno raiders. What authority do they operate on?"
"The 17th Bill of the Emperor Tslukio, the Third Monarch of the Korslathian Spiral."
Carthrat says this with a perfectly straight face, as it's true.
"...Okay. Why don't you start by explaining that, Ratty dear."
Carthrat shrugs.
"Space travel. Intergalactic policy. Empires amongst the stars. Surely you've heard of it?"
Carthrat is well aware the last few words are very cruel.
She spends several moments silent, apparently weighing over what you said.
Shizue suddenly laughs.
"It does fit from what I've seen, Ratty. I mean, really. Your technology is so far advanced from even the highest normal pioneers...and the fact that I've seen blips of it around. Those med packs, the light gun...It's really fuckin' Star Trek out there?"
Carthrat shrugs.
"It's strange. The thing you have to realise is that because of certain cosmic laws relating to space/time, the entire galaxy is pretty much a mess. See, until the galaxy stabilized itself only a decade ago, you could send a message to someone across the galaxy, then travel there, and you'd arrive to see yourself talking to the other guy about the message. It was.. quite strange."
Shizue just nods despite the confusion on her face.
"Start talking, Ratty. I want to know about all this."
Carthrat blinked.
"Wha? Everything? That'll take years to explain."
"We have time. Start with the more salient points."
Carthrat shruged.
"Well, space travel is fairly complex. I mean, I know how to build an N-space engine, which basically gets you from A to B, and I know most of the stuff you'd need to know to pilot a ship, but the fact remains I've been living on Earth for the past five years, and not because of any budget problems or resource shortfalls."
Carthrat struggles with the next part.
"The reason for this is something called the Tallirian Probability Theory. I have no fucking clue why, but it is impossible to build a ship in this day and age. Cosmic physics made it possible earlier, but nowadays, the physical constraints you have to work with simply don't cut it.
A vessel that can fly in N-Space is really a 4-dimension object. It, well, made perfect sense when I read it.
Well, really, all you need to know is that you can't build a ship from scratch, so there are only a few ways to actually get one.
The first is to find one. This happens more often than you might think. If a person really, really, really wants to travel in space and dosn't have a ship.. well.."
Carthrat coughs.
"Ships have been known to appear in peoples backyards with little to no explanation. I know for a fact it only happens once per person, and that it is most definately not something to rely upon. But it happens."
"..."
"...."
"Higher science is starting to sound like magic..." she mutters to herself.
"Oh, no, this isn't higher science. This is just the founding basics," Carthrat says, missing the irony.
"Anyway, you can always try buying a ship, though I doubt all the real estate on Earth would manage you that.
Then there's they way I got mine. You simply remove it from it's original owner."
Carthrat shrugs.
"Space is overrated. You have to watch your back everywhere you go, it's all about the moneymaking, you get into consistant fights... well, yeah, it's pretty much exactly the same as here, except there are aliens and more lasers."
You get no further reply, Shizue chan seems to have fallen into a grinning reviere.
Carthrat blinks.
"Er, don't tell me you want to go into space. It'll take you several years to find a ship...
...er...
...well..
...probably."
In the back corner of his mind, Carthrat has a alarm system that goes off when he's royally fucked up.
You are now getting a seven point symphony from it...The grin on her face is getting bigger.
"No, really! You can't even *hope* to fly a ship without the proper technical expertise! Hell, there are probably about three other humans on the planet who know how! All the rest died. In space. Because they thought they could take it.
Besides, er, there's nothing there. Just space colony after repetitive space colony."
Well. Close enough, anyway.
"Uh huh, Ratty," she says in a distracted, not really there sort of voice. She's really lost in thought, that disturbing grin still there.
/me boldly struggles not to cry.
"Well, I guess you have some job for me in repayment, huh? Name it."
She turns to you, the stars and all the universe still in her eyes.
"Yeah, Ratty; I have the perfect job for you," she does not wait for an answer, instead allowing her eyes to focus on you. "Do you remember Lacryma Christi and Toxa Christi, the Neo Germania freaks I told you about few months back?"
"What, those neo-nazi-type people? Or were those the *other* sisters?"
Carthrat scratches his head in confusion..
"No, those were the Oldman quartet. They're...dead, someone with a hyper gatling gun and a grudge went after them." she says with a small, vicious grin. "These two are a piece of work. Lacryma and Toxa claim to be from Bismarkian Prussia/Germany. Regardless if that is true or not, they believe a controlled, ruthless Prussian army will rise to take over Europe and Asia."
"And as any crazies, they think they will lead the armies, yada yada yada. I don't care about that, I care that they've been harrassing my shipments in the Pacific now."
"Havn't you tried the Q-boat tactic they used in World War 1? You know, where you disguise a few destroyers as freight ships?"
"Considered it...but why waste the money on ships when I have my own 'Blow'em up good!' edition Ratty Chan? ^_^" she teases around a growing grin.
"Because it's generally cheaper?" Carthrat replied, wincing.
"Fine, fine... you're covering all expenses, but I'll do it with no fee."
Shizue chan grins even moreso. You have a sudden flashback to Falx and the grinning, kawaii masses...
"...Ratty, I said okay...Rat?"
Carthrat shakes it off.
"Yeah, yeah, that's cool. I suppose you've got tickets for me already?
Oh, I'll need to visit your armoury.."
"Of course I have tickets for you...But don't you want to know WHERE you are going first?"
"You've never told me that before, even when I *did* ask," grumbles Carthrat. "The only thing that kept me coming back was the amazing, terrific, mind-boggling, head-spinning sax you can play."
Shizue chan laughs heartily at your verbal thrust.
"True, true. But I'm making an effort to be nicer to my Ratty Chan, after all."
"What're you laughing at- never mind. So. Where do I get to go? Have you booked me in a hotel yet? Do I have a car? A helicopter? Am I commanding a private army? I never know with you."
Carthrat pouts.
"Let's see...The suspected base of operations is off a smallish island." Shizue frowns. "What is it with with idiots and islands? I swear, some moron with a few guns and a million bucks takes a island and becomes the next world ruler in training."
Shizue continues to mutter to herself, having lost track of the conversation.
"Where exactly *is* this island?"
Carthrat sighs.
"Oh, right!" she says, snapping out of her digression.
"It is in the middle of the Pacific, a bit off the Indonesian arcipelago. Quite steamy and tropical...hmm. Say, Ratty, how about a vacation there with just you and me afterwards, hmmm...?"
"Yeah, whatever," replies Carthrat, oblivious to her words about the vacation.
The Indonesian Archipalego.. well.. that sucked, he didn't speak Indonesian.
Eventually, the talk shifts back from vacations to the mission on hand.
"From what I've gathered, they have a basic compound building with mounted chaingun defenses. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Just leave it a smoldering ruin and I'll be quite pleased."
"Geez, can't I just kill the leaders? It's less messy and more efficent, and besides, I'm kinda strapped for explosives right now. Didn't you notice? My apartment kinda fell down? Just gimme a 5.56 with a scope and I'll be right."
Carthrat sighs to himself..
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you have plenty of boom for this. What exactly do you want? C-4? Gel based? C-10? A small nuke?"
"Hysentium Slirine, a multigenetic compound that feeds off fire and lives, breaths, and dies within nanoseconds, promptly creating a larger boom and devasating a vast area with just a teaspoon."
Carthrat rubs his chin.
"I don't think you'll have any, considering I only discovered it last week."
She blinks.
"Weren't you, like, healing from massive burn trama last week and almost comatose?"
Carthrat blinks. "Yeah, so? It's not like I cast the spell that devastated half of Tokyo. Unlike that bitch, I *know* how to use my firepower."
"...Okay, maybe you need a bit of time to work out your issues, Ratty." she says, getting just a bit wide eyed.
"YOU'RE the one who wants me to go to fucking Indonesia and blow up some two-bit overlords HQ. *I* have issues?"
Carthrat snorts.
"Well, I have a REASON to wish fiery death on these bastards!" she retorts. "How many times have you caused big booms for little to no reason, Mr. Singapore?"
Carthrat yells back, "Since *YOU* fucking kept sending me to 'Vacation Spots' without telling me the bloody C.I.A had a fucking 'Kill with Extreme Prejudice' warrant on me and you *KNEW* their agent was on the plane!"
"I knew you could take out that CIA agent! So what if he packed enough firepower to conquer Luxembourg?" she shouts back. "Besides, didn't you get to loot him afterwards?"
"He tore off my arm! I was in fucking intensive care for three months and didn't get a new one until December! You know how much it fucking hurts to get an arm torn off, AND THEN SOMEONE PUTTING A NEW ONE BACK IN WITHOUT ANASTHETIC?"
Carthrat is becoming hysterical..
"And WHO GOT YOU THE ARM?!?! AND IT'S NOT LIKE THE CIA IS *THAT* BAD!"
"YOU MADE ME PAY FOR THE ARM! Only *AFTER* my bank account was fucking *hacked* and I was drafted into your service for *ANOTHER* year! CAN'T YOU FUCKING TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER? YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE YUKI! YOU DON'T EVEN COME CLOSE!"
"I HAD TO PAY FOR THE ARM! DO YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE LIMB RECOVERY *IS*? BESIDES, YOU HAD FUN WITH THE JOBS I GAVE YOU, DAMMIT! Morroco! Seville! Sapporo! Anchorage!"
Carthrat's about to shout some more, when he realises something.
"Yeah. Right. It was always like that, wasn't it? There was always some stupid justification. Can't tell if I made it up half the time or not..
I wonder how many I've killed for you? Ever killed someone face to face, Shizue? Ever just ended their life right before your eyes?
I don't think you have, have you?
I'm through with this. Yeah, thanks for saving my life all this time. For whatever it's worth. It's not like it means that fucking much to me anymore.
I'll leave you a cheque. How much? A hundred grand? Two hundred? Sorry, I just don't care anymore."
Several emotions pass over her face...
Finally, "Just leave." she says quietly, impassively.
Without another word, Carthrat heads for the door...
..keeping an eye on Shizue. It's not like he can trust her anymore..
You walk out, the noonday heat of the sun beating down on you. As the warehouse fades into the backround, you feel deeply drained both in body and spirit.
What *was* he doing? What *was* he fighting for?
Shizue Kinomoto. Who the hell was she? Where had he met her, anyway?
That was right. A late friend of his had led him to her.. Shizue Kinomoto, an ambitious little girl who'd just inherited her father's business empire..
The first thing she'd had him do was eliminate her business rival.
Yes. That was it. Five years ago. It'd paid well. And he'd been lonely. Yuki had died only a year ago, and he'd been lonely. So lonely.
That was the excuse, wasn't it?
Lonlieness. Always alone, always just him.
Helplessly, he began to weep.
You wander aimlessly, lost in your sorrows.
When you begin to pay attention again, you are in a small cafe. Decorated in a homey style, it gives a sense of peacefulness. A cup of hot tea is in front of you, which you vaguely remember ordering.
..and at Falx, he wasn't a person, oh no. He was just 'Sailor Ratty Chan!'
Hell, if they'd just called him by his real name. It wasn't the best name, and some people would think it an insult, but it's his name, and he'd be damned if he lost it..
What could he do now? He could retire, probably. 300 grand in US.. yeah, a lot of people didn't make that much in their whole life.
He'd buy a house somewhere, cash in on his investments and live the rest of his life in luxury.
'cept that wasn't luxury at all. It was sheer boredom.
Once, he might've considered a career in sports. But that wasn't much to work off..
Fight? For World Peace? An oxymoron.
It always came back to Yuki, really. When he'd met her, well, it wasn't the best of meetings, to be sure.
But there was something about her. Maybe it was the way she smiled. Maybe it was the way he could talk to her.
Maybe it was the way she weeped every time she killed someone.
Maybe..
He knew he was crying. Him. Carthrat. The man who could wander the world and almost- *almost* shape it to his whim. No man was there he could kill, nothing he couldn't do, he felt.
He kept crying anyway.
Tears fall and time slips away from you, little comfort to be found in the flow of time today.
You blink as something shakes you. Looking up, you see a young man in a apron lightly shaking your shoulder.
"Sir, it's closing time. Sir?"
Wordlessly, Carthrat slinks outside the store to loof for a public toilet..
You find one, one that isn't even THAT dirty, a few blocks away.
Carthrat walks into the area, and stares at the mirror above the sink..
"Nothing left for me here... nothing worthwhile.."
Giggling to himself, he turns on the hot water of the sink.
"Hey, Yuki. I'll be with you soon."
Holding his wrist under the water, he slits it with his knife.
"Or maybe I'll be reincarnated."
Transferring the knife to the other hand, he slits the next hand, too.
"Or maybe I'll just fade to nothingness."
Dropping the knife into the sink, he watches the blood trail with the water with a morbid fascination.
"Who knows? Who cares? At least it'll be better.. than.. here.."
You slump over, feeling exhaustion...sleepy..."hey!"
...finally falling asleep...."oh god!"
...slipping....
OOC: See next post.
For a moment, you see something ahead, a vast field of flame drawing you to it, horror...NO!...But it fades away as you feel something jerk you back.
Through red, bleary eyes, you see your wrists stop bleeing and close up. Two hands are grasping your arms, hands that are red and black.
You feel your body being layed down and turned upwards on the cool floor. A person is above you, a blur of red and black...armor? Battle gear? Kevlar? You can't make it out. More than that, a sense of that thing BEING there floods your senses. It is looking down at your without a word or movement.
Violation, relief, shock and confusion all flood your mind as your sight clears.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Your scream sounds lifeless even to your ears, the cry of a sick, lost babe.
Your vision clears more...and you see it's face. It is made of shadow, with red, bleeding sores all over it's ebony skin. A sound that forms words comes from it, composed of the cries of the fallen and the dripping tears of the innocent.
"Serve me."
You feel an overwhelming urge to bow to this monster, despite your state and it's horrifying apperance.
"Live to serve me."
Carthrat struggles to remain upright despite it all..
"Who.. who are you?"
"I am your God, fallen one." you feel both revulsion and sleep overwhelm you, sending you back to blackness.
Carthrat slowly wakes up on the floor of the bathroom in a pool of blood.
You feel good, at least as far as your body goes. But your mind...As you lay there, various images of violence, weapons and desecrations flash through your mind.
Shaking your head, the visions fade. You don't feel any different, just...empty. Very empty.
Carthrat staggers out of the bathroom, trying to shove from his memory everything that happened in the last 24 hours.
He can't think of anything but his regrets. Allways his regret. Always Yuki. Always death and violence..
It is late morning, sunshine and heat beating down on you. A few people are about, but otherwise it is quiet.
Carthrat manages to hold down his apathy long enough to check over his equipment and how he actually *feels*..
Your equipment is fine, all in working order.
Bodily, you feel well. Your wrists are uncut and unscarred. In fact, you feel a certain energy bubbling in you.
But mentally, you feel barren somehow. Not just drained, but whole cloth ripped away.
"What the hell..."
Carthrat shakes his head.
What to do now?
He wasn't hungry. He wasn't tired. He wasn't *anything*.
Carthrat starts looking for a nightclub. Yeah. Maybe some mindless dancing and drinking would get rid of his mood. Yeah. When he woke up tomorrow with a hangover, he'd be right.
You wander through the streets, past both innocent children playing and mothers being raped in front of them. Business men hustle about, weaving between the raining body parts.
Huh?
You shake your head, wondering where that came from. Looking down, you realise you are grasping your gun.
"Wha.."
Carthrat looks at the gun dumbly, heedless of the outside world..
Flashes of blueprints flash through your sight, visions of vastly improved firearms tempt you. You feel that if you reach out, you can understand and make them...
Carthrat hurridly puts the gun away. He didn't need it any more. He wasn't on a job. Yeah.
Carthrat starts looking for some drinkable water..
You find a small noodle hut nearby, where you get a glass of water. It is cool, washing down your throat. You hand the cup back to the the man, idly invisioning how his neck would look with a shard of a broken cup in it.
Carthrat grasps his head. He didn't kill people for the fun of it! Didn't he? Didn't he? There was always a reason! It's not like he had a choice!
Almost by force, you recall the small, vengeful joy when you killed the bastard who shot Yuki that time....How you savored the blood flowing from his body on some primal level. Yuki...
"No.. I had to.. he deserved it.."
Carthrat's will starts desolving as he desperately tries to shove away all of this.. this... evil.. he wasn't supposed to be like this!
You see the grinning smile formed by the man's throat as you cut it from ear to ear...
*Smack!*
A jolt of flesh meeting face stirs you. The shop owner just layed a good smacking on you. "What the hell is wrong with ya? You've been standing there for the past minute! Get away already, you business killing freak."
Carthrat's hand leaps out to curl around the mans throat, simply trying to crush it..
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
The next thing you know, you are standing over the counter, gleefully stomping on the man's corpse. His throat is gone, now just a mash of blood and skin. You can feel warm blood on your hands and face....god...
Carthrat's hands curl around his face, and he starts to scream again, his nails ripping marks in his flesh...
The feeling of pain and a shout of "OH JESUS! HE KILLED HIM!" bring you back to some sense. A mother and a teenage boy have just ducked in, and are looking at you with raging horror. You feel both joy in the violence and a shard of shame and fear...You are split between two strong and sudden impulses, running and painting the walls with the innards of the two.
"Jesus.. oh god.. help me.. somebody.. HELP ME!"
Carthrat screams out to the world, unable to contain or control himself..
Spinning...the world spins....
You fixate on the two...and something catches you. A simple gold crucifix is worn by the woman. For a moment, it reaches out to you in a calming fashion, then...you find yourself running.
Carthrat struggles, and starts to make a concious effort to calm down, regulate his breathing, and figure out just what the *HELL* is wrong with him.
You manage to do so, brining a halt to your frantic sprint. Yuki, that THING, crosses, Shizue, blood, it all overtakes your rational mind.
Carthrat stares at his blood-soaked hands.
"I.. ripped them apart.. just normal people.."
youdidthisit'sallyourfault
"Me... hahah... and I thought I didn't just kill.."
youllpayoneday
"Right.. and.. I don't know.. what am I? Some kind of.. vampire?"
Carthrat makes his way to somewhere dark, isolated, and alone..
The scurry of alley rats wake you...or just get your attention. You are not sure if you have been asleep or just in your private hell.
For what seems to have been the last eternity, pure image overload has bombarded you. It started as soon as you found an out of the way alley to rest in. Not great, but the best on short call. As you fell down to your ass, it began. The only thing that seemingly prevents you from...something.....is the face of Yuki and the rememberance of the cross. When either came up, a fresh and vicious volley of recollection came to try and drown it out.
Death, destruction, fire...
It'd always been that way for him. From his youth... where he was abandoned.
Or that's what he thought. He never found out. Never cared.
Etching out an existence day by day. Being the biggest kid and just taking what he wanted from those who didn't have to fight. Yeah. He remembered. Going to the public high school. He didn't have any money. He lived in an abandoned house. He just beat up kids and took their money.
But he excelled at the school, yes he did. And so the teachers never thought *he* was the one doing it.
Didn't think he dominated.
But then he let it all go.. and he knew he spent his spare time crying.
The memories were all painful.. what joy did he bring to others?
Yeah. Joy. Right.
He *was* selfish, wasn't he?
A tinge of memory struck him.. he remembered.. a helicopter. Flying. Young, diseased ridden children. A cruiser. Medics. Doctors. A hospital.
Smiling children. Happy faces. Relieved faces.
The men he'd killed to make those faces in the long run. The zealots. The pain. The killing.
Who fought only so their children could have the same thing, really.
One vice for another. The truth for a lie.
It was a joke. Was it?
Meaning. Purpose. Lack of.
Death, death, death. It followed him everywhere like a shadow.
Fight it? Why fight? You can't fight death, it always comes. Join death. Yes, join death, then it might not come for hi-
NO! What was his old motto? That line he shot to Yuki that made her smile..
"Life's only a 100 years, so if you saved a life a year, you'd save a hundred lives who could do the same.."
Yeah, that was it. Maybe. He could be a doctor. Yeah. A doctor.
If not a doctor, maybe a psychiatrist.
Maybe yes, maybe not.
Who knew anymore..
The sound of nonsense words being strung into meaning tickle your ears. Looking up, you see a truly unexpected sight. The female mage from the railgun mess is a few feet away. Before you can react, you feel a force lock up your muscles, sending you to the ground.
A little more chanting sends you to darkness yet again.
As the blackness leaves you, you find yourself laying on the ground yet again. Gee, this is coming a habit, you think.
Looking around, you are in a large, sunlit room. Above, there is a glass or crystal ceiling, letting bright light in. Around you is a large diagram, embedded in the tile floor. It pulses with blue radiance, forming bizarre lines and pointy circles.
Strangely, the blue light is soothing. As you take it in, you look over the rest of the room. The tile walls are carved with runes, also glowing with blue light. To your right, you turn to see the female mage. Her greying hair and black robe are the same, but she is regarding you with a mix of amusement and disdain. You feel no urge to hurt her...
"I'm not dead," Carthrat comments, somewhat unhappily.
"No. I was planning to do so in quite a spectacular manner befitting the revenge you deserve, but it seems Azzuroan beat me to it. So tell me, how did you get sucked into his priesthood?" she says, not hiding the humor in her voice.
"I slit my wrists and didn't die," Carthrat contiues. "I always thought slitting your wrists killed you. Guess I was wrong."
She smiles, a mixture of soft humor and viciousness.
"I suppose not, at least when Azzuroan is involved. So you are one of his unwilling followers now." she laughs. "By God, fate has given me a revenge I can never match."
"Fate? I'll have Fate's head on a stick if I ever meet her. She has it out for me."
Carthrat sighs. "It's like the domino effect, except there's only one domino."
"Hum. Call it fate, luck, God, whatever. The fact is that you are now one of the fallen priesthood. By my laws, I should strike you down here and now so you can only serve your God in Gehenna."
"Except I suppose you won't because you see I am in unbearable torment and you like this because I unwarrantedly attacked your shop?
Figures."
"Not quite. Because, quite honestly, you are also a living gateway key. You see, Azzaroan touched your soul with His essense. This provides a direct link to the Outer Reaches, which I can use to fuel portals with minimal magic output on my part. You are a breathing key to Heaven, Hell, Limbo and every other variant of it in the worlds."
"So, let me get this straight.
I'm in heaps of shit and lots of people are about to come after me."
"No. As a matter of fact, NO ONE will come after you. The dweomers I weaved shall keep you safe here. After all, what good would my own dimensional key be if everyone else wanted him?" she is smiling, in that disturbing way that chills you.
"And for a minute here I thought you were going to help me for that strange, twisted reason that people do in this situation. A pity you're such a- normal chick."
By Carthrat's standards, strange chicks didn't try and take advantage of you.
"People always come after me, anyway. They always do, if I'm missing too long. All I have to do is wait, and they'll find me.."
Carthrat grins right back at her, bluffing for all he's worth.
Then again, there always *was* Sai..
..and someone might have seen him...
Oh hell.
"You don't grasp the magnitude of the magic I cast, do you? No matter. Tell me, what knowledge do you have of the Outer Reaches?
"Nothing, though I have a feeling I'm about to learn something."
Carthrat starts plotting to kill this woman, for once safe in the knowledge that it's not because of anything done to his mind or soul.
She just smiles. "Good." With that, she shimmers and vanishes, leaving you alone.
Carthrat blinks.
"Well... here's another fine mess you've gotten into, Carthrat... probably Geased in your sleep... oh joy. I had a brief opportunity to make something of my life, and I really do have to just go kill myself, but nooooo, someone has to bring me back..."
On a scale of 1-10, Carthrat's life sucked really bad.
He begins by seeing if he can get out the pentagram..
You can walk out of it freely. The room is large, with no door to be seen. The walls are thick and slick, impossible to climb.
Carthrat takes a good long look at the whole room, searching for, well, anything.
There is nothing of note. The floor and walls are tiled and glow with blue light and runes. If it wasn't for those, it would be barren.
Carthrat just stares, before promptly sitting down on the floor and starts trying to figure out just *how* to divide by zero, vaugely recalling some idiot theory a few months back..
The time whiles away. You find your mind is uneffected by the madness that gripped it just a short while ago.
After about two hours, a guess based on the sun's movement, a plate of bread, chicken and green beans appears in front of you, along with water.
Carthrat just stares at the food, then pulls a gun and shoots the plate a few times.
He goes back to doing long division in his head..
You eventually fall asleep....When you waken, it is dark and another plate of food is waiting for you.
Carthrat drops a grenade on that plate and calmly walks to the other side of the room, ignoring the ensuing blast as he lies back against the wall and juggles some more grenades..
Your stomach grumbles at the destruction of the plate...
After more juggling and more sleeping, it is morning. A third plate is waiting for you, piping hot.
Carthrat, intrigued, drops the food off the plate and frisbees it into a wall..
The plate shatters, leaving no mark or dent in the wall.
Carthrat shrugs, and kicks the food over to a corner before going back to Mental Maths.
La la, 4539204 x 3421....
By the sunshine winding down from the glassy roof, it is now later morning. You are quite hungry now...
You are roused from your mental mathery by a earthquake. The ground shakes, as if a heavy load has fallen to the firmament. You glance up and another shaking makes you glad you happen to be sitting down.
Carthrat blinks, whips out his scanner, and uses it to figure out just what is going on.
You get a huge mass of 'Anomalies detected', as you expected...along with the life signs of what you take to be that female mage, along with two others...You aren't sure what exactly they are, but they are big.
/me shrugs, and starts singing..
"Fly/ me to the moon/ and let me play/ amongst the stars.../"
There is more shaking and various sounds, until it grows quiet...
Until the wall opposite you shakes once, then collapses into rubble, sending a cloud of dust up. From this dust, you can hear a high, cute voice...
"Sailor Ratty Chan! Are you here?!"
Oh shit.
Carthrat dosn't really care anymore.
He dosn't answer.
He dosn't respond.
He just thinks of chances lost..
You hear the sound of brick and tile breaking as Tarra-Chan breaks through the wall.
"RATTY-CHAN! You're alive! You have to help us retake Falx...Only a few of us are left..."
You can feel the urge for disturbing violence rising.
"No! Get away! Or I'll kill you!"
Carthrat realised the urge to slaughter everything in sight returning to him, as he collapsed, holding his head in pain..
You hear the tile floor cracking as the 30 feet tall Tarra Chan approaches, her large, clawed feet crushing the ground below.
"Ratty chan?" she asks, confused, almost laying a hand on your shoulder.
You gasp as the image of her, impaled with her own removed horns, races seductively through your brain.
Carthrat's hands claw down his face, leaving familar scars etched across it..
"Don't come near me! I can't stop myself!" he yells, backing away from her as if she's not quite the benevolent monster she is..
She lays her oversized claw on your shoulder, as much as she can...
Bloody visions of her carcass sear your mind and eyes...
"Huh?" she says quite eloquently.
"Gwah!"
Carthrat stumbles back from the claw, hands covering his face..
"Not again... never! I'll.. do more.. harm... hurt... anger.."
He collapses on the ground, his face entirely covered..
"R-r-ratty chan?" she stammers, sounding unnerved. Another small stomp tells you that she has taken another step forward...stabbing her eyes out...
Memories, death, flamehotredburningash..
He was what he was.
I am what I am.
I will be nothing more.
Nothing less.
<->
Carthrat's hands slowly left his face, currently turned away from Tarra.. slowly standing up, occasionally convulsing, fingers twitching...
He didn't become upright. He was curved, his entire body; his arms and legs both scythelike in the angle bent from his shoulders.
<->
He didn't think; he didn't laugh. He didn't talk or cry;
All he did from dawn till dusk
Was make the Soldiers die
<->
He spun around and stared up at Tarra-chan, wide, white eyes staring at her, full of malice. A twisted expression was on his face, promising only death...
His body began to unfurl, and instead of simply air, his breath created visible clouds of steam.
Lunging back with a single hand, he struck a blow-
Your blow strikes Tarra-chan in the lower abdomen area. It sends her back a step or two, leaving a ugly black mark in the shape of a circle. You find your body lunging...and striking....and dodging, almost beyond your will.
Distantly, a part of your realises Tarra-chan is crying and her question of why echos in the back of your skull. She doesn't seem to be putting up a fight, she has fallen to her knees and your blows are all hitting home.
"YuKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
What's that?
A name.
Names mean nothing.
Only to the 'other' him.
He was nothing.
Rend. Tear. That was all.
<->
'He' kept striking, eyes glowing anger and his body oozing the same, lunging out in fierce bursts..
On some level, you know that you are becoming covered in blood. Some still working part of your brain understands that you shouldn't have been able to break off Tarra-chan's pink horn, let alone stab her through the side with it.
A whimper comes from the bleeding mass....A cry of pain, suffering and utter despair and shock. Just like Yuki when....
Carthrat collapsed to his kness, panting.
Wha...
No way. No way he could do that.
No. No way.
Carthrat backed away from the corpse, arms still twiching, looking at the mass, terrified of himself, and what he could do...
"It.. can't.. be.."
Death was too good for him. Life didn't seem much better.
What was there for him anymore? If he just slaughtered everything he saw...
Was there no way?
He spun around and fled the corpse, screaming all the way..
It's wet...
When you look up, you see that you are standing in a knee deep pool of water. You feel tired, but fairly clearheaded.
Looking around, you are in a drainage ditch. You are covered in still damp blood...
Carthrat collapses into a deep, deep sleep, managing to keep his head outside the water..
You are awakened by the sound of sirens.
Glancing up, you catch the sight of a suit clad man.
"Ah! He's alive! Call the paramedics!"
From what you can see, there are two police cars, along with scattered bystanders. It's early morning, and you feel oddly awake and aware.
Carthrat stands up, looking around him anxiously.
"Wha.. what happened?"
Ahh, yes. The usual approach for dealing with cops and government officials... amnesia.
The suit clad man pushes up his glasses with his hand, giving you a good once over.
"Are you alright, sir," he asks in a controlled, rational voice. You see a few uniformed police officers and a few normal people approaching to presumably watch this scene.
"I'm fine... I guess. Feel sore and bruised, but mostly ok."
Carthrat tugs his cloak around himself.
"You, ah, um.. where exactly am I?"
He peers at you through his glasses, his typically dark Asian features neutral.
"Hmm, how about we get you inside for a bath and a nice change of clothes. Then we'll worry about that, Mr...?" he leaves it hanging in a way that makes it a question.
Carthrat pretended to think for a bit.
He *KNEW* how these things worked. At least, he thought he did. Been a while since he dealt with cops..
"I have a better idea. How about you tell me where I am, and then I'll decide if I need to use your bathroom."
The suited man grins, but it's not a very cheery grin. More like how someone smiles before they get nasty, and the effect of him being above you due to the drainage ditch makes it seem as if it's falling down from the skies to you.
"You are in Tokiwara, Japan." he replys in that same neutral voice.
"Right. Well. I'll be going, then. Don't mind me."
Carthrat jumps out of the ditch, and throws out his cloak to get the water out of it, before starting to walk off...
"I wouldn't recommend that, sir." he replies.
"Oh? And why is that?"
"Because I feel obligated to discuss the circumstances of your....situation with you. I'm afraid I will have to insist." he says. You idly wonder if he has any other voice besides that bland, neutral tone. The four uniformed cops behind him look quite ready to support him.
"We can talk. Right here. Right now."
Carthrat spins around to tower over the man, looking down at him with the Glare of Annoyance (#121)
"I'm sorry, but I will have to further insist we go to someplace more private and less damp."
Carthrat pulls his cloak tighter around him, one of his hands discreetly slipping into it...
"I want an attorney and I want him NOW."
Laughter is your response, loud, amused laughter.
"Oh my. Someone has been watching the American cop shows, hasn't he?"
"There's the alternative, of course."
Carthrat repressed the desire to snicker as he pulled the pin of a flashbang and started counting to five..
"Hm? Now what?"
"Think fast!"
Carthrat tosses the flashbang into the air and shuts his eyes, then blocks his ears, releasing them a second later and surveying the effect.
The suit clad officer and all his men, along with the bystanders, are in various states of eye and ear painage. They are quite distracted by it.
Carthrat starts by punching out the suited man straight out, before dashing for the nearest cop car, breaking into it by breaking the window with the butt of his P-90, and then hotwiring the car..
From the meaty crunch you hear, you likely broke that suit's nose. The jet of blood also is a dead giveaway.
The car hijacking takes about a minute and a half, as the cop car is somewhat harder to deal with than a normal ride. Soon enough, you are speeding off, just before anyone can really react from the flashbomb.
Carthrat starts looking out at the surrounding terrain, and tries to remember just what his SoP is for when he hijacks a cop car.
As you drive around, you find that you are in some back road area, with trees and stray rabbits the only company of note. A signpost of note, however, does shine some light on your situtation.
Tokiwara - 2 miles
Mura - 8 miles
Sapporo - 24 miles
"Sapporo! I'm on the northen island?
...bugger."
Carthrat shrugs and speeds off, looking for detour routes around Tokiwara..
There is a plethoria of meandering side roads, and it is easy enough to skirt Tokiwara.
OOC: Details on where you are going and all that.
Carthrat heads for Sapporo airport, constantly wary of any helicopters or whatever.
He DID just punch a suit.
"Well... what the fuck am I doing? I don't.. oh hell."
The ride takes an hour and a bit of change. Perhaps your luck is chaging, but you don't run into any problems, leaving you to dry out a bit from the ditch's lukewarm water....wait a moment.
You check yourself. You still have wang despite water immersion, you realize about a mile from the airport.
That'll take some looking into... later. I have no doubt that the Tokyo Special Op's division will have great fun chasing me, and they'll no doubt find me if I start doing weird shit.
Feh. It's SUPPOSED to disguise me..
Carthrat continues heading towards the airport..
You leave the car a bit away from the airport and do your best to quickly dissociate yourself from it.
But as a stray person's gaze tells you, your dirty, blood caked apperence(And from the nose wrinkel, your smell) is going to attract a good deal of notice.
Carthrat searches for the inevitable Airport Shop, with a great desire to get some new clothes and a suitcase.
You get to a suitable gift shop with a bare minimum of stares. At least the really obvious ones.
8000 yen later, you have a simple black T-shirt and grey sweat pants. Not great, but it's about the best you could dig up that didn't scream 'I'm a GAIJIN TOURIST'. Also, you get a blue carry on bag for your messy, weapon laden cloak.
Armed with his powerful wallet, Carthrat sets off to Buy a Ticket from the Automated Ticket Machine.
He decides to fly to England... nobody knows him in England.
Well, the people that *did* are now dead.
More yen later....You now have a ticket to London, England.
You get on the plane..It's going to be a long flight, with a few stopovers. Time to catch up on your reading.
OOC: If you want to do anything on the flight, say so now.
Carthrat goes through a few things while in the plane.
a) Carthrat initially goes to test his water-transformation, using rather cold water. If it does work, he promptly changes back and walks back to his seat after drying off a bit.
b) Tries to figure out just what the *HELL* he's going to do in London after the Japanese Special Police Division figure out where he's gone.
If it happens. There's always a chance they might forget about him.
c) Chow down and sleep, not generally getting off the plane at any of the stopovers unless he *HAS* to.
You try the transformation with very cold water. You feel your body trying to shift...for a moment, you feel that slight difference mentally of being a girl...but after that nothing happens. It's like an engine that is having it's power sucked away, the way it started and puttered out.
This only managed to add to Carthrat's sense of the world being distinctively out of kilter, as he headed back to his seat for a long, nightmarish sleep..
The trip passes amid restless sleep and visions of dismay and horror. After more hours than you care to count, the plain lands in London, England.
It is early evening by the time you get out of the tangle that is London Heathrow Airport.
With no plans, no arrangements, no friends, and a wallet packed with yen, Carthrat starts going about his business...
Firstly, he changes a large portion of his money; a hundred thousand pounds in 'Spending Money' should suffice, at least until he sets up some kind of regular income.
Secondly, he catches a train to London central, and starts searching for either an open Real Estate agent (ready to wince at whatever horrible, horrible prices they throw at him), or, failing that, a cheap motel for the night.
The money chaging is done by a clerk that looks bored and tired, fitting the rainy demeanor of the city this night.
When that's done, it's fully nighttime. You're hungry, sore and you have a feelling it's too late to catch a real eastater.
"Fuck."
Carthrat pulls out his dirty cloak and goes looking for a motel within the area..
Luck is with you, as you find a simple motel within a few minutes. The price is better than you figured, and so is the room.
OOC: Do something now or timeskip. Your call.
Carthrat collapses into bed, making a note that he really, really needs to find an apartment or a rental house or something.
It's a sunny day...Downtown Tokyo always looks so sparkly with it's shining entrails in the frying sun. Carthrat walks down the acid filled streets, enjoying the gentle cries of the populace dissolving in it's acidic bath. Ah, the tree planting project as gone well, and all the bodies hanging from the are so artisically pleasing...and the pike mounted heads that you placed just to compliment everything else. My, you had fun ripping Shizue and CyMage's heads off. They go so WELL with the trees...
****
Carthrat wakes up with a scream.
Breathing heavily, Carthrat flops back into bed, trying to stop his arms from twitching..
Calm.. calm.. don't alienate yourself from London.. calm..
After several long minutes of calming breaths and mental sparring, you get to a state of relative calmness. Yet, sleep is now outside of your reach. In boredom, you happen to flip on the crappy TV... A Breaking News story is playing on all the channels.
MONSTERS ATTACK SAPPORO, JAPAN!
From what you are able to gather, two titanic, pinkish monsters are tearing Sapporo, Japan apart. Cries of 'Ratty' have been heard from the monsters, but officials have not commented on this. Current reports say that much of Sapporo is burning or in ruin...
The national defense force has been mobilized, as well as the US troops stationed in Japan.
Carthrat flips off the TV, exhaling. Yeah. Japanese Forces are extremely capable of dealing with overgrown monsters. And Mecha. And whatever. They'll bounce right back.
Two Tarrasques?
He should probably catch a plane straight back to Japan. Yeah.
And go to Falx. And-
And what? He couldn't go back. Not while he was like this. He had to find some way to.. to.. repress himself. Or, when he went back to Falx.. who knew what would happen?
He'd probably forget his purpose or something..
But it was starting to seem to him like he had to.. atone.
For what, he knew too well.
And what did he have to do to atone?
Go to Falx. Cure everything.
But he probably had to do that *FIRST*, or there'd be nothing left on Falx to cure...
What to do. What to do.
Well. Sooner or later, someone would figure out what the Tarrasque's wanted, and they'd come for him.
Carthrat estimated he had a few days before they caught up with him, and decided to spend this time trying to figure out what was wrong with him.
To start, he scans himself..
Well, this is surprising.
Firstly, you have several new 'Anomalies detected' on your person. To be expected...but...
Your hand and finger bones are slightly odd. The iron content of them is off the charts(for a normal human), and the bone structure seems to be changing slowly.
Furthermore, your metabolism is somewhat faster now. The scan seems to indicated that this is a result of the finger problem.
Carthrat sighed...
More things were hitting him. Without his curse, he couldn't go back to Falx.
Without his.. *CURSE*, he couldn't atone.
And if he died without atoning, would he ever see Yuki again?
He pulled out something from his pocket and slung it around his neck.
It was a sapphire amulet. Carthrat had bought it for Yuki, a long time ago in what seemed a different, less cold world.
Unfortunately, he never got the chance to give it to her.
He hadn't worn it... but kept it for some reason.
Sometimes, he swore it gave him strength.
Now he wore it. To remind himself of what he was trying to do.
And his first goal was to get rid of whatever had just happened to him...
Which, inconveniantly enough, he had no idea how to go about doing.
Well. He had one lead.. Gehenna. Gehenna. What was on Gehenna?
Sai would know, but he was currently in Japan, probably pondering on coming out here and dragging him back to Japan...
Shizue could doubtless find out, but she was probably pondering on assassinating him.
Who did that leave?
<->
Carthrat steps out into London, and starts hunting for a library..
You find the 'Westchester Library' after a bit of footwork and asking of the locals. It is a older building, sprawling over a large plot of land with it's stone construction.
Upon entering the library, Carthrat takes a quick stroll around, scanning the general area.
He figures that, like most libraries of these age and size, they'll have some hidden section/catacombs/nymph whatever floating around..
This library is a large, rambling place, with sturdy wooden bookshelves that speak of age in all directions. It is a single story construction that winds and wanders, with several large rooms and countless lesser rooms. It feels like a cross of old, old architexture left intact and a rabbit maze.
Despite this, the signs of technology are evident. Computers sit at various desks, along with halogen lights and other machines.
Your initial search does not turn up any such section, but admittely it usually takes scanning or through searching to turn these things up.
Carthrat shrugs to himself, and sits near one of the computers.
Opening a search prompt, he is direct, and looks up.. Gehenna.
Ge·hen·na
n.
1. A place or state of torment or suffering.
2. The abode of condemned souls; hell.
3. In mage lore, one of the realms of hell.
[Late Latin, from Greek Geenna, from Hebrew gê' hinnm, possibly short for gê' ben hinnm valley of the son of Hinnom, a valley south of Jerusalem : gê', valley of, bound form of gay', valley; see gy in Semitic roots + hinnm, personal name; see hnn in Semitic roots.]
While your search mostly turns up basic works of fiction and fantasy(?) that use the name, this seems like a solid fragment of information.
Carthrat is not particularly thrilled with this development, but looks up a few 'real' books containing information on the subject.
Results for your search 'Gehenna'
1. Gehenna - The fourth layer of Hell: by Richard Hewson, 1982. Religious works section.
2. Fallen into Gehenna: The story of twelve Marines in Africa by Rudy Roughnight, 1995. Historical section.
3. Magikery - The path away from God and to Gehenna by Bruce DuMont, 1983. Religious works section.
4. Gods of Gehenna and the Abyss: The NyQuil/Dimatapp merger by Jon Bright, 1991. Historical fiction section.
5. Wiccan guide to Gehennain, Abyssian and Hadian dieties by The Black Lily Covenant, 1999. Myths section.
Carthrat decides to go for book number four, and promptly makes his way to whereever it might be..
You find your way to the historical fiction section, and soon enough to the book in question.
It is a spoof novel of the 80's American corporate scene, with nothing to do with Gehenna besides the title.
Carthrat gives the book a flat look... and scans it.
It is...a normal book. A bit on the cheap side construction wise, but....Normal.
Carthrat now decides to look at book 2, then 1, then 3, then 5, in that order, scanning each one before opening.
Book 2 looks to be a wartime story, and it scans normally. Nothing of value, unless you want to read that sort of thing.
Book 1...Scans normally, but looks to be of interest. It really does seem to be about Gehenna.
Carthrat sets book one aside, and goes through the other two..
Book 3 scans normally as well. It seems to be quasi Christian rantings about magic and it's sinister hand amoung the people.
Book 5 scans with a very minor anomaly, and looks to be authentic.
Carthrat grabs book five as well, and sits down somewhere in the library to read book one and then five, in that order..
OOC: Will take the whole day to do so with maybe a short break for lunch or something.
Book one...
It is a writing about the dangers of hell and it's demons, gods and lures to the weak souled. It is said to be a realm of fire and ice, with jagged peaks of slicing frost rising from seas of lava. The great domains of hellgods dot the terrain, defying the laws that govern our world.
Various names of demons and gods are listed in it, which you read over a lunch of fish and chips...Azzuroan is in the middle of the list.
Azzuroan -
The god of violence and the morally lost, he is known to appear to powerful warriors that die in despair. He brings them back to a state of life, but corrupts their soul slowly. Fits of unreasoning rage overtake the the victim, transforming him into a demon priest over time.
When the person is finally slain, they become a servant demon to the god when they are not burning in hell. Those marked by the god have a sigil on their forehead that mages and those touched by God can see. Many mages will attempt to slay or banish the poor soul on sight.
This is the salient information in the first book.
Carthrat blinks for a moment, then self-conciouslly pulls his hair over his forehead, before slumping down in his seat.
On the one hand, he had a new reason to live.
On the other hand, he was really, really, really fucked up.
Carthrat looks through the book for any information on how this curse can be lifted or cured.. and as a side thought, skims a bit on information for a.. Dimensional Key, was it?
There is no information on this book about lifting the curse. But, there is a brief reference to certain priests being used as 'Keys to other dimensions, via their link to their god'.
Carthrat's head- meet the table.
Bonk.
Bonk.
Bonk.
He looked with some trepidation at the other book, before reading through it, too.
You open the book....The hardbound cover creaks softly as you do so. Reading it, you skim to the part about Gehenna.
Fire and frozen rock compose Gehenna, one of the forsaken kingdoms of Hell. Blue flames and black ice dually torture the poor spirits trapped in this dread world.
A picture of a black, icy peak bursting from a sea of dark blue, bubbling liquid accompanies this text. Hordes of creatures can be seen roasting and freezing around the area.
It goes on to mention how this can affect summoning arcana from this plane, which you skip over.
You find the section on Azzuroan after more leafing.
Known Names: Azzuroan, Chalwte, The Bloody Saint, Alutruo.
There are two more words after than in a runic writing, but you cannot read it.
Rites: Violence without cause, pointless battles, random murder. Also known to react well to sacrifics of people that embody the opposite of his mythos - Certain police officers, heroes of the right type, ect al.
Priests - Special. They are all hand chosen from the fields of those who die in utter despair, bound for Hell. Suicides of former heros seem to be a particular favorite of his.
Befouled life is blown into them, giving them resurrection at the cost of complete corruption. Once revived, they fall into a destructive rage that lasts until they kill several people; one much stronger entity, or are killed again. If they survive, the go through cycles of sanity and blood shed, losing a bit of their humanity each time.
After the third or fourth rampage, they begin to gain visible disfigurements, as well as certain powers and weaknesses. This corresponds to their growing demonic nature.
Of note is the sigil that appears on the head of a fallen priest. It is a seven pointed star that glows with a greenish, unholy light, that magi and certain priests can see.
Of further note is that a priest of Azzuroan can sometimes be used as a Dimensional Key to the realms of Gehenna, The Abyss, Hell Prime, and certain splinter worlds thereof. With proper magical support, this could be expanded to the priest being a Universal Key.
Despite their terrible nature, priests of this god have been captured and used as Keys. Rumor has it that technology has also had success using these priests as a Key, but for spatial, in dimension teleportation.
This is all the good information you can gleam from the book.
Carthrat closes the book with a heavy sigh, holding his head in his hands..
A cure. There had to be some kind of cure to this thing. He didn't know what, and he didn't know where, but there *had* to be one.
Problem was, he doubted there was any mage, anywhere, who would help him. They were a vindictive lot, especially with the rise of technology as opposed to magic (mass production, baby!), and would probably have great fun enslaving/killing/whatever him.
Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.
His best option was probably to kill himself now and save himself the death he was likely to create..
Of course, he wasn't going to do that, because that was a ludicrous idea if he knew he was going to hell.
Or Gehenna. Or whatever.
Bonk.
Maybe he should let himself get caught. It was certainly better than slaughtering people, and being confined to a single room wasn't *too* bad, if boring.
Bonk.
Maybe he should give in and let this rage overtake him, it didn't seem like had much of a choice.
Bonk.
Well, fuck. He was screwed.
Waitwait.
This wasn't him. He didn't give up. Not ever-
Well, not now, anyway. He was gonna.. fight this stupid curse to the end, however long or short that might be. Because it all boiled down to a single thing.
Yuki was in heaven, and someday, he wanted to join her.
Granted, a ticket to hell would get him into the outer planes, and he'd yet to hear of a prison that could hold him, but he really, really didn't like the idea that much.
"So, Azzuroan. The game is afoot, and it's my move. What to do, what to do.."
As any good chess player knows, when you don't have a queen, you need to either get one or remove your opponents.
So. A mage HAD cast some supression spell on him. Granted, it was within a pentagram, but it *had* been done, and perhaps the pentagram was only for the dimension thing.
Or something.
So what did he have to do?
Find a mage!
How do you find mages?
You scan everywhere until you get someone with a bucketload of anomalies and then figure out if they're a merchant or a wizard.
This said, Carthrat starts wandering around London, heading for nowhere in particular, scanning just about everywhere..
You leave the eatery in the tail end of the afternoon, patchy sunshine breaking through a cloud cover and shining on late day pedestrians. You wander and scan...
Ten minutes in, you find your first 'anomaly detected'. A woman sitting on a bench has a ring that is giving off minor anomalies.
Carthrat boldly continues searching, grabbing some gum along the way.
The gum goes well with your search...
A half hour of footwork later, you have been lead to a small, oldish residential area. A mid sized house is giving off quite a broad range of anomalies...It is a old stone construction, of the same stone of the library and other buildings. It has a single door and windows, along with a simple lawn.
Carthrat starts 'snooping', meaning he walks around and pretends to look like he's looking for something.
Not only does he make it obvious, he makes sure it looks like he's taking great pains to be hidden, when, of course, he's not.
A childhood in the streets goes a long way...
You spend a few minutes in your obvious searching, until you hear a pair of feet walking to you from behind.
Turning, you see a 20ish woman, somewhat pretty with brown hair and blue eyes, along with a good build. She has a few grocery bags with her, one in each hand. Smiling, she addresses you.
"Hello. Are you looking for something, mister?"
Carthrat blinks, and puts on the self-concious act. Rubbing the back of his head and involuntarily chuckling, he says in a bright voice, "Heh, actually, yes. I'm conducting a, ah, survey, on odd emissions from the local area. Weren't you informed? I made sure to give in all the proper paperwork.. I mean, if something went wrong, it could be very dangerous!"
"Odd emissions?" she says. "No, I can't say I have heard about that."
Carthrat puts on an expression of horror..
"Oh no! I must have left the papers on my desk! I thought I posted them! Dammit, Raphael is gonna be sooooo mad.. I'll get fired.. dammit, the DWRC was the best job I ever got, and I'm gonna get fired.."
"Uhh....I'm sorry." she says. "Well, I need to be going now, I have ice cream to put in the icebox." she walks away, towards the door of the anomaly house.
"Wait! I couldn't borrow your phone, could I? Please? I need to make a call.."
Carthrat prayspraysprays she dosn't have a mobile..
She turns back to you. "Could you hold on a moment? I need to put these away first." she puts the grocieres down by the door and starts fidding in her purse, probably for a housekey.
Carthrat exhales, and wonders if this house even contains a mage.. England wasn't exactly empty of forgotten magicka stuff that was just left lying around..
"No, let me help you."
"Thank you!" she says with another smile. You carry the bags in as you follow her. But...
The moment you try to cross the doorstop, you feel a force jar you backwards with a nasty electrical shock. You distantly hear the bags hit the ground as your forehead
THROBS
with a painful fire.
"What? DIANE! DIANE!" you hear the woman shout.
Fucking figures, thought Carthrat as he tried to roll somewhere and stand up before the token mage could appear..
As you get up, you catch sight of another woman, this one now in front of the previous one.
She has short, black hair and green eyes. Her face is a soft, gentle one and is complimented by the dark blue shirt and skirt she wears. As her eyes lock with yours, she takes a step back in terror, then pushes the other woman backwards.
"MONSTER! Selena, grant me power!" she shouts as she kneels. For a moment, you feel deeply drawn to the woman...
Carthrat swears, somewhat loudly, and prepares himself for a magical onslaught, praying to whatever god might be listening that the Orichalcon vest does it's job..
"SONG OF WING AND DANCE OF LIGHT! CAST AWAY THE ACCURSED SPAWN! GREATER BANISHMENT!"
Light surrounds you...A few moments later, it fades, having no apparent effect. A 'huh?' look quickly shows on the caster's face.
Carthrat has a gun out faster than the woman can blink (and he keeps an eye on the other chick).
"Yeah, I chose to be like this, too. It's great fun, you know? I feel WONDERFUL knowing I can just go fucking insane and on a murderous rampage, with a happy fate in store for me at the end."
He spits on the ground.
"Don't even think of casting another spell. I'm a desperate man and I'll do desperate things.
And I. Don't. Want. To. Be. Like. This.
And I'm almost positive you don't want to let me roam free, hmm?
Oh, if you don't want to help me, that's ok. I'll just be on my merry way. Yeah. And unfortunately, I'm better at fighting that most of the two-bit mages that are floating around, so you can argue that I'll be around for a good long time, hmm?"
"Help...you?" the spell slinging woman mutters, still shocked. She gazes over you, muttering something that sounds like 'Aura' under her breath.
"If you drop the gun, we can perhaps talk," she says evenly. "If, on the other hand, you wish to continue to threaten me..." she says, making a waving motion at your gun.
Carthrat drops the gun back inside his cloak.
"Oh, I won't. If you can help me, I'll give you anything you want."
Carthrat says the last bit with utter conviction.
She continues to stare at you, her voice distant. You feel...offbalance as her eyes roam your body.
"You very well might...you very well might..."
She walks up to you, stopping a step away from you. She raises her hand in front of your face, fingers spread out.
"Could you close your eyes?" she asks.
Carthrat blinks, and gives the woman a flat look before reconsidering slightly.
"'slong as you don't do anything stupid," he mumbles, closing his eyes..
You close your eyes. A few seconds later, you feel a warm, metallic(?) thing on your face for the briefest of seconds. It almost burns, but not quite. You open your eyes to see her hand back at her side. Her expression has changed to one of concern and curiosity, lacking in malice.
She nods to you. "Let us go inside, then. You must have a long story to tell," She shifts a bit and waves her hand at the doorway, the phrase 'Dispel the will' just audible.
Carthrat chuckles slightly.
"Maybe.
Carthrat Tanewaki. And you are?"
"Diane Lees. The woman you saw earlier is Rachel Lees." She walks into the house and motions for you to follow.
Carthrat walks inside the house, looking about as he does so..
The front room is a small entryway, with a rack for coats and a mat for heavy boots. It is barren, with dull stone walls. From it, you enter into a pleasant living room. Soft, mute colored chairs and couches are spread out with glass tables and flower vases. It is homey and somehow restoring after the troubles of the last few weeks. Rachel is sitting at a couch, calm now. Diane sits next to her and looks towards a seat opposite her.
As you sit, she asks you "So, how did you get touched by...Azzuroan, is it?"
"Azzuroan, yes. Here, I have a couple books."
Carthrat produces the earlier two books, and hands them over to Diane.
"I.. was stupid. I'd had the worst possible week I could ever have, at least, well, before I got 'touched', and ended up slitting my wrists. Next thing I know, I'm still alive and lying in a pool of my own blood.
Since then, it's all been fucked up. I was in Japan only a few days ago... you don't wanna know what I did there. Hell, I'm not sure I want to. Some other mage kidnapped me before I knew what I was.. said I was a 'dimensional key'.
She had me trapped and everything, and then- well, I escaped, and fled here."
Carthrat snorts.
"Now that I'm here, I've got no clue what to do."
Diane briefly looks over the books as you talk, her other hand idly running over Rachel's hair.
"Hmm...Could you start at the beginning and be through, Mr. Tanewaki? I would like to know exactly what lead to this and what has sprung from it." she says.
"The beginning? As far as I know, that was eight years ago when.. my wife got shot through the lung."
Carthrat unintentionally grasps the amulet around his neck. "She didn't have a chance, really. I always thought it was my fault.. blamed myself.. spent the next year just wallowing around, doing this and that. Mercenary work.
Then I met this other girl, Shizue Kinomata. I'm sure you've heard of her, she seems to know just about everyone. Had her hand in just about everything. Out to conquer the world, y'know?
I started taking on jobs for her. Initially, it was a side thing, I guess.
It grew, you know? She actually made me feel like I was building something. Even if, technically, it wasn't mine, I felt like.. you know, like I was making someone happy.
I was wrong. Y'know, the grass is always greener on the other side and that. That could be her motto, really. I just kept working for her.. killing for her.. destroying for her.. for seven fucking years.
Then, I'm at home, right. And this.. this.. *Tarrasque*, for crying out loud, starts stomping in the streets outside. You've heard of the Sailor Senshi, right? Some kind of.. hell, parody of them.
I've been to Jusenkyo, y'see. Changed into a girl when hit by water. At least, I used to be. Dosn't seem to work anymore.
Anyway, this Tarrasque knocked down my house and then dragged me to her homeworld, Falx. Apparently I was supposed to be some 'avatar of cute'.. yeah right. Had to heal 'cute' Tarrasques cursed by some virus.
I don't really know anymore. I jumped out the universe as soon as I could, which was probably the worst mistake I've ever made. Doubtless you've seen those two monsters roaming around Sapporo? They're *looking* for me, but I can't help them, 'cos I can't change into a girl, and if I can't do that, I can't save their world like I should've done in the first place. God only knows what it's like now.
Anyway, that's another matter. After busting out of Falx, I went to see Shizue to check if she had any work for me.
But it all hit me, y'know? Not to go into details, but.. I was thinking of Yuki.. of everyone I'd killed, and I'm not proud, not at all, and it absolutely shit me to see her practically- well, revelling in it! I'm the one who made all the sacrifices for her, and she's the one profiting, and I'm reduced to.. this!
So.. I slit my wrists. Was going to go to hell. Probably deserved it.
Then I came back, and I was.. like this.
Went beserk in Tokyo. Killed some people. Don't want to know what I did.
Ended up trapped in some mages prison.. but whaddya know, the Tarrasque appears from nowhere and breaks all the spells! In return, I was incredibly kind and slaughtered her.
By all rights, I should've died right then. All I remember is this huge, bleeding body, and running away as fast as I can.
Then I ended up here..."
As you go on, Diane's slowly seems to be overwhelmed with the vast amount of information you gave out.
After a minute to digest the end of it, she replies.
"This Shizue Kinomoto, could you go into some more detail about her and what you did for her?" she asks.
"Anything and everything. She kep trying to marry me, you know?
See, I'm a physicist and a chemist. And a damned good one, if I do say so myself. I make weapons of all kinds, and whats more, I can use them effectively.
Shizue had me on just about every conceivable job. Open warfare, guard duty, smuggling, pilot, search 'n destroy... all to further her ambition.
Basically, I killed people for her.
As for what *she* did? She owns Kinomoto Inc., a large business out to dominate the world. Unfortunately, they ran into economic trouble some time ago, and are currently trying to find the funds to pay her private army.
She knows.. well, everyone, it seemed. She has mages, clerics, martial aritsts, 'modern' mercenaries like myself, nuclear missiles.. just about everything she needs on hand. Don't know why she took such an intrest in me, but she did.
I honestly don't know all that much about her, really. All I know is that just about everything I did for her involved killing people."
Killing. It always came back to the killing.
"Hmm. Mercenary, are you? Nevermind, it's not important. So you acted as a hitman for this woman?"
"Pretty much."
THAT was harder to say than it should've been..
Diane nods slowly, idly stroking Rachel's hair.
"It's painful for you," she says it in a way that is not a question but a statement. "Would you ever go back to her in the same role?"
"I couldn't go back to anyone in that role, let alone her," replies Carthrat numbly, his mind vaugely recalling each and every incident he'd ever been caught up in.
A long sigh escapes his lips.
She is silent after that, studying you instead of speaking. Finally, aftet what seems to be too long in her gaze...
"So you regret your actions. But, do you want to repent and change yourself? You have a terrible burden, and even if you explunge Azzuroan's touch...
You are still likely bound to a less than pleasant final call."
"Where there's a will, there's a way," replies Carthrat.
A smile spreads over both Diane and the quiet Rachel's faces.
"You want to change, I think. Good," she says. "But moving on for now, who put the energy absorbtion and repression enchantments on you?"
"There are enchantments on me?" replies Carthrat, with some surprise.
She nods. "Yes. You said you had a Jusenkyo curse, correct?"
"Well, I still do. I'm just guessing it's a side effect of what Azzuroan did to me."
He gestures to the books.
"They said that eventually, my form will change. Perhaps this gradual change is repressing the curse."
"No, the curse is being subverted. The magical energy that is generated by the change is instead hijacked in a enchantment. Someone has installed a spell that turns any magical energy or powers into a surpressing substance...one that retards the effect of Azzuroan's touch to a degree." She leans forward slightly. "Whomever did this is a fair mage, it is beyond the skill of most."
Carthrat snaps his fingers.
"It MUST have been that bitch who kidnapped me and tried to use me as a dimensional gate! I was out for an age before I came to, and I've no idea what else she could've done to me.."
She sinks back and adresses you, curiousity in her voice.
"Tell me about this magess...Do you know her name?"
"No, not a clue. I *do* know she was dealing illegal arms and equipment in Shinjuku, but not much more.
Whoever she was, she was thrilled with having her own personal dimensional gate."
"Hm." she turns her eyes away for a moment, letting them wander the room. "Do you know anything else about her? Spells used, description, age, anything?"
"She was about 50 or 60. Greyish hair. Said something about 'Mystrix'. Wore a black robe.
Cast some spell; said 'Fire walk with me!'. Blew up half of Shinjuku, I think, and I only survived because Shizue chose that moment to save me and extort service."
"Mystrix, I know that name. I believe she is a patron Goddess of a group of magi. I do not know about 'Fire Walk With Me', or any of the other information provided."
She says this half to herself, as if she is turning the facts over in her head.
"Is she still alive?"
"I have no idea," replied Carthrat, honestly. "I'd say the odds are even either way. If she's alive, she's probably looking for me."
"If she is alive, she is likely going to be able to track you via the enchantments she laid," she says. "But...If dispelled, you will only have your willpower to resist Azzuroan..."
Carthrat pauses, then shrugs.
"She probably already knows I'm in London. She found me once without an enchantment. I daresay she'll find me again. I may as well remain like this, and wait for her to find me before dealing with it."
The muttered phrase that comes from Diane's lips is neither pleasant nor ladylike.
"So we might very well have to deal with a pissed off magess as well. Can you defend yourself at all from magicks?"
Carthrat levels a flat stare at the woman.
"Ever heard of Orhicalcon?"
"Flying metal?" she asks.
"It's called that, but I discovered that if you apply a certain chemical procedure to it, it provides an aura that is capable of resisting most powerful spells.
The use of it is restricted mainly to.. what did Sai say it was? Against Abjuration magick and Evocation magick, I believe.
I think there are other forms of protection I can offer, but I havn't discerned them."
She nods as you talk about the chemical effects of the Flying Metal.
"Who is this 'Sai' you refer to?"
"Sai Maigu, probably the most powerful magus this side of Jupiter. He's, uh, indisposed at the moment."
"I see." she shrugs as she says it.
"What about the Tarrasques you mentioned? Are these the same destroyers of legend?"
"Yes and no. It's decidedly odd.
You see, there's an entire Plane of Tarrasques. I was there. And you know? They're not naturally evil. They're scarily good, in fact.
Supposedly, anyway. They're obsessed with being 'cute'. It's all they think about. It's horrible, in my opinion.
The entire race contracted a virus of some kind... it apparently makes them evil and destructive, but to them, it's much worse; it makes them ugly."
Diane blinks while Rachel just stares at you.
Rachel blinks while Diane just stares at you.
"Run that by me again..." Diane manages to mutter.
"The weather's nice today, isn't it?" comments Carthrat brightly, noting the lack of rain.
"The...the legendary, hellish, unstoppable destroyers of planets are CUTE?!" Diane shouts out.
"Have you ever *seen* one?" snorts back Carthrat.
"There are *much* worse things than Tarrasque's out there, let me assure you."
Diane seems a bit shaken. "And these cute Tarrasques made you their 'Avatar of Cuteness? Do they find men 'cute' in the way I think you mean?"
"Naw, they think men are ugly, period. They were criticizing me for being a guy and wondering why I didn't embrace my curse and all that..
Hey! Don't look at me like that. Wasn't my fault they're like that."
"Your curse...What is your curse?" she aks, running her hand through her hair.
"..the Jusenkyo thing, remember?"
Carthrat facepalms..
"No, no, no. I mean, what do you change into?"
"A woman," replies Carthrat, blinking. "Is that important?"
"Oh. Well, since you said it was something like the Sailor Senshi...." she leaves it hanging.
"Riiiiiiight. Anyway, it's another loose end I'll have to wrap up."
"Yes...Hmm, that must have been the second energy source I saw the enchantment draining. It was shown as a pink blob of light..." she mutters to herself.
"Figures. I'll always wonder why it's me and not somebody more suited to the role."
She shakes her head. "That sort of talk never goes anywhere. Ah, I think I need some time to mull all this. Rachel, could you show our guest to the kitchen? I'm sure he is hungry."
Carthrat pauses. "Yes, that would be great."
Rachel stands up. "This way please, Mr. Tanewaki."
----
She leads you through a hallwall and dining room into the kitchen. A nice and large one, too, done in wood. She quickly fixes you a sandwich and drink...
"Mr. Tanewaki..." she begins as she serves you your meal. "I don't understand. Has it taken you this long to realise the path you had chosen was rotten?" she asks it with a childlike curiousity, no malice or negative connotation in her tone.
"I'm a young man yet," Carthrat replies, evading the question.
"I guess so..." she softly utters, sitting down to your side. "How old are you?"
"Twenty seven. I think. I don't know my own birthday."
"Oh. I see..." she says, looking pointely at the wall. "What were you doing around here, and what was the thing about emissions about?"
"I was searching for someone to help me, really," he replies softly. "I don't have any friends left in this world, I don't know who to turn to.. It's just the roll of the dice and see if I find anyone.
I knew this place was magical when I saw it.. I just knew somehow, I should get inside.. I just didn't know how."
He sighs to himself, looking morosely at the floor.
"There were no emissions. It's all a ploy, a ruse to get noticed by somene who can help me. 'cos ever since I was a child, the way to do things was, in some fashion, to make it look like you weren't wanting to get noticed while trying to get noticed.
I remember, sometimes, thinking how some of the 'rules' I had to play by were so *stupid*.."
She slowly smiles, her eyes watering.
"I am..I..I am glad for you, Mr. Tanewaki. I'm sure the Goddess took a kind eye to you."
Carthrat chuckles.
"Y'know, I never used to believe in gods and goddesses. Then again, I never used to believe in magic.
World's full of the strangest things.."
Her smile widens further. "Oh yes, the world is full of things. Like you, showing up on our doorstep, or all the things you described."
She stands up, taking up your now empty plate. "Let me show you to your room. I believe Diane is ready."
Carthrat follows the girl..
"You've always believed in goodness, havn't you? Brought up by it, in a sense?"
She turns back to you, her eyes sparkling.
"You could say that, yes."
"You're one of the luckiest people in the world," Carthrat says, in wonder.
She stops and fully turns to you. "In a way I am. I have Selena to thank for it..." she says.
"Your goddess? Who is she," asks Carthrat, genuinely interested.
She smiles. "I would like to talk about it too, but the hour is late and I do not want to make Diane wait. I'm sure she will want to discuss it with you tomorrow. Shall we continue on?"
"As you wish," replies Carthrat, continuing to follow the woman..
You are lead into a small guest room. A single window lets in a shaft of early night light, a mix of moon and street light.
The bed is a single, with white sheets and a blue blanket. On the white carpet, you see two circles around the bed, one of a silvery/metallic powder and the other of a golden powder. Diane is standing at the foot of the bed, just outside the second circle.
She glances at you as you enter. "Please let me know when you are ready to sleep, and do NOT step on the circles on the carpet," she says, the not coming out sharply.
"Wouldn't dream of it," replied Carthrat, looking around the room and sizing it up.
Besides the bed and a small desk/chair combo, the room is bare. There is enough room to not feel cramped, but not much more than that. The walls are a sky blue shade.
"What do they do, anyway?" asks Carthrat, making his way to the desk..
"The circles?" Diane asks. "They are protective enchantments, for you and us. One to prevent evil from entering the circle, and one to prevent it from leaving."
"I see," replies Carthrat, settling down at the desk. "Was there anything else you wished to ask me?"
She shakes her head. "No, it can wait the night. Please get in the bed when you are ready so I can tune the enchantments," she declares.
"I have some things to do. I'll be about an hour, so don't worry." Carthrat says this neutrually..
"Very well." Diane matches your tone. "Will you need your privacy?"
"If you wish to stay, by all means, do so," replies Carthrat, taking out his multitool and inspecting it.
"I doubt either of you wish to learn my craft, though."
"..." she makes as if she will say something, but nothing comes out.
Finally, she speaks.
"Rachel, stay here and keep Mr. Carthrat company until he sleeps for the night." Seeing Rachel nod, she leaves the room.
Carthrat chuckles to himself, before producing his Tachyon Disrupter Charges (type A) and fiddling with it. He is quickly lost in his work..
Your work takes the better part of an hour. Rachel stays quiet, content to watch you fiddle with things beyond her knowledge.
Carthrat snaps shut the case of the charge, loads it into the T.D., and runs a few of the analysis programs installed on it to check that it works to specification..
The program shows that it came out as expected and should be fully functional.
Carthrat nods in satisfaction, before stretching tiredly.
"That must've been boring for you."
"Well, just a bit," she says with a small smile on her face. "But, it is interesting to see this technology in action...I know how to use basic machines, but beyond that, I know nothing about them."
Carthrat shrugs.
"This is beyond most scientists on the planet.. I learnt my craft purely by chance.
You know the sad thing about technology? All new creations originate through warfare. It's depressing.
And the greatest technological leaps take place during wartime.
It disturbs me greatly, you know? It never used to.."
"War...Funny, isn't it? Even for the justest reasons and with the greatest magic, it's a bloody slaughter. Yet, it drives man to his greatest heights." For a fleeting second, her face looks...ancient, for lack of a better word. But then another smile, albiet a sad one, replaces it.
"Just consider a way for things to balance out...Things improve despite the carnage."
"But they don't! I've studied war upon war upon war, and they all breed from the direct consequences of another war.. and I've just accepted that as truth.
It's not fun. It's never right. It's what man does. It's what man does *best*."
Carthrat is getting upset, mostly with himself.
She looks at you, her eyes meeting yours.
"You are having something of a crisis of belief and faith, aren't you?" she says plainly.
"Something like that. It's just.. I don't know.
I think I'll go to bed. Tell Diana for me.. I'll talk in the morning, when I'm not so tired."
Carthrat sounds weary, even to himself..
She nods. "Yes, I will. Rest well."
You fall asleep quickly, soon after your head hits the pillow.
OOC: Next post coming.
*CLANG!*
"Grea....Be....BAN...."
"ARGHH!"
"Selena, loo....Heavy...."
*WHOOSH!*
!
You wake up bone straight, the nighttime moonlight across your chest. A myraid of sounds that you know all too well are coming from outside. Battle. It sounds very close, perhaps in the yard.
Swirling his Cloak around himself, Carthrat skirts around the circles and heads for the noises, scanning as he runs..
In the front lawn area, you detect Diane and Rachel, as well as three anomalies, along with plenty of isolated wind. Some technological parts are reading too, but the anomalies are making precise scanning moot.
As you bust through the front door, you see Rachel laying against the side of the house, not moving. From the imprint on the stone wall, she was sent with great force into it.
Diane is in the middle of the yard, weaponless. Above of her are two whirlwinds, perhaps the size of a man. Inside the tempest, you can see small, cubes of metal. You reconize those as controlling robots of some sort.
A small smattering of cubes on the lawn tells you that at least one of these whirlwinds has fallen.
Carthrat yanked out his T.Disrupter, yanked out the charge in it and reloaded it with a standard charge before taking careful, precise shots at the centre of each cube..
Two shots...
The first cuts through the whirlwind, hitting the cube in that wind. It bursts into a cloud of metal and plastic, falling as the whirlwind dissapates.
The second shot screams home...but the second tornado manages to dodge it, and makes a shimmering motion...You feel a huge gust of wind knock you to your knees. Only an instictive bracing prevented you from going into the wall.
Carthrat, almost lazily, continues firing shots at the tornado in rapid succesion, being careful he dosn't hit someone he shouldn't..
BOOM! Another shot in your volley hits the wildly moving tonado core, sending it the same fate as the first. Feeling a strong, almost inhuman rush of energy, you grin.
Fuck, that was FUN....Hell, you want to find some more of those tornadoes.
Carthrat restrains himself, somehow, and rushes over to Rachel, checking for a pulse.
You push back the rush of energy and sprint over to Rachel. A trickle of blood is coming from her mouth...and from the looks of it, her back is broken. She is barely breathing.
"Phone a hospital or something!" shouts Carthrat, doing what little he can to stabilize the girl..
It doesn't look good...Without immediate medical help and a miracle, she'll be dead in ten minutes.
You hear footsteps, presumably Diane's, as you frantically try to help her.
"Move, Carthrat." she says, her voice clinical and distant.
Carthrat blinks, but does as the woman asks..
She gently crouches down to Rachel, holding a bottle of what looks to be water. She opens the vial, dabbing drops of water over her body and muttering.
"Great Lady Selena...Your servant requests your boon...Mend the flesh and bone of your servant, beloved Rachel....Allow the life not to leave this one....Heal..."
You fail to stifle a grunt of surprise as Rachel's back twists visibly and resets itself, her eyes opening wide.
"Diane...?" she murmures.
Carthrat shakes his head to himself, mumbling something under his breath.
Smiling, Diane gently takes Rachel's hand and helps her up. Now that you have a moment to really look at her, you see she is wearing a somewhat scuffed and torn pair of pants and shirt pajamas, light blue and stone brown mixed together.
"Thank you, Diane," she quietly says, looking around the yard. The battle doesn't seem to have attracted any noticiable attention.
Carthrat shrugged. While most mages weren't known for healing magick, he supposed it was possible, regardless.
He wanders over to the remains of one of the robots and starts inspecting it..
While the two cubes you shot are shattered and thus nothing more than shards, the ones that Diane presumably took care of are intact.
The cube is small, about the size of your hand. They are constructed of black metal and plastic. It is sleek, with no screw joints of soltering visible. While you cannot tell very much from just the surfact, it does lead you to believe it is a high tech device.
Carthrat picks up one of the cubes, and checks his watch..
It is 3:47 AM. You glance over your should and see Diane is still talking with Rachel.
"I doubt we're going to get any more sleep tonight.. did you recognize what those things were?" asks Carthrat, pocketing the cube.
"They appeared to be some sort of Air Elemental, but what sort of Elemental uses a machine?" Diane says, the last half spoken more to herself than you. She is wearing a ruby red bathrobe, which is open at the middle, giving sight to a purple nightgown.
Rachel, who is leaning on Diane, nods the best she can from her position.
"A clever one," replies Carthrat. "Or one under the control of someone clever enough to note the advantages."
Carthrat scans the cube..
The cube scans...
There are wisps of anomaly detected at the center of the cube. Still, you are able to get a good scan in spite of it.
It is a simple machine that generates energy from a small...fusion core? No, not fusion...And the more you scan it, the more the core makes no sense. It is not fusion energy. It seems to be fusing air together in some bizarre techquince to generate power.
Yet, there is no mechanism to fuse the air, it just happens. The rest of the machine generates energy and creates powerful gusts of wind.
Carthrat pauses for a second.
"This device.. hmm. I can't be sure, but I believe it is a truly groundbreaking power device which creates energy from plain air using a combination of future-tech and magicka.. amazing, most devices built like this collapse.. unless.. unless!
That magess! She stocked magicka rifles and shit.. but there's nobody out there who's smart enough to build this on their own. Not alone, anyway."
Carthrat shakes his head. "It'd be incredible if it wasn't so likely to be out to kill me."
Diane laughs drly. "Yes, it would be if this magess wasn't trying to kill you. How about we get back inside, hm, before we hash this over."
"Yeah.."
Carthrat follows Diane inside, glancing at Rachel, still looking a mixture of concerned and amazed.
As you walk in, Rachel continues to lean on Diane.
---
A half hour later, you are all sitting in the living room, same as nine hours ago. Rachel took the time to make a soothing tea, while Diane spent the time casting some spell over the house.
After sipping her tea, Diane looks straight at you.
"Please, tell us about this magical technology you mentioned."
"It's a concept design I've been trying to analyse. You see, while technology *generally* manipulates and conforms to physical laws, magic breaks them. Technology has certain advantages over magic, and vice versa, as it is simply impossible to cast a spell without breaking *some* rule, otherwise, the spell itself wouldn't be possible.
Keep in mind this is all theoretical.
Now, for instance, you could enchant a pistol. That's all well and good. But you see, a pistol isn't like a sword or a bow. You would have to.. how did Sai describe it? Enchant each and every part with some kind of 'recurring' enchantment that renchanted itself every time it was used, because whenever you fired a gun, it would consume gunpowerder; oxygen, create fire and air pressure, parts would move, etc. etc. These disrupt the flows of magic around the weapon, so to speak.
Otherwise, I'm sure we'd see many more magical handguns floating about.
Now, of course, a mage of a decent capablity *can* lightly enchant a handgun, it'll just take alot of work. But it's incredibly cost-prohibitive to enchant a major work.. well, that's not entirely true. Enchanted cars, enchanted planes, hell, even enchanted battleships are all plausible, if horribly expensive and difficult to maintain.
But you see, when you get to stuff that's currently beyond the technology level of today, it's virtually impossible; not only does the technology simply have so much work to enchant, but it bends the physical laws about it, thus bending the magical laws that would otherwise apply to spells; hence, this distorts the spell and can produce all kinds of nasty effects.
Not to mention how rare it is to obtain that level of technology.
Me and Sai tinkered with it for some time, but it's too costly and requires too much effort when you compare simply making a better item or employing a different spell. That said, I'm sure there's all kinds of amazing things that can be done with the two working in conjunction.
Whoever is employing these machines can't have all that many. If they did, we may as well give up now."
Diane nods at various points of your lecture, keeping interest in it.
"So...I see. I have gathered bits about this before; as I was once curious as to why magic and machines so rarely combined. I never knew that they fundamentally clashed to that degree." she bows her head for a moment, then looks back up.
"Can I see the cube? I would like to analyze the magic in it."
Carthrat produces the cube and sets it on the table.
"They have potential as focusing agents, I must admit. For instance, you could use, say, mundane power to fuel a spell, feasibly. I'm just not sure how; I was never a mage of any ability."
"Really, no mage potential at all?" she asks as she picks the cube up.
Carthrat shrugs.
"Maybe. I don't know. I never studied magery.
Because, to my way of thinking, the theories involved just don't make *sense*. It's like giving a farmer a fishing line to plow a field with."
She smiles lightly at that. "I see," she says politely. "Rachel, will you keep Mr. Tanewaki company while I go look at this cube?"
Rachel nods and Diane leaves. Damn, you still feel a bit on the tired side now that the adreinaline is wearing off.
Carthrat sighs, and slumps back in his chair.
"I feel I should leave. I'll only draw trouble to you.."
Sitting up, Rachel looks at you with her soft eyes.
"If the Goddess brought you to us, you should stay, Carthrat. The Lady spared you from the Banishing Diane cast..." she says simply.
Carthrat chuckles.
"Maybe. I just hope I don't get you both killed before this is over."
Rachel laughs at your sentiment, not a mocking laugh but a real, happy laugh. "I would not worry about that, Carthrat. Even if it does happen, I have nothing to fear when I die....oh dear. I'm...I'm sorry." she goes from humor to embarrassly stammering the last part out.
"It's ok. Even if I die and go to wherever, there'll be a way out. There has to be; otherwise, there are too many things that can't be explained otherwise.."
Carthrat shakes his head..
She smiles sadly. "Yes..yes, I hope you are right."
"Besides," she adds, "you're girl form is probably too cute to be in any Hell." she smiles warmly at you, shaking off the akwardness.
Carthrat laughs. "Ahh, if only that were the case."
She laughs with you, a warm glow spreading between the two of you.
"But," she says around a chortle, "what did you mean by things that can't be explained otherwise?" she asks.
"You know.. revenants, spectres, other such creatures.. they aren't summoned from the depths of hell, but are escaped spirits who want to spread their torment throughout humanity.
No real problem these days.. they can't be seen in the light, you see, or they lose their power and are banished."
"Yes, I know of those creatures. Still...That's not a good way out. Those are lost souls, beyond help except for being dispelled into nothingness." she idly clenches her hands. "I can't even call that a way out as much as a final failure. Those creatures are doomed, you know."
"...Even the Gods just dispell them..."
"No, but think. What if someone escaped from hell and just went on living?
For all we know, it could be possible. I just don't know.. and all I do is hope."
"Yes, you can always hope..." she laughs. "Goddess, I sound like a self help booklet now."
Carthrat chuckles, and stretches. "Either way, I figure I've got enough time to sort myself out.."
A few hours pass, idly spent chatting with Rachel. You find she is a fine person to talk to, and you feel more and more relaxed as it gets closer to the dawn.
When the conversation reaches a natural petering out, she turns on a TV in the corner. The twenty four hour news station is on, and there is a just in banner.
JUST IN: Monsters rampaging in Sapporou captured.
From what you can gather, the government of Japan somehow managed to contain the 'unidentified monsters'. The few eyewitnesses and government sources mention that a mercenary group using magicks was employed. Details are still sketchy.
Carthrat blinks. "Good to see Sai is on the job.. or at least, someone is on the job. I'd hate to see them rampaging completely unchecked.."
You get no further substantal news from the television.
----
It is not until breakfast that Diane rejoins you. She looks tired and puts the cube down on the table before starting on her eggs.
Around a bite of them, she says "Carthrat, how much do you know about clerical magic?"
"It heals. It's drawn from the gods. It's powered by faith.
Not really much more than anyone else would know, I'd wager."
"That is part of it, yes. But," she begins, and you can tell by the tone that you are about to get a lecture, "Mage and Clerical magic are fundamentally different in certain aspects. While mage magic alters reality through will, ritual and mystical combonations of magic, clerical magic works through faith and the light of one being.
Despite the fact that it works outside of normal rules of reality, it still is bound to certain fundamental rules and limitations. Clerical magic differs in this in that it rewrites the rules in it's affect through the will of a power above the rules of existance as a teacher is above the students he grades."
"But that, naturally, requires the support of the deity, which is why mages rose to power throughout the underworld," replies Carthrat, thinking..
"Yes. While there are some gods that help thieves, they are rare. In the place of divine power, magical might found a place to grow and thrive.
But anyway, another facet of clerical magic being outside of reality altogether is that it can rewrite and modify elements of reality. This is one of the most profound and terrifying displays of divine power, as it is virtually unlimited in the god's hand, and vastly powerful in the hands of a capable cleric."
"What, it can change the so-called 'immutable' laws of the world? Intriguing. Sounds like a great deal of power to vest in a single person, or even a group."
"Yes, it is powerful. This is why there are few true clerics, few are worthy to recieve that level of power from a god. You may be a forced cleric of Azzuroan and I am a cleric of Selena, but neither of us wield this ultimate expression of divine will," she nods and goes on.
A god has the will, vision and authority to use such a power, as they are beyond human ken, being the embodiments of ideas, events and natural forces."
"I see."
Carthrat pauses.
"Where is this going, exactly?"
Her face becomes solemn and grave. "You see, I found both clerical and mage enchantments remnants on the cube. The mage magic was twisted, bent and warped to a degree that I could barely comprehend...and the clerical magic was doing the bending, I think. It was the force making that machine workable. If I am correct, it altered both the machine and the magic..." her voice trails off, becoming soft and distant. "...the only thing that could do that is the will of a god."
Carthrat pauses.
"So.. either a god is out to get you.. or me.. or someone is powerful enough to use this gods power to get to me.
This is going to be painful."
"It's not a good thing...If a deity is willing to use their power for this..." she mutters to herself. "You said that magic and technology is powerful if it works together. Do you have an idea of how far it could reach if the compatability problem is solved?"
"It'd work two ways. On the one hand, the power could be utterly obscene. Imagine a nuculear bomb with a spell that could reproduce itself.
On the other hand, a magical and technological device is affected by, say, a Dispel Magic or an EMP blast, for instance. Having one does not shield the other.
It's like having a huge sword and walking into battle naked. It all comes down to whoever makes the strike first; you can crush any armour, but any spear can slay you.
That said, it'd still be almost impossibly difficult."
Diane picks at her eggs and pushes around her toast as you speak, her face distant again. After a small time of this, she pushes her plate away and stands up.
"I think I should take care of a few matters now. Rachel, would you keep Mr. Tanewaki company again?" With Rachel's nod, she leaves.
---
You finish the meal, finding a robust hunger that you readily slake.
"Carthrat," Rachel says as she cleans the table, "Do you want to hear about Selena now? I thought Diane would, but she seems so...preoccupied with the current going ons." she pauses, her washrag on the edge of the wood finish table. "I'm not sure, but I think she spent most of the morning in deep prayer. I strongly suspect she's trying to directly converse with Selena."
"That would be great," answers Carthrat..
She sits down opposite you and folds her hand together, drawing in several deep breaths.
"Selena...She is the Goddess of Life and the Living. All souls alive fall under her watch, from the baby in the crib to the oldest person rasping out their final breaths. She is the mistress of the flow of everyday living, in the fields of the farmer; the needles of doctors; the living room of a household. All aspects of reasonable, normal living are represented in her existance." Rachel takes another breath, then continues.
"Therefore, she wields power across the spectrum of events. She is a Goddess of Light, for she uses her power to promote simple, happy lives. Her holy writings preach that the right path is one of family, friends and spiritual peace."
"Sounds like my polar opposite," replies Carthrat flatly. "Even when I was in perfect control I wasn't what you would call a soldier of life."
"Perhaps so, Carthrat....and for better or for worse, that path has lead you here." she says, meeting your gaze with her own. "The Goddess also preaches a measure of mercy and hope to those lost outside of this - the ones stricken by insanity, possess by forces beyond this dimension and other disruptions - and, at times, she spurs her clergy forward to defend and defeat these things if they are out of control."
"I see.." responds Carthrat, mulling it over.
"Even though the Goddess will take action against...people in your situation when she feels it nessesary," she goes on, folding her hands into a steeple shape and shifting in her chair, "don't worry. You seem...No. You are a good person, and the Goddes will help you. I'm sure of it."
Carthrat keeps it to himself, but his mind can't help but reason that the goddess will simply try to extort service from him at some point for her favour. He somehow doubted that gods just *helped* people in need without a very specific reason..
"I hope so. I really do.."
"I know so, Carthrat." she says with a smile and absolute faith and steel in her voice. "I promise we'll work this out with you."
"And I truly thank you for that. There aren't many people in this world who'll stick out their neck for someone else anymore.."
She begins to speak, but laughs lightly instead.
"Yes...I hate to admit it, but you may be right. But...That's all the more reason for us to help you. If no one else will..." she leaves the statement hanging.
Carthrat chuckles. "Ahh, we mortals all have our faults. Most humans see only their own little worlds, which orbit handily around their own heads... the ironies of our lives!"
"Indeed," she says, "Verily!" she giggles brightly.
OOC: Okay, time to skip time! YEAH! YAY! WE CAN DO IT!
----
A few hours of idle discussion later....
You are sitting in the living room yet again, Diane recently having come back.
"Let us get to brass tacks, Mr. Tanewaki," Diane says in a brisk, business like tone. "As I understand it, purging yourself of the touch of Azzuroan is not an easy task. As I understand it, there are only a few methods to achieve this.
The first method requires the use of a properly worded Wish of a high level white mage. If you can find a white mage willing to do this, you're set...the hard part is finding a white mage.
The second way is to become a fully accepted priest of a God or Goddess. The inherent problem is that only the darkest Gods would accept one touched by Azzuroan as a potentional acolyte, let alone a cleric. I don't really see this as a viable option...do you?
The third way would be to destroy Azzuroan. That's not going to happen, I think.
The last viable way to do it would be to get your hands on a artifact that restores the soul, White Glow. Goddess only knows where it is, however.
There are....other methods as well, but they are either completely infeasable or the cost of the cure is too high." she finishes.
"As much as I'm sure I'd enjoy trying the third method, I doubt it'll work. And there's no god I know of that I can truly relate to, even if he would take me on. As I understand it, the only way that could work is if I truly cared enough to try.
A powerful White Mage.. ahh, if there was one for every five powerful Black Mages I knew, I'd be set. A not completely unfeasable option; but apart from the fact that I don't know one offhand, I doubt I'll find one, simply because I don't know of any. Healing magicks are in demand.
So that leaves a Legendary Artifact, which is doubtless either in some forgotten temple underneath a desert in a country nobody goes to, or sitting in some rich bastards trophy room. Equally unaccesable. "
Carthrat scratches his head. "What do you think, Rachel?"
Rachel nods. "I agree with what you said....Two and Three are out. That leaves trying to find a white mage willing to do it or an artifact," She frowns, scowling. "Pick your poison."
"We'll try the artifact... I'm through with the underworld, at least for now. Too many scars."
Carthrat sighs to himself. "I'd best beging searching for something straight away.. what do you know about it?"
"Not much, I'm afraid," Diane says.
"It is said have been made by a Roman artisan for Marcus Arelius. What exactly it is is not known...be it sword, cloak, ring, whatever. Anyway, Marcus Arelius liked the item so much he ordered his priests and mages to 'Make it unto a thing worthy of the Roman Emprerors'. It was lost at his death, but has been said to pop up every so often, saving the soul and spirit of one beyond hope. Vampires, a arch lich, lost souls...these are the ones the artifact seems to find."
"Wonderful," groaned Carthrat. "It'll find me before I find it if it's to be found at all?"
"Well..." Rachel begins. "Yeah?"
"Perhaps so," Diane says, picking up for Rachel, "But we do not know that for a fact. Even if it's a futile search, we may find something else helpful during it. Furthermore, it's better than just sitting and hoping it works out."
"Amen to that. With my typical luck, we'll discover that the quest will lead me to an imprisioned white mage goddess who is guarded by Azzuroan and I must defeat him to release her, or something equally convoluted.
Marcus Arulieus.. I'm fairly certain he, himself, *was* an Emperor.. not sure what writers were about at that time, but I'm sure I can find out.. and I'll start looking from there."
"Where do you want to begin looking or researching?" Diane plainly asks.
"The same library I got those books from," replies Carthrat. "Warchester library or something. It's not far from here. I know the way.."
"Alright. I shall make inquires along some of my own channels in the meanwhile," she says. "Rachel, will you go with Mr. Tanewaki?"
Rachel merely nods...
Carthrat nods. "I'll be all day, most likely.."
With that said, he heads out... for brunch, picking some cafe nearby the library. "Watcha eating, Rachel?"
"Um, just a bagel..." she mutters around a bite. "So, you do you think you'll *Gulp* find anything at this library?"
"Well, I found books on Azzuroan. I should find some Latin texts relating to this, at least. Take me a while to translate it, perhaps, but I should manage," replies Carthrat, munching away.
"I can help out, Carthrat," she says, taking a drink from a cup of coffee.
"You can read Latin? Well, that WILL help a great deal.." replies Carthrat, pondering..
She makes a face. "My parents made me take Latin all through my childhood. It was terribly boring, but I did learn it," she says. "They were big on the classics like that..."
"Latin? Boring? Eh.. to each her own. Anyway, we may as well get started.."
Carthrat heads over to the library and begins by searching for texts on both Marcus Aurlius and White Glow..
Sadly, your search doesn't turn up the combonation of White Glow and Marcus Aurelius. There is much about the old Emperor, but little on White Glow.
The few fragments you do find make passing reference to a 'item that he held in high favor', but nothing beyond that.
Looking a little deeper, Carthrat tries finding information on Marcus Aurelius's death..
A text from one of the more mystically inclined history books you have.
"The year 180 AD was the year of the death of Marcus Aurelius. He took sick in a northern campaign and soon died. Strangely, his valued imperial treasure, White Glow, was lost at his death. Historians speculate he ordered it buried with him. However, a few magic cults claim it is a magical artifact and still in the world."
Carthrat leans back in his chair, pondering. "Do you recall any other incidences of the artifact appearing?" he asks Rachel..
Rachel leans back in her chair and closes her eyes.
"Hmm...," she mutters, "Not offhand. I haven't really studied artifacts; Diane would know more than I."
"A pity."
Carthrat ponders.. "If it was within the Roman Empire at that time, it can't have left it for a great while... then it would have likely remainied either with the Byzantine empire.. from there, it could have ended up anywhere... hmm.
The Crusades.. no, they were too long afterwards.. though it's feasible the Church could have gotten it's hands on the relic.. dammit, I don't know. Too many potential avenues.."
On a whim, Carthrat starts foisting through various other Emperors histories, looking up references.. especially on Romulus, the last emperor, and Dilocletian, strangely enough, the only emperor to die of old age..
Things of note that your search digs up. The veracity of each source is...questionable.
"Caesar, according to several different mage histories, was a low power mage. It is said he turned the tide of many a close battle in Gaul via a well played spell."
"Constantine was not a follower of the God! He was a fallen priest, secretly working to destory the Roman Empire and the stability it brought."
"A Roman nobleman in the fourth century made a play for the seat of power. He claimed he was decended from Marcus Aurelious and had his 'Sacred Tear' as proof. Crispus Alexander was eventually slain as a 'heretic'."
Nothing of note beyond normal history turns up for Romulus or Diocletian.
Carthrat shakes his head, and starts looking up Crispus Alexander..
You are lead on a long, tiring search around the library, finally ending at a back corner of the history section of the library. Through a tiny window above, the last of the daylight illuminates the shelve with the book "Crispus Alexander - The fallen emperor of Rome"
The book is old and has a thick, choking layer of dust on it. The hardbound book seems somehow fragile in your hands, a familiar sensation when dealing with old tomes.
Carthrat carefully opens the book and starts to read..
You begin to read.
OOC: Just giving you the salient details. Do you really think I have the time to write a 100+ page historical document on a whim? </OOC>
It starts with his birth to Patrician parents in 403 AD. He was raised as a noble man from birth, enjoying all the benefits that his class gave him. He showed a high interest in history and the classics. The 'Golden Age' of the Roman Empire in particular fascinated him.
On his twentith birthday, he went missing. Weeks passes as he was searched for in vain. Eventually, he was forgotten.
One year to the hour later, he came back a changed man. He quickly began to rise in power with fiery speeches and stunning rhetorical skills. He rose through the ranks until the old emperor died, beginning a scamble for the throne.
In what was a bold move, he annouced he was the direct decendant of Marcus Aurelious and had his 'Sacred Tears' to prove this claim, a beautiful white object. Strangely, the accounts of what this object was vary widely from sword, clothes, ring, glove and other myriad objects. The only uniting point is that is was pure white.
At first, it seemed as if he may succeed, until wildfire rumors of him being a heretic spread. Three days later, this reached a cresendo and he was slain at a public apperance by a mob. His 'Sacred Tears' were said to be lost or destroyed, accounts vary...
Looking up from your reading, you hear an announcement that the library is closing. Checking your watch, you see it is 8 PM. Damn, the day went by quickly.
"Time to go. Let's hope Diane found more than I did," mutters Carthrat, heading back to the house..
You and Rachel walk back throught the London streets, quietly talking about the day. It seems that Rachel found nothing else of importance, merely some more nudges towards Crispus Alexander.
As you walk to the house, you find yourself marveling at how beautiful she would look with her arms ripped off and impaling her body, along with the fact you are rather hungry.
Carthrat shoves the image out of his mind and concentrates on cows, which make beef, which makes pie.
Mmm, pie..
You shrug off the ghastly vision and continue walking.
---
Over a simple dinner of sandwiches and drinks, you find yourself discussing the day's search results. You go first, outlining the information you turned up, Crispus Alexander in particular.
"Yes," Diane says between bites of a meat sandwich, "I found mention of White Glow in a few instances as well. Crispus Alexander, however, was not mentioned. Do you think it is legitamate?"
"I would.. however, he calls them 'Sacred Tears', as if there was more than one. And a different name. I'm not sure what to make of it, in truth."
"The thing is," she says around a drink of her tea, "Is that it doesn't really seem to fit at first. I mean, mostly White Glow is known for purifications. This case seems to show none of that, at least on the surface."
Diane leans forward, her head in her hands. "Of course, it could merely be showing different powers, of if he was the decentdent of Marcus Aurelius..."
"Or perhaps they are seperate entities, linked in some way."
Carthrat stretches. "It's as good a lead as any. Even though he was torn apart by a mob, he is likely to have a tomb somewhere.. most Roman noblemen did, if I remember correctly. If the artifact was a cloak or other item of clothing, it is feasible he was killed and buried while wearing it.
Unfortunately, tombraiding is somewhat distasteful. But my view is that he probably dosn't need it any more.."
"Very much so," she says as you discuss the distastefulness of tombraiding. "It's not something Selena will likely be thrilled about...I would like to leave that as a last resort.
Also, it is not like tombraiders are uncommon, and it's been nearly 2000 years."
"Tombraiders weren't uncommon during the 20th century, but we've moved on. Most tombs have been pilfered as it is.
What we CAN do, perhaps, is trace this guy's decendants and see if we can find out anything else about it. Could happen."
Carthrat tries to remember if the book said anything about a child..
It did not mention any lovers or children.
"Perhaps so," Diane says simply.
"Well, what do you suggest? I can spend a week chasing leads, but anything can happen in a week."
Diane hmms to herself.
"Well, I have a few favors I'm calling in for information on this White Glow. With any luck, one of them will give us a lead within a day.
Further, I want to cast an Augury tonight. The odds of it working with a artifact in question are low, but I cannot think of any other ideas. The information I found in my books merely mention alleged incidences of White Glow."
"Right, then. If nothing comes up, I'll keep searching the library.."
Carthrat grumbles to himself. The library is not his favourite place..
"Yes..." she says. "Do you want to be around for the Augury? Truthfully, having the seeker of the object in question might not hurt the spell's chances."
"Of course. I'm most interested in the results."
Carthrat nods, and awaits..
OOC: Timeskipy! o-o
OOC: Yep.
----
You finish the meal and are promptly herded in a small van. Diane mentions that the Augury site is outside the city, so you go off driving.
You make the post of the two hour drive by falling asleep, the short sleep of the last night catching up to you...
When you are woken by Rachel shaking your shoulder, you can't recall but the faintest shards of what you believe was a dream best left forgotten...the way your hands are shaking tells you that.
It is a small, well lit manor house on the outskirts of London. It is well maintained, with Victorian style decor.
"Hey, Carthrat," Rachel whispers to you as you get out of the van, "You should be on guard...this is a shared house for varios clerical groups to conduct auguries and other spells free of interference.
Diane already set this up, but...there is a chance a random cleric could see you and assume the worst."
"Wonderful," grumbled Carthrat, resting a hand on his stun-loaded Tach. Disrupter, and looking for a defensible position.
You see a few trees and the like that could be used as you walk to the front steps.
Diane walks ahead of you, knocking once on the wide, engraved wooden door. It opens to her, revealing a nice foyer, with more doors than you care to count.
Diane leads you through a door on the right, then through a hallway, then into a side door...You soon find your sense of spatial relations breaking down, as you take all manner of doors, staircases and passages. The engineer in you is saying that there is no way the house you saw on the outside could contain all this...
Finally, you end up in front of a plain looking door, which opens to reveal an open air, grassy hill in the confines of a large room. At the top of the hill is a altar of glass and wood.
"Carthrat, go ahead and stay by the door. Your presence in the room should be enough." Diane says as she begins to walk up the hill.
Carthrat nods, not particularly awed.
It was just a magical version of N-space folding.. or singularity generation-control field.. or AVINT-4 dynamics.. or sOMETHING..
Heading to the door, he keeps one hand on the T.D..
Rachel and Diane climb the hill, one on each side of the altar. Diane takes a vial out of her pocket and spreads the liquid inside of it all around and on the altar, Rachel doing the same with another vial.
Once that is completed, Rachel steps away from the altar and Diane begins to chant in a low, musical voice that travels the entire room better than any shout could.
"Selena, Goddess of Living and Life, your servant has come seeking. Great Goddess, respond to the beeseechings of the Tongue of Holy and peal away the mists. Show your servant the holy artifact White Glow, oh Goddess...save the one known as Carthrat..."
At the last word, Diane stands ramrod straight for a moment, then falls to her knees. Rachel walks over without any visible concern, helping her stand up.
"Well, it worked," Diane says through a tired grin as she stumbles back to you. "I got something."
"Is it favourable?" replies Carthrat, eagerly..
"Yeah...I just hope you like being cold, Rat. The augury pointed towards Alaska, USA. It's more than that, of course, but that's the gist of it."
Carthrat shrugs. "I'm used to it. I'm just glad Alaska isn't part of the US mainland. No way I'd want to go there anytime soon."
"Huh?" Rachel expresses, "Did something happen in the US?"
"Yes."
Carthrat does not elaborate.
Rachel does not press the issue.
---
You exit out of the building, taking another insane path to the first room and then out. You encounter no other persons, perhaps your luck is recovering. When you get to the van, Diane lays in the back while Rachel drives and you sit in the passager seat.
The drive back is quiet and peaceful, as is getting home. You soon go to bed, exhaused from the past day's short sleep.
OOC: Do you have anything you want to do in the gametime's morning or early afternoon, Rat?
Carthrat goes shopping for suitable clothing for a cold environment.
Namely, buying thermal wear, thick jumpers and coats, and doing some needlework on his cloak to make it more heat-retaining.
Oh, and in any remaining time, starting blueprints on a Chill Syphoner.
OOC: Whoo, silly would-be D&D stats on Chill Syphoner-
During hot weather, deals 1d6 cold damage.
During temperate weather, deals 2d6 cold damage.
During cold weather, deals 4d6 cold damage.
The weapon itself syphons slow molecules out of the air and brings them to almost absolute zero; then focuses them into a freezing burst of icy doom. It tends to freeze off peoples limbs.
Materials Required- Difficult to obtain, but obtainable by a Normal Person in a few days if they look hard.
You spend the next morning shopping for suitable cold weather wear. You find it easily enough, without any annoying complications, (Barring the needlework, which you plan to do when you get back) as well as about a third of the parts for the cold machine.
Just as you head back to the car you borrowed, bags in hand, you feel a familiar tingle on the back of your neck, the sort of tingle that says "Oh shit...". Out of pure instinct, you dive to the side, causing what looks to be a laser tear away a good chunk of the concrete you were standing on. You whip around, dropping the bags you have as you see what fired at you.
What looks to be a cross between a flying cannon and a mini airplane made of metal is homing in on you. It is about fifteen feet from you, and is making no discernable sound.
Carthrat swears, loudly and audibly. The English police would do no good; they didn't carry firearms, so they wouldn't bail him. Firing a gun would attract attention, and that's bad, so..
Laser. Lasers are made of light. Light reflects off everything. There weren't any mirrors about, but if Carthrat could find something with a high enough refractive index..
So, Carthrat looks for shiny stuff, madly dodging all the while.
There are car windows that gleam in the sunshine...as you dodge another laser beam that does more damage to the street, you see a large SUV with a big, shiny back window a good ways down the street.
Carthrat beings sidestepping across the street, trying to position himself between the lasergun thing and the window.. and then ducking at the last second.
That was the problem, light travelled instantaneously. In truth, lasers were shockingly difficult to implement. *Energy* wasn't so hard, but a Laser.. ugh.
You duck frantically as it lines up with you. The beam misses you and hits the window, reflecting back at the thing. It hits the thing in the side, sending a shower of sparks at it rips open it's side.
The machine falls with a clunk and does not move after that.
Not particularly interested in carting the thing around with him, Carthrat rallies himself, grabs his bags, and gets in the car to head back to the house..
You escape away before the cops or the media arrive, leaving the non functioning robotic thing behind.
---
When you get back, you find Rachel is watching the news. As you half feared, you see a video of the robotic laserspewing thing on the TV, before a police officer comes and removes the reporter.
"Carthrat?" she asks, her glance at the TV and in a question. "Did another one of those mechanical things come after you?"
"Unfortunately, yes. There were people around this time, but I don't think anyone got a good look at me."
Carthrat glances at the screen.
"This is really gettin' old. How long 'till we leave?"
"Soon, I hope. Even with the protective enchantments around this house, I don't want them to come back here."
"Where's Diane?" questions Carthrat.
"She's out meeting someone about White Glow information, I think," she says. "Something up?"
"Apart from the usual, no. I just want to get out of here.. there could be any number of things sneaking up on us, even now. At lesat in Alaska we should have a couple days respite."
He keeps it to himself, but Carthrat truly regrets not finishing off that mage way back..
Rachel nods. "Yeah. Helping you is sure a big job...You bring more trouble than I could probably find in a lifetime."
"It's great fun, isn't it?" Carthrat deadpans.
"In a way," she says with a smile, "Minus getting smashed into the wall at high speeds."
"Eh, you learn to absorb the pain."
Carthrat nods.
"I guess so. At least Diane can heal us." she says.
"But...what is that sort of life really like? You know, the life of a mercenary or adventurer? Is it really exciting or more interesting than a normal life?"
Carthrat shrugs. "It really depends what you want out of life.
Oh, I know.. most people who *know* of the adventuring career probably think it's like the movies- and in some cases, it is. BUt you know it works both ways? That there are plenty mercenaries and drifters out there who think a normal life is like one of those stupid soapies, where everything works out in the end and they don't consider that *they* will be the ones hurt from it all?
I think the main reward of being an adventurer is that every time you do something, there's an *instant* response. Something *happens*. And if you take a moment to look at everything, you can see stuff *happening* to other people.
In a normal life.. it's more tame, and they way the rediculous legal system works, and the way the economy is managed.. it's a dog-eat-dog world, still, but it's much more.. tense.
What I'm trying to say is.."
Carthrat slumped. "I don't really know anymore."
"You don't, do you?" she says quietly. "I think I see that...Why did you start this sort of life, then?"
"Circumstance forced me into it and I found myself enjoying it," replied Carthrat. "It's a long story. Maybe I'll tell you on the plane."
Rachel scoots over on the couch to make space and motions for you to sit down.
"Why don't you tell me now? We have all day, really."
"I'm hungry," comments Carthrat, changing the subject. "Do we have anything to eat? I'll make it myself."
Rachel giggles, breaking the mood nicely. "Yes, we have some food in the kitchen. We'll talk when you're more up to it."
"Thanks."
Carthrat starts to head off.. "It's not a tale a girl like you should hear, really."
"Really now?" she says, -You can't help but think her voice sounds different for a moment- "Perhaps, perhaps not." -No, it was normal. Must've been your imagination.
Carthrat chuckles, and moves off to make something Spicy.