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 Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:21 pm
The soft hum coming from Kyraa stopped with a sweet note. She looked at the woman who recently was announced leader for a second before speaking. "Sure, Ally. It'll be fun!"
The near-alabaster girl stook up from the floor and shook her butt to remove any gravel from her clothing. She flared her white wings wide before folding them into a cape. "It'll be a... 'party.' Ally, what's a party?" Kyraa giggled and skipped over to the green woman, waiting to follow her to the kitchen.
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:35 pm
Alliance smiled. The hatchlings never failed to put her in a good mood.
"A party?" she asked. She led the way through the top level of the church*, to the small kitchen area. "A party is when there's a bunch of people having fun."
The two entered the kitchen, and Alliance lit the stove and started frying some eggs. "Why do you ask?"
* - (which was closed off from the main part. A large pile of rubble blocked the doorway to the stairwell, so the Clan had free rein of the upper-most level)
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:55 pm
Kyraa grabbed some fruit and started cutting and combining them for a small fruit salad when they reached the kitchen. Her blue eyes didn't stray from their focus as she answered. "I heard some human hatchlings the other night mentioning a 'party.' It was very interesting, because they seemed to be having some difficulties walking. One of them even fell down into a puddle, but the other hatchlings just laughed. I wouldn't laugh if Mory or Katane fell into a puddle..." She paused for a moment and her head ticked to the side. "... Human hatchlings are very odd, Ally."
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:28 pm
"Humans are indeed strange, Kyraa."
Alliance pulled some bacon from the small refridgerator and added that to the frying pan.
"I worry about you getting too close to the humans," she said, flipping the eggs over. "You really need to be careful about that. We don't want to let them find us again."
She scooped the eggs from the pan and put them on a plate, and started frying some more.
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 9:09 pm
She winced inwardly while setting the fruit salad in a large bowl, then moved and started making toast before replying.
"I wouldn't do that intentionally, Ally. You know that, right? I try very, very hard to be careful. But there are people everywhere in a city this large! And they're so very fun to watch..." She spaced out a moment before the sound of toast popping up roused her. "Yes, Ally. I'll do my best. But I don't see a need to worry. They don't think we're here."
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:36 pm
"Is it ready?" Gendou asked, tugging his dark glasses down to look over them. The prescription was a fairly weak one, as such things go, but he still hated having to depend on them.
"I still don't understand why you insist on testing this yourself," Hargrove said, shaking his head.
"I pay your salary. That's reason enough." Gendou wasn't looking at the scientist, but was now caressing the shiny-smooth armor on the battlesuit.
Hargrove sighed, but said nothing more. Instead, he walked over to the power umbilical and began unplugging it. The suit made a slight humming sound as the thick cable detached.
"How do I use it?" Gendou asked, unable to keep the anticipation from his voice.
"Step up to the back, here." The scientist opened a panel on the shoulder and pressed a button inside. The suit hissed as panels opened along the length of the arms, legs and back to allow the user to step inside. The panel on the shoulder sealed shut.
Gendou stepped up and into the suit. As his fingers slid into the gloves inside the arms, the suit closed up behind him. "It fits like a glove," he said.
"It should. It was designed for you." Hargrove tapped the shoulder. "This panel is disabled now, so if you want out, you have to thumb the releases from inside the suit."
"Okay," Gendou nodded. He took a tentative step forward, and then another. The suit added almost two feet to his six foot height, with most of that in the legs.
"Everything should work exactly like the simulator," Hargrove continued. Gendou reached forward and picked up the helmet from the table with one massive clawed hand. Using both hands, he settled it in place, feeling a moment of panic as everything went dark before the power feeds in the suit connected with the helmet and gave him audio and visual.
"Impressive," Gendou said. The multiple visual modes allowed him to see in a variety of spectrums, as well as allowing for compressed 360 degree views that showed him everything around him.
"We're still working on the mimetic armor." Hargrove's voice had taken on a slightly tinny sound, as if he were speaking on a cellular phone.
"I'm sure you'll work it out," Gendou said, no longer paying attention to the scientist. Stepping across the lab, he reached forward and pushed open the massive double security doors separating the lab from the balcony outside. Carefully, he hopped up onto the waist-high railing surrounding the large, open space. Even though the lab was only halfway up the MHI skyscraper, the ground was still a very long way away.
"Be careful-" Hargrove shouted, and the rest of his words were lost in the whistling wind as Gendou stepped off into the void.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 10:46 am
Some say that loneliness will drive one mad. This one believes it. She's been alone for too long, craving the warmth of fellow voices, the smiles on welcoming faces, the joy of laughter and the tenderness of a friendly embrace. As shades of darkness layer over her vision more deeply each passing year, she feels the lack of a friend to steady her when she's about to walk into a tree or someone to shout when she's flying into a tangle of branches. Only when her eyes flash red does the darkness clear and even then, only to the level of vision she used to have normally.
There are cliffs here. Human cliffs. The hand-made structures and dwellings of the kind who killed her clan, one by one. Until only this one remained. A faint keen rose in her throat, but she stifled it, terrified. But there was also light here. Enough light to chase away her darkness. And voices and laughter and smiles, even if they are from alien throats and on alien faces. Enemy throats and enemy faces.
The cliffs are just as easy to climb as the cliffs of home. She found the tallest cliff she could find without passing too many of those who would kill her, climbed it until she could hook her claws over the edge and pull herself up onto the roof. She crouched there, clouded eyes watching the streets below. She paced the edge, watching with eyes that now could see clearly again.
Maybe they aren't ALL bad...
Of course they're all bad. They killed your kin.
That was a long time ago.
It just gives them more chance to steep in their badness.
But...there's light here. They laugh, just like we did.
They stole that laughter from you. Left you voice-less.
They didn't. I have a voice. I just...don't...
Maybe they stole that from you, too. Stole your vision to make their lights.
N-no...
She curled on the ledge, arms tight across her stomach, clouded eyes tightly closed against the possibilities her own mind was painting. Loneliness really does cause madness. And she could feel her sanity slipping into the void, seeking her fading sight.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:22 pm
Alliance finished up, and brought the large plate of eggs and bacon to the counter. Grabbing a small share, she munched in silence.
"I was thinking of taking you out to patrol tonight," she said after a while. "I think you're ready for that. And since you're already familiar with Durem, we'll be able to enjoy ourselves without fear of getting seperated and lost."
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:57 pm
The engines ignited, the nearly silent pulse-jets whining softly as their turbines reached full power, straining to provide enough thrust to keep the battle-armor from crashing into the ground at terminal velocity.
Roughly 100 feet from destruction, Gendou pulled the armor level and then began to climb. Fighting back the urge to whoop in exultation, he whipped the suit into a barrel roll and climbed above the low-lying clouds to get a feel for the suit's controls. Though he had spent hours in the simulators, nothing had prepared him for the sheer feeling of power and freedom that the suit gave him. It was intoxicating.
Here above the clouds, he began to pull the suit into a series of turns. The massive metal wings on the back of the suit gave it just enough lift to keep the engines from being overworked, and provided enough control that the suit could make precise mid-air corrections at full-power.
Controlling the armor was simple enough - a combination of neural interfaces (accessed just below the third cervical vertebrae) and small hand gestures gave the pilot a feeling of oneness with the suit - think, and the armor reacts. There were still bugs to be worked out, of course - certain types of damage to the armor could result in painful neuro-feedback, which could incapacitate or even kill the pilot. But overall, the design had few enough flaws that it was overwhelmingly worth the risk.
A hole in the clouds gave him a brief glimpse of the Church below. He was too high up to see the statuary, gone or no, even with his enhanced vision. Turning and reducing speed, he began dropping slowly toward the uppermost towers, determined to investigate.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:03 pm
Ruevian entered the kitchen area, approaching the faded and splintering cupboards without a glance towards the other two inhabitants, though she did gently flick the back of Kyraa's head as she passed -- her way of greeting the fledgling.
She opened the cupboard, mumbling to herself as she rummaged around, taking out a can of instant coffee. One couldn't afford to be picky these days, but (though she'd never admit it) one thing she did miss from the old clan was the ability to have properly brewed coffee.
As she put on a pot of water to boil, she turned and leaned against the counter, arms folded over her chest as she stared passively at Alliance and Kyraa.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:18 pm
Alliance offered the platter of eggs and bacon to her monochromatic clanmate.
"Want some? They're fresh."
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 8:30 pm
The solid feeling of the stone tower beneath his feet felt almost anti-climatic after the freedom of flight. Even so, there was a certain degree of relief in finally landing. Glancing about warily, Gendou carefully approached the darkened stairwell leading down into the tower.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 10:10 pm
They did, they did...it's true. They stole your sight to make their light. They stole your kin so they could laugh. They took everything from you to revel in the joys you once had.
No...
Yesss... kill them. Kill them all.
No... I...
They took away those you loved. They took away the things you loved. They took away everything. Even your sight.
But...
Kill them.
I...
Kill them.
...kill them all.
Normally blue eyes flare blood red and an anguished...and very insane...howl echoes wildly off the walls of the human cliffs. Vision restored, if only for the now, the coppery gargoyle launches herself for the neighboring rooftop and takes off, seeking to drown her pain in bloodlust.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:18 am
"You think I am? That's wonderful! Thank you, Ally! Thank you so much." The redhead positively beamed at the leader. "I won't screw up. Or I'll try not to..."
Kyraa was adding the plate of toast and fruit bowl to the counter when she felt a light "doink" to the back of her head. She didn't need to turn around, but did anyway, smiling serenely and waving when her hands were free. "Good evening, Ms. Ruevian!"
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:45 am
Alliance smiled at her ivory friend. "No," she said, "you won't mess up at all. You're very capab---"
She stopped, and cocked her head slightly to the side. Something had landed on the roof - something that didn't sound like anyone from her clan. It was a heavy sound, a slightly awkward sound.
It was a metal sound.
She put the breakfast platter down on the counter, not waiting for Ruevian's answer.
"Someone's here," she said, softly. "Someone....or something."
She glanced around the kitchen. "Ruevian, with me. Kyraa, stay in the stairwell, in case there's trouble."
Her eyes glowed red briefly. "With our luck, it's usually trouble."
Alliance left the kitchen and started up the stairs.
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