|
Post by CJ on Jun 12, 2013 22:56:10 GMT -5
"I hope you're not lying," Fate responded to Mr. Dark. She wasn't being cruel or cynical. Her typical accusation seemed as respectful as "I look forward to that day."
As he took her hand, a memory flashed in her mind of another long, withered hand. Just a child without any knowledge of the world, she reached out to grip it. It was the very moment her shadow left her forever.
Fate tore her hand out of Mr. Dark and held in panicked gasps as she paced about the room. It wasn't his form she was frightened of, though even he would likely admit it was an understandable fear. It was literally the act of trusting someone other than the Commander and her secretary. Even though she offered the gesture, she was too cowardly to follow through with it.
Her heart rocked her chest as she turned her back to him. She pulled Mr. Dark's hat over her head in shame, knowing perfectly well he would be able to sense her fear.
"I would like to be alone," she said quietly. "Please go."
---
Meanwhile, Kusu giggled in her sleep. She gripped onto the sheathed Shitty Sword as she lounged on a couch in the library. Their arrival at Arkady Industries was unbeknownst to her.
|
|
|
Post by Kyubey on Jun 13, 2013 3:41:53 GMT -5
Lynwood stopped completely as the walls of Victoria came into view, in a state that some might describe as awe. She tried to find a word for how she felt upon seeing the walls, the great symbol of Victorian creation, and ended up getting lost somewhere between "amazed" and "mortified." Jackal himself could not have said it better. The wall before her truly represented the end of the world. The Arkady Logo painted on seemed to her to be the most terrifying piece of art she had ever seen, perfectly and almost beautifully encapsulating the ambition, the hubris, the insanity of whatever mind would think to make such a thing. The sight of the massive walls, cutting off the horizon and destroying the purity of the sea around it with its presence, made Lynwood long for her vanished homeland. In Lejre, every object, every tree, mountain, and blade of grass, was said to be a home for spirits, and held life. There was no life to Victoria at all, not even precious soil. Its outside was cold and hard, it jutted out from the nature around it rather than form a part of it, and nothing could ever grow from or out of it, only decay within. It all seemed to be flawlessly planned, in it's own way, from the way the exterior closed itself off, to the gold and the robotic servants, to the way the inhabitants wore clothing that shielded their very humanity from those around them, as if these madmen truly meant to hide or destroy any evidence of the natural world they were born from. Lynwood saw no land of gods. No place that contrasted so starkly with the realm the true Gods created would look like that. With a creeping chill, Lynwood realized that she had agreed to venture into the Land of the Dead her people had spoken of. No, not even that. Once a living thing died, their spirit would live on, and their body would provide nourishment to the world around them. Victoria didn't allow for that. Associating this islands with the Gods was almost an insult, considering how it's very core was an insult to that which the Gods had formed. Just what had Slythe Arkady done to the Victorians, exactly, to make them so twisted and wrong? Or perhaps, she thought as she made a disturbing parallel to this and other things she had seen, the disease was not with only Arkady, but lay elsewhere in the world, waiting to infect unaware minds.
"I have not changed what I said before," she replied to Jackal, as courteously as she could given her feelings at the moment, "I want to see the interior before I decide what to do. Thank you for dancing with me. I nearly forgot how much better it is to dance with a friend. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go down below deck. I think I should be with my crew right now."
Lynwood was at least able to share a dance with Jackal, and successfully showed him that simple joy. In spite of all else, the destruction and the madness, he still had a soul. And though she feared the AI technology, and, deep down, truly hated it, she couldn't deny how much she loved being so close to the sky Perhaps, over time, she could change Jackal's perspective. If she couldn't cure the apparent sickness, she might still nudge him away from his thoughts of world domination. This land of death was not something that needed to be spread farther than it already was.
|
|
|
Post by Mise™ on Jun 13, 2013 11:44:08 GMT -5
While he was successful at setting the robots on fire, it didn't do much good for prince Karalisk. Robots don't burn very fast, though neither did the prince. There wasn't much time left, the ship was getting closer to it's destination and His Highness still hadn't managed to take control of it. Then there was the thing that being on flames also kind of put a clock on a person, no matter how tough they were. As the robots attacked him, Karalisk wasn't done with playing with fire. Simply setting them on fire didn't quite work, but that wasn't everything this style had. ”Fourteenth Generation – Emperor's Touch.” The prince said and quickly thrusted his left hand towards one of the robots, trying to stab it, with his index finger. The idea behind this attack was to pierce the hard shell of the robot, with the finger and then shoot the flames inside, explosively. Karalisk was going to go through each of the robots like this one by one, trying to take them all out. As usual His Highness was willing to take a hit, two or a dozen in order to succeed with his attacks. If he was successful with the robots there were still the turrets standing in his way and Karalisk wasn't going to do anything as fancy as the treatment the robots were getting; the prince was just going to pull them off from whatever they were attached to, which he believed would break them.
|
|
|
Post by Hitotsumami on Jun 14, 2013 20:39:05 GMT -5
Wolf was among the first to see the walls of Victoria. He couldn't believe his eyes at the vastness of the wall, the height and the size. It was just beyond his imagination. Even using his scanners to full power, he was unable to tell how long these walls traveled. It was truly a sight to see.
Thus, Wolf landed back on the airship, not far from Jackal, and walked over to the man. "So, is this Victoria? I'm guessing it is, with the giant flashing sign and whatnot. So, how do we get past it?"
|
|
|
Post by Kuro on Jun 23, 2013 18:09:15 GMT -5
Jackal sensed no discomfort from Lynwood whatsoever and bowed to her when she said she was going below deck. "No, thank you for dancing with me, friend. Go to your crew if you must, but do not hesitate to seek me out if you desire my company. I promise that I will always be willing to accommodate you with whatever you desire. And do not worry, Ms. Lynwood, for the interior of Victoria is sure to stun you with its beauty. Why, once you enter, you may never want to leave." He chuckled to himself, watching Lynwood disappear from his sight. He then gave a slight turn of the head towards Wolf, acknowledging his presence but not looking at him as he spoke. "Yes, my not-so-little cyborg, this is Victoria. I'm sure you saw the Arkady logo. The center of the logo is a black dot, which is able to open up and allow passage into the city. It is the only entrance, but not to worry. My automated crew is more than able to steer us straight to the entrance with little worry."
One by one, the robots exploded from Karalisk's attcks, shrapnel flying across the room and whizzing past or into his tough skin more than once. The robots cut the intruder again and again, making their mark each time but achieving little as it was the prince that they were slashing at.
"HhhhaAAaahhaVEe a nICnCEeeeneCe daAaYyaaa -"
And with a final distorted greeting and a burst of metal and flame; the robots were gone.
The turrets were little more than nozzles sticking out of holes in the wall, so when Kara tore them out he caused the large mechanisms behind them to burst out of the walls, dragged out of their usual niche. They no longer spouted flame and were now three giant wrecks of machinery in the room. The entire place looked like a garbage dump, bits of metal and pipes and tubes everywhere. Some flame still lasted here and there, but only a few of the many large monitors above the controls had shards of shrapnel sticking out of them. The actual controls were fine for the most part excluding some broken levers and missing metal panels, showing the gears and pipes beneath. One of the intact monitors showed the Wall in front of the ship, coming forwards at a steady speed, but a long ways away. The controls were rather odd; there were only buttons,levers, pressure gauges and the valves around the room instead of any steering wheel. None of these were marked as the robots had not required such labels, being programmed to know what to do, and no one was ever expected to actually go through a labyrinth of steam and pain and a metal snake.
Then again, no one ever expected Kara to end up on a large flying ship heading towards a giant wall.
The dot of the wall's entrance was straight ahead on the current course.
Silver was the first to notice Lynwood coming down from the upper deck and reluctantly waved at her, a small, awkward smile on her face. She didn't know why, but there was something about Lynwood that was different. Everyone seemed nice - well, except for Jackal and Kara and the man in black - but just by looking at Lynwood, Silver could sense something. Behind that jacket and jeans - which she thought made Lynwood look rather beautiful - there was something more natural about her, or perhaps, more...nature-esque. There was something, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was annoying her to no end.
She hesitantly took a few steps in her direction and called out, although her voice might have been to quiet to hear, even when she was trying to be loud. "E-excuse me, Lynwood...I was just wondering, um...where are you from? I am sorry if I am wrong or offensive, but it just seems as if you do not come from..." She looked at her again. "...wherever those clothes came from. Or from wherever everyone else came from. I'm sorry, i'm sorry if i'm wasting your time, it's just that it was on the tip of my tongue and I..." She looked away, embarrassed now. Of course she was wasting her time, Lynwood probably had better things to do! She looked like she could woo any of the men on the ship, she looked a lot better than she did, even her face looked more mature than she did, she looked like an adult who did important adult things and other...things. She almost hoped Lynwood had just not heard her stupid questions.
Mr. Dark jumped back at Fate's sudden reaction to the handshake, just as shocked as she was. He stood back and watched as Fate paced around the room, worry beginning to seep into his mind. He knew what fear she was feeling at the moment and understood the logic behind such a fear very well, and yet...there was something that bothered him. "Fate...Fate, it's okay, you did nothing wrong, it's okay to -"
"I would like to be alone," she said quietly. "Please go."
Mr. Dark froze, his arm outstretched towards her and his fingers inches away from her back. He had intended to simply remove the fear from her in order to do away with the panic and mend her trust in him. His fingers curled inwards, away from Fate and towards the palm of his hand, closing into a weakly clenched fist.
The two of them stood there for a bit, silent and unmoving in their positions. At one point, he raised a foot to take a step forward...and put it back into its original spot. His hand began to open up again, so close to her, so close to making her forget her fear and force her to trust him.
He only managed to brush his fingers against her back, no trace of fear manipulation or transfer in the slight, brief touch. "...It's not your fault."
He reluctantly and slowly walked out of the room, hat missing, the bandages wrapping his head shown to Gracie and March as he slunk back to the medical chamber.
Mr. Dark still sat in the chair in the library, his hat on the floor and sunglasses on a nearby desk, slouching in his seat with his head buried in one hand in a gesture of regret or frustration. It was hard to tell whether or not he was asleep, but either way he was silent and radiated something close to irritation.
|
|
|
Post by CJ on Jun 25, 2013 14:30:30 GMT -5
Kusu's eyes opened.
Not moving, she looked to Mr. Dark and saw that he wasn't moving. Perhaps he had fallen asleep like she had. Letting go of Shitty Sword, it floated up above her, allowing her to slowly and quietly sit up.
A wild grin came over her face.
"I'm going to scare the Scary Man," she whispered rather loudly to the sword.
Getting up, her boots made the floor creak as she stomped across the library. Before she could get close to Mr. Dark, Shitty Sword stretched and gripped onto Kusu, holding her back.
"Stop it!" she shouted, flinging her arms and legs about. "You won't let me have fun, sqwee!"
|
|
|
Post by Mise™ on Jun 26, 2013 14:19:50 GMT -5
Finally the time had come, prince Karalisk had access to the controls of this ship and there was nothing standing in his way anymore; other than being on fire of course, but that wasn't much of a problem as His Highness soaked himself in water, he had pulled out of his magic pockets and put out the flames. His hair was gone and so were his eyebrows, and his skin was burnt, though not quite as badly as you would expect. "Time to fly this piece of shit." The prince gazed over the controls as he walked closer to them. The controls were quite cryptic, possibly because they were meant to be flown by machines, not by human beings, but that was just another minor obstacle for Karalisk; he was a genius he could figure this all out in a flash. Of course even geniuses had to start somewhere and as the prince was too proud to ever consult a guide or instructions of any kind, even if those were available, so all His Highness could do is just press buttons and pull levers at random to see what they do. He would figure this all out soon, but it might be a bumpy ride for a minute or two... ...And it just might end in the prince crashing the ship in to the huge wall ahead.
|
|
|
Post by Hitotsumami on Jun 28, 2013 12:06:49 GMT -5
Wolf touched a small part of the side of his temple and his eyes slightly jutted out in a hexagonal shape. This was so that he could see further into the distance. Looking closely, he could indeed see an entrance into the city through the logo.
"Well, what is the plan when we get inside? Do we sneak up to this Arkady guy, or just blow are way through? You really haven't told us the plan. And where is the rest of the crew? They should get ready as well."
|
|
|
Post by Kyubey on Jun 29, 2013 0:25:01 GMT -5
Jackal's words still drifting around inside her head, Lynwood jumped a little as Silver began speaking to her. This individual was still a mystery to the Urdian, though Lynwood had seen enough to know she could probably trust her. In fact, she was pleased they were finally able to talk, as they hadn't interacted at all up until that point. Seeing as they were, more likely than not, potential friends, she wanted to become as familiar as possible with this strange new addition. Sensing Silver's apprehension, Lynwood smiled warmly, trying her best to get her to ease a little.
"No worries, Ms... Silver, right?" she said. "You're correct in guessing that I'm not from the same place as the rest of my companions. I am from Lejre, an island far away. It is alright if you haven't heard of it, not many have. Lejre used to be a wondrous green land, fit for life of all kinds. Before it was destroyed, it was the most fantastic place anyone could sail to. But most of it has been burned now, the life and the forests both have been cleared away. My people, the Urdians, were all killed, seven years ago. If you think I am unusual, you are quite correct. When the fates decided the end for my people, I was the only one left. Now it seems that nobody remembers Lejre, or the Urdians." She stopped herself then, realizing that she had gone off on a tangent, talking about the tragedy of her homeland when it was certainly not the time to get into heavy subject matter. She shrugged subtly, as if to brush off the awkward topic. "So, if you would care to answer, what brings you to traveling with our crew? Most of those I've encountered while traveling with the Captain have a compelling reason of some kind. I'm sure you're no different."
|
|
|
Post by Kuro on Jul 1, 2013 20:21:41 GMT -5
Jackal turned to look at Wolf now, focusing the pinpricks of light of his eyes on the cyborg, and spoke in a tone that was a bit condescending in its comfort, the way an adult may console or calm a baby.
"Now now, Wolf, have patience! You will all know what to do once we go through the walls. Quite honestly, I have not been to this place in quite some time. They will most likely not be happy to see me, oh no, my entrance will surely be met with jeers and whispers of scorn. The very thought of such an injustice infuriates me to no end, but it is truth. You pirates, though...their reaction to you will be most exquisite. Imagine, if you can, a home that is perfect in every way. It is the best that anyone could ask for, impeccable and beautiful in all ways. A realm of gods, where perfection is the standard for living.
Now, imagine that -"
Gravity suddenly shifted as the ship took a huge vertical turn. It was rising high now, going higher and higher in the air rather than forward. With a scream, Jackal was caught off-guard and fell down, grasping here and there for anything to hold onto as he felt gravity pull him closer. Once standing in the clouds, he was now falling from the sky, getting closer and closer to the back of the ship and the ocean floor behind it in his descent, screaming all the way.
Silver had been about to answer Lynwood's question when she was suddenly flung into the air with a scream. Her six spider legs were no longer touching ground and were flailing about as she fell towards the back of the room.
And before she could hit the wall, the ship took a sudden jerk to the left, flinging her to the right like she was nothing, her entire body still being thrown about in mid-air.
The ship made a huge jerk to the right and it was at this point that the pale Silver was beginning to grow rather green. She was both terrified and nauseous, filled with the unreasonable fear that she would go splat against a wall like some sort of bug.
A much more plausible fear soon presented itself when the ship took a sudden dip. One of the few robots that had been standing in the room as surveillance fell like a boulder because of its weight and hit the glass of the window with a sickening crack. And then there was another crack. And another.
The sound of shattered glass.
A robot sucked through the window and tossed into the sky.
Twisted railings and bars to hold.
Screaming.
Mr. Dark did not expect everything in the room to suddenly fly to the side. Without any warning, he was flung out of his chair and hit one of the bookshelves with a thud and growl, the chair crashing a few inches away from him. The library was not as large as the observation deck, so it didn't take long for him to hit one end of the room. It also wouldn't take long for the other end of the room to hit him.
He saw a bookshelf falling and coming towards his and Kusu's way, but before it could hit them with anything besides all of the books that fell on them, everything shifted to the other direction, and before anything else could happen, the ship took a turn in a completely different direction.
It was quite sight; the boogeyman, child, and sword seemed to be floating in the middle of the room, books and pages flying through the air and surrounding them like leaves in the wind as gravity continued to change and the room kept spinning around them like a wheel.
"Hil, destroy the bookshelves before any of them end up hitting us. If you can, find a way to keep us grounded. The door out of this room isn't locked, we should try to find a way to get out into the hallway. This ship may not crash completely, but I will not take that chance."
|
|
|
Post by CJ on Jul 4, 2013 10:33:30 GMT -5
Kusu's wings poofed out, allowing her to balance herself in the air. That didn't prevent books from smacking her as they fell out of the shelves. She squeaked as the bookshelf nearly fell on them and whipped her head back when Mr. Dark suddenly fell the other way. She flapped her wings to keep herself stable and tried to make some sense of what was going on. Who was moving the room around like this?
Mr. Dark confirmed the ship was crashing. Kusu figured she should have assumed the ship would crashed without any feathered wings.
She squeaked when Shitty Sword obeyed Mr. Dark and exploded into strands of metal. For a few moments, Mr. Dark and Kusu were caught in the eye of a metal twister, slashing and destroying the shelves and the books contained. The metal then shrunk around them, forming a cage with two chairs, one small for Kusu, one large for Mr. Dark. It served as a protective barrier and a means to keep themselves stable in the chaos.
Shitty Sword turned into essentially a mode of transpiration that looked like a gigantic metal spider. The legs stabbed into the walls, cutting and slicing as they needed to get the two pirates out of the library and into other parts of the ship.
"Hil says to knock if you want out," Kusu squeaked. "He also says to buy me a lot of candy when we get back to a town!"
One of her wings threatened to smack Mr. Dark in the arm as she squirmed to get comfortable in her seat. It seemed she could hear Hil's thoughts and served as his means of communication. Even though Mr. Dark was technically touching the sword, it seemed the sword still recognized Kusu as its owner.
"I hope everyone's alright! I mean, I know we'll be fine because the silly sword and I can fly!. Oh, Hil asks where we should go."
|
|
|
Post by Kyubey on Jul 8, 2013 23:42:53 GMT -5
To Silver and anyone else in the immediate area, Lynwood's face as gravity shifted the floor out from under her must have been amusing, but not for long. Though she didn't know what was happening or why, she could tell instantly that she was in danger, as were those around her. She couldn't possibly have come up with any sort of plan or solution as she started to fall away from the floor like everyone else, but, thankfully for her, she was able to rely on her sharp instinct and incredibly fast reflexes. Before she even thought about what she was doing, her knife was already in her hand, and, moments before she would have fallen too far to reach safety, she stabbed at the floor that used to be beneath her. While her knife wasn't exactly meant for piercing such flat surfaces, and the curved blade made the thrust more difficult than necessary, the urgency of the situation and her own desperation gave her strength, and the weapon slid straight into the floor. As long as she could manage to hold on, she now had an anchor keeping her held to that one spot, no matter what the ship was doing.
Now that she wasn't in immediate danger of hurtling through the window, she could think a bit more clearly. Given her circumstances, she was unusually calm, being somewhat used to acting in perilous, and, given her skills, was confident that she wasn't helpless. She was worried, for herself as there was nothing that she could do if the ship were to crash, but mostly for her friends, who decidedly needed much more help than she did. Her mind wandered to wherever Kusu and the others were, but there was nothing she could do about that. She could, however, help to save those nearer to her. She kept her body pressed as close to the floor as she could manage, and extended her arm outward for someone to grab.
"Hold on to me!" she shouted, trying to be louder than the screaming around her. Her hand was open for anyone to take, but she was reaching out directly towards Kalen, the shipmate she felt needed her help the most.
She didn't know how many seconds had passed since everything started to fall. It couldn't have been that long.
|
|
|
Post by Shark a' Pult on Jul 14, 2013 0:49:02 GMT -5
"Wagh! This is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"
Kalen hurtled through the air like a disoriented rag doll that had been thrown by an over-active child. Smashing into the bookcase, he clamored to grab onto something, and just barely in the nick of time clamped his hands onto some books on the shelf.
"Haha! I'm not that easily defeated, topsy turvy sky ship-"
Then the ship listed forward, and the books he'd been holding onto slid out of the shelf along with all the other books, and Kalen along with them. Hurtling towards the smashed open windows, the shepherd tried to swing his arms up and down, flapping the books he was holding onto like wings. This seemed to work for a second until a dictionary hit him right in the face and he fell powerless towards the broken window.
"Hold on to me!"
"Got it!"
As Kalen slid along the floor towards the window, he saw Lynwood having caught herself on the floor. He reached out to grab for her hand as he went, and though he caught it, the speed at which he was going nearly separated his hand from hers. He hung there, holding on, though his grip was weakening. Partly because of the strange angle at which they were suspended, but mostly because he was laughably weak.
"No... No! Don't let goooooo!!"
A few moments later and he lost his grip, his hand breaking away and sending him hurtling to his untimely death, the duration of which he screamed terribly.
"Nooooo! Noooooooooooooooooooo! Noooooooooooooooooooo- wait..."
Not wanting to witness his own death, he kept his eyes closed and screamed and screamed and screamed, but eventually realzed the lack of falling sensation. Opening an eye just barely, he looked around and saw the observation deck and Lynwood above him. A moments deduction revealed that while he had fallen from her saving embrace, Kalen had only fallen a few feet more and landed on the broken mesh that was the broken and twisted grating of the window. Truth be told, he was not in a safe place and his position was precarious; a little to the left or right and he'd have fallen right out, or even if he moved a little too much and the result would be the same. That said, he didn't dwell on this blessing, and quickly clamored to his feet. Looking up, he saw Lynwood barely above him, in fact he could probably just stand up straight and reach her hand with his from where he was standing. Or she could lean down a bit and kick him in the face, either way.
No, but he looked up, because there was something more important than him to look out for.
"Silver! Over here, grab on!"
Calling out to the spider girl, Kalen took inspiration from Lynwood and reached out to try and catch her before she too went the way of the giant robots. Only, his intentions were not very well thought out, not grounded in reality. Firstly, he didn't consider that if his footing was not already dangerous, it would certainly not hold him safely in the event of catching Silver. The creaking of the twisted metal beneath his feet and his precarious balance only confirmed this. Secondly, he didn't consider that if he couldn't hold firm his own life in Lynwood's hands, then he would certainly not be able to hold firm Silver's life in his own hands given his lack of sufficient strength. And thirdly, that he just assumed Lynwood would lend her assistance and reach out to save the spider girl as well as he, and that together they would catch her and all would be well and they would live happily ever after. The end.
Truly, he was the greatest Captain that ever lived.
|
|
|
Post by Mise™ on Jul 15, 2013 16:10:24 GMT -5
After bit of a rough start, prince Karalisk started to finally get a hang of how to fly this flying vessel. This however wasn't that good of a news for the passengers and they should soon figure out why, those of them that didn't fall to a horrible death just a moment ago. For a short while His Highness flew the ship steadily, like the robots before him had done, but as soon as he felt like he knew how to handle it all hell would break loose.
"Time to see what this piece of shit got!"
Good news was that at least the prince was flying the ship towards Victoria through the intended passageway. Though it might not have been very accurate to call that flying, it was more like drifting. At full speed. Going on reverse. And Karalisk really didn't care if he would be on a crash course with an another ship, unless the other ship was going to change it's course a crash would be imminent.
|
|
|
Post by Hitotsumami on Jul 24, 2013 21:09:02 GMT -5
Wolf did not expect the ship to take a sudden vertical turn and fly straight up in the sky. He didn't think this was Jakal's plan either, for he saw the man fall straight down into the open sky. Luckily, Wolf was already flying along with the ship, so the sudden twist did not physically effect him.
Seeing some others also start sliding off the ship, Wolf activated the rockets in his feat and flew straight down, hoping to catch the fallen crew. However, midway down the ship, he felt something weird in his left boot. Warnings popped up in his mind. There was some kind of connection failure.
But when? He'd gone through his systems multiple times. When did something brake, and how? He heard a sinister laugh in the back of his mind before he totally lost control. Zooming through the air like a maniac, Wolf went straight through the entrance of Victoria, leaving his crew and his friends behind. Into the darkness he went. Into the unknown.
|
|