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 Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:10 pm
"He is that which-"
In an extremely unexpected and unprecedented interruption, the man's head exploded. Fragments of his skull and brain spattered on Tanto and Isaac. It seemed that the man was quite serious about the dangers of 'inviting His anger.'
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:51 pm
Isaac, appalled and suddenly ill, took a shaky step back. His back bumped against the controls and he was jerked back to reality.
"Y-Yarah, make sure they're OK. I think we should s-see the r-rest of the place." Tanto, totally unconcerned at the ichor on his body, nodded and looked around through the door that the scientist had come through.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:01 pm
Yarah had already been working on the people when Isaac had repeatedly told him to heal them. "If you would but shut that trap you call a mouth, perhaps I could concentrate more easily and save these people. Find something useful to do other than order me around. Rather than a coward, you act like a weak coward now."
Needless to say, Yarah was irritated by Isaac's complete pushing of Yarah's healing talents. It wasn't as if Yarah were standing around doing nothing.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:17 pm
Isaac paused long enough to regard Yarah disbelievingly out of one eye for two seconds before he closed his mouth and shook his head. Apparently, the Demon-Minor was miffed that he had to do all the healing. Besides, it wasn't like Isaac was ordering him around; they were more like requests. Of course, Isaac didn't say any of this. It was better not to risk angering their tentative allies from the Confederation.
Of course, it bothered Isaac that he was being insulted again. Just like with Carlyle, Yarah didn't exactly seem to understand the situation Isaac found himself in. Still...be cool. Isaac went off after Tanto.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:32 am
Edward frowned. Heal them? These are Akai Ryu's test subjects....
Corhir chimed in.
Where would you even pick that phrase up? You're a demon.
Corhir replied softly. Ridley saw Carlyle lighting a cigarette in his peripheral vision.
I...
This is a war. People die in war. I might die. And I...
You really think that's best...?
Edward Ridley raised his sword, drew it to expose about eight inches of the blood, and with a red shine in his eye pressed his blade against the neck of the nearest subject, slicing it cleanly off. A graph beside the subject flatlined. Ignoring the others, he moved to the next subject and repeated the action.
Carlyle simply stared, too shocked to react.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:47 pm
Cassandra turned, hesitated for a moment, and then asked what she considered a non-inflammatory question. The shake in her voice was audible. "What... what do you think you're doing?" She did not want to end this with confrontation with allies. Definitely not.
As if they didn't have enough to worry about.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:59 pm
Yarah realized that no matter what he did, he could not help these people. It was sad; they were doomed to be miserable. When Ridley started systematically killing people, the demon-minor did nothing but watch. Perhaps it was better this way.
He turned to look at the woman who spoke. At least she was politer than the clockwork knight. "There is nothing to be done about these people. My abilities cannot help them and if we leave them here, they will suffer." He had done what he could to help, and it had failed. This was the next best solution. Especially if what the scientist from before had said was true.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:17 pm
"Did you not hear him say they were working on a cure?" Cassandra asked, incredulous. "You... didn't you hear any of that?!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:01 pm
In fact, Yarah had not heard; he was too busy concentrating on healing. That was a side effect of being so focused; on the one hand, it was an advantage in battle to quickly and efficiently fix someone. On the other, it blocked out all sound so he probably would not tell if someone were talking to him.
He DID hear some of the conversation near the beginning though.
But that was besides the point. "Degeneration is a painful process. And that was something the scientist said that they had yet to fix. You honestly think they would have found a cure anytime soon to help them?" He looked at her passively. "And perhaps you could not tell, but these people were already in relative pain. Some near death. Had it been you, would you prefer to wait in agony for death or ask for relatively painless release? Can you honestly say you would not wish for a painless death?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:05 pm
"I - well..." Cassandra hesitated. "It's just... killing them... Dr. Kevorkian and - you know!" she finished uncertainly. "I mean, at least let him speak his own peace," she finally added.
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Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:18 am
Edward sighed and decapitated another test subject. "Haven't you put it together? Volunteer subjects, infused with the Slavemaker's power. They're being kept alive that their 'lesser powers' might be put to use. Subject one-thirty-nine referred to the Subjects we fought not being able to properly use, I believe he said, weapons granted by what I can only assume is the same being we're facing off against. The Subjects go by the name 'Subject Three-Digit-Number.' These things all have three-digit tattoos." Chop. "I call this taking a pre-emptive approach to defeating those things." Chop. "Because I really don't like fighting them." Chop. "Plus, y'know. Slavemaker. Doesn't sound like a very happy name, yeah?" Chop.
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Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:23 pm
The first body Ty saw was that of a middle-aged woman. Her hair was shriveled and did not have the gloss that its curls may once have shown, and her face was drawn and thin. Ugly. Defeated, less than asleep, and ugly.
He moved on to the next one. A skink-morph, the once-brilliant hue of his blue skin now pail and lackluster, and upon opening a nonreactive eye, it was obvious he had likely gone blind. Ty had never liked amphibians and reptiles, anyway. A few iguanas now and then, but this? This was pathetic.
The exploding head drew his attention. "Cool!" And that was that.
Over and over, he inspected the test subjects, judging them on the basis of outward appearance, slouch, emaciation, muscular atrophy, and mutation. Every last one was pitiable, useless, and comatose. When Ridley followed behind him, Ty simply absorbed the fact and returned to his comrades.
Ridley's verdict was sound. One follows the Alpha; one stays with pack; and one is not reduced to a number.
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:41 am
Isaac and Tanto found the next room to be eerie, to say the least. Dimly lit, with arcane-looking symbols all over the floor, walls, and ceilings. Walls carved with geometric symbols and formulae released a faint glow, removing all shadows in the lighting. There was another door at the opposite end of the room.
Tanto could not recognize the language of most of the writing. There was a small amount of Old Angelic, but that was the kind that had fallen out of use ages ago.
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:43 am
Isaac stared around the room with wide eyes. "What do you think it does?" he murmured absently.
Tanto, struggling to read anything he could, could not piece together the room's purpose, though he could certainly feel the residual power of the room. This was not a place that he wanted to spend a lot of time. He nudged Isaac and they went through the next door, to see...
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:55 pm
Ḫ͍͈̰͔̣̦̬̾̂͢Ẹ͍͚̮̥̏̉̐̄̂̐̈́͊ ̯̻̩̲͍̜͒͆̌͂̍̾̀W͖̹̜̻͉̺͖ͯ̓̉̍ͮ͝Ą̶̛̫̲̺̲̖̘̝̰ͫ̌̚T̨̂͊̇̍̎ͪ͏̼̘̗͈Ċ̵̭̼̲̘̭͔̬̙̉̏͊͆̉́ͥ̚Ĥ̆̀ͨͩ҉̯E̐ͥ͋̍͑͝҉͕͙̻̱̗̘S͊͟҉̰̣
Tanto and Isaac's vision flashed black and they found themselves to be re-entering the room with their allies. A glance behind them showed no door on the other side of the dark, glowing room.
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